Explosions coming from every corner of the frame? Check. Torched cars barreling through the air? Check. Dozens of bullets blanketing the screen? Check. Could this perhaps be the latest action-packed film from Michael Bay?! No, surprisingly its not. Its Gamer from directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. You know, Neveldine and Taylor. The gentlemen who brought us Crank and Crank: High Voltage.
Didn’t see them huh? Don’t sweat it, neither did I. That’s not to say they weren’t any good…I just never got around to seeing ‘em.

The duo’s latest film, Gamer, takes place in the not too distant future and follows Kabel (300’s Gerard Butler), one of many death-row inmates forced into participating in “Slayers”: an ultra-violent multi-player online game created by the reclusive twisted billionaire, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall).

In Slayers inmates are controlled remotely through by high-paying participants using a pseudo-virtual mind control interface. To Kabel’s highly-skilled controller Simon, and the other paying customers, the inmates are nothing but disposable sacks of flesh that serve as a form of entertainment. Not only for them, but for the millions who tune in to watch Slayers online each week. However, to Kabel, Simon’s skill might be the key he needs to put a stop to Slayers and eliminate Castle.

Now if the core premise of inmates being forced to run a gauntlet of death and destruction in exchange for huge ratings sounds at all familiar to you, that’s because its been done before. You may recall a little film from 1987 called The Running Man which is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

Rather than sit around twiddling your thumbs while you wait for Lionsgate to release Gamer into theaters later this year on September 4th, perhaps you can ponder some of the following questions:

Pending Gamer warrants a sequel, I’ll bet dollars for donuts that they use a videogame-related term(s) in the film’s title. I can see the possibilities now: Slayers: Time Extended. Or Gamer: Powered-Up.

[FirstShowing.net]
[Gamer - official site]

There are many places we intentionally avoid; the boarded-up home or darkly lit alley. The places that when found make the hairs on you neck stand straight. Creating a sense of fear of the unknown and intrigue of what exists is the core of what Funcom’s newest MMO, The Secret World, attempts to invoke.

The Secret World (TSW) offers elements of character customization, skill development and item collection, but breaks a well established rule in the MMORPG realm; there well be no character classes or levels. While acknowledging TSW is in the “hype” stage, creative director Ragnar Tornquist states the game design features “fast, reactive combat” and incorporates puzzle-solving incentivized by new character powers and other unnamed rewards.

Without any real gameplay footage to review, the big picture is still rough around the edges. However, I have high expectations for this very ambitious MMORPG. On a personal note, one of the elements that peaked my interest was the use of occult themes. I always gravitate to horror genre for this reason. Check out the factsheet and some renders after the break.

[Eurgamer Interview via Fidgit]

Read more!

Again, reporting from the “no shit, Sherlock” department at DDN HQ, a kid in Sweden passed out in an epileptic seizure after playing WoW for 24 hours straight. Now a report form Sweden’s Youth Care Foundations is describing WoW as the ‘crack cocaine’ of videogames. Psychiatrist Richard Graham said in response to the case:

‘Such prolonged gaming can produce a sort of socially withdrawn figure who may be connecting with people in the game, but is largely dropping out of education and other social opportunities.’

Wow! These people are making freaking breakthroughs here, next up: Hardcore anime fans have unreal expectations of the female body… and the effects of gravity on it.

[DM]

From the “no shit, Sherlock” department at DDN HQ we bring you news of a scientific study made at Northwestern University which has found that the amount of time spent playing MMO’s is proportional to an increase in feelings of depression. Researchers found that people who played MMO’s ‘often’ were 9% more likely to be depressed. Big freaking surprise there huh?

We all know at least one of them, the ones that have been sucking on the teat of the MMO goddess for far too long. Grinding away day after day, working shitty jobs just to maintain the habit. When your games start to be more escapism than distraction, and you start to look like our South Park friend up there, its no wonder you’d get depressed.

Can MMOs be a cause of depression or is it simply a comfortable outlet for those already depressed? What’s your take? Hit us up in the comments!

[LA Times]

The cult-hit  television show “Stargate,” if you recall, is getting its very own MMO. The last time we heard any major news about it was a trailer we saw back in January. If you couldn’t tell from the screenshot, the game is getting a backing by MGM Interactive, a potentially powerful source of cash flow.

Thanks to a friend who was asked if he wanted to sign up through his work, who might be taking the customer service calls for that game, I decided to check it out. Lo and behold, there it was: the sign up for the open beta. You Have until September 20th to sign up. While you’re there, check out the screen shots and let me know what you think!

[Stargate Worlds]

[Rock, Paper Shotgun]

Blizz fans rejoice: the good news doesn’t stop at Diablo 3. At Blizzard’s Worldwide Invitational event in Paris, VP Rob Pardo confirmed that "there is still one unknown project". He has also confirmed that the several job listings referencing an "unannounced next-gen MMO" did not refer to Diablo 3. So, what exactly is it?

Current speculation points to an oft-rumored Starcraft MMO, though it’s equally possible that Blizzard is, for the first time since the original Starcraft hit shelves in 1998, creating a brand-new franchise. Paul Sams, Blizz’s Chief Operating Officer, said in an interview with Gamasutra that "The idea of a new franchise is very intriguing to employees of the company. Are we ever going to release a new one? I would absolutely say we will at some point. I just don’t know when that day will be quite yet." Wether or not he is hinting at a new franchise from Blizzard isn’t known just yet, but that might just be what he’s doing.

As for a release date for Wrath of the Lich King, Starcraft 2, or Diablo 3… Well, come on. This is Blizzard we’re talking about.

[From Shacknews]

If you thought we have it bad with  micro transactions, game cash shops and virtual economies in the western world you surely don’t know about the QQ coin. In China, a company called Tencent has a monopoly on virtual currencies, one so massive and shady that state regulators fear it may start to affect China’s own currency.

It all starts looking innocently enough. Tencent runs websites with all sorts of games where either subscriptions or items are bought with the QQ, Tencent’s virtual currency. Much like Second Life you can take your QQ and convert it back to cash, and this is where thing’s start getting shady.

Read more!

We are less than a few weeks away from the premier of the MapleStory anime, the character designs recently got released and frankly, we’re scared. These look like anything but MapleStory characters! With these kind of characters, HoboStory would be a much more fitting name.

This is really shocking because the game’s strongest point was its chibi, cute, cliche’d anime-ish designs, actually it wasn’t its biggest point, it was its only point. Now don’t get me wrong, a series about a bunch of hobos caught in a grindfest world, killing pigs in armor and jumping around sounds awesome, but not like this!

News that MapleStory, the side-scrolling MMORPG, was getting the anime treatment have been known for some time now. But just recently did we learn what spot would it occupy on TV Tokyo’s schedule. The series will begin airing on Sunday, October 7 at 8:30 am (so expect subs somewhere around Tuesday), taking the place of epic shonen, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann.

But as many Gurren-Lagann fans say, Gurren-Lagann is too epic to end. Ever.

[ANN]