fox posts

World of Warcraft Cataclysm TV commercial to debut on Sunday

by John Callaham Oct 15th 2010 @ 6:00PM

Even though we are still over a month away from the release of World of Warcraft Cataclysm, Blizzard is already prepping for the MMO expansion's promotion campaign. Today developer Blizzard sent over word that the first TV commercial for the expansion will be broadcast on Sunday afternoon.

Specifically the commercial will be run on Fox sometime during the Dallas Cowboys - Minnesota Vikings NFL game. The game begins at 4:15 pm ET and will be the first look at the new CGI cinematic sequences that have been made for Cataclysm. There's no word on exactly when the commercial will air during the game so those of you who have DRVs. you should set them now.

Gallery: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Screenshots

Filed under: MMO, World of Warcraft

Rumor: Could THQ be a takeover target?

by John Callaham Sep 23rd 2009 @ 7:00PM

THQ's stock price took a big leap upwards on Tuesday in trading on rumors that the game publisher might be putting the "For Sale" sign up. MCV reports that Time Warner, Electronic Arts, Viacom and Fox/NewsCorp are all rumored to be looking at the publisher which had its stock price go up 13 percent on those reports.

Naturally none of the companies involved are commenting on the published rumors. THQ got caught with low selling games last year and as a result cut 25 percent of its workforce along with a number of its internal development studios. However, THQ's successful release of the console-only UFC boosted its bottom line recently and may provide new interest in companies who might want to acquire the company to obtain the UFC game license as well as others.

Filed under: Biz

Alone in the Dark structure influenced by 24, other TV shows

by Samuel Axon May 15th 2008 @ 11:00AM

There are a lot of interesting innovations in Eden Games and Atari's Alone in the Dark reboot. There are so many, actually, that we worry that it's too ambitious -- that it could end up more like Omikron: The Nomad Soul than a successful revolutionary work like Half-Life 2.

Next Generation played a chunk of the game, and expressed some of the same worries, suggesting that "a hint of a masterpiece is most definitely there, but beneath some problems." That said, Next Gen dedicated quite a few words to an innovation it believes might stick -- Alone in the Dark's episodic story structure. Eden Games admitted that the approach was inspired by serial television shows -- 24 and "the big HBO dramas," to be specific. There are several quotes and explanations by the devs in the article.

Eden Games has split the game up into twenty "episodes," each with its own narrative arc and cliffhanger conclusion. Here's the kicker, though: you can skip an episode -- or several of them -- if you want. Eden Games is doing this to throw a bone to gamers who often don't finish games because they get stuck at a certain puzzle or encounter. Each episode starts with a "Last time, on Alone in the Dark" sequence to catch players up to the action. Don't think you can read the last page first, though; you'll have to complete a certain number of episodes before the ending becomes available.

Filed under: Biz, Interviews, Survival horror

Max Payne fan film "foxed" by Fox

by John Callaham May 13th 2008 @ 8:00AM

A number of major film studios are flexible when it comes to having their properties adapted by fans for non-profit fan films. Twentieth Century Fox is apparently not one of them. Years ago gamers coined the term "foxed" when the same film studio got the development team that made the exceptional Alien mod for the original Quake to stop development and remove the first public release of the total conversion. Now the very same film studio has decided to shut down the fan-made movie Payne and Redemption, based on Remedy's action game Max Payne.

The reason, of course, is that Fox is making its own theatrical Max Payne movie starring Mark Walhberg as the dark and violent detective (it's due out in October). Apparently having a free fan made Max Payne movie would not do and earlier this month the writer-director of Payne and Redemption, Fergie "Larry David" Gibson, posted up word on his web site that after having a chat with the VP of Fox's Intellectual Property he was forced to close shop.

You can tell that Gibson is extremely bitter about the whole situation; this is something he has been working on for years. He made three trailers for his film (all now pulled of course) and now all his work is for naught. You could argue that Fox has every right to do what it did; they are spending tens of millions to make and market a Max Payne movie and they could be concerned that a fan-made non-profit film could cause confusion. On the other hand you could argue that such a fan film could serve as free publicity for Fox's Max Payne movie. We will never know.

[Via Blue's News]

Filed under: Culture, Action