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Alex Garland, the writer of the script for 28 Days Later, has been retained to pen a script for a Halo movie. Voodoo Extreme has the story via Variety, and notes that Microsoft is keeping close creative control over the script writing process.

Voodoo Extreme has the news that game development veteran Trip Hawkins has been inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' Hall of Fame. Previous inductees have included luminaries such as Peter Molyneux, Will Wright, and Sid Meier. Individuals are inducted for "pioneering a new game genre; changing the face of the art form through new technology; influencing other designers and products; demonstrating the highest level of creativity and innovation; and consistent product success at a level that helps expand the industry."

An Anonymous Reader wrote in to tell us about a Massively Multiplayer Machinima series entitled A Galaxy Far Away, made in Star Wars Galaxies. MMOGs are increasingly seeing use in Machinima productions and music videos, in works such as SWG's Fallen, WoW's Shutup and Dance, Dark Age of Camelot's Remember, and City of Heroes' Justice.

Word is now out that, in all likelyhood, all three next generation consoles will be displayed in some form at this year's e3. Nintendo's Revolution has been rumoured to be making an appearance for a while. Yesterday Sony announced the PS3 would be available in playable form at the convention, and Microsoft was soon to follow regarding the Xbox Next. Game on?

Word is now out that, in all likelyhood, all three next generation consoles will be displayed in some form at this year's e3. Nintendo's Revolution has been rumoured to be making an appearance for a while. Yesterday Sony announced the PS3 would be available in playable form at the convention, and Microsoft was soon to follow regarding the Xbox Next. Game on?

Voodoo Extreme has details from a Microsoft release about Xbox accomplishments in 2004. From the article: "Xbox Live online gaming service has set a new standard for online gaming with more than 1.4 million members around the world."

Ant writes "Voodoo Extreme reports on the story of a jilted Japanese girlfriend who logged onto her ex-lover's Lineage account with his username and password. Once there, she deleted his game data including all the items, weapons and clothes he had collected. Although the boyfriend did not suffer financially he reported the misuse of his account to the police. Police then reported the woman of Toyama Prefecture, to the Fukushima District Public Prosecutors Office accusing her of violating a law banning illegal access to someone else's online accounts." Considering the big business that Lineage represents, it doesn't surprise me that the police took it seriously.

_xeno_ writes "World of Warcraft has received many awards for being one of the best games released in 2004. Unfortunately, the game is still suffering from downtime. Over this weekend, twenty different servers went offline several times - enough for Penny Arcade to revoke their 2004 Game of the Year status from the game. As Tycho puts it, "...we loved the game and had faith that any hitches in the experience would be ground down before release. This has not been borne out."" Relatedly, Voodoo Extreme is reporting that the Korean release of World of Warcraft should be happening today.

To finish up the season of "Best of the Year" pieces we have IGN's Best of 2004, where they take a look at the games across several different categories. At the same time Gamespot is offering a Most Anticipated of 2005 feature, games that their editorial staff are looking forward to for the coming year. From the article: "Though the release slate may lack some of the sizzling franchises that were refreshed just months ago, it's quite clear that there's no lack of promising or exciting games on the horizon."

IGN has the beginnings of an interesting series up entitled The Future of Game Design. The first part of this series covers game design elements that we've seen in the past that the author would like to see show up more often in future games. From the article: "We need better art direction in our games. Not just more polygons or slicker textures, but games with a better sense of visual style. Off the top of my head, one of the first games that really showed a distinct sense of art direction and style in this generation of games was Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. That game oozed with style, and even though it was simple and quick, it became one of my favorites because the main character, Sly, had real character." As we start to get into Uncanny Valley territory I hope more artists take the approach that Sly and WoW have.

Voodoo Extreme is reporting that after a delay due to storms, the World of Warcraft EU Beta has begun. From the article: "The first phase of the Final Beta Test will also allow the testing of the World of Warcraft localized server infrastructure under heavy loads. As soon as system stability allows, the second phase of the testing process will begin and more players will be added into the Final Beta Test. We will make every effort to accommodate all requests for beta accounts but there is always the possibility that we will be unable to meet demand, and we therefore strongly encourage motivated players to register an account as quickly as possible once the second phase of the Final Beta Test begins."

genrader writes "Voodoo Extreme is reporting that Interplay has had judicial liquidation take place. If you've been reading the gaming news, a lot has been going on with Interplay financially, it seems all this finally caught up to them. Interplay has formerly published very well known games like Icewind Dale, the Baldur's Gate series, and Descent. Farewell, Interplay." Update: 01/06 02:57 GMT by H : This affects just the company in France; sorry for the confusion.

New developments this week in a few games, with Cryptic Studio's City of Heroes releasing the much anticipated Issue 3 expansion, which adds new archetypes and power sets to the game. Citing increasing costs for running the game Mythic Entertainment has raised the subscription price for Dark Age of Camelot to $14.95 a month, but with a significant discount for long-term subscriptions. Darniaq wrote in to mention that Sony Online Entertainment announced a new Massive title for the PSP at CES, Untold Legends, in what looks to be direct competition to Pocket Kingdoms. Finally, Tobold of Grimwell Online has a nice recap of MMORPGs in 2004, complete with predictions for this year.

New developments this week in a few games, with Cryptic Studio's City of Heroes releasing the much anticipated Issue 3 expansion, which adds new archetypes and power sets to the game. Citing increasing costs for running the game Mythic Entertainment has raised the subscription price for Dark Age of Camelot to $14.95 a month, but with a significant discount for long-term subscriptions. Darniaq wrote in to mention that Sony Online Entertainment announced a new Massive title for the PSP at CES, Untold Legends, in what looks to be direct competition to Pocket Kingdoms. Finally, Tobold of Grimwell Online has a nice recap of MMORPGs in 2004, complete with predictions for this year.

Voodoo Extreme is reporting on a piece coming out in PCZone UK about another Star Wars Real Time-Strategy Game, to be called Empire at War. From the article: This new PC game is set two years before ANH with a certain amount of cross over from Episode 3. Screen shots look superb. It appears to include ground battles set in dessert and greenland areas with attacking AT-AT's and a new Imperial ground based vehicle called "TIE Crawlers" which I've not seen before (cross between a tank and a TIE Fighter).

Gamespot is reporting that Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has spoken out against EA's "hostile action". From the article: "Considering the industry practice of communicating informally about such decisions, we were disappointed, to say the very least, that EA chose not to inform us of their specific plans beforehand." Further, Voodoo Extreme is reporting that a financial report may suggest the French government is going to assist Ubisoft in staying out from under EA's thumb.

Voodoo Extreme is reporting on a group of Greensburg, PA boys who went on a Graffiti spree and then blamed it on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. From the article: "The boys range in age from 12 to 14 and are charged with institutional vandalism, criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief and desecration of venerated objects." Is it just me or, um, should 12 year olds not be playing GTA?

More awards are available at Voodoo Extreme (who has separate categories both for PC Games and Console Games) and at the mega-hub Gamespy, who gives Halo 2 the top nod for Game of the Year 2004.

More awards are available at Voodoo Extreme (who has separate categories both for PC Games and Console Games) and at the mega-hub Gamespy, who gives Halo 2 the top nod for Game of the Year 2004.

Voodoo Extreme is reporting that the Bungie team may work on a project to port Halo 2 to the next generation Xbox, adding in additional content and improving overall gameplay and picture quality. From the article: "Can you imagine Halo 2 running at 1280x720?!!! We also wonder what was meant by 'all the stuff people expected from Halo 2 but didn't make the cut.' With this kind of top-secret info, you don't ask; you simply listen."

PuppiesOnAcid writes "Although the NFL buckled under EA's mighty stronghold in the video game football market (Madden), the NBA has chosen to reject EA's exclusive rights deal. Jon Robinson explains, 'One of the reasons is that the NBA Live series simply doesn't have a stranglehold on the market the way Madden has for years, so by signing an exclusive deal with EA, the NBA would actually be losing money.'"

By way of Voodoo Extreme comes the news that a movie adaptation of Splinter Cell is in the offing. From the blurb: "Paramount has acquired film rights to Tom Clancy's video game Splinter Cell and hired Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) to direct. Variety says Berg is writing the script along with Splinter Cell game writer J.T. Petty and John J. McLaughlin (Man of the House). Paramount said the movie is aimed at combining the game's blend of stealth action with a "dynamic, original" character."

JoeyPea writes "As seen on the front page of The Futon Critic and mentioned in this IGN article, Midway Games is apparently fine with EA's exclusive rights contract with the NFL. The complaints on the last Blitz were that there wasn't enough unecessary roughness that the franchise was previously known for. But now it looks like there won't be any pansy hits because of the NFL's licensing rules. The Blitz: Playmakers write-up mentions drug use and off-the-field habits, so perhaps you can expect more realism from Midway without the NFL's license."

Last night SpikeTV aired its second annual Video Game Awards. Commentary is available from the Video Game Ombudsman, who did some live blogging during the event. From his post: "Seven Awards in 50 seconds - And that's including the lame intro. and Bloodrayne's 9 second acceptance "speech" for cyber-vixen of the year. Way to stand there, BloodRayne. The categories and winners aren't even vaguely related. And these are major awards, not the largely immaterial technical awards at the Oscars. Oh well, I guess now they can squeeze in another musical number." Grimwell Online is also available for snarky analysis, as is Buttonmashing.com. For non-flash results, Voodoo Extreme has a list of the winners.

Starsmore writes "IGN is reporting that Ziff-Davis Media has pulled the plug on two of its magazines: Xbox Nation (XBN) and GMR (the collaborative effort with EB Games), for undisclosed reasons. Andrew Pfister (GMR Editor) confirms the report as well via 1up.com " From his post: "The news has broken over the Intraweb, and unfortunately, the documents are real. As of the February issue, GMR is being discontinued. Subscribers will be the only ones to receive the February issue, and all subscribers will have the option to switch over to another Ziff mag."

ayersrj writes "The folks over at IGN have started a "Battery Journal" in an attempt to provide us with some relevant information regarding the battery life issue on the PSP in a realistic playing environment. The first run: a little under five hours with no wi-fi. Not too shabby."

Voodoo Extreme has the world that Blizzard has already banned several accounts for Speed Hacking, a type of cheat that allows a character to move far faster than it should. From the article: "Those individuals who were caught using the speed hack have been banned from the game and have had their accounts closed. We must stress once again that we are opposed to hacking and cheating of any kind and are dedicated to maintaining a fair environment in our games." Adios, punks

As a followup to the story on Saturday about the HL2 stutter bug, Voodoo Extreme has news that a patch is on the way, with an ETA of tomorrow. "A patch will be coming for this issue that will load all of the required textures into video memory on level load, rather than doing it during game play."

Voodoo Extreme has the news that the first expansion for the Sims 2 has been announced. Sims 2: University will allow young adult sims to experience all the joys of college life. "Sims can choose from one of 11 majors and by keeping their grades on track, they'll secure a final degree and open up 4 new career paths. Players will enjoy all-new college based wants and fears that are tied to their Sims' social life and academic goals which will lead to new rewards and powers that will help them achieve their goals and aspirations in college and beyond." Ahh...but will there be LAN parties?

Blamemyparents writes "Ain't It Cool News has a story that the ever so popular Halo might be making the jump to the big screen. It looks like Ridley Scott, director of Gladiator and Alien is doing it. Judging from IGN's take on the story, it looks like the story would pick up more on Halo 2 than on the original Halo, which he feels didn't have enough of a storyline going. Here's to hoping it doesn't go the way of that Final Fantasy flick."

Today the Beta servers will be shut down, and by next week when the game ships all character information will be wiped from the system. After over six months, the World of Warcraft Beta Test is coming to an end. The test's final days are not without problems. Shiptar writes "Seems that some of the World of Warcraft Forum Moderator accounts were hijacked, and some posts were made deriding the latest patch. There's a discussion on WoW Vault Boards. It's not clear if the Moderator accounts were compromised, or a vulnerability in the forum software was used. The WoW boards have been down since last night."

Voodoo Extreme has the word that Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has launched today. From the article: "Players will assume the role of Snake, a US-sent agent, embarking on a dangerous solo mission to uncover and destroy a newly created weapon of mass destruction." Relatedly, GameDaily states that Metal Gear Solid 4 is a go. From the article: "During a financial report Motoyuki Yoshioka, head of Konami JPN, confirmed that there will be a Metal Gear Solid 4. Rumored since last week, this news casts the 'Final Episode of the Metal Gear Solid Trilogy', Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, in a new light."

Thomas Scovell writes "After over half a decade of development, stolen source code debacle, a promised deadline that was missed by a year, and a feud between the developer and the publisher that is still in court, Half-Life 2 has finally started to activate for those who have purchased online via Steam online or who grabbed the boxed version at the retailers that let it slip early. Go play!" Reviews are available via Gamespot, Gamespy, HomeLAN Fed, and IGN.

Voodoo Extreme has a short blurb with links to the players in the Marvel vs. Cryptic legal battle. The short response from Cryptic says it all: "As reported by The Associated Press, Marvel Enterprises Inc. and Marvel Characters, Inc. have sued NCsoft Corporation and Cryptic Studios. The complaint is meritless. Cryptic Studios is confident that the District Court will reject all of Marvel's claims and fully vindicate Cryptic Studios in all respects."

Evil Avatar has the word that even Best Buy is selling Half-Life 2 boxes at this point. If you're planning on picking this one up it should be available pretty much anywhere. Voodoo Extreme has news from Steam that in no uncertain terms are the delays in opening the game to customers their fault. From the article: "This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time."

downwithlove writes "Seems most of the sites out there are not digging Neo Contra. I actually think it's better than Shattered Soldier, that one being ridiculously hard. I caught this History of Contra feature on UGO that briefly outlines the progression of the series from Arcade to Next-Gen system. Good for those looking to remember their first NES romp, before the three-dimensional polygonse."

KaiEl writes "An avalanche of glowing reviews has already made Halo 2 the second-highest ranked game of all time on GameRankings.com. Looking for an alternative viewpoint? The Video Game Ombudsman has gathered the bad points from nine separate Halo 2 reviews into the only negative review of Halo 2 you're ever likely to read. Useful as a cautionary tale about out-of-context quoting and as a reference manual for rampant Microsoft haters who might want to make the Halo 2 argument a little less one-sided."

Thanks to IGN, who wrote "The Nintendo DS is being prepared to ship out to retailers for its November 21st launch. We were able to get our hands on the final, boxed units two weeks before the system's official release date, and we wasted no time ripping the packaging to shreds to show you exactly what you get in the box."

Everyone and their brother wrote in to mention to us that the World of Warcraft Open Beta has begun, breaking Fileplanet in the process. The WoW community site has also been hammered into a whimpering ball, and the normal version is down in favour of a simple black page of text. The torrent to download the game is still up but if you're looking to join you'd best be signing up soon. The Open Beta is a first-come first-serve affair. For our friends across the pond, IGN has details on the European Beta Test, which sounds like it will be a profitable venture for Blizzard. From my experience, if you are at all interested in fantasy gaming this one will knock your socks off.

Though it's being drowned out by the Halo 2 news, Everquest 2 officially launches today. RPG Vault has a review available for perusal, GamerFeed has a hands on look, and if you're looking for crunchy, low fat coverage Gamespy has an interview with Heather Graham about her role in the game. If you're already tripping the light fantastic in Qeynos check out GamerGod's Qeynos Quest feature, or just cut out the middle man and look forward to the first content on Allakhazam. Finally, F13 provides usefully cynical commentary about the beta and launch of the game.

SilentChris writes "As of 3 PM EST, major websites were finally 'permitted' to release their reviews of Halo 2. The verdict: near perfect scores. Check out reviews by Gamespot, IGN, and GameSpy. Bungie has done it again!"

IGN is running a story regarding the upcoming Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. The Xbox version of the game will have downloadable content and leader boards thanks to Xbox Live. The leader boards will cover two self-contained competetive types of play: Timed Missions and an Arena. Info also available on the official site.

If you already play the Massively Multiplayer Game Star Wars Galaxies, you're undoubtedly already aware that the Jump to Lightspeed space expansion officially launched today. For the rest of us, there are some details on the developer side regarding the ramp up to release available on the official site. Details on the experience of the new expansion is available at Gamespot and PC.IGN. More ... colourful analysis can be found on Grimwell's boards, and N3rfed has a post discussing the fact that the rest of the world has to wait until November 5th for their space-goodies.

The first of this year's AAA titles has launched, and the first reviews are in. Gamespot, IGN, and OPM all have looks at the game, and it sounds great. If you want to keep track of the pool-shooting race track driving everything-under-one-roof extravaganza, the GameRankings page is available as well. When you play the game this week make sure and tune in to WCTR News to catch Anchorman Richard Burns, TV's Wil Wheaton. More seriously, reviews aren't the only thing the developers are looking for. Commentary regarding Take Two Interactive's slipping stock is available on CNN Money's Game Over.

Anonymous Coward writes "SOE has launched a beta preview of their EQ2 Premium Player Services, for current Beta Players. There are a few articles available that describe the services at GamePro, IGN, and GamerGod." An interesting feature, the services include guild websites, character stats, tons of in-game information, and leader boards. Probably part of their final gear up for the November 8th ship date.

Voodoo Extreme put up a quick piece on possible legal troubles HL2 may face in Australia. "In Australia, no games have been accepted if they fit into the R(18+) category, so this means HL2 needs to fit into at most the highest category of MA(15+), or it will be refused classification."

ZIA writes "In response to the continued trend of games being warezed before release, inXile Entertainment, developers of the forthcoming action role-playing game The Bard's Tale, have sent out an amusing press release that pokes fun at the issue. "The Bard's Tale is a highly original game in the same category as a Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 so we feel some sort of leak that sounds similar to what they have experienced may be the next logical step in our launch plans."

Thanks to IGN for the news that a Super Monkey Ball Deluxe will be released next year on the PS2 and Xbox. "The new title will feature 300 stages (114 from Super Monkey Ball, 140 from Super Monkey Ball 2, and 46 Deluxe-exclusive boards), and will be available in spring 2005." Hi. My name is Zonk, and...I have to admit to a predilection for tossing monkeys around in plastic spheres.

grazzy writes "Microsoft is set to release its Windows Media Center Extender for Xbox mid-November. The device will allow you to view recorded and downloaded media content stored on your PC via your Xbox.""

Thanks to GamingHeadlines for the news that DS games are not going to be region restricted. "Although this news may not specifically cater to American and Japanese folks, it certainly gives us Europeans the benefit of importing our DS systems from abroad..." I certainly think it caters to US gamers. Imported Japanese games can lead to wonderful things.