It's not looking good for Mortal Kombat studio, Midway Games. The company, which recently filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was officially delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Further adding to its growing list of pains is its departure from E3 group, the Entertainment Software Association.

Despite getting a heaping dose of Kyptonite from publisher Brash Entertainment, developer Factor 5's "large scale multi-platform project" still refuses to die. Is it *gasp* indestructible?

The economy just can't seem to let people catch a break. Another gaming company is purportedly set to fold, thanks to the economic crunch that's been pinching a lot of businesses and families hard. The latest one rumored to bite the dust: Brash Entertainment. And it's sooner than you can say Quick Jump. Read up more about this after the jump.

We recently published an article on the 20 staffers Brash had to can due to economic hardships. Turns out they're so hard up for money that they've stopped paying their developers altogether. Naturally, this means that a lot of their games, including one unannounced Superman title, are stuck in dev hell.

It's been reported earlier that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group is acquiring TT Games, the studio behind the highly successful Lego games. Guess for how much though? A whopping GBP 100 million (US$ 206 million)!

Read more about the acquisition and about the founder of TT Games Jon Burton, now dubbed as the £100m geek.

People cheat because they can. People cheat, because cheating is an option that can possibly make ones life, in this case, one's gaming experience, a lot easier. The amusing part is that marketing - the folks who try to catch the attention of people who've stopped watching TV - knows that we gamers love cheats and now they are trying to creep in-game advertising into bonus/secret content.

Perhaps their logic is probably something like this: "Game environment advertising is so yesterday! Let's sneak in an ad that players will have to figure out to see, and then they'll keep looking. People love Easter Eggs." Rachel Konrad reports that this is evidenced by a certain video that pops up after you shoot a jar of body wash in a certain video game about saving Vegas from terrorists.

Beyond just masking/camouflaging advertising as additional content in Video Games, Konrad reports that the act of distributing and advertising the cheats and the easter eggs have become a marketing tool for games and game publishers/developers.

Konrad cites the Superman Returns DVD that had a cheat code in it to unlock additional content in EA's Superman Returns game. It seems that lines are starting to blur if the games are advertising the products, or the product/franchise is advertising the game.

  

Superman may be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but unfortunately, some analysts can't say the same thing for the video game. Superman Returns is not doing its share of the bargain as it is not pulling that much revenues for their publisher, Electronic Arts.

According to Bank of America research analyst Michael Savner, "Consistent with our earlier projections, management recently states sales of 'Superman Returns' have been disappointing...As a result, we believe there is even more pressure on sales of 'Madden NFL 2007' and 'FIFA 2007' to deliver strong results in order to meet its third-quarter 2007 revenue guidance." He adds that these two games are expected to generate $242 million in sales for the quarter.

In other words, sports franchises Madden and FIFA  have lots of weights on their shoulders. So far, they seem to be living up to their expectations, with Madden performing really well especially last August and with EA extending their deal with FIFA until 2014.

For those of you still shaking off that TGIF feeling and the hangovers from celebrating the past launch parties, we've got something that'll wake you up faster than a triple slug of espresso...or a Smashmywii vid...

Reader Badam (Thanks, dude!) just tattled about the lineup of games that are to be released this week, so if your (or your parent's) credit cards survived last weekend, this week's just the thing to finish 'em off.

Two games in this list did strike our fancy - Rainbow Six: Vegas for the 360 just launched yesterday, and Thrillville for the PSP, PS2, Xbox will be coming out in just a few hours today.

And for the guys who loved Oblivion , you'll be happy to know Bethesda's releasing Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine, which serves as an expansion pack for the original Oblivion game. Well, enough of the banter - on to the list for you Black Friday escapade!

NOVEMBER 20, 2006
College Hoops 2K7 (X360, XBOX)
Superman Returns: The Videogame (X360, XBOX, PS2, DS)
Star Shatterer: Gathering Storm (PC)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (X360, XBOX)
March of the Penguins (DS)
Lawnmower Racing Mania 2007 (XBOX, PC)
Dogz (DS)
Gander Mountain Trophy Hunter 2007 (PS2, XBOX, PSP)
Teddy Factory (PC)
Battlefield 2: Booster Pack Collection (PC)
Bass Pro Shops Trophy Hunter 2007 (PC, XBOX)
Bass Pro Shops: Trophy Bass 2007 (PC)

The full list awaits after the jump!

In an earlier article we told you that the prince of Manga and eccentrically funny kid Shin Chan will be making his way to the Wii. Now, we have an actual screenshot of the game! For those of you who are not familiar with the 5-year-old kid who's been charming the Cartoon Network Adult Swim, Shin Chan is said to be the Bart Simpson of Japanese anime with his weird antics and chaotic adventures.

Some have described Shin-chan as a cross between Dennis the Menace and Freddy Krueger, who always manages to use wrong and inappropriate words and sees emotional Superman as his idol. His behavior, when it comes to girls, is a far too common one, he watches and talks to beautiful girls in a quick and absurd manner. Some parents have protested against the Cartoon Network show because they say that Shin Chan sets a bad example for their kids. Nonetheless, the show continues to be a big hit with both young and old and still airs in Cartoon Network.

The weirdness in his humor is one of the keys to the character's success, once you get past the initial "huh?" reaction, you'll see that that's exactly what makes the show weirdly comical. Keep checking with us for more updates on the hilarious Prince of Manga.