Through an interview with Collider, producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that the movie adaptation of Prince of Persia might begin filming in June 2008. This depends on whether the writer’s strike is mediated by summer or not, according to Bruckheimer.

“Well we’re not going to film until June, so hopefully the writers will come to some kind of consensus with the studios and we can continue,” he stated to Collider.

He revealed that though no actors have been cast yet for the film, he has faith in Mike Newell, the newly appointed director, who is known for “Donnie Brasco” that features both Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

Already revealed through Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade Hits announcement, Gameloft today announced that it is bringing its popular Brain Challenge game to Xbox Live Arcade soon.

“The tremendous growth of mass-market, casual games coupled with the massive consumer acceptance of gaming platforms such as Xbox LIVE Arcade, has opened up a significant opportunity for Gameloft,” said Gonzague de Vallois, senior vice president of Publishing, Gameloft. “Xbox LIVE Arcade is the perfect vehicle for us to expand our presence with players of all types.”

The game has seen 1.5 million units being sold to date and continues to be ranked in the top downloads on carrier decks more than a year after initial release on mobile phones. To be available in early 2008, the Xbox 360 version will see expanded features and a new personal coach function.

It will also be available soon on iPod, Nintendo DS and PC.

EA has released quite a few new screenshots from Dead Space, its upcoming survival horror game set in deep space. The game is said to take inspiration from similarly-themed hororr movie Event Horizon as well as other modern horror movies and survival shooters. It is being developed for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

The shots depict the various monsters that will appear in the title, as well as how they will be smashed to bits and whatnot. Enjoy.

From the yet-more-lists department comes a brand new list that chronicles the ten most irritatingly impossible old school video games ever created. Yes, games were harder back then, which actually appealed to gamers since they would go back not for multiplayer or any other fancy features, but for the difficulty of the game itself. I myself remember pouring hour after hour in Contra.

Some of the games listed deserve their places quite rightfully. This includes Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Ninja Gaiden and Contra itself. I won’t quote any bits here, because the whole article is an interesting read.

Sony and Game Republic announced the winner of the ‘Design a Folk’ competition that saw gamers submitting designs for creatures to be included in Folklore. The contest ran on PlayStation’s EU site, seeing the pictured entry get the winning spot. Dubbed ‘Malion’, the character will be made available exclusively from the PlayStation Store in the New Year.

The winning entry was from Jeff Read from the UK, with runners-up from France, Spain and other countries. Describing his creation, Jeff said, “The Malion (Spore Lion) runs circles around the enemy whilst creating an intoxicating spore cloud from its tail and thorny mane. When the prey is dazed The Malion jumps in for the kill. The tail and claws are primary attacks, but this Folk is highly poisonous… wear protective gloves! The Malion fears fire.”

Okamoto-san and his team at Game Republic were impressed with the quality of designs the competition produced, “To decide a winner was very difficult because the standard was so high. Congratulations to Jeff, the runners-up and all the people who took the time and effort to design a new Folk. We hope you enjoyed being creative and that you continue designing.”

The winner will also receive a Folklore goody bag and a copy of the game in addition to seeing his character immortalized in the game, with the runners-up receiving the game and the goody bag.

This week’s Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday will be a day early, offering no new titles but some of the best-selling past titles at permanently reduced prices. Timed with the Fall update, the Arcade Hits can be found within the Xbox Live Arcade section of the new Game Store, making it easier to download these games. The first games to become Arcade Hits are Bankshot Billiards 2, Lumines LIVE, Marble Blast Ultra, Small Arms and Zuma Deluxe. These aforementioned games will be going for 800 and 400 Microsoft points.

Though no new titles are set to debut this week, Microsoft notes that the service will see quite a few additions in the coming weeks, the likes of which include Arkadian Warriors, Brain Challenge, GripShift, N+, Omega Five, Poker Smash, Rez HD and Sensible World of Soccer.

A mod kit for World in Conflict is now available from the RTS game’s official website. This, along with the previously released map tool WicEd, lets aspiring modders modify the game ranging from small balancing tweaks to full-blown total conversion. There is extensive documentation, a dedicated mod wiki and a strong community already behind the mod, so new modders should feel welcome.

They are offering various versions of the mod kit with or without an included sample map. Grab it from the official website, or from one of the following mirrors: Game’s Hell and Pixelrage.

We mentioned that a BioShock patch would be released next week, however, the patch for the critically acclaimed shooter is already out, both on the PC and Xbox 360. Patch 1.1 will fix numerous issues, most noticeably the highly debated widescreen problem experienced by PC players. While the Xbox 360 update features less bug fixes, it adds some new downloadable content in form of new plasmids and new achievements as well.

When Activision and Vivendi Games merged to form Activision Blizzard, it knocked EA off the top stop as the biggest game publisher in the world. EA has responded to this, welcoming the new competition, as EA’s Keith Ramsdale said:

“We wish them good luck and look forward to the competition. We believe that EA still has the industry’s strongest portfolio of game franchises and we’re always at our best when we have a clearly defined competitor.”

The Activision Blizzard merger will be completed in 2008, and will be worth some $19 billion USD.

Microsoft has released the Fall 07 Xbox 360 Dashboard update. All you need to do is to turn on your 360 and it’ll download and update automatically, like all the previous times.

More details about the update here and here.