THQ saw a net revenue loss of $239.9 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, $100 million more than the previous fiscal year's loss of $136.1 million.

"We have made significant changes to our business, and are on track to execute our strategy of delivering quality connected core gaming experiences, beginning with the sequel to the award-winning Darksiders in August," president and CEO Brian Farrell said in a THQ earnings statement.

THQ has seen a rough year, with plummeting revenue despite the success of Saints Row: The Third and WWE '12. THQ laid off 240 employees, slashed the salaries of its head honchos and cut its "kids' licensed video games" department earlier this fiscal year, following quarter losses of nearly triple the previous period.

THQ has sold through 84 percent of its shipped uDraw tablets and expects to sell its remaining inventory in fiscal 2013. The company's "future kids' license commitments" have been reduced by $30 million, THQ reports.

THQ describes its emergency layoffs, salary cuts and company rehashing as follows: "The company exited the traditional kids' licensed games business, and streamlined its product line, organization and cost structure to support a smaller company positioned for sustained profitability."

Which would you be more likely to walk into a store and ask for? Something called "WWE 12" or something called "WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011?" THQ reports that common sense has won out, as it attributes increased sales of the new title, in part, to the new naming convention.

"The successful rebranding of this annual franchise has led to higher sell-through to date," the company notes in its latest earnings release, "which is up approximately 20 percent on like-for-like platforms in North America versus the year-ago title." THQ didn't share the sell-through number, but it did disclose that it shipped more than 2.2 million copies since November. It sounds like a much more successful rebranding than "Hollywood Hogan."

Ubisoft ended the 2012 financial year on the up, reporting a gross profit of €718 million ($917 million) and sales up 2.1 percent to €1 billion ($1.4 billion) year-over-year, according to its financial results for 2011-2012.

Ubisoft ended fiscal 2011-12 with net income of €37.3 million ($47.6 million), up from a net loss of €52.1 million ($66.5 million) in the 2011 fiscal year.

Sales from "core gamers" in Assassin's Creed Revelations, Rayman Origins, Driver San Francisco and free-to-play title The Settlers Online generated €578 million ($738.1 million) in revenue, Ubisoft reported. Casual games brought in €483 million ($616.8 million) in revenue, mainly from Just Dance, Rocksmith and free-to-play title Howrse.

Core and casual titles contributed to a 110.8 percent jump in online and digital sales, bringing that figure to €80 million ($102.1 million), Ubisoft reported.

Ubisoft's net cash position is down from €99.2 million ($126.6 million) in 2011 to €84.6 million ($108 million) in 2012, while current operating income rose 90 percent to €56 million ($71.5 million) year-over-year.

Activision has paid out $42 million to the "Infinity Ward Employee Group," which sued Activision in 2010 seeking profits from Modern Warfare 2. A source speaking to Polygon said that the payment was not a settlement; rather, Activision's discovery phase (for its own lawsuit against former Infinity Ward leads Jason West and Vince Zampella) found no evidence that the Employee Group members were complicit in the breach-of-contract issues for which Activision is suing, and so Bobby Kotick and Activision agreed to pay them.

That group sought $75 million to $125 million, plus punitive damages. IWEG attorney Bruce Isaacs told Polygon that "although it is a meaningful payment it is only a small portion of what we are seeking in litigation." And it is still going forward with said litigation. Isaacs said the payment was a "cynical attempt to look good before the jury trial."

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Despite never having been released for Wii in North America, the Wii's "New Play Control" version of Pikmin 2 will be released as part of the "Nintendo Selects" line June 10, alongside fellow GameCube port Mario Power Tennis. Rather than question the logistics of a budget re-release of a game that was never released in the first place, we'll celebrate the $19.99 price point under which it's coming out.

Also joining the Nintendo Selects line are two bona fide Wii games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the excellent Donkey Kong Country Returns, at $30 each. It's about (two years past) time for Brawl to be made cheaper, though it's unusual that these two games will sell for $10 above the normal Nintendo Selects price.

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Sega's earnings are down in the year ended March 31, 2012, which shouldn't come as a surprise given the company's recent extreme restructuring measures. Sega reported net sales of 395.5 billion yen ($5 billion), down 0.3 percent from 2011; net income dropped 47.4 percent to 21 billion yen.

In the "consumer business" division (the one that deals with home video games), Sega reported a year-over-year drop in unit sales. Its best-performing game was Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, of course, at 3.28 million copies. Sonic Generations followed at 1.85 million; Virtua Tennis 4 sold 1.04 million across five platforms. Sega listed sales for Football Manager 2012 (710,000) and Yakuza: Dead Souls (550,000), but nothing else -- so we don't know how well Binary Domain did, except to guess that it probably didn't do very well.

The results for April are in, and things are looking a little rough out there in consumer video-game electronics land. As a whole, the gaming industry (which for our purposes includes all hardware, software and accessories sales between April 1 and April 28, 2012) brought in $630.4 million, a 32 percent decrease over the same period last year, where its various machinations resulted in collective sales of $930.9 million.

Breaking the industry down into its three major components, hardware sales accounted for $189.7 million (down 32 percent year over year), while software sales contributed $292.1 million to the cause – a 42 percent decrease year over year. Accessories, on the other hand, posted a 1 percent increase year-over-year at $148.6 million in 2012, as compared with $147.8 million in 2011.

The average amount of money spent on hardware increased year-over-year, however, due in part to the 360 Star Wars Kinect Bundle, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier. Generally though, the period's lackluster performance is due to the month's release schedule: "Last April, the top seven titles outsold the top-selling title this year, and, simply stated, there were notably fewer new market introductions. I think it's a simple as that because when we see compelling content come into the market, the games are still selling as well as ever – we just saw a lot less this April as compared to last."

The list of April's top 10 best-selling titles can be found after the break as per usual, with newcomers Prototype 2 and Kinect Star Wars leading the charge ahead of Modern Warfare 3, Mario Party 9 and Mass Effect 3.

Update: According to Microsoft's Major Nelson, the Xbox 360 sold 236K units during April.

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While we wait for Sega's "Monster World Collection" to debut the previously Japan-only (and acclaimed!) Monster World IV on PSN and XBLA, Sega went ahead and deposited the game on Wii Virtual Console today, causing even more surprise than other, increasingly rare, VC releases.

If you have the Wii Points kicking around, you can build a pseudo-complete Wonder Boy collection now – bolstered by Sega's simultaneous release of the arcade version of Wonder Boy in Monster Land. At least one version of each game in the series is available.

In non-interactive news, Dinosaur Office returns to Nintendo Video tomorrow.

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A Lego Lord of the Rings video game is in the stars for later this year. AllGamesBeta and Gamespot both have images from UK retailer ShopTo with pre-order details, along with an October placemark launch. Meanwhile, MCV reports that packaging for the physical Lego Lord of the Rings toy sets mentions a game is in the works by Warner Bros.' Traveller's Tales.

A Warner Bros. Interactive rep told Joystiq, "We do not comment on speculation or rumors."

The Lego Lord of the Rings series first popped up on radar late last year, which ended up officially being a teaser for the physical sets... or not, as the current case may play out.

There must be a fascinating behind-the-scenes story as to how XSEED managed to get a hold of the localization rights for The Last Story. Ordinarily, Nintendo has a death grip on the rights to its games: If they don't localize it, no one does. XSEED, for their part, say they "got lucky."

The Last Story is the most recent RPG by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, as well as the natural companion to Xenoblade Chronicles, which arrived last month. Both headlined last year's Operation Rainfall petition, along with Pandora's Tower, forever joining them at the hip. Much like Monolith Soft's opus Chronicles, Sakaguchi seems determined to say something new about the genre he once helped create.

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Before there was, uh, that other game called Alien Hominid (and Castle Crashers), there was the original Alien Hominid, a free browser run-and-gun game that debuted on Newgrounds. And that original game has now surpassed 20 million play sessions, The Behemoth has announced.

The brain child of Tom Fulp and Dan Paladin, Alien Hominid was built in Flash and released on Newgrounds way back in 2002. It would eventually be ported to the GameCube and PS2 in 2004 (and Europe would see Xbox and GameBoy Advance ports), then to Xbox Live Arcade in 2007. Currently, The Behemoth is working on Battleblock Theater.

Sniper Elite V2 is naturally going to want a position at the top of Chart-Track's UK charts... it's the best vantage point. Thankfully, there wasn't very much competition around, as evidenced by what is probably the shortest overview of last week's sales activity by the stat tracking company in recent memory.

The prior week's top performer, Prototype 2, fell one spot into second. It was followed by the EA triplets that never seem to be apart: FIFA 12, FIFA Street and Mass Effect 3. Beyond that, no new games to report making moves, no major shuffling of the status quo. Check out the UK top ten after the break.

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Two new Virtual Console games in as many weeks? What is going on? On top of the VC release of Super Hang-On, Amoebattle makes its way to DSiWare and Bird Mania 3D takes flight on the 3DS eShop.

We rather liked the iPhone version of Amoebattle. Its real-time strategy controls should translate to the DS and 3DS just fine.

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For all its talk of "putting down the video games and getting outside," it looks like President Barack Obama's administration is lightening its past rhetoric and embracing video games. Well, at least some video games – what it's calling "active video games." Think Wii Fit, Just Dance, and Zumba Fitness.

The Entertainment Software Association is collaborating with the US Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition to launch the "Active Play Presidential Active Lifestyle Award Challenge," which will task kids and adults with taking on 60 or 30 minutes of "active video gaming activity," respectively, five days per week over the course of six weeks.

Moreover, the collaboration means that your favorite game publishers are adding "PALA+" functionality to their games, allowing gamers to "stay motivated and track their progress in the program." Electronic Arts, Konami Digital Entertainment, Microsoft Corporation, Nintendo of America, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Take-Two Interactive Software/2K Play, and Ubisoft are all listed in the official announcement.

And what will that functionality entail, exactly? The ESA ambiguously describes it as the following:

• Interactive tools to help kids and families monitor the progress of their physical activity and healthy eating goals
• Tracking tools to help participants in different schools and communities engage in competition
• Helpful tips and information on healthy living from PCFSN [President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition]

We're not expecting a ton from the initiative beyond logos slapped into several exergames and another press release trumpeting the program's "enormous success" in a few months, but if some chubbos drop a few pounds due to the initiative, then we've all won.