Blog Posts by Chris Morris

The portal to Joyland - shanghaiist.comMickey Mouse may have several theme parks under his belt, but The Horde is getting ready to rush his castle.

What seemed like the stuff of a fanboy fantasy - a theme park dedicated to mega-hits World of Warcraft and Starcraft - has opened its
gates in China.

Dubbed "World Joyland," the park is located just north of Shanghai and brings new meaning to the term "E ticket."

Assassin's Creed: Revelations (Ubisoft)Add Ubisoft to the list of publishers who are throwing up barriers for buyers of used games.

The French publisher has unveiled a new system dubbed the Uplay Passport that will include a one-time code with each game, giving players access to locked content -- including online multiplayer. Buyers of used copies will have to shell out $9.99 to utilize those features.

The move is an increasingly common one in the industry as publishers look to monetize used game sales, something they historically haven't made a penny from.

E.T., the game that started this mess.It's not that often that you can definitively point to the beginning of a trend. But when it comes to really bad video games based on movies, there's a pretty clear starting point.

It was 1982, and Atari was hoping to capitalize on the monster success of Steven Spielberg's "E.T." It gave the game's developers less than six months to create the title -- and the rush-job showed. Wise players bypassed it and Atari ended up burying thousands -- if not millions -- of unsold copies in a New Mexico landfill while ushering in what would become known as the great video game crash of 1983.

The future of gaming? It's too early to call 3D TV a disappointment, but given the hype surrounding it and the accompanying marketing push, it certainly hasn't lived up to expectations.

The price of the sets is partially to blame (and those wonky, dorktacular glasses aren't doing the industry a lot of favors, either.)
But what it really comes down to is a lack of content -- and that's where
television manufacturers are counting on video games to come to the rescue.

With the exception of a few special events, 3D TV
programming has hardly taken the world by storm. Even 3D Blu-ray versions of
recent films - of which only a handful deserves the treatment -- only fill a
couple of hours. With games, though, you can

Will Wahlberg still play Drake? After hitting a few speed bumps, the big screen adaptation of Sony's blockbuster Uncharted is moving forward once more.

Director Neil Burger, best known for Bradley Cooper's "Limitless" and the Edward Norton film "The Illusionist," has taken over the directorial reins after David O. Russell walked away from the project due to "creative differences," reports Variety.And fans of the game are breathing a big sigh of relief.

Russell rattled some cages in the gaming community when he announced that he wanted to convert the film's story away from its Indiana Jones-like roots to one focusing on a family of art thieves. Burger got the job after pitching the studio on a new direction for the film,

Pokemon going mobile Pokemon - one of the biggest guns in Nintendo's franchise arsenal - is coming to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. But don't expect Mario and Zelda to follow suit.

The company behind the addictive role-playing series announced plans this week to develop a free Pokemon-based rhythm game for iOS and Android smartphones. And that, somewhat understandably, has led to speculation that Nintendo might be tempering its opinion about mobile gaming and considering making games for other systems.

The company was quick to shoot down the rumors, though, with a spokesperson saying Nintendo's plans to develop software exclusively for its own hardware "hasn't changed and won't change."

Confused? You're not

Tomb Raider, then and now If you're a fan of 'Star Wars' or 'The Lord of the Rings',
you're intimately familiar with Hollywood's practice of repackaging hit films,
adding a bit of polish or new content and enticing you to pay for yet another
ticket or version of the DVD.

It's one of the best ways for studios to make money off old
franchises -- and now the video game industry is starting to follow in its
footsteps.

A slew of revamped games from previous years will hit store
shelves this holiday season, as publishers hope that a bump to high definition
or 3D will convince you to buy an updated copy and relive the adventure.

Microsoft's Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, for instance, will layer a new
graphics engine

Judges don't play games An Irish teen has learned the hard way that breaking the law can be a losing game. Literally.

A judge in Belfast ordered a boy accused of a series of robberies -- including a shopping center and high school -- to surrender his Xbox 360 as part of the conditions for him to receive bail late last month.

The 13-year old (whose name is being withheld due to his age) really only has himself to blame. When asked by the judge to describe something he owned that meant a lot to him, the boy blurted out that he loved his game system. Seeing an opportunity, the judge ordered him to hand it over as a lesson in what it was like to have something he valued taken away.

The console will be returned once