The document had been accessible early Tuesday morning. It appears to contain meeting notes, many of which detail Sega's games. It seems to have been first spotted on French website, Objectif-Sega but has since been removed.

Kotaku was unable to reach representatives from Sega or Sony before the publication of this post, but will provide any update we receive on this matter.

If real, the document portrays conversations between members of Sega of America and Rob Dyer, the senior vice president of publisher relations at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, in what is indicated as a quarterly update with Sony regarding Sega's plans.

Every major Sega game is mentioned in the document, often with details that appear to be either upcoming plans or at least ideas about what would the companies might pursue.

The document mentions a Bayonetta collectors edition that would include an action figure. No such edition has been announced. It indicates that a Sega product evaluator deemed the first level of this fall's role-playing game, Alpha Protocol, as too difficult at the time and described it barely feeling like a role-playing game.

The alleged Sony-Sega meeting notes include multiple mentions of Sega working with Sony-specific initiatives. Sega's Vancouver 2010 Olympics game, Iron Man 2 and Aliens Vs. Predator are listed as candidates for spaces or avatar item downloads in the PlayStation Home virtual world. The notes mention the possibility of Sony-specific characters appearing in a PlayStation 3 version of 2010's Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, though the notes strangely disqualifies a Sony mascot in favor of Microsoft-owned properties: "Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU [version] – not ratchet and clank but other characters maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes."

The document covers cult favorite series Yakuza, which has had two releases in the U.S. Two other Yakuza games , including the current-gen Yakuza 3, remain Japan-only games. Of the Yakuza games, the notes state: "Could put Japanese games directly on PSN for download in a special Japanese Import section (pricing $9.99 to $39.99 for full game). Might need to localize menus at least with subtitles. SCEA interested in helping on MKTG side if they can have period of exclusivity."

The possibility of interaction between the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable is mentioned for Aliens: Colonial Marines, a game that was not yet announced for any portable system. The same option was also mentioned for something called Vanquish.

The final Sega game property mentioned in the document is Sonic, which is considered in the notes as a candidate for a "Best of Sonic" collection. The notes state that "SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes."

The document also included notes about Sony's plans for its motion controller and digital download store, which we've covered in an earlier post today.

Only on his new job for about two and a half weeks, Mike Hayes is the man who now oversees Sega West, the combined domain of Sega of America and Sega of Europe and the man who I asked yesterday to define, if such a term is possible, "Sega-ness."

Hayes, who formerly had been running just Sega of Europe and years before that was at Nintendo, was taking meetings in New York on the penthouse floor of a midtown Manhattan hotel. Based in London, he was paying the territory added to his portfolio a visit. Around him, in adjacent rooms, a line-up with a diversity that make even Sega's innovative line-ups of its old Genesis and Dreamcast eras look homogeneous was illuminating TV screens. A few doors in one direction were Aliens Vs. Predator and espionage role-playing game Alpha Protocol. In the other, beyond more than half a dozen other distinct games, were Daisy Fuentes Pilates and a Sonic kart-racing game.

Is there an essence of Sega that unifies the company's games? Something that a gamer unaware of the company logos on game boxes might still sense as a unifying aspect of Sega's games?

"In some cases, but not all," Hayes said, answering this early question with the thoughtfulness and lack of diplomatic self-censorship with which he'd field all of my questions. "When we are trying to do core games like Aliens Vs. Predator from Rebellion, I don't think you'll find any Seganess in that. However, there are a lot of games that we do do — whether it be particularly with our old intellectual property, like Monkey Ball, like with Mario and Sonic and … things like Let's Tap — it's that kind of slight risk-taking that Sega was renowned for as innovators that we still do and we still intend to do."

Such a publisher winds up having to field from an outlet like this one questions as wide-ranging as the fate of its Aliens license, its Sonic line and its heritage as a hardware maker. More on some of that later this week, but here's our first batch of updates.

Aliens is one of the murkier Sega topics. The company announced in 2006 that it would publish three games based on the famous chest-bursting movie monsters. Sega showed Aliens Vs. Predator at this event, demonstrating how games can play as a human marines or a Predator. Still under wraps is what playing like an Alien will be like. But this game wasn't expected to be the first Aliens game from Sega. That was going to be the Gearbox-developed Aliens: Colonial Marines shooter or the now-canceled Obsidian-developed Aliens RPG.

"The Gearbox project was moving along," Hayes said, recalling when the decision was made to take Colonial Marines out of the lead position. The game wasn't as far along as Aliens Vs. Predator, which originally wasn't backed by Sega. It was being made by Rebellion for publisher Vivendi, until that support ceased following Vivendi's 2008 merger with Activision. "There was an opportunity for us to take that." Its development progress put Gearbox's game into the second slot, to be released "a good period after" AvP, according to Hayes. The RPG won't be third because "it just wasn't coming along to the plan that we thought."

Might the newly announced, Ridley Scott Alien prequel project be a source of Aliens inspiration for Sega? "We're quite excited about that and buzzing from the news of that," Hayes said. But of the third game, Hayes would only say, " We'd like to think we'll be doing a third project but at the moment we haven't confirmed what the third project will be."

Another hyped grouping of Sega games has been its trio of Wii games targeted to the demographic of gamers that prefers a good headshot or chainsaw kill to an interactive sit-up routine: House of the Dead Overkill, MadWorld and The Conduit. Hayes views their fortunes as mixed. Sales reports don't show blockbuster numbers for any of the games, but, Hays said, "I just don't think, categorically, that you can therefore concludes that mature games won't work on Wii."

Hayes deemed profane Grindhouse-style in-rails shooter House of the Dead: Overkill a "big success in Europe," even though it performed less spectacularly in America. Hayes said the game's budget-priced Wii predecessor, which compiled two earlier games in the series, continues to do well, suggesting there's a future to this line. "We're still very keen on the House of the Dead franchise."

Conduit can also be deemed a success, Hayes said, qualifying its performance as a solid one in a summer that has seen a pre-Holiday Wii hardware and software "dip." The company has shipped 300,000 copies of the game worldwide and sold through more than half of them to gamers, about 100,000 in the U.S., according to figures from Segaof America v.p. of marketing, Sean Ratcliffe who attended our interview.

It is the mostly black-and-white, hyper-violent MadWorld that Hayes dubbed a "disappointment" for reasons he can't yet nail down. "It could be the consumers didn't like the art style," he said. "It could be the consumers had enough Mature-rated games to play on 360 and PS3 and didn't need a new experience on Wii."

Hayes sums up the mixed success of those titles with a sanguine recognition that any grouping of games will have its hit, its flop and some in-between performers. "That's video games," he said. And it's not the end of this Wii gamer narrative from Sega. " You will see more — I wouldn't say Mature as in M — but you will see more definitely more hardcore games from us on the Wii platform."

MadWorld was part of a second grouping of Sega titles, those developed by Platinum Games, the company led mainly by former design stars at Capcom. Bayonetta, now releasing in early 2010 in the U.S. will be the second, along with DS game Infinite Space. Hayes said there will be at least two more Platinum Games titles published by Sega beyond that, but wouldn't provide details nor confirm if either of those is the previously-announced game being developed by heralded Japanese game maker Shinji Mikami.

One of the biggest hits for Sega in Japan has been its Yakuza series, a line of story-driven brawlers set, mostly, in modern Tokyo and crafted with the help of a Japanese crime novelist and Toshihiro Nagoshi, the classically eclectic Sega developer who also dreamed up the kid-friendly Super Monkey Ball. Yakuza may be the Japanese series that most closely matches the urban antisocial vibe of the Grand Theft Auto series, but its two PlayStation 2 releases in America have sold poorly. A third PS2 Yakuza was not brought to America. A current-gen game, Yakuza 3, made its mark in Japan in February. The third is absent from Sega's announced U.S. release schedule. "We're looking into it," Hayes said, remarking that it would require "massive localization" work and that, yes, he's aware of the dedicated fans here clamoring for its release.

Hayes answered that Yakuza question outside of our interview, truth be told. We'd wrapped up. I was at the other end of the penthouse, preparing to play Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics after commandeering Luigi on bobsled I saw Hayes and had to ask. Imagine the ability to transition from playing character-mascot Olympics to a discussion of a crime-filled city adventure, all without leaving the same publisher's demo hotel suite: Maybe that is the definition of "Sega-ness"

There's a key difference! Unlike licensed fare, which are forced to stick to the plot and characters of the film, these games simply take a motivational cue from an existing movie and run with it. Whether that be in terms of visual design, themes, the relationship between characters, it doesn't matter; these are just some of the games inspired by a summer blockbuster, and they wear that inspiration proudly on their sleeves.

Any others people can think of they'd like to share?

Independence Day / Star Fox 64

While the Star Fox series has tipped its hat to many science fiction staples over the years, none are as blatant as Star Fox 64's stage on Katina.

From the enemy fighters to the landscape to the protection of a prominent building from a large, saucer-shaped mothership, it doesn't just borrow from ID4, it lifts entire segments. Some people say even the music is modelled on Independence Day's score.

Just a shame there's no animal version of a wasted Randy Quaid up there.
Saving Private Ryan / Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

In 1998, moviegoers were shocked by what is still widely regarded as the most graphic, confronting sequence ever seen in a war movie. Through a use of shaky-cam and special effects, Steven Spielberg depicts the Omaha Beach landings on June 6, 1944 with an unnerving sense of intimacy, bullets whizzing past your head in surround sound, bodies exploding all over the screen.

Then, in 2002, gamers got their chance to actually take part in the sequence. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault followed the events of the film's introduction almost to the letter, from a disastrous beach landing to a deadly crawl up the beach to the storming of the German fortifications.

And it's not just the opening that models itself on Saving Private Ryan; there are subsequent levels in the game that also reference locations visited in the film. Then again, with Spielberg having helped write the events of the game, that shouldn't have been a great surprise.
Star Wars / Final Fantasy XII

Now this one, this one doesn't seem as obvious. Final Fantasy XII - a Square Enix RPG - being heavily influenced by Star Wars? But it's true.

While art director Hideo Minaba says of the game "I'll just say that I'm a fan. I wouldn't say that [Star Wars] an influence", we don't believe him for a second. The game is about a young blonde boy who yearns to take to the skies and escape the grip of a totalitarian empire on his desert home. He's accompanied by a shifty, though good-hearted pirate. Who in turn is accompanied by a stoic, furry friend. There's also an old-warrior-cum-mentor for the boy, a bounty hunter after the pirate, and even some Jawas.

Come on, Minaba. Fess up. It's OK! Everyone loves Star Wars.
Aliens / Everything

Aliens was released in 1986. And almost every single game that involves men fighting in space has taken something from it. Halo borrows from its aesthetic (Pelican dropships and assault rifles). Halo also borrows from its cast (Sgt. Johnson). Countless games have named their protagonists "Space Marines". The xenomorphs - and their face huggers - are another gaming staple. And sentry guns? Yeah, they're from Aliens as well.

It's shocking the influence this movie has had on an entire medium. As 2K's Stephen Alexander told Totilo the other day, it's so embedded in the imaginations of designers and artists that often people reference it without even realising it. Its legacy, whether artistically or in terms of its plot or gadgets, has been copied by so many games over the years that those staples - the marines, the weapons, the aliens - are now seen as part of gaming's mythology, not that of Aliens.

1975, Jaws — "It was the Village East theater in Birmingham, Alabama. And we rode in my sister's husband's Trans Am…I have certain flashes of scenes, like the scene where Roy Scheider pulls the license plate out of the stomach of the shark. I remember that. They're just flashes. I remember it being very scary. My brother was traumatized, to this day. I loved it." — Twisted Metal and God of War creator David Jaffe, born in 1971

Video games all but smell of popcorn. They have been influenced by the movies, arguably more so than they have been by any other art form, save for other games. And the movies that influence them most appear to be the biggest, the summer blockbusters.

Play a game or simply visit a game development studio — watch for the posters, the action figures or listen to the mentions in casual conversation — and the influence of summer movies is apparent. A week can't go by without noticing the sway big movies have on creators. Last Wednesday, while showing Kotaku his game The Saboteur, Pandemic designer Tom French cited Indiana Jones' bigness and coolness of action as an influence on his game's anti-Nazi adventure. Over the weekend as I neared the end of Ghostbusters: The Video Game — itself an offspring of summer movies — I saw a late-game scene in which one of the heroes flees from a massive rolling boulder.

"[Summer movies] are touchstones in a sense they are generational touchstones," Stephen Alexander, veteran gaming artist at 2K Boston told Kotaku. "Games tend to reference them a lot, because the people who are making them are making them for people who are like themselves. Or they make the assumption, that because I like this, the audience will like this."

Prints of Aliens and Star Wars can be lifted from Gears of War and Halo, Star Fox and Final Fantasy. Also, the Indiana Jones films and Predator. T2 and Tron. Jaws. Top Gun. Independence Day.

1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark — "Indiana Jones meant nothing to me. It looked like a boring Western. I had no interest in it. I remember watching the review on Siskel and Ebert in the house with my parents — the whole family was over — and I was like, ah that seems kind of cool, whatever. My dad said, 'Yeah let's go see that.' …It was sold out, so we sat in the car, which I think was this 1970s-era brown Cadillac. And we just sat there for two hours, hanging out as a family, waiting for the next show to start. Eventually we got in, and, I'm not shitting you, it changed my life. It changed my fucking life. This is what I want to do. To live in that world and to be in that world, not so much Indiana Jones' world — though that would be great — but the world of creativity and escapism and summer excitement in terms of film and video games… It just opened the world of geekdom and film-loving and it affects me to this day." — David Jaffe

Summer movies touch everyone, not just game creators. But they may have a stronger grip in a community where it's not uncommon for a development studio to shut down for the afternoon so the team can catch the latest summer flick at a rented theater. That was a mandatory outing just a few Fridays ago, for 2K Boston, when they went to see Up.

"The great thing about the blockbusters is having the common vocabulary," 2K Boston designer Bill Gardner said. "Who doesn't talk about the Predator's cloaking device, whatever the hell it's called? And the T1000 and all that stuff, constantly touching on these reference points."

In the lingua franca of video games, George Lucas is king. "Star Wars pops up all the time," Gardner's colleague at 2K Boston, Stephen Alexander, said. "And that's where a lot of games draw from because it is such an iconic journey to go on and it has such emotional resonance and pays off so well."

But game creators don't borrow from all the summer hits of the '80s and '90s. Alexander may see some Goonies in Zelda, but he guesses that's just him. Ferris Bueller's Day Off doesn't seem to have informed many games. Back to the Future's influence, if it exists, is subtle.

1982, E.T. — "I remember seeing it at the Brooklyn Mall theater and [film company people] handing out the buttons and I was just like, 'Oh my god, I got a button.' And now the PR department is like, 'Big fucking deal, we made a million buttons.' But to a kid in Alabama who was in love with the movies, especially Spielberg and Spielberg's movies, this was like the Holy Grail." — David Jaffe

For all the love E.T. gets, it's had only a light touch on games. Alexander has a theory why. "The real power of E.T. was that emotional bond between E.T. and Elliott," he argued. "Emotional resonance is something that games are still wrestling with… I haven't seen too many games that have managed to pull that off." Ico is the only game he can think of that fits.

The more bombastic, escapist summer movies exert the most influence. They are, according to developers like Alexander and Gardner, parallel works to video games: They share the goal of escapism. The best blockbuster movies and the best blockbuster games take you out of yourself, on a ride.

1983, Return of the Jedi — "[My mom] had come to check me and my neighbor out of sixth grade. We were going to go to like the first show at one o'clock. …I was so excited, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. The word got out and my math teacher, Mrs. Vance, who to this day I don't forgive, basically had a shit fit about it and ended up calling my mom and stuff. It became this big deal and she wasn't going to let me — whatever the fuck — graduate sixth grade. Ultimately, I ended up going to the movie, and I remember waiting in line. It was all the people who show up for a summer movie the first day. It was a big deal. …And I remember, after that point, really trying to recreate that for the rest of my junior high and high school experience. I remember hoping — hoping so bad — that Willow would have this huge line and it never really did." — David Jaffe

Some developers bristle at this or at least laugh off the overwhelming influence that summer movies have. Alexander and Gardner's boss, Ken Levine, said as much to me in January 2007: "Most video game people have read one book and seen one movie in their life, which is Lord of the Rings and Aliens or variations of that. There's great things in that, but you need some variety… Look, I just steal from other sources."

Aliens is the one that gets the eye-rolls a lot. Another drop-ship? Another group of space marines? Another tough-talking black sergeant? Another drab color palette? "When it came out, Aliens' visual design was so amazingly fresh and almost mind-blowing, it's not surprising that so many people have taken it and used it to make their space game," Alexander said. "It is a rich ground to place a game in, but it seems like people have gotten a little bit lazy in using this visual language at this point."

But don't blame the summer movies alone for this, Alexander said. "A game creator has a brilliant flash of inspiration and they mimic something from Aliens, for example, and it's incredibly successful and then other creators mimic that game. I don't know that it's everybody drawing from the same source. I think games are maybe borrowing too much from each other in some ways. You fall into the 'it worked once — let's not be risky — and do it again.'"

1989, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade — "When Last Crusade opened I was such a total fucking geek. I didn't care. I was in high school. The cement had dried on what kind of geek I was going to be. My brother, with me and a couple of my buddies, we all had logos of Last Crusade painted on the back of our cars like it was homecoming." — David Jaffe

There's another draw the summer films have for game creators and the publishers they work for: Bigness.

There's spectacle that surrounds the release of the film expressed in long lines, big ads, talk-show guest appearances, commercials, souvenir cups, national — international — media attention. It's natural to want that.
"The spectacle around the summer blockbusters is something to envy," Gardner said. "You want to break into the mainstream and get people talking, but when you come down to it, as envious as I may be, I try to focus on what we're doing right more than anything else. When it comes down to it, I don't know if we'll every be able to emulate that type of hype."

Still, while the siren song of summer movie status can be hard to resist, it can cause problems when game companies misuse the model. Taking the rate of explosions from a Michael Bay movie and injecting it into a game won't make the game as exciting as the Bay movie. Even a summer movie fanatic like David Jaffe knows this. Borrowing a key scene — the visuals, the audio — doesn't play to gaming's core strength, interactivity. So developers should best bear their influence with caution. A little nod here or there can be a nice touch, of course.

2005, God of War — "God of War is the game I always wanted to make. And there's a huge influence of Raiders of the Lost Ark in God of War. Pandora's Box is the Greek mythology version of the Ark of the Covenant. Actual moves that Kratos does in God of War are directly an homage to what Indy does in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When Indy kicks over that statue when he's in the Well of the Souls, it's the exact same animation — obviously Harrison Ford or the stuntman did it for real — we had Kratos mimic what he did with his body with the giant column when he first gets to Athens." - David Jaffe

So maybe the summer movie blockbusters are safe from video games ripping them off wholesale. And maybe games will continue to find their own way to develop as a unique medium. In fact, games have already been seen to be exerting their own influence on the summer films: see the sidescrolling action sequence in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones or the increasingly video-game-like action scenes and car chases in so many other summer films, like Terminator Salvation and The Bourne Ultimatum.

That doesn't mean some creators won't want you to feel that summer movie feeling when you settle down in front of one of their games.

2009, Eat Sleep Play — "There is a literal aspect to the influence these things have had. But then, more importantly, there is a philosophical impact that the summer movies have had from a standpoint of wanting to provide, for my audience — look I understand that we don't make movies, we don't reach as big of an audience — but I still take the responsibility of the audience we do speak to very seriously. And, as much as I look at the works of [Flow and Flower development studio] That Game Company or [Ico creator Fumito] Ueda when he does Shadow of the Colossus, I'm so okay leaving that level of emotion and that level of meaning to someone else. I want to be the guy who provides the escape. I want to be the guy who provides the video game equivalent of the summer blockbuster." — David Jaffe, co-founder of game development studio Eat Sleep Play

(Movie poster images via the Internet Movie Poster Awards site.)

A posting on the Obsidian forums from a forum administrator, picked up by Giant Bomb, attempts to clear the air by noting "it is true that we are no longer working on the game, and we wanted to finally announce that officially to everyone who has been following its development." In case there was any confusion about that, the post ends saying that Aliens RPG is "no longer a product that is in development."

Sega also confirmed in a statement that the title is kaput. "At this point, SEGA has no plans to move forward with the Aliens RPG," says official word.

The role-playing game from the dev team responsible for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and the forthcoming Alpha Protocol was announced in December of 2006, but was never shown publicly.

Sega still has plenty of Aliens licensed game coming down the pipe, with Aliens Vs. Predator and Aliens: Colonial Marines shooting for every platform that can handle 'em.

The Official State of Obsidian's Aliens RPG, by The Guildmaster [Obsidian Forum Community via Giant Bomb]

There were entries covering everything from Hellboy to Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, but the best are those we've selected below, with locations modelled from Blade Runner, Aliens, 5th Element and even Oldboy, teasing us with a screen from the best side-scrolling beat 'em up never created.

Scene From A Movie [Game Artist, via RPS]

Sure, Proper Games' creation might be the only UFO animal herding puzzle game created by human hands, but that just makes the statement even more valid. This trailer demonstrates the different seasons that Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC players will be able to herd animals during, reminding me of what my mother always used to tell me. "An alien shepherd's work is never done," she'd tell me, before turning out the lights and staring at me with her frightening glowing red eyes until the sheer terror was no longer enough to keep me awake.

Flock drops in early April for PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network.

The tattoo artist/case modder responsible for this creation used (and burned himself with) super heated epoxy putty and Games Workshop's Chaos Black paint for the finish. He had to settle for a layer of gloss instead of sanding it — it sounds (and looks like) a bitch to smooth out.

The sculpt is as hard as a metal casting and permanently welds itself to everything, especially the plastic top. And it's only on the top panel and door so he can switch it out if he gets a new one.

And if anyone's interested, this is how I explained it to him; It takes ALOT more work than a portrait tattoo, which I would charge $300 for. So if I had to do something like this again... $300.

In Space, No Alien PS3 Case Mod Can Hear You Scream [Gizmodo via Cyberpunk Review via technabob]

There's always something supernatural in every Sims game. From werewolf babies in the Sims 2 Pets expansion all the way back to alien abductions in The Sims (which did not result in pregnancy), producers have slipped something strange in to make gameplay that much more interesting.

Sims 3 Associate Producer Grant Rodiek is no exception. One of his many pet-projects in the game is the "playable ghosts" Opportunity. Opportunities in Sims 3 are like mini quests – they appear every so often in one of the Sims' sub-menus as optional tasks your Sim can complete to earn special bonuses or rewards.

Rodiek wouldn't go into too much detail on how the Ghost Opportunity worked, but he said completing it was a walk in the park compared to how hard becoming a werewolf was in The Sims 2.

As a consolation, he took a sim to the town graveyard to show me another facet of the ghostly occult in Sims 3. You can send a sim into the stone mausoleum the way you would send them off to work in The Sims 2. Text options will pop up, letting you choose what your sim should do down there in the dark catacombs. Good things might happen, bad things might happen; or, he hinted, your Sim might not make it back.

New screens below:

A presser sent out by Sega Europe today has the game tentatively slated for a "Q1 2009" release. That's obviously not a calendar Q1, since then it'd be out before March, and is more likely to mean April-June, the first quarter of Sega Japan's financial year.

Not too long, then! Six months, at the most (KNOCKONWOOD).

SEGA confirms Aliens: Colonial Marines still alive [videogamer]

"They wanted me to do Ripley and I said, Well you have Ripley killing aliens but also sick people and other marines! And every other word out of my mouth was a curse word. I'm not a nun or anything, but I said, ‘This is not true to the character.' And they also showed me six video games and said it was going to be made by this company. There was one called ‘Rednecks' where they shoot animals. The whole thing was so ridiculous."

The developer in question remains a mystery, seeing as the only game that fits - Redneck Rampage - was developed by Xatrix Entertainment, who never worked on an Aliens title. Perhaps we're now finding out why they never worked on the Aliens franchise.

As for participating in Atari's upcoming Ghostbusters games, Weaver claimed she was either never contacted, or was simply too busy to respond at the time and forgot it ever happened. I'd say this was a loss for Ghostbusters fans, but I never really liked her character in the series in the first place. As far as I am concerned, Weaver should be required to shave her head and weild a futuristic weapon in every movie she appears in.

Sigourney Weaver Appalled By Offer To Be In ‘Aliens' Game, Not Slated For ‘Ghostbusters' [MTV Multiplayer]

Mark claims not to be a conspiracy theorist but finds great non-news fodder like this on UFO conspiracy sites. According to Mark, "This supposedly historical shot was pulled from the 1997 documentary Area 51: Alien Interview. According to the film, on November 4, 1697, the citizens of Hamburg, Germany spotted "two glowing wheels" in the air. To some, it was just further proof of another civilization visiting Earth."

The glowing wheels then turned red and crapped out? Kidding! Well, sorta. Too bad those space aliens didn't copyright that logo — they could've made a mint off of Microsoft's use of it. Silly aliens.

Xbox 360 Logo Spotted in 1697 UFO Sighting Sketch [Gizmodo]

We explained it in detail, why Aliens didn't make E3. But it's so much more soothing hearing the news come in the Anglified voice of SEGA of America's head honcho Simon Jeffery.

Gearbox Talks Aliens Creative Team: BSG Writers, Original Film Artists, Craig Mullins [Shacknews]

Two more: first is that the game will feature proper acid blood, which won't just injure you if you get too close, but will also have minor effects on the level's environments. Second is that the game will feature quick-time events. Sorry to save the bad news for last, but hey, you had to hear it some time.
Aliens: Colonial Marines gameplay info [GamesRadar]

The team already has Borderlands, Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Aliens and Samba de Amigo for Wii on its plate, with the newest super secret project to get some serious attention only after at least two of those games ship. That means whatever Gearbox has been tapped to create, it's a long way off.

So, let's start the predictions, gang. We know that Gearbox currently has strong ties to Sega and has done plenty of work for Valve in the past. The team also handled the original Halo PC port. We also know that their forte lies in first person shooters, but aren't afraid to tackle a rhythm game remake.

Unfortunately, we may not know for years what the team has planned, but we're going to be hovering closely to (read: stalking) Mr. Pitchford at both DICE and GDC this month to try to learn more.

If you're an industry developer, this is the most important post you've ever read... [Gearbox Forums]

Move over Alien, there's a new scary... alien in space. GameTrailers managed to nab a world exclusive trailer for EA's upcoming space horror game, Dead Space. I'm a big fan of the survival horror genre but usually my tastes tend towards the Silent Hill, Resident Evil end of things. I have yet, to my memory (which is admittedly poor) played a horror game in outer space much less zero gravity, so I'll be anxious to check this out when it hits next year. Definitely one for lights out...

Turian genetic code is based on dextro-amino acids. If they attempt to ingest human food, which is based on levo-amino acids, they may enter anaphylactic shock.

The Alien Races of Mass Effect Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence ONI-6078-A1: Xenological Threat Assessments

The Turian Hierarchy
The turians are the greatest threat to Alliance interests. While the batarians are more openly hostile, they are a second-rate power. The Hierarchy is powerful, stable, and proactive in suppressing perceived threats. There is continued friction between jingoistic human and turian organizations, who wish to "settle" the diplomatically-resolved First Contact War.

Political Factors
The government is a hierarchical meritocracy, with promotion based on the assessments of superiors and peers. Orders from above are rarely disobeyed. Each member of the Council of Hierarchs commands an entire star cluster.

It should be noted that the Treaty of Farixen, which the Alliance signed to gain an embassy on the Citadel, restricts our number of dreadnought-mass warships to 1/5th that of the turian fleet.

Economic Factors
The turian economy is vastly larger than ours, but cannot match the size and power of the asari. For many years, development was hampered by cultural disinterest in economics. When the turians accepted the volus as a client race, business development improved.

The military is supported by a well-developed infrastructure. Manufacturers such as Armax Arsenal and the Haliat Armory produce advanced, reliable equipment.

Cultural Factors
Turians are noted for their strong sense of public service. It is rare to find one who puts his needs ahead of the group. Every citizen from age 15 to 30 serves the state in some capacity, as anything from a soldier to an administrator, from a construction engineer to a sanitation worker.

Biological Factors
Turian genetic code is based on dextro-amino acids. If they attempt to ingest human food, which is based on levo-amino acids, they may enter anaphylactic shock. The army that occupied the Alliance colony of Shanxi in the First Contact War imported all its food, at great logistical expense.

Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI-6078-A2: Xenological Threat Assessments

The Asari Republics
The asari are a moderate threat to Alliance interests. Their economic power and diplomatic reputation allow them to wield persuasive influence. Fortunately, their military is barely more than a collection of local warrior bands. Soldiers are well-armed and exceptionally skilled, but do not possess sufficient organization for large-scale military campaigns.

Political Factors
The asari have no government per se. Policy is decided through the ebb and flow of public opinion in a sprawling but well-organized electronic democracy. The closest analogue to an executive decision-making body is the opinion of the Matriarchs. In a crisis, the public turns to the experience of these millennia-old "wise women" for advice.

Economic Factors
The asari possess the largest single economy in the galaxy. They have extensive trade and social contacts. Craft guilds, such as those of the cities Serrice and Armali, hold a virtual monopoly on advanced biotic technology. Given their political influence, an embargo by the asari would prove disastrous to the Alliance.

Cultural Factors
Because of their long lifespan, asari are more comfortable with observation and study than immediate action. In diplomacy, this manifests in a tendency to centrism. The asari seek to maintain stable balances of economic, political, and military power. They prefer to work their will through cultural influence. They believe that their ideals and beliefs will inevitably shape the general galactic culture.

Biological Factors
The unique asari reproductive system naturally inclines them to biotic abilities. In fact, lack of biotic ability will exempt a young asari from military service. Asari biotic commandoes are more powerful than the best human adepts, and possess skills we cannot emulate.

Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI-6078-A3: Xenological Threat Assessments

The Salarian Union
The salarians are considered a moderate threat to Alliance, but share certain similarities in mindset. They are politically liberal, often at odds with the conservative turians and centrist asari.

It is universally acknowledged that the salarians possess the finest intelligence services in the galaxy. Our own counterintelligence agencies are constantly uncovering salarian agents and cyberwarfare incursions.

Political Factors
The political structure of the salarians is almost medieval, and largely incomprehensible to outsiders. Political power is wielded by millions of cloistered female dynasts, who shape policy among themselves with little input from males. These clan leaders spread their influence through a tangled web of intermarriages and personal negotiation. Annoying one clan leader has a high risk of irritating ten more - or a hundred more.

Economic Factors
The salarian economy is the smallest of the three Council races, but still far larger than the Alliance. It is based on "bleeding-edge" technologies; salarian industries are leaders in most fields. They make up for a lack of military quantity by holding a decisive superiority in quality.

Cultural Factors
Salarian culture wholly embraces the concept of the preemptive strike. They find the idea of a declaration of war foolish, and the idea of waiting for a known enemy to attack preposterous. In every war they have ever fought, they have struck first and without warning.

Biological Factors
The salarian metabolism works nearly twice as fast as that of humans, giving them faster reflexes and superior mental agility. They adapt to unexpected and rapidly developing situations with preternatural swiftness. By human standards, salarians seem hyperactive and restless. By salarian standards, we seem sluggish and dull-witted.

Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI-6078-A4: Xenological Threat Assessments

The Illuminated Primacy (Hanar)
The hanar are an inoffensive third-rate power, and considered a minor threat to the Alliance. They have little interest in interacting with other cultures, due to a cultural obsession with manners and politeness that verges on monomania.

Political Factors
The hanar government is a benign theocracy. While tolerant of other creeds, the official state religion is the worship of the "Enkindlers" - the Protheans. There are many Prothean ruins on their homeworld, and hanar believe the elder race civilized their ancestors. It is difficult for a hanar to view the Protheans as an actual race rather than idealized mythological figures.

Economic Factors
Few hanar are willing to deal with other species. Economic contacts are limited to a handful of trade stations on their borders. Due to this self-imposed isolation and the unique physiology of the race, their economy is small and isolated from the rest of the galaxy. Few standard technologies (designed for bipedal and fingered species) are available in their space, and they produce very few goods that are useable by others.

Cultural Factors
The hanar are reserved and polite, with ancient customs dictating all aspects of conversation. They find the speech of other races to be rude. Most consider other species to be uncouth barbarians and lack the patience to "unlearn" their tendency to take offense. It is strongly recommended that Alliance personnel avoid direct contact with hanar, and defer to specially-trained diplomats.

Biological Factors
The invertebrate, water-native hanar cannot support their own weight in normal gravity. When interacting with mainstream galactic society, they rely on mass effect contra-gravitic levitation packs. Their limbs can grip tightly, but are not strong enough to lift more than a few hundred grams each.

Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI-6078-A5: Xenological Threat Assessments

The Vol Protectorate
On their own, the volus are a minor threat to Alliance interests. However, several hundred years ago they became a turian client race, exchanging their mercantile prowess for turian military protection.

Political Factors
The turians left the volus government independent. The Hierarchy is content to let them rule themselves as they wish, so long as they pay their taxes and contribute auxiliary units to the turian military. The volus will support the turians in any war they might pursue, and vice-versa.

Economic Factors
Like the ancient Venetians or Dutch, the volus possess an economy out of proportion to their modest resource base. They are aggressive traders and industrialists with a keen grasp of exchange and finance. Many of the galaxy's largest banks, holding corporations, and manufacturing cartels, such as the Elkoss Combine, are owned or managed by volus. They also regulate the Citadel's complex galactic economy.

Cultural Factors
Since the dawn of their recorded history, the volus tribes have bartered resources, land, and even people to gain status. This culture of exchange inclines them to economic pursuits. Though some interpret the bartering of tribe members as slavery, it is, in practice, no more odious than arranged marriages.

Biological Factors
The volus homeworld has an ammonia-based ecology with a high-pressure atmosphere. To interact with the carbon-based species of the galaxy, the volus must wear full-enclosing pressure suits. Without them, they could not breathe, and might actually burst open.

Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI-6078-A6: Xenological Threat Assessments

The Courts of Dekuun (Elcor)
While the elcor are territorial about any area they consider theirs, they have no interest in aggressive expansion. They have a small military and are no threat to Alliance interests.

Political Factors
The elcor follow the recommendations of their Elders, who spend years poring over ancient records of jurisprudence to determine the precedent that should be followed in any given situation. The Elders record closely argued and minutely detailed instructions on what course to follow in any theoretical crisis. These are filed away in huge libraries of data discs and consulted at need. This makes elcor policies very predictable, provided one has done a great deal of research.

Economic Factors
The elcor economy is small, only slightly larger than the Alliance's, but extremely well-developed. They see no point to rushing things, and are fond of making thorough, century-long development plans. They don't need to trade for any resource - they have all they require to supply their own needs, and trade only in finished goods. Any attempt to embargo their space would be fruitless.

Cultural Factors
Elcor psychology is deliberate and conservative. They are incapable of making spur-of-the-moment decisions, and rely on sophisticated virtually intelligent combat systems. These autonomous war machines can choose between thousands of gambits developed and polished over centuries by elcor strategists.

Biological Factors
The massive bodies of the elcor cannot move quickly. Fortunately, they are extremely tough-skinned, and can carry incredibly heavy equipment. Elcor warriors don't dodge incoming fire; they shrug it off or endure it. They don't carry small arms; their broad shoulders serve as a stable platform for the same size of weapons typically mounted on Alliance fighting vehicles.

Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI-6078-A7: Xenological Threat Assessments

Quarian Migrant Fleet
The quarian Migrant Fleet includes several hundred warships, but due to their precarious existence, cannot be considered a creditable threat. The quarian military does not attack others; it defends the Fleet. Thus far, the Alliance has not been required to block quarian access to human-claimed systems.

Political Factors
The quarian government is an amalgam of ship-based representative councils and military dictatorship. Fleet operations are directed by the military. The Admiralty Board allows the civilian government to run society, but has the authority to overrule them in an emergency.

Economic Factors
The quarian economy exists at a subsistence level. The government is obliged to provide air, food, and water to every citizen to ensure survival of the species. The greatest quarian asset is technical ability. Quarians are skilled space miners, technicians, and mechanics, and are often hired by space industries seeking cheap, skilled labor. This frequently causes protests and riots among native workers.

Cultural Factors
The greatest influences on quarian culture are the creation and revolt of the geth and the loss of the quarian homeworld. In contrast to other races, quarians are reluctant to trust virtually- or artificially-intelligent machines, but they are far more likely to treat them as if they were living beings.

Biological Factors
Little is known of quarian biology. Like the turians, they possess a dextro-amino acid biology, and cannot consume human food. Outside of their own vessels, they always wear a protective, fully-sealed environment suit. No one has ever been allowed to board a quarian ship; they claim they cannot risk outside contamination.

Systems Alliance Office of Naval Intelligence
ONI-6078-AA: Xenological Threat Assessments

Appendix: Keepers
The "keepers" of the Citadel are not considered a threat by Alliance Intelligence. They appear to be genetic constructs, simple-minded biological androids created by the Protheans to maintain the structure of the Citadel station. When the asari discovered the Citadel, the keepers were already doing their duties. They continue to do so to this day, following apparently-instinctive routines and blithely ignoring the millions of aliens that have settled in their home.

There is no known way to communicate with the keepers. Attempts to take them into custody for study cause the creatures to undergo a sudden "self-destruct," with a form of acid being released internally. The affected keeper literally melts into a puddle of proteins and minerals in less than a minute.

No matter how many keepers die due to old age, violence, or accident, they maintain a constant number. No one has discovered the source of new keepers, but some believe they are grown deep within the inaccessible core of the Citadel.

AN AMBIDEXTROUS CHALLENGE HITS THE NINTENDO DS AS MAJESCO ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES 'LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN'

EDISON, NJ, October 9th, 2007 - Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL), an innovative provider of video games and digital entertainment products for the mass market, today announced Left Brain Right Brain for the Nintendo DS™. Left Brain Right Brain is the first game that lets players hone their mental skills while improving the dexterity of both hands.

"Left Brain Right Brain offers a fresh twist to the brain game genre by integrating gameplay that develops manual dexterity as well as mental agility," said Ken Gold, vice president of Marketing, Majesco. "Whether you're a 'righty' or 'lefty,' the game's challenging drills will ultimately help each hand keep pace with your brain."

Left Brain Right Brain includes 15 different games based on speed, accuracy, association, recognition, memory and strategy. The book-style play requires players to rotate the DS to develop hand-eye coordination with their dominant and non-dominant hands. Five difficulty levels per activity, four single player game modes, DS download play and wireless multiplayer against a friend round out the game's feature set.

Left Brain Right Brain will be available this holiday for a suggested retail price of $19.99. For additional information, please visit www.majescoentertainment.com.