Called The Defenders, it’s a family adventure based on Oka’s own experiences playing MMORPGs, and follows a group of gamer teens who only know each other via their online identities. An unnamed threat rears its ugly head, and the group must meet up in real life to save the day. Seems familiar…

“You can be whoever you want to be,” Oka said. “The question came to me: What if you had to live up to the person you created in the virtual world?”

The project is supposed to along the lines of what Spielberg’s “Amblin [Entertainment] used to do, that combined an innocence with the adventure.” We assume that means something along the lines of The Goonies or Innerspace or Back to the Future. Oka will be producing the film, and The Book of Eli scribe Gary Whitta will be penning the script. Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso is “in talks” to helm the picture.

And yes, DreamWorks will develop a game tie-in.

Masi Oka project set at DreamWorks [The Hollywood Reporter via MTV]

“The rights to the ‘Heroes’ video game have reverted back to NBC Universal,” said a decisive Jaime Cottnic, Ubisoft’s PR director, “Ubisoft will no longer produce a video game based on the TV series.”

It’s a bit of a shame – especially as Ubisoft can seemingly bang out games about all kinds of random subjects on a seemingly daily basis – but perhaps understandable now that Season 3 seems to be dropping Nielsen points like they burn it’s very flesh.

While the overcooked time travel plotlines and surfeit of characters with daddy issues could do with a trim on TV, I can’t help but think that it would work really well as a multi-character RPG or thoughtful action adventure. Any developers out there want to pick this one up for cheap?

Ubisoft Drops Plans For ‘Heroes’ Game [MTV Multiplayer]

If your love of Heroes demands you to not only pick up the Season 2 DVD pack minus the DVDs, but get the cover signed by the aforementioned personalities, Sept 2 will be like a second Christmas. Personally, I found the second season all over the place (writer’s strike probably didn’t help). David Anders does a wicked UK accent though.

Press release with extensive details, after the jump.

The Countdown is On: Heroes Stars’ Arrive in Sydney

Sydney will have the opportunity to welcome Milo Ventimiglia and Masi Oka, two of the lead stars in the hit TV series Heroes when they host an in-store signing event at JB Hi-Fi to meet their most passionate Australian fans.

When: Tuesday, 2 September
Where: JB Hi-Fi Store, The Galeries Victoria, 500 George St, Sydney
Time: 1:15pm to 2:45pm
Hundreds of fans are expected to attend the event where Milo and Masi will be signing pre-order copies of the new Heroes: Season 2 DVD*.

Milo Ventimiglia stars as the idealistic, power absorbing Peter Petrelli while Masi Oka plays the endearing time-bending Hiro Nakamura. During a phenomenally successful first season, Heroes won over the hearts and minds of fans from all over the world.

As the second season launches on DVD, Australian fans have the chance to get up-close-and-personal with the two most recognisable characters of the franchise.

Heroes: Season 2 will be releasing on DVD and Blu-ray on October 1 , 2008 in Australia. The visit will also celebrate the debut season currently screening on SCI FI Channel and Season 3 coming soon to Channel 7.

* Heroes: Season 2 will be available to pre-order exclusively at the JB Hi Fi store in The Galeries Victoria. Fans can pre-order the DVD at this store from 8am Tuesday 2nd of September and will receive the DVD cover to be signed by Milo and Masi on that day only.

Please note: pre-ordering / signage is dependent on a first come first served basis. Milo and Masi will only be signing the pre-ordered DVD cover.

How Heroes Are Made: A Collaborative Approach to Serialised Content in a Transmedia World will look at how Alexander uses game development processes to manage the writing on Heroes. Sounds pretty interesting.

Moledina also unveiled in his blog that Tim Bennison and Eric Holmes will be talking about their upcoming game Prototype and how they are trying to produce gameplay that mimics true behavior.

Sounds like this GDC will be as much a must see as ever year’s is.

Director’s Cut: Save the Cheerleader! [GDC Director's Cut]

We struggled with this one somewhat. Greg was a pleasure to work with, and he was willing to make the time to work with us on Condemned 2, but we felt we wanted a darker, edgier tone…We loved Greg’s work on Condemned; Criminal Origins and found him to be a great voice talent as well as a fantastic person to work with. It was purely a directional choice.

Purely directional, aye? Or was it that you didn’t like Mr. Grunberg reading your mind?

GAMES: Condemned 2: Bloodshot [via gamelife]