Remember Harker (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii)? Long after we've heard of the game being developed by The Collective, Foundation 9 has revealed that the next-gen Jonathan Harker adventure is on indefinite hold. Reportedly, its devs are now working on a different survival horror title. Hit that jump to learn more.

Game publisher Atari US has revealed yesterday that they've experienced a loss of US$ 7.7 million for the second quarter of the fiscal year, adding to their woes from Q1 losses.

Addressing these financial issues, they have taken a number of steps for a long-term strategy (details in the full article) but they aren't confident that these are sufficient footholds.

Canadian game fans have something to look forward to at home as the Montreal Game Summit has been announced and new details have been revealed for the event.

Taking place in Montreal's Palais de Congres on the 27th and 28th of November, the gathering will focus on the latest developments and issues concerning the electronic entertainment industry.

The Montreal Game Summit of 2007 is touted to be quite different from its predecessors as it claims a makeover in the flow and orientation of the program. Specifics as to what the changes will be haven't been disclosed yet but we'll update you as soon as things are made known.

Game industry visionary Dave Perry will deliver the keynote speech while industry leaders such as Stormfront's Don Daglow, Foundation 9's Jon Goldman, Ubisoft's Clint Hocking and Eidos' Julian Merceron will also give their thoughts on the state of gaming in Canada and around the world.

Video game news site Siliconera has posted a partial list of titles that will be available in playable form at this year's San Diego Comic Con. There are some big titles here too, like Blue Dragon, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations and a bunch of Naruto titles, so try and check 'em out if you're stopping by on July 26 to 29.

So far, the Capcom booth has the most number of playable titles available, followed by the Foundation 9 and Viz Media booths. Of course, this is just a partial list. We have yet to hear from companies such as Sony, Square-Enix and Konami about what playable games they'll be offering. Keep checking back here for more updates.

• Capcom Booth
• Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (DS)
• Devil May Cry 4 (Xbox 360, PS3)
• Harvey Birdman (PS2, PSP)
• Mega Man Star Force (DS)
• Mega Man ZX Advent (DS)
• Moto GP 07 (PS2)
• Rocketmen: Axis of Evil (Xbox 360/PS3)
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (Xbox 360, PS3)
• Zack & Wiki (Wii)

The complete list behind the Full Article link!

The game adaptation of 1970-movie "Dirty Harry" has been under development for some time now. Do you know why it's taking this long? It seems that The Collective is having some issues with parent company Foundation 9.

According to a source close to Foundation 9, the company is no longer working on Dirty Harry. It was also reported that a total number of 30 Collective staff members received pink slips the other day after the project was pulled off. One representative refused to comment directly on the matter, saying:

When this optimization leads to job loss at one studio, we make every effort to find a place for displaced employees at another of our studios. Foundation 9 is currently hiring for 40 positions in our studios across North America and is still in a state of growth with more than 30 projects in development.

What happens now to Dirty Harry? The game is still going to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE), and WBIE promised that a videogame adaptation will be released eventually. WBIE Senior Vice President Samantha Ryan said:

We are moving forward with the Dirty Harry next generation videogames and will be changing our development plans in keeping with the best interest of the franchise legacy. WBIE is dedicated to creating a game that will bring Clint Eastwood's legendary Detective Harry Callahan character to the interactive space with a new story and great gameplay.

On a little side note, Samantha Ryan is the CEO as well of Monolith Productions, the same company that brought us F.E.A.R. and Condemned. We agree with GameSpot author Tom Thorsen; we wouldn't be surprised if Dirty Harry eventually ends up in that studio.

A video game based on a movie that is based on a book doesn't have to be disappointing. Many have been successful and amazing adaptations. And being avid readers as well as gamers, we have to admit our bias for this upcoming adaptation: "The Golden Compass" is going to be a video game.

The image below is of Lyra and Iorek Byrnison, a huge Panserbjorne or armored bear.

 

About the game. Sega of America Inc. and Sega Europe Ltd. announced that a "His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass" game is under development by Shiny Entertainment (acquired last year as another subsidiary of the very busy Foundation 9 Entertainment). This big, multi-platform project is based on the movie adaptation (out later this year) of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy of books.

• The game lets you assume the role of Lyra (we're not sure if you can also take the role of the daemon Pantalaimon).
• You can also assume the role of Iorek Byrnison.
• You travel to the north to beat The Gobblers (we assume the so-called "anti-Christian" sections of the trilogy will not be very relevant to the game and the movie in order to appeal to a wider audience).
• Release date is around Christmas 2007. Consoles: Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3), Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360. Handhelds: Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP). There is also going to be a PC version.

Shiny Entertainment created Earthworm Jim, MDK, and Sacrifice; those three games sold well, were critically acclaimed, and continue to be critically acclaimed. Shiny Entertainment also brought us the often-maligned Enter The Matrix - which got mixed reviews because it looked unpolished and rushed, so let us hope that the "His Dark Materials" game will follow in the footsteps of Sacrifice instead of Enter The Matrix.

About the movie. "His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass" will be released December 2007 by New Line Cinema.

About the books. If you like reading books (even those that don't have pictures), Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy is worth considering. Reviews of the award-winning trilogy (Whitbread, Carnegie, Astrid Lindgren) are available online.

Top gaming executives will be given the chance to network and exchange ideas in GDC Prime, a closed-door event that will take place alongside the Game Developers Conference (GDC) next month. The invite-only event will take place over a span of three days and will include talks by Sony Pictures's Yair Landau and Shalom Mann, Foundation 9 CEO Jon Goldman and EA Los Angeles vice president Neil Young.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, conference director Jamil Moledina said that topics should revolve around "the practical issues surrounding developer mergers and acquisitions, how distributed development affects the bottom line, and taking the lessons of the iPod, MySpace, and YouTube profitably into the games industry".

GDC Prime will take place at the W Hotel, San Francisco, between March 6 - 8. There will also be a networking reception at the start of the event, and a private GDC Prime Lounge will be available throughout for informal meetings. Members of the press will not be permitted to attend the event, but executives wishing to attend can request an invitation via the GDC Prime website.

Through a number of acquisitions, mergers, and investments in 2006, Foundation 9 has emerged as the largest independent developer in the world, and 2007 is shaping to be another busy year for the company. Foundation 9 currently has more than 30 different projects in the works on all gaming platforms for more than 10 publishing partners. These projects will be released throughout 2007 and 2008.

Announced projects slated for release in the first half of calendar year 2007 include, Brooktown: Senior Year for the Sony PSP, Death, Jr. & the Science Fair of Doom for Nintendo DS and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for Xbox Live Arcade, all published by Konami; Call of Duty: Roads to Victory for PSP, published by Activision; and Prince of Persia: Rival Swords for PSP, published by Ubisoft.

Other projects in development include the recently announced Godzilla: Unleashed, to be published by Atari, Inc., Dirty Harry, to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, all-new original title Harker, all-new comic book property, Pherone, and many other as yet unannounced projects.

Foundation 9's The Collective has remained pretty tight-lipped about their upcoming horror game Harker. Game goodies are pretty hard to come by and we don't even know yet who's going to publish the game. So imagine our joy when we heard that the official website for the said game is now up and running.

Yeah-huh, you can now check out the game's site which already has a trailer and a bunch of screenshots put up. Aside from that, the site seems to be a work in progress so we have yet to meet the characters we'll encounter in the game. As we said, game info remains scarce so there's no set release date yet, all we know is that it's based on Dracula and players will get to take on the role of Jonathan Harker, who's faced with the mission of killing all the vampires.

The screens you see below (as well as the one above) are from the 360 version of the game. And even though they've been out for quite a while now, we're giving it to you guys just in case you weren't able to catch them. Oh, and you can check out the official game site by clicking on the read link below. Harker is set to hit the shelves in 2008.

The business of driving back the ghouls of the underworld has always been a gritty one. Never thought it'd be one that Jonathan Harker would get into, though. Jonathan who? If you remember your Vampire Lit 101 lessons, he is the fiancee of Mina Murray, the woman who would be seduced by Count Dracula in the story... and this writer remembered him as a sissy. Then again, this is what he gets for watching Mel Brook's Dracula rather than Bram Stoker's original.

Anyway, 1UP had a bunch of screenshots and concept art, and a GameVideos video trailer for Harker, Foundation 9 and the Collective's definitely-not-sissy undead-killing title for the Xbox 360 (where we first had the preview), the PS3, and the Wii. And as these visually demonstrate, there are a thousand ways to maim, skin, disable, torch, neutralize, eliminate, and otherwise kill ugly vampires.

And the moral of the story? Never, ever, try to hit on the guy's girlfriend. Even if you are Nosferatu himself/itself. You'll just die full of holes, or worse. (Video below is a YouTube upload of GameVideos' trailer)

Harker is due to rise in 2008.

Screenshots and concept art after the stake - er, jump.