This is just another one of those silly little coincidences that has nothing at all to do with supernatural powers working behind the scenes. This sort of thing happens all the time. Polamalu was doing great, with six tackles and a one-handed interception, until a scrum just before the end of the first half left him with a sprained medial collateral ligament. It's perfectly normal injury that will have him on the sidelines for 3-6 weeks. Big deal! It's not like Pittsburgh needs him! They've still got....um. It'll come to me.

Note how I didn't say Madden curse. I don't believe in the Madden curse, and won't unless something horrible happens to Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald, the other athlete on the Madden 10 cover. Arizona plays San Francisco this Sunday, so you might want to set your DVR, just in case Fitzgerald spontaneously combusts.

Steelers Notebook: Knee injury to sideline Polamalu [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

The sluggish performance can be credited to the fact Midway had only one U.S. release during the quarter - an expansion pack for Stranglehold. On the other hand, its European launches included Unreal Tournament 3 and BlackSite: Area 51 for the PS3, Game Party and Cruis'n for the Wii, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends for the DS, and Hour of Victory for the PC.

Looking ahead to next quarter, Midway expects the release of NBA Ballers: Chosen One for Xbox 360 worldwide and for PS3 in North America to support $18 million in sales.

Also on the road ahead for Midway, the company hopes to reap the benefits of a recent executive reorganization as it fired CEO David Zucker and replaced him with interim president and CEO Matthew Booty. The company also promoted Miguel Iribarren to senior VP of Publishing and Martin Spiess to the role of executive VP of its Midway Games Ltd. subsidiary.

The company's investor call marked Booty's first outing speaking to the investor community. Booty said he's been with Midway his entire career, most recently as VP of Worldwide Studios, and that his two goals now are to deliver a solid 2008 lineup and to put the company back on the path to profitability. "My intent is to improve execution on a number of fronts to deliver on the commitments we've made to quality," he said.

At its recent press event in Las Vegas, Midway announced Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and the troubled publisher is clearly hoping it, along with This is Vegas, TNA Impact!, The Wheelman Unreal Tournament 3 for the Xbox 360, and Blitz: The League II. The company seems to be hopeful that the new lineup and the fresh executive leadership will help put the troubled publisher on track for brighter days.

In fact, Booty said that the initial revelation of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe garnered enough attention when it was announced to knock GTA IV off of the top position on Gamespot, and the trailer took the number one spot on GameTrailers. He promised further information on the game leading up to an anticipated launch in the fourth-quarter of 2008.

When asked why Stranglehold and Blacksite suffered critically and commercially, Booty said that the success of a game depends not only on its quality, but on the timing and manner of its launch, including surrounding marketing efforts. Essentially, Booty said the releases suffered from poor timing, but expressed confidence that they've resolved their timing issues for the 2008 lineup.

Finally, will Midway consider bringing more titles to the Wii as a way of capitalizing on its broad install base? "In terms of bringing some of those PS3 and 360 games out for the Wii, I think the games that are successful on the Wii are made specifically for the Wii in terms of audience and technology," Booty said. "Where appropriate - for example, we've brought some of our Mortal Kombat titles over to the Wii - we'll take a look at it."

I'd always laughed at the warnings of razor blades in candy. But I guess that, yes, some people do hate children, or at least Pokemon, that much.

Woman Finds Razor Blade Inside Valentine's Day Candy [WFTV via GoNintendo]

I pre-ordered Super Mario Galaxy 2 weeks ago from Amazon.com. Today I received this in my inbox:

"We wanted to let you know that there is an unexpected delay with your video game order (Order# ###-#######-#######) you placed on October 25 2007 09:26 PDT. Unfortunately, we are unable to ship the product(s) as soon as we expected and need to provide you with a new estimate of when they may be delivered:

"Super Mario Galaxy" [Video Game]
Estimated arrival date: 11/20/2007

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this delay."

I canceled my order so I can buy it tonight at a brick&mortar store tonight after work. No pre-order coin for me, I guess.

One generation is not enough here. If you ask me, I estimate it will take three to five generations.

According to [one] study, estimated revenue losses from software piracy in China increased 39.8 percent from US$3.9 billion in 2005 to US$5.4 billion last year...

Website Computer and Video Games has posted thirteen screens for the upcoming ultra-violence fest, Manhunt 2. To say that they are disturbing might be understating thing just a bit, especially first thing in the morning. I've posted a few images after the jump, but for the full gallery, check out Computer and Video Games' site.

I can only imagine what our friend Phantom Jocks (I'm trying not to use his real name if humanly possible) would have to say about these as he sips his morning cup of bitter. As a matter of fact, I think I shall send him a link to this gallery right now... Flynn De Marco

Manhunt 2 Gallery [Computer and Video Games - Thanks Michael]

Yet another industry insider tosses in his 2 cents about the next-gen console wars as Gabe Newell, Marketing Director for Valve, speaking to Game Informer Magazine, gives his opinion of the PlayStation 3 and offers some helpful suggestions for the faltering Sony system.

"The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think It's really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted," said Newell. "I'd say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a 'do over'. Just say, 'This was a horrible disaster and we're sorry and we're going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it.'"

The quote is from an interview with Game Informer magazine, in which he also goes on to praise the Wii and predict a larger install base than the 360 by next Christmas. To proactively quote some of our more opinionated commentors, "Obviously a Nintendo fanboy." Michael Fahey

Valve boss blows a gasket over PS3 [MCV via Voodoo Extreme]

There have been many great (and not so great) video game tattoos that have passed through the hallowed halls of Kotaku Tower. There was the awesome Okami tattoo and the terrifying Castlevania tattoo, even a warm and fuzzy Mario tattoo "just between friends". This one, however, takes the cake for in your face visibility. In fact it has ON your face visibility.

Zachiel is shown here with her brand new Invincible Mario Stars temple tattoo, administered with loving care by her husband, Matt. From the looks of it she has quite a little collection of Mario themed tatts going on. I see a Boo, a cloud and if I'm not mistaken, another Invincible Star with an "Invincible" banner underneath. I would think it safe to say this girl loves Mario. Despite it's forever presence on her face though, she's still got nothing on this guy. Flynn De Marco

Now that's a hardcore gamer tattoo [bits, bytes, pixels & sprites]

Yesterday, we ran a story about stores in Japan "slashing" prices on the Xbox 360. This was not the case. The price cut is in fact a standing offer for a variety of items in certain electronics stores. Sofmap, and several other stores, offer a discount if you sign a contract with an ISP, an offer that is apparently tacked on to many popular electronic goods for sale in a store.

While the Xbox 360 is available at a reduced price, it does not appear this has anything to do with how well the console is selling in Japan.

The photo used in the post was sent in as a tip, and Kotaku s Japan editor posted it using his own experience at the Sofmap store in Osaka and the wording on the sign as background.

Brian spoke with Sofmap folk a few minutes ago and was told that the campaign did indeed start on launch day and that there are no plans to limit or end the campaign anytime soon. They also confirmed that they still have plenty of 360s in stock.

We regret the error.

Japanese Shops Now Slashing Xbox 360 Prices [Kotaku]