Half a dozen comics and two new cartoons based on video games were announced at the show and plenty of comic books were unveiled as video games. The convention itself was host to more than 40 panels about video games.

Often these crossovers serve as a sort of table setter for an upcoming game, helping to set the stage, build up the characters and explore the world of a video game before it gets into the hands of gamers.

Before the original Sci-Fi role-playing game Mass Effect hit two years ago, Del Rey published the novel Mass Effect: Revelation. The prequel, penned by the game developer's head writer, took place 35 years before the game.

This time around, the next Mass Effect game will be heralded by a comic book, not a novel. Mass Effect: Redemption is being written by Mac Walters, the person responsible for Mass Effect 2 script, and Walters promises it will change the way gamers look at the upcoming Xbox 360 sequel.

Upcoming Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 game Singularity is also getting a prequel in the form of a graphic novel. And long-lived franchise Prince of Persia is getting a graphic novel prequel for the upcoming movie based on the video games.

The shift from books to comic books to tell a story set in a video game universe shouldn't be that surprising. Comic books, like video games, use both narrative art and dialog to tell a story. The two also have a very similar audience which could explain the virtual explosion of crossover titles in recent months.

While Dead Space Extraction will explore the world of the upcoming Wii-exclusive, it won't be a prequel, according to Steve Papoutsis, executive producer of Dead Space Extraction.

"There is so much more to the Dead Space universe than we could ever fit into one game and we're excited to be working with Image Comics again to extend the story in Dead Space Extraction," he said. "(Illustrator) Ben (Templesmith) and (writer) Antony (Johnston) did such a tremendous job with the original comic, we can't wait for fans to get their hands on this special issue."

Other comic crossovers seem to be more about marketing than expanding the story. For instance, at last week's convention Capcom gave away copies of a Spyborgs comic to promote the upcoming Wii game. And Sony Computer Entertainment announced a comic based on their popular God of War franchise.

The six-issues series, set to be released on a monthly schedule leading into the release of God of War III, was announced alongside a novel based on the game and a collectible copy of the anti-hero's weapon: The Blades of Chaos.

Crossovers aren't relegated to the pages of comics either, there were also two new cartoons announced at the show.

Halo Legends will be a set of animated shorts based on Microsoft and Bungie's popular first-person shooter for the Xbox 360. The seven shorts will explore some of the fictional history of the game's universe.

Dante's Inferno, an action game based on the epic Italian poem, is also getting the cartoon treatment. The collection of six shorts, each created by a different studio and director, will show some of the untold moments of the video game on a DVD set to ship around the same time as the game.

Comic books and animated movies based on video games aren't a new phenomenon. Gears of War, Resident Evil, World of Warcraft, even Sonic, all have their own comic books. But the past 18 months or so has seen a surge of interest in the pop-culture crossovers.

Perhaps that's because of the increasingly mainstream role that comics and their offshoots are taking in pop culture. Once relegated to children, comics are now recognized as an important form of expression, something that can deal with big issues and reach a broad audience.

Well Played is a weekly news and opinion column about the big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.

The Singularity graphic novel will tell the story of the mysterious events off of the Russian Peninsula that resulted in the unraveling of time, which is the main focus of the game itself. Activision and Twistory have tagged some top-notch talent to work on the book, with David Atchinson (Occult Times Taskforce) and Christopher Morrison (Dust, 13 Chambers) on writing duties, while Davide Fabbri (Dark Horse's Star Wars) and Tom Mandrake (Batman, The Punisher) draw the pretty pictures to go along with the words. The single-issue graphic novel will debut shortly following the game's release in May 2010.

Of course it wouldn't be a Comic-Con announcement without a signing announcement, and this is indeed a Comic-Con announcement. Atchinson, Fabbri and Morrison will be at Activision's booth #5001 for autographs and photographs at various times throughout the show.

This show must drive autograph hounds absolutely insane.

The Prince of Persia graphic novel anthology, due out in April of next year, features six short stories authored by Mechner and serves as a prequel to The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Along with creating the original Prince of Persia video game, Mechner also penned the screen story for the film, making him ridiculously qualified to pen a bridge between the two. This will be Mechner's first published book, though not his last, as he is currently collaborating with artists LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland on an original graphic novel trilogy for First Second Books.

Speaking of collaborating, the graphic novel will feature exclusive cover art created by Todd McFarlane of Spawn fame, and promises interior art by some of the biggest names in the comics industry. The book will be available in both soft cover and hardcover editions, with an initial print run of 125,000 copies.

Jordan Mechner will be joined by McFarlane, along with Bernard Chang, Tommy Lee Edwards, and Cameron Stewart, at the San Diego Comic-Con this Friday, discussing the creation of the graphic novel during the Disney Press panel.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is yet another prequel to the original Wolfenstein 3D, because that's what you have to do when your protagonists kills Hitler in the first act. U.S. Army Ranger William "B.J." Blazkowicz is back, taking on Nazi zombies as only he can. In retrospect, the two follow-ups made his eventual defeat of Roboter-Führer seem like a walk in the park.

It took me a moment to get my bearings while watching this first in the Wolfenstein animated graphic novel series. I had assumed that it was simply a tie in to the upcoming Wolfenstein game for the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3, but then Mecha Hitler showed up. It looks like they'll be doing one of these for each game leading up to the latest, so expect many more black, white, and red all-over Nazi soldiers in the weeks ahead.

Legendary, the graphic novel, is written by Mark Waid - author of DC apocalypse tale Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright and penciled by Top Cow house artist Martin Montiel.

The 96-page comic will flesh out main character Deckard's backstory - including how he came across (main MacGuffin of the game) Pandora's Box, how he came to terms with his powers and why the writers couldn't be arsed giving him a character name not already used in Blade Runner.

Even more exciting that the art book, Spark Unlimited is also releasing a 96 page graphic novel detailing Deckard’s fight against the Black Order, written by none other than Legendary comic book writer Mark Waid. See what I did there? It's a double meaning. Accentuated with a capital letter. Is the weekend here yet? Look for the graphic novel to hit around the same time as the game. Look for the box art after the jump!

We decided that the 'Sin City' graphic novels, with their dark images and nonlinear stories, would work better as the basis for an interactive game. We don't have to track the linear movie screenplay and try to translate it into a game; we prefer to create an original story based on the characters from the books which, we think, will make for a longer, deeper video game experience.

The Sin City game is scheduled for release Christmas 2009.

Sin City Video Game Goes Straight to the Source [GameDaily Biz]

I'm sold. I'm going to have to run out and buy this graphic novel. Brian Crecente

Halo Graphic Novel [Waltercrespo]