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Stake or be staked: Van Helsing MMO to take the fight to classic movie monsters
It's the perfect time of year to announce a horror-themed MMO, so we're not surprised that at least one studio has stepped up to do so. SEE Virtual Worlds, the same company that's working on Planet Michael (which may or may not still have you giggling sporadically), is turning the world of Van Helsing into a MMO with the blessing of Universal Studios. With eight decades of movie monsters under its belt, Universal Studios is not lacking for iconic ghoulies and gremlins: The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, the Mummy, Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon have frightened generations of children and lingered in the imaginations of millions more. In the game, players will step into the role of a Van Helsing-type figure who's tasked with taking down the hairiest, slimiest and most bitey of them all. Both Planet Michael and the Universal Monsters MMO will exist within Entropia Universe's domain, which houses virtual worlds and utilizes a real-world cash exchange economy. You can read the full Hollywood Reporter article here.
3D gaming is now big enough for its own summit
Spinning off of the annual 3D Entertainment Summit, Unicomm announced intentions late last week to launch the "3D Gaming Summit" in April 2010. Headed up by former head of the Hollywood Reporter Bob Dowling and Connecticut-based event management company Unicomm, the two-day event is set for April 21 and 22 at the Hilton Universal City in Los Angeles. According to a press release issued by Unicomm, the summit's aim is to "attract the brightest minds in the gaming industry" and "define the market opportunity for 3D stereoscopic gaming and entertainment." "Consumers are leading the way to pervasive 3D entertainment," commented Unicomm CEO John Golicz, lest we forget that 40 million of us will have the new technology within the next four years (there might even be something in your house capable of 3D film viewing right this minute!). Though the release didn't specify any major gaming publishers or developers signed on for the event, it noted that "key sponsors" will help to "highlight 3D gaming technology." We might still be skeptical, but after what we saw last year at CES from Sony, and our recent IMAX 3D experience with James Cameron's Avatar, we're (at very least) interested in what 3D tech in gaming has to offer.
'Asteroids' heading towards the big screen?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal has won an all-out "bidding war" over the film rights to Atari's classic Asteroids video game. We're not entirely sure who all was involved in this "war," but the conflict couldn't possibly be prompted over the universal themes tackled by the story of the plucky little triangular spaceship and the asteroid field it inhabits. As the Reporter, um, reports: "As opposed to today's games, there is no story line or fancy world-building mythology." Michael Bay is rumored to be very interested in directing.[Via George Ruiz]
Masi Oka developing MMO-related movie
Masi Oka plays the fan-favorite character Hiro on the television show Heroes, but that's not the only role he plays -- we've heard before that he's a big World of Warcraft player as well (which makes sense -- before his star turn on NBC's superhero show, he actually worked at Industrial Light and Magic developing water effects, so he's a geek at heart). And now he's using his MMO experience to create a movie: he's just signed a deal with Dreamworks to create a movie called "The Defenders," a family adventure about a group of teens playing an MMO who have to come together to have some adventures of their own. Both Oka and writer Gary Whitta are fans of WoW, so they're drawing on their experience in the game to put together the project. Oka tells the Hollywood Reporter that "the question came to me: What if you had to live up to the person you created in the virtual world?" He also cites The Goonies as an inspiration for the story, as an adventure that brings back an innocence found in those old Amblin Entertainment films.Sounds interesting. It might be aimed a little young for the average WoW player (even The Goonies, while considered a cult classic nowadays, was really aimed at kids in the '80s), but a film that can take a good look at the comparison between our in-game selves and their real-life counterparts (and have some fun doing it) would definitely be something to see. The project's only just getting underway now, but we'll keep an eye out for it.
FusionFall release date slips to Fall
We came really close to calling this post 'FusionFall (fusion)falls down to (fusion)Fall', but were talked out of it. At any rate, the Hollywood Reporter, writing about the upcoming MMO FusionFall, mentions that the release date has slipped (once again) from Summer of this year to Fall.Executive Producer Chris Waldron has said "Let's just say that MMOs are very deep, very large games that are ready when they are ready. They take a lot of testing, a lot of polish, and that's what we're going through." It's the best of reasons to slip a release date, but without more clarity on what precisely they're working on polishing, these sorts of announcements just tend to lead to insecurity among the faithful. After all, if it's slipped once, it can slip twice. If it's slipped twice, as it just has, it could slip again. Let's hope for more information to be revealed soon.
Blockbuster announcing streaming set-top box this month?
The Hollywood Reporter is stating in no uncertain terms that Blockbuster is developing a set-top box to stream video into the home. Now the real bombshell: it should be announced "sometime this month." The device is expected to make the most of Blockbuster's access to Movielink's 6,000 strong Movie catalog just as soon as the content is migrated to Blockbuster.com (sometime before June). While delivering movies into the home electronically certainly challenges Blockbuster's brick and mortar business, really, what choice do they have in the relentless face of progress.
Second Life ranked 8th Most Effective Placement on TV in 2007
According to hollywoodreporter.com, Second Life enjoys the 8th Most Effective Placement on TV this year, behind Nexxus on the show 'Shear Genius', and in front of Visa on the show 'What Not to Wear'. Interestingly, according to the graphic, this is the public's response to SL's appearance on The Office, even though said appearance was virtually 1% of the entire content of the show, as opposed to the CSI: NY episode, in which SL is the subject of the plot.Now, what this means to you and me is probably not a whole lot. As I understand it, this measures how the product is perceived by John Q. Public, and in this case, being on The Office means that SL has gained some respect by merely rubbing shoulders with that popular sitcom. Perhaps if Fury had been able to swing a mention ... nah, some things you just can't save. [Thanks, Neptune!]
Are we all just here to grind?
I don't often look to the Hollywood Reporter for, well, anything. So when I read an article talking about MMOs, I was a little skeptical. But as it turns out they have some interesting things to say about WoW and the MMO market. Most of the article is a large advertisement for Mesa Studios' latest endeavor, Stargate Worlds, but being that WoW is the top dog in MMOs today, they spend a lot of time talking about what makes WoW successful. They say that the grinding element is, in part, one of the reasons that players keep playing World of Warcraft. Now, Mr. Ybarra, the gentleman from Stargate Worlds sounds as if he doesn't have much experience with WoW as an actual game when he says this: The paradigm for customer retention at 'WoW' and most of the other MMOGs is to build a game that takes the player 2,000 hours to reach Level 500...
Superman Returns director talks HD DVD extras
Bryan Singer, director of the new movie Superman Returns did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter recently and talked a lot about the special effects technology that went into the movie, plus the inclusion of blogging for fans during the moviemaking process. Despite the fact that the movie hasn't even been released in theaters yet, he's already giving details on the DVD versions. He mentions specifically Warner's In Movie Experience (IME) technology, using the interactive technology of HD DVD (and potentially Blu-ray also) to show behind the scenes looks as well as cast interviews while the movie continues playing. He sounds pretty excited, and the feeling is catching.This is good not just for HDTV owners to hear such things are coming down the pipe, this kind of exposure about the additional features for the new formats will be very key in them being accepted by mainstream consumers. Can we expect a day-and-date HD DVD/Blu-ray release for Superman Returns?[Via MovieWeb]
