Back in February we spotted a rumour that a GTA movie starring Eminem almost happened. It was knocked down the same day by Rockstar’s Dan Houser, who said “we never entertained proceeding with the project”. Maybe the story pitch was crap, but even if it wasn’t, now we know at least one reason why.
I’m still on a semi-enforced vacation from academia, but I couldn’t resist reading some of the essays found on electronic book review. The essays are a selection from two MIT Press books, First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game and Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media. There are a bunch of interesting essays (and some not-so-interesting ones, I’m sure), on topics ranging from IF to WoW to more general ruminations on narrative, stories, gaming in general:
So yesterday we had the announcement that THQ would be releasing UFC 2009: Undisputed sometime in the spring of 2009. Gametrailers has the above debut trailer up and, from other sources, Voodoo Extreme has culled 10 screenshots and some fun facts about what the game has to offer.
Not my cup of tea, but I know how bent-out-of shape MMA enthusiasts get when you suggest the sport is anything less than the fastest growing sport in the world (I always imagine John Cusack in Say Anything: “Kickboxing: Sport of the future”,) to say nothing of that “human cockfighting” label that never seems to go away. Still if you like squatting over another guy and jackhammering his skull off a virtual canvas, looks like it’ll accommodate you nicely. And you don’t have to do it as someone in the stable of UFC combatants. A deep “create-a-fighter” and career mode will make this almost a (wait for it … wait for it) MMARPG.
Hit the jump for more details from Voodoo Extreme:
Nexon has revealed its very first North American-developed game (for the North American market), Sugar Rush Arena, which is now in closed beta. The game is a casual MMOG like other Nexon titles, but was developed in Vancouver as opposed to South Korea. Like Nexon’s other titles, the game is free to play, but will offer virtual items and upgrades for purchase:
The title will allow players to fight against each other while trying to collect virtual coins ….
The development team working on Sugar Rush Arena is based in Vancouver, Canada and includes former Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios Group vice president and creative director Steve Rechtschaffner, as well as studio Klei Entertainment.
Headed by Jamie Cheng, Klei Entertainment previously developed and published Eets, a 2D puzzle game for PCs which was later revamped for Xbox 360′s Xbox Live Arcade.
I presume if this is a successful move, we can expect to see more games targeted at the Western market being developed in the West; perhaps this is heralding a new trend?
Nexon Reveals First Western-Developed Title [Worlds In Motion]
We linked to last week’s MLG San Diego coverage that unveiled the remake, for Halo 3, of Halo:CE’s popular “Chill Out” map. Bungie has now dropped two screenshots of “Cold Storage” and they’re muuuuuch better quality (read: higher res than cell phone vid of a projection screen.) One’s above. Full resolution after the jump.
Eidos yesterday launched an official Tomb Raider: Underworld Web site and sent out a couple more screenshots, including the one above. More importantly, it confirmed the game is due out in November for the 360, PS2, PS3, DS, Wii and PC. Screenshots and other discussion follow the jump.
