Personally, I love the new Sam and Max games; and considering their developer, TellTale Games, has nearly doubled in size since last year, apparently I’m not alone. As such, the studio has announced the addition of three new industry vets to their team, including one from the heyday of LucasArts adventure games. Mike Stemmle has joined as a designer for the Sam and Max series, and his previous credits include Sam and Max Hit the Road, Escape From Monkey Island, and the canned Sam and Max Freelance Police.

“Mere words are proving woefully inadequate to describe my delight at hooking up with this fiendishly dedicated crew,” says Stemmle. “The excitement and talent swirling around Telltale remind me of the geysers of imagination that erupted across the gaming industry in the early 90’s. Only this time, with rational production schedules.”

TellTale has also hired Justin Chin — who has been in the industry for 20 years and worked on the Dark Forces: Jedi Knight series as well as the recent he Simpsons Games — and Brett Tosti, who was recently with Factor 5, working on the Rogue Squadron series and Lair.

“By adding some of the industry’s most talented and innovative veterans, we are solidifying our position as a leader in defining the next generation of entertainment. Because Telltale offers a new way of doing things focused on creative freedom and new ideas, I believe we will continue to be a magnet for the best minds and talent in the business,” says CEO Dan Connors. “ All this great talent is accelerating our plans to take advantage of the momentum Telltale has earned through the first two seasons of Sam & Max. We’ll be announcing several new episodic series on multiple platforms in the near future, to offer even more new experiences for fans. Stay tuned!”

Wait, did he just say there are more episodic games on the way form the studio that brought us Sam and Max? And it’s coming to multiple platforms? I can already hear my wallet screaming in agony.

Via Press Release

A new trailer has been unveiled for the upcoming Alone in the Dark, which highlights the new game’s impressive technology. The engine that was developed for the game offers up some real-world lighting effects that can create some great visuals. My favorite part though is how you can combine a bunch of household objects in a variety of ways. Just one little bottle of fuel can be used to either start a trail of fire or converted into a sticky bomb or homemade grenade. Plus the AI has some interesting reactions to blood and light. You can view the video after going through an age gate here.

Play Digital has offered up a video review of the Dawn of War: Soulstorm demo. This stand alone expansion to the series will take Warhammer 40K fans back into familiar territory delivering what players have come to expect of the series as well as pushing forward with new content.

In the grim darkness of the far future… wait a second… I feel like I’ve been here before…

But you can never have too much Warhammer 40K, as Soulstorm, the latest expansion of the Dawn of War series for PC, looks set to prove. Take a look at this little preview based on the recently released demo and see what you think. DoW was always a very well built real-time strategy game, and this seems to continue those standards and supplements them with the some neat new features. I certainly enjoyed being able to play as the twisted and bloodthirsty Dark Eldar, and the Sisters of Battle are looking interesting too.

If your interest is aroused, you can download the demo here on FileFront.

via Play Digital

Bethesda, a company that has paid homage to horror mastermind H. P. Lovecraft spotted a new movie preying upon the Film Festival Circuits; Cthulhu.

Unfortunately, the excitement of discovery was short lived. Although Tori Spelling leaves little to the imagination in the trailer, the clip really doesn’t seem to convey the visceral horror of Lovecraft’s ultimate force of evil. I haven’t seen the film, but I have little hope that it will live up to the high expectations set by the myriad of truly great horror videogames inspired by the Lovecraft mythos.

Quake, Alone in the Dark and Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem have all been touched by the slimy tentacles of Lovecraft’s worst nightmares. Bethesda’s interest is hardly coincidental. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is directly based on Lovecraft’s short story “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. The company also included a side quest in Oblivion, “Shadow over Hackdirt”.

I hope I’m wrong and that Cthulhu will not be yet another example of a bad translation of story from books and videogames to film. Feel free to form your own opinion by watching the trailer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzXtrRybOnU[/youtube]

via Bethesda Blog

While the new Alone in the Dark trailer from Atari and Eden Studios does not give you much of an idea of what sort of horrors you will be facing when playing the game, it is very heavy on atmosphere. Dull gray and creepy, the buildings and dark landscapes are just oozing with monster lurking potential. You also get to check out the different weapons at your disposal during the game, and from what is shown during the gameplay footage, most will be blunt objects. There is also a clip within the video of a very fast moving car which I am sure will be an interesting thing to navigate. Hopefully you will be able to run-down your foes with accuracy and see them bounce off of nearby objects.

Look for Alone in the Dark to hit shelves for the PC, PS2, Xbox 360 and Wii in May and the PS3 “sometime in 2008″. You may want to take those release dates with a grain of salt though, considering how many times the dates have been changed.

Hey, we’re all nerds here; nothing wrong with that. And while I’m sure we all love video games, most of our geek interests don’t stop there. That’s why it seems only natural that our readers would be interested in some of the recent developments concerning some upcoming nerdcentric movies. First of all, some new shots from the set of the new X-Files movie hit the net recently. They don’t show much except for Mulder and Scully hunched over a computer in an office (But whose office is it? Get those rumors started, people). Concerning the plot, series creator, Chris Carter, said:

“We spent a lot of time on (the mythology) and wrapped up a lot of threads…We want a stand-alone movie, not a mythology conspiracy one.”

Next up, a new teaser trailer for the upcoming Star Trek movie being produced by J.J. Abrams was leaked recently. The video was obviously shot inside a theater, but you can clearly see a darkened construction crew piecing together the original U.S.S. Enterprise. Seems like this movie may be going for a grittier look than its predecessors.

You can check out the shots from the X-Files 2 set and the Star Trek teaser trailer by clicking their respective links below.

X-Files 2 Shots – ComingSoon.net

Star Trek Teaser Trailer – IESB.net

Isn’t it fun when gaming companies confuse us and play with our emotions? Do they do this as some sort of personal sick thrill, or do they just have a bad habit of putting their horse before the cart? Most likely it is the later, but with continued release date announcements and then changing those release dates over and over again, it really makes you wonder. Case in point: Atari’s Alone in the Dark. The game was announced for March, changed to September, changed to “we’ll let you know”, and now it is coming to the PC, PS2, Xbox 360 and Wii in May… supposedly – we are so confused that we will not comment either way.

PS3 owners will have to be content with an even less than solid release date, as Atari has stated that it will hit the PS3 “sometime in 2008″. Previously, Atari promised the public that the PS3 version would land when the other console titles did – with such unorganized tactics, it is no wonder the company is in dire straits. Whatever the case may be, here is hoping that all of these slight of hand tricks from Atari pay-off in the end with a decent game – hopefully that is what is causing the delays; wanting to release a quality game instead of something more sinister. You know, all of this may actually be Eden Games’ fault, however it is much more fun to blame it on the publisher – sorry Atari.

Source: CVG

Nintendo recently announced its DS and Wii line-up for the first half of 2008 and the respective months in which you can expect the games to hit stores. The gaming giant has promised consumers more than 80 DS and 65 Wii titles during the first half of the year, and 90% of these new games are third-party titles. Only 5 of the DS and 4 of the Wii titles are coming from Nintendo and I have posted the full list of upcoming titles below.

The following Nintendo titles are slated for the first half of the year, but have yet to have a release date or month announced: Mario Kart Wii is scheduled for a Spring release, and Wii Fit will be released sometime during Q2; Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers in Darkness for the DS during Q2.

The following third-party titles from LucasArts for both the DS and Wii are scheduled for a spring and summer release respectively: LEGO: Indiana Jones and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Wii Titles

January

• Endless Ocean (Nintendo)
• No More Heroes (Ubisoft)
• Samurai Warriors: Katana (KOEI)

February

• Baroque (Atlus USA)
• Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 (Ubisoft)
• Dream Pinball 3D (SouthPeak Games)
• Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore (Konami)
• London Taxi: Rush Hour (Destineer)
• MX vs. ATV Untamed (THQ)

March

• Alone in the Dark (Atari) —- UPDATE: Coming in May
• Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed (THQ)
• Ninja Reflex (EA)
• Nitro Bike (Ubisoft)
• Okami (Capcom)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Target: Terror (Konami)
• Worms: A Space Oddity (THQ)

April

• Pro Evolution Soccer (Konami)
• Wild Earth: African Safari (Majesco)

May

• King of Fighters: The Orochi Saga (SNK Playmore)
• Speed Racer (Warner Bros. Games)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Disney Interactive)
• THE DOG Island (Ubisoft)

June

• Catch of the Day (EA)
• Cooking Mama Cook Off 2 (Majesco)
• DeBlob (THQ)
• Rygar: The Battle of Argus (Tecmo)
• Wall-E (THQ)

DS titles are listed after the break.

Source: GamesInsudtry.biz

Read the full article

Today is a historic day for the “video game movie” genre, for one of its worst contributors has been rightfully downgraded. Uwe Boll, director of such cinematic defecations as Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark, has been effectively reduced to low budget film-making from here on out. Apparently his most recent film, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, tanked so badly at the box office that he doesn’t have the funds for any more big-budget fiascos. The film cost about $70 million to make, but only brought in around $3 million at the box office over the weekend. Before, Boll had been funding his movies through a German tax shelter fund, which might explain how he continued to produce films despite very little critical or financial success. But those funds have now been banned along with other similar tax shelters in Germany, leaving Boll with almost no alternative but to go low-budget.

“In the future, I will focus on small films such as (the video game adaptation) ‘Postal’ or (the Vietnam war drama) ‘Tunnel Rats,’ ” he said. “These are films that represent my true passion, and they can be done with small budgets.”

The photo above shows a mass of Germans celebrating in the streets after the fall of the Berlin Wall, because people the world over should be celebrating this wonderful news. There should be dancing in the streets as people stomp on DVDs of Boll’s films, and David Hasselhoff should be singing “I’ve Been Looking for the Freedom” wearing a jacket covered in flashing lights. I honestly feel like throwing a party just for this with lots of champagne for all.

Via Hollywood Reporter

While I’m not the biggest fan of Microsoft’s creed of “one platform to rule them all”, it is always nice to see some PC lovin’ regardless of a certain title’s decision to join forces with ‘The Empire’. Microsoft announced at CES yesterday nine titles to be branded with the Game for Windows logo. Here are the contestants:

 
Other upcoming titles (worth mentioning) that will also bear the GfW branding are: “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures” (Funcom, Eidos Interactive), “Borderlands” (2K Games), “The Club” (SEGA), “Fallout 3” (Bethesda Softworks) and “Frontlines: Fuel of War” (THQ).

Via Gamerscore Blog