Late Night Consoling

Preceding the theatrical release of the upcoming film The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the first novel in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials, will be Shiny Entertainment's like-titled video game adaptation, publisher Sega announced today. Players will take the role of heroine Lyra Belacque as well as being able to control her companion bear Iorek Byrnison. Lyra's likeness will be drawn from her film counterpart's actress, Dakota Blue Richards, while Daniel Craig will lend his face to the game's Lord Asriel. There has been no announcement as to whether the film's cast will provide any voice acting. Sega also notes that the game contains new environments not represented in the film; presumably, they are based on locations from Pullman's novel. We've got some screenshots and artwork available for your perusal.

Founded by now independent designer David Perry, Shiny is best known as the creator of franchises such as Earthworm Jim and MDK; more recently, it headed up development on two games based on the Matrix films, Enter the Matrix and The Matrix: Path of Neo. Last year, Shiny was acquired by independent developer conglomerate Foundation 9 from parent company Atari.

Shiny's The Golden Compass is in the works for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, and PC. Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M) is developing a Nintendo DS version. Sega plans to ship the game this fall, in advance of the film's December 7 theatrical release date.

Publisher THQ today announced the development of MotoGP '07, the next entry in the company's franchise of motorcycle racers. Announced only for Xbox 360, the game corresponds to the 2007 MotoGP season and adds new bikes and tracks. "THQ's MotoGP titles have shipped in excess of 1.5 million units and are critically acclaimed for pushing the limits of realism and console technology," said THQ worldwide marketing senior VP Bob Aniello. "With MotoGP '07, THQ raises the bar yet again for both core gamers and racing enthusiasts."

No developer was announced for the game. Climax Studios, developer of the THQ-published MotoGP '06, was acquired last year by publisher Buena Vista Games.

THQ expects to ship MotoGP '07 for Xbox 360 this fall.

Capcom announced today that it has become the latest publisher to pick up a license to Epic Games' increasingly widely used Unreal Engine 3. No details were released about the identity of the project for which the engine will be used, beyond that it is being developed in North America. The game is almost certainly being created by an external developer, as Capcom's only internal North American development team, Maximo and Final Fight: Streetwise developer Capcom Production Studio 8, was closed last year.

"Capcom is known for the quality and artistry of their games," said Epic VP Mark Rein. "We're glad that Unreal Engine 3 can be a part of their creative process."

UK-based budget publisher Data Design today announced approximately eight billion (read: 13) of its properties to European Wii gamers in 2007. Among the games expected in the second quarter of th eyear is the action game Ninjabread Man, featuring a ninja in gingerbread man form, previously released on PlayStation 2 in 2005 for the European market. The other titles planned to ship in the second quarter, most of which are fairly self-explanatory, are as follows:

- Billy the Wizard
- Myth Makers Super Kart GP
- Anubis II
- Monster Trux Extreme: Offroad Edition
- Elviz: Rock N Roll Adventures

Expected later this year are the following games:

- Hamster Heroes
- Trixie in Toyland
- Action Girlz Racing
- Mini Desktop Racing
- Myth Makers - Orbs of Doom
- London Taxi Rushour
- Earache Extreme Metal Racing

"We have been developers for the past 24 years and we have seen many new consoles but the Nintendo Wii controller is exciting," said Data Design Interactive's Steward Green MD. "Rather than just offering faster graphics and more memory this is the first real innovation in hardware, and because of the ease of use and dynamic control we can see both new games and new players being brought into the games market."

No plans for North American distribution have been announced.