It looks like layoffs are the "in" thing these days. While NCSoft lost less people than rumors previously said, Radical Entertainment was not so lucky. According to the Vancouver Sun, the studio's staff has been cut roughly in half. More in the full article.

Just how rough a year was 2007 for the Need for Speed franchise? Well, things with Need for Speed ProStreet (PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii) got so bad that it forced EA's hand to reform the distribution of manpower in its Vancouver studios. There will be twice the staff and longer development periods to allow devs to increase quality on their projects. More in the full story up ahead.

A recent report is hinting that Microsoft wants some of the industry's best people to work on its Gears of War sequel. One of their prime catches is among the cream of the crop in the gaming scene's free agent list. Find out who this former EA Chicago boss is when you read the full article.

It's confirmed: Uwe Boll's making another movie adaptation of a popular videogame, and this time it's Far Cry.  The shooting of the movie - which will take place in Vancouver, Canada, instead of Hawaii as previously stated- will begin immediately next month, as Gamerflicks reports.

A little backgrounder on Far Cry: Ubisoft's 2004 first-person shooter puts the player in the shoes of Jack Carver, an ex-Special Forces soldier who encounters mutant creatures known as Trigen after a mercenary job goes awry. Things go sharply downhill after that, with Carver bent on rescuing his employer - a female journalist by the name of Valerie Constantine - and every step bringing him closer to what the Trigens really are, and who created the monstrosities in the first place.

That's how it goes in the game. How it actually goes in the movie is anyone's guess - and when Uwe's involved, all bets are off, if one remembers his spin on Postal. With much of the cast and staff from his previous movies reprising their roles, one thing is clear, at least: we're in for one very interesting game-to-movie adaptation.

Oh, and in case you're wondering just who'll be portraying Jack, it's a rumored toss-up between Michael Pare ("Bloodrayne II") or Jason Statham ("In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Movie").

 

While "Canuck" sounds like a cross between a cough and a hiccup (now don't hurt yourself trying to reproduce it), the second Annual Canuck Awards is more affectionately known as the Elan Awards. This new awards event held in Canada annually will honor the best artistic productions in electronics: anything and everything in games.

While being just another awards ceremony to add to the countless ones coming out each year, the Elans is slated to honor any and all platform titles, including casual, arcade and mobile games. It will also honor story and concept writing in games, a dedicated Hall of Fame for games that make the cut, and even animation and voice-over productions. Everything art, they've got just the fart part (pardon our French).

The awards categories will each have their own panel of five judges (no judge sits on more than one panel) to decide on the criteria for choosing the winner among qualifying nominees. Judges only qualify in the panel if they are respected minds in the industry. Other strict procedures are as follows:

• All Companies/Institutions providing Jurors may provide more than one.
• No two representatives from one Company/Institution will be selected to sit on the same Panel.
• Every Juror must sign a non-conflict contract to be approved by the CAEAA.
• Each CAEAA Category is judged by Panels from outside of Canada.
• Each International Category is judged by Panels from within Canada.
• All Nomination and Winning Ballots will be handled directly by the Elans Auditing Firm, Buckley Dodds.

Click on Full Article to view the complete listing of categories plus a few more details.

Whenever a developer comes up with a good title, fans are immediately drawn not only to the game but to the developer itself. Take for example Rockstar Games' GTA series. We're pretty sure the moment Rockstar deviates from GTA and develops a totally new title, all fans will be sure to give it a second look.

Vancouver-based Relic Entertainment on the other hand, has always been known for real time strategy titles such as Company of Heroes and Homeworld among others. Earlier this year, the company made an exception when it developed The Outfit, an action strategy game for the Xbox360. Unfortunately for the developer, their first attempt didn't quite generate a lot of attention.

However, it seems that the company is not a bit disappointed with this (at least according to THQ). In its own section at their official site, Relic Entertainment is looking for developers and designers to work on a secret RPG game, as well as a new MMO title. While the MMO title signals Relic's first entry to the genre, there is no mention as to what console the RPG game would appear.

Going back to Homeworld, it would be remembered that the developer lost the copyrights of the series to Vivendi SA is a video game developer; formerly known as Vivendi Universal">Vivendi. In relation to this, there have been a lot of hushed talks surrounding the industry that Relic is taking some steps to take the game back.