Avalanche Studios has confirmed that it is readying to lay off 77 of its employees, about half of the studio's total workforce. Among those who will most likely be laid off are some members of the Just Cause 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) team.

Eidos Interactive has announced the return of its hardcore CIA black ops super spy (and Enrique Iglesias look-alike) Rico Rodriguez in the sequel to the 2006 title Just Cause with Just Cause 2 for the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. The new game will feature even more death defying stunts and vehicle chases, as well as a whole new location with various realistic weather effects.

Read more in the full article after the jump!

Planning to start a revolution? Want to bring down a power-hungry regime? Who you gonna call? Rico Rodriguez, that's who, and he's back for more action in the sequel to Eidos' rollicking tropical island romp, Just Cause. Check out a few details about Just Cause 2 in the full article.

Good news for basement game developers seeking a break into the elite group of creative, intelligent individuals behind today's games. Avalanche Studios, creator of the critically-acclaimed multi-platform title Just Cause, will not only be unveiling its latest creation - the Avalanche Engine - but will also looking for new talent to be interviewed on-site, as well as give potential hires a glimpse of how the company works behind the scenes.

With growth comes challenges, and Avalanche Studios is no stranger to the adage. Attendees of Nordic Game 2007 will learn how the company copes with the difficulties of expanding from a sparsely-staffed, one-project-at-a-time outfit into a full-blown games development giant with a staff of over a hundred strong and an appetite for cross-platform, cross-genre and cross-IP title production. Christofer Sundberg, Co-founder and Creative Director says it like it is:

Growing isn’t cool in itself but sometimes it’s a necessary evil considering the complexity of today's projects. Improving efficiency at Avalanche Studios has been key in avoiding the trap of becoming a slow-moving beast – our experiences with managing growth are something we’re very happy to share with our industry colleagues at Nordic Game.

And as mentioned earlier, Avalanche Studios IS looking for new talent, and it will be interviewing those who take up the challenge personally at the developers' Career Expo Booth, handled by representatives from the Stockholm studios' management, technical, and art departments.  If you're ready and willing, set up the interview by calling Linda Bäcklund at +46 (0)84427670 or via e-mail at Avalanche Studios’ recruitment hotline at jobs@avalanchestudios.se.

We all wish that we have our personal time machines. Lewis from the upcoming Disney movie Meet the Robinsons invented his own to get some unanswered questions. Disney Interactive Studios will of course port the movie to various videogame platforms.

In Meet the Robinsons, Lewis invented a time machine to discover why his biological mother put him up for adoption - and naturally to meet her. Before he discovers why, villain Bowler Hat Guy and his robotic hat companion Doris steals the time machine for his own diabolical plans. Enter Wilbur Robinson and the adventure starts. Plus the cool future gadgetry, of course.

Two developers were involved in porting Meet the Robinsons, Climax for the DS and GBA versions and Avalanche Software for the PC, PS2, PSP, Wii, and Xbox360 version. In game, Wilbur will be able to whip out the gadgets in his arsenal: Charge Gloves (default weapon, for the energy shield and energy ball), Disassembler (as the name suggests, take things like crates and containers apart to reveal the contents), Scanner (scans interactive items and gives info about them), Havoc Gloves (used to burrow and for special attacks), L.E.V. (Levitation Emitting Volume - sends enemies floating helplessly in mid-air).

We also have three short gameplay videos featuring the use of the some gadgets, a level where Wilbur is inside a protective sphere that looks eerily like a hamster ball, a Protectosphere, and another one features a fiery boss fight. Meet the Robinsons will hit the shelves in March 27 so we'll quit babbling now and let you watch the videos. Enjoy!

The rest of the videos right after the jump!

PathEngine is very pleased to announce that their SDK for intelligent agent movements just got upgraded. On top of that, the company is also very proud that Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios took notice of their program and will be using it for future multi-platform projects.

The software, that goes by the same name as its developer, is aimed to implement points-of-visibility pathfinding on three-dimensional ground meshes. The latest version, v5.05, includes support for the generation of pathfinding ground meshes, directly from un-marked-up 3D scene representations. With the inclusion of arbitrary polygon soups, run-time, and resulting movements becomes much easier to understand.

Furthermore, Avalanche Studios, wouldn't divulge yet the title or the nature of its upcoming title. However, they ascertained that it will be on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC.

PathEngine v5.05 comes as well with a new content process that generates explicit world representation without the need for any explicit scene markup. Refer to the read link for more information regarding the development kit.

Avalanche Studios has told Kong, a Swedish publication, that a sequel for Just Cause is "in the pipeline" according to Pro-G Media. The only details are the platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. And that's all we got from them.

We like the idea of a sequel. Just because Just Cause is that good - or so say those of us who like its fast pace, action, and story. The physics are "more real" than the real world (think "Hollywood action flick"), and the settings are brilliant. Of course, if you take real-world sociopolitical issues seriously (you know, if you like to join debates about "U.S. intervention in other sovereign states"), you might take offense at some of the things that happen in this game.

The game also has the ESRB M-rating-worthy unholy quintuplet: drugs, bad words, violence, blood, and sex. This isn't an innocent romp like Disney's Cars.

After all the Latin heat that Avalanche Studios threw your way, was Just Cause everything that you expected it to be? And if you haven't played the game yet, Rico Rodriguez said it best in this video when he stated "Do you really want to play with me?"

Gametrailers makes a tell-all, no holds barred review on the game that is packaged in a high definition video for your convenience. They dish out their thoughts on the game's mind numbing stunts, so-so environment design and much, much more. Download the video through the download link below the article and see for yourself why it was given a 7.5 rating.

Download: [Just Cause Game Review]

So, have you found your own Just Cause yet? It came out last September 26. Well, maybe you have, maybe you haven't; but for those who are already enjoying the sights, sounds, and stunts in the sunny island of San Esperito, you might want to have a little look-see here. We've got you three videos to guide you through the island.

The first one (above) is all about the glitches that got past Eidos and Avalanche Studios. Mostly it has to do with graphical errors, like suddenly walking through solid objects. Sort of like a David Copperfield thing going on there. Ah... Magic... It's funny to watch, actually.

One video shows you the stunts that you can pull off: parasailing via a car, hanging by the backfins of a copter, and sky diving. The other one is about the safehouse and all the nifty weapons that you can use in the game. No, no... Not just the weapons per se, but this teaches you new tricks on how to use some of them in a... creative manner.

Yeah, so watch the vids below. Rico Rodriguez is waiting...

Pre-Order: [Just Cause]

Download: [Stunts video]
Download: [Safehouse/Weapons video]

There is a sense of deep-seated patriotism in the boxart of Just Cause. That's because it emulates the world-famous photograph of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara, taken by the Cuban photographer Alberto Korda. More than just being a pretty face on some rockstar kid's cool shirt, Che Guevara played a much more pivoting role than that, as he was instrumental in the overthrow of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.

And it would seem as if it is not only the photograph that Just Cause tried to emulate from him.

Set on a fictional South American tropical island called San Esperito, Rico Rodriguez aims to overthrow the dictator, believed to be hoarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. It's a threat not only to the innocent civilians of the island, but to the whole of world peace as well.

Just Cause is entirely free-roam, where you gain complete freedom of choice, at least insofar as your transportation, armament, and movement is concerned. And as your character is one heck of a CIA black ops agent, you are also able to spin out stunts ala Ethan Hunt in "Mission: Impossible II" with a number of gadgets like grappling hooks, paragliders, and parachutes.

Prepare for revolution, cause Just Cause is headed your way this 22nd of September in Europe, while it's set for release on September 27 in North America...hey! It IS September 22! Hooray for European gamers!

Still, a little more screenshots won't hurt... Enjoy!

There are more screens after the jump!

Pre-Order: [Just Cause]