Gamasutra recently mixed it up with Capcom’s Shin Ohara, co-producer ofDead Rising 2, and among the many topics covered was the Ultimate Zombie Limit. IE: The number of zombies possible to show onscreen in a video game, at once. A number I shall refer to as UZL.

In the past, a game's UZL was determined by the hardware of the game system. Weaker systems couldn't handle many more than 10 or 20 zombies onscreen, but as technology progressed and hardware became faster and more powerful, gaming pushed gamings UZL into the hundreds and then the thousands. According to Ohara, Dead Rising 2 has capped the UZL for all time, and the scale is no longer a useful measure of a game's zombie-osity.

A tech demo for Dead Rising 2 showed 7,000 zombies on screen (an important milestone), but the finished game won't boast that many crawling undead at once, mainly because it would be pointless. Here's how Ohara explains it:

"Last year at Captivate we did a demo. We had a strip -- It was probably like 10 meters wide and 200 meters long. We filled it with about 7,000 zombies. After about 3,000, you can't really tell the difference because it fills up the screen anyway. Over 3,000, it ruins the experience. It's not a game anymore. We can show about 7,000 zombies if we wanted to, our technology is not limiting us. If the game only shows about 500 zombies or 1,000 zombies, that's not the game's limit. We have just enough so that people have fun with the zombies and the gameplay is rewarding."

So much like the speed of Light, UZL is a constant that equals 3,000... unless you have a bigger TV, I suppose.

On an unrelated note: I'm almost criminally excited for Dead Rising 2.

Source: Gamasutra

2K Sports’ upcoming NBA 2K11 won’t just feature the legendary Michael Jordan, but as 2K announced today, it will also include a soundtrack comprised of some of today’s biggest up and coming bands as well as many established artists, including rap icon Snoop Dogg, who wrote an exclusive theme song for the game.

“Snoop has been a long time fan of the NBA 2K series,” said 2K Sports vice president of marketing Jason Argent, “and because music is such an integral part to the gameplay experience, it was a perfect fit for this year’s title – one of the greatest rappers making an exclusive track for the greatest NBA game.”

Check out the full track list below:

• Snoop Dogg – NBA 2K Theme
• Big Boi – "Shutterbug"
• Drake - "Over"
• Cassidy – "Game Time"
• Ron Artest – "Champion"
• Duck-Down All-Stars feat. Buckshot, Skyzoo, Promise, and Sean Price – "Better Than You"
• The Alan Parsons Project - "Sirius"
• Art vs. Science – "Hollywood"
• Big Rock Candy Mountain – "Rocketship"
• Brunettes – "Red Rollerskates"
• Chicharones – "Little By Little"
• Children Collide – "Skeleton Dance"
• Constellations feat. Asher Roth– "We’re Here To Save The Day"
• Dan Black feat. Kid Cudi – "Symphonies (Remix)"
• Delorean – "Deli"
• Ev – Home Of The Brave "(Instrumental)"
• Failsafe – "Hope & Only If We Learn"
• HOGNI – "Bow Down"
• Kidz In Space – "Downtime"
• Middleman – "It’s Not Over Yet"
• Rakaa feat. Aloe Blaac – "Crown Of Thorns"
• The Redland – "So Far"
• The Russian Futurists – "Paul Simon & Precious Metals"
• Sonny Bones – "Rise"
• Two Door Cinema Club – "I Can Talk"
• Yung Autmatik & Bayroot Productions – "Go Hard or Go Home"
• Dux Jones – "Pourin’ It On"

What do you think of the soundtrack? Kind of a weird question, but what do you think is the best sports game soundtrack ever?

Should the need arise, feel free to E-Mail me your tips, suggestions, and/or personal philosophies, or follow me on Twitter.

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In this special edition of Fresh Ink Online, Blair Butler reports from her hotel room at San Diego Comic-Con and shows off some shirts and art she picked up on the floor. She also reviews new issues of The Walking Dead, Axe Cop, Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom, and the very large graphic novel Rocketeer: Artist’s Edition. Come back tomorrow for a brand new webisode with even more reviews.

Make sure to visit us on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

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The much-discussed trailer for Marvel's Thor, which was shown last week at Comic-Con is finally starting to work its way to the Internet, and despite what Odin might think, it is actually quite worthy of its title. Unfortunately, uploads have been disappearing faster than a lost iPad left on a park bench outside an Apple Store. Therefore, I hope that enough people get a chance to see this, because it quite impressive. If you think director and Shakespearean legend Kenneth Branagh plans to utilize Marvel's Thunder God for some pretentious costumed epic with soliloquies, suicidal maidens, and poison-tipped rapier duels, think again! Based on what we see, Thor is a hybrid epic of the classical tragedy, Arthurian destiny, with intense action that works quite well. Do check out the video below. (Which will hopefully still work.)

We see Thor cast out of Asgard, wake up with Natalie Portman fawning over him, sporting a ridiculously cut bod that makes the ladies all tingly, all while working to discover his destiny and take the power of the mystic hammer Mjolnir. That's right, Loki, the usurper of Asgard's crown has an ass-kicking with his name on it, and something tells me that Thor's gonna take that curly-horned hat he's sporting, turn it sideways and stick it straight up his candy...oh wait, despite early rumors, this film will be without WWE superstars of any kind. Never mind.

On a final note, how cool is the Destroyer? Agent Coulson and his pals couldn't high-tail fast enough. It's like a walking Death Star that just vomits destruction.

You can't deny it. 3D is coming and it's making its way into your living room. Today on Attack of the Show, Chris Hardwick and Kevin Pereira will be reviewing the Sony Bravia 52" 3D HDTV which offers LED backlighting technology, Motionflow PRO 240Hz, Bravia Internet video and 3D features for the ultimate viewing experience. Will this be the best pick for 3D televisions? You'll have to watch to find out.

Alison Haislip also sits down Paul Rudd and Steve Carell for her own Dinner with Schmucks and Kevin Pereira explores online privacy concerns on The Loop. Tune in tonight at 7pm!

I'll admit, it's been hard to find time to sleep lately. Oh, and do other things like "show up for work on time" or "remember to eat" or "spend time with my significant other." All because of StarCraft II. Ever since I got my copy, I've been looking for spare minutes in the day just so I can pop in and clear one more mission, but then I'll end up playing for hours on end.

Like last night. I'd gotten as far as a certain level where ... let's just say, very bad things happen at night. And the planet is on a very fast day/night cycle, so you have to really work fast while the sun is shining. Not really something you can drop into for fifteen minutes, so I ended up spending four hours in the game. You know, the ol' "Okay, just one more mission" problem.

Plus, this is all without having played one second of the multiplayer. In fact, I haven't even wanted to dive in there, because what Blizzard has really done this time around is nailed the single-player experience. The Hyperion is a living and breathing ship, complete with it's own characters and locations. You can talk to nearly everyone on-board, and it's a quantum leap beyond the briefing screens in the last game.

Further immersing you into the world of the Koprulu Sector are the fully animated 3D portraits when you're issuing commands, small details like billboards in the Terran colonies (like the one above, which seems to just be touting the Battle Cruiser. Are those very affordable?), and temple ruins strewn about on some of the Protoss worlds. In fact, about the only bad thing I can say about the immersion is that the units themselves tend to repeat themselves a lot. You'll hear your SCVs repeating "What's goin' on?" so many times that it'll drive you batty.

But, any game that lets me sit in the ship's cantina and listen to music or play The Lost Viking arcade game is tops in my book. This one just happens to come wrapped with unique missions and addictive gameplay. Plus, there's a lot of humor in here. Be sure and watch the television news reports in the cantina. There's some good stuff in there. We'll have a proper review for you soon, courtesy of our own Morgan Webb. But for now, back to some button-clicking.

What do you think so far? 

Have something to share? Have an idea for a feature you'd like to see on G4? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.

As we enter the second week of Microsoft’s second annual Summer of Arcade, research firm Forecasting & Analyzing Digital Entertainment has released its Xbox Live sales estimates for the first half of 2010, and the results are rather surprising, particularly given what title topped the best-sellers list.

According to FADE’s estimates, XBLA has generated over $46 million as of June 30, a 13 percent increase over last year, and is expected to go on to pull in between $130-$140 million by the end of the year. A major contributing factor to XBLA’s growth early in the year was Microsoft’s Block Party promotion, which saw the release of Rare’s re-release Perfect Dark, and Signal Studios’ tower defense title Toy Soldiers, which is actually the top grossing XBLA game of 2010 so far with $4.6 million in sales (almost double the sales of Perfect Dark by the way).

There’s a good chance one of the current/upcoming Summer of Arcade titles (Limbo, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light) will knock Toy Soldiers from the top spot sometime soon, but for now, the miniature warfare title can enjoy being the big game on XBLA; and be proud of it too, given that it stands atop such acclaimed titles as Trials HD and Castle Crashers.

Here’s the full list of the best selling XBLA titles of the year so far:

• Toy Soldiers (Signal Studios) – $4.6 million (1200 MSP)
• Trials HD (RedLynx) – $4.4 million (800 – 1200 MSP)
• Castle Crashers (The Behemoth) – $2.9 million (800 – 1200 MSP)
• Battlefield 1943 (EA DICE) – $2.5 million (800 – 1200 MSP)
• Perfect Dark (4J Studios) – $2.4 million (800 MSP)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Capcom) – $1.8 million (800 – 1200 MSP)
• Family Game Night (EA Bright Light) – $1.7 million (400 – 800 MSP)
• Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment) – $1.2 million (800 – 1200 MSP)
• Magic: The Gathering (Stainless Games) – $900,000 (800 MSP)
• Call of Duty: Classic (Infinity Ward) – $800,000 (1200 MSP)

Source: VG247

Should the need arise, feel free to E-Mail me your tips, suggestions, and/or personal philosophies, or follow me on Twitter.

How's this for a dream-team: Avatar's James Cameron will be producing a film version of H.P. Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness. The news was revealed on Deadline.com. Apparently, the film is planned as a big ticket, 3D blockbuster, a choice in keeping with the original tale's larger-than-life adventure.

Lovecraft, arguably the most influential horror writer in history, hasn't exactly been served very well by the movie industry. Other than the campy fun of Re-Animator, Lovecraft adaptations have generally disappointed, but look for the new Mountains to buck the trend. If anyone can capture the non-Euclidean Geometry of the Elder Gods' Antarctic lair correctly, it's James Cameron, and if anyone can make a cinematic story out of Lovecraft's purple prose, it's del Toro. I predict real terror and creeping dread.

How this will fit in with del Toro's plans to both make The Haunted Mansion and create some new video games remains to be seen, but of all those projects, I'm most excited about Mountains. As a horror-fan, how could I not be?

Source: Deadline

Polish up your resume: According to a job listing on Gamasutra.com, Blizzard is staffing up for a new, unannounced project. The listing reads, in part:

Blizzard Entertainment is on the hunt for an exceptional FX artist who has experience in one or more of the following skills; modeling, texturing and/or animation. This person will create a broad range of highly-finished artwork to be featured in a new and exciting game experience. The position offers a unique opportunity to partner with team engineers and push the rendering capabilities of our target platform(s) with the goal of creating immersive and spectacular environments.

A "new and exciting game experience" could mean almost anything, of course... and the rest of the ad contains even fewer clues, but that isn't going to stop me from poring over it. Here are the requirements:

* 1-3 years in game development as a an FX or generalist artist
* Experience developing high-end particle systems and visual effects
* Comfortable interfacing with engineers to jointly define art technical requirements
* Skilled in developing artwork that works within a range of system configurations (looks great on the newest graphics chips but also holds up on lower-end systems)
* Strong working knowledge of Maya
* A passion for games

Pluses

* Strong ability to model and texture hard surface/rigid objects within a range of styles (painterly to realistic)
* Background in painting, concept art or technical animation
* Previously shipped a AAA PC or console title
* Experience with Mel of MaxScript

This sentence: " (looks great on the newest graphics chips but also holds up on lower-end systems)" makes me think of World of Warcraft... but hey, it could be anything -- maddening, no?

Source: Gamasutra

If you have any interest in Nintendo’s dimensional-skewing 3DS, then be sure to mark September 29 on your calendars. That's not because the handheld’s release date has been bumped up several months, but rather, that’s when Nintendo plans to reveal the price and official release date for the device.

Nintendo revealed the announcement date in Bloomberg Japan, VG247 reports, which means Nintendo plans to share the pertinent details following Tokyo Game Show, since the convention lasts from Sept. 16-19. Guess Nintendo wants to make sure all eyes are solely on them for the big reveal. Plus, it gives them more time to ramp up the already manic levels of anticipation surrounding the 3DS.

Nintendo of America head Reggie Fils-Aime said following E3 2010 that the 3DS would be out before March 2011, but I guess we’ll have to wait until September to find out for sure.

Source: VG247

Should the need arise, feel free to E-Mail me your tips, suggestions, and/or personal philosophies, or follow me on Twitter.

Director Mike Newell has an interesting relationship with gaming. He directed Prince of Persia, one of the most high profile video game movies ever made, and yet seems to believe that games can't convey emotions in the way that film does.

Here's the quote from Computer and Video Games, who asked Newell whether games were a threat to Hollywood movies.

"Well, here we are, talking about the God damn games again. The answer is yes, of course they can become a threat to Hollywood. But [they cannot] do so with drama in any real sense.

When people watch 24, they're watching for the surprise, you know - when is the great big bad surprise going to step out from behind the palm tree. When they watch The Wire, they're watching the human drama of it. You can't do it without the human drama.

And the video game cannot do that. The video game can do all sorts of face-pulling, all sorts of: 'I am a bad man, I have a mean jagged sword,'  but it can't do any more than that."

Newell goes on to say that he watched his assistant play Prince of Persia (presumably Sands of Time, although he doesn't actually say) and felt nothing. Not to diss anyone, but maybe a guy who doesn't play games, and doesn't have any emotional attachment to them (or even seem to believe that other people do) isn't the best choice to direct movies based on video games?

I saw Newell's Prince of Persia, and the director's condescension toward his audience is evident in every moment of the film. Each plot point in the simple story is explained at least three times, and the characters are as sophisticated and sublte as special ed fifth graders, so I'm not surprised by Newell's dismissive comments about games (and gamers). Every frame of Prince of Persia seems to say "I think you are stupid."

It is utterly devoid of any actual human emotion, as well. I guess I was supposed to be excited by the whiz-bang special effects or invested in the on-again, off-again relationship between the Prince and the love interest lady, but I was just bored by this great heavy turd of a movie.

PoP comes off as a film made by a committee of people in buisness suits. People whose wives have had plastic surgery. People who play golf. Maybe games can't convey drama in exactly the same way film can, but at least people like David Cage are trying. Newell has all the tools, money, and other resources on earth available to make Prince of Persia an emotionally compelling film, and rather than do that, he used a bunch of digital effects, cast a "big name" actor, cranked up the marketing department and called it a day. Newell didn't just fail, he seems to not have tried at all.

Or not. Newell also said this in the interview:

"I tried to make the relationships between the characters [in Prince Of Persia] as sophisticated as I could."

Really? And that's the best he could come up with?  Maybe Mike Newell is in the wrong line of work.

See my Prince of Persia review right here.

Source: Computer and Video Games

Zipper Interactive have confirmed that their PlayStation Move-supported shooter SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs has been delayed, and will now be released in 2011.

“While we're certainly aware that you've been looking forward to playing SOCOM 4 this year,” Zipper senior community manager Jeremy Dunham explained on the game’s official site, ”we don't want to take any shortcuts. Instead, we want to deliver the best and most immersive SOCOM game we possibly can and we're going to use our extra time to do just that.”

It will be interesting to see if the delay affects Move sales later this year, since Sony has positioned SOCOM 4 as their “hardcore” Move title. Then again, making sure the game is as polished as possible, especially in the Move department, is obviously top priority, and I’m glad Zipper has been given the time they need to make that happen.

Source: SOCOM.com

Should the need arise, feel free to E-Mail me your tips, suggestions, and/or personal philosophies, or follow me on Twitter.

The third edition of the best-selling PC video game franchise ever is coming to consoles, and we got an early peak at how the game looks while it's making that giant leap from the laptop to the TV screen. The verdict so far: Promising.

"It’s always a touchy issue when a PC game is ported to a console because inevitably some of the cooler features are lost in translation. It’s even touchier when a beloved, fairly complex god-game like the PC version of The Sims 3 hits the consoles. But Maxis is promising some beguiling new bells and whistles to add to the console versions that may even lure tried and true aficionados of the PC offering."

Read the rest of our Sims 3 preview right here.

Whoa. If the other Halo: Reach trailers haven't already forced you to enlist in the battle for Reach, this TV spot should be the clincher. Fleet of Warthogs engaged in battle with Covenant forces? Check!  Falcons with troops onboard in scenes reminiscent of James Cameron's Avatar? Check! Awesome chill-inducing soundtrack? Check!

Even though the game's gotta end on a downer, after this trailer I can definitely say... WANT!

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Feel free to follow me on Twitter or if you have something you'd like to share, get in touch via E-mail.

APB developer Realtime Worlds has revealed details and some new gameplay walkthroughs for their new world-simulating, social gaming platform Project: MyWorld.

With the help of some handcrafted technology and lots of satellite imagining, Realtime Worlds is able to create entire countries, down to every building, intersection, and landmark, and, assuming all goes according to plan, eventually the entire world. Players can not only go all SimCity in the game and create their own structures, or manipulate existing real-world structures as well.

The game also draws from various social networking services like Facebook and Twitter and projects that data in the world. This means that you can expect to see quite a few update bubbles appear as you traverse your current location.

It’s a mighty ambitious project, and it will interesting to see how Realtime Worlds differentiates it from other virtual worlds like Second Life or even PlayStation Home, aside from the obvious fact about it being a virtual representation of the actual world.

Check out the below trailer to see Project: MyWorld in action:

Project MyWorld is currently in closed beta, and is expected to launch early next year.

Source: VG247

Should the need arise, feel free to E-Mail me your tips, suggestions, and/or personal philosophies, or follow me on Twitter.

Zack Snyder is a director who, in my mind, has always done a better job of making movies that are more visually interesting than anything else. I realize I could be opening myself up to fanboy rage here, but in The Watchmen, the beautifully choreographed opening sequence was the best part of the movie. The 300 definitely had a unique style to it, but the story was bare bones and it left me wondering what the hype was all about.

Hopefully that wil change with Sucker Punch, because the idea of a girl in a mental institution entering an alternate reality in order to hatch an escape plan has promise. In this week's links, we have the first Sucker Punch trailer, along with some NFL rookies being hazed like fraternity pledges and two completely insane videos from opposite sides of the world. 

• FilmDrunk has the first trailer for Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, which looks pretty cool. However the real winner this week is the trailer for Who Killed Captain Alex, the first Ugandan action movie.

• Check out 15 great moments in NFL rookie hazing over on Manofest.com.

• Take some 100% fool proof sobriety tests at CollegeHumor.

• Uncoached has one of the strangest rap videos ever. Yes, there's a disabled man, but the crazy guy next to him takes it to another level.
   

UPDATE: We're currently working to improve the sync between the video and audio within this episode. Instead of pulling the current video, we're leaving it up until it can be replaced, so you can still enjoy the banter.

If you're able to tear your eyes and ears away from StarCraft II for a little while, you can feast them on this week's Feedback. In our "We Survived Comic-Con!" Edition, we wrap up the Comic-Con news with some highlights, and talk about what's ahead. Check out this week's biggest game news, reviews and more with host Adam Sessler, Matt Keil, Rob Manuel, Jake Gaskill and ... myself, Kevin Kelly.

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While I harvest vespene gas with one hand, let me tell you what we talked about on this week's Feedback with the other:

• We wrapped up all the Comic-Con news that was fit to print, and talk about some of the highlights. New Halo: Reach features?! The new Cole look in inFamous 2 gets jettisoned?? There are over 100,000 sweaty people at the Con?!
• Limbo and Deathspank both managed to impress us. A lot. We talk about why you'll want to play them.
• It might take all of the superpowers in the world to define what actually makes a hardcore gamer, but we take a crack at it. What do you think make a gamer hardcore? You could play Farmville for eight hours a day, but does that make you hardcore? Maybe it depends on your definition.

Feedback: A lot more fun than a pen in the eye.

The AUDIO MP3 of this episode of FEEDBACK is available here: Right-click and Save.

I love Guillermo del Toro. He made The Devil's Backbone. He made Hellboy. He made Pan's Labyrinth. And now he's making games. Here's what del Toro said to MTV News:

"One of the things we're announcing in the next few weeks is a big deal with a big company. We're going to do games that are going to be technically and narratively very interesting. It's not a development deal. We're going to do it. We're doing them. And we're going to announce it soon enough."

Consider that the announcement of the upcoming announcement, then. Obviously, we will let you know the moment del Toro makes his big announcement, but until then, it's all speculation.

I wonder if del Toro can do it. Game developers always think they could make great movies, and directors always think they could make great games, yet this is often not the case. Hopefully, del Toro surrounds himself with competent, talented people that no the game "space" and comes up with a winning title or two.

God, I hope so. The game industry is so full of re-hashes and sequels, it would be nice to see the product of a true visionary like del Toro on a console or PC.

Source: MTV

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Cool off in the summer heat and create memories while you're at it with Kodak's PlaySport video camera, which allows users to record up to 10 feet underwater in HD or take 5 mega pixel still photos. Kevin Pereira and Alison Haislip take a look at this camera that sells for $130.

Find the full review from Gadget Pron on Attack of the Show after the cut.

What You Need To Know

• Typically, waterproof gadgets are kind of bulky, but this Kodak PlaySport is incredibly portable.
• It's just barely thicker and heavier than the Flip.
• It has a thin side profile so it fits in your pocket nicely.
• Kodak also improved their user-friendly interface.
• The icons make more sense, the buttons are larger and everything is just easier to do.
• There's also an SD card slot and a mini HDMI out.
• Even though it's waterproof, it's not shockproof.
• This camera can shoot video in 1080p, take 5 megapixel stills and has built-in uploading software.
• All these features work really well.
• You can shoot video in 1080p, 720p or 720p at 60 fps to reduce motion blur.
• 5 megapixel stills also look surprisingly good. It's quick to take a picture but has some loading time after you take one.
• The software is also pretty powerful since you can edit movies, convert videos for your iPhone or other gadgets, and upload to YouTube, Facebook and other sites.
• It's not perfect but it works just fine.
• The footage in HD also looks good.
• Normal light and outdoor footage is where this thing shines; it's got lots of detail and vivid colors, especially for a pocket video camera.
• It's also the same underwater, which is where the camera might get a little shaky.
• The electronic image stabilization seems to help.
• In low light footage, you'll see a lot of trailing and artifacting so it's not the best we've seen. It'll still get the job done, though.
• Overall, it's a much more impressive showing than the last Kodak video camera we reviewed.

Price

• $130.00

Rating

• 4 Seals of Approval out of 5. (How do we rate gadgets?)

Want something reviewed on Gadget Pr0n? Email us your suggestions to gadgetpron@g4tv.com.

Ever wanted to carry some legal tender from the world of Azeroth around in your pocket? Maybe this would make you feel like you're still connected with the World of Warcraft, even while you're miles away from your computer. Just don't accidentally spend it, because you'll regret losing your limited edition Varian Wrynn gold coin.

We spotted this change jingling inside the DC Direct cases at Comic-Con. The expensive pocket coins (costing a real-world $69.99) comes in both Horde and Alliance flavors, and features a major player on one side with their corresponding city on the other. They come with a special display case, but we're hoping these end up in the hip pockets and change purses of gamers all over. Undercity piece of silver for your thoughts?