Xbox 360 gamers were up in arms recently when movies from Sony's Columbia Pictures were pulled from Netflix's Xbox Live service. The angry mob should disperse now as the films are back online.

Where's the Christmas spirit, eh? You know, the season for caring and sharing. Apparently, Sony movies, via Columbia Pictures, can't be run on Netflix connected to the XBL. Sucks, right? DVD rentals, here we come.

In an official press release, game publishing giant Electronic Arts has announced that it will be granting US$ 1 million to the Masters of Digital Media program in the Great Northern Way Campus in Canada. Following a recourse of actions to further the games industry and market in the region, EA will also be focusing on bringing in the next generation of game and interactive media developers.

The grant will serve as funds to improve the program and adapting it to the trends of the industry.

Graduates of the program normally receive a seal approved by four of the region's most major institutions: University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia Institute of Technology and the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design. But now it seems they are more likely to receive more than just that.

"Our goal is to help create an innovative educational environment that will lure talented people from around the world to the Great Northern Way Campus," said Paul Lee, President of EA Worldwide Studios. Electronic Arts hopes to invest in the future of the industry by providing the means for students to develop the skills and knowledge for future game design.

In addition to being an endowment, the grant will also serve as a means for providing scholarships to the visionary thinkers deserving of the chance. EA will also be providing paid internships at an - as yet - unidentified development studio within the multi-studio company, offer students mentoring programs and even staff the lecturers and teachers from the company's executives.

'Course we love surfers. They have this cool accent, a smooth swagger when they walk, and those very attractive - uhh, beaks. And feathers. And real live webbed feet for padding through blue ocean waters - not the sort of flippers that humans attach to their gawky feet to help them swim.

We're talking about the surfers of Ubisoft's Surf's Up, an upcoming game on the PC, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Wii. It's based on a movie to be released by Columbia Pictures, a comedy based on a teenager, Cody Maverick, leaving his home in Shiverpool, Antartica to travel to Pen Gu Island to fulfill his dreams of becoming a pro surfer.

Along the way he meets interesting characters such as Chicken Joe, Reggie Belafonte, Mikey Abromowitz, Lani Aliikai, and Geek. And did we ever tell you that the characters are penguins and a chicken? The game comes on May 22 for all of the above-mentioned platforms, as well as for the PS2, Gamecube and the GBA.

Look at these first screen shots from the upcoming game.

Activision has just released the official fact sheet for their line of Spider-Man 3 games. Based on Columbia Pictures' upcoming Spider-Man 3 movie, the games promise to give players a chance to experience both movie-based as well as original 3.

Among the features that they have cited in their fact sheet, Activision mentions that players will be able to not just take on the adventures of our favorite webslinger, but those of his evil alter-ego symbiote costume as well. By playing as Venom, our hero's strength increases dramatically. However, the catch is that the longer that you take on this dark persona, the harder it is to control its will, and there is a chance that it might even take over you completely.

Besides having Venom as an alternate persona, players will also be able to freely roam New York City and take on missions as they please. However, just remember that in such a vast city, villains are bound to be scattered all around, and you will have to choose which bombing, hostage crisis, robbery, or other incident you will attend to first if you want to be able to rescue all those who need rescuing.

Besides your familiar roster of supervillains, there are three city gangs and their followers which you will have to deal with. Considering that the new AI has been amped up, and a new combat system has been implemented, it can be assumed that controlling these hooligans won't be a cakewalk.

Bound for release this May, Spider-Man 3 will be making appearances on the Xbox 360, the PS3, the Wii, PSP, NDS, PS2, GBA, and the PC.

 

The brains are taking center stage as we give you Mr. Fantastic and Iron Man's high-definition gameplay videos from Activision's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. These two characters are probably the smartest ones in the Marvel Universe.

Mr. Fantastic or Reed Richards in real life, is a child prodigy who excelled in mathematics, physics and mechanics. He went to prestigious universities like the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Columbia University, and the fictional Empire State University. He earned Ph.D's in both physics and electrical engineering while working as a military scientist - all this by the age of 22.  

The gameplay video shows Mr. Fantastic can, well, do fantastic attack combos. His ability to stretch his arms and limbs plus turn into any shape he pleases make for very interesting attack combinations. A personal favorite is when he turned his arms into nunchuks. Needless to say, long range attacks are his specialty.

On the other hand, Iron Man or Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark entered the undergraduate engineering program at MIT while only 15 years old and graduated at the top of his class. At 21, he was already running his father's company, Stark Industries, which later became Starks International.

He is shown in this gameplay video flying about and blasting away enemies with his repulsor beams. His best attack in this video is probably the last one, where he went nuts and disposed of all his enemies in one blast.

Both these brains also have some serious brawns, so be careful not to get on their bad side. Thanks to Wiebke Hess for sharing these goodies.

Download: [Iron Man Character Trailer]
Download: [Mr. Fantastic Character Trailer]

Buy: [Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for PS3]
Buy: [Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for Xbox 360]

EA recently announced the newest addition to one of its games, NBA Street, which was first unveiled in 2001. The streetball videogame is currently in development in Vancouver, British Columbia by EA Canada and is slated for a Spring 2007 release. EA hopes that casual games and sports fans can still be thrilled by the games easy pick-up and difficult to master gameplay, with progressive visuals and some of the biggest gameplay moments in action sports.

The fourth chapter of NBA Street series expands on the fast-paced 3-on-3 basketball gameplay that has made the franchise a hit. The game, according to EA, creates a hyper-real world that merges legendary courts with the hometown courts of your favorite NBA stars into one seamless city of streetball moments. Earn a name for yourself and garner respect as you progress along your hometown journey and become a legend.

The new version of NBA Street will be available for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. For now, all we can offer is a teaser which features one of my personal favorites, the multi-talented star player of the Denver Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony.

Download: [NBA Street Teaser]

Electronic Arts announced today that actress Emmanuelle Vaugier will star in Need for Speed Carbon this autumn. Developed by EA Black Box in Vancouver, British Columbia, Need for Speed Carbon is EA's next game in the series that will combine Underground and Most Wanted gameplay. The game will be available for the 360, PS3, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, DS, PSP, GBA and PC.

Emmanuelle Vaugier has a recurring role on the CBS show Two and a Half Men. She has also recently starred in the films Saw 2 and 40 Days and 40 Nights, and was selected to Maxim’s annual top 100 females list in May. In Need for Speed Carbon, Emmanuelle stars as Nikki, the ex-girlfriend of the hero who has "returned to town to face his mysterious past." Five grand!

"Being able to work in a videogame for the first time and working with the Need For Speed Carbon team at EA has been a great experience for me. This is a game that evolves the racing genre, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it", Vaugier said. "Playing the role of Nikki allows me to take a completely fresh approach to acting and push the boundaries of the creative process."