Michel Ancel says sequel game is in pre-production.
[UPDATE] Ubisoft officially confirmed the game with a teaser trailer! May 28, 2008
http://www.dailymotion.com/videox5l5ni
Knighted video game designer Michel Ancel revealed in an interview with JeuxVideo that a sequel to the critically- acclaimed commercial failure Beyond Good & Evil is currently in pre-production. A team of 10 to 12 people are working on the game, and for some head-scratching reason Ubisoft is not yet giving the full green-light for the project to go into real production phase. BG&E may have been a commercial failure but scour the nets and you’ll find legions of fans that are still joining the party after finding the gem of a game in bargain-bins– and those remaining copies are fast drying up; should you want yours, I suggest running to your nearest retailer (bonus hint: it was released in 2003 for the PS2, Xbox, Gamecube and Windows PC).
Anyway, make this game Ubisoft! No dilly-dallyin’! Re-release the first BG&E (so the rest of the world can play the increasingly hard-to-find title) with a coupon for the sequel, bundle the first game when the sequel comes out, whatever, just don’t let it die in a basement somewhere, ‘kay? The way I see it is, even if you move it to production now, it’ll still be 2 years too long for us players to get to it in stores, so chop-chop, I say!
Imagine, a remake of the first game on the Wii, like Capcom did for Okami (just make sure to do something more than just shake-motions like you did for the Prince of Persia 2 remake for the Wii, Ubisoft! — I can see it now, the Dai-jo-wielding, the picture-taking are perfect for the Wii-mote), and the sequel on all current-gen platforms – Wii, PS3, Xbox360 – plus the PS2 (since it looks like it’ll be around for another 5 years).
Toys at The Korea Society, CG test footage of 'Robot Taekwon V'
Just as The Korea Society opens a new exhibit on 70’s and 80’s toys from Korea with the Taekwondo-style butt-kicking giant robot Taekwon V as its centerpiece today, there’s news that the animated feature film will be made into a live-action/CG film to be released in August, 2009 (Test CG footage looks awesome! read on).
First, straight from The Korea Society’s website:
“Toys – always more meaningful than the simple playthings they appear to be – can embody the fantasies, values, obsessions and anxieties of a generation. Toy Stories: Souvenirs from Korean Childhood includes a veritable toy box of over 90 flamboyantly colored action figures, robots, miniature tanks and paper dolls from 1970’s and 1980’s Korea.”
So the exhibit will have more than just action figures and robots for boys, but also girls’ toys and dolls too. Being that Korea’s growing industrialization made new things possible in the country for the first time during that period, it would be interesting to see just what got kids excited back when there was no Guitar Hero or PlayStation. Here’s some key proceedings tied to the show:
- The opening reception for the exhibit is today at 5:30 PM
- Exhibit runs through April 18
- “Gallery Talk” (lecture): “Our Toys Our Selves: Robot Taekwon V and South Korean Identity” on February 7
- Film screening of animated feature Robot Taekwon V (2007, Digitally restored from original 1976 prints) on March 18
The film was the first Korean animated feature – ever. While original prints were long thought to have been destroyed by fire, a print was later found in one of KOFIC’s (Korean Film Council) off-site storage warehouses, was digitally restored in a 3-year-long process and re-released in 2007 to theaters across the nation in a very successful run.
Second, the live-action/CG adaptation. Read the rest of this entry »
Parties for the 7th and final book release
Summer of ‘07 is turning out to be quite the party for Harry Potter fans — the 5th movie, Order of the Phoenix, opened today just a few minutes before as I write this across theaters nationwide, and now it’s only a week more until the 7th and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
US publisher of the series, Scholastic, is turning their headquarters in New York City (Mercer St. between Prince and Spring) into Harry Potter Place where fans will be able to see a 20 ft. Whomping Willow and the Knightbus along with magicians, street-performers, joining in the unveiling of the first author J.K Rowling-signed U.S. edition of the book and the countdown to July 21, 12:01 AM.
Barnes and Noble has Jim Dale, narrator of the audiobooks in Union Square, and children’s bookstore Books of Wonders has real live owls(!) mixed in with the usual magicians and jugglers.
New York Magazine pointed out one certain bookshop in Greenpoint for their “adult-only” book release party, and apparently there’s much more of that flavor elsewhere too.
Looking back, you realize that the first book was released in 1997, and that for some kids who’ve been following the series loyally, they are now adults — some of them are over 18, 21 and the like.
So, it all begs the question, are you one of them? And if so, which one will you be at? I intend to check out at least two of these parties that crazy Friday night. We’ll see. Me, I only started reading the books five years ago, when I was in college. Still pretty weird to think it’s been that long since, and now it’s almost RLY over. sad.
- via Gothamist
Tags: harry potter, party
Update: Trailer is out, added below!
Emile Hirsch in full ‘Speed’ gear, Rain (South Korean pop sensation Bi) about to knock Speed out, the Mach 5 car on a crazy psychedelic racetrack, Christina Ricci and everyone else in funny haircuts — it can only mean one thing: Speed Racer pictures from the upcoming Wachowski Brother’s(The Matrix Trilogy, V for Vendetta) anime to live-action movie adaptation. Trying out what they’re calling car-fu - ‘kung-fu with cars’ – it seems they got the pop-visual look of the 60’s cartoon down pat. The movie will be Rain’s English-langauge debut, and also stars Susan Sarandon and John Goodman as Speed’s parents, Mom & Pops Racer. Gotta love the straightforward naming scheme.
Pictures of Rain, Ricci and more (plus the trailer) after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
The Arrival, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Shortcomings
My picks from tomorrow’s Times’ Sunday Book Review with a bent for the other, miscellaneous and alternative. Hopefully this will be a recurring linkroll that I can keep up with each week. This week of November 11 (11/11!), I choose you, Pikachu! I mean, the Children’s Book section reviews of Shaun Tan’s “The Arrival” — graphic novel, a wordless, timeless meditation on “not an immigrant’s story, but the immigrant’s story,” and Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, his first young-adult title. Also Adrian Tomine’s “Shortcomings,” another graphic novel, about 30-year-old “anti-hero” Ben Tanaka, dealing with his career-driven girlfriend that leaves Cali for NY, a lesbian Korean graduate friend, sprinkled with his penchant for blondes. “The Arrival” has also been picked as one of the Times’ ten Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2007. Link to slideshow gallery
And finally, despite all the other notable books written about in this weeks section including a Picasso biography, an elaborate Star Wars pop-up book, a new translation of Dante’s “Paradiso”… just for kicks… get ready for it… I would like to write about a book review I read today in the review section, of a book written about “How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read”, and want you to keep in mind that I haven’t read the actual book, but rather only the book review. Translated from French, psychoanalyst and professor of lit Pierre Bayard gives reason and thought to why he “doesn’t blame us for fudging [about books we haven't read], and he doesn’t want us to blame ourselves.” He apparently says it’s okay!
Just one more reason I think a recap on books we haven’t read yet could become a nice record and incentive to do just that — read more.
All right. Now, choice quotes from each of the above New York times reviews after the jump, plus pretty books covers for you to judge by(!) And just how to talk about that book you haven’t read.
Tags: Adrian Tomine, manga, Shaun Tan, Sherman Alexie
