The Gears of War movie has a co-financer and co-producer. Meaning? Meaning that we’re closer to seeing it on the silverscreen. According to Variety, Legendary Pictures is co-financing the Gears movie with New Line. (Legendary recently financed The Dark Knight and are adapting World of Warcraft.) The head of Legendary, Thomas Tull (pictured), is apparently a big gamer, so that should hopefully ease concerns. Somewhat. Live Free or Die Hard director Len Wiseman is attached to helm the project.
Legendary Pictures co-financing “Gears of War” movie” [The Cut Scene]
Wondering why there are some random episodes missing from the TV shows section of the PS3′s new video download service? Many of you are, since you’ve been bugging us all week about it. Is it an oversight? A legal issue? A conspiracy? No. Here’s Sony’s explanation:
Yes we are aware of the episodes and seasons that are available. We are working closely with our studio partners to add movie content, individual TV episodes (for rounding out seasons) and also adding whole new seasons. We have already published new content twice since launch last week and will continue to add more on a regular basis.
In other words, they’re adding the episodes as they go, not uploading them as a single block. I know, if you’re up to Buffy episode 4 and episode 5 is missing this must be simply infuriating, but you’re going to have to be patient.
If your games are calling out for a dual-core or quad-core processor (a high-pitched whine, if you’re not familiar with the sound), the next few weeks will prove to be a great time to go shopping. Intel’s just dropped the prices for the E8400 and Q6600, which you’ll remember came highly recommended by me.
Intel Cuts Quad-, Dual-Core CPU Prices [TrustedReviews]
And the post-E3 soul-searching continues! Latest to be asked for his $US 0.02 is the man with the soothing voice, Sega US boss Simon Jeffery. Who, for all the work he managed to get done during the week, still thinks the event could do with a little more…pizazz. E3 was a strange beast this year. We had an extremely strong product showing, had some great meetings, and got our messaging over pretty strongly – all at an event that had all the atmosphere of a large hospital corridor…we’d like to see something that represents the fun, dynamic nature of the industry a little better without going back to the insanity that was E3 of old.
It’s OK, Simon. We miss the booth crumpet as well.
Oh, there’s also Vida Guerra exercising, too. If you’re into that.
Jack Thompson Plays it For Laughs on Jace Hall Show [GamePolitics]
Pity the guy forced to wear the Dead Space costume at Comic-Con 08, slave to the whims of EA marketing shot-callers. We saw this poor chap remove his space helmet earlier today and were witness to the gushing of sweat. When we asked for a “dramatic pose” he simply lifted his arms up a bit, so drained he was of energy. Dead Space may be pulling a crowd at the con, but we’re worried for this guy’s health. Keep Dead Space man hydrated!
Local dev portal Tsumea picked up on a July 23 article over at Playstation Lifestyle about the Sydney-based Team Bondi and LA Noire. The article references a post on TB’s website, which states the studio is looking for animators to help finish production on the PS3-exclusive, noir-inspired title.
The thing is, the post in question is over two months’ old. Anyway, that’s not what caught my eye.
Have a read of the last comment by Aus artist for the PL story:
Team bondi lost all its lead programmers a few months ago and havent been able to fill the positions as far as i know. From what I have heard they are currently suffering from financial troubles. Previous emloyees [sic]have said it was a terrible place to work also.
Hardly conclusive, but I decided to pay a visit to Team Bondi’s job page. Lo and behold, it’s looking for no less than seven coders, and has been since April ’08. It seems like an awful lot of programmers to be looking for during the arse-end of production. Whatever’s going on, it does put an interesting spin on LA Noire‘s prolonged development.
L.A. Noire Almost Complete? [Playstation Lifestyle, via Tsumea]
You know how this works. Square-Enix takes classic game, remakes it for the Nintendo DS, Japan freaks. The gamers in that nation snapped up well over a half-million copies of the Dragon Quest V do-over last week, according to Media Create. They also grabbed a considerable amount of the latest Gundam thing, further lining the pockets of Namco Bandai bigwigs.
Capcom’s Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G returns to the top ten, after a drop in sales. The rest of the best sellers are after the jump.
1. Dragon Quest V: Tenkuu No Hanayome (DS) – 644,000 / NEW 2. Gundam Battle Universe (PSP) – 138,000 / NEW 3. Persona 4 (PS2) – 41,000 / 233,000 4. Tears to Tiara: Kakan no Daichi (PS3) – 34,000 / NEW 5. Wii Fit (Wii) – 27,000 / 2,380,000 6. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 24,000 / 1,584,000 7. Daigasso! Band Brothers DX (DS) – 21,000 / 212,000 8. Derby Stallion DS (DS) – 16,000 / 223,000 9. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (PSP) – 16,000 / 2,293,000 10. Densetsu no Stafi: Taiketsu! Dire Kaizokudan (DS) – 16,000 / 44,000
Microsoft might have bagged a big PS3 exclusive at E3 with Final Fantasy XIII. But, Sony Computer Entertainment honcho Kaz Hirai really does not want any Xbox 360 exclusives. Like at all. Even abstractly! In an E3 interview with Swedenish daily Aftonbladet, Hirai reportedly says he’d take a bullet to the head over taking an Xbox 360 exclusive. Harsh! In the past few days, Microsoft and Sony have been trading barbs like crazy. It’s like 2006 all over again. Anyway, here’s the exchange, kindly translated by Kotakuite Mordochai:
Don’t look now, but there’s a new game at #1. And it wasn’t made by Maxis. And it wasn’t made by Blizzard. That’s right, the top-selling PC game (at a bricks n mortar retailer) in the US for the week ending July 12 was…Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice. A popular series, no doubt, but really. Nancy Drew?
1. Nancy Drew: The Phantom Of Venice 2. Spore Creature Creator 3. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe 4. Diablo Battle Chest 5. The Sims 2 IKEA Home Stuff 6. WoW: Battle Chest 7. World Of Warcraft 8. The Sims 2 Freetime 9. WoW: The Burning Crusade 10. Call of Duty 4
[courtesy of NPD]