sin-city
Latest
True stories of EVE Online to become comic book and TV series
The CCP Presents Keynote at the annual EVE Online Fanfest is usually a fairly tame retrospective on how CCP has a company has done the past year and where it's going in the future, but for EVE's tenth anniversary, CCP broke out the big guns. In addition to announcing a massive new collector's edition, the studio has also revealed plans to turn real stories of events inside the sandbox into professional comic books and even a TV series. Industry giant Dark Horse Comics, the company responsible for comics like Hellboy and Sin City, will be publishing the 54-page graphic novel this winter in both a paid-for print form and a free digital download. For the lore buffs among us, Dark Horse will also be producing a colossal 184-page glossy colour hardback book covering all of the NPC backstory and lore behind EVE Online and DUST 514. Titled EVE Source, the book will be an in-character almanac of everything in the EVE setting that isn't player-created and will even include previously unreleased concept art.
WoW Moviewatch: Sin City Azeroth
Sin City Azeroth by Baron Soosdon is an old video. Originally released in 2007, this HD version was released by the good Baron in 2009. That means that kids born when he first created this video are now in kindergarten. The video's still awesome. It still looks amazing. It's a testament to the good Baron's skill and eye for image that Sin City Azeroth is so good. It feels a little choppy, but I took that as part of its composition; your mileage will vary, of course. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
League of Legends IPL swings into Sin City
Las Vegas is welcoming League of Legends players with open arms as the best of the best compete in the next step of the Challenger Circuit: IPL 4. With $5 million on the line for the season, you can bet that League of Legends players are doing anything and everything they can to get a piece of that action. IPL 4 is taking place from today through Sunday at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Sin City. Over the weekend, eight teams will compete for rankings and a $50,000 pot. The challengers are Team Dignitas, EpikGamer, Counter Logic Gaming, Team Solomid, v8 eSports, Against All Authority, Monomatic eSports, and Curse Gaming. Riot Games says there are still IPL 4 tickets available for those who want to attend in person. For those who can't, there's always the official IPL YouTube channel for long-distance spectating.
Sin City Blu-ray garners a perfect review
How better to follow up the great DVD box set version of Sin City than with an all-out Blu-ray version (Sin City - Recut, Extended, Unrated)? From the review at HollywoodChicago, that's exactly what Disney did -- the two-disc set scored across the whole trifecta: the video (thankfully) kept the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and accurately captured the abundant dark area details, the 5.1-channel DTS-HD MA audio track left nothing behind and even the extra features provided something for diehard fans and more casual viewers who want to rearrange the jump-cut narrative into linear form for individual characters. Say what you will about a lack of colorific range in the movie, but it's Blu-ray releases that fully deliver the director's vision and one-up the DVD that will get people into Blu-ray despite its premium price.
Blu-ray releases on April 21st 2009
The Oscar nominees continue to roll out this week with Frost/Nixon hitting the shelves from Universal, but Fox is the one really opening up the catalog with four new releases, two of which should help round out your HD X-Men collection. Anchor Bay has an old classic horror film featuring pin-head -- even the thought of those hooks makes us skwirm. Next week has some pretty good options too as both Star Trek and the first Dan Brown movie makes their way to Blu-ray to finish out April. Frost/Nixon (Universal) Arctic Tale (Paramount) The Arrival (Lionsgate) Notorious (Fox) The Wrestler (Fox) X-Men (Fox) X2: X-Men United (Fox) Sin City (Disney) Genghis Khan (Funimation) Hellraiser (Anchor Bay) Hellraiser Puzzle Box (Anchor Bay) The Last Word (Image) The Wages of Fear (Criterion)
Sin City Recut, Extended and Unrated Blu-ray special features previewed
A highly stylized flick like Sin City is sure to look great in high definition, so you're probably already planning to grab when it the Recut, Extended and Unrated version hits Blu-ray this week. For those who can't wait or are on the fence, MovieWeb has this quick snippet (embedded after the break) of Cine-Explore Bonus View special footage from the home version that shows off how the special effects were done while the movie plays on in the background. Other than that, the disc packs a couple commentary tracks, a 5.1 audio track including audience reaction (apparently so you can pretend you're at one of those movie theaters you no longer go to) and an interactive comic book.
Red Mile sinking: Sin City, Heroes Over Europe release in question
With cash short and options shorter, publisher Red Mile is in danger of going out of business, leaving both the video game adaptation of Sin City and Heroes of Europe to tread water. Red Mile inked a co-publishing deal with Atari in mid-2008 for Heroes Over Europe, something it expected to net the struggling company "minimum guaranteed payments" and back-end royalties to help keep it afloat. However, the checks stopped arriving on February 11 as Atari pulled its hand out of Red Mile's wallet, ending its publishing agreement for reasons unknown. Without any income, and means to pay Heroes Over Europe developer Transmission Games, it's not surprising that the devs walked away as well when Red Mile failed to pay the studio some $281,000. Red Mile is currently considering going after Atari for "compensatory damages," but time is running short and it's likely the company could simply run out of cash before any settlement is reached. The publisher has around $341,000 left in its coffers, which it estimates will run dry at the end of March. The company predicts that it needs an additional $10,000,000 to keep its doors open another 2-3 years, leaving the eventual release of Heroes Over Europe and Sin City in question. However, given that Red Mile has continually posted losses totaling more than $35 million since it was formed in 2004, we doubt many banks will be opening up their vaults for the company any time soon.
Sin City game changes devs, still coming
Red Mile's interactive adaptation of Frank Miller's landmark, hard boiled graphic novel(s), Sin City, has a new-ish developer. The title was originally being handled – presumably with those special gloves used for working with razor wire – by Transmission Games, the same outfit producing Heroes Over Europe for Red Mile. Both games have 2009 release dates.The publisher, who is working with Atari to get its games onto shelves, tells GameSpot that work on Sin City: The Game was handed to another developer "quite some time ago." Said developer's identity is unknown, but we do know that Frank Miller practically hand-picked his old pal (and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay writer) Flint Dille to "spearhead the design, scriptwriting, story generation, and overall production" of the game, which will – unsurprisingly – utilize Unreal Engine 3. Also, the color red. Lots of it.(And no, the new developer isn't Platinum Games, despite MadWorld's more-than-vague resemblance to Sin City.)
You like Sin City's visual effects? So did Ubisoft
Owned. Literally. The stylized look of the Sin City movie was (and still is) quite iconic. With the second movie yet to be made, Frank Miller tied up shooting The Spirit, and now the purchasing of the studio that does the effects, just how much influence does that style hold for the future? After its acquisition by Ubisoft, Hybride Technologies will supposedly continue to work with its movie partners, but will also work on bringing some of Ubisoft's IP's to the big screen. While this does seem quite out of character for a video game publisher, and it seems even weirder considering how Tom Clancy happy Ubisoft is, but it does open some interesting doors for that Prince of Persia movie.
Ubisoft buys 300, Sin City effects studio
Ubisoft has purchased Hybride Technologies, the Montreal-based visual effects studio behind several commercial, television and film projects; the studio is best known for its work on the films Spy Kids, 300 and Sin City. Ubi CEO Yves Guillemot says the acquisition is part of the company's plans to extend its brands to other forms of entertainment.Hybride and Ubisoft will move forward by sharing technology and developing tools for video games and visual effects. The acquisition is initially expected to generate sales of 6 -7 million Euros. We're certainly curious to hear what the first game will be that uses Hybride's artists post-purchase in its production.
Sin City game every other year starting 2009
From the people who brought us such hits as Jackass: The Game now are bringing another piece of pop culture to the realm of video games. Currently in development at Transmission Games is a game based on the Sin City graphic novels, (not the movie) that is currently due for release at the tail end of next year. Licensing the comics instead of the movie is both a wise and foolish move for the company, as the comics have much more story and depth, however they lack the actors or recognition that could make the game a big hit; so all in all it's a bit of a gamble. The IP has a lot of potential, but all that could mean is a more spectacular failure if the game isn't of the utmost quality. And with only six months of development behind it, it's impossible to tell if the devs will make good on that potential. The most interesting bit of news from the announcement is that the publisher foresees a continuing bi-yearly series out of the property, despite not even being out of pre-production for the first game. You can be sure we'll keep an eye on this one as it goes forward.
Red Mile restructuring continues, appoints new president
Just weeks after bringing on Maxis vet Jeff Braun, developer Red Mile has announced the appointment of a new company president, elevating industry consultant Simon Price to the company's throne. According to Red Mile, the move is part of a larger restructuring effort to "streamline costs" and "increase focus," corporate jargon that usually means some employees will be given their walking papers. Company CFO Ben Zadik already resigned as part of the effort on March 1, but plans to help in a consulting role for the next couple of months.Price, who has worked as a consultant for the company since it was founded in 2004, replaces former EA Canada president Glenn Wong, who stepped down at the end of February. According to Red Mile, Price has helped the company "in its efforts to identify and secure rights to key franchise titles," which given the company's recently released (and abysmal) Jackass and the upcoming (and hopefully good) Sin City, we figure the new exec is batting about .500.
Maxis founder joins Red Mile, goes from SimCity to Sin City
Jeff Braun, who started Maxis in 1987 with Will Wright and co-created SimCity, is now a "strategic adviser" for Sin City developer Red Mile. Braun will work with Red Mile president Glenn Wong to make the best use of the Sin City license and turn the company best known for GripShift and, oy vey, Jackass: The Game into something better.Braun believes the big challenge for Red Mile is to run with Sin City and make it a triple-A title so that the company can become a top-tier publisher. Wonder if that means we should still expect an early '09 release? Working with Glenn Wong, who was a former president at EA Canada, Braun believes the company can achieve its goals. Hopefully this means Red Mile is going to put some serious work into Sin City and it'll be a licensed game we can eagerly anticipate.
Sin City gets sinfully noir in 2009
It isn't much, but developer Red Mile did tell MCV that its game adaptation of Frank Miller's Sin City is expected in early 2009. Beyond that the only other thing we know about the game is that it runs on the Unreal Engine 3, which we know is absolutely thrilling to be aware of. With an early '09 release attached to it now, hopefully we'll start getting some information soon -- a couple screenshots would be nice.
Red Mile licenses Unreal Engine for Sin City
Today, Red Mile Entertainment announced that for its Sin City video game adaptation they've licensed the graphical powerhouse Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games. Red Mile's choice of an engine is solid and we don't think anyone is willing to debate the use of the Unreal Engine 3 with Sin City. Hell, it even sounds good. Hopefully Red Mile's rather slim game development pedigree (Jackass: The Game, Heroes of the Pacific and GripShift) doesn't instantly force this "movie game" into the clearance bin, because we think Sin City lends itself to the gaming realm rather well. Here's to you Red Mile, do Sin City good, do the Unreal Engine good and don't screw this up.[Thanks, DjDATZ]
Red Mile licenses Unreal Engine 3 for Sin City game
Red Mile Entertainment's game to kill for, Sin City, is set to be powered by the increasingly pervasive Unreal Engine 3. The developer announced today that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Gears of War monger Epic Games, with president and COO Glenn Wong describing the technology as a "perfect fit for our Sin City video games." Said games are to be based upon Frank Miller's popular series of Sin City graphic novels, which recently served as basis for a successful 2005 film (confusingly titled "Sin City").Not much is known about the initial game at this stage, save for the fact that it'll be overseen by Escape from Butcher Bay writer, Flint Dille. Oh, and that it'll be powered by Unreal Engine 3. We should probably write a news post about that.
Sin City game gets a ho-hum developer
Did you enjoy the game Gripshift for the PSP, more recently ported onto the Playstation Network? How about Jackass: The Game? If those titles absolutely blew your mind, then you might want to sit down before you hear about developer Red Mile Entertainment's next ambitious project: the Sin City video game. Yes, that's right. The hit movie that really gave comic book fans something to cheer about (aside from the totally awesome League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, we jest) is getting a video game adaptation at last. Forget about EA, Ubisoft, Capcom ... whoever. It's Red Mile, baby.If you're already sulking in disappointment, don't worry too much yet. Frank Miller himself has stepped up to assist Red Mile Entertainment with the script and probably some other collaboratory features. No, collaboratory isn't a word, but we just made it one. It sounds like it should be a word anyway. Anyhow, Miller released this promising statement: "The Red Mile team has impressed me with its dedication to creating Sin City video games that will remain true to Sin City as I've always seen it." Aww, come on Frank, don't be so hard on Sin City. It's good. We're kidding again. We'll keep tabs on how the game progresses -- who knows, maybe it'll be Red Mile's ticket into the "upper tier" of developers.
Sin City becomes a game to kill for
Red Mile Entertainment, creators of GripShift, Equestrian Challenge, and, err, the upcoming Jackass game, has announced a multi-year license agreement to develop and publish games based on Frank Miller's Sin City. It won't be the first time the neo noir series finds itself as the inspiration for another entertainment medium -- the graphic novels spawned a successful film adaptation in 2005, with plans for a sequel already in the works.Red Mile's CEO, Chester Aldridge, notes that the developer is "enthusiastic about working with Frank Miller to create a franchise that is worthy of this great property." He reckons Sin City will make for an outstanding game due to its "crime noir settings, richly detailed characters, hyper-real action sequences, and engaging stories," or just about everything you've never seen in a Red Mile game. Let's give them a chance, though -- Frank Miller certainly is when he describes the transition to games as "very exciting." He goes on to praise the Red Mile team for its dedication in "creating Sin City video games that will remain true to Sin City as I've always seen it." So, full of shadows and dollar signs, then?
HDTV Listings for May 1, 2006
What we're watching: Primetime tonight brings us NBA Playoffs, MLB action, 24, Prison Break & more, but those are all also-rans in my opinion. For true high definition greatness one must decide between Days of Thunder at 6 p.m. on HBO with the Cruise-y one himself, or the highly stylized Sin City at 6:45 on Starz (much like Sky Captain it is entirely green screened and looks great in HD). Our traditional high-def listings continue below.
