Category: Games

Film financier Legendary Pictures is in discussions to acquire Epic Games, the developer of GEARS OF WAR, among others, per VARIETY.

Execs at both companies declined late last week to comment to VARIETY.

If the deal goes through, it would make Legendary the first film financing company to invest directly in videogames. Studios like Warner Bros. (where Legendary is based) have recently started putting their own money into games.

Aardman Animations has joined forces with YouTube to launch another Aardman branded channel, Aardman's Darkside. The channel will offer a selection of some of the company's more surreal comedies and shorts including REX THE RUNT, THE ADVENTURES OF JEFFREY, A TOWN CALLED PANIC and ANGRY KID.

Electronic Arts has closed a deal with Universal Pictures to bring EA's new franchise and top-selling videogame, ARMY OF TWO, to the big screen.

Scott Stuber, through his Stuber Productions shingle, will produce the film along with EA, and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, who recently co-wrote the blockbuster THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, has signed on to adapt the game for the screen. Universal Pictures, Stuber Productions and EA are planning to begin production of the film in 2009.

Videogame publisher Activision Blizzard builds on facial animation technology created at Filmakademie's R&D Lab to raise the bar for in-game characters in the upcoming James Bond videogame QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

"Using the tools allowed us to enhance our production pipelines and shorten times for creating believable character animation," said Filippo Costanzo, Head of Research and Development. The technology was developed within the research project "Artificial Actors" at the Filmakademie's Institute of Animation.

The 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo will take place from June 2-4, 2009, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The re-expanded E3 will welcome all qualified computer and video game industry audiences, including international and U.S.-based media, analysts, retailers, developers and business partners to preview the latest in interactive entertainment and technology.

The production team from DreamWorks Animation from the upcoming animated feature MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA discuss the environments used in the film in this exclusive featurette on AWNtv: MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA -- Jungle 2 Plain Featurette.

The film hits theaters and IMAX on November 7.

The Mark Wahlberg-led videogame adaptation MAX PAYNE won its opening weekend (ending October 19) with $17.64M. The Fox film has vfx by Mr. X and SPIN VFX.

Disney's BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA (vfx by Tippett Studio, Cinesite, Image Engine Design, K.N.B. Effects Group, Kerner Optical, Proof, Realscan 3D and Svengali Visual Effects) dropped one place after two weeks at the top, bringing in $11.4M for a three-week cume of $69.3M.

The SPORE universe continues to evolve with a new patch available now for download. In response to SPORE players' and community members' feedback, this patch fixes reported bugs, tunes gameplay, offers an added way of selecting multiple items to delete/ban in Sporepedia and introduces a cool new cube planet style.

To get the patch, launch the EA Download Manager to download and install it. If you didn't install the EADM when you installed SPORE, you can get it from: http://files.ea.com/downloads/eacore/eadm-installer.exe

Based on the award-winning graphic novel, WATCHMEN tells the tale of a rag-tag group of retired heroes determined to uncover a ploy to discredit and kill all past and present superheroes.

In theaters March 6, 2009 from director Zack Snyder, AWNtv gives you a sneak peek at the theatrical trailer and seven behind-the-scenes video journals.

Jetix Europe, with plans to overhaul its websites with new and improved navigation and functionality, is teaming with two entertainment producers for animated comedy shorts that will play on the site's interactive VOD players.

W!LDBRAIN's TEAM SMITHEREEN will be the first new short-form series that Jetix will debut in Europe as an exclusive premiere on its websites. Jetix also commissioned BRB Internacional's THE SECRET LIFE OF SUCKERS.

Sony Online Ent. is conjuring ghosts, ghouls and goblins for the gamer community in a variety of in-game events themed around Halloween. This October, EVERQUEST, EVERQUEST II, STAR WARS GALAXIES, LEGENDS OF NORRATH, VANGUARD SAGA OF HEROES, EVERQUEST ONLINE ADVENTURES and THE MATRIX ONLINE players can celebrate All Hallows Eve by participating in themed quests, donning avatar costumes and masks, and trick-or-treating for loot and candy.

In-game events are as follows:

INDY 4 is out now on DVD and Blu-ray, along with the DVD release of the new SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS special "WhoBob, WhatPants?", BOB THE BUILDER DVDs and The Ultimate Matrix Collection on Blu-ray.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL On DVD And Blu-ray

The highest-grossing installment of the popular adventure franchise, with more than $780 million at the global box office, Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm Ltd.'s INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL will make its anticipated debut on DVD and Blu-ray October 14.