We start our recap with some sad news. 38 Studios, developer of Kingdoms of Amalur, has let go all of its staff after its ongoing financial troubles finally surfaced. Then, wannabe-wizards will want a Kinect, as Warner Bros has announced a new Harry Potter game for Xbox 360's magic camera. Finally, Jet Set Radio's HD update finds a new platform: Vita.

Check out today's episode of Shacknews Daily. We'll be back on Tuesday, May 29th.

Watch: Shacknews Daily: May 25, 2012 »

One of the last tweets from Curt Schilling before his game studios, Big Huge Games and 38 Studios, collapsed talked up sales of their first title, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. "Reckoning, 38 Studios first game, has outperformed EA's projections by selling 1.2mm copies in its first 90 days," he said.

While those are impressive figures, they were not enough to keep the studio afloat. At a press conference, Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee said that the game was a failure and that it would need to sell over 3 million copies "just to break even."

Read more: 'The game failed' »

It appears 38 Studios is nearing the end of its very public death march. New reports today confirm that 38 Studios, and its subsidiary Big Huge Games, have laid off their entire staffs. While the closure of any studio is unfortunate, the termination of 38 Studios will have dire consequences for the taxpayers of Rhode Island.

38 Studios and Big Huge Games worked on the recently-released Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Their next project was supposed to be an MMO, codenamed Project Copernicus.

Read more: Rival studios offer condolences, jobs »

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning developer 38 Studios is requesting additional assistance from its home state of Rhode Island, following reports that the company was meeting with officials to discuss its $75 million loan guarantee. The Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation didn't take action yet, and is reportedly still deciding whether to help the company.

Read more: 'We had a very generous proposal, now we're in some difficulty' »

38 Studios, the owner of developer Big Huge Games (Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning) may be facing financial difficulties, and has turned to the Rhode Island government to stay solvent. State officials have been meeting with the game studio, though specific measures aren't being discussed yet.

Read more: Governor working to keep 38 Studios 'solvent' »

If you were running out of things to do in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, 38 Studios and Big Huge Games have announced another round of DLC less than a month after releasing The Legend of Dead Kel DLC.

Read more: Enter the Teeth of Naros »

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a pretty long game, especially if you attempt to complete a significant portion of the side-quests. Just in case you managed to wrap that up and chew through Dead Kel already, though, it appears that more DLC is on the way.

Read more: Achievements hint at new characters, enemies »

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is getting its first proper DLC, silly weapon packs aside, with 'The Legend of Dead Kel.' It'll expand the world area by over 15% with new quests, enemies, items, and a special house for you.

Read more: Become Lord of Gravehal Keep »

Weekend Confirmed serves up its epic 100th episode with Jeff and Garnett joined by Jeff Mattas, Ariel Angelotti, and Andrea Rene. The celebration includes your listener greetings, a look back at some of the origins and good times from the first century of Weekend Confirmed, and, of course cake and beer. There's a whole lot more to get to as well. The PlayStation Vita started arriving outside Japan and we take a good look at the retail hardware, the user experience, and a couple of the launch games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Lumines Electronic Symphony. Jeff and Garnett both talk about the fun they're having in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, but square off when it comes down to how good the game is. There's even a philosophical discussion on the convergence of physical and virtual economies as relates to intellectual property. All that and more before it all wraps up in Finishing Moves.

Listen: Weekend Confirmed Episode 100 »

Online passes are a staple of the games industry, and we can expect more and more games--regardless of multiplayer functionality--to take advantage of content that is locked via DLC. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, an exclusively single-player experience, has a number of quests locked behind an online pass, which has some fans up in arms.

Developer 38 Studios' founder Curt Schilling has chimed in about the controversy, saying the intent is to "promote early adopters" and "reward fans and gamers who commit to us with their time and money when it benefits the company."

Read more: Schilling apologizes, says nothing 'under handed' involved »

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a single-player action-RPG, but that hasn't deterred publisher Electronic Arts from locking some of the game's content behind a single-use "online pass." Folks purchasing new copies of Big Huge Game's newest title will find their codes in their boxes, but folks procuring used copies will be in a different boat.

Read more: Buy it new, or fewer quests for you! »

"If you have a hard drive, for the love of god, please install," Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning lead designer Ian Frazier begged gamers. "If you're on 360, please install. You will have much, much smaller load screens. Please, please, for the love of all that's holy, install."

Speaking to the bugs found in the game's recently released demo, Frazier noted that it wasn't developer Big Huge Games at the helm of the promotional release. Citing an outsourced job on the demo based on three month old code, Frazier says that some of the more recent bug fixes made to the game were not added to the recently released demo. "So we're all nervous, like, the demo's really buggy," he said.

Read more: 'We're not very happy' »

Playing the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo will score you bonus items in the full version of Mass Effect 3, and vice versa. Publisher Electronic Arts also confirmed that the Reckoning demo revealed yesterday for Xbox 360 will hit PC and PlayStation 3 on January 17 too.

Read more: Amalur demo confirmed for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 »

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is just around the corner, with EA Partners publishing the 38 Studios Big Huge Games-developed RPG on February 7 for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

Xbox 360 owners will get a chance to test drive the fantasy world in a demo scheduled to arrive on January 17. Shacknews has contacted EA to find out if a demo is also planned for the PC and PlayStation 3. While you wait, however, check out the game's modest PC system requirements after the break along with a new trailer detailing the game's "skills and crafting" system.

Read & Watch: PC specs and a new trailer »

Big Huge Games has released a brand-new trailer for the February-due Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning today, in which the developers discuss the game's action-based combat system and the symbiotic relationship it shares with the game's animation design. Described as an action-RPG, the developers seem eager to reaffirm that the game combo-driven combat retains the customization and epic storyline that RPG enthusiasts will expect.

Watch: The 'Inside Combat' trailer »