Remember that retail listing for the Tomb Raider Underworld "Expansion Token Pack" with a January 21st ship date? Oh, you do ... we were sort of hoping you'd forgotten about all that. Oh, you've spent the last 24 hours staring at the Xbox 360 Marketplace? Well, this is awkward ...

Well, you can divert your attention until February 10 when "Beneath the Ashes" – the first of two Xbox 360-exclusive DLC episodes – brings six new costumes, 125 additional achievement points, and some "never-before-seen caverns and age old crypts" to Lara's latest. The second episode – "Lara's Shadow" – follows on March 10 and, we presume, will feature another 125 achievement points.

The press release curiously avoids any mention of price but – seeing as how the email in our inbox reminded us that "the codes to download this content will be available at GameStop" – we're going to assume that despite managing to botch the date, GameStop's got the $10 per episode asking price right. We've asked an Eidos rep just in case.

Having been delayed late last year thanks to layoffs at Crystal Dynamics, Eidos has officialy set a new date for the Tomb Raider: Underworld DLC. The first content pack, "Beneath the Ashes," is set to arrive on February 10 and finds Lara exploring the ruins of Croft Manner to discover a hidden "deadly source of power" amidst ancient caverns and crypts. Frankly, we hope the DLC unravels the mystery as to why the Crofts decided to build their mansion on top of so many caverns and crypts in the first place. "Beneath the Ashes" will also contain six new costumes for Lara and new achievements worth 125 points.

The second batch of DLC, "Lara's Shadow," will be available March 10. No details were released regarding the second pack, but it's probably safe to assume it will also contain a new level, costumes, and achievements. No prices were announced, though GameStop lists both packs combined for $20, leading us to believe they will be individually priced at 800 points.

It's worth noting that former creative director for Crystal Dynamics, Eric Lindstrom, has stated that the DLC levels were originally intended to be included in the retail game, but were cut as the result of "a production issue" that would have caused the game to miss its ship date.

Now that we've seen the real list for 2008's top-selling games, Gamasutra has taken a look at some of the high-profile titles that didn't make the cut. Thanks to data from the NPD, we now know Metal Gear Solid 4 has passed the one-million threshold in the US with 1.08M in sales -- 775K in June, 301K since then. It's worth noting that the figure doesn't include copies sold in the MGS4 PlayStation 3 bundle. Globally, Old Snake has enlisted over 4 million soldiers. As for LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2, they sold 611K and 598K stateside in 2008, respectively.

Here's the bad news: Tomb Raider: Underworld has managed only 246K across three platforms since launching mid-November -- indeed a disappointment, but also a lowered bar for Naughty Dog's Nathan Drake vs. Lara Croft claim. To its credit, TRU has done better elsewhere, selling 1.5 million worldwide. Meanwhile, Prince of Persia did 483K in December, with at least 213K of those going to the PS3 version. While that puts it on par with Sony's first-party titles last month, it also means the Xbox 360 version saw relatively disappointing sales.

Oh Nathan, is it cold there in Lara's shadow? Not according to Naughty Dog's Bruce Straley, who told CVG that it's Lara Croft who should be shivering beneath the Uncharted hero's cover, not the other way around.

Asked if Nathan could ever be as popular as Eidos' British spelunker, the Uncharted director responded with a question of his own, asking "Why, do you think he's not already there, if not beyond that point already, in terms of popularity?" He added that Drake adds a "much needed breath of fresh air in an industry that's been a bit stale for a while, in terms of characters." So cheeky, Mr. Straley, though Lara Croft was fresh once too, and time has a way of making even the most standout luminaries passé.

The DS's Ninjatown will now have some competition in the adorable-ninja department, although Io Interactive's Mini Ninjas is more I-Ninja than Ninjatown. The action-platformer, announced for just about every currently-available gaming platform except PSP and phones, features a chibi assassin named Hiro and his traveling companions, as they travel to the Fortress of Doom to defeat the Evil Samurai Warlord. There's something kind of funny about setting ninja as good guys versus samurai!

The game is due out Fall 2009 in both North America and Europe, published by Eidos. Head into our gallery for totally cute screens, and check out the also-cute (but surprisingly badass, and surprisingly panda) trailer above!

Mini Ninjas is the next title from Io Interactive (Hitman series, Kane And Lynch) and, as you can see from the announcement trailer above, looks very different to anything they've done before. The game will be available this Fall on the PS3 as well as pretty much every other platform that exists ... except the PSP. The game focuses around the eponymous Mini Ninjas as they fight off evil mini (and not-so-mini) Samurai.

You'll be playing Hiro, the mini hero, armed with your ninja magic and helped out by a couple of ninja friends "as you travel through a perilous world to reach the final confrontation with the Evil Samurai Warlord in his Fortress of Doom." From the sounds of it the story isn't going to be much of a selling point, but we're loving what we've seen from the video and the screenshots (check out the gallery below).

In terms of art style alone, Mini Ninjas looks adorable. Hopefully the gameplay lives up to it. We're looking forward to seeing more throughout the year.

Today, Eidos and IO Interactive unveiled their latest project, Mini Ninjas, a fresh IP that's all about too adorable ninjas. Trailer above, screenshots below and after you consume the media you should agree that Mini Ninjas has the charm, cartoonish look and humor that gives it the potential to be good. Key word there is "potential". Mini Ninjas will be releasing multi-platform later this Fall. Cute panda.

Eidos share prices have been positively bouncing this morning. GI.biz reports that yesterday's acknowledgment of a takeover bid sent the stock up 40% to 17 pence. The shares are currently maintaining an increase from yesterday's closing price.

Investors may be optimistic, but there's still no word on the mystery company interested in Eidos. Current speculation is that Warner Bros. is the one making a move, having already taken over 20% of the publisher. Eidos' woes were renewed recently after sales of Tomb Raider: Underworld did not meet expectations.

Even though she's more busted than a meth-addicted lady of the night, Eidos is ready to work the street corner again for some johns (we're guessing two brothers with the last name Warner). MCV acquired a statement from the publisher, indicating that the board has received a "preliminary approach" from a company, which "may or may not lead" to a buyout.

Although plenty of corporations with the means have pulled up to offer the troubled company a ride, Warner Bros. is the only one to invest and control 20% of the publisher. Further speculation pointed to Warner Bros. after Time Warner's CFO recently made comments about getting more involved in the games industry. We'll have to wait and see if it's Warner that tells Eidos it's OK to turn off the red light.

Eidos recently laid off 30 employees at Crystal Dynamics, including Tomb Raider: Underworld creative director Eric Lindstrom. Understandably bitter about Eidos' cost-cutting, Lindstrom is now answering fan questions on a popular Tomb Raider fan forum, giving an intriguing and frank insight into the development process (including details Eidos probably didn't want publicized).

One of the more interesting factoids to emerge from Lindstrom's open Q & A session is that Crystal Dynamics was held back by Eidos from making Underworld an M-rated title. "I wanted to do things that a Teen rating prevented," explained Lindstrom, "but I also wanted it to get the players the first unrated games, did. In the end it didn't matter because publishing wanted it to be Teen."

So far, the Tomb Raider franchise has contained only Teen-rated games, but was a Mature title still a possibility? Says Lindstrom: "The managers who said it had to be Teen left some time ago, so maybe that could change sometime." We assume such a game would either include more violence, or, as some sites have been quick to suggest, a more risqué depiction of Lara.

Though something evidently has to change after Underworld's disappointing sales, does anybody else find such a prospect depressing? We'd prefer it if Eidos concentrated on shipping games that, y'know, functioned correctly. Also, while we're discussing Underworld, we figured this would be an appropriate place to mention the Zero Punctuation review, which just popped up in our RSS feeds -- catch the video after the jump!

Finally, some Tomb Raider news that's about, you know, tombs. Specifically, the downloadable kind meant to extend Lara Croft's latest -- and commercially disappointing -- adventure, Tomb Raider Underworld. Eidos had promised two Xbox 360-exclusive episodes, with the first initially scheduled to arrive by Christmas. Sadly, the only things to be released by developer Crystal Dynamics thus far are thirty employees.

Though an official post-delay date has yet to be confirmed by Eidos, retailer GameStop currently lists a Tomb Raider Underworld "Expansion Token Pack," which is said to contain two Xbox Live Marketplace Token cards. According to the product page, the pack will cost $19.99 and ship on Wednesday, January 21st. If we were prone to bouts of speculation, we'd say that the presence of two cards indicates that both DLC packs ("Beneath the Ashes" and "Lara's Shadow") will be released simultaneously on Xbox Live at a combined cost of 1600.

If we were prone to such silly things -- we'll let you know what Eidos has to say as soon as possible.

It's all too easy to forget that there are real people behind the power-ups we're so fond of collecting. Gamasutra has posted a sobering look at the industry, interviewing recently out-of-work employees from such companies as Eidos and Pandemic while putting faces on the disturbing number of layoffs that have impacted the business behind the games we play.

"In our industry, there's a relatively high chance that once your game is finished, the studio will make some cuts," noted David Lewis, a software test engineer at Ensemble, which will close its doors after Halo Wars (pictured) rolls out the door later this year. "But I had no reason to suspect that the whole studio would be closed." Even so, some, like recruiter T.J. Summers, believe that there is work to be had for those willing to stretch beyond their comfort zones and look for work in "new growth sectors" such as web or mobile. Still, we sympathize with those impacted, especially knowing that the drop off from developing AAA titles to Flash games has to be enough to lose your stomach.

Forget that Lady Croft's reinvention -- by the recently downsized Crystal Dynamics -- in Tomb Raider: Legend brought new life to a franchise that was on life support, Eidos wants to do another makeover of the heroine after "disappointing" Underworld sales of only 1.5 million units in the six weeks following the game's release. Eidos expected the latest Croft adventure to hit 2 million sales during this brutal holiday season.

Speaking with The Times, Eidos CFO Robert Brent says they need to look at everything when developing the next Tomb Raider title. He uses Batman as an example of a "sad character" from the Burton films, who became more "noir" in The Dark Knight. This would be a good time to note that Croft tried going "darker" before; it was called Angel of Darkness.

Eidos would also like to make Lara more female-friendly, which is understandable -- a good first step might be showing her eyes on the box art. It's worth pointing out that Eidos is apparently using Legend's 3 million sales to gauge its disappointment with Underworld. Key difference: Legend released with breathing room in April of 2006, not in the war zone of 2008's climax.

Following tips that Crystal Dynamics, current developer of the Tomb Raider series, experienced layoffs yesterday, publisher Eidos has confirmed to Joystiq that approximately 30 employees have been let go. When asked what the reason for the layoffs were, a company spokesperson said, "We have increased the focus on the Tomb Raider franchise at Crystal Dynamics, regrettably this has resulted in the reduction in headcount." Increased focus means layoffs ... okay?

Follow up questions regarding Eidos' sales expectations for Tomb Raider Underworld and how those figures were projected were not answered. The Crystal Dynamics layoffs come following Eidos' disappointment with Tomb Raider Underworld sales.

[Update: Joystiq has confirmed that Eric Lindstrom, Underworld's Creative Director, was among those let go.]

"On a global basis our sell through to 31 December, which we estimate at approximately 1.5 million units, is below our internal forecasts," admitted an Eidos rep, adding that the lower than expected sales were "primarily due to a lower start in North America." Well, there's always a chance at financial success with Arkham Asylum.