Activision is currently riding high off the success of World of Warcraft--and Call of Duty--and Guitar Hero isn't doing bad, either. This list could go on, but suffice it to say that as of the publisher's most recent financial disclosure, Activision Blizzard had a cool $3 billion in its coffers, just waiting for a rainy day and a fire sale on one of its one-time competitors. Mike Griffith Speaking to the Bloomberg news service yesterday, Activision Publishing president and CEO Mike Griffith reiterated that his company is keeping an eye out for potential acquisition targets. "The combination of Activision holding a fair amount of cash and presumably prices being depressed, not only for publicly traded companies, but also likely for new intellectual property licensing rights, should certainly create opportunities," he said.

Last month, THQ announced that it would be laying off a quarter of its global work force, more than 600 workers. Today the publisher shed a little more light on where those layoffs were coming from, announcing that it had laid off 86 employees from developer Volition's quality-assurance staff. Red Faction: Guerrilla will be the next Volition game to hit shelves. The layoffs hit Volition's Champaign, Illinois QA facility, which is not far from Volition's Champaign, Illinois headquarters. That QA location will eventually be closed, with 16 employees transferring to Volition proper. A THQ representative stressed that the core development team of 236 employees at Volition--best known for its Saints Row and Red Faction franchises--will remain untouched.

At last year's Game Developers Conference 2008, a consortium of PC-centric companies including Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Nvidia, and others, said that they would be banding together to create the PC Gaming Alliance. A nonprofit organization, the group's expressed goals were centered on "advancing the PC as a worldwide gaming platform." Christian Svensson One of the newest members to join the PCGA is Capcom. In an interview with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Capcom's vice president of strategic planning Christian Svensson expanded on the publisher's decision to join the organization, saying that the PCGA is necessary because retailers aren't adequately supporting the PC gaming environment.

Any which way it's cut, Microsoft's Summer of Arcade initiative last August was nothing short of a monumental success. In a single month, the publisher pushed onto its Xbox Live online platform critically acclaimed hits Braid, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Galaga Legions, Bionic Commando Rearmed, and Castle Crashers. In the process, Microsoft realized a 67 percent spike in revenue from the service during the period, setting a new monthly-sales record in the process.

Everyone wants a slice of GameStop's lucrative used-gaming pie. Toys "R" Us recently joined Best Buy and the late Circuit City on the list of big-time chain retailers who have trafficked in used games, and today yet another competitor has entered the field. Coming soon: Used car sales. Online retailer Amazon.com today launched its Video Games Trade-In beta program, offering customers gift-card credit in exchange for their used games. Once customers have selected a list of games to trade in (all trades must be in good condition with original packaging), they can print out shipping labels for free and send them in. Once the games are received and inspected, Amazon.com will deposit the gift-card credit into the user's account.

Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, airplanes, helicopters, and motorcycles

Open, non-linear environment with multiple storylines and missions - from drive-by shootings to armed robberies

Avoid attracting attention - The more chaos you cause, the stronger the response -- first SWAT teams, then Feds and finally the military

Classic and all-new side missions, like Beach Patrol

Pay off hospital staff to keep weapons you'd normally lose

An all-new revenge meter tracks underhanded tactics and leads gamers down the path to the ultimate payback

Now every vehicle on the road is in play and a potential target - Ram traffic into your rivals, slam cars into vicious combo-based pile-ups and lay waste to everything in sight

Show Hollywood how it's done with all-new open-ended crash junctions - multiple start points, complex, vertically-oriented tracks and hundreds of cars begging to be decimated

Tracks are loaded with massive jumps, multiple paths and nasty chokepoints to deliver the ultimate brutal car combat

More than 3 times the car deformation in Burnout 3 - Takedown - gamers can literally rip cars to shreds

The third installment in the hit Diner Dash franchise!

Flo's Closet: Create your favorite outfit for Flo to wear!

Seat customers, take orders, serve drinks, deliver food and collect tips

2 modes of play: Story and Endless Shift

5 new restaurants, 9 customer types, 25+ new décor upgrades

A complete list of over 30,000 cheats for the latest & greatest Playstation 2 games -- the biggest library ever

Win the game every time, by giving yourself infinite health or ammo, walking through walls, skipping levels, and much more

Use Quick Mode to get right into the action -- unlock all kinds of cheat codes with a button

Go online and get live code updates through your broadband connection - you'll never have to enter a code by hand again

Auto-Game Recognition - Action Replay MAX detects the game in your PS2 and takes you immediately to the relevant list of codes

Choose which faction you'd like to join - The Rebel Alliance, Imperial Army, Clone Troopers or the Separatists

Drive AT-ST's, speeder bikes and tanks to outmaneuver your opponents

Jump into the cockpit of X-Wings and TIE Fighters and fight for control of space

Explore actual locations from the Star Wars films, like the wooded moon of Endor and the ice planet Hoth -- and new locations like Kamino, the ocean planet

The ringed world of Geonosis, the jungle moon of Yavin IV, the canals and bridges of Naboo are all created in amazing, fully-realized 3D