Our massive, in-depth interview with the digital movie distribution service, Vongo on everything from the life cycle of your average movie, to Xbox 360 support and a word on the service on Sony's PlayStation 3.

Read the entire thing right after the jump!

Note: This interview was conducted during the first couple of months of the year, as a result some of the information contained within is already known, and some of the planned features have already been implemented.

The independent game development studio Saber Interactive, who is responsible for video games like TimeShift and Will Rock, is happy to announce that it just hired one of the industry's veterans to head Saber's game content division. That guy is Rick Raymo and he sure has a lot under his belt.

Raymo has been working in the video game industry for 19 years now, and about 30 titles are credited under his name. Some of the more notable ones include Duke Nukem 3D projects, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Death Rally and Max Payne. The creative director also used to work with companies such as I.D.G., GT Interactive, GameSpy, Red Jade, Interactive Studio Management, and Hudson Soft. Before Rick Raymo accepted his new post at Saber, he was working with HBO Interactive Entertainment as a production executive, and was responsible for spearheading efforts to create interactive properties out of the company's internal licenses.

Saber's new guy wasn't able for comment, but the company mentioned that Rick Raymo is more than happy to join them. He will be stationed at Saber's HQ in New Jersey and from time to time, he will also be making his rounds in Saber's production studio in St. Petersburg, Russia. Most of his work will be focused on the design and production team who are working on current and upcoming next generation titles.

Welcome aboard Saber's ship Rick Raymo!

During the recently held Comic Con, the folks at GameTrailers were able to have a little one-on-one with Anthony Deluca, 2K's producer for the upcoming dark and gory shooter, The Darkness (PS3, Xbox360).

In addition to talking up the game's settings and storyline, Deluca also reveals more info on game production like how they pushed the ESRB's limits on violence, the voices behind the characters, and tons more. First, the ESRB thing: Deluca said that they worked closely with ESRB to help them set the limits on how far is too far in terms of the game's gore and violence. So yeah, they had to tone it down a bit. Not to worry though, you'll still get to see tons of bloodshed (in full 3D, if we might add) in all the five chapters of the game.

As for the voice talents, Peeping Tom-fanatics will be glad to know that noise-rock renaissance man Mike Patton will be featured as the voice of the Darkness, so you'll basically have him whispering to you throughout the whole game. Lauren Ambrose (from HBO's 6 Feet Under) will also be lending her voice talents to Jenny, one of the female characters you'll find in the game. The Darkness will be brought to light late Spring this year.

Buy: [The Darkness (PS3)]
Buy: [The Darkness (Xbox 360)]

A couple of weeks ago, I remember watching Wimbledon on HBO. Obviously, it's a tennis-oriented movie that features actor Paul Bettany and actress Kirsten Dunst. Anyway, there was a scene in the flick wherein the two were practicing; they put the ball canisters on the other end of the playing field and tried hitting it from the other end.

I brought that up because it is very reminiscent of Virtua Tennis 3 (X360, PS3, PSP), especially its mini-game Drum Tropple. As weird as it sounds, this particular mini-game actually is handy because it boosts your character's power strokes. The idea here is very much like in the movie. Only this time, you are provided with drums as target.

To be able to earn more power strokes with Drum Tropple, keep these reminders in mind:

• Power the balls back across the net, aiming toward the stack of oil drums in front.
• Attempt to completely collapse the neat, but fragile, stack a court official has placed before you.
• By positioning your player perfectly for each shot, you'll have maximum time to charge up your return.
• Inflict some serious damage to those drums.

Virtua Tennis 3 is expected to be released sometime next Spring. It is actually part of Sega's successful arcade game of the same title. This installment includes upgraded graphics, new gameplay modes and of course, the rather quirky mini-games.

    

Buy: [Virtua Tennis 3 for PS3]

Buy: [Virtua Tennis 3 for PSP]

Buy: [Virtua Tennis 3 for Xbox 360]

The Price is Right should watch out or we'll wipe them out because our previous bid of $200 for the HD-DVD Drive, came mighty close to the official price of $199. Too bad we aren't contestants though.

It'll come with Peter Jackson's monster of a film, King Kong (for a limited time) and the Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote. Users can just add the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player to their Xbox 360 to create the ultimate home-theater experience. You'll never run out of movies to watch with more than a 150 titles to choose from coming from major movie studios this coming holiday season that includes Paramount Pictures, StudioCanal, Universal Studios, New Line Entertainment, HBO, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Trivia. Did you know that the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player offers up to six times higher resolution than DVD? So expect crisp and clear images that seem to pop out from your TV. If you're not yet convinced, the fall 2006 console update all Xbox 360 consoles will have the ability to output native resolution 1080p games and movies.

"The Xbox 360 HD DVD Player is the best high-definition movie experience and value on the market. The reviews, the word of mouth, and the consumer response have all been crystal clear—HD DVD is the format of choice. We're not forcing movie technology on game players, but are instead letting them choose how to personalize their experiences. If they want HD DVD, there's no better value out there," says Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft at the annual X06 event.

It will hit stores in mid-November, 2006 in North America, U.K., France, and Germany, with a price tag of  €199.99 (£129.99), and to other territories in 2007.

It's a known fact that the Blu-ray dilemma is the very reason why Sony has taken the plunge down to an embarrassing news on the delay of the PS3 launch. Now, it seems like there's some kind of a domino effect going on.

Sony has been trying to push the PS3 as a total entertainment device, with the help of Disney and Fox. However, recently, the president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment has finally favored Microsoft’s backed HD-DVD format rather than Sony’s Blu-ray. The consequence? Universal, Warner, Paramount, HBO, New Line Cinemas and the Weinstein Company are now all in the HD-DVD camp.

Sony has also touted that the high cost of the PS3 is mainly due to the Blu-ray diode. But Blu-ray movies are also expensive, so now it seems Xbox 360's HD-DVD capability is more appealing than PS3's Blu-ray.

Just when Sony needed support, along came nothing. We're positive that the PS3 gets it going for Sony, but this time around, it has to make amends for all the fans anticipating the PS3 release all over the world.

A bunch of downloads have become available on the Marketplace in the form of new Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter themes and a trailer, picture pack, and theme for HBO's show Entourage. There are four new Ghost Recon themes altogether that each cost the usual amount of 150 Microsoft Points. The Entourage trailer is in the usual 480p and 720p formats and showcases a clip from the new season. There is also a Entourage Lifestyle Theme and Picture Pack which are free to download. Go ahead and check out all this new content if you want some new G.R.A.W themes or a new gamer picture and while you wait and hope that Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting will be released this week.