Velvet Octopus has a five-pic deal with producer Ash Shah, which includes two more 3-D projects, both CGI animated — "Outback," the story of a white koala bear, and "The Legend of Spyro," a spin-off from the best-selling video game.

Lichtenstein to direct 3-D action pic [Variety]

Check out Playstation Universe for the full gallery.

With BioShock and Halo 3 behind us, the next big epic game (not to be confused with Epic Games) is Mass Effect, set to hit shelves on Nov. 20, just in time for Thanksgiving holidayers to have something to play whilst trapped at various relatives homes. (Don't forget to bring your 360)

This clip introduces us to some of the denizens of Mass Effect you'll meet throughout the game and shows off some of the gorgeous character animations that will likely set this game apart from other RPG shooters. If you missed Part One, I have included it for your viewing pleasure after the jump.

STARCRAFT 2 OFFICIAL ANNOUNCED [Blizzplanet]

Consider the Uncanny Valley crossed... at least on some level.

That's right, that picture up there is a computer-generated version of Korean actress Song Hye Kyo (shown below). It was created by Indonesian CG artist Max Edwin Wahyudi using a combination of digital sculpting, design application Pixelogic Zbrush and animation modeling software Autodesk 3DS Max.

Now if he could only get it to move without looking like something out of Madame Tussauds. Hit the jump for some of the pre-final renders and the link to have the whole process spelled out.Brian Crecente

How to make a Song [CG Arena, via Gizmodo]

Video game production has progressively moved closer and closer to film and television production and this convergence will only intensify in the coming years," commented Guillemot. "This natural evolution is accompanied by revolutionary changes in online distribution channels via the explosion of free and paid-for digital content. Today's launch of a studio specializing in digital film creation will allow Ubisoft to be a pioneer in the domain for the years to come.

The new venture will provide a lot new jobs for the Canadian job market with a possible 3,000 positions in the company as a whole by 2013. Ubisoft plans to sink quite a wad of cash into their new baby, so let's hope that it pays off with some really great content. If we're lucky, perhaps companies will start using this sort of thing for their marketing purposes and we'll see the end of all this awful "viral video" crap. Flynn De Marco

Ubisoft Opens CGI-Only Movie Studio [eToychest]
Ubisoft expansion may create 1,000 Quebec positions [Globe and Mail]

We've all come to terms with the fact that those PlayStation 3 trailers from E3 2005 were pure pre-rendered footage. I remember seeing that Motorstorm trailer for the first time and nearly wetting myself with glee. Now that I've got that incontinence problem mostly fixed, I'm ready to play the real Motorstorm. So how does Motorstorm circa 2006 look compared to the "target render"? Pretty damn good, actually, but it's no CG trailer. The game somehow manages to look ever better with each new batch of screens, not to mention the driving action is wicked fun, so I expect the game to kick some ass when it hits in '07. Please, you look. Michael McWhertor

What did Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within have to do with the Final Fantasy video game series? The hell if I know... in response to my question "Where the hell was Cloud?", I vaguely remember the fan boy ramblings from my friend John about "materia" and "Mother Gaia" when we wandered out of the matinee, but ultimately, I like to think the answer is "nothing at all."

Stiil, if Final Fantasy is in the title, we can post it. Especially if it's a lazy Labor Day half-Friday. So, for your edification , the soulless automotons of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within do Michael Jackson's Thriller. Florian Eckhardt

Princess Daisy looks a mite thyroidic in this video, but we're still extremely impressed by the computer animation skills on display in 'Koopa Force', a fan film originally made for The Mushroom Kingdom.

The project started 4 years ago when The Mushroom Kingdom opened its fan film section. The project lead was in college in the media arts field, and decided to make a film about Mario. So, he started coming up with story ideas. Eventually, he started learning 3D animation in his junior year, and his advisor strongly encouraged him to make a 3D animation for his final project before graduation. This trailer was made to portray a lot of his ideas.

I'm not really sure what I think about the sort of people who find Mario's universe compelling enough to write fan faction about, but you can't deny the skill and dedication that goes into largely pointless endeavors like this. Florian Eckhardt

Koopa Force [Just Pause] (Thanks, Scott!)

Ubisoft showed a bit of the work they are doing on the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game at the Comic-Con this week.

The company's Montreal office has been working closely with Imagi Animation Studios to create the game based on the feature-length CGI movie set to hit on March 30, 2007. The game is set to debut on the same day.

The above video is a sneak peak at the making of the game. Brian Crecente

Anyone expecting the anime equivalent of Dragon's Lair will be sorely disappointed, but if you accept Muta Juice for what it is, it's a fun little story of a boy who drinks an alien liquid, turns into a giant robot, takes on an alien force and gets to choose which girl he falls in love with at the end.

So it's a mecha dating sim alien invasion mashup that plays like a Choose Your Own Adventure. With crappy graphics. Score! Eliza gauger

(thanks SomethingAwful for the pic)

Read full review here, just for the amazing plot synopsis. [Siliconera]

It's been noted that in talking about the Silent Hill movie, some people were complaining about the overuse of computer-generated imagery in the film.

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, there is actually very little CGI in the film:

Silent Hill uses little computer-generated imagery, with the most notable exceptions being the fog that drenches the town and the insects that surround the Red Pyramid. Some of the creatures have been touched-up with CGI in post-production, but, for the most part, what is seen on film existed physically.

Now those nurses really creep me out.

Silent Hill [Wiki, thanks Sunshine]