The most wonderful time of the year. NOT

As the economy struggles to recover, companies everywhere are laying off people and/or shutting down divisions. Gamasutra is reporting that Activision is shuttering Guitar Hero and Band Hero developer Budcat in addition to putting Bizarre Creations, whose current titles Blur and 007:Bloodstone were published by Activision, up for sale. Lucasarts is also trimming its staff as well. It seems like companies are trying to salvage their year-end books by making these cuts but at the same time putting employees out of work at the beginning of the holiday season.

Hopefully the people who work for these developers will be taken care of in the short term and land on their feet in a new company or a new venture soon.

Unreal Engine 3 games do not all look the same

According to developer Mark Rein, if all Unreal Engine 3 games look the same it is because art directors are sharing ideas across projects and not the engine

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