Apparently Hollywood wouldn't mind tossing Darksiders up on the silver screen, as Vigil's Joe Madureira confirmed to VG247 that THQ's already been contacted for projects outside of the video game realm. "We've gotten some interest from Hollywood, we've talked about doing a comic series," said Madureira. Obviously, a comic wouldn't be much of a stretch for the creative director, given his past experience with the medium.

"It's really a THQ thing, but I know they are definitely talking to people and I would be surprised if some of that stuff didn't happen," he added. While we can't really say whether the prospect of either is a good thing at this point -- we're still playing Darksiders for review -- we'll be sure to let you all know either way.

If it weren't for the fact that the recent "Andrew Brown asks" is a featured piece on UK-based MCV, the answers to his questions repeatedly starting with "Whilst" would have likely tipped us off to the Britishness of the feature and all involved. Both Sony's Ray Maguire and Nintendo's David Yarnton employ the subordinating conjunction whilst responding to questions about everything from the future of digital distribution to what the industry will look like in 2019. Though the Sony and Nintendo execs were a bit more reserved in their predictions, Microsoft's Neil Thompson believes digital distribution will "explode in the next three years." All three gentlemen admitted that retail will still play a major role for (at very least) a few more years.

As for cloud computing, only Microsoft's Thompson seems to be on board. "I'm convinced cloud will play a central role in the games industry of the future ... our strategy is certainly to enable people to connect to their key entertainment content through innovative services that span across multiple devices." Our only worry is that, by the time all this future stuff arrives, we'll be too busy cruising around in our flying cars to care.

With the exception of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII, games have rarely needed more than the 25 GB offered by a standard single-layer Blu-ray disc. The lack of demand hasn't stopped Sony and Panasonic, though. The two companies have developed a new technology called "i-MLSE" that can increase the capacity of a single-layer disc by about a third, to 33.4 GB. According to Nikkei Electronics, i-MLSE is a processor-intensive method that will allow players to properly calculate the read-error rate, a stumbling block that prevented larger capacity discs.

Presumably, it will only take a firmware update to ensure Blu-ray players (like the PS3) can utilize the new disc format. Sony plans on encouraging widespread adoption through the Blu-ray Disc Association, which shouldn't be a problem considering Sony plays a pretty large role in that organization.

[Via Engadget]

You'd hoped that after investing 60 hours of your life, you could hang up your sword and catch a breather until the next BioWare RPG, but, oh no, the Darkspawn did not simply disappear. Thankfully, today's announcement of Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, a retail expansion to IGN's & Spike's RPG of the Year Joystiq's "4th Best of 2009," has been accompanied by this video pep talk. After all, you have quite the task ahead of you.

Awakening will be released March 16 for $39.99 on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. A copy of the original Dragon Age: Origins is required to play.

So, okay, Army of Two: The 40th Day is kind of the definition of a multiplayer mode: "All co-op, all the time." But on top of the constant comradery of the core campaign, this sequel also features several traditional multiplayer modes inspired by other popular multiplayer games.

This latest trailer chronicles the classic struggle between the colors Red and Blue across the game's four muliplayer modes: Warzone, Co-op Deathmatch, Control, and Extraction. Sadly, it appears that the So You Think You Can Fist Bump competition didn't make the cut.

Just before the clock struck midnight to round out the last decade, Naughty Dog unveiled (and released) a major overhaul to its online stat tracking for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The game's new stat display digs let us get down and dirty into the tiniest little details. Need to know your kill/death ratio, and your lifetime loot stockpile, and see how you compare to the entire global average on a specific map? Done. Looking for detailed breakdowns of previous multiplayer showdowns? Covered.

This stat update is a monster and according to Naughty Dog, the team may still expand the system further. We're willing to let them sit on it for a while, but only because we're still a little busy swooning over our top pick of 2009.

Sure, Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer mode has already sucked you in, but just imagine what would happen if you added an invigorating soundtrack to all those bullet-soaked moments? Well, guess what: The game's soundtrack composer, Hans Zimmer, recently indicated in a Facebook note that the "soundtrack album is in the works."

That's right -- soon you'll be able to take the orchestrated drama from the single-player campaign and import it into a looping death march beat. But hey, at least your folks will be glad you're listening to classical music, right?

Above, you'll see a snippet of the box art for Metal Slug: Double X -- one X short of ESRB problems. While the box touts a PlayStation Network logo, the game will only be compatible with the classic PSP-1000 through 3000 series. Why? An Atlus representative tells Joystiq that the publisher has no plans to release a downloadable version on the PlayStation Store; though a digital copy of 2007's Metal Slug Anthology (published by SNK) is currently available.

Launching February 23 exclusively on UMD, the upcoming 2D shooter, which is an updated version of Metal Slug 7 for DS, will feature seven levels, 70 mission-based challenges and an ad-hoc two-player multiplayer mode. With a $20 price tag, Metal Slug: Double X sounds like a deal. Too bad PSP Go owners, once again, will be unable to cash in.

Capcom announced today that a demo for its upcoming jetpacktion game, Dark Void, will be available this week on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. The demo, which promises "a combination of thrilling aerial dog-fighting, unique vertical cover action and on-foot combat," will be released Wednesday, January 6 on Xbox Live Marketplace and Thursday, January 7 on PSN. Wait, did it say we'd be fighting aerial dogs? Total nightmare material.

Should you decide you like strapping fire to your back and hanging with old pal Nikola Tesla, the retail Dark Void game will be released on January 19. Expect the DSiWare spinoff, Dark Void Zero, sometime in January, as well.

EA Sports president Peter Moore recently restated the publisher's commitment to golfer Tiger Woods in a blog post, despite the once pristine athlete's incredibly public fall from grace. Moore reaffirmed that EA's relationship with Woods has always been "rooted in golf" and that the company "didn't form a relationship with him so that he could act as an arm's length endorser." As for Tiger's penchant for prowling, the executive concluded, "Regardless of what's happening in his personal life, and regardless of his decision to take a personal leave from the sport, Tiger Woods is still one of the greatest athletes in history."

EA told Joystiq in early December that it plans to stand by Woods. The sports superstar may be losing other endorsement deals, but as GI.biz notes, EA Sports put convicted rapist and ear connoisseur Mike Tyson on the cover of Bite Fight Night: Round 4, so what's a little philandering between friends and business buddies?

[Via GI.biz]

We no longer have to rely on Google-translated rumors about retailer listings regarding an upcoming Dragon Age expansion. EA has officially revealed Awakening, the first retail expansion for Dragon Age: Origins, due in stores March 16 for $40 -- and it's up for pre-order on GameStop now. (There's no word on a downloadable version.)

Awakening takes place after the (many) events of Origins, putting the player in the role of a new Grey Warden Commander, or simply an old, imported character from the main game, taking on new monsters, like the Inferno Golem and the Spectral Dragon, in a new area of the world called Amaranthine. The expansion features an increased level cap, new items, new spells, the ability to "re-spec" attributes, and five new party members with whom to bond.

It seems odd that the DLC delay and the expansion announcements would coincide so closely, though we don't think it's a matter of BioWare trying to starve people for Dragon Age content so that the expansion would appear more attractive. We can't think of any other explanation than "it's a weird coincidence," though we'll attempt to clear it up with BioWare.

Update: Check out the debut trailer.

In a terse message on the BioWare forums last night, Community Coordinator Chris Priestly announced that the Dragon Age: Origins "Return to Ostagar" DLC, dated for release today, won't be available as planned.

"We're sorry but the planned Return to Ostagar downloadable content scheduled to launch on January 5th has been delayed for all platforms," the forum post reads. "We will update you as new information becomes available." And then there's a little "devil" emoticon, which seems to be Priestly's forum signature rather than a hint that the post is a joke. The fact that the delay applies to "all platforms" suggests that the content could arrive after the "later in January" release window named for PS3 before.

We expect that BioWare will release more details (as in, some details) about the delay during business hours -- or an official denial, if this turns out to be inaccurate. In either case, we're waiting to see if we're going to be waiting for the DLC.