Earlier today, Ubisoft announced its continuing Canadian expansion, with a new studio being established in the province of Ontario's capital city of Toronto. In a joint announcement with the Premier (his actual title) of Ontario, Ubi revealed the studio will have about 800 employees, while the government is committing $263 million in funding over the next decade. We spoke with Ubisoft Montreal CEO (and newly formed Ubisoft Toronto boss), Yannis Mallat, about his plans for the company why Toronto was "culturally" the right place for Ubisoft to expand its development reach.

Is something in the air? While this week saw ZeniMax's acquisition of industry legend id Software, last month saw newcomer 38 Studios' acquisition of Big Huge Games, THQ's troubled developer that, like id, has rockstar status of its own. We had a chance to talk with 38 Studios' CEO Brett Close shortly after the announcement last month. On the plate: What will Big Huge be working on now? What's happening to the two titles BHG was working on for THQ? And when could we see something Copernicus-themed from Big Huge Games?

Joystiq: Why Big Huge games? And were you looking or considering any other developers to bring into the 38 Studios family?

Brett Close: Well, we've got 36 studios to go, of course.

Following yesterday's news that ZeniMax – the parent company of Fallout 3-developer Bethesda – had purchased id Software – one of the most successful, and long-standing, independent video game developers of all time – we had a chance to speak with ZeniMax CEO Robert Altman and id co-founder (and industry legend) John Carmack.

Joystiq: How long has the acquisition process been in development?

Robert Altman: I had my first meeting with [id Software CEO] Todd Hollenshead at E3 a year ago. We had a general discussion about how our two companies might explore matters of mutual interest and the conversations then took place over the ensuing months. So it's been almost a year, on and off, that we've been having these conversations.

And how long has Bethesda – or ZeniMax in this case– been looking to expand that studio range outside of just Bethesda and Vir2L,etc.?

When it was first revealed, we gave Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a bit of a cold shoulder. Gone was the established story that had first introduced us to the world's creepiest town, reinterpreted with altered characters and a new otherworld that ditched darkness and rust in favor of jutting glaciers and vaguely menacing snowflakes. Thankfully, our experience with the game at E3 revived our expectations, even if it was at the expense of whole memories.

We later had the opportunity to speak to producer Tomm Hulett, who elaborated on why we should call Shattered Memories a re-imagining -- and not a remake:

You're making Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and you're tying it to the first game. Harry Mason is back, but you're calling it a re-imagining, you're not saying "remake." Is that a bad word?

Right, that's a curse word. [laughs] By re-imagining, like you said, we've got the premise of the first game: you're Harry Mason, you're looking for your daughter Cheryl. Beyond that we've changed and updated it, so it's an entirely new experience. If you've played the PlayStation game to death, you still have no idea what to expect for Shattered Memories.

We did that because, on the Wii, maybe there's a lot of people who haven't played any Silent Hill games, so it wasn't really fair to say, "Here's the sequel to Homecoming, enjoy yourself." But then, returning fans, they've played the first game, they've played Origins, they've seen the movie, and they've played Silent Hill 3 and it all kind of revolves around the events of the first game. So they wouldn't really want to play a remake and so, by re-imagining it, there's new content -- if you've never played it before, of course, it's new to you -- but then, there's also this extra layer of new content if you're returning, because you get to experience all these things that are different from what you're expecting. And that really fits the theme of Silent Hill, which is this place where your reality is subjective and you don't know what to expect. We've built that into the game if you're a returning fan.

ESA CEO Mike Gallagher's first "real" E3 was a success. We briefly spoke with him on the concourse from the South to West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center on the last day of the show, but with some more time to decompress and receive feedback, it seemed like the right time to circle back around and see if he was still feeling good about how things went. We asked the executive about how the post-show feedback is going, the chance of loosening up the attendance a little more and if there are any plans yet to make the show public -- oh yeah, and is Activision coming back to the ESA?

Joystiq: On the last day of E3 2009 we had a quick chat in the hallway and you stated that the feedback you'd received was extremely positive and the show floor was "full but still navigable." Now that you've had a week to decompress and receive more feedback, what's your current take on the show?

Mike Gallagher: I have a combination of pride and excitement right now. We set out to reflect and amplify to the world our industry's growth, energy, and vitality and I am incredibly proud we achieved that goal. I am also filled with excitement over the high-impact news announced at the E3 Expo by the companies that make up the industry. We have a lot of great titles to look forward to this year, along with some pretty exciting hardware previews and announcements.

This is the golden age of computer and video games. I say that because more than ever before, we are seeing new interfaces, new distribution models to consumers, and new IP that will reenergize our industry's growth as the year continues. And this growth and continued innovation and creativity comes not at the end of a console cycle, but rather when developers are still harnessing the full processing power of the current systems, leading us to believe that games will continue their upward path of compelling storylines, engaging characters, and epic visuals.

The challenge for us at the ESA now is two-fold. One, continue build on the momentum created by the E3 Expo and educate new market segments about our industry's cultural and economic significance, but also to begin planning for the 2010 E3 Expo.

Are racing games the new first-person shooter? Revving up for release and shown off at E3 with tires smoking were Disney's Split/Second, Blur from Activision, Microsoft's Forza Motorsport 3, and EA's Need for Speed: Shift. They range from hyper-realistic to arcadey, so chances are you'll find something that's right up your alley among these four. But which one will you choose? We spoke to all four developers and asked them the same questions to see how they'd stack up, and you can check out the results after the break.

Assassin's Creed 2 is Patrice Désilets' first sequel. If there's any anxiety or fatigue squirming inside of him, it's well hidden by an infectious enthusiasm and candor. Speaking with us during E3 2009 in Ubisoft's den (and thus, din), the creative director frankly discussed several issues with us, including one which you may have heard about, over and over again:

Joystiq: Do you mind if I go back to Assassin's Creed 1 for just a bit?

Patrice Désilets: Yeah, yeah, no problem.

So, that game comes out. You're reading the reviews and people are complaining about repetition.

Yeah.

What do you feel at this point? Do you agree with them?

Repetition for me is a point of view, really. Like, what is repetitive or not? You know, sometimes you go and play the same game over and over again and you are all right with the repetitiveness of it. And in AC1 some people just couldn't bear it. We listened to them while we were making the second one, but, I wasn't nervous or mad. What I was a little disappointed with was some reviewers, how they treated us. They have the right to their opinions and everything, but I felt like they maybe went too fast. But you know what? I also received [opinions that were] the other way around. People being really happy about the game. Doing it two, three, four, five times.

Sure.

And we sold some eight million copies of it, you know.

Eight million people can't be wrong?

With Project Natal, Uncharted 2, Metroid: Other M, Scribblenauts, and everything else going on at E3, the 25th anniversary of Tetris almost went unnoticed this past week, which is a real shame. We met up with Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of the game, and sat down with him to mark the occasion. Tetris may very well be the "remember when?" dividing line among video game generations, and it was quite an honor to meet the man behind the game that's become one of the cornerstones of the industry.

You can listen to the full audio of the interview below, and head beyond the break for probably the world's shortest documentary, entitled "The Tetris Effect." Seriously, it's only three minutes long. How you can sum up the impact of a game that's still fun to play and appears on every major and minor platform around is beyond us. Maybe one of you readers will feel inspired to do an in-depth Ken Burns style documentary on it someday.

He's one of the sweetest people we've met in the industry, and despite having invented one of the most prolific games in the world, he's very humble and down to earth. Give it a listen and try to imagine a world without Tetris.

My name is Tim ... S-C-H-A-F-E-R. [points to my notepad] That's correct.

Do people get that wrong a lot?

They never get it right.

Does it annoy you?

No, I just like to fight for my particular spelling. For no reason it's completely arbitrary but for some reason it's enjoyable to fight for the specific spelling that I randomly have.

You're trying to keep your Google ranking up.

Exactly.

You don't want people messing with it.

And people who spell their names A-E-F-F-E-R. Hate those guys. They're jerks.

If you've been spending a lot of time enjoying the electro-shockery featured in inFamous, you've got the guy pictured above -- and the other 50-odd members of Sucker Punch Productions -- to thank. His name is Nate Fox, game director for inFamous and a writer/designer who has a decade of tenure with the studio. We had a chance to sit down with Nate at E3 to get a post-mortem look at the high voltage superhero sim, and to finally inquire what lies within protagonist Cole's mysterious backpack.

So, Nate Fox, how long have you been at Sucker Punch?

Nate Fox: I've been at Sucker Punch for over 10 years. When I started, I had a full head of hair. That is not a lie.

It was no shock to anyone when Splinter Cell: Conviction made an appearance at E3 2009, but the new look and presentation for Sam Fisher's latest action adventure took us all by surprise. Gone is the sulky and in hiding Sam Fisher shown years ago -- replaced by an offensive powerhouse ex-soldier, searching for revenge. Adding elements with appropriate buzzword phrases like projected objectives and dynamic stealth, Ubisoft Montreal hopes to push Sam beyond traditional stealth action titles.

We had a chance to speak one-on-one with Ubisoft Producer Alexandre Parizeau to discuss the evolution of Fisher, how Ubisoft wants to change stealth and to compare Sam to everyone's favorite television hero, Jack Bauer.

APB was probably one of the most impressive games we didn't actually see played at E3 -- while Realtime Worlds didn't have any actual gameplay to show off, they did have a nice demo session (in a booth guarded by these two tattooed ladies -- don't worry, EJ's wife, we asked him to pose for this one) where they talked about how their persistent MMO shooter will combine emergent cops-and-robbers gameplay with an extremely impressive level of customization.

After the demo session, lead designer EJ Moreland sat down with us, and cleared up most of the wanted bounties we still had on the game: what's advancement like? How is the game using Last.fm? And just how will they balance out the ad-hoc gameplay of criminals committing crimes and enforcers catching them with the usual MMO process of character advancement? Read on for more.

Although we weren't surprised when Gas Powered Games revealed it had been working on a sequel to Supreme Commander, we did scratch our heads at the partnership that would see Japanese publisher Square Enix distribute the title. In a one-on-one interview with Gas Powered CEO Chris Taylor at E3 2009, we wondered if changes to the core design philosophies of Supreme Commander 2 were made due to the new partnership.

According to Taylor, Gas Powered Games had similar questions for Square Enix, but were told to maintain the same core philosophies -- philosophies that attracted Square Enix to the Western developer to begin with. "If we changed... we would be missing the point," Taylor told us. Taylor also mentioned a cue they took from Square Enix was they way they "embrace character and story," which is a focus for Gas Powered in Supreme Commander 2. Stay tuned for the complete interview with Chris Taylor, tomorrow.

When it was first released in 2002, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell focused on the military operations of the fictitious government organization, Third Echelon. Since 2006's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, the story of the franchise has shifted from the overall mission objectives to the character of Sam Fisher himself.

During a one-on-one interview with Ubisoft producer Alexandre Parizeau during E3 2009, we asked why the franchise has shifted focus to the character of Sam. According to Parizeau the answer is simple, after dealing with so much trauma throughout the series, Ubisoft Montreal wanted players to see how Sam's methods have evolved, which led to shaping Conviction's dynamic and offensive stealth gameplay. "He's not going to be the same person when he reacts to situations as he was when he was working for Third Echelon. It's a completely different scenario," Parizeau told us.

After the death of his daughter and the loss of others close to him, it seems that Sam Fisher is a man with nothing to lose -- and if the game continues to impress as it did at E3, Xbox 360 and PC gamers will gain a stellar (timed?) exclusive.