SCEA has issued a statement that its Santa Monica studio director Cory Barlog has left in order to "pursue other opportunities." Earlier this year, the series creative director, David Jaffe, had already left to form his own studio Eat Sleep Play. Without giving any further specifics as to its time frame, SCEA confirmed the earlier rumblings that God of War III is currently in development for the PS3, expressing its confidence in the remaining members of the Santa Monica development team.

Abandon Interactive announced Freaky Creatures, an interactive gaming platform incorporating collectible toys, customizable characters, an expansive online interactive community and challenging virtual battles with other players’ creatures.

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is the long awaited sequel to the NiGHTS franchise that gave gamers the freedom to fly in a world of dreams and imagination. SEGA announced that NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams will be the first Wii title to tap into the system’s Weather Channel support.

Arika's Endless Ocean, known in Japan as Forever Blue, explores life under the ocean, allowing you to take photos, catalogue species you encountered, play a tour guide, or discover hidden treasures. Forever Blue also features multiplayer so you can dive in with a friend...

When EA announced layoffs and closures last week, its UK studio was apparently not the only victim. A memo sent by EA Games President Frank Gibeau reveals that EA Chicago, known for the Fight Night and Def Jam titles, as well Marvel Nemesis, has tripled in size over the past few years but has yet to turn a profit, and is therefore being shut down. The Fight Night franchise has moved to EA Sports, while the fate of other titles (Def Jam 2, Marvel fighting game) are being discussed.

Industry veterans Gary Corriveau and Steve Bergenholtz, founder of Sandlot Games, now part of EA, announced the formation of Beanbag Studios, a new company poised to raise the bar for the design and production of high quality casual games.

Destineer, formed by former Bungie Software executive vice president Peter Tamte, announce that it has licensed Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games, Inc., for a yet to be announced project.

Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess, the 3rd expansion pack for Square Enix MMO, includes new areas, a wide variety of new jobs, time travel, and large scale battlefields. At a Final Fantasy Fan Festival in Osaka, Japan the Final Fantasy XI team announced a new Job for the game, the Scholar.

In UT3 you assume the role of a futuristic warrior engaged in contests of intense shooting battles against skilled opponents, controlled either by human contestants online or by A.I, fought with the most powerful sci-fi weapons and vehicles.

Antitrust regulators have cleared Electronic Arts' $775 million purchase of VG Holding Corp, which owns two software studios from private equity fund Elevation Partners, BioWare Corp. and Pandemic Studios.

With advanced next generation visuals, hundreds of new animations, and a wealth of new innovative features, including all new crowd atmosphere that can affect the game performance of teams, College Hoops 2K8 is set to run the competition off the court with authentic college basketball game action.

Activision's latest financial numbers show a net revenue increase of 69% from last year's $188.2 million to $317.7M. Net income jumped from a $42.6M loss to a $28.5M gain. In the conference call, Activision executives said that while it's only been in stores for a week, GH III is the best launch title in company history, selling $100M in North America alone. Looking ahead, Activision is planning new titles in the Call of Duty, Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero franchises and has plans for new titles in cooperation with Dreamworks (Monsters Vs. Aliens, Madagascar II, Kung Fu Panda,) two unannounced superhero titles and, to top it all off, its first James Bond-licensed title.

Ubisoft announced that Hollywood actress Kristen Bell, known for her role as teenage detective Veronica Mars, currently also starring in Heroes, will appear in Assassin’s Creed as a key character, whose mysterious role is an important part of the game’s intricate storyline.

SEGA's NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is the long awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed NiGHTS franchise that gave gamers the freedom to fly in a world of dreams and imagination.

Speedball 2 transforms the futuristic game setting with the help of state-of-the-art technology into a high-speed online sports spectacle. Offering international leagues, a large-scale ranking system and a virtual marketplace, Speedball 2 pulls all the registers of modern multiplayer gaming action.

Iron Realms has created a spin-off division, Sparkplay Media, to work on its free to play 3D MMO Earth Eternal, a high-fantasy world that combines real-world history, legend, and myth with original creations.

Experience the sights and sounds of Beautiful Katamari as the Prince takes on a new high-rolling adventure, with his famous cousins in tow, to save the Katamari universe after the King of All Cosmos has a very un-royal and unfortunate accident.

StarCraft II will feature the return of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg races, overhauled and re-imagined with Blizzard's approach to game balance, designed to be the ultimate competitive RTS game.

While other FPS titles claim to feature action-packed, highly realistic gameplay, BlackSite: Area 51 takes next-gen gaming to an all-new level integrating cutting edge technology, game design and story writing to create the ultimate entertainment experience.

In the bold and often-bloody Dead Space, developed by EA's Redwood Shores Studio, gamers will step into a third-person sci-fi survival horror experience that promises to deliver the ultimate in psychological thrills and gruesome action.

Arika's Wii exclusive Endless Ocean, known in Japan as Forever Blue, explores life under the ocean, allowing you to take photos, catalogue species you encountered, play a tour guide, or discover hidden treasures. Forever Blue also features multiplayer so you can dive in with a friend...

Guitar Hero fans will channel their inner rock god, experience new features and explosive content including a new multiplayer action-inspired battle mode, grueling boss battles, a bevy of exclusive unlockable content and authentic rock venues. When signing up on Guitarhero.com people noticed unreleased songpacks for Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver and 3 battle songs...

GameTap announced that the season finale for its multiplayer online game Myst Online: Uru Live will launch today, allowing you to explore new areas of Uru, including the new Age of Ahnonay, K’veer Island and Myst Island.

EA released its latest financial results, revealing a loss of $195M, compared to last year's profit of $22M. As a result, EA's board approved a reorganization in order to save $25-30M, which unfortunately means layoffs and branch closures, such as its UK office in Chertsey. At the request of EA Mythic's Mark Jacobs, Warhammer Online is facing yet another delay from its original Q1 2008 date. It's been pushed to Q2 2008 (not before April), but EA execs are still excited about the coming holidays and even raised their expectations with heavy hitters such as Crysis, Hellgate: London and RockBand.

Empire Earth III allows players to build and rule an empire from the ancient world to the distant future, battling it out across the globe through the eons in a bid for worldwide control, offering continuous free-form gameplay that will allow players to keep units from one battle to the next.