Round-Up: Alt.Kong, Google Zeitgeist, Quakemas

Today's round-up includes news on an alternate ending for Ubisoft's game adaptation of the new King Kong movie, info on the game and game hardware titles included in this year's Google Zeitgeist list, and specifics on the new Quake 4 map pack that brings back the classics, as well as today's GameSetWatch highlights and Gamasutra job postings. - Ubisoft has announced an un-lockable, exclusive alternate ending for its game Peter Jackson's King Kong, in which players can save the giant ape from his cinematic death, pilot an airplane and discover Kong back home on his native Skull Island. "I wanted the game to be able to take the audience a bit further than what the film could," said Peter Jackson. "And the final climax of the game gave us an opportunity to do something that the film could not do, which was to have an alternate ending – obviously everybody pretty much knows how King Kong ends." To unlock the alternate ending, players must complete the entire game and then go back and play through various maps and earn a total of 250,000 points. - Google has released its Zeitgeist list for 2005, commenting: "It turns out that looking at the aggregation of billions of search queries people type into Google reveals something about our curiosity, our thirst for news, and perhaps even our desires." As such, several game-related keywords made it into the list, with World of Warcraft the #8 'Top Gainer' of the year, and the Xbox 360 #4 in Google News searches for the year. In addition, the top searches on Google's commerce site Froogle included PSP at #5 and Xbox at #7. - id Software, Raven Software and Activision have announced the release of the Christmas-named, if not Christmas-themed Quakemas Map Pack for the PC version of Quake 4, offering three new multiplayer maps. These include new maps Railed and Tremors, but also features Campground Redux, Campgrounds Redux, "a fresh look and feel, revitalizing this Quake III classic, supporting Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Tournament modes... where hard-core Quake fans can get crazy with this throw-back to one of their old favorites." - Over at Gamasutra's recently launched sister game weblog GameSetWatch, new posts include a look at the LucasArts holiday Xmas card, a mention of new gameLab casual title Egg Vs. Chicken, and a chance to win a Beck UMD, among others. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including positions from Blizzard Entertainment, Crystal Dynamics, Electronic Arts, Hybrid Graphics, Midway Games, Surreal Software, and Walt Disney Internet Group.