Gary's Blog

Just a place to find out what's on my mind, or what's occupying my time whilst I avoid actual "work."

 

VGN for June 17th, 2005

Vin Diesel is a Killer
Game Industry News: Hitman heading to the Silver Screen

Hollywood Reporter and Reuters is reporting that Vin Diesel has signed on to star in the movie adaptation of Eidos Interactive Hitman series.

Diesel is set to play Agent 47, the contract killer hired by "the Agency" to assassinate agitators worldwide.

"Hitman is a project that by the virtue of its DNA can and will reach far beyond its already substancial core audience," said Adrian Askarieh, who will be producing the film. "The canvas on which this adventure takes place is something that movie audiences have embraced for the last 40 years."

Currently working on the latest installment of the series, Hitman: Blood Money, Eidos and IO Interactive are set to meet with Diesel and his company Tigron Studios, to develop the next title in the Hitman series. If the companies decide to do business, Diesel will lend his voice and likeness to the future titles in the series.

If things work out with Tigron, Eidos and IO, audiences can expect tie-in game when the movie is released.

Ubisoft prefers independence
PARIS - Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a French video game maker eyed by U.S. rival Electronic Arts Inc., reiterated that it wants to stay independent.

 
Chief Executive Yves Guillemot, speaking at a news conference in Paris to present full-year results, Wednesday said: "The option we prefer is to remain independent. If we can continue to deliver good results, we still have value and that would be possible."

Ubisoft has been the subject of takeover talk ever since Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts, maker of blockbuster games such as "Madden NFL" and "SimCity", snapped up a 20 percent stake in the family-run company late last year.

Guillemot said he would rather a tie-up with an entertainment or media company than a take-over by another video games maker, and he would oppose Electronic Arts — the company's biggest shareholder — getting a seat on the board.

HALO Movie?

By Bob Tourtellotte
Fri Jun 10, 4:09 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. was near a deal on Friday to sell the rights to make a movie based on hit video game series "Halo" after a recent round of Hollywood talks in which a high asking price and demands for creative input drew the ire of some parties, sources said.
 
The bidding for a movie based on "Halo" and "Halo 2," a science fiction series about a warrior named Master Chief who battles aliens, began on Monday when a script commissioned by Microsoft was delivered to Hollywood studios by messengers wearing Master Chief green armor and toting laser guns.

Represented by Creative Artists Agency, Microsoft sought an unusually high upfront payment of $10 million plus 15 percent of initial gross box office sales, which led several studios to drop out of talks, according to sources near the deal-making.

MGS on PS3?  Or Nintendo?  Or Microsoft?

Kojima talks about next-generation plans for his stealth action franchise

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima has told Japanese magazine Famitsu that he chose PlayStation 3 for the next instalment in his stealth-action series because of loyalty to Sony, according to a partial translation by US website IGN.

Nope. 

MGS4 to be PS3-exclusive

Hideo Kojima says he has no plans to bring any Metal Gear Solid game to a non-Sony next-gen platform, but he has high praise for the Xbox 360.
Speaking to Famitsu, Hideo Kojima, the famed game designer, revealed he has no plans to bring the Metal Gear Solid series to any next-generation platform other than Sony's PlayStation 3.

"Metal Gear Solid 4 is only scheduled for release on the PlayStation 3 at the current time," he told the Japanese game magazine. "Of course we could port it to other consoles, but doing so would require additional staff and research and development costs. If I were to make games for the Xbox 360 or the [Nintendo] Revolution, I'd rather create original titles that match each console's audience, instead of the Metal Gear Solid series."

Xbox Schools Japan!

Students in Japan will be learning how to videoconference with console donated by Microsoft.
TOKYO--Classrooms in Japan wil be getting some Xboxes, but not for their typical purpose of playing games. Microsoft announced today that it will be donating Xbox consoles enabled with video chat capabilities to all elementary and junior high schools in Tokyo's Suginami ward for educational purposes, starting in late June.

A total of 80 Xbox units will be given out to 44 grade schools, 23 junior high schools, and eight other public facilities in Suginami. Microsoft hopes that its donations will help educate the children to become more IT literate. The consoles will allow Microsoft to teach the students how to use videoconferencing to take online classes and communicate with other Xbox Live-enabled schools.

What I've been playing:

Scrapland

NOTHING ELSE BECAUSE MY GAME ROOM IS DESTROYED!

Anime News:

MetroCon next weekend!  Listen to VGN for tiks!

posted by: Gary1059 at 07:15 | link | comments |