Games: Beat The Bailout, Avoid Layoffs

LOS ANGELES - The video game industry seems to be unaffected by the economic crisis. National chain GameStop's shares are up 11.4 percent and its earnings per share are expected to rise 18-22 percent this year, according to Reuters .

Video games can offer a great value for the amount of entertainment they bring, and they can help take your mind off of economic worries.

And now there are games that give you the opportunity to fight back against the recession.

A new video game from Tiltfactor Lab entitled " Layoff " has joined " The Bailout Game " and " Bush's Billions " as video games that focus on the ailing economy.

"Layoff," which is similar in style to "Bejeweled," has gamers play from the side of management deciding which workers to layoff in order to save the company money. Laid-off workers fall to an unemployment office at the bottom of the screen. Bankers are the only ones exempt from layoffs.

"The game has an unsettling feeling," Mary Flanagan, the director of Tiltfactor Lab, said in a statement . "It is cute and fun to play, but when you realize how frightening the situation is, the game in fact functions as a very dark portent."

"The Bailout Game" lets players decide who to hand out bailout funds to, and "Bush's Billions" has former President Bush facing off against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a "shootout" over $700 billion in bailout money.

There's even a game created for the iPhone called "Bailout Bonanza" that lets you catch bundles of cash before they reach the companies looking for a handout.

Check out a demonstration of "Bailout Bonanza"