Times are tough. Down-trodden world economy. Blah. Whatever. Got that crap out of the way.

Now that we're done with that, we can get to the good stuff. Best Buy is going to do their buy two get one free sale again soon. Any title priced under $59.99 is valid, and you can actually mix platforms if you'd like. Any Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii game is valid for the deal. The promotion is set to begin this Sunday, October 25th.

Here's how I'd do it:

Hang out until Tuesday, and then go pick up Forza Motorsport 3 and Tekken 6, and then get Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction for free. Or something like that.

In related news, Best Buy dropped the price of Resident Evil 5 to $39.99.

Have you ever wondered what Assassin's Creed would look like as an live-action film? Well feast your eyes on this.

Wrestling manager Captain Lou, Cyndi Lauper's fake dad, and Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Lou Albano passed away today at the age of 76.

Wrestling fans know him as the WWE Hall of Famer who managed more than 50 wrestlers in his day, with more than two dozen championships won by athletes taken under his wing. 80's music fans might remember him from his appearances in many Cyndi Lauper music videos, including "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", "She Bop", "Time After Time" and "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough." As gamers, we of course remember him as the best live-action Mario of all time. That's not saying much when your chief competition is Bob Hoskins, but at least he was Italian. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! might have only run a grand total of 52 episodes, but that was more than enough to cement Captain Lou's place in gaming history.

Mr. Albano suffered from a heart attack in 2005 and has been in failing health ever since. He was at home with his family under hospice care when he passed away.

Over 200 hundred Game Crazy stores are to be closed by the end of October. With closers always come some deep discounted sales! Except, in the case of Game Crazy, the sales might not be that great. The locations that are closing down are going to be redistributing their major products such as consoles, first party accessories and a "majority" of games released this year to other stores still open. Sources close to Joystiq have said that the closing stores won't have much in stock when the sale starts.

• 10/3-10/11: 30% off everything in the store
• 10/12-10/18: 50% off everything in the store
• 10/19-Closing: 80% off everything in the store

[Update: Stores that are remaining open will be will be funnelling low-demand product through them, so they're treating this both as a liquidation of stores as well as holiday preparation.]

A YouTube video of MMA fighter Jason "Mayhem" Miller visiting the EA Sports offices to check out his character in the upcoming EA Sports MMA. During the presentation, Miller got a look at the stats of his in-game character while visiting with the developers behind the game. Then this happened.I have to admit, Miller had me going, and if I was MMA head developer Rob Hydar, I would have been soiling my delicates. Hopefully more guys like Miller will be making their way into the game, as he seems like a load of laughs.

Rumors can be powerful forces in the economy, as evidenced by an 8.1 percent rise in Electronic Arts stock today following unsubstantiated rumors that Microsoft was interested in buying the publisher out.

What analysts and strategists are calling "unsubstantiated chatter" had a profound effect on EA stock today, rising 8.1 percent to $20.01 during Nasdaq trading this afternoon.

"There's talk that Microsoft might be interested in acquiring Electronic Arts. It's unsubstantiated chatter, but it's out there," said Frederic Ruffy, an options strategist at WhatsTrading.com in New York.

And sometimes being out there is more than enough. Microsoft shares also rose during the day, gaining 1.1 percent to $26.05, despite analysts claiming that such a move makes no sense whatsoever.

But Trip Chowdhry, an analyst at Global Equities Research, said Electronic Arts was not on Microsoft's "radar screen" based on his industry contacts. "Our contacts just don't see Microsoft buying Electronic Arts, no synergies whatsoever, and also not Microsoft's corporate primary focus right now," Chowdhry wrote in an e-mailed note.

A quick glance about the internet finds that analysts largely agree