As part of a new series to keep things interesting, and get you the latest gaming news, every Friday I will be writing a quick summary of the week’s gaming related events and stories.

First off on today’s post is news that Ubisoft is working on a follow up to their popular Assassin’s Creed game (which sold over 5 million copies worldwide).  Rumor has it that Ubisoft is planning on a release sometime in Q4 of 2009, but we’ll have to wait for more official details (and a trailer!).

Discuss Assassin’s Creed 2 in the Forums

Next on the list of news events this week follows Microsoft’s announcement that they are planning 5,000 job cuts, after missing analyst expectations.  From early reports, the department hit the hardest seems to be Microsoft’s ACES Studio, responsible for the Flight Simulator line of games, as well as Train Simulator, and a new “Visual Simulation Platform”.  Rumors have it that most if not all of the ACES staff has been let go, and things are looking grim for the future of one of the longest running game franchises.

More bad news on the gaming front as early reports show that EA has cut the majority of it’s staff at Black Box Studios.  Black Box was responsible for the development of the Need for Speed racing games, as well as the Skate franchise.  More official details should become available in February at EA’s next earnings call.

Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena – Trailer

How about some good news?  Atari put out a new trailer for their upcoming Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena game.  We get to see some of the new environment, as well as a sample of the up close and personal action in this sequel planned for a late March release.

Well, that’s all for now.  Stay tuned next Friday for another issue of Around the World in Gaming.

Filed under: Video Game News