We'll spare the "too human" jokes and get right to it: Silicon Knights laid off 26 employees today as the studio reshuffled its size in preparation for "several new and exciting" projects. Before the "temporary" cutback, the company totaled just over 180 employees.

"These 26 individuals are hard-working and valued team members that we hope to bring back as we ramp up on our future projects," head knight Denis Dyack said in a statement. The layoffs are consistent with typical development cycles in the industry, but do come at a time when global markets are wavering. Silicon Knights has not yet named any of the individuals affected by today's downsizing, but a tipster suggests the group includes "a few long-tenured ones."

Read the full statement from Silicon Knights after the break.

[Thanks Bob!]

Let me begin by apologizing for the hasty nature of the announcement of my being chosen as the running mate for the honorable Weekly Webcomic Wrapup. What my fine, fellow feature lacks in clarity and eloquence, he more than makes up for with sheer enthusiasm. Perhaps this is why he, with wisdom acquired during his three years of publication, chose me as his running mate -- to balance his passion with my own levelheadedness. In that respect, I am more than glad to play the Abbot to his Costello, the Brain to his Pinky, and the Linnell to his Flansburgh.

With that bit of business out of the way, I'd like to talk to you about why you should support a WWW/JHS ticket for the office of King and Queen Vice-King of the Internets. As you know, the Internets is a big place that requires a great deal of regulation from its executive officers. While the current administration has adopted a laissez-faire approach to their prestigious post, our leadership would provide a much needed repaving of the information superhighway -- for starters, all domain names will be required to end with ".fun". Not only will it simplify the Internets navigation process, but it may just bring a smile to the face of the typical, hard-hearted Internets user.

Our other major platforms include:

• Stronger punitive measures against the proliferation of Rick Astley songs
• Energy conservation through the deactivation of the Internets at 11 p.m. every night
  
• Free candy for supporters

So, when Election Day rolls around, won't you consider the benefits of a Weekly Webcomic Wrapup/Japanese Hardware Sales administration? Our change will be swift, our policies fair, and our candy delicious.

- DS Lite: 57,847 3,395 (5.54%)
- Wii: 26,314 3,607 (12.06%)
- PSP: 25,671 3,003 (10.47%)
- Xbox 360: 11,291 2,486 (18.04%)
- PS2: 9,848 2,128 (27.56%)
- PS3: 8,275 119 (1.46%)

[Source: Media Create]

See: www.archives.fun

While there's been a fair amount of excitement and buzz over the recently announced, camera-equipped upgrade to Nintendo's best-selling handheld, it seems that the big N doesn't want American gamers to neglect the DSi's older, lensless sibling. In a recent interview with Game|Life, Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo's VP of sales and marketing (and world-renowned snowboarding expert), explained that the DS Lite has "huge, untapped potential" in the U.S. -- potential that the company hopes to tap before replacing the Lite with the new shutterbugish model.

Dunaway explained Nintendo's hopes to bring America's DS Lite sales to a level the company has come accustomed to in Japan, where one in every two households owns the handheld. While the DSi isn't due out in America until "well into 2009", Nintendo hopes to bolster Lite sales by allowing the two versions to "coexist for some period of time". Hey, as long as the DS Lite doesn't go all Macaulay Culkin in The Good Son, we're cool with it.

Despite revealing a new DS iteration -- the first since February 2006 -- Nintendo's shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange dropped 3.7 percent to 39,500 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Bloomberg notes that the stock has dropped 41 percent overall n 2008, compared to the past two years where it doubled in each of those. Comparatively, Sony's stock has dropped 51 percent this year.

While much can be attributed to the global economy at the moment, equity researcher Yoku Ihara said the DSi reveal "didn't exceed investors' expectations ... the stock market was so bearish that the news didn't hlep the shares gain." In other news, the console maker is still paying people to pay other people to count its ridiculous amounts of money.

Nintendo gave us more to digest in the last 24 hours than it did during all of E3 2008. So here's what we've got:

• Club Nintendo North America - 2008.
• Wii Speak Channel - Nov 16, 2008. Mic costs $30.
• DSi (Third gen DS) - Nov. 1 in Japan, "well into 2009" for the rest of the globe.
• Loading from SD cards for Wii - Update in Spring 2009.
• Pikmin "Play for Wii" - Dec. 25 in Japan, TBA for everyone else.
• Numerous "Play for Wii" titles (remakes of Gamecube titles with waggle for Wii) - Unnannounced dates.
• Sin & Punishment 2 (Wii) - 2009.
• New Punch-Out!!! (Wii) - 2009.
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (DS) - 2009.
• Mario & Luigi RPG (DS)- 2009.
• Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia (DS)- Nov. 10, 2008.
• Personal Trainer: Cooking (DS) - Nov. 24, 2008.

We're live in San Francisco at Nintendo's press event – sure, they're going to go over last night's Nintendo announcements like the DSi, Play for Wii, and Punch-Out but maybe ... just maybe there's something else in store.

12:14PM: Reggie has taken the podium. He's announced the DSi as a "third trier" platform and is talking about its built-in NVRAM. He's talking about the DSi Shop, the first two titles to be offered are "re-tooled" versions of Brain Age 1 and 2. The DSi features onboard image editing software that can be used to composite photos taken by both cameras in real time. Music player will support AAC format and allow pitch / speed manipulation. Various audio effects can be applied in real time.

12:20PM: Opera browser runs faster than previous DS browser, Wi-Fi is "faster." Reggie just announced that the DSi will not see release until "well into calendar year 2009" citing strong U.S. sales of current DS hardware. He's talking about Wii storage now; confirming that SD card will be used for additional storage, saying that transferring between internal NVRAM and SD card will be dramatically faster.

12:24PM: Reggie says that significantly more Wii systems will be shipped into retail this holiday season versus last year. He can't say how many, and anticipated the question of will it be enough? "Ask me in January." Har. Har. Cammie is at the podium now to talk about software. Take note, folks: She's smiling! Punch-Out!! is on-screen. Cammie calls it a "re-introduction" of the classic title. Video is rolling! Little Mac is showing off in toon-shaded glory. King Hippo and Glass Joe plus a female boxer appeared in the video. Looks like it plays just like the original titles ... but what's that? Cammie says that Punch-Out!! is fully motion-controlled.

Take-Two Interactive announced this morning that it's staying solo. The board met with "various interested parties" over the last five months and decided it was in the best interest of the stockholders to continue building the company independently.

Despite Take-Two's recent stock slump following the EA buyout saga, the company's chairman, Strauss Zelnick, believes it remains competitive in the industry and will maximize value for stockholders. CEO Ben Feder says the company has 15 "wholly owned brands" with sales of over a million units, no debt and an "undrawn $140 million" to play with. Yeah, let's see if that cash gets spent on keeping GTA's Houser brothers.

Much like the Haloz before it, Gears of War 2 will receive a special edition Zune 120. The glossy black media player has the Gears logo laser-etched on the back and comes with 244 pieces of GoW bric-a-brac -- all for $280. The unit is available to pre-order now at Walmart.com and Amazon.com, and will ship on November 7. Same day as the game ... fancy that! No word yet if the military will get its own (sexier) version of the Gears Zune like they did with Halo 3.

[Via X3F]

Memphis is a beautiful city with no real crime, which is why it's so shocking to hear what a sting operation against local GameStop stores turned up. Eight GameStop employees have plead guilty to buying "stolen" video games from undercover police officers. The video game pawn shop retail chain has agreed to suspend "cash-for-trade" (???) transactions in Shelby and DeSoto County, Mississippi, until February 2009.

The defendants, none of whom have previous criminal convictions, will serve a year of probation, which can result in their record being cleared. Not to say the company's suspension of trade-ins is pure kabuki, but next to eBay, GameStop has always been an awesome place to unload stolen games -- just don't bring 16,000 copies of Brothers in Arms in at one time.

[Thanks, Chuck]

Blizzard has been awarded $6 million in damages from its suit against "bot" maker MDY Industries, the same suit it won back in July. MDY makes the World of Warcraft Glider software, allowing players to automate their avatars while they're AFK. The BBC reports that the Glider program cost $25 and it's believed the company sold around 100,000 copies.

Not that Blizzard is done yet. The company originally wanted double or triple the damages awarded. The case actually goes back into litigation this January and Blizzard will push on some remaining issues, like whether MDY violated the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and whether the Glider programmer will have to pay damages out of his own pocket.

[Via Massively]

EA announced today that sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space is gold and ready to unleash screams starting October 14th in North America. Xbox 360 and PS3 players who purchase the game within the first two weeks of its release will be able to download console-specific space suits. Pre-orders from GameStop Online, EB Canada Online and "select" European retailers will receive the Scorpion suit. The suits feature a new look (seen above), along with "increased toughness and inventory slots."

Remember, the North America EA Store is also offering the "Ultra Limited" edition (only 1,000 copies) for $150. Those will also begin shipping Oct. 14th.

"How dare he abandon us?" you may scream into your monitor (and later into your favorite pillow). Warren Spector, developer of core gamer classics such as Thief and Deus Ex, is working for the mainstream audience. In a Forbes article about casual gaming's increasing influence, Spector said, "I don't believe I'm compromising on my gameplay ideals at all. [But] any artist who doesn't want his or her work in front of the largest audience possible is nuts."

Spector's "shift" shouldn't come as a surprise. For starters, we know his company, the Disney-owned Junction Point Studios, is currently working on a Pixar collaboration. He also intimated his desire for more mainstream development at the Games Education Summit in June.

"I'm sure a lot of the hardcore folks are going to be up in arms and I'm really looking forward to getting into that discussion with them," he said, later adding that he feels the hardcore genre is "completely safe" but "less relevant to major publishers" -- Cliff Bleszinki can breathe a sigh of relief. What we're wondering, now more than ever, is what's going on with the untitled fantasy project we haven't heard about since June 2007.

[Via MCV]

Microsoft confirmed today that Ryan Payton, the assistant producer on Metal Gear Solid 4 who left Kojima Productions in August, will be working on a Halo game. Microsoft wouldn't confirm to Edge the rumors that Payton is heading the Peter Jackson Halo project, merely that he's on the team working on "upcoming and existing Halo games."

Also confirmed for this team: former Gearbox employee Corrine Yu; her husband and artist from id Software, Kenneth Scott; former Bungie content manager Frank O'Connor; and David Wu, former tech director at Full Auto developer Pseudo Interactive. We can't wait to learn what exactly this team is up to.

A beginning is a very delicate time. Know then, it is the year Ten Thousand One Ninety One. The Universe is ruled by GameStop Emperor Daniel DeMatteo IV, ... my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the Universe is the video game. The games extend life, the games expand consciousness, games are vital to existence.

The Gaming Guild and its Navigators, whom the games have mutated over eight thousand years, began solidifying their control over the universe when the precursor to the guild, an ancient corporation called GameStop, purchased a Francais company called Micromania for $700 million. GameStop gained 332 stores and increased its European store count to 1077 (global: 5889). At the time, the company said it would increase its earnings for the year. There was no way to know the truth.

- Princess Irulan Corrino - The GameStop Chronicles: A Beginning.

A handful of folks left jobless in the wake of EA Chicago's closure last November have banded together to form their own independent development studio, Robomodo. The company was actually -- and quiet stealthily we might add -- formed in January 2008 by a number of EA Chicago vets, including Robomodo president and director Josh Tsui, who revealed to GameDaily that the fledgling studio has already been tapped by Actiblizzard to create a new title based on one of the publisher's IP.

As for what exactly Tsui and company are up to, the team isn't talking specifics, saying only that it is a "high-profile extreme sports title," familiar territory for developers who worked on such franchises as Fight Night, Mortal Kombat and Def Jam. Given the group's experience with these sorts of titles, coupled with Tsui's admission in a separate Gamasutra interview that a "good chunk" of those working on the project also helped create Fight Night Round 3 for EA, we wouldn't be at all surprised if Robomodo's plans include trying to go toe-to-toe with their former employers in the ring.

Stay tuned tomorrow for an interview with Robomodo's Tsui and Michicich.