Revealed through a post on Blizzard’s forum, Jeff Kaplan has left his post as the director of insanely popular MMO World of Warcraft to move to the studio’s unannounced next-gen MMO.

“World of Warcraft has been such a central part of my life these past six and a half years, and it’s success would not have been possible without the tremendous community around it, so I wanted to say thank you to all our players who’ve shared this amazing experience with us so far,” he wrote.

Kaplan added that he will still be involved in WoW’s future, though Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brac will now handle day-to-day operations.

“When all is said and done, WoW is still my favorite game. I play it every day. None of that passion is gone,” he wrote. “If anything, it fuels the challenge of making our next MMO even better. We know we have some big shoes to fill.”

World of Warcraft is still going strong with over 11.5 million active subscribers worldwide.

According to a Japanese press release translated by Adriasang, Namco Bandai is staging a buyout of D3 Publisher. The Soul Calibur publisher has already secured 70% of D3’s shares and hopes to acquire the remaining 30% for full control of the company.

D3 Publisher is best known for publishing various Naruto and Ben 10 titles, as well as Dark Sector and Puzzle Quest.

Namco hopes that the acquisition will help both companies out, complementing each other. It will also cooperate in their overseas expansion efforts, as well as maximize D3 content’s reach through Namco’s toy, amusement and video divisions.

When a game requires you to defecate on a sitting monarch, you have to wonder how long it’s going to be before the game’s creator winds up in a deep hole somewhere.  Thus, it’s hard to say how long the guys behind “You Have To Defecate Upon King Bhumibol” will be around.

Billed as “a complete ripoff of Mazapan’s IGF-nominated “You Have To Burn The Rope” (which was also, by the way, surprisingly fun)”, “You Have To Defecate Upon King Bhumibol” is almost a new low in gaming.  Essentially, all you will do is negotiate your way through a tunnel.  You’ll be attacked by no enemies, but you can throw your hat if you like at the vast among of nothing charging at you at any given time.  At the end of the tunnel is “a certain Thai royalty”, ostensibly the titular King Bhumibol.  You will then have to position yourself directly above the king, which releases a large quantity of brown sludge onto the enormous (relative to your character) King Bhumibol.
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Silent Hill: Homecoming represents an interesting new twist in the Silent Hill saga for several reasons, and I for one am glad for the ride.

Way back in the beginning, you were immersed in Silent Hill itself.  We got to see many prime locations like Midwich Elementary, and all those others that we came to know and fear.  The second Silent Hill took this basic approach and expanded on it, allowing you a glimpse into more of the terror surrounding this unobtrusive small town in the middle of nowhere.  And it continued like this until, for some reason, we reached the third one and the design began to unravel.  Indeed, it was as though we were watching the game series itself slip into its own dark side, where everything was clunky and jagged and rusty.  I don’t know about you, but I didn’t exactly get a huge terror buzz following the mallrat around in the third one, and the fourth one felt less like Silent Hill and more like a bad Japanese horror movie.  Playing Silent Hill 4: The Room left me screaming at my TV: “I thought this was Silent Hill, not I Can’t Leave My Apartment!” It was like hell for otakus, except in otaku hell, on the other side of that door are a hundred horny Sailor Venus cosplayers who are REALLY into fat guys who like anime.
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Despite the success of Midway’s holiday season the company has still been floundering under the crushing weight of over $240 million in debt. In that classic avoidance of ones own failures that often seems in complete contradiction of the capitalist system Midway has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If this goes through the company will be allowed to enter a restructuring phase.

With Wheelman featuring Vin Diesel in the pipeline along with an as-yet unspecified Mortal Kombat title Midway could have enough steam to keep going after the restructuring period, but only time will tell for the developer.

Not really surprising anyone, EA today announced that they are working on a movie-tie-in game for the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra live-action film, which is due out this August.

Set for release around the same time that the film hits theaters, the game is in development for PS3, PSP, PS2, Wii, Xbox 360 and DS. It will “feature an exclusive storyline that picks up where the live-action movie leaves off, allowing players to recreate and relive the greatest moments from the film, cartoon series and action figure toy line,” according to EA.

Players will be able to choose from 12 characters and go through the game with a friend thanks to cooperative modes. Vehicles can also be hijacked, among other things.

Comments made by Blizzard COO Paul Sams during an Activision earnings call reveals that the best test for their highly anticipated strategy sequel StarCraft II will be released in the “months ahead”.

He added that an early version of the new Battle.net architecture will be included in the beta test. Testers have already been chosen, as those who attended BlizzCon 2008 received a voucher for beta access.

Sams, however, would not reveal when the studio plans on releasing the first of the three upcoming titles. He did confirm that a major “frontline” Blizzard title will be released this year. Diablo 3, anyone?

The Star Wars franchise has been a money printer for LucasArts for a long time, but Star Wars: Force Unleashed takes the cake for being the fastest-selling title in the franchise’s history: 5.7 million copies since its September 2008 release.

It can also be pointed out that the game’s demo also set records, seeing over one million downloads on Xbox Live in a week.

The game, while not received well by critics, can also thank its success for being released on every imaginable platform in the market – all except for PC. It was released on PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360, DS, iPod, iPhone, N-Gage and other mobile platforms.

Troubled publisher Eidos has been on the selling block for a long time now, and has gotten quite a few offers, though identities of possible buyers were never disclosed. Square Enix, however, has publicly revealed that it has made an offer to buy the company for 84.3 million pounds, which roughly converts to $120 million.

Eidos was acquired by SCi a couple of years ago, but has met with ever-worsening financial conditions. The publisher is host to various big name franchises, including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman and Kane & Lynch.

“Eidos’ products are highly complementary to our business and will accelerate our aggressive expansion into Western markets,” said Square Enix president Yoichi Wada.

The move will have to be approved by shareholders before going through. Square notes that its offer represents a 129% premium over the worth of Eidos’ stock.

Surprising how old rivals can join together to print money for its makers – following the immensely successful Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which has sold over 10 million units since its release last year, Sega has announced that the ludicrous duo are heading to the Winter Olympics.

In development at Sega Japan with the involvement of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games for the Wii and DS will offer various Olympic-themed mini-games, including speed skating and alpine skiing. The Wii Balance Board will be supported, which Sega claims will offer realistic experiences.

The game is due out late this year.