Crispy Gamer News

SCI FI and Trion World Network have hired two key industry veterans to help co-develop a connected video game and television show. Kevin Beardslee joins Trion to serve as Senior Development Director for the project at Trion’s San Diego development studio. Television writer Peter Egan has been tapped to write the pilot episode. 

Kevin Beardslee has over 15 years experience in game design, with over a decade spent developing MMO’s. Most notably, Kevin served as a key member of Blizzard Entertainment’s core development team for MMO World of Warcraft before founding Carbine Studios, a division of NCsoft North America, where he created and oversaw the development of an unannounced MMO. Working with Trion, Beardslee will act as the Senior Development Director for the co-developed SCI FI – Trion MMO video game. Peter Egan’s television experience includes Playmakers (ESPN) and Over There (FX Network). For NBC Entertainment, Peter served as a writer on several series including Medium and Medical Investigation. Egan also served as writer and story editor on the SCI FI series, The Dresden Files.

Trion and SCI FI hope to transcend the standard television and gaming experience by simultaneously co-developing a game and cable television property. The Trion – SCI FI partnership promises a synergy between entertainment mediums creating a “single rich, fictional universe of story telling.”

Ubisoft is doing its best to make sure that its newest CSI game, CSI New York is as authentic as it possibly can be. The company has spent the extra dough to bring the actors from the show in to reprise their roles in the game. among them, Golden Globe winner Gary Sinise, Melina Kanakaredes, Carmine Giovinazzo, Eddie Cahill, Hill Harper, Anna Belknap, Robert Joy and A.J. Buckley.

CSI: NY – The Game promises to allow you to play as actual characters from the TV show, a graphic novel art style, interactive mini-games and interrogations, as well as original cases crafted by writers from the “CSI: NY” television series. The game will launch for the PC on November 18th, in time for the 2008 holiday season.

Geoff Keighley has a new title and more responsibilities with Spike TV. Spike TV announced today that Keighley been named executive in charge of video game publisher relations for the network. The announcement was jointly made today by Casey Patterson, senior vice president, event production and talent development, Spike TV And TV Land, and Niels Schuurmans, senior vice president, brand creative and marketing, Spike TV.

In his new position, Keighley will take the reins of the network’s year-round video game
programming strategy, as well as manage Spike’s editorial relationships with game publishers. He’ll continue to be the host of GameTrailers TV.

The battle for Kitchen Stadium has two new challengers as Destineer confirmed that “food expert” and Adams Sessler look-alike Alton Brown and celebrity chef Cat Cora will be represented in its upcoming Iron Chef game, Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine. Both will lend their voices and likenesses to the game which is scheduled for release later this year on the Wii and DS.

Alton is best known as the host of the hit Food Network show Good Eats, and as a host on the American version of Iron Chef. Cat Cora the very first female Iron Chef on Iron Chef America and star chef of Disney’s What’s Cooking with Cat Cora on Disney Travel on Demand TV. Her most recently published book, “Cooking From the Hip” offers readers fast and easy recipes. Both are movers and shakers on the Food Network as well as celebrities in the culinary world.

Earlier today, Destineer announced two other Iron Chefs that would be in the game.

Today, Midway confirmed another brand name wrestler to appear in its upcoming wrestling game TNA iMPACT! - coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 in September. The newest entry in the roster in “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash, best known as a founding member of the NWO in WCW along with Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan, and as a henchman of Shawn Michaels in the early days of the WWE.

Nash joins TNA originals Samoa Joe, Abyss, AJ Styles, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Shark Boy, Eric Young, Hernandez, Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels - and brand name wrestlers like Sting, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, Tomko, Christian Cage and Rhino.

To date, Midway has announced 20 wrestlers who will be featured in the game. Five more TNA superstars will be unveiled in the coming weeks. You can learn more about TNA iMPACT! by hitting this link.

Namco Bandai Games America will release the video game adaption of Afro Samurai for Xbox 360 and PS3 on January 27, 2009. The game based in the popular animated show that combines urban hip hop themes and music with traditional Japanese aesthetics. The show stars Samuel L. Jackson, who will reprise his role as protagonist Afro and his wise-cracking sidekick Ninja Ninja.

You can learn more about the game by visiting www.afrosamurai.com.

Why Nickelodeon, why? As someone who has watched every last episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, today’s announcement that the company is working on a watered down MMO combat game is a bit disconcerting. Why? Because talk in my circles about an Avatar MMO have been frequent and stimulating. But instead of getting the robust MMO experience I’d imagined from such a game, it looks like fans of the show will get a watered down arena combat game. Here’s some free advice for developers making games for kids: they can handle decent, deep and engaging gameplay.

The game, Avatar: Legends of the Arena, will serve as a prequel story to the events in the series, letting players create their own Avatar character and test their skills against players from around the world in 3D online arenas. Each game level will introduce new content, challenges, custom character outfits and powers on an ongoing basis. A beta version of the game is being unveiled today at Comic-Con in San Diego.

The game will be rolled out in 81 markets in ten languages, including the United States, United
Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, Southeast Asia, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Italy, France, Korea, Japan, Israel, Holland, Northern Belgium, Germany, Brazil, and Portugal. A total of 77 countries will launch the game on Sept. 15, with the remaining markets launching shortly thereafter.

The game is part of an initiative to promote the continuing re-runs of the series on Nicktoons Network, the July 29th release of the Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 3: Fire - Volume 4 DVD and the upcoming Avatar live action film being handled by M. Night Shyamalan, and the Avatar The Last Airbender: Into the Inferno video game from THQ.