June 5, 2002

• The untitled game may finally have a title, according to Andrew Heath, the Blue Tongue COO, in an email to DansJP3Page.com. "At the moment, I can tell you the game is looking very nice...but the name is currently likely to be 'JP: Operation Genesis'" (You'll remember for awhile it was called "Project Genesis"). "However, we are pushing for 'JP: The Game' as it was shown at E3," Andrew says.
• And speaking of E3, I mentioned last week the seemingly lack of press regarding the game, wondering if it was actually on display at the show. 'JPJunkee' asked the staff of Game Informer if they spotted the game, and while Matt, the editor, said he missed it, other members of Game Informer did not, saying it was "pretty cool." Apparently the new issue of Game Informer magazine has a tiny preview of the game with a few screenshots.
• There's an article on the game from ZDNet Australia covering the unveling of the title for some Australian press people awhile back. According to the article, Blue Tongue has been working for a year on the game, "utilizing over one hundred animation, programming, sound and development specialists." There's a bunch of screenshots over at the site too.

Spider-Man Passing JP in Box Office Take
'Spinoboy11' points out that Spider-Man took in $14 million last weekend, bringing it's total to $354 million, a tad shy of Jurassic Park's grand-total of $357 million back in 1993. However, it seems likely Spidey will pass JP sometime this week, pushing JP down to the #6 spot in the all-time highest grossing list.

Sam Neill to Star in Spider-Man 2?
And speaking of Spider-Man, I couldn't really find any news item to confirm this, but Ryan noticed the IMDB page for Spider-Man 2 has been updated with word that our man Sam Neill will play "Dr. Octopus" in the sequel to Columbia Picture's newest franchise. If this news turns out to be true, it makes Sam's involvement in a possible JP4 unlikely until at least early-2004, when Spidey 2 is schedueled to be released.

May 29, 2002

More Details on the New JP Game
A few more screenshots and details on the upcoming JP video game for X-Box, PS2, and PC in development now from XBox.com, as well as some new details on this "park builder"-type game, which was officially unveiled at E3 last week (to seemingly very little excitement from the gaming press, who apparently missed it's booth). According to Xbox.com, the game will be easy to use and open-ended, allowing you to manage everything from "the shape of the island to the price of admission". Some more tid-bits:

• "Multiple cameras and gameplay modes add to the experience. Stop a rampaging dino with your tranquilizers in Ranger Cam mode, pilot a helicopter around your park in Chopper Pilot mode or take in all the amazing sights with the first person Visitor View.
• Control your dinos through mixtures of chemicals brewed in the dino-vet lab. Make them angry, sleepy, aggressive, hungry, etc. Watch out though, the wrong mixture could lead to disaster!
• The game's ten original music tracks were written by Blue Tongue's internal sound engineer and composer Stephan Schultze and is being performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Graeme Abbott. Two scores from John Williams' soundtrack will also be included.
• Complex A.I.: Watch the fascinating interaction among more than 25 long-extinct Jurassic giants as they hunt, fight, feed and display flocking behavior."

JP3 Wins Stunt Award
Don't ask me how 'JP Animal Control' found out, but apparently JP3 actually won the 2002 World Stunt Award in the category it was nominated in, "Best Underwater Work". You can watch JP3 win when the awards cerimony is broadcast on ABC at 8pm ET this Friday.

May 22, 2002

• Update:Spoke too soon, as Gamespy.com has posted 9 new screenshots from the game, these from the X-Box version.
• Update2: Oddly, Gamespot.com has removed their original screenshots (you can see a thumb-nail of one above), replacing them with 20 completely different ones. Not sure what this means, but uh... yeah.
• Update3: Gamerspulse.com has a few more (see this one and this one.)

JP3 Nominated for World Stunt Awards
Just when you think you've survived Hollywood Award Season, here comes another -- the 2002 World Stunt Awards, in which JP3 has been nominated in the "Best Water Work" category alongside "American Outlaws", "The Animal", "Rush Hour 2", and "Apocalypse Now Redux" (Apparently stunts performed in 1979 are still eligible...) The winners will be announced during an ABC special at 8pm ET next Friday. (Thanks 'Jp Animal Control')

A Look at the 'Small' JP3 Arcade Game
Thanks to everyone who has been sending in scouting reports about the JP3 arcade game (See above, in red). A few people have seen it (it's still nowhere around here), and I will update the list whenever I get a new report. We haven't heard much about the "small" version of the game, however, which instead of the fancy motion sensor that detects your movement, requires you to push an "escape button" to dodge the dinos attacks. Dave sends in a report on this version:

I decided to pass the waiting time until Spiderman in the local arcade for about 30 minutes. My first impression wasn't all that great considering it was vacant -- no one was playing it, while all the other games had frequent players. When someone did play, they looked a little disheartened when they left, but I stuck my 50 cents in anyway and began play. Graphics were great, obviously, although dying dinos were a little less satisfactory -- they sort of rolled in the same spot they died in rather than fall over. The Spino was definitely cool. The "escape lever" is so stupid -- its really just two buttons, "escape left" and "escape right". What happens is when the danger is getting close, you hit either button and you strafe about 20 feet in direction of your choice. After you finish strafing, you automatically turn to see the dino charging at you (ankylysaurs, spino, compies, etc). You get maybe two or three shots in by the time you have to hit the button again. Personally i thought it was stupid that way. The guns were uncomfortable too, harsh plastic that seemed like weight distribution wasn't considered. I wish I had more good things to say about it since I liked the movie and the franchise so much, but I can't bring myself to do so. Sorry. What sucked was the fact that it took me forever to die. Eventually I wanted to quit so I could go hit the TLW game again, which is better by far.

Real-life JP?
Cinescape found it worth mentioning that the recent issue of Wired features an article about future technology, in which some dude predicts a real-life Jurassic Park is not so far-fetched. According to a "Professor of Public Understanding of Science" at Oxford, "[We might be able] by 2050 to reconstruct the genome of a generalized dinosaur. We could perhaps implant the genome in an ostrich egg to hatch a living, breathing, terrible lizard." To which I respond, "But what about the major sequence gaps?!" (Thanks Dave and 'TheNforcer01')

May 15, 2002

Spielberg Graduates From College
Apparently hearing that even I could graduate from college, Director Steven Spielberg will finally receive his degree in film and electronic arts from the California State College at the end of the month, his publicist announced today. Only 33 years after dropping out to pursue his film career, Spielberg "quietly" resumed his studies last spring and will walk and sit with the other graduates during commencement, a university spokesperson said. "[No word on] whether he got extra credit for his Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes or that honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth or those lifetime achievement awards from the Directors Guild of America and the American Film Institute," wriely notes E! Online. (Thanks 'MADREX')

May 9, 2002

Spielberg Writing JP4?
Garth mentioned yesterday that the German TV station Cinemaxx reported that Spielberg himself might be writing the script for JP4, though this seems to me a rehash of a previous unsubstantiated rumor, and I'm not even sure why I'm putting it here on my site. Oh well. (Thanks 'Mark' and 'JP Animal Control', among others).

JP Named 9th Best Sci-Fi Film
Not that Wired Magazine has any right to declare, AFI style, which films are better than which, but you gotta love how high they put JP on their list, from the "Hollywood" issue of Wired (due on newsstands Monday). JP sits right below "The Boys from Brazil", and one above "Star Wars" (?!?). "Blade Runner", "Gattaca", and "The Matrix" top the list.

May 6, 2002

April 26, 2002

Malaysian Universal Studios Planned
(Or, Wondrous American Capitalism Sweeping the World!) We heard last week about plans to build a Universal Studios-style theme park in Germany, and now according to this Reuters article, plans are also underway to create a $2.2 billion, 1,800 acre "Hollywood theme park" in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, "a short hop from wealthy neighbor Singapore". While still in the planning stages, the article says that "Themes from blockbusters 'ET', 'Men in Black' and 'Jurassic Park' [are] likely to be among the attractions". Work on the park could start as early as June.

No JP4, Yet
Don't get too excited just yet about the news below that JP4 is absolutely certain. According to 'JPJunkee', when he emailed Michael Crichton publicsit Joe Marich and asked about the rumor that MC would be working on JP4, Marich replied tersely, "At this time, there are no plans for a JP4."

[JP3 News from March 22nd through April 19th]