Disney would love you to try a spot of piracy — just the sword-wielding high seas kind, mind you, not the intellectual property kind. Slitting throats for booty is one thing — just don't mess with the Mouse.

To encourage the mass adoption of eyepatches and Keith Richards' swaggering, Disney are opening up the paid-for bits of their Pirates of the Caribbean MMORPG this weekend.

Basic Access to PotC has always been free, with some abilities and equipment reserved for the fee-paying Unlimited members. This weekend (August 15 — 18) all Basic members will get an upgrade to Unlimited and be able to form guilds, stock up on weapons and skills, and generally get their buccaneering on. Unlimited class members wont lose out either, with up to 50% discounts in the in game stores.

This Weekend Only! [Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean]

I'm interested in creating completely new genres. I'm interested in exploring an emotional response to a game, which I haven't really seen. I've seen the visceral adrenaline response, but I haven't really played a game where I feel...tremendous loss... The initial response is that gaming needs good writing. I've heard that. They need screenwriters. Well, hold on a second. Before you jump to that conclusion, I don't want to impose cinema's narrative onto a completely different medium. I think that's naive. The fact that the player is also the audience means you shouldn't be imposing a scenario where the audience is passive. Don't put those rules onto gaming. So out of that came in my mind new forms of narrative. I said, "Well, wait a minute, what if there is zero narrative?"

Verbinski's Game [Los Angeles Times Thanks, hogarth1!] [Pic]

Verbinski attacked the current publisher-developer business model, affirming that "Games are not merchandise." He spoke of his own struggles with game development, saying "With the Pirates of the Caribbean games, the business model killed the potential for something really unique." He explained "I'm not hiding my disappointment, because I know the fanaticism could have driven that world. Five years ago, while adult audiences were dressing up in pirate garb to attend the cinema, I lobbied heavily for an MMOG for Pirates to no avail, because it wasn't in their business plan."

The director blamed publishers for "responding to data and basing creative decisions on existing formulas" and "reacting to a world that is already passing them by", using brown, me-too first person shooters as evidence that the medium could be in danger of becoming sterile, if not for auteur developers who would "make the suits shit themselves" with bold new concepts.

While Verbinski's opening speech was certainly inspiring, probably mostly to rank and file creators who were looking to move beyond the bald space marine stereotype, it would seem that the director of Hollywood fare like The Ring and Mousehunt has large aspirations for game developers.

He did, however, refreshingly point to individual contributors in video game and film development as key factors in realizing the artistic zenith. Game designers, like directors, he said have an obligation to test executives—"You must make execs uncomfortable, whether they know it or not, and believe me, the good ones do"—to make their work "diverge from the path."

While the director may have seemed slightly green in his vision of game development—by his own admission, he's only played a handful of games—his passion for moving the medium forward seemed genuine. He referenced last year's DICE speaker Alex Rigopulos and the team at Harmonix at one point, lauding them for having the gall to convince RedOctane to manufacture plastic guitars to meet the fantasy of standing in front of a mirror with a tennis racket to virtually rock out. "They naysayers completely missed the point," he said, praising the visionaries at Harmonix for convincing investors to make the Guitar Hero series a success.

We certainly appreciated Gore's unbridled enthusiasm. We hope that he'll return at a future date, having learned more about the medium from DICE attendees, from his own experiences and from the experiences of his children, with a better grasp of the realities of video game development. Perhaps he'll have even played some of the genre's best storytelling games and will be able to contribute more to the conversation.

Expect more details from Gore Verbinski's keynote speech and his follow-up Q&A with Newsweek's N'Gai Croal throughout the week.

DISNEY'S PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN ONLINE SETS SAIL

Highly Anticipated Free-to-Play Massively Multiplayer Online Game Launches for PC and Mac Platforms

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - October 31, 2007 - Disney Online today announced that Pirates of the Caribbean Online (www.PiratesOnline.com), an immersive massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) and virtual world inspired by the popular film franchise, has launched for the PC and Mac platforms. Pirates of the Caribbean Online allows thousands of players to fully experience the adventures made famous in the films and explore beyond these boundaries in a quest to become the most legendary pirate on the high seas.

"The launch of Pirates of the Caribbean Online opens up an entirely new world of pirate adventures to thousands of fans who can now play alongside their favorite characters in a fully-immersive environment that builds on and goes beyond the epic stories created in the films," said Paul Yanover, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Disney Online. "We believe the game's focus on action and adventure, combined with many customization options will appeal to a broad audience of both gamers and fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as they set out on their own course to live the legend."

In Pirates of the Caribbean Online, players create and customize their own pirate, captain their own ship, and assemble a crew of their fellow rogues in an effort to become the Caribbean's most legendary Pirate. Along the way, players will interact with characters made popular by the films, like Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, and will also encounter a host of new characters and enemies unique to the game. To become the most notorious pirate, players must forge alliances, hunt for buried treasure, battle evil undead forces, and use cunning and strategy to outwit their foes.

Game features include:

• Create your own Pirate character - Players choose from over a million combinations to fully customize their own Pirate (body type, face, hair, clothing, names, etc.).

• Set sail on your own Pirate ship - Captain your own ship then recruit a crew of fellow players to set sail for the adventure of a lifetime.

• Quest for adventure and treasure - Embark on ship and land-based missions to locate buried treasure. Explore lush jungles, volcanic caves, and vast tropical islands but beware of traps, ambushes, and double-crosses which are an every day occurrence when keeping company with Pirates.

• Use advanced weaponry - Players engage in epic battles using a variety of weapons such as cutlasses, grenades, pistols and cannons and can unlock more powerful weapons as they improve their reputation as a fighter to be reckoned with.

• Become a legend - Master a variety of skills, including sword fighting, card playing, and treasure hunting to become the most notorious pirate in the world.

• Work your Voodoo Magic - Voodoo magic is used to heal, travel and cast curses on enemies.

• Get some Booty - Earn extra loot by competing in parlor games such as poker and blackjack.

• Build a notorious crew or guild - Players band together with others for expanded adventures and added power, forming a crew for quick battles or joining a guild for longer-term strategy.

• Grow your wealth with money and rare items - Hunt for buried treasure including gold, precious gems and mysterious artifacts.

The successful Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, including Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), has grossed close to $2.7 billion at the worldwide box office.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online, developed and published by Disney Online, is rated E10+ and features lower PC and Mac system requirements than most other games in this genre, allowing for easier access to a broader audience of players.

Players can download the game directly and access additional information at the game's Web site, www.PiratesOnline.com. A portion of the game is available for free and players can get unlimited access for a monthly subscription fee. At launch, Disney Online is offering new players subscriptions to Unlimited Access for a first-month fee of $4.95 and continuing with a $9.95 fee for following months.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online Pre-Order [Disney]

The MAME port's author writes that performance on the SDL is a tad flaky—Pac-Man and Q*bert run well, but Galaga and Gyruss suffer. No word on how accurately Burger Time's performance is but the project lead is looking to port an older version of MAME to the Apple phone.

iPhone MAME [Google Code]

Disney today announced that Pirates of the Caribbean has been bumped back to this fall to give developers more time to enhance the game, tweak gameplay based on beta-tester suggestions and, I would think, fix bugs.

The first phase of the beta testing will wrap up on July 16, with a second phase kicking off in September once the tweaks for the game have been implemented. I guess by fall they mean late fall. Hit the jump for the full, but brief, press release.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online - Launch Update

Disney has been in the beta testing process for Pirates of the Caribbean Online for the past several months. After a careful internal assessment of the state of game development as well as a review of external feedback, we have elected to spend additional development time and move to a fall launch. We will use this extra time to further enhance the game, respond to additional data we've collected during beta testing and incorporate more of the input we have gathered. July 16 will conclude phase 1 of the beta testing and we will resume phase 2 with a new game build in September.

In the meantime, we will continue to support and grow the strong community that has congregated around Pirates of the Caribbean Online through monthly developer diaries and newsletters, the delivery of new screen shots and assets, hosting a variety of in-game and fan events and through other exciting creative campaigns. All new materials and community information can be found at www.PiratesOnline.com.

Hit the jump for a more in-depth look at the game, including a couple clips complete with color commentary courtesy of my patented stack of DVD's on the coffee table with a camera on top video capture system.

Prince of Pirates

At World's End wants to be Prince of Persia. I suppose if you are making a game about high adventure in exotic lands it doesn't hurt to borrow from the definitive game on the subject. Like PoP, you'll find yourself running up walls, hanging from ledges, making impossible jumps, and navigating various insidious traps in between combat sequences. It does many of the things Prince of Persia does, but just not nearly as well. Sadder still, the few bits that don't feel like a PoP game just aren't very much fun.

Hack, Slash, Repeat

The combat system is being touted as the most dynamic swordplay ever. I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion, but I'll go ahead and run with that. The most dynamic swordfighting ever consists of hitting the A button three or four times. There's also a punch button, so you can do crazy sword-punch-sword combos. When an enemy is about to attack a red circle shows up under their feet, and if you move the stick towards them you will dodge in various piratey ways, which I suppose is kind of dynamic. Fill up your skill meter and you can even perform a rather poorly animated finishing move, killing your opponent by sticking your sword through (or more often near) them.

The obvious solution to this dilemna, of course, is to make some places where the 'Get There' button doesn't work for no real apparent reason. Some enemies require you to use the special finishing moves to defeat them in an obvious effort to make people like me shut up.

Hop, Skip, and Jump

Somewhat more enjoyable that the combat, the platforming elements in At World's End can take a little getting used to.

Aside from the obvious knife in the face issue, what really gets in the way of the fluidity of the platformy bits is, oddly enough, the graphics. In a highly detailed pirate-themed world it is often hard to figure out that the rope in the corner of town is for you to climb on and not simple set dressing. Rope is as important to a pirate as rope with a steel claw on the end is to a ninja.

Too Boring For Video: Boss Fights

Here's where the game ground to a screenching alt for me. Just as I am beginning to squeeze some enjoyment out of the jumping and fighting bits, along comes a boss fight the pits Captain Jack Sparrow against some random pirate lord, and instead of pounding away at my dynamic A button I find myself squaring off on a 2D plane playing a bastardized version of captain combat from Sid Meier's Pirates. Instead of watching a dramatic standoff, I am watching three dots on the side of the screen that tell me how to dodge in order to fill up a meter that allows me to counterattack. Basically your opponent will go high, low, or lunge at you, and you have to move the analog stick to match it. Aside from the odd mid-fight event sequence, the whole thing is dreadfully boring. It was at these times I really felt that I didn't want to play the game any longer.

Now that I think about it, those sequences probably play much better on the Wii. It feels like a wiimote tailored sequence ported to the 360, shades of Raving Rabbids. Odd.

The Look, The Feel, of Pirates

The game certainly doesn't look like a Wii game at least. The environments are so finely detailed and atmospheric that you almost ovelook the repetitive NPCs and enemies you encounter within them. Almost. Hard to ignore a prison run almost exclusively by fat, tattooed bald guys.

The characters, for the most part, look like their real life counterparts. Particular attention was paid to the hair - Jack's dreads flow majestically while Will Turner's ponytail bobs along. They've got Sparrow's animations completely nailed. From the little finger wiggle thing he does to his particular swaggering walk, it's in here. They may even have gone a bit too far - when the character comes to a stop from a run he always pulls up short, as if he were getting ready to run the other way. At first it comes off as a nice little homage to some of the films' best scenes, but eventually it will wear on you until you wind up spending a good hour playing the Jack Sparrow is Scared of Everything game. You had to be there. You would have been there, but I got so wrapped up in it my camera batteries died.

Here's Some Rotten Fruit For Your Pirate Booty

The header above was actually said to me by one of the random NPCs in Port Royale, and will remain atop my list of best video game lines of all time. It needs to be sampled into a techno song as soon as humanly possible.

At World's End sound is very passable indeed, though as a guy who has dabbled in voiceover work the sound-alikes are so obviously soundalikes it makes me wince to hear them talk. The actors do a fine job for not being Depp, Knightley, or Bloom - they're just not Depp, Knightley, or Bloom. Call it the audio equivalent of uncanny valley.

Otherwise the music and sound effects come together nicely to make the locations and combat believable and as exciting as combat like this can get, which is what it's supposed to do. Go sound!

At World's End's End

I stand behind what I said at the beginning. This is pretty much Jack's pirate videogame, and when he is in it doing what he does best, you can almost tolerate the inane combat system, the repetitive enemies, and the overall average gameplay. As with many licensed titles, it all comes down to how big a fan you are. If Pirates of the Caribbean is the world to you, you've already got the game and are busy trying to recruit a friend to try out multiplayer while trying to unlock all the secrets in the game.

If you're like me and the movies are just something to satiate your perfectly natural pirate curiosity, there are better ways to spend your time and money. From what I hear there's some good films opening this weekend. Michael Fahey

It's a mixed bag of titles this week. We have a movie franchise game, a new RPG, the re-emergence of a classic, a comic card game, mechs, a high school sim and even the simple crossword puzzle. Not a whole lot that's of too much interest to me although I kind of want to see the Pirates game just because those character models are stunning. Anything here you'll be picking up? Flynn De Marco

• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (X360, PC, PS2, WII, PS3, DS, PSP) Set sail with Capt. Jack Sparrow and grab yourself some booty.
• Halo 2 (PC)
  The long awaited Vista version finally arrives
• Odin Sphere (PS2)
  Take a pretty RPG, throw in a little brawling and you've got Odin sphere.
• Dawn of Mana (PS2)
  The popular Mana series finally gets a follow up.
• Naruto: Ninja Council 3 (DS)
  More Naruto for your DS
• WarTech: Senko no Ronde (X360)
  Major mech madness.
• Brooktown High: Senior Year (PSP)
  Relive the horror of High School all over again.
• Death, Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom (DS)
  La Petite mort.
• Marvel Trading Card Game (DS)
  Think, Marvel:The Gathering.
• The New York Times Crosswords (DS)
  Why wait till Sunday?

If you're a Nintendo DS owner and you're going to be buying the new Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End game and you're just going to happen to be in Disneyland soon, you could find some hidden treasure. According to the OC Register, there will be special Xs "hidden near the "Pirates"-related attractions" where you can download exclusive additional content for the DS version of the game.

I'm a little confused by "Pirates related attractions." As far as I know there is only one Pirates of the Caribbean ride located near the center of the park. If they've opened up new ones, it's news to me. It's an interesting offer, but at the price of Disney tickets, that's going to be some expensive ass downloadable content. It's probably cheaper just to buy a copy of the game and a PS3 and stay at home. Flynn De Marco

Want downloadable gifts for Pirates of the Caribbean: AWE? Go to Disney [Go Nintendo]

I know, I know, I'm mixing my movie metaphors here, but it was appropriate. I am a big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean dating back to endless summer trips to Disney World where I would ride that and The Haunted Mansion as many times as I could while we were there. Thankfully, the POTC movies turned out way better than that HM piece of crap with Eddie Murphy or I wouldn't even have a passing interest in the game.

This trailer features a cut scene from the upcoming POTC: At World's End wherein Davey Jones calls the Kraken to wreak havoc on a pirate vessel. Say what you will about cut scenes, but this one just looks incredible, in particular the character models for Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly. They are much more realistic and actually look like the people they are supposed to be unlike the models in a certain web slinging game that shall remain nameless. Suffice it to say I am looking forward to checking this game out despite my rabid cephalo-phobia.

Useless factoid: Did you know that behind the digital octopus face, the actor who performed the role of Davey Jones is in fact Bill Nighy, the actor who played Shaun's stepfather in Shaun of the Dead? Flynn De Marco

I can definitely get behind the idea of a massively multiplayer game based on Pirates of the Caribbean, but I just can't help but think it's going to really suck. The developer's diary, on the jump, doesn't help much either. Brian Crecente

Game Boy Advance
1. Invulnerable - Right Button, Left Button, Up, Up, LKey, RKey
2. Magic Wind (Always Behind) - Up, Right Button, Down, Left, Left, Right
3. Restore Health - Select Button, R Button, A Button, L Button, Left, Right
4. Exit Map to Island Nav (or go to next island) - Left, A Button, Left, Select Button, Down, Down
5. Unlock Rumors - A Button, L Button, Select Button, A Button, Right, Up
6. All Ship Upgrades - Right, Left, Left, Down, Up, Select Button
7. Best Jack Upgrades - Right, L Button, Down, A Button, Left, Select Button
8. Restore Grog/Food - A Button, Select Button, Left, Down, Right, Up
9. Add 1,000 gold - A Button, L Button, Select Button, R Button, Right, Right

Cheat Keys Sequence
Restore Health 8 Y Button, Y Button, SELECT, +Left, +Right, +Left, +Right, +Left
Restore Savvy 8 X Button, X Button, SELECT, +Up, +Down, +Up, +Down, +Up
Invincibility 20 +Up, +Down, +Left, +Right, +Right, +Right, +Right, +Right, +Left,
+Right, +Up, +Down, +Left, +Right, +Up, +Up, +Up, +Up, +Up, +Left
Infinite Power 11 +Up, +Up, +Down, +Down, +Left, +Right, +Left, +Right, L Button, R Button, SELECT
Ludicrous Weapons 6 Y Button, Y Button, X Button, Y Button, Y Button, Y Button
(Oversized Weapons)
Seasickness Mode 6 X Button, X Button, Y Button, X Button, X Button, Y Button
(Camera Wobble)
Ghostform Mode 6 Y Button, X Button, Y Button, X Button, Y Button, X Button
(Player is transparent)
Banker's Cheat 5 +Right, X Button, X Button, +Right, +Left
(Gain 10 Gold)
Fast Music 6 Y Button, SELECT, Y Button, Y Button, Y Button, Y Button
Slow Music 6 Y Button, SELECT, X Button, X Button, X Button, X Button
Get Blunderbuss 6 +Down, L Button, L Button, +Down, +Down, +Down
Get Pistol 6 +Down, L Button, L Button, +Down, +Down, +Right
Get Rifle 6 +Left, L Button, L Button, +Up, +Up, +Up
Get Chicken 6 +Right, L Button, L Button, +Up, +Down, +Down
Get Pig 6 +Right, R Button, R Button, +Down, +Up, +Up
Get Axe 10 +Left, L Button, L Button, +Down, +Down, +Left, +Up, +Up, +Down, +Down
Get Executioner Axe 10 +Right, L Button, L Button, +Up, +Down, +Up, +Right, +Right, +Left, +Left
Clear Cheats 6 X Button, X Button, X Button, X Button, X Button, X Button
*(Clears Ghostform, Invincibility, Infinite Power, and Fast/Slow Music cheats.)*

Buena Vista Games just sent out a pack of cheat codes for the PSP version, so I suppose I'll have to make the time. Hit the jump if you're into that sorta thing. Don't worry, no one's looking. Brian Crecente

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" Cheat Codes:

PSP Cheat Codes

tctctccx (tctctccx)* Full Health
tccttsxx (tccttsxx)* God Mode
tccttsss (tccttsss)* One Shot Kill
ccctttxx (ccctttxx)* Unlock Treasure Levels
ccctttss (ccctttss)* Unlock Kraken Battle
tttssxcc (tttssxcc)* Unlimited power moves

t = Triangle Button
c = Circle Button
s = Square Button
x = X Button

Cheats can ONLY be inputted during gameplay (while in Single-player, while in a level).

Stern, the last pinball manufacturer in the world, is working on a Pirates of the Caribbean creation. Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean blends the characters and settings from both films into one game.

Hit the jump for the upcoming game's features.

A mechanical pirate ship that the player strikes with the pinball. With each hit, the ship lowers its sails and eventually sinks into the playfield, thus revealing a shot into the Kraken's mouth. In this area, the player can sink the ship, destroy the Kraken, and fight Davy Jones.

A mechanical treasures chest, the Dead Man's Chest, through which the player can shoot the ball. When the player has the KEY, the chest opens. They can then spell H-E-A-R-T to begin HEART multi-ball.

A contained spinning rubber disk where the player can capture up to three pinballs. The disk bounces them around in the contained area and holds them for an extended period of time till the player starts multi-ball. The disk sometimes represents Tortuga and other times Port Royal.

A map compass comprised of playfield inserts that shows the player each feature they need to finish. Complete all eight features and play Four Winds Multi-ball.

The game should be hitting locations this month, though I can't think of a single place I'd expect to find a new pinball machine near me. If you're lucky enough to see one of these creations in the wild, drop a quarter in and take it for a spin. Brian Crecente

Pirates of the Caribbean Pinball Announced [Retro Blast, via GameSetWatch]

Intellectually elite, virtual environment-obsessed blog Terra Nova (that's Latin for "New Earth", you proles) heard that Flying Lab Software is intending to shower the Pirates of the Burning Seas MMO players with user-submitted and peer-reviewed content. Bullshit, says Terra Nova:

It simply cannot be the case that Flying Lab mean what they say above, that the designs will be submitted to a peer-reviewing panel and the "best" ones will be implemented. The developers must intend to have a high degree of control over the designs that make their way into the world, because it is a certainty that if they don't the entire Port Royal harbor will look like t-shirts at a fan faire, with sails that feature large breasted elven princesses, Darth Vader in a jaunty pirate hat, and slogans like "Minus 50 DKP" or "WTS [Wang] PST".

This, my adorable airborne simians, is what is known as the "Tragedy of the Commons". And it will inevitably taint any wild n' wooly user-submission scheme like the one Flying Labs seems to intend.

On the other hand, maybe YTMND on the high seas will have a certain charm. LFG Eliza Gauger, have tank and healer

WTS Custom Designed Doubloons PST [TerraNova]

Ron Gilbert is the creator of adventure game masterpiece Monkey Island, and an irritable godfather of a generation of PC gamers, a generation that embraces yours truly. A generation that, when confronted with the Pirates of the Caribbean trailers, cheered raucously because we were finally getting our Monkey Island movie.

So I always wondered if the Grumpy Gamer himself thought the same thing. Today, I got my answer:

So, I'm looking through my neighbor's window with a pair of binoculars, trying to see the TV to figure out if they have HBO that I can steal when the latest trailer for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie [Dead Man's Chest] comes on and I'm thinking to myself, "Hey, I've seen this before... no... I've played this before... no... I've designed this before!" I'm thinking "This is the Monkey Island Movie!" Yeah, they kind of screwed up his beard, but that's LeChuck, and let's be honest, if I'd thought of the squid tentacles for a beard, I would have done that.

More after the jump, me hearties!

So I rush out to my mailbox like an six-year old hopped up on Pixy Sticks with a Pop Rocks chaser figuring there must be a big fat royalty check waiting for me. No such luck. Two overdue credit card bills and a flier from some guy offering to Trim My Hedges, which I'm sure is just an innuendo for Wash My Cars, and I think we all know what that means. I tuck the flier away so I'll know where to find it later and head back to the house.

I'm not worried. Disney will do the right thing.

Ghost pirates, a curse, a mysterious island, the plucky governor's daughter...these are all pirate movie generalisms, yes, but something about the way they were mixed and presented smelt strongly of monkeys. Island monkeys.

It's the little things, as well...Will, PotC's clumsily heroic lead, was distinctly like the blonde, well-meaning and enthusiastic Monkey Island star, Guybrush Threepwood. And he will be bearded in the second movie, as Guybrush was in the second game. And I will bet you an entire Father's Day beard-grooming gift set with special Squid Scraping attachments that the sparsity of said facial fuzz is a running joke through Dead Man's Chest, as it was in Monkey Island II.

But Gilbert is indeed, very grumpy. And the comments on his post indicate that he has not even seen the original, probably preferring to bitch about it being stolen directly from his brains and served up for unwashed audiences. And I am sympathic. But can't we all just roll around in the pirate pile together? Guybrush would have wanted it that way.

The Monkey Island Movie [The Grumpy Gamer]

Sudoku Gridmaster (DS)
It's sudoku! Stick to Brain Age, folks. Seriously.

Over G Fighters (Xbox 360)
Taito's kinda bland looking jet fighter comes stateside.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (DS, GBA, PSP) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (PC, PS2)
Two publisher want to cash in on next week's theatrical release.

Titan Quest (PC)
Egpyt. Greece. Hack and slash. Action. RPG.

America's Army: Rise of a Soldier (PS2)
The free PC shooter that you paid for with your tax dollars hits consoles. Again!

Nothing for me this week. I just realized I have 3 games still in the shrinkwrap. Are you kids getting anything this week?

A Buena Vista Games rep is giving a run down on how to slice skeletons, sail ships and adjust pirate nostril height. The upcoming MMORPG Pirates of the Caribbean sets sail in 2007 and offers standard features like custom avatars, guilds and raiding, but lets folks play along along side characters from the movie like Jack Sparrow. The goal? Become the most infamous pirate in the Caribbean.

"The game is for everyone," a Buena Vista rep says over my shoulder. The downloadable title can run on low spec PCs, making the game a broad as possible. "It's really because the movie appeals to so many people," says Buena Vista's Petrina Walker. Well, it is Disney...

There's also a cell phone version. I'm taken in the back to a blue room with small white chairs. Ricci Rukavina, a develop from Buena Vista mobile, pulls out a small clam-set to show the phone Pirates game.

With clean graphics, it's a straight forward pick-up-and-play. Just three clicks and players are ready to set sail. There are guild forming, chat and 16 multi-player online play. "We've realized that everyone has cell phones in their pockets so let's create a short experience," says Rukavina.

Back at the PC demo, I'm watching a pirate racing around empty streets. Buena Vista says the online version will obviously feature more and also offer player matching that links online players with others interested in the same missions. The attacks are all timing based, and there are three weapons available for swashbuckling: a sword, a pistol and voodoo.

"Nothing in the game is final," notes Buena Vista's Petrina Walker. Nothing ever is.

Buena Vista [Official Site]

Disney will be showing off Pirates of the Caribbean Online at this year's E3.

The MMO, set to hit next year, is based on the films and will include Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann and other characters from the movie.

Capturing the high seas and swashbuckling adventures found in both "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and the upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," players embark on quests for adventure and treasure in an effort to become the Caribbean's most legendary pirate. Featuring hundreds of customization options, players create and customize their own pirate, form a crew, and set sail on the high seas. Along the way they learn skills and tactics from the notorious Jack Sparrow, helping them forge alliances, hunt for buried treasure, battle evil undead forces and face off against known enemies from the movie franchise.

Pirates of the Caribbean Online is in development by the Walt Disney Internet Group's VR Studio, creators of the critically acclaimed Disney's Toontown Online, the industry's first MMORPG designed for kids and families. The game is being developed to appeal to a broad audience from teens to adults and will be available for a monthly subscription fee.

Pirates Legend