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Ubisoft has reported financial results for the first half of its fiscal year, ending September 30, 2009. Coming in at €166 million ($246 million), this year's sales represent a drop of 52% when compared to the first two fiscal quarters of the previous year. Second-quarter sales totaled €83 million ($123 million) -- a drop of 53.1%, though one that Ubisoft states falls within previously issued guidance.

Standout titles released during the period include the Western-themed first-person shooter, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (which has shipped 'close to 900,000 units'), reptilian brawler Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up and, "in certain countries," the Pelé-powered Academy of Champions.

Ubisoft points to its fiscal third quarter -- that's October to December on your official Secretive Hunks of Third Echelon Calendar -- as "the most important quarter in Ubisoft's history." Sales are expected to reach €540 million ($801 million) during the period, thanks to Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, James Cameron's Avatar: The Game, Rabbids Go Home and Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage. Ubisoft's also counting on several new casual and self-improvement games for the Wii and DS, which we imagine will help the financialz quite a bit.

We have great news for Phillip Arnasus of Sterling, Virginia. Ubisoft's Twitter feed says that a patch, arriving tomorrow on Xbox 360 and PS3, will focus on bringing balance to the different classes in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood's multiplayer mode. As the one person who frequently plays the Bound in Blood multiplayer, Arnasus says he's "really looking forward to it" and hopes the fixes will help the mode to "finally catch on," which even his closest friends agree is a long shot.

We give publishers so much heat for the important things they don't do, that we feel obligated to note when they go the extra mile for nobody. No offense, Phil, it's just a figure of speech.

For those who've had trouble hearing the Call of Juarez over the much louder Call of Saving Money, we've got some good news: GameStop has lowered the price of the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood to a paltry $30. For those keeping score, that's $20 off the PC version and a full $30 shot off the PS3 and 360 versions. Not bad for a game hailed by critics as a "gritty, completely entertaining experience."

[Thanks, CJ]

Howdy, pardner. If you've got a hankerin' for some Wild West, first-person shootin' action, you'd best mosey on over to the nearest internet saloon and download the Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood demo for Xbox Live and PSN. Y'all should know the demo ain't available on the US PSN just yet, but don't get yer panties in a twist, because it's already up on that fancy European PSN, so it oughta head west after the update later today.

As for what's in the demo, there ain't much info to go on. Alls we know is that there's bound to be some shootin', fightin' and Wild West stereotypin'. From what we've heard, it should be a helluva time.

Looking to extend Thomas and Ray's adventure in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood? Tough luck, because the "Old West Map Pack" DLC from Ubisoft is for those banditos who enjoy gunning down their fellow man. The DLC adds four new multiplayer maps, each with some historical significance. If you ever wanted to see where General Custer made his last stand at Little Big Horn in the comfort of your own living room, perhaps covered in a light dusting of Cheetos, then you'll want to keep an eye out later this week. The new maps will set you back 800 ($9.99).

In 19 days, it'll be two years since we last heard anything about Call of Juarez developer Techland's "open ended FPS," Warhound. So, when we heard last week that the developer was still working on its zombie-infused Dead Island, we shot Techland an email and asked about the game once intended to rival Crysis' graphics.

Blazej Krakowiak, the company's international brand manager, told us, "We reached a certain development stage and had to postpone it because of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood." He continued, "A release of an ambitious and well-received title is always a good moment to unwind a little bit and reevaluate all the options," speaking to the recent release of Bound in Blood. "It wouldn't be a good idea for us to discuss them right now." Though Krakowiak doesn't exactly confirm our suspicions on the fate of Warhound, his caginess on the game's fate speaks volumes.

After finishing and loving Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, I was so smitten that I went back and dug out the original, which I had never played. After a couple of hours, I switched it off, fueled by a gross combination of frustration and boredom. It's then that it occurred to me that BiB, while not perfect, is a great example of how best to make a sequel to a flawed product.

1. Ditch what doesn't work: In Bound in Blood -- a prequel to the original cowboy FPS -- what's most notable is perhaps what hasn't made the journey from the original game. There's no more crummy fisticuffs, no more holstering your irons to do a special move, no using a whip for frustrating platforming and no weapons that fall apart after use.

Developer Techland has, as William Faulkner suggested, killed their little darlings, and the Juarez followup is so much the better for it. If something you treasure was left by the wayside, I apologize. I can, however, assure that it was, in fact, terrible, and you were wrong to like it. Wrong.

Even back in the old west, cowboys knew how to throw together a solid multiplayer match. Evident in this trailer for Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, the cattle rustlers and other denizens of the wild west partook in the staples of a multiplayer experience, including traditional survival and team-based combat modes. Back then, they didn't call it "multiplayer," though. To them, it was all a part of Manifest Destiny.

After you've checked out the trailer above, be sure to hit up the gallery below for some screens.

	1 Platinum 3 Gold 8 Silver 36 Bronze	Difficulty: Difficult Online Trophies? Yes Time to Completion: 30 Hours DLC Trophies? No
	View Trophy List	Read More About the Game

Ubisoft has sent another trailer by Pony Express of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. In it you'll find some good ol' shootin' and ... well, more shootin'. Life must have been hard in the old west, kind of like life in modern times when a publisher lets some film guy go on a diatribe for a half an hour and pretty much neglects to promote its upcoming game during its press conference. Anyway, check out the trailer above and consider if the wild west is lookin' good to you, partner.

The latest trailer for Ubisoft's Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is available for your viewing pleasure, and if you enjoy slow, toe-tapping songs and pistols being drawn at high noon, then we suggest you get comfy and soak up the near two minutes of footage Ubisoft has dropped on us. You know, we often think about living in the old west, and how cool it would be to answer to no one (and have them answer to your gun), but we'd probably just die of dysentery or something. Beats being shot to death, though, which is the grim fate suffered by no less than six fellas in the video above.

The McCall boys will mount up and ride out this June, an Ubisoft update confirms, and are looking for a steady hand to guide them into the unavoidable sunset. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is trotting toward its date with destiny as it's been marked for "June 2009" by its publisher. The new, more specific date replaces "Summer 2009" in an otherwise unchanged press release (first issued in February) for the game, as posted by WorthPlaying.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is in development for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The Wild West prequel made waves last month when it was revealed to feature historically accurate canoeing "situations."

... Yeehaw!

From the Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood release we just received:

• "Never Before Seen Western Experience – Experience the iconic settings full of outlaws – the West before it was tamed. The McCall brothers face a renegade Apache Chief, a greedy Mexican bandit, a vindictive Colonel, and others, all driven by greed with moral disregard. Enjoy a wide variety of situations, using horses, canoes and wagons to explore the vast natural landscapes of the fabled Wild West and its legendary period."

Dear Game Publishers: When you list features to entice people to buy your game, and you include characters "driven by greed with moral disregard" and then, deciding that's not quite enough, list that it also has canoes, your features list has probably just gone one paragraph too long.

The release did have its purposes, though, as it taught us that the game was due in the "Summer of 2009" rather than just "later this year." Check out the full list of features (including canoes) right after the break.

Ubisoft has announced they will publish a new title in the Call of Juarez series later this year. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood will take place before the events of the original title bringing players from a post-Civil War Georgia all the way to the Aztec Temples of Mexico. Returning to the Western themed first-person shooter is Polish developer Techland, who first introduced gamers to the franchise on the PC in 2006. According to the announcement release, Ubisoft has not cemented a firm release date but expects the title sometime in 2009 for current HD-consoles and PC.

Though we pray it doesn't foreshadow the appearance of giant mechanical spiders or Will Smith, Ubisoft describes its newly announced shooter, Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, as featuring "the wildest West ever depicted." Judging by our previous exposure to Wests of varying wildness -- like in 2007's Call of Juarez -- we'd estimate that this particular West would have to be astonishingly lawless and violent for it to be considered the wildest ever.

Regardless, Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft, feels confident that another collaboration with developer Techland is entirely called for. "We're confident this new collaboration with Techland will bring an even bigger and better adventure to fans of shooters and the lawless Wild West," he said. Of course, true fans of the lawless Wild West will probably just be downloading this from Juarez sites.

Look for the wildest-West-ever prequel on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC later this year.