Rahul Shirke

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]

Rumour 2: Bungie splits from Microsoft?

All this talk of rumours has me convinced that something big is going to happen real soon. But right now, let’s talk about the rumour specifically:

A guy from Seattle Post Intelligencer Blogs is running around the streets with a doomsday sign in his hands and saying that Bungie has split from their beloved publisher and surrogate mother, Microsoft. Bungie’s record-breaking video game seemingly pleased the big daddy enough to let them be set free.

Microsoft has supposedly chosen not to announce this right now, as it would hurt their quarterly sales of their already well-sold Halo 3. And about the future of Bungie?

They are now an independent entity, no longer licking Microsoft’s shoes. However, Microsoft still owns the Halo franchise, so if anything Halo is going to happen, it’s coming from Microsoft. However, it has been mentioned that Bungie might be interested in making a Halo 4.

I say for heaven’s sake, no! The Halo series has been completed with the end of the trilogy. Something like Halo Wars, sure! But please no Halo 4. 🙁

Sony planning something big for October 12th?

It seems that Sony has heard enough news articles bashing them and their erratic corporate policies. We can’t blame them, although I would have preferred slicing journalists’ limbs with a chainsaw. If rumour is to be believed, Sony is preparing to strike back with a “Big bang” announcement this October the 12th.

GamePro states that something is going on in Sony’s offices, and it will all spill out on said date. Now, speculation has been running wild and since this news article is still in “rumour” section, we can predict anything from collaboration with aliens to a price drop for the PS3 to the announcement of the company’s dissolution. For all we know, Sony might even be creating a new universe. (They did say “Big Bang” 🙁 )

Whatever it is, it will have to wait for 12 days. We really hope this is worth it, Sony.

[Via Qj.net]

Terminator 4 may hit 2009 release, will face heavy competition if true.

As some of you may know, The Halcyon Company bought the rights to the Terminator franchise last year, making them lord of machines and eventually, a Terminator 4 was announced. What’s more, 4 will be part of an entirely new trilogy of Terminator movies, sans Arnold. 🙁

We’ve got some fresh news that the movie will be geared for a 2009 release. While it’s good to know that the movie is still serious, what is really making me jump is that 2009 will end up being one hell of a year. As we brought you news, Transformers 2 is coming out then, as is the film adaptation of Watchmen (which is being made by the 300 crew)! And there have to be even more awesome movies coming out then that I do not know or remember right now!

No title has been supplied yet, though it has been confirmed that it won’t be called “Terminator 4”. There will be subtitle after the Terminator label. Now, you just needed to know that, didn’t you? We’ll see how the movie shapes out to be, though I sense a dark, dark future without the awesomeness of Ahnold.

[Via FirstShowing.net]

Awesome Ultimate Halo Package for sale on eBay – costs more than NASA budget.

Now, this is one deal that will satisfy anyone from an innocent 360 owner, to your grandma who’s interested in this new “Hello 3” game that’s all over the news. One eBay auction is for what appears to be the Ultimate Halo collection. Payment goes completely to charity, so everyone’s happy in this situation. Check out the auction for yourself!

The auction, whose current bid is $8,600 as of this writing contains the following goodness:

A Halo 3 edition Xbox 360 signed by the Devil, Bill Gates himself.
A 30GB Halo 3 edition Zune signed by the Vice-Devil J. Allard himself.
Two damned copies of Halo 3 (standard and Legendary!) as well as one copy of Halo, Halo 2 and that Halo 2 multiplayer pack they made.
Xbox 360 HD DVD player.
Rare special aluminum storage case with over $400 worth of accessories (two Limited Edition Halo 3 Wireless Controllers with an exclusive Todd McFarlane Collectable Figurine, Messenger Kit, HDMI AV cable, extra 120 GB hard drive, and a Halo 3 T-shirt).

How can you resist such an awesome deal? Sell your house, car, wife and kids right away and buy this thing ASAP. You don’t get deals like this everyday (or money like this everyday)! Alright, the auction lasts till October 4th.

[Via Major Nelson]