Earlier this week, a slate of Vivendi Games' upcoming projects were left in the lurch as a result of the company's merger with Activision. Although it committed to releasing Prototype, Ice Age, and new Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot games, Activision Publishing passed on a slew of Vivendi projects, including Ghostbusters, 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand, World in Conflict: Soviet Assault, and Double Fine Productions' Brutal Legend.

　　Currently Activision is exploring its options regarding what to do with the games that it won't be releasing, options which presumably include selling the projects to other publishers. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but Variety is reporting that Brutal Legend is "very close" to finding a new publisher.

　　Without actually citing any source for the information, the trade publication is reporting that Double Fine has found a likely partner to help put the game out. The deal is said to be a "more 'unique' arrangement" with a partner who isn't a traditional game publisher.

　　That would be in line with a post on the news section of Double Fine's own Web site. When users put the mouse cursor over a picture of a dead weevil found in Double Fine founder Tim Schafer's oatmeal, a pop-up block of text states, "Brutal Legend is fine."

　　This is not the first time Double Fine has found itself in such a situation. The studio's first game, Psychonauts, was unveiled by Microsoft as an Xbox exclusive in 2002. The company dropped it two years later, leaving the project without a publisher for months. The game was eventually picked up by Majesco Games and ported to the PC and the PlayStation 2. Though it finally made it to shelves in 2005, it was a financial disappointment and part of the reason Majesco retreated from AAA game publishing to become a casual and handheld specialist.