Thor and Captain America game development continues

As part of this week’s financial results Marvel Entertainment confirmed that games based on the upcoming Thor and Captain America movies are in the works at Sega. While this is not particularly fresh news it does show that development - in whatever stage it is in at this points - continues to push forward. A formal announcement about the games was made in April of 2007 by Sega.

The Captain America game is tentatively set for release in July 2011, while the Thor game will be released at right around the same period in the summer. We’ll see.

Sega has not had the best track record with the Marvel license. See our Iron Man review for an example of this. I’ll give you a hint: it might be a blood bath.

Scene It? goes multi-platform

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Screenlife announced that the latest game in the Scene It? franchise, Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! will be coming to Xbox 360 and for the first time - Wii and PlayStation 3.

Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! will offer a wide variety of media-rich trivia that will provide movie fans and social gamers with a lively, competitive group gaming experience, and will feature trivia content including recently released 2009 movies, as well as fan favorite Hollywood hits from the last four decades. The game will also feature thousands of new questions, a new and improved single player option, and new, unique mini-game content.

Artificial Mind & Movement is developing Scene It? Bright Lights! Big Screen! for Screenlife.

Exclusive: Minor Booyah: One Good Thing about the G.I. Joe Game & Movie

One of the things I’ve been pretty concerned about as I write my book, “The Game Changers,” is how popular culture has influenced videogames over time.

Along those lines, the movie industry and the game industry have not only been strange bedfellows over the years. They’ve been angry, mocking bedfellows. How bad? Probably like the last days of Kate and Jon. (”Please don’t squoosh the cereal in your anger!”) Probably like the long bouts of arguments in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (”If you start in about this other business, Martha, I warrrrrnnn you!”)

But now, you can see that the blockbuster movie is influenced more and more by games (despite crappy movie games, which will always be with us — remember Coraline). Look at the action in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” for instance. Looks like someone watched (or maybe even played) Burnout for inspiration.

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Chris Morgan signs on for Wheel of Time games

Red Eagle Games has brought on film industry veteran Chris Morgan to take on the role of Story Director for the company’s forthcoming video games based on characters and storylines from Robert Jordan’s popular fantasy book series, The Wheel of Time.

Morgan has worked in the film industry for nearly a decade with writing credits on Cellular, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Wanted and Fast and Furious. In addition to his involvement with Red Eagle Games, Morgan is currently working on the big-screen adaptation of Gears of War, the next installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, and samurai action movie 47 Ronin. Morgan would be well advised to take Celluar off his resume. Just saying.

Morgan joins Electronic Arts executive Tom Frisina; entertainment lawyer Barry Hirsch, entertainment consumer products marketing and branding pro Peter Dang; Keith Boesky, founder and principal of video game consultancy Boesky & Company; and IBM Serious Games Program Manager Phaedra Boinodiris on the Red Eagle Games Advisory Council.

Along with the Universal Pictures feature film to be produced by Red Eagle Entertainment executives Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon, a line of stand-alone Wheel of Time games is in the works for all major video game platforms, including consoles, PC, handheld systems and wireless devices, to be distributed by Electronic Arts. In addition, Red Eagle Games intends to launch and operate a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the Wheel of Time universe.

YooStar prepares for a summer launch

How much would you pay to star in a movie? How about $169.95? If the answer is a resounding yes, then you may want to hear more about YooStar. YooStar is a new entertainment system that allows users to star in movies and television scenes alongside original actors, and share it via various social networks. The YooStar system uses software that removes characters from famous scenes and lets users insert themselves with the included camera.

YooStar system includes a studio-grade web cam with built-in dual microphones, acoustic echo and noise cancellation and remote control, portable green screen, and a Quad-pod green screen stand. The real downside for consumers is that it only comes with an initial set of 14 scenes featuring 38 different roles, but there is a promise of additional scenes available for purchase and download at www.yoostar.com with prices ranging from $.99-$3.99 per clip.

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Star line up for Real Heroes: Firefighter

Conspiracy Entertainment and Epicenter Studios announced the voice actors to be heard in heir upcoming first-person action game Real Heroes: Firefighter for the Wii. The game, which went gold earlier this week, is set for an August 2009 release, and was developed in cooperation with a 27-year firefighting veteran.

The cast of voice actors for Real Heroes: Firefighter includes James Marsters (”Spike” from the cult-classic TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Michael Jace – coming off his sixth season as (Officer Julien Lowe from the hit TV series The Shield), Jamie Kennedy (comedian), Jenette Goldstein (Private Vasquez in the classic film Aliens), Jack McGee (Backdraft and Rescue Me) and John Di Maggio (Bender from Futurama and Marcus Fenix in Gears of War).

LEGO Harry Potter game official

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games officially announced LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, the first game based on the popular Harry Potter book series re-imagined with the wonderful aid of LEGO blocks. Based on the first four Harry Potter books and movies that tell the story of Harry’s first four years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 mixes LEGO gameplay and light-hearted humor in a retelling of the grandest moments from both the books and films.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 will give gamers the chance to experience Harry Potter in a new and uniquely LEGO way playing as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, as well as other favorite characters. Players will attend lessons, cast spells, mix potions, fly on broomsticks and complete tasks to earn house points. Throughout the game, players will also have the freedom to explore familiar settings including Hogwarts castle, Diagon Alley, the Forbidden Forest and the village of Hogsmeade.

Look for more details this week from E3. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is being developed by TT Games and will be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and is scheduled for release in 2010. Platforms are to be announced.