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THQ, of Saints Row fame, continues financial woes despite their hit-sequel Darksiders 2 selling over 1.4 million units this year. The company closed studios and released a notable portion of their staff earlier this year, but continues to struggle as their finances ultimately overshadow their accomplishments. THQ buried within their most recent quarterly fiscal report the fact that their highly anticipated Role-Playing Game, South Park: The Stick of Truth, will not make its previously estimated March 5, 2013 deadline. The game is now scheduled for release at some point after April 1, 2013 in an effort to find the most financially advantageous date for THQ and allowing the game to reach its full potential as a market-ready title. THQ also postponed the release of Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2 beyond the company's initially estimated release dates. Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2 are now expected to find their way to consoles in March. These delays are just one step in a much larger scheme to improve the company's profitability, whose CEO is now exploring “strategic alternatives” to get their books out of the red.

Vigil Games, the studio behind Darksiders 2, is not prepared for their fans to shelve Death. Death is already up to his knees in a new crisis after delving into Argul's Tomb just one month ago. The official Darksiders 2 blog announced that the game's second piece of downloadable content will be available next week! The Abyssal Forge pits Death against a maker known as 'The Mad Smith'. The Mad Smith, creator of the Abyssal Forge, began assembling a vast army after being banished to the Shadow Lands with his living machine. Death will trek through the swampy terrain and overcome two new dungeons, encountering unique enemies and puzzles, in order to quell this newly unveiled threat. Vigil Games assures that this piece of downloadable content represents some of the more difficult Darksiders 2 puzzles and enemies to date. The Abyssal Forge will be available in North America on October 30. Darksiders 2 fans will need to shell out $9.99 for this content on PC and Playstation 3 or 800 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360.

Saints Row: The Third may have abandoned its status as a Grand Theft Auto clone by embracing satire, but Volition's over-the-top direction became a shameless favorite for many last year. THQ officially announced Saints Row: The Third will be receiving the obligatory “Game of The Year” treatment. Just shy of the game's first birthday, THQ will release The Full Package on November 6. This new version will include the base game and every piece of bonus material currently available, including the rather humorous Trouble With Clones and Gangstas In Space. Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package will be available on the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 for approximately $50. Miss out on Saints Row: The Third last year and find the genre even remotely interesting? The Full Package may be perfect for you.

It's always an unfortunate circumstance when publishers are hit with layoffs (even more so in the wake of Nintendo Power's announced end earlier today) , but unfortunately today proved to be a major day for such an occurrence at the likes of PopCap, THQ, and Funcom (developer of The Secret World and Age of Conan). Specifically, PopCap had to let go 50 employees (more or less) at their Seattle studio while exploring the possibility of whether or not any changes can be made to attain profitability with their Dublin, Ireland studio. PopCap's co-founder stated that today's layoffs are the result of a "fast-changing industry" and the need to reorganize in order to manage costs, improve efficiency, and maintain a profit. You can read more of what he said here on PopCap's very public blog explaining the reason for the layoffs. Meanwhile, THQ has laid off about 20 people from its marketing staff. This comes as a reorganization of sorts as the company's new president, Jason Rubin, attempts to shift more resources into development areas. The official statement on the matter from THQ reads: "THQ confirms a realignment has taken place in the company's marketing and production groups in Agoura Hills. This change is reflective of the company's ongoing strategy to create a more focused, agile, and digitally-oriented organization. Less than 3% of the company's global workforce was impacted, and no development teams or projects were affected by this action." Last but not least, Funcom has not revealed the official number of layoffs but reports that certain measures are being taken to reduce operating costs for The Secret World through layoffs and other means. Game Podunk wishes the best for those who were laid off and hopes they land on their feet soon.

It's always sad news when we hear that a game is no longer in development. Today THQ put out an announcement that inSane has been cancelled. The game was set to be a trilogy made in partnership with Guillermo del Toro. He is known for directing such films as Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, and Cronos. To be fair, the game was never even marked as starting production. All we ever really knew was the name and that del Toro was a part of the project. At least the fact that it was in pre-production spared developer Voilition from having wasted too much time with it. THQ president Jason Rubin said this about the game's cancellation, as well as their pulling back on creating casual games: “We have decided not to pursue further pre-production on Insane, and have returned all of our IP rights to Guillermo del Toro. By cancelling these explorations outside of our core business, we feel we can improve focus on our core game portfolio, which remains unchanged.” It's a simple statement but it says a lot about where THQ is right now. They previously had cancelled the "Enter the Dominatrix" DLC for Saints Row 3 in order to bring it and their focus onto the next full game. They also gave up control of their UFC license. Either way, now the rights for inSane have returned to del Toro. Perhaps we'll see another company pick it up...

THQ has released a new 35 second television spot for Darksiders 2, appropriate as many televisions are likely to be wearing the game on their screens in a little over a week. The TV spot, in all its brevity, shows off the world's favorite event, the Apocalypse ending all human kind, and all the shenanigans associated with such. We see the horrifying face of a child sprung forth from the Uncanny Valley, and she looks pretty terrified of seeing the pale rider himself on the approach. A monster dives at the child and her caretaker, but Death overtakes it and the scene transitions into a Hell-like place where Death beats some dudes up.Dramatic music, theatrical narration, and a giant monster for the hero to go fight all play across the screen, and... Well, see for yourself. http://youtu.be/M_VgiVQLkrg Darksiders II comes to us as a sequel to Darksiders, which followed War, another of the notorious Horsemen. It's been well over two years since its release, however, and so August 14th, 2012, THQ is going to make it right. PC, Xbox 360, and the PlayStation 3 will all get the Darksiders II treatment in just over a week, so gird your loins for more End Days mayhem.

Good news for THQ today - the financially troubled publisher has announced that it is once again compliant with the NASDAQ's minimum bid price selecting requirement, meaning that they won't be de-listed from the NASDAQ as previously feared. This news comes after the announcement that THQ's stock has closed at at least $1 per share for 10 consecutive days, which is the minimum bid price rule for NASDAQ. THQ had previously announced a 1-for-10 reverse stock split earlier in the month in order to raise the per share trading price in order to meet the requirement. Since the reverse split, THQ's number of shares have been reduced from 68.5 million to 6.9 as a result of every 10 shares being reverted into one share of stock. Everything seems to be going to plan for THQ since the reverse split was first announced, so hopefully they can pull themselves out of this financial pit with the hopeful success of their upcoming titles on the horizon; most notably Darksiders 2, which arrives next month.