With its shares dropping 70% in the past year, Sony Corp. announced that it will lay off about 4% of its 186,000-strong workforce (8,000 employees), an additional 8,000 contract employees, cut back on investments by 30%, close several of its overseas manufacturing plants, and pull out of businesses as it is looking to cut $1.1 billion in costs by March 2010. It was not clear whether the games division will be affected, but judging by the large amount of cutbacks, it's hard to imagine that it would not be involved.

Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition: Iron Triangle is an epic historical simulation from legendary game producer Kou Shibusawa where players assume the role of Nobunaga, or of a rival warlord, in their quest to unite Japan under one rule.

Midnight Club: Los Angeles provides a seamless environment for everyone who loves to compete, with no load times, no tracks, and no rules, allowing players to race who they want, when they want, and where they want in a recreation of LA. Rockstar has issued a title update improving AI balance to adjust dynamically to user skill level. The X360 update also adds support for additional leaderboards for tournaments on the Rockstar Games Social Club, broader multiplayer match searching, and upgraded streaming and performance.

War Plan Pacific is a turn-based computer wargame for one or two players (IP based multiplayer capability) covering the entire war in the Pacific from 1941 until 1945. Shrapnel Games is looking for a few good men to ensure smooth sailing.

Playrix Entertainment, known for casual games such as The Rise of Atlantis, Fishdom, 4 Elements and newly-released Call of Atlantis, announced its publishing plans and has already signed several agreements to publish games from external studios.

Killzone 2 throws players back into the midst of a hostile and dramatic ongoing battle between the ISA and Helghast army, delivering intense warfare with lifelike character animations, detailed and destructible environments, realistic physics, and advanced levels of AI.

MadWorld is a third-person action game that has a unique black & white style depicting a sharp backdrop that straddles graphic novels and 3-D worlds, mixing irreverent humor and over-the-top violence. MadWorld will feature ultra-violent ‘Blood Bath Challenges’ which can be played offline multiplayer with your friends or enemies.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• Batman: Arkham Asylum [PS3/X360/PC] - Trailer
• Deadly Creatures [Wii] - Dennis Hopper Trailer
• Mirror's Edge [PC] - PhysX Trailer
• Resident Evil 5 [PS3/X360/PC] - Mutalisk Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Sins of a Solar Empire will feature several micro-expansions over the next year, starting with Entrenchment which promises to bring fans a Starbase defense platform, turret upgrades to make them more powerful, mine fields and a Subspace Inhibitor platform that will slow enemy ships within its range.

A survey released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reveals that 53% of American adults play video games and 20% play just about every day. In all, 81% of people between 18 and 29 play games, compared with 23% of people 65 and older, while 50% of all women get their game on, slightly less than males, at 55%. While video games don't make you smarter, the higher your education, the more likely you are to play (57% of gamers went to college, against 40% had less than a high-school education).