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Earlier this week, it was reported that massive layoffs had occured at publisher Disney Interactive Studios. Some of the internet reports, which used unnamed sources, said as much as half of the company's 700 team members had been cut. Now a Disney rep has told IndustryGamers that while there were layoffs at the division this week it was not as brutal as first reported.

According to the story, the rep would not give out an exact number of team members that were given their walking papers this week but did say that the numbers were "significantly less than 50 (percent)." It is known that the company shut down one game studio, Propaganda Games, earlier this month and that another dev team, Junction Point Studios, reportedly had a "minimal" amount of layoffs this week.

Publisher Disney Interactive is in the middle of a large layoff but the company is being silent on exactly how large the company's restructuring will be like. Reports on the net, including our sister site Joystiq, suggest that the company could be cutting as much as half of its team members.

The company has a number of in-house game developers and already one of them, Propaganda Games, has been closed. Another online report suggests that Junction Point Studios, founded by industry legend Warren Spector, have had "minimal" numbers of layoffs in this restructuring. The fate of Disney's other in-house developers, including Black Rock Studios (makers of last year's racing game Split/Second) remains unknown at this time.

Yet another major game developer with PC ties is closing its doors. Our sister site Joystiq confirmed today with publisher Disney Interactive Studios that it was closing its in-house development team at Vancouver-based Propaganda Games.

Formed in 2005, the developer only released two games, both of which were released to the PC platform; the 2008 first person shooter revival of the Turok franchise and Tron Evolution, the movie-based third person action game that was released just last December to poor reviews and sales. The writing was on the wall last fall when Disney Interactive cut half of the studio's staff and canceled another long-in-development game, Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned.

A few things become painfully apparent soon after starting Tron: Evolution. First and foremost being that trying to dodge target seeking discs is an exercise in futility. Another is that players should be prepared to plummet to their doom... a lot. The game tells an original story that sets up the events of the upcoming movie. Players take the role of the System Monitor, a security program written by Kevin Flynn to help preserve order in the Tron world. In doing so, the character uncovers a conspiracy to exterminate a group of sentient programs and take over the entire computer world known as the Grid.

Check out all Tron: Evolution downloads

In the next couple of months we will be bombarded with tons of tie-ins for the upcoming movie Tron Legacy. The long awaited sequel to Disney's Tron about living and playing inside a computer world is due out in mid-December (along with a prequel game, Tron Evolution).. But in November and December the Tron digital universe will invade another well known pop culture universe.

Marvel Comics, which was acquired by Disney about a year ago, will have Tron-inspired variant covers for 10 of its comic books that will ship to comic book shops in November and December. Yes, you will be able to see Tron-ified versions of Spider-Man, Wolverine and Iron Man, among other characters, on some of your favorite comics. Keep in mind that these are variant covers which means they won't actually tie into the storylines inside the comics. They will likely also be harder to get a hold of than the normal issues. Our sister site Comics Alliance has images of all 10 of the Tron variants along with issue numbers and release dates. It's not a full blast Marvel-Tron crossover but it's still pretty cool.

In 1982, Disney took a bold risk with the release of the movie Tron, a film set largely inside a fictional world in the computer and made largely with CGI. It was different and new and at the time the movie didn't get a huge box office reception. However the legacy of that movie, and of the arcade games it spawned, have influenced the world at large, and game and computer programmers in particular, for years to come.

While developer Monolith released Tron 2.0 in 2003 for PC owners as a sequel to the movie, Disney decided later to create a true movie sequel in Tron Legacy which is due in theaters on December 17. On December 7, Disney Interactive and developer Propaganda Games will release Tron Evolution for the PC and other platforms. This action-adventure game serves as a prequel to the new movie. Big Download got one of the game's designers Dan Bourdage to give us some more info on the game including some PC specific features.

Earlier this year we reported a sighting of an upcoming Tron graphic novel on Amazon.com. Now it looks like Marvel Comics will in fact be publishing the graphic novel as part of a two part mini-series that begins in October. Tron: The Betrayal is still going to be a prequel to the upcoming Disney movie Tron Legacy that's due in theaters in December.

Of course Tron Legacy, the sequel to a 1980's movie about a man sucked into a computer and forced to play games, is getting its own game tie-in, Tron Evolution. That game, which also serves as a prequel to Tron Legacy, is still due for release for the PC and other platforms later this fall.

Sid Meier's Pirates! is a game which has yet to be accurately imitated by any other developer. Propaganda Games, however, seems to be giving it a shot. They are working with Disney to make another Pirates of the Caribbean game - subtitled Armada of the Damned - and it looks to be a successor to the Pirates! formula. Here's hoping it lives up to this trailer.

Download HD Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned E3 2010 Trailer (213MB)
Check out all Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned downloads

Depicting the fictional world inside of a computer, it is one of the first examples of the "cyberpunk" genre that is so typified by Neuromancer. Now, with TRON: Legacy, the universe is being revisited, and naturally there is a videogame tie-in. TRON: Evolution looks to build an action-adventure game on the back of previous TRON games, and its release trailer is suitably impressive. Color us interested.

Download HD TRON: Evolution E3 2010 Trailer (150MB)
Check out all TRON: Evolution downloads

For press conference highlights, check out Episode 1 and for more E3 2010 action, check out Episode 2 and Episode 4.