It seems that selling off the Fallout IP hasn't reversed Interplay's fortunes -- nor has ... planning to make a Fallout MMO. According to a recent SEC filing, the publisher ended 2008 completely broke. But don't worry! Interplay has a plan: Get more money from somewhere.

"We continue to seek external sources of funding," the company stated, "including but not limited to, incurring debt, the selling of assets or securities, licensing of certain product rights in selected territories, selected distribution agreements, and/or other strategic transactions sufficient to provide short-term funding, and achieve our long-term strategic objectives." We assume that those long-term strategic objectives would include paying off the new debts incurred in order to provide short-term funding.

The document does mention that the publisher continues to work on "the development of a MMOG code named: "Project:V13" (the alleged Fallout MMO) as well as "sequels to some of our most successful games, including Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent and MDK." All decent reasons to hope the company doesn't tank.

[Via VG247]

This week is (slightly) special for the Japanese Virtual Console, because a previously import-only game is making its debut on the service, even if it isn't entirely new to Japan. The Genesis version of Earthworm Jim never made it overseas, so the VC release is the first for this particular version of Earthworm Jim. There isn't even a 100 point surcharge for the import!

The other VC download is Jigoku Meguri, a Taito platformer about a monk in hell. The name "Jigoku Meguri" (Tour of Hell) also apparently refers to a real-life tour of a bunch of hot springs! Neat.

• Earthworm Jim (Mega Drive, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)
  
• Jigoku Meguri (PC Engine, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)

Along with those two games, three rather interesting WiiWare titles are available. Prope's Let's Catch is officially the first release from Yuji Naka's new Sega-funded studio, and probably the first game Yuji Naka has done any real work on in quite some time. Sorcery Blade is the first WiiWare RPG. And 1 Meke! Dasshutsu Game My Home-hen (something like One Extraction! Escape Game * My Home Edition) basically came out of nowhere. It appears to be a cutesy, comedic "room escape" game, like a colorful version of The Crimson Room.

• Let's Catch (1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
• Sorcery Blade (1-2 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
• 1 Meke! Dasshutsu Game My Home-hen (1 player, 500 Wii Points)

Who doesn't love Earthworm Jim, this week's Virtual Console release? People without souls and taste, that's who! It's a great mix of platforming and action segments, wonderful minigames, and tense boss fights that come together and form one amazing product. an earthworm in a robotic suit? Can't beat that!

Of all of the beloved video game characters that have fallen by the wayside (or been forced there by a string of subpar games) Earthworm Jim is one we'd most like to see make a comeback. C'mon, game publishers, the guy practically oozes charm, just give him a gun and some things to shoot and you're three-fourths of the way there.

For now though, we'll have to sate ourselves with the original Earthworm Jim (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) on Virtual Console, which we suppose will have to do, if only to square off once more with Bob the Killer Goldfish.

And the Nintendo of Europe site leaks another morsel of info! Not long ago, news of Nintendo selling music appeared in our RSS feed weeks early, only to lead to a dead link after it was hastily pulled by Nintendo. And now another slippage has occurred, with Nintendo accidentally revealing (what we suspect are the contents of) tomorrow's PAL Virtual Console update: Earthworm Jim and Shining Force II.

Once again, the news appears in our RSS feed (as seen here) while the story itself has been yanked from Ninty's site. All being well then, tomorrow's VC update for Europe and Australia should read something like this:

• Earthworm Jim -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points
• Shining Force II: The Ancient Seal -- Mega Drive -- 800 Wii Points

These aren't set in stone yet, so we'll label this as a rumor, but it looks likely. Also: "Hurray!" for both of these.

Update: And it's confirmed: those are your titles for this week, PAL people! [Thanks, Lanceh!]

When you stop to think about iconic characters for each of the big three a few easy ones come to mind. Master Chief owning on Xbox, Super Mario fighting for Nintendo and Kratos breaking dudes on the PlayStation (or insert your own characters if these examples don't work for you). One character that had the potential to be a huge gaming icon after his introduction was Earthworm Jim.

Jim had it all. Fun games, ridiculous cartoon and even action figures. Then one day the team that owned the rights to Earthworm Jim decided to call it a night and sell the character off for fear they wouldn't be able to bring him into the 3D world. David Perry, founder of Shiny Entertainment, has recently come clean on one of the biggest mistakes his company ever made; letting Jim get away.

"[Selling the rights of Earthworm Jim to Interplay] turned out to be the dumbest move ever," Perry said in an interview with Kikizo. "There's been other versions of Earthwork Jim done that were done without our permission really, licensing deals, and I was very unhappy about them." We'd be happy enough to see the original titles added to the Xbox Live Arcade or any news on the announced fourth title in the series.

You know, it's funny to hear losing Earthworm Jim was the biggest mistake in Shiny's history. We could have sworn it was just being involved with Enter the Matrix. Just saying.

Dave Perry has been feeling a twinge of seller's remorse since washing his hands of former platforming icon, Earthworm Jim. More than that, actually, as the Shiny Entertainment founder admits in a recent interview that, in hindsight, selling off the rights to annelid-made-superhero was probably the "dumbest move ever."

The outspoken Wii detractor lays the blame for the miscue largely on the industry's transition away from 2D and into the third dimension in the 90s, his animators at the time unwilling to lay down their pencils in favor of the almighty polygon. Of course, the team eventually went on to create the fabulously tongue-in-cheek action epic, MDK. Now, like Perry, we're left to sit and wonder what might have been as we wait for Interplay to push Jim up from the soil once more.

The latest ESRB update confirms two wonderful things that we knew were happening at some point: first, that Mega Man and the sublime Mega Man 2 would be on the way to our Virtual Console soon; second, that Earthworm Jim would make an appearance.

Even more interesting -- Earthworm Jim has been rated for a while, but the latest update includes a rating for Earthworm Jim 2 on the Wii! Strangely, the new rating is for the Wii and Genesis versions, while another rating is already on the site for the Genesis game. Now it's got two E ratings! It's extra appropriate for families.

Other interesting new games found in ratings: Professor Heinz Wolff's Gravity, an Incredible Machine/Crayon Physics hybrid; Potpourii, a matching puzzle game; and Midnight Pool and Midnight Bowling from Gameloft.

You know what the best thing about hanging out with JC is? Hearing him gush about Mega Man 9 and how he got a ton of time to play it. It's kind of the same thing with me and Wario Land: Shake It!, I assume. But, what's important is the question we have to ask.

So, in thinking about what other retro dream sequels we could see on WiiWare (Earthworm Jim 3, for example), we'd like to know what you all can come up with. So, let's hear it! What retro dream sequel would you like to see?

• Earthworm Jim (Genesis) - An invertebrate finds a special suit -- action ensues.
  
• Earthworm Jim 2 (Genesis) - Bigger, badder and wormier than the original.
• Earthworm Jim 3D (Windows) - The transition to 3D was not kind on the hero.
  
• Earthwo ... Sacred Gold - A Baldur's Gate/Diablo-style game that stood out from the glut of clones based on the aforementioned titles.

GameTap's list of free games can be found after the break. This week, arcade classic Burger Time joins the lineup. If you've never played, you'll never turn your back on eggs or sausage again without fearing it's trying to kill you.

The announcement of Earthworm Jim 1 and 2 for the Virtual Console was just a warning shot: Interplay is prepared to overexpose the hell out of Shiny's old character, starting with a new game! For Earthworm Jim 4, Interplay has brought back Doug TenNapel, creator and original character voice of EWJ, as a creative consultant. No details of the game, including which platforms it is planned for, have been released, but Wii seems likely given the aforementioned VC announcement.

Interplay is getting all the mileage out of Jim they can -- they've also announced both a new cartoon series and a feature film based on Jim. For his part, TenNapel is happy to be reunited with the character, and happy with Interplay's treatment: he states in his forum that "Interplay is being really cool ... they're hungry, so they want to see Jim fly again. That's a different strategy than just sitting on a dead license and try to milk more re-hashes that continue to weaken the brand."

Earthworm Jim is sort of an anomaly. It's been 13 years since he last starred in a good game, but people still call out for his return. If Kid Icarus had been a good game, he'd be the Pit of the annelid world. Now, after breaking our hearts with the 2007 cancellation of his PSP game, it seems that Jim is finally poised to make his return. Interplay has announced a new deal with original creator Douglas TenNapel to revive Jim.

So far, plans reportedly include "an animated series and feature film to expand the well known brand" and, most importantly, Earthworm Jim 4 for unspecified consoles (which we sort of knew about already). As much as we'd like to be excited, after being strung along on Jim's hook for more than a decade, "cautiously optimistic" is the best we can muster.

[Via X3F]

This is sort of a mixed bag. We're very excited to hear Interplay has teamed up with the creator of Earthworm Jim, Douglas TenNapel, to bring us a fourth game in the series. Especially after our PSP game was canceled by Atari. But, with the first two games getting pushed onto the Wii's virtual console and no platform announced for this game, we've a few reasons to think this won't get on the PSP.

First, Interplay is just out of bankruptcy. They probably won't develop on the more expensive handheld again ... not yet, at least. Second, they've a history with Nintendo and Sega. Since Sega isn't around, well, you know. So while we'd love to say the game will make its way onto the PSP, we can't guarantee anything. Though, who knows, maybe they'll simply revive the old game and do a makeover. We'll keep tabs on this, so you keep your fingers crossed!

While many gamers of the 360 generation will not know of the antics of Earthworm Jim, those more ancient gamers will recall Princess What's-Her-Name, Psy-Crow, and others. When the rumors began that there would be a continuation of the franchise, we were admittedly excited. Now, we discover that Earthworm Jim 4 will happen and that the original creator, Douglas TenNapel, is back on the series as a creative consultant (he's also working on a cartoon and movie based on the property.) There were no other details announced (not even a platform), but given the changes in the industry since the series' heyday, we'd love to see Earthworm Jim 4 take some sort of alternative to the usual "reinventions" of franchises. Perhaps a 2D side-scroller/platformer with 3d character models, released on XBLA (maybe even with episodic content?). Yeah, that's a nice dream.

Four classic Interplay Sega Genesis games are en route to the Wii's Virtual Console. Dave Perry's classic platformers Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2 will both be gracing the download service, along with the campy claymation action of Clayfighter, and the gross-out humor of Boogerman.

According to the press release, all four titles will be the Sega Genesis versions of the games, despite having appeared on both Genesis and SNES. No word yet on when these titles we be released (but we're guessing it'll be on a Monday).