Game-Movie Onslaught!

With films based on movies like DOOM, Silent Hill, BloodRayne, and many more already released, why would we want more? But Hollywood's trend of plucking picture ideas from the gaming industry is showing no signs of slowing. Just take a look how many game-movies are in the works!:

Halo: Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as executive producers of the Halo movie! This one has a chance of being good, the duo grabbed three Academy Awards for the LOTR movies and the King Kong remake was a winner as well.

Resident Evil: Extinction: The third film adaptation of Capcom's survival horror series. Director Paul W.S. Anderson, famous for adapting videogames to film (he directed the first Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat and Alien vs. Predator ).

Castlevania: Paul W.S. Anderson has been tapped to write and direct the big screen Castlevania adaptation. The Belmonts won't be making their big screen debut for at least several more years since director Paul W.S. Anderson is still filming Resident Evil: Extinction.

DOA: Dead or Alive is coming, and it looks BAAAAD. Think Kill Bill cloning, a lil Charlie's Angels, and some Beach Volleyball... you get the picture. The film stars Jaime Pressly (Not Another Teen Movie), Holly Valance, Devon Aoki (Sin City, 2 Fast 2 Furious), Sarah Carter (Final Destination 2), Kane Kosugi (Godzilla: Final Wars), Natassia Malthe (Elektra), Matthew Marsden (Black Hawk Down) and Eric Roberts (National Security, Spun). The DOA script was penned by J.F. Lawton (Under Siege, Pretty Woman), Adam & Seth Gross (Devour), and Granz Henman. Jeremy Bolt and yes, Paul W.S. Anderson is producing.

Postal: Running With Scissors has announced that it has signed a deal with Uwe Boll to create a Postal movie. Uwe Boll's record for converting games to movies is widely ridiculed within the games and movie industries, but he'd punch ya if he heard you saying anything negative. The good news is there's a chance that Gary Coleman will be in the movie playing himself and might get whacked in it. And you've gotta love Running With Scissors, they even sponsor their own Mixed Martial Artists (MMA) team known as "Team POSTAL"!

Driver: Driver "centers on a getaway driver for hire, the best in the heist biz, who is put to the test on a job." Oscar-winning writer-director Roger Avary's big-screen adaptation of the Atari videogame. Rogue picked up Driver from Constantin Film and Impact Pictures, the forces behind the Resident Evil movies.

Clock Tower: The industry insider mag Variety says the script for the supernatural horror flick will be penned by When a Stranger Calls screenwriter Jake Wade Wall. The story reportedly centers around a young woman who gets a disturbing phone call from her estranged mother warning her not to come home. When she investigates, she uncovers a terrible supernatural truth from her past .First released in 1997, Capcom's Clock Tower series has become one of the best-selling gaming franchises of all time. The Clock Tower movie is expected to go into production this fall.

Tekken: Jet Li is reportedly set to play "Boxer", one of the characters from the popular arcade and PlayStation games. Two childhood friends enter the world's largest fighting tournament where they have to battle deadly opponents using every form of martial arts known to man. As they fight both friend and foe, their journey takes them deep into the heart of the notorious Tekken Corporation, where they uncover a secret project that could change the world.

Kameo: A young elf-girl uses her transformative abilities to fight the evil troll king Thorn. Production on the film is supposed to begin sometime this year.

Mortal Kombat III: Devastation : Yup, they're doin' another one. Earth's mightiest warriors: Lui Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Jax Briggs, and Lord Raiden must fight another evil force bent on the devastation of our world. Currently, the script is being worked upon. As soon as it's finished, pre-production will kick in.

Tomb Raider III: Brangelina is back! Action starlet Angelina Jolie said she was finished with Tomb Raider. However, the popular actress has since had a change of heart. "Paramount has optioned [Tomb Raider III] and Angelina has agreed to star in the third," Ian Livingstone — fantasy author, Eidos co-founder, and creator of Lara Croft — told Britain's Daily Express tabloid. A source added: "Angelina is already in training to make sure she gets rid of her post-pregnancy bulge."

Splinter Cell: The third installment in Ubisoft's popular stealth-action game is out now and a fourth installment is expected to drop early next year.  The game follows the adventures of government spy Sam Fisher as he's dispatched to infiltrate an international terrorist syndicate and stop a high-tech threat. Mark Wahlberg, Thomas Jane, Eric Bana and Kurt Russell had all been rumored to be on the filmmakers' short list for the Fisher role in the project's previous incarnation.

The Wheelman : Click For Info

Spy Hunter: Click For Info

For an ongoing look at news on these game-movies and more, keep an eye on IGN Filmforce's Games-to-Film section.

The Ten Greatest Years In Gaming

Next-Gen.Biz has calculated that there's one decent franchise game for every two disasters; one out of every three consoles can be considered an unqualified success.

With the same level of scientific accuracy one deduce that out of the thirty years that videogames have acted as a consumer product, there are maybe ten really excellent milestones... basically that ten of the 30 years of gaming were the really good ones.

"It kind of makes sense, intuitively: you've got the new-hardware years and the innovative-software years, spaced out by years of futzing around with the new hardware introduced a few months back, or copying that amazing new game that was released last summer. We grow enthusiastic, we get bored. Just as we're about to write off videogames forever, we get slapped in the face with a Wii, or a Sega Genesis – and then the magic starts up all over again, allowing us to coast until the next checkpoint."

Chronologically, Next-Gen breaks down the history of gaming like so...

The Ten Greatest Years in Gaming History

A One-Man '80s Arcade Revival

You may recall an article we did last year about Luna City Arcade, a few dozen vintage arcade games fully restored and renovated and lined up in the meticulously maintained collection in the basement of a Virginia home. Now meet the man behind it as Peter Hirschberg was the feature of an article released in the Washington Post about his passions entitled, "A One-Man '80s Arcade Revival." It includes a video inside of his impressive home arcade, and tells more about this arcade fanatic.

What's more, Peter has just launched a new project to add to his long list of accolades and contributions to this hobby, Retro Arcade Radio! According to Peter, "Retro Arcade Radio is a free Internet streaming radio station playing anything that reminds me of the late '70s - early '80s video gaming scene"

Check Out The Washington Post Article

Check Out The Video Of Luna City

Print Your Own Arcade

Ever wish you could have your own home arcade? Now you can!...sorta. We're talking paper arcade cabinets that you can download, print, assemble and do whatever it is you would do with paper arcade cabinets...

Printable paper arcade cut-outs include Galaga, Dragons Lair, Ms Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Defender, Gauntlet, Gravitar, Pac-Man, Robotron, Tempest and even the change booth!

Time Out Tunnel (pictured above) is a full-fledged paper arcade using these models. He even crafted some custom pinball machines for his display, the bar has been set!

Print Your Own Papercade

King's Quest III Re-Released!

Infamous Adventures is proud to present a Remake of Roberta William's classic 1986 hit, King's Quest III. Remade in VGA color to match later Sierra releases, and using the AGS engine by Chris Jones, IA promises to make an enjoyable 1:1 remake of King's Quest III. In the tradition of recent remakes, King's Quest I and II+ by Tierra/AGDI, Infamous Adventures hopes to create a new classic of the Beloved Series.

Features:

• All 16 color backgrounds remade into stunning VGA graphics
• Enhanced Close up cut-scenes and dialogue pictures help immerse you into what is known as the first plot driven chapter of the King's Quest series.
• Original music by professional music composer(s)
• Re-experience the adventure with a stunning new interface (no more typing) And if you never played well, you'll probably enjoy it anyway.

Download King's Quest III

Space Invaders 3D

Another retro-game in 3D, this one will mess with your head, Space Invaders in 3D. You control the ship back and forth and towards and away, trippy!

Best of all it's flash based and free to play in your web browser! The net will never be the same...

Play Space Invaders 3D Now

You Haven't Played This

Can you name this Gameboy game? That's cause it's not one.

Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 is a gruesome masterpiece animation based on the graphic look and feel of platform handhelds. Animations inspired by games have inspired animations. The maker's style even landed him a job in the games industry.

Best of all, it's FREE! You can watch it right in your web browser! Rated mature for black & white blood, productivity obstruction, and lack of controls.

Watch Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 If You Dare

Metal Slug 3D

It's been 10 years since the intensely difficult, gloriously grisly, nonstop carnage of Metal Slug lit up arcades, and to mark that anniversary, SNK Playmore is taking the franchise into the third dimension. The new game, which is simply titled Metal Slug 3D, recently hit stores in Japan. Gamespot nabbed an import copy and played through the first several missions to see if the game stands as a fresh new direction for the series, or an abhorrent defiling of the Metal Slug name.

There are no announced plans as of yet to release Metal Slug in the US, unless it is somehow related to Metal Slug Wii. If you're a diehard fan and are curious to see what the game is like, this would make a decent import (All the dialogue and menus are in English).

Check Out Metal Slug 3D Screens & Gameplay Footage

King of Fighters XI

The King of Fighters XI features the fast-paced tag-team gameplay of KOF 2003 while introducing a number of new and returning characters, plus some noteworthy gameplay tweaks.The new ability to switch characters in mid-combo makes the potential for different, punishing attack patterns seem almost unlimited, especially considering you've got about three dozen different characters to work with...including a number of hidden fighters that SNK fans will almost certainly appreciate. On top of that, KOF XI is online-enabled for the PlayStation 2, though importers who don't know Japanese will have trouble registering to play online.

SNK hasn't announced plans to bring this game over to the West, but here's hoping it'll get here before long.

The King of Fighters series may have reached niche status with the diminishing of video arcade culture during the last five or six years, Next month though, SNK Playmore will be releasing The King of Fighters 2006, the 3D version of the SNK fighting game franchise.

Check Out GameSpot's Hands-On Impressions & Video

ClassicGaming.com Reviews the X-Arcade™ Trackball

"I'd recommend this product to any gamer looking for an authentic arcade feel at home. There simply is no competition that comes close to this short of trying to hack together your own from actual arcade parts, and even then you wouldn't come close to XGAMING INC.'s bulletproof industrial quality construction. You also wouldn't get the 30 day money back return policy, toll free customer support, AND a lifetime warranty. Coupled with the $99 price its a complete steal. As a bonus, XGAMING INC. is bundling in the Atari Anniversary Edition cd-rom (the 2003 repackaging of the Atari Arcade Hits Vol. 1 and 2), for the PC." - Nope we didn't say all of this, ClassicGaming.com said it for us!

Marty "Retro Rogue" Goldberg reviewed XGAMING INC.'s latest addition to its X-Arcade™ series of controllers, the X-Arcade™ Trackball. Roll on over and check it out!

ClassicGaming.com Reviews the X-Arcade™ Trackball

$2,199
X-Arcade™ Machine