san-diego-comic-con posts

Fans of Wildstorm's World of Warcraft comics are going to get a bit of surprise later this fall. During the San Diego Comic-Con Wildstorm comics panel this fall (which Wildstorm recorded for a podcast) it was revealed that issue 25 of the regular ongoing World of Warcraft comic, due out this November, will be the last issue of the series.

However, fear not because Wildstorm plans to relaunch their World of Warcraft monthly comics in January 2010. Yep, we said comics. The panel revealed that there will be both an Alliance and a Horde regular monthly series that will have their first issues that month. The panel did not have any info on who will be writing and drawing the two series.

In a bit of a last minute San Diego Comic Con related announcement, Variety is reporting that a director has been signed for the upcoming adaptation of Dead Space, the recent sci-fi survival horror game from Electronic Arts. That director is D.J. Caruso who previously directed the movies Disturbia and Eagle Eye.

EA is still looking for a scriptwriter for the movie adaptation but once it selects a writer and script they are happy with they will begin pitching a Dead Space movie directly to the major film studios. EA already has a number of their game properties in some kind of film production including Mass Effect. In an odd aside, the article also claims that EA is "working on the second and third installments" of the game series.

With the San Diego Comic-Con being held this week a number of new video game-to-movie deals and news were also made including selecting a director for the World of Warcraft film. However one of the biggest game franchises of all time, the Grand Thett Auto series, will likely never made it to the silver screen, at least if the game's development team has anything to say about it (and they do).

The Los Angeles Time reports that Dan Houser of Rockstar Games has stated, "We don't believe that the Grand Theft Auto games, which are massive in scope and structurally complex, can be adequately compressed into a two-hour movie." He didn't completely shut the door on such a prospect, however, saying, "If we ever decide to do a film, it will be because we have resolved our creative doubts, and while retaining enough control to ensure that if the movie is terrible, at least we will know we ruined the property ourselves."

LucasArts said they would have some special announcements at their San Diego Comic-Con panel and boy, were they right. Today they revealed that they will be releasing a PC and Mac version of 2008's best selling action game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed in a new "Ultimate Sith Edition". This new version will contain all of the content of the original console game plus three all new missions that continue the storyline of Darth Vader's Secret Apprentice.

This new version, which will be co-published by Aspyr Media sometime this fall., will also contain new costumes for the game's lead character the Secret Apprentice. It will also have new character models that will give players a chance to control classic Star Wars characters like Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Count Dooku, Jango Fett and C-3PO. You can check out the decriptions of the three new missions, two of which are set in an alternate Star Wars Infinities timeline, after the jump.

[Via email press release]

Sony Online's launch of Free Realms, their free-to-play fantasy MMO game, is pretty much a success no matter how you cut it. Gamasutra reports that during a panel at the San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, Sony Online's head John Smedley stated that Free Realms now has "close to" 5 million registered players.

Free Realms officially launched on April 28 and reached the 1 million registered player mark well within a month of that date In mid-June, Sony Online announced it had surppassed the 3 million registered player mark. For a game that's had little marketing outside the game industry that's a massive number to reach in so short a time. It also shows that the monhtly subscription model for MMO titles could be on its way out.

A few days ago the official BioShock community site posted up word that their Something In The Sea viral campaign for BioShock 2 would make some kind of appearance at the San Diego Comic-Con this week. As it turned out publisher 2K Games decided to create a physical exhibit on the con's show floor that showed the office that's creatued in the somethinginthesea.com web site.

According to G4TV, the physical Comic-Con office has all of the documents and items that are on the web site as well as new items and clues. The article has several close up pictures from the office so feel feel to check them out to see if you can find even more clues and hints about what's next for the FPS sequel.

A few months ago we reported that Zombie Studios was working on a new first person shooter called Blacklight (which is also being made as a comic book and movie property at Fox). At the time Zombie's president Mark Long also told us about their Shrapnel comic book that they created and which is being published by Radical Comics. The sci-fi action comic also shares the name of a game that Zombie was developing several years ago but later put on hold.

Today The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Zombie Studios is once again planning to release a game with the Shrapnel title and like Blacklight a movie version is in the works as well. The movie rights to Shrapnel have been bought by director Len Wiseman (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard).

The comic book version of Shrapnel is highly different than Zombie's previously announced game, which took place in the near future. The comic book (and the new game and movie) takes place in the far future where humanity has colonized the solar system but is now under brutal rule. An ex-Space Marine on Venus is trying to fight off the Solar Allliance with their own rebellion. There's no word on when the Shrapnel movie or game will be released.

Ubisoft is not only making their action game sequel Assassin's Creed II it's also making three live action short films that will serve as a prelude to the events in the game. Today Ubisoft revealed details about the films, which are under the blanket title Assassin's Creed II: Lineage ahead of their San Diego Comic-Con Assassin's Creed II panel that will be held later today.

The Los Angeles Times web site has more info on these short films which tells stories centered around the father of the main character in the game. The films were made at Hybride Technologies, the special effects production company that Ubisoft bought in 2008. The movies will be released prior to the game but there's no word as to how they will be released nor how much they will cost.

As part of their San Diego Comic-Con events, Disney Interactive has announced plans to release a game based on the forthcoming Tim Burton directed version of Alice in Wonderland. The title, due out in early 2010, will be released at the same time as the movie which will feature Johnny Depp in a role he was apparently born to play, the Mad Hatter.

Developed by France-based Etranges Libellules, the game has the player controlling Alice through Tim Burton's version of Wonderland (actually set several years after the events of Lewis Carroll's original book). The game will also feature players controlling other characters like the Mad Hatter that can help Alice solve puzzles and evade traps. For example the Mad Hatter can " . . . take advantage of optical illusions to open up places in the world the player alone would not have noticed,"

We have wanted to post up a picture of Jennifer Love Hewitt on Big Download for a long time but we never had an excuse to do so. Well, friends, we do now. Legacy Interactive has just announced plans (timed for this week's San Diego Comic-Con) to release Ghost Whisperer: Shadowlands, a casual adventure game based on the CBS TV series that happens to star Ms. Hewitt.

You will play Hewitt's role of Melinda Gordon who can see ghosts who need to deal with some unfinished business back on Earth before they head into the light. The game will have light adventure and hidden object gameplay as you solve five separate ghost mysteries. There's no word yet if Hewitt will contribute her voice talents to the game. The game is due out in early 2010.