With the world of capitalism falling to bits around our ears, it appears that no one has told Ubisoft to save its money for the inevitable sub-prime bust-up. Oh, no, our cheeky French pals have only gone and forked out for a specialist Nintendo developer.

That's right, for an undisclosed sum, Raving Rabbids and Assassin's Creed publishers, Ubisoft, has forked purchased or acquired (we know that there is a apparently a difference in finance land) Japanese creators of Hamsterz - among other DS and Wii games - Digital Kids.

DK currently employs 20 people in its Nagoya and Osaka, Japan, offices, and has already worked closely with Ubisoft on Petz. So, for the first time in a long time we have Europe buying into Japan. Not for Ubisoft the long, slow development and training required to build up a team of Wii and DS devs... and why the hell should it when it's one of the biggest publishers in the galaxy.

We now wait for the deal to close as it meanders its way through both the European Union and Japanese tax authorities - a game in itself we're sure. Will the French maestro have slammed a vast sum of money to prove that it can? Or will it be savvy and cost-conscious to prove that it's a sensible company and not raving at all?

And will Jade Raymond announce the results of the closed deal some time next year?

All those questions and more, will be answered by SPOnG...