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Gears of War movie following Halo movie into nothingness?

Not long ago, we learnt that CliffyB was ecstatic about the upcoming Gears of War movie, supposedly under production at New Line Cinema. Well, he was talking rather furiously about it, but looks like even a gaming god can’t help a movie when budget strikes back. The much-talked about Halo movie was probably the first “AAA” video game movie to fall into the bottomless pit of doom. Is Gears of War hurtling towards the same?

Len Wiseman was initially supposed to direct the Gears of War movie, but IESB.net reports some startling news. Wiseman has decided to get his butt out of the Escape from New York remake he was to direct, and is still attached to the Gears of War movie. But things aren’t as smooth as they seem. Even with a director attached, New Line is concerned about the “ballooning” budget of the film, that Cliffy had boasted about earlier.

“Len Wiseman is still on the project currently, but it doesn’t look good, due to the budget concerns the studio has, New Line will most likely not be moving forward on this film.”

Hot damn, the certainty in those words is a point worth noted. Will Gears of War followed the much-compared-to Halo movie and slip into Development Hell? We can only hope it doesn’t (or can we?).

Bungie officially splits from Microsoft, Halo still owned by Redmond

Well, what do you know? Turns out one rumour ended up being real. Bungie has split from big daddy Microsoft and is on its way to become an independent ~~republic~~ company. Of course, Microsoft won’t let one of its slaves off that easy.

It still maintains an equity interest in Bungie and “at the same time continuing its long-standing publishing agreement between Microsoft Game Studios and Bungie for the Microsoft-owned “Halo” intellectual property as well as other future properties developed by Bungie”, whatever the hell that means.

Harold Ryan, speaking from Bungie’s fortress said that their relationship with Microsoft went pretty well and that they will concentrate their next titles on Microsoft® platforms. To cut a long story short, Bungie’s next games will be for the Xbox 360 (and whatever other consoles Microsoft spits out). This means that Bungie is still hugging Microsoft and will probably not let go for quite a while.

Shane Kim, corporate VP at Microsoft Game Studios, said that Microsoft appreciates the work their little slave has done for them and that they will further the Halo franchise with more collaborations, one notable name being Peter Jackson. Of course, no movie specifics were announced. As you can guess, Microsoft talked more about the franchise Bungie created for them rather than Bungie itself.

We hope Bungie evolves to make more kickass games, and we sure as hell hope they move on to something new and original and stop making more armoured-guy-kills-aliens games, please. Thanks.

More on Gears of War movie, PC release details and CliffyB’s thoughts on Halo

Cliff Bleszinski, one of the most influential personalities in game development held an open house for select journalists not long ago. Of course, we weren’t invited because we weren’t cool enough to go to the party, but turns out that we ended up getting enough information anyways. Oh internet, is there anything you cannot do?

“[Gears of War] it’s got to be a pretty f***ing hardcore movie”

Gears of War, one of the Xbox 360’s best titles out there is being turned into a movie and CliffyB is making sure it does not go wrong (like Halo). When asked about the Halo movie, he says:

“I would love to see a Halo movie. You have the number one most recognizable character right now for gamers, which is Master Chief. I think in some ways Gears excites me as a movie because you have these actual characters and faces and they have their own personalities.”

Cliffy is also collaborating with Stuart Beattie, an Aussie screenwriter known for writing the ~~abysmal~~ spectacular scripts for Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl and the upcoming 30 Days of Night. When asked about him, Cliffy says:

Stu is amazing to work with because he knows Gears inside and out. He beat the game several times and he was hooked on multiplayer. … … I think we have a really great script and now it’s just a matter of getting the right director attached and making sure it becomes a “AAA” blockbuster movie.

Typically, I’d post a cynical comment here, but seeing as we have an experienced screenwriter here, the script might actually be good. Besides, good man Cliffy won’t lie now, would he?

Another concern that is most common in game-to-movie adaptations would be of ratings. Quite often, you have an insanely gory game, which when turned into a movie becomes a family movie complete with teddy bears and pixies. Well, Cliff says that this won’t be happening.

The fact that Gears is an M-rated franchise and involves people getting chainsawed in half, it’s got to be a pretty f***ing hardcore movie.

And you know it’s going to be badass when one of the leading crew members uses profane words about it. Damn, I can’t wait to see it. Hit the jump for more about the movie, details about Gears of War for the PC (and it’s extras) and Cliffy talking some more about stuff.

Continue reading “More on Gears of War movie, PC release details and CliffyB’s thoughts on Halo”

Halo 3 makes 300 million in first week, Sparta jokes abound.

We brought you news of how Halo 3 dominated the entertainment industries by raking in $170 million on the opening day itself. Microsoft did some boasting some time ago and revealed that they made $300 million in the week, overall. And you’d think Microsoft wasn’t rich enough.

And now, it’s time for some statistics!

3 million copies (approximately) have been sold.
Halo 3 raked in 57% of the $300 million in the American opening day sales itself.
Xbox 360 sales have reportedly doubled.
Considering that one copy was sold to one individual, and my mathematics hasn’t jaded, only 0.04% of the world owns Halo 3.
(Rumour) Halo-Sparta jokes reached an all-time high around time of release.

Well, how can we sum it up now? It’s a major understatement, but Halo 3 is BIG. Express all your Sparta jokes in the comments, please.

[Via Kotaku]

Artifacts stolen from Dr. Jones

Indiana Jones IV

Dr. Jones look out! Someone’s after your Crystal Skull. Thankfully Steven Speilberg is getting in on the action and throwing out his wip as well.

Police are being called into the scene to figure out who has stolen Dreamworks’ computers and photographs relating to the production of the latest Indiana Jones film, The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

If you see any of these items turn up on the Black Market, the Silk Road, or eBay – please called your local authorities.

[Via Yahoo]