While some of you out there see Acclaim's impending closure as good riddance to bad rubbish, it is always a bit disheartening to see one of the industry's cornerstones crumbling into pieces. They brought so many memorable moments like BMX XXX which reminded us of the SNL quote, "who are the ad-wizards that came up with this one?" How about the name your child Turok contest? But in all seriousness, they may of done as much good as they did bad, bringing arcade hits to the consoles such as NBA Jam and the Mortal Kombat series. In the end, however, I think they will go down as one of the worst offenders of releasing licensed games that were just terrible. True Lies wasn't that bad, though..

	Acclaim Closing Its Doors While there is no official announcement at this point, it appears apparent that longtime industry powerhouse, Acclaim, is shutting down and shutting down for good. Employees across the globe have been contacting media personnel, telling them of closed-door meetings where the company has told them that Acclaim will file for bankruptcy protection and eventually cease operations. It's been a stream of bad news lately for the company; the last time employees were paid was on August 17, it has been delisted from NASDAQ, and now this. Where does this leave The Red Star and Juiced? Both titles are finished but their future prospects are unknown. Juiced, set to ship next week, is delayed till further notice as its no longer being published by Acclaim. As for the employees of the company, earlier reports suggested the majority of them were laid off, but sources tell gamesindustry.biz otherwise; they've just been locked out of their offices due to unpaid rent. More should be known about this crisis in the coming days.
	Gungrave: Overdose to Release at $14.99 The headline pretty much says it all; Mastiff Games announce that the upcoming Gungrave: Overdose, sequel to 2002's Gungrave, will release next week for the incredibly low price of $14.99. Not only that, but it will come packaged with a free three month subscription to Play magazine and collectible card sporting artwork from the anime series. They're calling it the "Can't Lose" deal.
	New Releases This Week Plenty of sports action going down this week with the release of ESPN NHL 2K5 (PS2, Xbox), NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup (PS2, Xbox, GCN), and WWE Day of Reckoning (GCN). Plenty of other big-name releases with Pikmin 2 (GCN), Street Racing Syndicate (PS2, Xbox, GCN), Spy Fiction (PS2), Terminator 3: The Redemption (PS2, Xbox, GCN), Street Fighter Anniversary Collection (PS2), and Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires (PS2). Finally, RPG fans get two treats: Star Ocean: Till The End of Time (PS2) and Phantom Brave (PS2). Wow, what a great week this is going to be!
	Misc. Q&As/Features HomeLAN Fed speaks with Alex Ward of Criterion about Burnout 3: Takedown. GameSpy delivers a ton of interviews with Midway developers; view the list here.
	Misc. Media/Previews
	1up gears us up for Gran Turismo 4 with these new shots. They all deliver full impressions of Kingdom Hearts 2. GameSpot has a couple details on the new Shining Force. IGN has some of the first images for it here. GameSpot also has video of Star Ocean 3 the night before its release.
	Game Informer posts up a video walk-through of the Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict demo. The official Jade Empire site updates with two new videos. TeamXbox is the latest to go hands-on with OutRun 2.
	More details regarding Metal Gear Acid (PSP) are at 1up tonight. GameSpot has updated impressions of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA). The Magic Box hosts a few shots of F-Zero Climax (GBA).
	Game Informer has another demo walk-through, this time with Area 51 (PS2, Xbox). They also give us impressions of NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup (PS2, Xbox, GCN) and Mortal Kombat: Deception (PS2, Xbox, GCN). TeamXbox delivers plenty of media of Need for Speed Underground 2 (PS2, Xbox, GCN), Colin McRae Rally 2005 (PS2, Xbox), GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (PS2, Xbox, GCN), and Miami Vice (PS2, Xbox). GameSpot delivers plenty as well; video of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection (PS2, Xbox), TOCA Race Driver 2 (PS2, Xbox), X-Men Legends (PS2, Xbox, GCN), and Street Racing Syndicate (PS2, Xbox, GCN). IGN gives us new media for Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (PS2, Xbox, GCN) and ESPN NBA 2K5 (PS2, Xbox). Blackhole Motorsports chime in with clips from FlatOut (PS2, Xbox). GameSpy wraps it up for us with a preview of Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone (PS2, Xbox).