When mystery man Mark Thomas acquired troubled game publisher Midway for a mere $100,000 last November, the deal raised more than a few eyebrows. It also raised questions like:

Who is Mark Thomas?

How could a company which owns popular franchises like Mortal Kombat and TNA Impact! be purchased so cheaply?

A motion filed on behalf of certain Midway creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Friday makes those questions a matter of record and seeks to block the troubled publisher's move to spend collateral which obscure buyer Mark Thomas's Aquisitions Holding Subsidiary (AHS) put up as part of the Midway purchase.

The language of the motion, which seeks to protect the interests of holders of $150 million of senior Midway debt, comes close to alleging fraudulent insider dealing:

PC

• F.E.A.R. 2 - IT Reviewed - 7.5/10
• X-Blades - PC.IGN - 6/10

  360
  

• F.E.A.R. 2 - 1Up - A minus
• Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad - TeamXbox - 2.7/10
• Street Fighter 4 - Eurogamer - 10/10
• Street Fighter IV - Strategy Informer - 9/10
• X-Blades - Games Radar - 6/10

  PS3
  

• F.E.A.R. 2 - Trusted Reviews - 7/10

  Wii
  

• The House of the Dead: Overkill - Wii.IGN - 8/10
• The House of the Dead: Overkill - GameSpot - 8/10
• Ultimate Shooting Collection - The Laser - B+

The fifth Commander's Challenge trailer is also online.

The game begins in 2010 with your character, US Air Force pilot Nate Renko, being flown to investigate strange readings from a mysterious ex-Soviet Union island. Here he discovers Element 99, a secret weapon developed by the Russians during the Cold War, and the Time Manipulation Device which lets him conduct all sorts of chrono trickery.

"The TMD can project items dusted in E-99 into a future state, or revert them to a previous state," says PCZ. "For example, as enemies rush across a bridge to attack you, the glove can be used to propel the bridge through time, across hundreds of years in a matter of seconds. The effect? Well, the bridge decays under their feet and they fall to their doom." You can even age enemies on the spot until they're nasty, crumbling skeletons, which looks cool.

What's more, mysterious timewaves on the island occasionally blast Nate back into the past - the 1950s to be exact - standing in the exact same spot but 60s years earlier. Expect Prey-style portals, grenades which 'freeze' time and even big, bug-like 'time ticks' to shoot at.

For viral trailers, head here.

X-Blades is all about combat, really. The story that's in place is presented in cel-shaded cutscenes and makes sense once you get rolling, but at the onset it feels like you're thrown into a story at its midway point. That's evidenced even further by the section of the manual titled, "Huh? How did this adventure begin?" No joke, it's there.

The nuts and bolts of X-Blades are that the story surrounds a treasure hunter named Ayumi and her trusty gun-blades (swords that are also pistols) as she seeks to find ancient all-powerful artifacts that are currently hidden away in a long-forgotten temple. Of course standing in her way are forces with the same goal in mind. Time for Ayumi to hack and, yes, slash her way through a myriad of arena battles.

Everything about X-Blades is mediocre. It works for what it is, and there’s some charm to the action and the characters, but the gameplay design is lacking in ingenuity; a notion that is perpetuated the longer you play. Some will be able to find more enjoyment with X-Blades than I, but most will likely wind up walking away before the adventure is over.

Mad Catz reported net sales for the fiscal third quarter ended December 31, 2008 of $40.8 million, a 19.0% increase from $34.3 million in the fiscal 2008 third quarter. Gross profit for the quarter declined 16.7% to $10.5 million, from $12.7 million in the fiscal 2008 third quarter. Gross profit margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 decreased to 25.8% from a record 36.9% in the prior year period. Net loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 was $26.9 million, or ($0.49) per diluted share, compared to net income of $3.3 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2008.

Selling, general and administrative expenses totaled $7.6 million, or 18.7% of net sales in the fiscal 2009 third quarter, compared with $6.4 million, or 18.7% of net sales in the prior year period. Research and development expenses decreased to $0.1 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2009. Reflecting the impact of the estimated non-cash impairment charge, loss before income taxes for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 was $25.8 million, as compared to income before income taxes of $5.6 million in the prior year fiscal third quarter.

A full breakdown of controller and accessory sales can be found here.

Ryu and Ken have been with the series for a long time, but so has their master. Although Gouken has never been a playable character, the legendary martial artist has been whispered about and alluded to for years and he's finally ready to be taken into the ring. Being the brother of Akuma, Gouken studied under the same master and thus shares numerous techniques with his devious sibling. However, Gouken rejected the dark techniques his master employed and developed his own, purified form of combat -- the one that was passed down to Ryu and Ken. Although some of Gouken's Special Moves may just look like rehashes of the other characters, we can tell you this with confidence: Gouken is an incredible fighter.

It may sound strange that I, creator of this game, have had a hard time trying to describe the type of game Noby Noby Boy (releasing on PSN this Thursday, February 19) is. Since the beginning of its development, I still haven’t been able to give a clear answer when asked, but allow me to try again…

Basically players can control and stretch Boy, the main character of the game. As players stretch Boy, the lengths to which he grows are uploaded to a persistent character known as Girl, who grows at the same rate as the combined length of all the players in the world. Girl starts at Earth and expands around the solar system. When Girl reaches a new milestone in the solar system, new areas are unlocked as playable stages for everyone around the world.

Well, that’s the best that I can do to explain the game, but I know people will still go, “Hmm…”

How come it’s hard to explain, you ask? It’s because I wanted to make a game that cannot be expressed by words in the first place. By making an undefined and ambitious game, I want the player’s reaction to be something like, “I don’t know why, but it’s somehow interesting. I can’t stop playing.” In that way, I would feel I have succeeded at creating what I wanted, that is, creating something that’s not easily describable. Anyway, it’s been a fun experience working on Noby Noby Boy.

One big question most people have asked is, “Why did you want to make such a game?” Seriously, I don’t know. When I figure it out, I’ll share. As I mentioned earlier, this game is indescribable, and some people may say, “This isn’t a game!” But, what is a game? Should there be a definition for a game? That’s the way I feel.

Hoping to get 100% completion by next Friday so I can move on to Dawn of War II, but...

I'm off to the U.S. on Monday to see a man about a dog, and won't be back until Thursday. The pair are only available on Tuesday, with the rest of the time being eaten by flights and layovers. Really really, really, long layovers. So this dog best be the next bloody Crufts champion, if you know what I mean.

What titles have occupied your time this past week?

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