Gearbox has laid-off an unspecified number of staff, apparently in the wake of lower than expected sales of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.

Studio head Randy Pitchford has released a statement, playing down the matter and confirming that its Sega Aliens games and Take-Two’s Borderlands are alive and well.

“Over the last six weeks, we’ve been adjusting our internal strategy to move from being about Opportunity, Ambition and Growth to a strategy that is oriented towards Quality, Focus and Performance,” he said.

“A number of recent tactical decisions here are a reflection of this new commitment and strategy. The timing of these tactical decisions relates more to natural maneuvering that all studios should only consider after they finish a big effort than anything else.”

There’s lots more detail on Kotaku.

Nelson tells that the demo for Brother in Arms: Hell’s Highway’s found its way onto Live in Germany.

No one dies in this version. This may or may not be true. German blurb:

[USK: Keine Jugendfreigabe] Teste die kostenlose Demo von dem Spiel, das IGN mit den Worten lobt: “Ein WWII-Spiel von der Art wie du es noch nie zuvor gesehen hast.” Erlebe fantastische Grafik und Sound, packende Story und neue Gameplay-Features, die das hochgelobte Brothers in Arms ausmachen.

Have fun, German people.

According to this Nelson post, the demo for Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway is now on Live. Blurb:

Check out the free demo for the game that IGN praised as “A World War II the likes of which you’ve never seen”. Experience the amazing graphics and sound, compelling storyline, and new gameplay features that make the critically-acclaimed Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway more realistic than ever. Join Sgt. Matt Baker and the 101st Airborne Division as they begin the battle to open the infamous Hell’s Highway in a daring bid for a quick end to the war.

It’s a 1.32Gb download. Give it a waz, isn’t it.

Ubisoft just confirmed the PC version of Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway will release in the UK on October 10.

The SKU was thought to be lost to 2009.

But it hasn’t been. So thank holy God for that.

According to this Sun report, 16,000 copies of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway were stolen from a delivery lorry – and then re-nicked after the haul was impounded by the police.

“Shutters at cops’ secure depot were smashed open and the vehicle driven off before being checked for fingerprints or DNA,” says the piece.

A police spokesman said: “We are pursuing a number of lines of enquiry, including eBay transactions where a number of the games have been potentially identified as being advertised for sale. Arrests have already been made in respect of this.”

The loot was stolen in Northampton while the driver rested. The games were just PS3 discs, apparently.

More through the link.

The embargo’s up and the scores are in. Some of them are, anyway. Gearbox’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway got a bit of a weak thumbs up from all and sundry overnight, meaning you should probably play it. We’re going to buy it, but then we’re suckers for gun. Some examples below.

• IGN – 7.6
• Eurogamer – 7
• Team Xbox – 81
• Videogamer – 80
• Game Informer – 78

IGN’s video review’s after the break.

Speaking to MTV, Gearbox game director Jeramy Cooke has stuck it to Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway’s competition by saying opposing games don’t carry the weight of history or character.

“Our competition, from where I’m sitting, they just take a first-person-shooter and skin it in World War II,” he said. “They don’t have any characters. They haven’t read the history. It’s not based on anything real, other than it looks correct. To them, I think that’s just a setting.

“We’re talking about real soldiers, people from history. Certainly, there’s a lot of fiction that goes into what we do, but it has a backbone to it that gives what we do a little more clout and allows us to go places that they’re not going to go. We’re trying to do something with this topic. We think it has some merit as entertainment and education far beyond than just selling lots of boxes.”

So there we are. Reviews are coming in now. We’ll do a round-up in a tick.

Keep your eyes peeled, WWII shooter fans, for the lifting of the worldwide super-embargo on Brother in Arms: Hell’s Highway at 5pm UK time tonight.

Place your bets on the Metacritic average now.

Eurogamer’s put up four direct-feed movies of Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway in action, including footage of squad gameplay, an ambush, a “barn assault” and a “flanking assault.”

Watch away. Game’s out for consoles this week.

Ubisoft just sent out a release schedule confirming the PC version of Brother in Arms: Hell’s Highway for an October 3 release.

The console versions are coming earlier: both PS3 and 360 owners will get to shoot people in the head from September 26 onwards.

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway has gone gold and will be at retail, as planned, on September 23 in the US.

The Gearbox WWII shooter looks to be gory, as was shown in a new video tonight.

It’s out for PC, 360 and PS3. Press release after the link.

Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway Goes Gold
The squad-based WWII shooter will ship September 23.

US, September 15, 2008 – Today Ubisoft and Gearbox Software announce that Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system has gone gold and will ship to stores in North America on September 23, 2008.

Developed by Gearbox Software, Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway brings the critically acclaimed squad-based WWII shooter into the next generation of gaming, with amazing graphics and sound and new cutting-edge gameplay features. Delivering on the franchise’s compelling story, unrivaled authenticity and intense squad-based action, Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway drops you into Operation Market Garden, the largest paratrooper operation in World War II.

Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway will be available at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $59.99.

For more news and information on Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway, please visit the game’s official website at www.brothersinarmsgame.com.

After the break. Be warned: don’t watch it unless you want to see people getting exploded heads and extreme leg-loss. It’s been given an 18 rating by PEGI for a reason. Looks very good, though.

The Gearbox WWII shooter’s out at the end of September for 360, PC and PS3.

It’s a bargain if there ever was one. Not sure if this just applies to the US, though.

Eurogamer’s conducted a live interview with Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford about Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway at the moment, so go and annoy him. You can ask questions, get answers, and all sorts of other things. Not sure what, but there we are. Ask him something.

It’s not the only Ubi game to take a tumble, apparently. The site’s also reporting that Gearbox’s Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway has been pushed back to September 26 from an anticipated August release.

No reason has been given for the delay of either game.

After the break. It’s a tank bonanza. The Gearbox shooter’s looking good, and will release for 360, PS3 and PC in August.

On Gamespot. There’s a Q&A with Gearbox through there as well, covering a lot of the imminent WWII shooter’s story elements.

On GamesRadar. We’re missed this yesterday afternoon, unfortunately. The video looks fantastic as far as we’re concerned, and our fingers are crossed that this is going to be a welcome return to WWII, if that makes sense.

The footage and shots show the game’s destructible cover aspect, including collapsible bell towers and shredded fences.

“Brothers in Arms has always been about suppression and looking for flanks (like real combat), but now it’s also about combined arms and volume of fire,” said Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford. “It’s intense and the feature takes Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway to a new level of authenticity.”

More through the link. PC, PS3 and 360 in August.

“Yeah we do have plans for a demo,” dev boss Randy Pitchford told the site. “We haven’t actually specifically decided which thing, which bit of the gameplay we’re going to put in the demo yet. We’re going to do it. I don’t know if it will come out before the launch or not. It might not, it might come after. We’ll see. But we’re going to give a demo, because there are some people who really want to check things out before they buy.”

The WWII shooter’s out in August.

Speaking at Ubidays 2008 today, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has claimed that Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway represents a “15-20 percent” visual leap over Gears of War.

“Hell’s Highway is Unreal Engine 3, it’s the engine that powered Gears of War,” he said. “Now since Gears of War, Epic’s invested a lot in the technology and it’s much better than what was in Gears. And we’ve worked a lot on this technology; so you’re seeing fidelity that’s about 15-20 percent higher than Gears of War.”

The game, set during the latter stages of the war in doomed Allies mission Operation Market Garden, releases for PC, 360 and PS3 this August.

Hit this for the rest of our Ubidays coverage.

You could damage yourself working through endless stories in a creaking newsreader, but that would be simple duplication of effort. No efficiency there. Let us take the strain. Relax. Kick back. Pop that umbrella into your pina colada and wipe the sunblock from your precious eyes. Then watch a load of videos from Ubidays 2008 on one page instead of 1,400.

After the link you’ll find footage of Prince of Persia, Beyond Good & Evil 2, Tom Clancy’s EndWar, Far Cry 2, Soul Calibur IV, Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, Tom Clancy’s HAWX and Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway.

After the link. Plenty of WWII going on there. The game’s based on the doomed Operation Market Garden at the end of the War and will probably be pretty good. Brothers in Arms games normally are.

For PC, PS3 and 360 in August. There’s bound to be plenty more on this from Ubidays at the end of May.

A trailer for BiA: HH has confirmed that the game will be released in August this year.

The game’s the latest in the Ubi WWII shooter franchise, and is based on the ill-fated Dutch fiasco, Operation Market Garden.

Watch the video after the link. Thanks, Gamersyde

By Mike Bowden

We weren’t entirely convinced when Gearbox announced it’d partnered with Double Fusion to provide in-game ads for WWII shooter Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway, but the developer has shown off how it’s all going to work and it’s looking very “proper” indeed.

As you can see, the ads in the game are going to be from the era itself, the game being set in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden towards the end of the War. The Philips logo used on top of the Philips factory in Eindhoven is historically correct. There’s a big update there on how the ads are going to be incorporated into the game, which looks likely to set a standard far beyond the now normal “billboard” ads we’re used to seeing in games like Burnout Paradise.

As a note, the historical link between the Philips factory in Eindhoven and the game was one of the “sweeteners” behind the amBX-Ubisoft deal announced at CES this year. All true.