More Game Movies, More Sequel News and Another 360 Revision

Game movies rarely work. I don’t know why Hollywood bothers bringing interactive experiences into the passive medium. I just don’t know.

The latest “victim” of this risky conversion is BioShock which will turn last year’s awesome game into a feature film with Gore Verbinski at the helm. Universal Studios is funding the project. I’m curious how it’ll turn out, but I don’t have high hopes. Uncharted, another 2007 game, is rumored to be optioned for movie adaptation. I’m more optimistic for this game-to-movie conversion since it was heavily influenced by movies like Indiana Jones already; it’s just coming full circle back to film.

Tonight and Saturday will be known as Re-Emergence day. Gears of War 2 gameplay videos will debut on 1UP.com/GameVideos.com at 12:30 AM and on GameTrailers TV/GameTrailers.com at 1:00 AM. On Saturday, Microsoft will rounding up the festivities with a video release on the Xbox Live! Marketplace. Can’t wait.

After a two year hiatus, Formula 1 games will continue rolling in 2009 under Codemasters care. I’m cautiously optimistic. Sony Liverpool did a good job with the simulation, but could have made it more “fun”. Codemasters has the talent, especially with the acquistion of Sega Racing Studio. I liked DiRT, but wasn’t too keen on GRID. Hopefully, they’ll do the Formula 1 license proud.

In less exciting sequel news, Treyarch’s Call of Duty 5 may not be taking place during World War II. It’ll take place in a “new military theatre“. Cryptic. Still, I doubt Call of Duty 4 will be dethroned once that Treyarch’s instalment debuts — it’s just that good.

Last, but not least, The “Jasper” Xbox 360 revision is apparently in production and is scheduled for an August release. This new revision is expected to shrink the GPU down from 90 nm to 65 nm. Cooler running and lower power consumption are the obvious benefits, but additional improvements to the system’s noise levels could be implemented as well. I hope they also address the DVD-ROM drive itself; noise levels and reliability could be improved.