The Inquirer is reporting that a new Mortal Kombat movie is in the works. Not only that, the production company plans to keep the sets up and running after the film is done, using them like a kind of theme park. From the article: "I believe there's an extraordinary opportunity to build a state-of-the-art production studio-slash-Hollywood theme park and training facility right in the middle of town. There would be actual movies being made there, and an observation platform to watch."

alvinrod writes "IGN has whipped up a nice article about how and which Xbox games will be compatible with the Xbox 360. The article explains that Microsoft is using emulation to play old Xbox games rather than including the chipset from the original Xbox. From the article: 'Xbox 360 compatible games are going to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Microsoft's engineer's are, right now, figuring out which games are compatible, and which are less than compatible. Thus, at the 360 launch, only a few games, let's speculate that number is somewhere between five and 20, will be backward compatible.'"

1up.com has a feature up today probing further into the making of gaming music. The article is a follow up to a similar piece last month. From the article: "Though before we dig in to its case histories, it might do to define what we're talking about. The key difference is OST (original soundtracks) or OSV (original sound versions) vs. arranged or remix albums, both of which present a spin on the original music that wasn't there before. Arranged music means nothing more than the original chiptunes arranged by a musician for live musicians to play, whether it's a small chamber group or a full symphony orchestra. So now that you know what it is, how did it begin?"

cafeman writes "This was a really hard review to write. It's been a long time since I've read a book that was so fascinating on the first reading and yet raised so many questions on the second and third. Books on the history of gaming are relatively few -- Joystick Nation, High Score, Game Over, Masters of Doom and The Ultimate History of Video Games, the major works on the topic, all focus on the West. Finding out more about the history of gaming in Japan is harder. Suffice to say that if you're interested in game trivia, Japanese console gaming industry history, or the Eastern cultural drivers behind game design and communication, you owe it to yourself to get Power Up. Why was the book so frustrating? That's an interesting question, one that I've since put a lot of thought into. Much to the annoyance of my wife, I might add." Read on for the rest of cafeman's review.

"The Bart, The" writes "The Economist weekly is carrying a well considered special report on the current debate regarding morality and gaming." From the article: "Like rock and roll in the 1950s, games have been accepted by the young and largely rejected by the old. Once the young are old, and the old are dead, games will be regarded as just another medium and the debate will have moved on. Critics of gaming do not just have the facts against them; they have history against them, too."

Klytus writes "GamingReport.com has news on Penny Arcade's new Collectable Card Game. The CCG is being produced by a division of UK based Games Workshop, Sabertooth Games, makers of the Lord of the Rings Miniatures game. From the article: 'Designed and illustrated by Penny Arcade's Gabe and Tycho, this set of cards was inspired by the hijinks of their legendary web comic. Everything from the Divx to Tycho's Really Big Word is included in this set of cards, allowing players to reenact the epic battle of Gabe and Tycho.'"

GodFather writes "ArsTechnica posted an article that claims the PS3 may be pushed back as far as 2007 if the Xbox 360 launch flops. The reasoning behind it? If Microsoft comes out with a weak set of titles at launch Sony could delay and build a larger launch library to lay the smack down on Microsoft."

Next Generation Magazine is running a series of articles on the next generation consoles, and what they mean in a larger perspective. The Xbox 360, PS3, and Revolution have a lot riding on them as the start of the next round of console wars gets underway. All three companies have their own goals and histories to consider when it comes to the business of games. From the 360 article: "Someone, somewhere, probably still believes Microsoft got into console games for the kudos of putting out Halo. Good for them. The world needs believers, and every time you say 'Xbox is a Trojan Horse', a fairy dies."

Rockstar's next title, Bully, has already come under fire from anti-bullying groups. Activists have taken it up another notch, though, by demonstrating outside of the NY Rockstar offices. They've also laid out a list of demands to the game developer, hoping to get the company to change its ways. The Peaceoholics demand Rockstar "Not to release Bully under any circumstances, Volunteer to sell its violent and sexually explicit games in adult video stores only, Let parents return Grand Theft Auto for a full refund until they do a national awareness campaign to educate parents of content and possible effects, Create a fund for victims of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and car-jackings, etc, Make a national apology for misleading and lying to children, parents, and legislators about their intentions and causing insurance premiums to sky rocket, Give a written response within five business days of receipt of these demands" Press the Buttons has commentary, and uses some words I'd like to myself.

1up.com has a piece examining game cliches that are just done. Really. From the article: "2.) Pushing crates. Note to evil masterminds everywhere: We understand that you're trying to run a business, which involves receiving equipment and food somehow. But leaving those giant crates just lying around your warehouse for any one-man army to use for supplies and climbing? It's no wonder most startup criminal organizations fail within the first five years. Even seen in: God of War (PS2) 4.) Ridiculous portrayals of females. Women have breasts. Get over it. Even seen in: Soul Calibur II (PS2/XB/GC)"

DataportJunkie writes "Most people choose to trade in their used game consoles when a newer one comes out to save a few bucks, but this editorial at Gaming Horizon suggests that you just hang onto them. 'Stores typically only make $1 or $2 when you pick up a new console from them, but when they give you $70 for your used PlayStation 2 and sell it for $95, they just made themselves an easy $25.' The author recommends using eBay or donating your used consoles to hospitals if you need to get rid of a system."

hapwned writes "In the latest Escapist issue, Allen Varney explains how he built the latest version of the Paranoia RPG from the ground up in an Open Source fashion. From the article: 'Fans vetted the playtest rules and contributed lots of material, like coders on an open-source software project. It wasn't really open-source; everyone knowingly surrendered their material to PARANOIA's owners, without hope of compensation. (The blog disclaimer read, 'All your rights are belong to us. No bloody Creative Commons here! Bwahahaha!') But - this is the key point - they pitched in anyway, hoping they would benefit by getting an improved game.'"

mybrainonfire writes "There's an interview with the creators of the Metroid Prime series over on 1UP, and they talk about making the next game for Revolution. From the article: 'Metroid Prime 3 itself will reportedly take advantage of a number of new features in the Revolution, including the controller... Metroid Prime 3 will continue the first-person action adventure the series has become known for, and there are no plans to add a third-person viewpoint outside of the morph ball.'"

Evoluder writes "Just saw this over on worldofwar.net as it appears to apply to WoW as well. A story at interfax.com says China just passed a law prohibiting minors from playing games that allow players to kill each other (i.e., player killing)." From the article: "Minors should not be allowed to play online games that have PK content, that allow players to increase the power of their own online game characters by killing other players...Online games that have PK content usually also contain acts of violence and leads to players spending too much time trying to increase the power of their characters. They are harmful to young people."

Rogueywon writes "The UK's Times newspaper has a featured interview with Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man. The article offers an insight into the inspiration behind the old arcade classic and reflects on the lack of material gain that the franchise has brought to its creator." From the article: "Iwatani sits down and tells the whole story, starting exactly 26½ years ago when a 24-year-old Namco programmer strolled into a now demolished restaurant in central Tokyo, called Shakeys. It was here that he ordered the marguerita pizza that, with one slice removed, provided the visual inspiration for Pac-Man's famous profile. "

The Playstation Magazine (PSM) has a feature coming up in the next issue which discusses Sony's new console with a few new details. Both Maxconsole and Ferrago have a look at the piece. From the Maxconsole article: "We've received a lot of letters asking about how PS2 will be backwards compatible with PS2 and the original Playstation if it doesn't have memory card slot. Well, we have an answer, and it's both good and bad. First, the bad news: All of those old memory cards you have won't be usable with PS3. Okay then, wha's the solution? Sony has actually decided to only use Memory Stick Duo cards(the same format PSP uses) for PS3 save data. However, if you play a PS1 or PS2 game on PS3, the system will treat the Memory Stick like it's a normal memory card."

trueneutral writes "SCUMMVM is a project that has ported a large number of the Lucas Arts adventure games. But what's amazing, is that Ron Gilbert of Grumpy Gamer, the creator of the majority of these games, actually supports it. He applauds their efforts, and seems to have no problems with the project. It's really refreshing to see a good attitude about these things. I think Gilbert realizes that this is a fan based effort to play his games on modern platforms. From the article: 'As the person that created SCUMM and along with Aric Wilmunder coded the original system, my hat is off the SCUMMVM team and contributers for this undertaking. I am in awe. Especially since I could never get anything to run from one version of the system to the next...'"

Xizer writes "Wal-Mart employees have leaked the price of Microsoft's next-generation console. The Xbox 360 is set to be launched for $299.99. Additionally, games are set to be $59.99 each. Ouch. Looks like the next generation of consoles is going to burn holes in gamers' wallets even moreso than the current generation. One thing is for sure: It's time to start gearing up for an expensive Christmas."

An anonymous reader writes "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a story on Peekaboom, a two-player on-line game in which one player tries to get the other player to guess a word associated with an image, by revealing parts of the image one click at a time. From the article, "The process of revealing objects, or highlighting images within the larger context of the photo, is the sort of thing that researchers in computer vision must do to teach computers to see.""

fwice writes "IGN has released their list of the Top 100 Games of all time. This list covers games from all different systems, including PC and various different consoles. Each game listed has a write-up about why it was chosen and what makes it special." Yeah yeah, another list. This one's not bad, though, with selections including TIE Fighter, Tetris, and Civ II ranking high on the list.