W!Games has revealed that it is hard at work on PC and XBLA versions of its forthcoming PSN title Greed Corp. The four-player strategy game is on track for an early 2010 release, according to a press release published on gamesindustry.biz.

A turn-based strategy with environmental overtones, Greed Corp challenges players to generate wealth, manage natural resources and capture enemy territory. The environment can harvested or mined, but if a particular area is over exploited, it collapses into the void, never to return. The game takes place on a hexagonal map, so we know it’s a proper strategy game.

Greed Corp is the first of several planned titles to take place in Mistbound, a new steampunk setting created and owned by the studio. The announcement does strike me as somewhat ambitious, but if anyone can do it, it’s the developer of Wii blockbuster My Horse and Me.

How will Greed Corp stack up against the likes of Settlers of Catan and Age of Booty? We shall see. One thing is certain, the battle for hexagonal supremacy has begun.

This is what happens when you don’t hire an accredited building inspector.

Here’s a timely reminder of EA’s courageous new approach to games development. As reported by Kotaku, the next Need for Speed game has been confirmed for a 2010 release. You may recall that Criterion Games has been assigned to develop the new title. That’s right, instead of working on Burnout (arguably the most innovative mainstream racing series of the past 10 years) Criterion will instead be milking another of EA’s middle of the road cash cows.

Microsoft has announced Tuesday 17 November as the date Xbox 360 owners will gain access to Movies on Demand. The system update will also add Facebook and Twitter functionality to the dashboard. Personally, I regard this whole social networking business as a desperate cry for attention. You can follow me on Twitter at ErinMarcon. Oh, and don’t forget to join the Black Panel Readers’ League on Facebook.

“Hey, isn’t that the same white flag we raised last year?”

A year after Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge fell short of sales expectations, EA has seemingly abandoned its blink and you’ll miss it flirtation with original IP. According to a Develop report, the publisher will now direct its resources towards the established franchises that it regards as safe bets.

Company CEO John Riccitiello stated that the publisher will concentrate on delivering annual or bi-annual iterations of titles that sold at least 2 million units in their most recent incarnations.  Anything unlikely to be “a very high profit contributor” had been cancelled, Riccitiello said. The projects impacted by this decision have not been identified.

Given the remarks were made in an earnings call, it’s fair to assume they were intended to placate nervous investors. The announcement comes in the wake of substantial losses and savage job cuts at the company. I’m certain the decision to abandon new IP appears financially responsible to some. It strikes me, even in fiscal terms, as desperate and unimaginative. Instead of backing its new IP initiative for a meaningful period (say, five years), EA has panicked at the first sign of adversity.