According to movie site Latino Review, Ward has been pulled off the flick. Sony and producer Avi Arad did not want to wait for Ward to contractually deliver drafts for other projects (like Hitman 2).

Instead, writing team Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, who penned the CONAN movie reboot, are being eyed as writers for the Uncharted flick. “At press time, negotiations are underway and it looks like a deal is imminent,” writes Latino Review. “Expect to hear it officially in the trades.”

News: Exclusive: Conan Writing Duo Chart Course For Drake’s Fortune! [Latino Review]

No idea just how much longer that means, but those in the test may have realised that they could still play over the weekend. And will still be running “into early next week”. Which is this week.

May as well make the most of it.

By Popular Demand: MAG Beta Extended [MAG]

“We want to increase the value, or the brand loyalty of our Sony products. There is no question about it,” said Sony Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai in a recent interview.

Hirai, who overseas games and network services, noted that Sony in the past has not been good at communicating between divisions. The exec also noted that the future integration of the PSN is something unique to Sony.

“That’s the kind of combination that I think is not seen anywhere else,” Hirai said. “That I think is where our core competence lies, and that’s a differentiator for Sony.”

Sony hopes online service will build brand loyalty [Japan Today]

The video below shows Boy discovering the Bespin-y qualities of this new environment, unlocked thanks to the collective efforts of Noby Noby players reporting their scores back to Namco. Crushing atmospheric pressure and poisonous clouds of ammonia seem not to be much of a problem here.

For those keeping score, Girl reached the Moon on February 23, four days after the game’s release. Mars was next on May 23, and now Jupiter on November 20. At this rate, I’d say ETA to Saturn is late 2010.

Jupiter Here We Are! [PSN Stores]

Says Mathew Everett, the Pandemic Community Manager, in a message on Saturday afternoon:

I am very proud to communicate today that The Saboteur has officially gone “GOLD” on all 3 planned platforms (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 & PC). This has been a very difficult week for Pandemic Studios, but does not change the fact that a team of amazing people worked very hard to make The Saboteur a great game that fans will be able to enjoy this holiday season. As planned, The Saboteur will be available across Europe starting December 4 and throughout North America on December 8. Vive La Resistance!

Frankly, I think the four bucks is a small price to pay to improve upon Ayane’s look and give Rachel something more business-like to wear. But it’s also four bucks worth of virtual clothing. You’ll have to judge for yourself.

In a statement to G4, the French publisher said that unlike the original Wii game and its sequel No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise shan’t carry the Ubisoft logo on these shores. No reason given, apparently, but here’s to hoping Grasshopper Manufacture can find a friend for those of use interested in experiencing “Very Sweet Mode” stateside.

Ubisoft Not Publishing No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise (Aka No More Heroes HD) [G4's The Feed]

Gearbox Software released a batch of new media for the Borderlands expansion, content that looks like it would’ve been great to play on or around Halloween and will give my Siren a bluish hue that I’ll really enjoy. More reanimated screens below.

Once more I get the distinct feeling that I will spend hours upon hours designing my racer, car and special tracks, only to get bored with the actual racing afterward. I’ve not had a chance to play the game yet of course, so perhaps my tune will change, but in the meantime I have to ask myself how much being able to create a pink kitty girl racer is worth to me.

Millions.

GameStop announced today that it would hold the “world’s largest” Modern Warfare 2 tournament kicking off November 20 both online and at 2900+ US GameStop locations. I wonder if the fact that it’s the world’s only Modern Warfare 2 tournament makes it the world’s largest…?

There are actually three different tourneys. The first is the US-only Xbox 360 one-on-one tourney where Round 1 takes place in-store, Round 2 takes it to Xbox Live and the finals go down in some as-yet undecided location — grand prize is $US5000. Then there are the International four-on-four tourneys for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, which you can find at gamebattles.com/gamestop. The top four teams from each platform will go to the finals to duke it out for a $US10,000 grand prize.

Get more details here.

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