In 2000, Eidos released a ground breaking game that should have been the start of a mega franchise. Fear Effect was one of the first games to use the popular cel-shaded style of animation seen in games such as Jet Grind Radio, XIII, and Zelda: The Wind Walker. It was a survival horror game with a compelling and bizarre plot, three playable characters each with their own abilities, multiple endings, and LESBIANS! It was also heavy on cinema sequences which depict your character being instantly killed if you don’t do the sequence right, similar to old school adventure games. Even the “health” of your character was innovative. Instead of managing a life bar, you had to manage your character’s fear. Solving puzzles, stealth killing enemies, and overcoming obstacles decrease your fear, while being spotted, taking too long on certain sections, or triggering traps raise it. If it’s too high, you could be killed instantly. A sequel was released in 2001, which added a new character, Rain, and told the gruesome backstory of how the three mercenaries came together. It was an even larger game, and the action was spread out amongst a series of levels. Sadly, a third game, Fear Effect Inferno had been planned for PS2, but it fell through due to developer Kronos’s collapse. Fortunately for fans of the series, all is not lost; a movie adaptation is in the works for 2008. Hopefully this will revive interest in the game, and it can finally get the attention it so rightfully deserves.

Seriously though, how the hell could a game with this in it not be doing Grand Theft Auto numbers?

In 2004, Activision and the crew at Raven released one of the best games based on any comic book property. It bought the X-Men mythos into the realm of roleplaying, and it won over comic book fanboys everywhere. A year later, Activision granted us a sequel that not only added more of what the original awesome, but it addressed the complaints that players had about the first one, mainly the uselessness of some characters, and parts of the game where players were forced to fight solo. With over a dozen characters, (some of which are hidden) unlockable costumes, online multiplayer, and just about every facet of the X-universe a gamer can think of, this is a Marvel fan’s dream come true…at least until Marvel Ultimate Alliance arrives this fall.

SuperHeroHype reports that Terrence Howard is considering the part of James Rhodes in the Iron Man movie currently under development. In an interview with MTV, he was quoted as saying:

“Mayyy-bee,” he said about taking the role. “It’s something I’m trying to fully consider. Action is a whole ‘nother animal. The CGI and special effects, that’s a whole ‘nother thing. Playing to green screen or blue screen, I’ve never done that. I want to accomplish it and do it well. I don’t want to do anything and not do it well.”

FilmRot has a plotline for the fourth installment of this questionable franchise. Nick Lyon will be directing. His entry in IMDB does not give confidence as far as experience goes.

The script by Ben Ripley, who penned Species III, follows Miranda Hollander, a beautiful and brilliant young university professor who’s horrified when her “uncle”, Tom Hollander, reveals that she is not actually human after all, but an alien hybrid he created in a laboratory with his former scientific associate Forbes McGuire. When Miranda’s bestial alien side emerges, with bloody consequences, Tom rushes her to Mexico, hoping that Forbes will be able to help. But when Forbes and Tom combine forces to prolong Miranda’s lapsed life span, they soon learn that the “cure” is far worse than the disease.

I won’t lie. I own the first two Species movies. Mostly for Natasha Henstridge. I mean, the tagline for the second movie was “mating season begins…” I don’t regret buying that DVD in any way. Unless this Miranda Hollander is played by Henstridge, I’m not sure what the point of this movie will be.

TFW2005.com has posted an image of what we are told is Revoltech Optimus Prime. We reported on Revoltech Prime a few months ago, when the Revoltech line was first starting. It appears that the picture we posted then matches what tfw2005 has posted. We have mirrored the new picture below.

While were still recovering from our first look at the “movie Prime,” Remy has a gallery of Transformers Classics Optimus Prime available. Theres shots of him in and out of box and comparisons with Primes from the past.
Remy, if you didn’t know, is the man behind TFkenkon, and frequently takes pictures worth making you change your mind about a figure. Take a look at his collection, and try not to lose your mind wanting all the toys pictured.

1:45 PM: In a live webcast, Transformers scriptwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman revealed the names of the characters to be used in the feature film.

Autobots

• Optimus Prime
• Bumblebee
• Jazz
• Ratchet
• Ironhide

Decepticons

• Megatron
• Starscream
• Brawl
• Barricade
• Bonecrusher
• Scorponok
• Frenzy
• Blackout

5:45 PM UPDATE: TFW2005 has a roundup of info from the chat, including descriptions of the characters.

Four new images from the movie set have surfaced on FLIKR. We’re going to mirror those images in the (likely) event they disappear.
The first 2 are a close-up of Optimus Prime’s grill, and a group shot of the four of the autobots. You’ll recognize the black pickup as Ironhide, the yellow Camaro is Bumblebee, Optimus Prime is the semi, and the hummer/ambulance is Ratchet. Not pictured is Jazz, who has yet to be spotted on film or discussed in set reports.

UPDATE: We now have posted some of the toy prototypes and some concept images after the jump. Same spoiler rules apply.

You’ve been warned. Now lets go!

[Read the rest of this entry…]

Sorry to interrupt the actual news reporting and editorials we usually do around here, but I clipped together this charming little video, and the least you can do is watch it.

Audio is provided by the Halo 3 trailer, and video is entirely footage from Transformers: The Movie. Since it feels like I can’t go a day without doing stories about Halo or Transformers, its only fair I end up putting both tags on the same story at least once.