News from Hollywood here, kids, and the news is good. In an interview with IGN, movie producer Paul W.S. Anderson has revealed that not only is the Castlevania movie stalled, but Spyhunter is stalled and then some.

On Castelvania:

We still want to make the movie, but I can’t say we’re going into production in January or anything like that. It’s a project that everybody likes. I love the videogame. I think the script is really strong. Everyone is really enthusiastic about it, but we’re still in the process of deciding when the movie gets shot.

If it was so great, Paul, “now” would be the time the movie gets shot. Pleasantries can’t mask the fact the movie is, for now at least, going nowhere.

And on Spyhunter, he says the script “wasn’t strong enough”, so he’s removed himself from the project. Without a producer attached, that movie is not only going nowhere, it’s going nowhere fast.

Castlevania in Limbo [IGN Movies, via MTV] [Image]

Seems filming has already begun in Canada, and the movie will star Maggie Q, Sean Faris, Will Yun Lee and Darth Maul himself, Ray Park. Those guys all have movie martial arts experience, that’s the good news.

The bad news is this:

It also looks like the King of Fighters movie will introduce a new science fiction spin into the setting established in the games’ universe by following the surviving members of three legendary fighting clans who are continually whisked away to other dimensions by an evil power. As the fighters enter each new world they battle that universe’s native defenders, while the force that brought them seeks to find a way to invade and infect our world.

Huh? Wha?

You have until 2010 to prepare yourself for disappointment.

Exclusive: King of Fighters details revealed [Movieset]

This week saw a thought-provoking post on the issue of escapism and games by Simon Ferrari — do games really qualify as escapist? What, exactly, are we escaping from? Compared to the classic example of big budget 1930s musical spectacles, which allowed audiences to ‘escape’ from daily life. But as Ferrari points out, this is not what most games wind up doing:

… Escapism works, quite literally, as an escape from real world ills. Video games don’t necessarily do this. If we sought an escape from violence and terrorism, then we wouldn’t have so many video games on the market focusing on just these two issues. Rather, many video games seek to provide catharsis for the mental ills that plague us all. We don’t see games about Iraq, but there are plenty of games that attempt to deal with the same “forces of evil” that fearmongering pundits fill our heads with through metaphor or displacement.

Even Mario wages battle against the totalitarian, (literally) draconian Bowser.

It’s not a very long essay but definitely worth a read — as are a lot of pieces on the new blog.

Model Propaganda [Georgia Tech Journalism & Games Project]

Street Fighter: Extreme Edition on Blu-Ray [Capcom]

It’s known that, as far as games are concerned, Knight is working on an unannounced project for the 360, PS3 and PC, so we’d be surprised if Dante’s Inferno (or whatever name it ends up settling with) wasn’t it.

Universal hot for ‘Inferno’ [Variety]

It would be a crying shame not to deal with Marcus and Dom. I would not be interested in the movie if we weren’t dealing with them. I want to see those guys. I want to see ‘Emergence Day.’ I want to see this stuff happen.

Morgan also promises that the Locust Horde will be turning up in full force for the movie, with bad guys like Corpsers and Beserkers making an appearance at some stage. All good news for Gears fans, but remember, Murphy’s Law (of game movies) demands that this movie suck. It demands it. But hey, if that happens, at least it’ll suck authentically.

‘Gears Of War’ Screenwriter Aims For ‘Gritty And Real’ Big-Screen Version Of Video Game [MTV]

It’s … really impressive to me that Max Payne came in number one this weekend…What I’m hearing is that the film is doing very well in many other European countries and Australia. This kind of opening brings us a lot closer to the reality of a sequel.

From haterade to champagne and talks of sequels in half a week? Amazing what the sight of buckets full of cash money will do to your thoughts on a shitty movie.

Miller Tones Down Max Payne Film Criticisms [Edge]

Oh, and anyone doubting the legitimacy of these pics might be interested in going here, and reading Microsoft’s angry “please stop” letter.

Exclusive: 2nd Halo Fall Of Reach Concept Art! [Latino Review]

You’re always going to be worried that in that first meeting they’re going to be, like, ‘OK, it’s Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey on a desert island hunting for pirate treasure,’ but it’s not going to go that way

My expectation at this time, from everything that I’ve heard, is that it will very much honour the dramatic and thematic elements of the game… They certainly understand the material and are able to provide a stamp of their own.

Thank goodness for that. But, now you mention it, that wouldn’t be the worst Uncharted movie…

BioShock movie won’t be “Kate Hudson hunting for pirate treasure,” says Levine [VG247]

Sure, I raise my voice, get in people’s faces… But I ramp up the humour, too. He’s like a version of my character in The Departed – sly and cynical but also very funny. That’s the kind of thing people like to see me doing.

We also like seeing him dance around in his undies and/or singing Transformers songs, but hopefully they won’t also be in the movie. They’re not really canon.

Payne is Wahlberg’s “favourite role so far” [Total Film, via Eurogamer]