This just in from our "URGENT BREAKING VIDEO GAME NEWS" department: Warner Bros. has tapped Jerry O'Flaherty – art director on Epic's Gears of War and finalist in the North American name rhyming championships – to direct their upcoming Thundercats feature film.

... Hey, where are you going? Don't worry, it's going to be all CG, no Hollywood actors parading about in furry costumes. Of course, CG is an arena O'Flaherty has a fair bit of experience in, having worked on Gears as well as Unreal Tournament 3 and the Command and Conquer series. Worried this video game vet won't do the Thundercats tale (nyuk) justice?

Fret not! O'Flaherty plans to remain faithful to the franchise, which Variety describes as "a group of humanoid cats who must flee the planet of Thundera, which is destroyed. Once crash-landing on another planet, Third Earth, they must thwart Mumm-Ra, an evil sorcerer bent on killing them off." As long as they work in Mumm-Mutt, you won't hear any complaints from us.

Since the Gears of War movie wants to be like 300, it should be no surprise that the EverQuest movie wants to be like 300 as well. In fact, they've hired 300 screenwriter Michael Gordon to try and bring some of his magic to the script. Hopefully that doesn't mean someone will be shouting "THIS! IS! EVERQUEST!" throughout the film.

Unlike Stuart Beattie, who is writing Gears, Gordon doesn't have an impressive set of credits to his name, other than 300. Couple that with the waning popularity of EverQuest every year, and the World of Warcraft film that is being readied, and it smells like a recipe for video store shelves and Netflix accounts.

However, we could be wrong and this could smash box office records, sweep the awards, and bring tears to millions of eyes around the world. We're just sayin' ...

And no, not Charisma Carpenter, though, yes, that would be an inspired bit of casting. No, the man behind Gears of War said that the film version of Marcus Fenix should be able to light up a room with his charm ... even if it doesn't look like he could lift a Lancer above his head.

"I get a lot of forum posts where Gears fans tell us we need to cast this wrestler as Marcus. I don't give a f**k if the guy's buff or six foot five," CliffyB. told GameDaily BIZ. "What matters most is that this guy is charismatic and he can act and is somebody compelling that you want to watch on screen. The Rock is the rare exception of a wrestler who is that charismatic that he can carry a movie. If they cast four mongoloid wrestlers in Gears and they're just as exciting to watch as paint dry on the screen, nobody's going to go see it."

The Rock, huh? ... Do you hear that? That's the sound of bloggers across the planet Googling screen captures of The Game Plan.

In a new interview with Ain't It Cool News, Roger Avary – the recently announced writer/director of the Return to Castle Wolfenstein Oscar contender – talks about the process of adapting a video game to the big screen ("it's a bit of an uphill climb"), the character of BJ Blazkowicz ("he is not racist or an anti-Semite"), and casting the role ("all one needs to do is look at the box art on the Return to Castle Wolfenstein game and you can see who I see in my mind for the role.")

Well, we looked at that box art and, unless they're casting a lapel pin in the role of Nazi-killing machine BJ Blazkowicz, we'll assume he means the RtCW: Tides of War box art pictured above. Nevertheless, we're having a tough time seeing precisely who Avary has in mind. We've crossed our eyes; stood away from the screen; nothing. Maybe generi-tough guy Jason Statham? Or sensitive tough guy Ben Affleck? Our vote is for aging tough guy, Bruce Willis. He practically has Nazi-killer written all over him.

Apparently, Lionsgate likes what they're seeing in an adaptation of forthcoming Eidos action game Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. IGN reports that the studio has fast-tracked the film to start shooting in the fall from a script by Kyle Ward. (We'll save you a click, he's done one movie and you haven't heard of it.)

According to IGN though, you probably have heard of at least one of the actors who are interested in playing one of the lead roles. If Lionsgate is looking for name actors here, we'd like to throw in a suggestion: Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Zachery Ty Bryan. No one would see that coming. Now, if they'd complete the Home Improvement trifecta and cast Taran Noah Smith as a cop hell-bent on bringing them to justice, we'd go ahead and pre-order our tickets today.

It feels like there has been an onslaught of retro-gaming related movies lately, right? We've had King of Kong, and Chasing Ghosts this year already. Now ... you've got Press Start coming at you. However, this isn't some gaming documentary. Oh no, this film isn't content to just interview gamers from yesteryear or wax poetic about Donkey Kong high scores. This one goes straight for your nostalgia core and kicks it into hypderdrive.

"Zack Nimbus (Joshua Stafford) is a typical suburban youth and volunteer monster exterminator living peacefully in a videogame world. It's a realm where people actually do cross rivers by jumping across alligators' heads (or being chomped to death in the attempt) and where injuries can be cured by eating food found laying about in old hallways. Here, the pleasant days are ending due to world conquest by the unspeakably evil but insecure and telephone-addicted wizard, Count Nefarious Vile (Peter Davis).

Zack soon finds himself recruited by battle-hardened space soldier Sam (Lauren Chambers) and enthusiastically bad-tempered ninja Lin-Ku (Al Morrison) to join a last desperate attempt to thwart Vile's imminent victory. But not before lampooning every videogame convention that comes their way."

They're even promising that some "guest stars" will make an appearance, including a mustachioed plumber that you might know. Check out the trailer after the break, and see what life is like with "no continues."

Actor Timothy Olyphant's take on Agent 47 and the Hitman movie in general is about what you'd expect: Yes, he wants to be respectful of the source material. No, he had no idea that the source material existed before he read the script. (He was a bit busy being in one of the raddest TV shows ever, thank you very much.) He does say, however, that director Xavier Gans was a big fan of Hitman, which is sort of encouraging.

In his interview, Olyphant does seem to get that Agent 47 kills people really well, which (pseudo-religious iconography aside) is pretty much the thrust of the character. He also says he sees the titular hitman as a loner who's just starting to question the meaning of his existence. Woah there, slow it down Tim. You don't want to go all Sam Fisher on us.

Supporters of game-based movies have had to suffer through a lot in recent months. Dead or Alive, Postal and the DVD release of Game Box 1.0 have all assaulted our senses and our sensibilities since the start of the year. Now, finally, a good game-based movie has come along and, unfortunately, it's only viewable in five theaters nationwide.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters opens today in New York (two theaters), LA, Seattle and Austin, Texas. The movie's limited release extends to seven more cities next week and four more the week after on its way to eventual release in 25 total cities.

Reviews of the film continue to be overwhelmingly positive, with only one bad review among the 25 currently listed on Rotten Tomatoes (not quite 100% fresh anymore, but still close). If you want to encourage quality, non-fiction video game film-making and you're lucky enough to live in one of the above cities, vote with your wallets and buy tickets for the opening weekend. You'll be glad you did.

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that director Tarsem Singh is set to helm a film based on the source material that also spawned Monolith Productions' 2005 survival-horror game, Condemned: Criminal Origins. In the year 2000, Singh trapped Jennifer Lopez within the mind of a serial killer and yanked out Vince Vaughn's intestines -- though normally he'd be praised for such actions, both events took place in "The Cell", a visually ambitious film that didn't really please the critics (save for our friend, Mr. Ebert).

The film, which will be dubbed "The Unforgettable" (hopefully not unforgettable in the same way Super Mario Bros. is), is to be produced by Basil Iwanyk, David Goyer and Monolith founder Jason Hall. Hall later became senior vice-president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and then moved on to found production company HDFilms Inc.

Details about the movie's plot are scarce, but The Hollywood Reporter expects it to be about "a cop who in the course of a murder investigation realizes that he is not human and uncovers a war between good and evil aliens." In a message on HiDef.com, Jason Hall clarified that the film would be based on the "same founding concept" and would not be derivative of the game itself. Think of them as distant and considerably creepy cousins.

[Update: Clarified film's relation to Condemned: Criminal Origins. Thanks, Sir Gossip!]

Amazon has a nice little deal going where you can get all you see above for $599. Found over at the CAG, the bundle includes the Xbox Elite, HD DVD drive (which comes with King Kong), the movie 300, and a mail-in form for five HD DVDs for free. The main thing to focus on here (because the free movies were announced a while back) is that you save about $60 on the hardware.

The $599 price is certainly interesting given that it's identical to the 80GB PS3 model which includes the Blu-ray player and this package seems geared for the movie inclined. Then again, you can always get a clearance 60GB PS3 with Blu-ray for $100 less than this bundle. Of course, we don't buy our systems for movies, we buy them for games, and in that department y'all can choose who's ahead at this stage.

[Via CAG]

Don't act so surprised! Yes, a major developer is making a video game based on an upcoming film adapted from a series of popular children's books. While The Spiderwick Chronicles is notably short on boy wizards, Sierra's marketing fella says, "The Spiderwick Chronicles video game will authentically recreate the world of Jared, Simon and Mallory Grace, putting gamers in their shoes as they discover a hidden world of fantastical creatures – sprites, ogres, goblins, brownies and more." We're not sure how fantastical brownies are, but we digress ...

The Spiderwick Chronicles video game is being developed by Sierra for the Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, DS, and PC platforms, and is due to be released in February 2008 to coincide with the film's theatrical release (of course!).

In a burgeoning film genre like video game adaptations, Super Mario Bros. (it ain't no game, in case you were confused) should be considered sort of a patron saint. No, it didn't set a great example that those who came next could follow, but it did set a bar for future video game movies that was so low they could trip over it. Now, thanks to a new interview in The Guardian, we learn that Mario Mario himself, Bob Hoskins, was on the SMB-hating bus before that particular bus was cool.

"The worst thing I ever did? Super Mario Brothers. It was a f***in' nightmare. The whole experience was a nightmare. It had a husband-and-wife team directing, whose arrogance had been mistaken for talent. After so many weeks their own agent told them to get off the set! F***in' nightmare. F***in' idiots." See what we mean? Let's see another video game movie engender that kind of hatred from a distinguished British actor. It can't be done! The bar is simply too low.

[Via Cinematical]

Smack dab in the middle of QuakeCon, Variety brings news that Silent Hill movie producer Samuel Hadida has secured the movie rights to id Software's Return to Castle Wolfenstein, with Silent Hill writer Roger Avary tapped to both write and direct the new project. Avary said, "I've been playing the character of B.J. Blazkowicz since the epic Wolfenstein 3D first bruised my brain and have ever since wanted to bring his adventures to life on the bigscreen." We're not doctors, but we're quite certain a significant amount of cranial bruising would be necessary before considering the story of B.J. Blazkowicz well-suited for the silver screen.

Of course, solid details on the next Wolfenstein game have been holed up in a bunker for years and tonight's QuakeCon keynote by John Carmack and Todd Hollenshead is as good a place as any to unveil new details. Just sayin' ...

[Thanks, Ethan]

We don't have any official confirmation on it as of now, but IESB.net is reporting that Len Wiseman, director of the Underworld films and Live Free or Die Hard, is in talks to develop and direct Gears of War, along with a remake of Escape from New York.

Again, we don't know if this is official, but it seems a solid enough pick if true. We know Wiseman has some decent visual chops, so nailing the Gears style shouldn't be tough. As far as character direction goes, what is Marcus Fenix if not a half-vampire/half-werewolf crossed with John McClane? Sure, we haven't loved his previous films, but it could absolutely be worse.

[Via Ain't It Cool News]

There are more game systems that can play high-definition movies than standalone players that can do the same, according to sales numbers culled from recent media reports.

In the HD DVD realm, a Microsoft representative told CNet UK that the company had sold 155,000 units of the Xbox 360's HD DVD player in the States, making it the best-selling add-on in the system's short history. Compare that to the 100,000 standalone players that the HD DVD Promotional Group said had sold through April and you can see that it's primarily gamers driving adoption of the format.

The results are similar in the Blu-Ray realm, where the million-plus PS3s sold in North America dwarfs the "less than 100,000" standalone players sold according to a Business Week article. It's unclear exactly how many PS3 owners are actually using their systems to play the high-def movie format, but strong Blu-ray disc sales would seem to indicate that at least some of them are taking advantage of the feature.

What's more, the sales of high-def discs seem to finally be making a dent in the traditional DVD market. Sales of standard-definition DVDs were down eight percent in the first quarter of this year and analysts predict they'll begin to level off as more high-def game systems are sold.

Read - HD DVD Posse: "There's Room for Both Formats" (CNet UK) [Via Xbox360Fanboy]
Read - In DVD war, body blows for Toshiba (BusinessWeek)