It's the last Roundup before E3, and I must say that gaming news didn't really slow down as much as I'd expected this week. This, of course, calls E3's relevance into question, and whether or not the show will blow our minds or simply flaunt how awesome Starcraft II will be for the umpteen-jillionth time. I'm hoping developers are keeping a few secrets pressed tightly to their chests in anticipation of next week, but those same hopes aren't too high.

As for today's batch of news, we have a bevy of Acti-Blizzard details -- including which developers are taking a few blows as a result of their new daddy -- some sad news for Warhammer Online fans, and some even sadder news for-- oh wait, it's Hellgate.

Activision Merger: Blizzard Retains Autonomy, Sierra Studios & Titles To Get The Chop

The Blizzard bit is kind of obvious, but Sierra may see some of its hard work join the likes of Warcraft Adventures and any sort of Ultima Online sequel in the scrap heap. Currently, Sierra is slaving away on titles like Prototype, Brutal Legend, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, and Ghostbusters, but even those big-name games aren't safe. Activision's Bobby Kotick apparently sets a very high bar -- both in terms of quality and potential profitability -- so a few potentially excellent games might be getting an unexpected ker-flush. Fortunately, it's not all bad news, as some of the games and the talent behind them may end up auctioned off to other publishers. I wish the best of luck to all who are affected by this turn of events.  

Layoffs Confirmed At Hellgate Developer Flagship

Misery loves company. First, Hellgate developer Flagship admitted that its game was rushed, but that's nothing compared to today's bombshell. According to Gamasutra's report, staff from Flagship's development team as well as their online services subsidiary, Ping0, have been laid-off. CVO David Brevik attempted to reassure fans through his blog, writing, ""All our Directors and Founders are still working at Flagship, and all of them are working on Hellgate: London or Mythos. The team size for Hellgate is as big now as when we shipped." Apparently, misery loves chaos as well, because Hellgate's Korean publisher, HanbitSoft, is claiming that it will now snatch full control of Hellgate away from Flagship. However, Flagship says that HanbitSoft's audacious claim is "an outright lie."

Hickey: “We absolutely believe Activision will take a look at Take-Two”

Analyst Mike Hickey believes Acti-Blizz will attempt to "stir the pot a little bit" by setting its sights on EA's prize. However, The Deal notes that EA's warchest is a tad more golden and glittery than Activision's, and that Activision probably isn't up for a bidding war after its recent merger. Regardless, though, the real winner in this situation would be Take-Two, since a bidding war would almost certainly mean more money lining its pockets.

Warhammer Online suffers massive feature-cut

"Weclome to the Waaagh beta!" read a fresh, darkened email in my inbox earlier today. Then I read this headline. Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched -- like, for someone's entertainment -- and that person hates you?

EA Mythic's name goes back to Mythic Entertainment

Harsh, EA. They're only cutting a few classes and some cities. You can't abandon them in their time of need!

Oh, it's a new EA thing. Devs like Bioware and Pandemic didn't have to sharpie and "E" and an "A" onto their nametags, so I guess it works retroactively now.

505 Games sinks its teeth into new DS Buffy game

This is happening. Like, for real.

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