BioShock Movie Staying Faithul To Source, Won't Star Kate Hudson

PHEW. Speaking with VG247 at the Develop conference in Brighton (fun fact: I used to live in neighbouring Seaford), BioShock creator Ken Levine has told everyone to relax. The upcoming BioShock movie project is staying faithful to the source:

You’re always going to be worried that in that first meeting they’re going to be, like, ‘OK, it’s Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey on a desert island hunting for pirate treasure,’ but it’s not going to go that way

My expectation at this time, from everything that I’ve heard, is that it will very much honour the dramatic and thematic elements of the game… They certainly understand the material and are able to provide a stamp of their own.

Thank goodness for that. But, now you mention it, that wouldn't be the worst Uncharted movie...

BioShock movie won’t be “Kate Hudson hunting for pirate treasure,” says Levine [VG247]

Nerds Get Slaughtered In 'LAN Party Massacre'

As a fan of the massacre film genre — I was raised on mass unsuspecting teen killing flicks like Chopping Mall, Happy Birthday To Me and Slumber Party Massacre — I may just have a soft spot for the schtick of seeing a dozen kids die in increasingly brutal yet comedic ways. That's why I'm not giving up on LAN Party Massacre, due to be released in 2009, self-described as a "comedy/horror slash film" that's a "direct parody of video game culture, but a classic slasher film at heart."

It might be the little touches, like the F5 Energy Drink that sponsors the doomed titular LAN party or the film's featured pro gamer "Mort@lity," or maybe I'm just watching the teaser trailer with blood tinted glasses.

LAN Party Massacre is obviously gory, so if you start to feel queasy when prosthetic throats are ripped out of spokesmodels, you may want to pass on the trailer at the official site.

LAN Party Massacre Official Site [thanks, Ryan!]

Max Payne Movie Is Wahlberg's "Bourne"?

That's what the cover of the latest issue of British mag Total Film is asking. We'd respond with "hopefully not", what with Jason Bourne being nothing like Max Payne, but whatever. On the bright side, the mag's feature article on the movie has a bit of new info, including the fact that, apparently, Payne is Wahlberg's all-time "favourite role", and that he'll be bringing a little more depth to the character than the game ever afforded:

Sure, I raise my voice, get in people's faces... But I ramp up the humour, too. He's like a version of my character in The Departed - sly and cynical but also very funny. That's the kind of thing people like to see me doing.

We also like seeing him dance around in his undies and/or singing Transformers songs, but hopefully they won't also be in the movie. They're not really canon.

Payne is Wahlberg's "favourite role so far" [Total Film, via Eurogamer]

Second Halo Movie Script Lives Long Enough To Generate Concept Art

Roger Avary Still At Work On Wolfenstein Script

Don't go expecting that Wolfenstein movie adaptation any time soon. A combination of the writer's strike and his own workload (plus, uh, some other stuff) means Roger Avary is still working on the movie's script. And with nobody else having seen it, it's to be presumed he's only just started it. Bummer. While id's Todd Hollenshead revealed to Eurogamer that the movie deal includes some "contract provisions", stating Avary can't just sit on the property forever, he also admits that it's not every day you get a chance to have an Academy Award winner write your movie. Not every day an Academy Award winner gets to write a movie about nazis, zombies and a mechanised Adolf Hitler, either.

Avary writing Wolf movie "right now" [Eurogamer]

Prince Of Persia (Movie) Delayed To 2010

The Mike Newell-directed, Jake Gyllenhaal-starring Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie won't make it to theaters next year as planned. According to a report from Coming Soon, Disney has delayed the Hollywood adaption of the Ubisoft game to May 28, 2010. Coming Soon pegs its release between the planned bowing of the next Shrek picture and Marvel's Thor movie. Heartbreaking news to the both of you who were planning on taking off that Friday.

The new Prince of Persia game? Seems to be coming along nicely, according to what we weren't allowed to touch at Comic-Con. We did, however, press the Start button on the PlayStation 3 controller before it was snatched out of our hands. That bit worked perfectly.

Prince of Persia Pushed Back a Year [Coming Soon]

Mark Wahlberg Won't Play Max Payne

Oh, he's playing Max Payne in the upcoming movie, but he won't be playing Max Payne in either of the games. Not even for research. Why? Because the dude has an addictive personality, apparently:

I got more responsibility now than I've ever had with the kids and everything else. I don't want to be spending 14 hours on the videogame and then eight hours on the set. It's not going to work out.

Before you get all huffy, I don't think you need to have played Max Payne to know how to prattle on in a low voice and dive sideways in slow motion. Mark Wahlberg can do that just fine already.

Mark Wahlberg: Why I'm Ready for Marriage [People]

Wired has put together a retrospective on the silver anniversary of WarGames, which if it isn't the first movie premised on PC gaming, is certainly the most notable. The film came out in 1983, the summer of Return of the Jedi. And as I recall it at the time, WarGames was well overshadowed in hype even next to movies like Krull (and Scarface, or Flashdance, but my parents probably weren't gonna let me see those.) But it came away with three Academy Award nominations and taught my generation some powerful lessons: No one can win a nuclear war, and you can get free calls from a payphone using a soda can tab.

Gears Of War Movie To Be Pro Wrestler-Free

At today's Gears of War panel at Comic-Con, Cliff Bleszinski from Epic Games was asked about the Len Wiseman directed movie based on the IP. Bleszinski, the executive producer on the Hollywood adaptation, says he has high hopes for the film.

"Look, we know that video game movies have been pretty bad," Cliff admitted to the crowd, attempting to assuage their fears that the Gears flick will suck. "But just think how bad comic book movies were for such a long time. We hope [the Gears of War movie] will change that."

Castlevania Movie Sees Belmont Armed With "A Fucking Sword"

After Dr. Henry Jones, modern pop culture's second-best proponent of the whip has got to be Castlevania's Simon Belmont. And with a Castlevania movie (sort of) coming up, just imagine the kind of stuff he could be doing with said whip! And yet, courtesy of a script review for the upcoming project, it seems the whip's been relegated in favour of a sword. And not just any sword:

Though I said Vampire Killer is gone from this script, Simon does wield what is described as a chain whip in two instances. However, it is nondescript and in one of the occasions is wielded as an off-hand weapon. So what is Simon armed with throughout the film? A fucking sword.

Oh dear. Nothing like setting off on the wrong foot with fans, is there?

Paul W. S. Anderson’s Castlevania [CC2K]

Lost Planet Movie Confirmed

MGS actor and Hollywood writer David Hayter said, a few weeks back, that a deal to bring Lost Planet to the big screen was "not entirely confirmed yet". Is now! Variety are reporting that the project's a done deal, with Warner Bros. to distribute, former Marvel pictures boss Avi Arad to produce and Hayter to write. Capcom will be contributing at least some, if not all of the money for the movie, though there's no word on a release window. Expect more info at Capcom's E3 event tomorrow.

Capcom making Lost Planet movie [Variety]

Want to learn more about the inspiration behind gaming's most-beloved post-apocalyptic series? Bethesda Softworks has teamed up with The American Cinematheque and Geek Monthly to present ‘A Post-Apocalyptic Film Festival Presented by Fallout 3’ at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California next month. The festival runs two days - August 22nd and 23rd - with three films being shown each day. Friday's movies are Ralph Bakshi's animated masterpiece Wizards, followed by Damnation Alley and A Boy and His Dog - the most perfect selection of the festival. Then on Saturday they've got The Last Man On Earth, The Omega Man, and Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys.

Tickets go on sale July 25th at Fandango.com at a price of $10 per day, which includes popcorn, a large soda, and a special Fallout 3 giveaway. Considering I would sell any one of you for parts for a chance to see Wizards on the big screen, the price seems pretty fair. Hit the jump for more details!

Lost Planet The Movie By Solid Snake Is Just Shy Of Confirmed

The voice of Solid Snake says that the film adaptation of Capcom's Lost Planet is this close — you can't see, but my fingers are but a hair's-breadth apart — to being confirmed, pending a deal with Warner Bros. That deal, David Hayter says, is "just closing" but "not entirely confirmed yet" according to a report from IGN.

It's good news for Lost Planet fans — and not just because of Hayter's screenwriting nerd cred based on his X-Men and Watchmen scripts — because the man cares deeply about the source material.

"There is gap in Hollywood between people who write good movies and those who appreciate good video games," Hayter said. The man with the trademark voice says he tries "to make an effort to take the essence of the game, keep as much of that as possible, and still put it into a proper film structure." Yes, yes, but will it feature bug shooting? 'Cause bug shooting is key.

AX08: Solid Snake Discusses Lost Planet [IGN]

Ubisoft Acquires Visual Effects Studio Behind 300

The line between movies and video games blurs even further as Ubisoft announces the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, the visual effects studio behind the blockbuster films 300, Sin City, and the Spy Kids series. Ubisoft will work closely with the team at Hybride to create new technologies for video games and visual effects, while at the same time continuing their film work.

“It is the quality and innovation of our artists that made Hybride into one of the most successful studios in cinema and the most important visual effects producer on the North American East Coast,” stated Pierre Raymond, founder and chief executive officer at Hybride Technologies. “The sharing of technological and creative expertise between Ubisoft and Hybride will position the two companies at the head of the pack in an entertainment industry in rapid evolution.”

A game company owning their own movie effects company will also do wonders for getting Ubisoft properties made into motion pictures, don't you think? Don't worry about the effects budget, we've got that covered. Hit the jump for the full release regarding this groundbreaking convergence of video games and cinema.

Scream From 1951 Echoes Into Today's Games

The Wilhelm Scream. Cinephiles recognize it instantly (you only need to hear it once in the above video). It's been reused so many times since it was first recorded in 1951 that its inclusion today is almost beyond cliche, easter egg, or inside joke, and has become a combination of the three. (It's been in every Star Wars and Indiana Jones title thanks to sound engineer Ben Burtt, who resurrected its use.)

But did you know that it's been featured in at least 48 video games? From Ant City to Timesplitters 2, Mr. Juandrful at Kezins has gleaned the full list. It's longer than Wikipedia's list of games using the scream, and includes titles not yet released (where the scream is used in a trailer), so he seems to have done his homework. We had a little something on this back in 2006, but not a full list of games. So check it out. And booby prize goes to whomever comes up with the best onomatopoeic spelling of the scream, in the comments.

We've All Heard it: The Wilhelm Scream [kezins.com]

A Sober And Conscious Oneechanbara Review

As threatened, GameSetWatch columnist Matt Hawkins has reviewed the American premiere of Oneechanbara, which had its American debut at the New York Asian Film Festival. Hawkins looks at it from a different perspective from the review we linked earlier — that of a person who was awake and actively watching the film. It's exhaustive, but for those who want a quick summary, Hawkins, at one point writes on whether the movie is good or not, "Define 'good.'"

He also writes "exposed breasts" which has us firing up the Netflix queue.

Back in February we spotted a rumor that a GTA movie starring Eminem almost happened. It was knocked down the same day by Rockstar's Dan Houser, who said "we never entertained proceeding with the project." Maybe the story pitch was crap, but even if it wasn't, now we know at least one reason why.

LA Weekly's Nikkie FInke reports on her blog that a settlement prohibits Rockstar from making a movie based on Grand Theft Auto, which is the same name as a 1977 film whose rights are owned by Fox. The settlement also prohibits Fox from making any video game based on that movie. I've never seen it, but considering all the crappy adaptations done out there, obviously this settlement was more about protecting Fox's copyrights than Rockstar's.

Interestingly, the Grand Theft Auto film in question got an updated box right around the time the original GTA craze hit (above), and you can see the similarities in the typefaces. Not sure if this was part [or provocation] of the settlement or not.

All About the Grand Theft Auto Movie [Nikkie FInke's Deadline Hollywood Daily, via Shacknews]

More Max Payne Movie Shots