‘Madden Curse’ Movie To Be Made

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Sometimes certain movies based on video games just shouldn’t be made… but then again we don’t work in Hollywood, so what do we know

The latest report on an outlandish game-based movie indicates that EA is looking at creating a movie around the idea of the “Madden Curse,” which has claimed many an NFL cover athlete for EA Sports’ popular franchise.

The movie would apparently follow the story of a champion Madden player who comes out of retirement as he s featured on the corner of the game cover. The movie would be produced by EA’s VP of Entertainment, Pat O’Brien.

Source: The Wrap

DC Comics Get inFamous

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Video game brand marketers love properties that have “transmedia” potential, whether for film, TV, books, comics or anything else. Comic geeks and gamers have a lot in common, and so it makes perfect sense to take popular game franchises to the realm of comics. Sony has teamed with DC Comics to produce an inFamous comic series, divided into six volumes.

The volumes are intended to introduce new enemies, settings and plots that will be present within the sequel game inFamous 2. The comic, penned by William Harms and illustrated by Eric Nguyen, will focus on the exploits of Cole in between the two video game titles as he moves from Empire City to New Marais.

 

Kung Fu Live’s ‘Show Us Your Moves’ Campaign

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Helsinki, Finland-based Virtual Air Guitar Company is leveraging the power of YouTube and user interaction to help promote its Kung-Fu Live, a downloadable action title available for PlayStation Network.

The YouTube campaign shows off the latest trailers and off-the-wall tutorial videos and will feature players from around the world “showing off their best, worst, most bizarre, insane, ridiculous, and COMPLETELY crazy fighting styles which could net them kung-fu star status and some rare butt-kicking gear from the independent team at Virtual Air Guitar Company.”

Players can email their YouTube videos to kungfuvideo@virtualairguitar.com to be considered for placement. The first 20 entries will receive exclusive Kung-Fu Live gear, and each week players and viewers will be able to vote for their favorite videos on the site.

“Since our launch this month, we’ve seen a seriously positive response from the fans who each have their own unique way of taking down enemies using every move they can imagine,” said Teemu Maki-Patola, CEO of Virtual Air Guitar Company Ltd. “Seeing people playing, fighting, laughing, and performing some crazy moves is a big part of why we made this game, and now we re offering all of our biggest fans the chance to share the fun they have with their kung-fu prowess with the rest of the world!”

Check out the website here.

NeoEdge Raises Another $3 Million For Ad Platform

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NeoEdge has announced that it’s secured ad additional $3 million in funding, courtesy of MMV Financial. The funding will help the company expand its product offerings for monetizing social games.

iiiNeoEdge serves more than $100 milion video ad impressions per month, and currently has partnerships with Yahoo Games and iWin. The company also recently announced a partnership with Red Atom’s Bar Society on Facebook.

This new funding should enable NeoEdge to “expand its national sales team and come up with new products, including those that will ‘gamify’ ads, or make ads more fun by adding a game-like element,” notes Dean Takahashi.

Source: VentureBeat

LittleBigPlanet 2 Demos Marvel vs. Capcom vs. Sony

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In a demonstration of just how much mind share certain game characters and franchises can control, the Marvel vs. Capcom series has managed to find its way into LittleBigPlanet 2, courtesy of one of its beta users. No doubt inspired by Capcom’s upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom 3, a LBP2 beta user created this nifty cross-over fighting game.

 

CityVille Soaring, Could Surpass FarmVille Very Soon

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When you think about the social gaming boom, you probably think of two names: FarmVille and Zynga. Well, soon you’ll probably have to add CityVille to that. The newest Zynga title is growing so fast that it should surpass FarmVille’s 56 million users in just a few days. It’s currently sitting at 47.9 million monthly active users, according to InsideSocialGames {link no longer active}.

VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi notes that if CityVille eclipses FarmVille, it “would not only be the fastest-growing game in history. It would also be the largest game being played today, at least on Facebook and perhaps on any platform. That s a pretty astounding achievement for a game that can be described as a knock-off of SimCity.”

Source: VentureBeat

Gaming Leads Electronic Gifts This Holiday – Report

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Electronics are always a hot item during the holiday season, especially among the young male 18-34 demographic, and as it turns out, gaming in particular leads all electronics. The Giftmeister 2010 Holiday Gifting Trend Report shows that, based on the purchases of 20,000 Giftmeister customers from the past 30 days, video games and game consoles are the number-one category shoppers are seeking this year.

More interesting findings from the report are at Mashable.

Tron: Legacy Cleans Up At Box Office

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Tron: Legacy is off to a solid start at the box office, generating an estimated $43.6 million from 3,451 locations, of which 2,424 were 3D-equipped, including 234 Imax runs. Tron garnered B+ reviews on average but people were drawn to the special effects, especially Imax.

In fact, Tron earned nearly 25 percent of its weekend gross from IMAX, for the exhib’s largest opening share ever, with $10.3 million. “Disney’s Tron and the IMAX experience easily packed a powerful one-two punch this weekend,” said IMAX’s Greg Foster. “We’re confident that the eventizing of the film in our theaters will continue through Christmas and the month of January.”

It remains to be seen how much the movie’s success will help boost the fortunes of Disney Interactive’s video game, Tron: Evolution.

Source: Variety