SAN DIEGO, CA—Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games, was the featured speaker on the Comic-Con International “Xbox 360 Gears of War Showcase” panel, over the weekend. Sitting alongside was comic book writer Josh Ortega, who worked with him on the Gears of War 2 story, and New York Times best-selling author Karen Traviss (Star Wars: Republic Commando), whose first of three planned Del Rey novels, Gears of War: The Battle of Aspho Fields, hits store shelves October 28.

Travis received an e-mail from her Del Rey Editor, Keith Clayton, asking if she could do a fast turnaround on a military game tie-in. After asking around and being told that Gears of War was “Traviss town” material, she acquiesced.

“If I don’t like something, but I’ve taken the money, I maintain a tactful British silence if asked for my opinion on it,” said Traviss. “I certainly won’t lie and gush over it, but I won’t talk it down either. So if I say I love something, I love it. And I bloody well love Gears.”

Travis, who began her writing career as a journalist, said Gears is the best-looking game that she’s ever seen.

“The art matters a lot to me,” said Traviss. “I’m a visual person and I cue mainly off the images. I’m not joking when I say much of the art is pure Carvaggio – it’s all such perfect lighting. Everything about it, from the concept art to the execution to the animation, is utterly spot on.”

As a writer, Travis never approaches a job as a pre-existing fan. She said if she’s already a consumer of a property, it kills the thing as a pleasurable experience for her because the working process involves dissecting it and having to look at the strings.

“If you come to a universe cold, not as a fan or even as someone who knows anything about it at all, you tend to see a very different world,” said Travis. “I knew bugger all about Star Wars when I was asked to write it, and the first thing that struck me was that the Jedi were pretty despicable on the ethics front, and had I been interviewing them I’d have had some hardball questions to ask. So that was the emotional spark I grabbed hold of and used. From that one moment of ‘God, what a bunch of master-race hypocrites...’ came a whole series. I treated it as a real scenario, not a kids’ science fantasy with wizards, and examined it just as I would have done had I still been a reporter. I don’t know how else to tell a story, actually. It’s much more about posing questions than giving answers.”

In addition to working on tie-in novels, Traviss has established herself within the literary community with her six-part Wess’har series. Although she doesn’t play videogames, she loves the way they tell stories.

“That’s why I’d love to write for games,” said Traviss. “That will horrify my more high-minded readers who are still in shock that a ‘literary’ novelist like me has sullied herself with tie-ins at all, but I really do see games (and comics, of course) as the ultimate form of storytelling, because they engage you on more levels. Novels are fine, they’re my living, and I don’t think I do too badly at them, but they are, by their very nature, limited. Pushing those limits – creating a vivid sense of a visual or physical experience just from words on a page – is a genuine test of skill, but add sound, images, variable outcomes, and even tactile/ kinetic effects these days, and it’s the difference between the two-dimensional inhabitants of Flatland and the 3D world we live in. It’s a bigger test, a more complex puzzle. And I love exploring things like that.”

Working with Epic Games and Cligg Bleszinski on this project has opened Traviss’ eyes to the world of videogames. She said one of the things she loves about tie-ins is the collaboration with people who do a very different job than she does — artists, composers, software designers, audio producers, etc.

“The buzz of working with people who can strike sparks off you really raises your game,” said Traviss. “I’m not an imaginative, wildly creative person – I’m analytical, a question-asker, and my fiction comes from deconstruction and observation – so the really creative types are a good foil for me. I need to surface from the isolation of writing my own books and get a ‘fix’ of working with other people for a while, or else I’d go nuts. Or I’d be nuttier than I am now, anyway.”

Traviss said working with Epic has been a great experience, especially given the quick turnaround time she was given for this first project. And the relationship was pretty open, although there were some rules.

“The one constraint from Epic that I thought would stuff me was that I couldn’t use Marcus as a point-of-view character,” said Traviss. “I write very tight third person POV, no authorial intrusion, and that’s how I navigate the story, so I felt that my right arm had been cut off. I griped about it, believe me. But I’m glad now that it had to be that way. It forced me to show Marcus wholly through the reactions and thoughts of those around him. It created a whole new avenue for me. So much about the Gears world is buried, emergent, unknown, glimpsed in shadows. He’s almost a microcosm of that.”

Traviss discovered through her work on the Gears of War novel that game technique actually mirrors how she writes fiction. She sets up the characters thoroughly, with a psych profile, and then lets them loose in a scenario to see what they do, very much like a computer model.

“It’s why my books often catch me out and don’t end where I first expected them to when I started writing them,” said Traviss. “I suspect this is why I have such an affinity for game tie-ins. I can see much more potential in games than ‘reader’ writers can, perhaps. It’s a radically different way of writing. I’m not holding the steering wheel. I just identify it or build it, and then the characters take the keys and I’m left watching as they roar up and down the road.”

Traviss relied on Gears’ cinematics and the story bible as her reference points, and just filled in the rest. She said there was a huge amount of scope to fill gaps.

“Actually, everything I needed to know about the characters – and characters are the story, as far as I’m concerned - was in a couple of the cinematics in some magnificent brush-strokes of characterization,” said Traviss. “That’s how brilliant the game is. For example, the cinematic in the Raven after Dom rescues Marcus sets up the whole character dynamic of those two in a couple of dialogue lines and gestures. I knew those blokes right away, just from that.”

Traviss really got into the world of Gears, going into some minute details that not even gamers might have thought about.

“I really love the whole idea of chainsaw bayonets,” said Traviss. “Being a boring pragmatic type, though, my first thought was how much cleaning and maintenance you’d have to do on a real Lancer for every grub you carved up. (And the power supply - how long does a charge last? But I digress.) I was talking it through with a buddy who’s serving in Afghanistan, and we decided it would be a long, messy job. Think about it; ever cleaned something simple like a meat mincer? And that’s usually just lean meat, not bones, fat, and connective tissue too. All I could think of was stripping down a Lancer and trying to get all the crap and gristle out of the chain. Lovely. And what’s the best way to apply the chainsaw? How much weight, what angle, how far before you have trouble pulling the blades clear? What happens to all that debris flung out from the wound? That’s the kind of stuff a novelist has to think about. You really need to be curious about it, because it tells you what your characters will be doing for a big chunk of their day...anyway, more of that in the book itself. I promise. Messy as hell!”

Having already discussed the previous take on Mortal Kombat 8 at length — with Boon telling me that it had been scrapped in favor of MK vs. DCU and that the ninth proper entry in the series may take it back to its ultra-violent roots — I wondered how much sleep Boon and crew had lost over the decision to junk that, instead adding a bunch of out of place superheroes.

Given that MK vs. DCU has no plans to introduce any new Mortal Kombat characters to the mythos — Boon called the MK side a "greatest hits" line up — how did the team feel fans would react to the inclusion of DC's finest? (The other "Vs." option Boon told us about chilled us to the bone, by the way.)

"If you're asking me to put a number on it, from one to ten, I'd have thought [the reaction to MK vs. DCU's announcement] would have been a four," Boon said at Midway's reception last week. "Turns out it was more like a nine."

Even if you're still turned off by the notion of superheroes and supervillians crashing the Mortal Kombat party, take comfort in this. Some unnamed Midway employees had actually suggested Mortal Kombat vs. Blitz as a viable option for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 entry. Boon said this with a straight face, after I asked him about the possibility of another High Impact Football game in his future, so be thankful you're getting what you're getting.

Boon didn't have to do much convincing to spark our interest in the game. We'd already been enjoying our hands on time with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe for the better part of an hour when he sat down.

Updated impressions? Catwoman's got a fantastic ass.

That means it won't be coming home with console-exclusive fighters a la Yoda and Darth Vader (or Link, Spawn and Heihachi). Instead, each version is planned to include the same roster, the arcade line-up plus whatever new additions the SFIV team sees fit. We have a fairly good idea that Cammy is one of those new additions, but hope we'll get much more than just her.

Any requests?

During the Q&A session, a good portion of the panel, a fan asked "Is there going to be a Flood appearance in the Halo Wars campaign?"

"That's a very good question," a panelist responded. "We haven't talked about any other races. All I can say is that it's a complete Halo game." It has already been announced that players will get their hands on a playable Covenant.

We're not going to assume that's code for "Yes, you'll be playing the Flood" — they may just make an appearance — but won't be surprised when their inclusion is announced.

Gears Of War Movie To Be Pro Wrestler-Free
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Prince of Persia Creator Working On New Karateka Game
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EA Signs Up Talent Agency To Bring Franchises To Movies, TV
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Peek At Comic-Con 08's Big Gaming Booths
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Liveblogging Will Wright Discussing His Inner Otaku At Comic-Con
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Liveblogging The Comic-Con Halo Universe Panel
The Making Of Street Fighter IV: The Liveblog
Ghostbusters: The Video Game Does Booth Babes Right
Street Fighter IV Panel Hints At Console Cammy Return
In Dead Space, No One Can Hear You Sweat Profusely
Midway Delaying Wheelman to Q1 2009
Mortal Kombat 9 Planned As A Mature Return To Form
Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows Impressions
NECA Pimps Gaming Toy Line Up At Comic-Con
Green Lantern, Joker Join MK Vs. DC Universe Line Up
Prince Of Persia Creator "Delighted" By Film Casting
Afro Samurai Hands-On Impressions
Comic-Con Cosplays Street Fighter, Final Fight... And Captain Commando?!

Heads up, though. Unless you're willing to part with about $300 American for one of these mixed media ladies, you may not want to even look.

The Comic-Con demo takes place in the New York public library, the location featured at the beginning of the first Ghostbusters film. As the four Ghostbusters enter the library — Winston Zeddemore, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz and you, the new recruit — the cheers of New Yorkers can be heard in the distance.

The 'Busters are tasked with taking out a few unwelcome guests holed up in the library, one being the librarian ghost seen in the first film. The demo introduces the player to the PKE meter, which senses ectoplasmic activity and scans spirits and ectoplasmic residue a la the visor in Metroid Prime.

Used in conjunction with the "paragoggles", you'll be able to hunt down evidence and find traces of ghosts. Hitting the Y button the Xbox 360 controller brought up the PKE meter and switched to first-person paragoggle mode.

After tracing one of the specters into the basement, we came across one of the game's mini-boss fights. As we entered a huge room in the library and met up with the other three Ghostbusters, a giant book golem, essentially a swirling mass of books with a reading lamp for a head, attacked.

While it wasn't clear what we had to do to defeat the thing after scanning it, Stantz just encourage us to cooperate and saturate the thing with proton pack beams.

Your proton pack has a very film accurate feel to it. It feels wildly out of control (in a good way) and has a few alternate modes of fire. You can do a "slam" move with the left trigger to drain a ghost of its energy, essentially firing a burst of extra proton pack power. The backpack can also overheat when used for long stretches, so you'll have to vent it if you don't want an interrupted proton stream.

After our book golem fight — which took far, far longer than we thought it would — we headed further into the depths of library, the location of the librarian ghost. Walking through the aisles of the library archives, we were attacked by flying books, moving book shelves and a occasionally, a ghost known as the Collector.

We met up with the Collector, who threw dozens of animated books and whatever library furniture was in the room at our character and Ray Stantz. This was our first attempt at using the ghost trap, which the player can toss on the floor with the X button. Positioning the ghost by manipulating it with your proton beam is no easy task, even with an AI controlled Stantz helping us out.

At one point, Stantz went down and we had to revive him with the A button, making our final push against the Collector a bit easier. After containing the flying specter with the beam, then slamming it against the walls and ceilings, we finally got the Collector into the containment unit, ending our demo.

We were pleasantly surprised at how well the game captured the mood of the first film, no doubt helped by the inclusion of voices of Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. None of Bill Murray's dialogue was featured in the demo level, sadly, but what we did hear of the other actors sounded great.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game has attention to detail — and fan service — in spades. The PKE meter model looks spot on and the menu selection screen, the Ghostbusters firehouse HQ, is a nice touch.

The game simply looks fantastic, with beautifully modeled characters and props. Our main complaint — a minor complaint — with the game's visuals were the overly glossy, over bloom-lighted graphics. Otherwise, the game looks brilliant.

One thing we hope is addressed are the cues that direct a player what to do next and how to use their ghost bustin' tools. We actually restarted the demo because we felt like we'd missed some sort of critical direction from the NPCs. Turns out we just hadn't scanned a display case (one that we didn't even see during a few minutes of poking around). We also suspect that our book golem fight took much longer than necessary because we weren't really familiar with the alternate firing modes of the proton pack. Hopefully, this issue can simply be chalked up to the limited available play time.

It may be Ghostbusters nostalgia taking over, but our brief taste of the game did feel like a return to form for the property. The whole experience captured the experience, or what we assume the experience, of being a part of the Ghostbuster team would be like. We're very, very excited to get our hands on the game again.

"Look, we know that video game movies have been pretty bad," Cliff admitted to the crowd, attempting to assuage their fears that the Gears flick will suck. "But just think how bad comic book movies were for such a long time. We hope [the Gears of War movie] will change that."

He noted that the Hollywood shot-callers are the same age as the average gamer — 35 years old — and have grown up playing and loving video games. "Hollywood gets it... and they dig games," Cliff said.

What may depress aficionados of Gears meaty, steroid overdosed look is that the feature film may not live up to the dream casting of certain fans. In lieu of filling out Delta Squad's armor with accurately voluminous meatheads, he's hoping they'll find some actors who can, you know, act.

"I know people have ideas where they want to see some wrestler, some huge buff guy," Bleszinski "The thing we care most about is charisma, someone you'd want to watch for two hours."

What a novel idea!

The first was that Steve Jablonsky, composer on films like Transformers and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, was working on the score for Gears of War 2. Jablonsky was said to have been at Skywalker Studios working on the final mix of the soundtrack.

Even more interesting was the announcement that Gears of War 2 would feature "linked Achievements." In short, goals reached in the original Gears of War will carry over to the sequel, giving the player bonuses. Cliff listed three examples of how linked Achievements will work.

Keep in mind, some may be light spoilers.

- Complete Act One in Gears Of War, unlock a playable Anthony Carmine in Gears of War 2
- Find 10 COG tags in Gears Of War, unlock Minh Young Kim in Gears of War 2
- Kill Raam in Gears Of War, unlock a playable Raam in Gears of War 2

Bleszinski didn't expand much beyond those three linked Achievements, nor did he mention if those unlockables would be limited to either single-player or multiplayer portions of Gears 2. We're currently sitting in on the Xbox 360 creators panel hanging on Bleszinski's every word.

Pro Tip: Don't show up for the Resident Evil: Degeneration panel at Comic-Con less than 30 minutes prior to it happening or you won't get in. With the San Diego Con at capacity, getting into the Capcom helmed panel required serious Resident Evil dedication. We were covering Jordan Mechner's panel instead, but thanks to GameTrailers, we have the good stuff — the trailer itself. Enjoy!

The former, Mechner's first commercial game, an early 2D fighter published by Brøderbund and known for its fluid animation, is planned to get an update (of sorts). Details on the Karateka project weren't provided, but Mechner teased the crowd by saying "I can safely say it's not going to be the way that you expect." He did, however, say he would be directly "involved," a claim he didn't make about Ubisoft's recent Prince of Persia releases.

Mechner also let the crowd in on the particulars of a hilarious Easter egg in the original Karateka.

Asked by a fan about two of the game's quirks — that Karateka could be played with the screen flipped upside down if the floppy was inserted the wrong way and if the "volcano" in the background erupted randomly, killing both fighters instantly — Mechner cleared up both. No, the one-in-a-million eruption was just a rumor, he said, but the inverted floppy trick was certainly by design.

One of the Karateka programmers handling copy protection discovered a way to flip the screen with a simple change to the bit table. The was still playable, but "really hard."

"We thought it would be hilarious if we burned the flipped version of the game to the other side of the disk," he recounted, thinking that Brøderbund execs wouldn't go for it "because it would require an assembly line change to actually burn the game onto both sides of the disk, which adds however many cents." In the end, they did go for it.

Mechner said he envisioned that someone would put the disk in upside down, then call tech support and get the explanation "Well, sir, you put the disk in upside-down."

"That person would think, for the rest of their life, that that's how software works."

Anyway, IGN reports that at Comic-Con, Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President of Production (wotta title), was asked if a new Marvel vs. Capcom game was possible someday. His reply: "Yes. And maybe sooner than you think."

IGN goes on to say that a Capcom under-production title, probably for Japan release only, could provide the guts for the game, allowing it to be turned around in a relatively short time.

New Marvel vs Capcom Game On the Way? [IGN, via Scrawl]

Check out the handmade efforts in our gallery below and vote on your choice for the winner. Sadly, we didn't get a proper, full view shot of the Alpha version of Chun-Li, because she totally nailed the thighs.

After a brief voiceover from character Ninja Ninja, voiced with super salty language by Samuel L. Jackson, Afro Samurai is set loose on a steady stream of sword wielding bad guys.

The attack system is rather straightforward, using the X and Y buttons for light hits and heavy hits respectively. Afro jumps with A and kicks with B. Blocking is performed with the right trigger, but it's the left trigger that makes the combat more interesting.

This puts Afro into in-focus mode, turning the game world black and white and slowing down the action. Instead of tapping the X and Y buttons to form strings of combos — we saw some quick combos pop up during loading screens — you'll hold down the X or Y button then release when you feel a rumble to perform a deadly horizontal or vertical slash. You'll see a gleaming white line streak across your target's body as you charge your slash. Connect, and you'll slice your target in half.

You'll get a rather grisly, yet comical view of your opponent's insides. There's no shortage of blood or gore, but it's implemented well.

At one point, we entered "Over Focus" mode, in which Afro sprinted from foe to foe, performing one-hit kills with far less effort. That particular sequence felt pre-scripted, as some two dozen bad guys descended from the rooftops just prior to our Over Focus attack.

Our demo ended soon after this batch was laid to waste. The end of the demo introduced us to Brother Six of The Empty Seven, giving Sam Jackson as Ninja Ninja another opportunity to drop some F-bombs.

Afro Samurai does action rather well, at least in the small taste we had. What it doesn't do as well is offer a perfect camera. We lost track of evil swordsmen and ninja, clicking the right analog stick to recenter, more than a few times. It may have been due to the tight surroundings, but could have a big impact on how swordplay works out in the end.

The game's graphics are just stunning, capturing the look of the manga accurately, giving it a softer, pencil-sketch look that impresses on many levels. It may be worth the price of admission to see it in action, because it looks simply fantastic. The eye candy, which extends to the glorious killing of many enemies, will be a big draw for those unfamiliar with the property.

Mechner said that in writing the script for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, that he essentially had to start from scratch, re-imagining the events of the time-bending video game of the same name. Expect carefully hidden allusions to past games in the series in both the movie and the graphic novel.

When asked about the casting of the film, Mechner told audience members, "I'm delighted with the casting of the movie." Listing off the core actors — Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina — Mechner then went on to express his faith in Newell as the film's director, calling him "an actor's director" and sounding very confident that even bit parts would be cast faithfully.

An audience member asked why the Prince, Dartan, wasn't... you know, Persian.

Mechner responded democratically to questions whether they'd looked at anyone of Persian descent.

"Yeah, they looked at a huge range of actors," he said. "There are hundreds of great actors that could've done the job, but you end up picking one."

He was less glowing about one of the more reviled entries in the series, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, about which he's been quoted in the past as saying "I'm not a fan."

"I don't like to criticize a particular game, basically what I meant to say was that the style wasn't my style. It wasn't what I would've done, but it is what it is," he said, addressing previous statements. "I'd rather focus on the positive and hope that the [new Prince of Persia game] is really awesome."

We also got a look at some new environments, including the Fortress of Solitude, and a look at Captain Marvel's in-game model.

Boon also announced that an MK vs. DC comic book would included in the limited edition of the game, illustrated by John Tobias, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series. The game's final boss and a the remaining line-up of fighters was promised to be announced over the next few months.

Peter Parker has been infected by the alien symbiote, too, but has total control over its abilities, allowing him to switch from the more nimble red and blue suit to a more destructive black and white suit on the fly. Both suits have their advantages and disadvantages, as the black suit lets Spidey whip foes with symbiotic tentacles and carries a heftier punch, but can result in more collateral damage to the city.

That trade-off comes into play in how the citizens of New York, as well as your superpowered allies and enemies perceive you later in the game. With a cast of "Marvel Team Up" regulars, folks like Wolverine and Luke Cage, you'll need to make sure the good guys are on your good side.

Shaba Games, developer of Web of Shadows, looks to have gone to great lengths to capture that Spider-Man feel. All the stock Spidey moves are in there — wall-climbing, web-swinging, spider-sensing — with cinematic camera angles complimenting each. The camera will pan out and strafe when Spider-Man is leaping through the air, attaching himself to foes with a carefully placed web shot, making it look easy to string together combos.

In the Vulture fight we watched, Spider-Man had to get more altitude than he would normally be capable of. With a flock of Vulture minions sporting Green Goblin style gliders floating about, the producer in charge of controlling our hero leaped from minion to minion, until the Vulture was in range. He then knocked the crap out of him with a flurry of punches, kicks and webbing.

We also got to see a epic battle between Spidey and Venom, with a dozen Venomites scrambling around a back alley hive. After dealing with the symbiote infected mob, Spider-Man's next task was to eliminate Venom and his symbiote hive. Looks like Shaba is adding some nice variety to the boss battles in Web of Shadows and we look forward to taking some of this on ourselves.

What we saw of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows looked very early, as the game was still in alpha build stages. There's clearly plenty of work to be done on the title, as frame rate and camera performance needed some serious tweaking — our biggest concerns for the title's ultimate success. Visually, though, the game looks quite nice, and the glossy look of the symbiotes fits in well with the character's art style.

Activision was showing off the Xbox 360 version of the game, but it plans to ship on just about everything under the sun later this fall.

While that grittier, darker version of MK didn't make it far beyond the technology development stages — Boon told us there was little in the way of concept art for the grimier spin on the series — the next next Mortal Kombat may strive for more blood, more violence, more of everything that warrants an M-rating.

The artistic vision of a less saturated, less Superman filled fighter is still swimming around Boon's head, a title that may rest on the success of MK vs. DC. We spent more time with the crossover fighter tonight and talked with Boon about plenty of other MK-related topics. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of our conversation.

Fortunately, that's what it sounds like Midway is planning to do, as reps told us at Comic-Con tonight that the title, originally scheduled for a release this year will get more time in the development incubator. Now planned for a Q1 '09 release, Wheelman will still beat the movie of the same name to the theaters, it will arrive just a bit later and hopefully be the better for it.

We also hope they'll rewrite that pedestrian car dodging logic. Far too many suicidal Barcelonans in this game...

Additionally, a brand new animated sequence shown at the conclusion of the panel showed off various Street Fighter mainstays, including considerable screen time for Cammy. The few-minute animation focused on her disbelief that the Shadaloo organization and M. Bison himself were dead.

While still not confirmed, it's looking very likely that Cammy will be one of the "New Challengers" to debut in the console versions, now under development at Capcom.

Hit the jump for the up to the minute live blog action! Boosh!

Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan formed Librica earlier this month and plan to drop their comics on the Wii Ware channel. The newly formed company also plans to bring their comics to the DS. Hopefully, they'll allow you to transfer purchased comics from one to the other.

No timing or price were mentioned in the short Times piece. It also doesn't address whether the service will be coming to the U.S. as well.

Digital Comics Coming to the Wii in Japan [New York Times]

You can register for the tourney all day today and a chunk of tomorrow, but they only have a set number slots to fill, so if you're interested get to it. The tournament itself will kick off Friday at 12:30 p.m. and wrap up Saturday night.

More importantly Hideo Kojima will be around Friday at the booth from 10 a.m. to noon to autograph things. Hit up the jump for the full schedule, game setting and break-down of prizes.

ROOM LOCATION:
Metal Gear Online Tournament
Mezzanine Level Room #16A

DATES AND TIMES:
July 24, Thursday
SHOW HOURS 9:00AM - 7:00PM
All day (until full) MLG, MGO Tournament registration, at booth front desk

July 25, Friday
SHOW HOURS 9:00AM - 7:00PM
All day (until full) MLG, MGO Tournament registration, at booth front desk

• 10:00AM - 12:00PM KOJIMA, MGO Tournament Room Signing for Kojima

• 12:00PM - 12:30PM KOJIMA, Kojima intro at beginning of tournament

• 12:30PM - 6:30PM MGO Tournament play

• 12:30PM - 1:00PM Round 1 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 1:00PM - 1:30PM Round 2 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 1:30PM - 2:00PM Round 3 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 2:00PM - 2:30PM Round 4 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 2:30PM - 3:00PM Round 5 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 3:00PM - 3:30PM Round 6 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 3:30PM - 4:00PM Round 7 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 4:00PM - 4:30PM Round 8 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 4:30PM - 5:00PM Round 9 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 5:00PM - 5:30PM Round 10 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 5:30PM - 6:00PM Round 11 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 6:00PM - 6:30PM Round 12 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

July 26, Saturday
SHOW HOURS 9:00AM - 7:00PM

All day (until full) MLG, MGO Tournament registration, at booth front desk

• 10:00AM - 6:30PM MGO Tournament play

• 10:00AM - 10:30AM Round 13 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 10:30AM - 11:00AM Round 14 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 11:00AM - 11:30AM Round 15 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 11:30AM - 12:00PM Round 16 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 12:30PM - 1:00PM Round 17 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 1:00PM - 1:30PM Round 18 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 1:30PM - 2:00PM Round 19 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 2:00PM - 2:30PM Round 20 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 2:30PM - 3:00PM Round 21 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 3:00PM - 3:30PM Round 22 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 3:30PM - 4:00PM Round 23 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 4:00PM - 4:30PM Round 24 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 4:30PM - 5:00PM Round 25 (2 matches of 8 players simultaneous)

• 5:00PM - 6:00PM Finals setup

• 6:00PM - 7:00PM Finals (8 players, 1 round of FFA deathmatch, up to 3 round of team [4 ea])

July 27, Sunday
SHOW HOURS 8:45AM - 5:00PM

MGO GAME SETTINGS:

ROUND SETTINGS:
Rule type: Deathmatch
Map: Midtown Maelstrom
Round Time: 20mins
Max Number of Characters: 8
Rounds: 1
DP Enabled: No
Skills allowed: No
User characters allowed: No

FINALS SETTINGS:
Rule type: Deathmatch
Map: Midtown Maelstrom
Round Time: 20mins
Max Number of Characters: 8
Rounds: 1
DP Enabled: No
Skills allowed: No
User characters allowed: No

FINALS TEAM EXHIBITION SETTINGS:
Rule type: Team Deathmatch
Map: Ambush Alley
Round Time: 15mins
Tickets: 99
Max Number of Characters: 8 (4v4)
Rounds: 3 (best 2 of)
DP Enabled: No
Skills allowed: No
User characters allowed: No

PRIZE PACKAGES:

Finals Winners:

1st place:
• Metal Gear Solid 4 Limited Edition PS3 hardware bundle

• Special Metal Gear® Online Poster

• $1000

2nd Place
• Limited Edition Metal Gear Solid 4 game

• Special Metal Gear® Online Poster

• $500

3rd Place
• Limited Edition Metal Gear Solid 4 game

• Special Metal Gear® Online Poster

• $250

Team Exhibition winners
• Special Metal Gear Online poster

All finalists
• Metal Gear Solid 4 Strategy Guide

• Metal Gear Solid 4 T-Shirt

• Metal Gear Solid 4 Dog Tags

Round Winners
• 2 winners each round - $50 gift card

• Metal Gear Solid 4 Dog Tags

Will's obsession with the movie sounds hardcore, as he talks about his hunt for a lenticular version of the 2001 movie poster. He finally came across one, a poster that he ultimately had Gary Lockwood aka Frank Poole from 2001, sign.

Will's now moving into other topics — his obsession with aliens, the acceptance of video games as an art form, and the evolution of the book, among other topics — moving at a mile a minute.

Will's discussing the power of the printed book, bringing knowledge, religion and fiction to the masses, before sprinting into a discussion about Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone and immediately thereafter into the informative power of the television. On the topic of the computer, Will talks about how it has adapted to meet the user's needs, ultimately resulting in something the creator likely didn't expect — namely, the shooting of Hitler in Wolfenstein 3D.

The internet, he says, developed by DARPA, probably wasn't originally intended to catalog one's Pokemon card collection or download internet porn.

Will's talking about archetypes in popular culture, citing Gilligan's Island, whose seven inhabitants represent the seven deadly sins. Say, that's news to me! Thanks, Will. He makes a Neil Gaiman's Sandman joke that flies over my head and emits a boom of laughter from the crowd. Comic-Con loves it some Will Wright!

He's moving on to video game settings, archetypes and gameplay types. "Storytelling," he says "is something you kind of have to be taught." But "play" is separate.

"I wonder," he says "who would win in a fight with a Cylon cruiser, an Imperial Star Destroyer or a Borg cube." The stuff of internet debates is something we can resolve in a video game simulation.

You should see this man's PowerPoint presentation, not only is he blistering through his speech, he's throwing slides at the crowd at a lightning pace. He's talking about the deconstruction of story, bouncing from subjects like Thunderbirds, pulp comics and Stanley Kubrick. Slow down, Will!!

Will's talking about the Powers of Ten movie that helps to explain some of the zoomed out evolution from single-cell organism to the formations of galaxies, essentially the core mechanic behind Spore. If you haven't seen Powers of Ten, I suggest you watch it (after the liveblog).

Will is talking about creativity, how kindergarten age children are confident in their abilities to draw, dance, sing, but that the same question asked of University students results in fewer raised hands. Wright says that the educational system essentially teaches students that they're not good at anything. That confidence in creativity, he notes, comes through in games like The Sims and Spore.

He talks about the reaction to the Spore Creature Creator, saying that the team expected to fill the creature database with 100,000 creations within a few months. They reached 1 million in 22 hours. He touches on the "Spore fans = 38% God" statistic, noting that the 2 million creatures currently in the database have outpaced God's creation of the world in seven days.

Wright is cycling through some of the more interesting creations users have made, from robots to near-humans to inanimate objects like chairs and Portal's Companion Cube.

"One of our aspirations with Spore" he says, "was to make players feel more like George Lucas or JRR Tolkein" and not so much like Luke Skywalker or Gandalf.

Spore, he says, is loaded with pop culture references, saying that it will be fun to watch players discover allusions to science fiction and fantasy.

Will's firing up a working copy of Spore right now, showing us the later, Galaxy-view stages of the game.

We're looking at the Civilization Stage right now, a simplified combination of SimCity and Civilization. We're zooming in and out of cities, the camera orbiting around the planet. This planet's natural resource, known as "spice" (Dune loving crowd laughs), is spewing forth from a geyser.

Will cuts to this game's History view, showing the evolution from simple low level creature to civilization level. This timeline emits a "Whoa...." from the crowd, as it shows dozens and dozens of milestones, from what his little slugman ate at genesis to what alliances he's formed with other alien civilizations.

This particular civilization is a religious one. Will flies a blaring airship over one religious institution, converting its denizens to materialism, wowing them with bright lights and the promise of mass consumption. Awesome. Just like real life!

We're now browsing through a library of "religious vehicles." Some look like tanks, some like simple non-war machines.

He shows off Spore's procedural music generator, designed by Brian Eno, giving his city a randomly generated theme song. The crowd likes this. They also like the holographic religious figureheads that try to convince the populace to convert (or stick to) their religion of choice.

Now on to the Space Stage of Spore.

The crimson lifeforms of this particular planet discover the ability to launch a rocket into orbit, moving them to the next level of civilization. Will's building a spaceship via the game's vehicle editor, adding "blinky things", showcasing the depth of the editors parts, decals and warping tools. Will makes one that looks a heck of a lot like an Enterprise-style ship (the most recent, Scott Bakula captained ship, that is). It's skin is based on one of the pre-built template styles, making the creation of a unique ship even faster.

As we move around the galaxy, Will zooms in and out smoothly, heading toward distant stars — "This one's a T-1" — and beginning the terraforming process on one of the star's planets. He establishes a colony, adding to their happiness with a newly built Happiness Booster. It's one of those long rubber tube-men that whips about outside car dealerships thanks to a jet of air. Again, crowd laughs.

A spacefarer passing by initiates a trade discussion with Will's race. Wright drops diplomacy in favor of blowing the living bejeezus out of their home planet with a massive bomb. The bomb was so intense, it even blew up the moon orbiting it. Will is mean!

"One of the things I wanted to accomplish in Spore, was to give players a sense of what a galaxy is like, what a galaxy is really made of," Wright says. That's why the team used real world types of heavenly bodies — stars, black holes, wormholes. We're now traveling through a wormhole, taking Will's alien species across the galaxy, hundreds of lightyears from their home planet.

Back to planet colonization, Will says players will have to be concerned with not just terraforming the planet's surface, but with managing a planet's atmosphere. He creates a volcano, one that "thickens" the atmosphere and warms the air. "It's very easy to overshoot on these things," he warns. Pushing things over the edge on the atmosphere side can lead to in-game global warming.

Obviously, Will overdoes it, turning the planet into "a living hell." This planet is about to go magma, becoming a nasty sulfur spewing rock, filled with spires and volcanoes. Oh, and the surface is pure lava. Lovely!

Will's about to wrap up. He asks the audience if they want a Q&A or a Russian Space Minute. Cowering in fear of Will's intellect, the crowd opts for the Russian Space Minute.

Wright pulls a bait and switch, renaming it the German Space Minute. One of Wright's other otaku obsession, he admits, is space travel history. He's talking about Germany space rocket prototypes developed in 1941 and the Nazi's space experiments, focusing on Wernher von Braun a German rocket physicist. One slave factory, named Mittelbau, produced some 3000 V-2 bombers, resulting in 7,250 dead targets. Some 20,000 factory workers, however, died during manufacturing.

Some of the former Nazi scientists later went to work for the U.S. government, working on rocket science programs in Huntsville, Alabama. Von Braun, Will says, later met Walt Disney and became the face of the space program. You know, we'd much rather refer you to his Wikipedia entry than try to capture Will's retelling of history.

Von Braun later met John F. Kennedy, another influence on the sceientist's life. Will talks about the A12 multistage rocket, designed with the intention to bomb New York, ultimately became the basis for the Saturn 5 rocket. And that's my horrible recreation of Will Wright's German Space Minute. Visit your local library to learn more.

Will wraps it up and the Comic-Con masses swarm. Off to the Activision panel. See you next panel!

The release notes that e-card fans can add their "customized content from the Spore Creature Creator," an option we don't have handy at Comic-Con this week. Our efforts to make snappy dick jokes with the MashON app have met with unsuccessful results. Perhaps you'll fare better.

Full release after the jump!

Planetwide Media Announces MashON Spore E-Card Creator

Unique Online Application Allows Players to Create and Send Their Own Spore Universe to Friends Around the World

ALISO VIEJO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Planetwide Media today announced the launch of the MashON™ Spore™ E-Card Creator, (http://www.MashON.com/SPORE/), an online application that allows players to create and send personalized E-cards featuring their customized content from the Spore Creature Creator and the highly-anticipated game Spore, shipping this September from Maxis, an Electronic Arts (NASDAQ) studio.

By registering for the free MashON Spore E-Card Creator at MashON.com, fans can bring Spore creatures to life by combining Spore backgrounds, clip art and word bubbles using unique digital assets. Creators can also add their own personalized speech bubbles and share their Spore E-Card creation with their friends by posting to their favorite social networking site or emailing directly to friends.

The Spore Creature Creator is available now and is a stand-alone creativity toy box where players create their own unique creatures, bring them to life with entertaining animations, and share them online with friends around the world. The full version of the Spore Creature Creator is available now for $9.99 at retail stores or by visiting www.spore.com. A free trial version of the Spore Creature Creator is also available at www.spore.com.

Spore gives players their own personal universe in a box. Create and evolve life, establish tribes, build civilizations, sculpt entire worlds and explore a universe created by other gamers. Spore gives players a wealth of creative tools to customize nearly every aspect of their universe: creatures, vehicles, buildings, and even UFOs.

Visit http://www.MashON.com/SPORE/ to register and for more information.

About MashON

MashON develops and publishes interactive software for the MashUP generation. MashON produces web-enabled tools & widgets, and software applications that provide personal interactivity in the creation, connection and easy syndication of user generated content online across the Internet. The company's signature product MashON Comic Book Creator™ embraces user-generated content ("UGC") enabling its users to blend their own unique creations into their social networks, blogs, and Internet brand spaces. MashON has licensed its interactive platform to world class lifestyle brands and advertisers in entertainment, online portals, video games, motion picture, television, music, sports, fashion, art, and travel.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS FreestyleTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, POGO and SPORE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For more information please visit: http://www.MashON.com/SPORE/.

EA announced yesterday that it had tapped United Talent Agency to represent the company as it moves its internally developed franchises into the realm of motion pictures and television series.

Hit the jump for the full press release on the Mirror's Edge comic book series and check back all week for further Comic-Con coverage from Kotaku.

EA and DC Comics Team up to Create Mirror’s Edge Comic Book

Limited-Edition Prequel Sets the Stage for Faith’s Adventure in Mirror’s Edge Comic Book Series
Comic-Con International 2008
Booth #5233

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced that it is teaming up with WildStorm, an imprint of DC Comics, the largest English-language comic book publisher in the world, to create an exclusive, limited-edition Mirror’s Edge™ comic book. EA and DC Comics will distribute the first issue of the Mirror’s Edge comic book series at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The game will also be on display at booth #5233.

“This partnership with DC Comics sets the stage as readers explore Faith’s world in Mirror’s Edge,” said Owen O’Brien, Senior Producer, DICE. “The unique graphic style offered by the comic book genre is perfect for taking fans through her back-story. Frame by frame, page by page, we’ll learn more about the events that shaped both her and the city.”

Based on the upcoming Mirror’s Edge video game, the comic combines the talents of writer and story designer Rhianna Pratchett with artist Matthew Dow Smith. Pratchett is also responsible for crafting the intricate script for the game. The six-part comic series will introduce readers to Faith and her fellow ‘Runners’ – a network of couriers who use acrobatic moves to avoid being detected as they traffic packages across a network of rooftops and aerial skyways.

“Rhianna and DICE have created an amazing game with a great backstory,” said Hank Kanalz, Vice President/General Manager for WildStorm. “The characters have really come alive in the game, and we are pleased that we will be able to add to the canon of the Mirror’s Edge universe with this project.”

Mirror’s Edge is being developed at EA Digital Illusions CE AB (DICE) in Stockholm, Sweden. This revolutionary new take on the first person action adventure genre will ship this winter for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and for the PC. This product is not yet rated by PEGI or ESRB. For more information on EA DICE, please visit www.dice.se or www.ea.com.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS FreestyleTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, POGO and Mirror’s Edge are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. “PLAYSTATION” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

ABOUT DC COMICS:

DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, is the largest English-language publisher of comics in the world and home to such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Sandman. These DC super heroes and others have starred in comic books, movies, television series (both animated and live-action) and cyberspace, thrilling audiences of all ages for generations. DC Comics’ Web site is located at www.dccomics.com.

We sat down with DC Comics executive creator Jim Lee earlier today to talk about the SOE-developed, DC-branded game. Lee told me that he was the one who had approached SOE after catching wind of the project, an effort which had experienced multiple starts and stops.

As a fairly serious EverQuest player — Lee played Paladin, for the record — the artist turned exec knew his stuff. He dropped MMO-isms (LFG, instances, the grind) like it was his natural language, and with a working knowledge of the DC universe, fans of the genre and the brand should feel confident that it's creatively in good hands.

Players will be given the option of creating a good or evil character in DCUO, each with a possible dozen unique characteristics, such as power type (ice, fire, mental, sonic), power source (ring, elemental), and movement type (flying, speed). Given Lee's background as a serious MMO player, I had to ask what he was planning on playing in DC Universe Online when it shipped.

"I haven't decided," he said. "I'll probably have one public character and one private character — a villain."

I asked Jim if he was partial to any particular DC mainstays, if he'd lobbied for the inclusion of anyone in particular.

"I kind of have to be impartial," he said, noting that it was more important to ensure that DC's classic characters and classic designs were integrated accurately into the massive multiplayer world.

Sadly, that doesn't include some of the more off-kilter characters, non-humanoids like Krypto the Super Dog, Bat-Mite or various multi-limbed things from the Green Lantern Corps. They may appear in the game in some form, but if you're looking to create a super monkey that can ally with the Superman family or even Gorilla Grodd, you might have to wait for the expansion.

One surprise that Lee mentioned is that alter-egos will play a role in the game. You may have to spend some time as a lowly photographer, for example, one who walks among the regular citizens, preserving your secret identity. "We have to have it be meaningful," Lee said of superhero alter-egos. This aspect of the gameplay, Lee hinted, may address the dreaded "grind", something he says players won't spend much time worrying about.

As far as the look of the game, for which Lee is largely responsible, we learned that some characters that we've already seen are undergoing visual refinements. "The Joker is one character I wanted to tweak," he said, noting that the Heath Ledger/Christopher Nolan take on the Joker from The Dark Knight may have been part of the catalyst for the change. Part of the reason for the change, however, was that the current model of the Joker simply didn't fit with the rest of the game's non-playable DC heroes and villains.

We'll be going hands-on with the game soon and will report our impressions of DC Universe Online later this week.

The Comic-Con masses were just admitted, mere minutes ago, into the show floor. Take a look at the virginal booths, before they were violated by the collectible hunting horde.

We'll be checking in with everyone (and finally getting our hands on the new Prince of Persia!) throughout the week.

The playable demo will give gamers a chance to check out what looks to be a pretty stylistic fighter based on the Samuel L. Jackson executive produced anime series. There will also be an Afro Samurai panel on Thursday featuring the creators behind the show. Panelist members will include Samuel "Snakes on a Plane" Jackson, THe RZA, Takashi Okazaki and Leo Chu. The group plan to talk about the development process, dish on some behind-the-scenes anecdotes and explain the inspiration behind the characters, music and story.

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES ANNOUNCES PUBLIC DEBUT OF AFRO SAMURAI® AT COMIC-CON INTERNATIONAL: SAN DIEGO

Santa Clara, Calif., (July 23, 2008) – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., announced today that the battle to become #1 begins at Comic-Con International: San Diego (July 23-27, San Diego Convention Center) with sneak-peak demos of the Afro Samurai® video game. Based on Spike TV’s critically-acclaimed anime series starring and executive- produced by Samuel L. Jackson, Afro Samurai the game blends urban hip hop culture with traditional Japanese aesthetics to create a brutally fresh cinematic, interactive experience. The playable demos (located in booth# 5037) will provide attendees an early glimpse at this high-style action adventure game before its Q1 2009 release for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The Afro Samurai anime series is produced by Japanese studio GONZO in association/partnership with GDH K.K. and FUNimation Entertainment.

Adding to the Comic-Con excitement, an Afro Samurai panel will be conducted on Thursday, July 24 (4:15pm – 5:15pm; Room 6B) featuring the creators behind the hit series including star and executive producer Samuel L. Jackson (The Spirit), musical artist The RZA, (Kill Bill), original creator Takashi Okazaki, and executive producer Leo Chu (Spike TV). This will be a rare opportunity to hear from the talent behind the Afro Samurai franchise and how it translates to different platforms such as video games and the anime series. Hear first-hand about their experiences in the development process, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and their inspiration for the characters, music and the story. Be the first to see the worldwide premiere of the exclusive Comic-Con trailer, dazzling artwork from the manga, and never-before-seen demos of the pulse-pounding video game.

More about the Afro Samurai video game

In Afro Samurai, follow Afro in his tale of revenge as he searches for his father’s murderer and the holder of the coveted number one headband. The game follows the plot of the original anime series with added material and background for fans and new comers alike.

Blood is beautiful™ in this hip hop infused action adventure as Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as Afro and Ninja Ninja, his wisecracking sidekick. A striking cross-hatch art style gives Afro Samurai a truly unique look and feel across beautifully animated open environments as he wages war against his adversaries to become number one. Using an innovative gameplay system, enemy A.I. is affected by the beat of the musical score supervised by The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame. These dynamic battles ensure stylized encounters throughout the game that affect the overall tone of gameplay. Slice and dismember opponents as Afro acrobatically leaps from one location to the next, interacting with anything and everything in the environment to help him on his journey.

For more information about Afro Samurai, please visit: http://www.namcobandaigames.com or www.afrosamurai.com.

He'll be covering all things video game related over the next five days, bringing you details from the show floor, live blogs from Comic-Con panels and all the news that breaks from Capcom, EA, Activision, Konami and much, much more.

For even more Comic-Con coverage that goes beyond the game-o-sphere, check out io9 for your extended sci-fi nerd fix. For those attending, let us know in the comments what Sailor Moon character you'll be dressed as.

While most of us will have to wait until the fall, Comic-Con attendees will be able to catch a sneak peak at the “Horror Meets Comedy Xbox Original Short Film Pilots” panel on Friday, just a small slice of Microsoft's Comic-Con presence detailed below. McWhertor is on his way there today to check everything out, as well as purchase limited edition action figures for me which I will totally reimburse him for - promise.

So Funny, It's Scary: Hollywood's Top Horror Directors to Bring Original Comedy Pilots to Xbox 360 This Fall

Microsoft's "Bringing Comic-Con Home" offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Comic-Con show floor through exclusive content on Xbox LIVE, Xbox.com, MSN and Zune Marketplace.

SAN DIEGO — July 23, 2008 — Horror and comedy often come together on the show floor at Comic-Con International, just never like this. Microsoft Corp. today announced that a set of original short film pilots will be coming to Xbox LIVE this fall, free to all members around the world. The unique concept of masters of horror taking on comedy, conceived by filmmaker James Gunn (“Slither,” “Dawn of the Dead”) and producer Peter Safran (“Scary Movie,” “Meet the Spartans,” “Disaster Movie”), will see some of the world’s greatest horror directors bring their comedic visions to life. Microsoft is teaming up with Safran Digital Group to produce these exclusive shorts.

Beginning this fall, the short film pilots will be available worldwide on Xbox LIVE from influential horror directors James Wan (“Saw,” “Death Sentence”), David Slade (“30 Days of Night,” “Hard Candy”), James Gunn, Lucky McKee (“May,” “The Woods”), Andrew Douglas (“The Amityville Horror”) and Marcus Nispel (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th”). All of the pilots will be free either for download or streaming on Xbox LIVE. The new short film pilots available on Xbox LIVE this fall include the following:

• “Doggie Heaven (Woof!)” — The creative team behind the smash hit “Saw” films, James Wan (“Saw,” “Death Sentence”) and Leigh Whannell, tell the story of a young man who is having a dog of a day. He’s just been shot dead, but his real problems are only just beginning because of a clerical error that has sent him to the wrong heaven.

• “Humanzee!” — James Gunn (“Slither,” “Dawn of the Dead”) directs and stars in a sitcom about his human-chimp hybrid son, the Humanzee (played by Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, from “Gilmore Girls”). It’s a delightful mix of “South Park,” “Wonder Showzen” and “Small Wonder.”

• “MEATDOG: What’s Fer’ Dinner” — Director David Slade (“30 Days of Night,” “Hard Candy”) presents MEATDOG, an animated mutt made up of cold cuts. MEATDOG is pitted against a church of evil occult pigs while being pursued by a carnivorous rabbit and a slobbering hound. It’s dogicide when everyone wants MEATDOG on their menu.

• “Blue Like You” —From director Lucky McKee (“May,” “The Woods”), “Blue Like You” follows the antics of old friends Patrick and Cyndy as they get to know their mysterious and extraordinary new friend Blue, a beautiful young woman who doesn’t seem to understand how the simplest of things work.

• “The Miracle of Phil” — From director Andrew Douglas (“The Amityville Horror”), “The Miracle of Phil” shows that the best relationships are full of screaming, shouting and cursing, but when Phil gets knocked up, Chris is the one who feels screwed.

• “Adrenaline Slam” — Director Marcus Nispel (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th”) brings “ADRENALINE SLAM,” a high-octane hybrid of hidden camera reality and Hollywood fantasy that exposes ordinary people to extraordinary events.

In addition, Microsoft has sought pilots from emerging online talent John Clisham:

• “Assorted Nightmares: The Janitor” — From online director John Clisham and starring Jenna Dewan (“Step Up”), somewhere in the darkness just beyond “Tales From the Crypt” and a little south of “The Twilight Zone,” is “Assorted Nightmares,” a modern-day horror anthology show. The first episode pays homage to the 1980s horror-slasher genre, as things at school for Jennifer don’t turn out as expected.

“We’re excited to launch the Xbox original content with these world-class directors, who are all tremendously talented and at the cutting edge of their craft,” Safran said. “Their youthful and innovative approach is the perfect combination for this unique digital venture with Xbox 360, and we expect to see some very creative, horrifying and hilarious shorts as these masters of horror present their comedic vision. We can’t wait to give fans at Comic-Con a taste of what’s to come.”

Microsoft will also be “Bringing Comic-Con Home” on Xbox LIVE from Wednesday, July 23, to Sunday, July 27, so anyone can get a behind-the-scenes look at all of the action. The Xbox 360 team will be covering every inch of the show floor with daily coverage on Inside Xbox and Xbox.com, as well as MSN and Zune Marketplace. The Xbox 360 team is joining forces with Warner Bros. to provide sneak peeks of all the panels and videos shown at the event, along with interviews with talent for movies and TV shows, including the upcoming feature films from Warner Bros. Pictures “Watchmen” and “Terminator Salvation,” as well as “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Fringe,” “Chuck,” “Supernatural,” “Lost Boys: The Tribe” and much more. Xbox LIVE members will also be among the first to see the following:

Warner Premiere’s Motion Comics’ “Batman: Mad Love” draws on a massive amount of source material to bring a visually engaging experience to life, through the use of subtle movements, voice-overs, sweeping music scores and stunning comic book artwork.

The exclusive branded consoles for “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Watchmen” and DC Comics, and the upcoming “Gears of War” comic book-inspired console, with all the limited-edition consoles being given away at Comic-Con.

New gamer pictures and themes from DC Comics, available only on Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

“Bringing Comic-Con Home” will also give people an exclusive look at two Xbox 360 panels at the show:

In the “Xbox 360 ‘Gears of War’ Showcase” panel, Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games Inc., will be joined by comic writer Joshua Ortega and novelist Karen Traviss to discuss upcoming installments to the “Gears of War” universe, including a look at the holiday blockbuster game “Gears of War 2” for Xbox 360. The panel will be held on Saturday, July 26.

In the “Horror Meets Comedy Xbox Original Short Film Pilots” panel Friday, July 25, the audience will see a sneak preview of what is coming this fall, and will hear from all the directors on their creative vision for the shorts.

Xbox LIVE members will also get an online backstage pass to the famous Comic-Con masquerade ball, where the person with the best Xbox-themed costume will win an amazing “Halo” prize package, including a Master Chief costume and a “Halo” console. Further information is available at http://www.xbox.com/comiccon08.

The EA-UTA deal is said to "significantly ramp up EA’s film and television slate" which currently consists of a "feature version" of The Sims, a MySims animated series and a Dead Space animated, direct-to-DVD feature. In other words, pretend to be surprised when the Army Of Two movie script leaks later this year.

Hit the jump for the full press release. We'll have additional details on all of EA's Comic-Con related announcements through the week.

Electronic Arts Signs With United Talent Agency

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced it has signed with leading Hollywood talent and literary agency UTA for representation in motion pictures and television.

UTA will help the company develop a comprehensive strategy for moving its intellectual property into the realm of large-budget motion pictures and television series. EA’s broad portfolio of titles includes top-selling franchises such as Army of Two™ and Need for Speed™ as well as eagerly awaited new titles such as Dead Space™ and Mirror’s Edge™.

“UTA is an ideal partner for us to bring the richness and story telling nuance of our popular games into other forms of media that give consumers more ways to experience these creative concepts,” said Patrick O’Brien, Vice President of EA Entertainment. “Some of our teams have already made steps to expand our games into other forms of media like online, social networks and print publication. This partnership will help us take these efforts to the next level and match each of our titles with the right artists, producers and financiers.”

“We view EA as an emerging entertainment force, not just because they are a great untapped IP rights holder, but because at their core they care most about how viewers respond to their stories and creative vision,” said UTA partner Richard Klubeck in making the announcement. “We’re excited to work alongside the EA team as they make this important expansion of their intellectual property strategy.”

The relationship is expected to significantly ramp up EA’s film and television slate, which currently includes a feature version of the popular The Sims™ game in script development at 20th Century Fox with producer John Davis and a MySims™ animated television series in development at Film Roman. EA is also in production with Starz/Film Roman on an animated DVD feature version of its new title Dead Space to launch with the game.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS FreestyleTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle, POGO, Army of Two, Need for Speed, Dead Space, MySims and The Sims are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Mirror’s Edge is a trademark or registered trademark of EA Digital Illusions CE AB. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

United Talent Agency is one of the entertainment industry's premier talent and literary agencies, representing many of world's most widely-known figures in every current and emerging area of entertainment, including motion pictures, television, digital media, books, music, mobile and live entertainment. Collectively, UTA agents represent a significant cross-section of today's most acclaimed artists and entertainers, including nominees and winners of Academy, Emmy, Grammy, Screen Actors Guild, Directors Guild, Writers Guild, Producers Guild, Golden Globe, People's Choice and Webby awards. The agency is also globally recognized in the areas of film finance, corporate consulting, branding & licensing, endorsements and the representation of production talent. The agency also operates UTAOnline, the first dedicated broadband representation division of a major agency.

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