If you were hoping to play the game based on Heroes, the popular TV series from NBC, then too bad. According to Ubisoft PR director, Jaime Cottini, Peter, Claire, Hiro, and the rest of the gang won't be coming to your gaming platforms anymore. Oh well...

It seems like SCi Entertainment is finally getting into the role of the reluctant "father", ready to give away his daughter (i.e. Lara Croft) at the altar. It was confirmed recently that SCi will be entertaining the possibility of opening a major business investment in the near future to help get the company back on track. You can read a statement released by the company explaining this move in our full article.

Keeping up with the SCi Entertainment takeover bid? Well, if you put money on Time Warner, then this update might make you re-think your wager: it seems that NBC is putting forward big money to be the king of the hill, in terms of being considered as the top buyer. Just how big, you ask? Try a hundred million greenbacks. Enough money to choke a mammal of colossal proportions. Check out the details in the full article.

A lot of people have split opinions on the effectiveness of in-game advertising. However, Sony's chief executive Howard Stern expressed his doubts on the potential of that particular marketing trend. He wasn't alone in the idea either; other big names from major companies such as NBC Universal and Activision Blizzard voiced similar sentiments.

For more details, check out the full article after the jump!

If you fancy some off-topic humor for some easy viewing over the weekend, here's something to tune into: Late Night with Conan O'Brien and their recent segment with Rock Band.

Turns out that the WGA strike had left them with a lot of free time on their hands... Which makes us think that, yeah, video games really are benefiting from the writers' strike.

We here at QJ always thought the show "Heroes" would make for an interesting gaming experience. Imagine our surprise when we found out that it was actually going to come true.

You read that right folks. Ubisoft and NBC Universal have announced that they will be working together to develop and publish a video game based on the hit television show.

Said Christian Salomon, vice president of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft, about the arrangement,

With a gripping storyline and rich characters, 'Heroes' lends itself naturally to a video game format. By offering people the chance to interact directly with the show's captivating universe, there is no doubt that the game will appeal to both fans of the series and avid gamers.

There's no word yet on what platforms the game will be headed to, but there's a good chance that such a game will be multi-platform and definitely worth checking out.

In related "Heroes" news, you'll also be glad to note that the future holds a free "Heroes" pilot episode download on the Xbox 360. There's also no word yet on when that'll happen, but you can expect to be sooner rather than later.

Jack Thompson and Dr. Phil have obviously found an ally in the person of NBC's Meet the Press">Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press" talk show. In the show's episode yesterday, Russert pointedly suggested that the Virginia Tech massacre could have been an offshoot of the growing violent video games culture.

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, a guest in the show, gamely (no pun intended) asserted that "we do have evidence that children... exposed to violent television and video games, that that certainly does net out in more violent behavior." As to what those evidences are, she never really did expound on.

But Russert wasn't content with merely getting a nod from Secretary Spellings. He then turns to Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and asks, "Any thought of looking into video games and the impact they may have on young children?" While certainly not being impressionable, Leavitt also wasn't exactly forthcoming, stating that "we have to look at a lot of things."

And this might actually be the better answer between the two guests. After all, it's rather foolhardy to outright believe that video games are indeed responsible for the macabre act Cho Seung-Hui launched against his schoolmates. In fact, the so-called "Counter-Strike theory" is just as good as stale meat on a shiny silver plate. The policemen have already searched through Cho's room in campus, and they have yet to find any evidence that he was a video game player, much more, of violent ones at that. Even if they did, this will do little in tangibly proving that it was the "Counter-Strike demons" in Cho's head that prodded him to carry out his deadly deed.

At the end of the day, while the rest of the nation is busy looking under rocks trying to find off-tangential answers to questions that are shaking up our system, and while there are some who are spectacularly trying to spin their blame-game, there remains 33 families waiting for justice and mourning for the loss of their loved ones who will never be coming home.

After all of the intense courtroom drama that we've had just a few days ago about video games being involved in murder cases, the situation has turned tail. A defense attorney just claimed that video games made his client "do it." But before we get into the whole mix of things, let's open the court record:

Over at Klamath Falls, Oregon, 20 year-old Patrick Morris is charged with the murder of 15 year-old Diego Aguilar, who died after being shot five times with a 12-gauge shotgun. Ouchie. The story goes that Morris was in a fit of rage and intended to kill Aguilar after finding out that the diamond he received in some drug-related exchange was, in fact, a fake. More on the legalese side of things, to quote KOBI NBC 5:

The attorney for the defense says that violent video games such as Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto may have blurred Morris' ability to distinguish reality and the consequences of his actions.

HOLD IT! After Devin Moore's murder case from a few years back, once again, GTA has been thrown into the mix. Further details of the entire case are still a bit foggy, but whatever the scenario, the on-going debate on violent video games triggering murderous actions will never end. You can't deny the fact that violent games are available in all gaming platforms. But arguing about its influence on a murder... That's something else.

When Vivendi Games dismissed rumors about the existence of a Battlestar Galactica MMO, fans were like "Come on, we want that game!" We know exactly how you feel so this bit of news should cheer you up.

Vivendi is in fact doing a game inspired by the hit TV series and it is coming out on Xbox Live Arcade as well as Windows PC. After a lot of guessing on the part of the fans, Ed Zobrist, President of Sierra Online (a division of Vivendi Games), finally made it official:

We're huge fans of "Battlestar Galactica"and are thrilled to have the opportunity to create a game inspired by the TV series. NBC Universal is working closely with us so that players will be able immerse themselves in the "Battlestar Galactica" universe and re-live their favorite missions from the TV series.

While Battlestar Galactica won't come out before Fall of 2007, fans can now have a glimpse of the game by downloading Gamer Pics and Themepacks at the Marketplace. Lastly, details about the game are still scarce as of now, but Sierra mentioned that developer Auran Games implemented both single and multiplayer modes.

Also, players can take part in intense space battles as a pilot for either the humans or Cyclons. We also heard that legendary ships from the television show will be featured on the game as well. Legendary, eh? Which ships would those be?

That must have been one hell of a game Tyrone Spellman was playing when his daughter pulled on the cords of his console and interrupted his playing. Maybe he was having a really good run with the game so when his 17-month old daughter Alayiah pulled the cords and caused his console to fall, he was mad enough to punch the little girl...twice. Sound reasonable? Hell no.

Tyrone Spellman was known to be a good, non-violent husband and father to their neighbors at 1500 block of 29th Street, North Philadelphia. This is why the news came as a shock to those who knew the couple, as they knew Spellman as someone who would never harm a child, much less commit murder.

Mia Turman, the child's mother, left Alayiah with her husband and when she came back to check on their daughter, she asked her husband why their child wasn't breathing, and all Spellman reportedly said was "She's breathing." That's when Turman called the police and the medics took Alayiah to Temple University Hospital, where the little girl was pronounced dead at 12:37 p.m.

According to Turman, not only did Spellman punch the little girl twice, he also could have slung their child over a chair. When asked why she thought his husband would do such a thing, she said that she will never understand why her husband did this and that there will never be a reason good enough to justify what Spellman did. Spellman was charged with murder, endangering the welfare of a child and possessing an instrument of crime. What instrument? We don't know exactly. (Does the Xbox qualify as an instrument of crime???)

An NBC reporter said that there was a note on the door of the couple's home, saying that the people shouldn't judge Spellman because he's a good man. But if that's the case then, don't you think it becomes all too easy to put the blame on video games and their addicting nature instead? Tsk Tsk. It's news like this that give video games a bad rep. See, we have to remember that no matter how you turn it upside down, inside out, it still IS just a game folks. Real life - more important.