A few weeks ago, LucasArts announced that it was laying off some internal staff as part of its restructuring plans. Yesterday, however, we were shocked to learn that those cuts included key staff that’s been working onThe Force Unleashed. Most surprising of all is that some of the employees who were let go aren’t exactly new to the company, and have worked on such games asGrim Fandango,X-Wing, andFull Throttle. Just why LucasArts decided to trim down this particular team remains unclear, but as on ex-employee pointed out toJoystiq, should fans ofThe Force Unleasheddemand a sequel, there just aren’t enough people left on the team to make it happen at the moment....

–Spazzzh20writes a fully uncensored review ofSonic Frontiers. -PhilsPhindingsdiscusses the similarities between the soundtrack ofSuper Mario Worldand early 20th-century piano music. -PhilsPhindingsdiscusses the similarities between the soundtrack ofMortal Kombat 2and Dance music. –PhilsPhindingsdiscusses the similarities between the soundtrack ofMortal Kombatand Blues music. –ChronoLynxxopens this week’s TGIF community forum for random discussions. Thanks for the blogs this week, folks, and thanks as always toLord Spencerfor the recap. If you wanna join in on the HOT TAKE party, then head on over to the Cblogs section right now....

I’m more than happy to admit thatDestiny 2: The Final Shapeended up being a wonderful surprise in most ways that matter. Fromits vibesto itsnew raid,Final Shapeis great stuff, yes, but it also set far too high a baseline for the new seasonal content. For one, Bungie announced the Echoes/Episodes – a replacement for the previous years’ Season – just around the time people were figuring out that theSeason of the Wish wasn’t all that goodin the grand scheme of things....

Woah wait, how much are you selling us for? Someone took the crazy pill at Microsoft Store because we’re spotting someridiculously good pricingon recently released and upcoming games. WhileBattlefield 1for $27 wasn’t that big of a surprise, the pre-order ofFinal Fantasy XV Day One Editionat $34.99 is stupid good. Also decent isForza Horizon 3for $39.99 (Xbox Play Anywhere edition) andGears of War 4for $29.99 (also a Play Anywhere title). Sold out deals includes $15Fallout 4andDark Souls III, plusDragonball Xenoverse 2for only $25....

A Golden Shower for adventure fans (in a good way) Want a neat adventure game set in the Roaring Twenties; during the birth of jazz; during the years of prohibition; filled with historical facts, characters, and events? Hell yeah, you do! And here it is:A Golden Wake. Set against the backdrop of the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s,A Golden Wakeis a story of an innocent man’s descent into greed and corruption, and his eventual redemption....

Unfortunately, I believe Xbox Original titles are region locked soRaze’s Hellwon’t work with my Xbox Live account. This is most unfortunate, because based on this advert alone, which I found sitting in my inbox, I wantRaze’s Hellprobably more than anything else. We alreadytalked about this game being availableon the Marketplace for 1200 Points, but this image was just too good to pass up. I really want to play this game, but I don’t fancy putting MS Points on a US account just to get a version that works with my NTSC Xbox....

Vying for position I have some good memories of playing single playerFreQuencyyears ago. However, the only memories I have of the multiplayer mode are of me playing against my friends in high school and crushing them, then going off to college and playing against a guy in my dorm and being crushed. Neither situation was particularly fun. With Harmonix’s new Kickstarter-fundedAmplitude, the multiplayer is getting a nice upgrade. Instead ofFreQuency‘s simple head-to-head score attack, it uses something closer to the system found inAmplitude(2003)....

Art Attack Friday is your weekly look at videogame fan art created by a talented artist. Jab Strong Fierce is aStreet Fightertribute art show that’scurrently open in Los Angelesuntil May 11. The show is presented by Nucleus and I am 8-bit and is officially supported by Capcom and Udon Entertainment. The art itself is a nice mix of various styles from a ton of different artists. The gallery below has some of my favorites and you may find all the pieces overon Nucleus’ Web site....

Yasuke is one of the two playable protagonists inAssassin’s Creed Shadowsalongside Naoe. While you don’t get to play as Yasuke until midway through the game, he is still a fully fleshed-out character and you’re able to acquire Mastery Skills for him. Of course, Yasuke’s Mastery Skills are a little different than Naoe’s, so here are the best skills to target first. Best Mastery Skills for Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows Yasuke is quite different from Naoe inAssassin’s Creed Shadows....

You can also play the new map, Rialto Overwatch, like most shooters, is in constant flux. What might be meta now could change in a matter of weeks or even days, and the current PTR (public test region/realm) is looking to shake things up once again. Blizzard has announced that Hanzo is losing his scatter arrow ability, and will now utilize storm arrows, a succession volley attack of six shots — as well as a new mid-air jump called lunge....

Blogger Kezins is either incredibly brave or made of steel plating, but even if he’s a bit of both, he’s drawn plenty of ire with a recent post onKezins.comabout how he feels the Wii will fall into total obscurity by 2009 unless they address the key problems with the system and how it is marketed. His bullet list includes: Now, quantifiers like this may be up for discussion in a college classroom or board meeting, but this is the internet and none of those rules about tact or respect for your fellow man do much good around here, as any fan of the Wii (or any console, for that matter) can vouch for....

We added a new code! If you don’t know what it means to be in the middle of chaos in a kitchen, get the whole experience withBurger Gameon Roblox! Learn how to make burgers and fries and serve customers, especially during peak hours when your effort matters the most. This co-op title is super fun but challenging at the same time, so try to useBurger Gamecodes for extra help whenever you can....

Not so lost now As we approach the spookiest time of the year, Nintendo has appropriately given us another arrangement from theCastlevaniafranchise. The new track comes from the legendary entrySymphony of the Night, which will conveniently be coming out again this week onanother platform. The new arrangement is for “Lost Painting,” a song many may associate with obtaining the Crissaegrim in the original game. This time the supervisor for the arrangement is Tetsuya Shibata....