Today's round-up includes information on Rockstar Games' move into UMD movie documentaries, a piratical new game from Playlogic and Akella, and a new site aiming to provide social bookmarking for casual games, as well as today's latest Gamasutra job postings.
- Rockstar Games is branching its product line out to include the first UMD-only movie release, which is also the company's first film project. The movie, called
Sunday Driver, will examine lowrider enthusiasts in Compton, CA, a subject matter in keeping with its urban- and vehicular-themed games. "Our goal was to create a film with the same cutting edge, uncompromising cinematic content that we strive for in our games. We are extremely proud of Sunday Driver as an evolution of the Rockstar brand into film," said Rockstar president Sam Houser.
- Playlogic Entertainment has secured the rights to Captain Blood, the novel by Rafael Sabatini. The publisher will work with 1C Company and Russian developer Akella to create a pirate action title of the same name using the rights and character of Captain Blood, an English surgeon forced to become a feared pirate captain to survive after escaping slavery. Akella's back catalogue includes
Sea Dogs,
Age of Sail 2, and
Pirates of the Caribbean, which lends them an authoritative air when it comes to pirate game matters. The title is scheduled for a summer 2006 release.
- 3rd Sense, an Australian games publisher, has launched
Millions of Games, a social bookmarking website devoted to independent casual online games. Registered members can create a favorites list of casual games and cross-reference it with a buddy list for easy matchmaking purposes. The site is currently in beta testing, with a full launch planned for early 2006. "We’re very excited about what this can do for casual game developers too, if you want to promote your game, this is the place to do it," said MOG Director Colin Cardwell.
- Also updated today: the
latest Gamasutra job postings from companies including Climax Studios, Datascope, EA Tiburon, Mythic, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and WildTangent.
