Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures announced that “The Lovely Bones,” from director Peter Jackson for release on December 11 in limited release with an expansion on December 25 and a wide release on January 15, 2010.

Paramount Pictures’ “Paranormal Activity will be released on September 25 in limited release.

Paramount Pictures’ “Up in the Air” from Director Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney will be released on November 13 in limited release and expanding on November 25.

We don’t have the Boston release dates yet, however.

Thanks to the folks Paramount Digital Entertainment, soon Xbox 360 owners will be able to feel like they are inside one of the most beloved cult classic films of all time.  Starting sometime in September, gamers will be able to buy The Warriors: Street Brawl on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere 800 Points.

However, before we get too excited, a thorough examination of the features and gameplay must be performed.

Luckily, Paramount Digitial Entertainment was kind enough to let me have an intimate, hands-on preview with The Warriors: Street Brawl.  Below are some of my thoughts, impressions and gathered information of the upcoming Paramount title.

First, let’s have a little refresher course on what exactly The Warriors movie is all about.  Released in 1979, The Warriors is a film based around a gang of the same name.  During a gang summit in New York City, Cyrus, leader of The Gramercy Riffs, the most feared and respected gang in New York, was assassinated during his speech.  Wrongfully accused as the murders, The Warriors must make their way through the streets of New York and reach the safety of their home turf, fighting numerous other gangs in the process.

Making a video game from a movie of this fashion is no easy task, but Paramount did a service for The Warriors: Street Brawl by implementing the most logical game style for the title: side-scrolling brawler.  With this approach, players can get a true feel of what The Warriors movie was all about.  Whether it is used to introduce new fans to the film or just for old fans to get a closer look at the action, the side-scrolling style of Street Brawl is a perfect fit for a game inspired by a film such as The Warriors.

I really liked the dynamic nature of the side scrolling, as well.  As I fought my way through groups of Baseball Furies and Turnbull AC’s, I noticed that the screen would zoom in and out as I progressed through the level.  This would allow the side scrolling to be functional while also being something other than boring.

The makers of The Warriors: Street Brawl also did their due diligence in regards to staying accurate to the movie that inspired it.  When starting a new game, players can select from some of the main members of The Warriors, including Swan, Cochise, Vermin or Rembrandt.  Each of these characters will have certain strengths and weaknesses in their speed, strength and fighting style, which could greatly help them in their quest to get back to Coney Island.  Also, the environments and enemies also come straight from the film as well.

Speaking of environments, I’d have to say that the backgrounds for Street Brawl were probably my favorite parts of the game.  Each environment had a very gritty, dark comic book feel to them, making it clear that my character was traveling through a very dangerous place.  The fights taking place on the subway and in the subway station were by far the most detailed and intriguing backgrounds I’ve seen in a side-scroller in a long, long time.

However, not everything in Street Brawl was quite as aesthetically pleasing as the environments.  What especially stuck out to me as a let down were the character models.  Unlike the game’s backgrounds, the character models were very bland and lacked detail.  The motions of Cochise, the Warrior I chose to play with, were scripted in a way that made every attack and step seemed unnatural and stiff.  A special move that stuck out in my mind (a long-reaching spinning kick) looked good, but fell short of redeeming the overall motion flaws in Street Brawl.  Perhaps I’m overlooking they comic book stylization of the game or maybe I’m just simply spoiled by my experiences with Battlefield 1943, but it just seems like XBLA games should have better graphics than what I saw with Street Brawl.

Still, I think the main entertainment value from The Warriors: Street Brawl will not come from the way the game looks, but how the game plays.  Street Brawl is a title that uses very simple controls.  Toggling the X, Y, A and B buttons serve as a medium to punch, kick and pull of special moves.  Players will also be able to pick up and use weapons, such as knives, bats, crowbars, 2×4’s and pool cues, to deal more damage against the rival gangs.

Street Brawl also has a wide variety of game modes.  First, there is the campaign.  Though I only got to play the single-player campaign, Street Brawl has single player, local multiplayer and Xbox Live co-op campaign modes.  As described towards the beginning of this preview, campaign allows players select a character and fight their way through New York and reach the safety of Coney Island.  Each player will be able to accumulate points by defeating enemies, picking up bonus items (rings, coins, gems) and advancing further into the game.  Players must continuously fight throughout the campaign or else the AI will punish you for stalling by sending in many enemy reinforcements.  Also, the longer you can survive through the campaign, the more characters you can unlock and fight with in future Street Brawl sessions.  Other game modes include Boss mode and Versus mode.  Boss mode lets players fight every boss they’ve seen in the campaign in succession.  This allows players to be immediately challenged without having to complete the entire campaign again.  Versus mode allows players to fight their friends to see who is the most skilled gang member.

Overall, The Warriors: Street Brawl looks like it could be a pretty swell XBLA title.  Running for just 800 Points (about $10), Street Brawl wont convince people to buy an Xbox 360, but it is an affordable option for those who don’t want to buy an entire $60 game.  Fans of those classic SNES and Sega Genesis side-scroller titles should keep an eye out for Street Brawl in September.  Those who are not quite familiar with the genre might want to just check out the demo.

And, well, for the true fans of The Warriors, the question isn’t whether or not they will buy Street Brawl.  The real question is: Can they dig it?

And, of course, we just started using Lightbox, so we’re all all excited like teenagers who just found Internet porn for the first time.

After being promoted by Michael Corleone to Don of New York, players expand to new cities, as they build up their families through extorting businesses, monopolizing illegal crime rings and defeating new families in an effort to become the most powerful mob family in America. To help players manage their empire, The Godfather II introduces “The Don’s View” – an innovative strategy meta-game that allows players to oversee the entire world as they grow the family business. Using the Don’s View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families. Players will also learn to master the business of organized crime by building a family of Made Men, hiring crew, handing out orders, and promoting their best men up the ranks.

“Inspired by the film and Mario Puzo’s Corleone family drama, The Godfather II game goes beyond the film’s story by setting players in the world of organized crime in 1960’s Florida, Cuba and New York,” the companies said in a statement.

After being promoted by Michael Corleone to Don of New York, players expand to new cities, as they build up their families through extorting businesses, monopolizing illegal crime rings and defeating new families in an effort to become the most powerful mob family in America. To help players manage their empire, The Godfather II introduces “The Don’s View” – an innovative strategy meta-game that allows players to oversee the entire world as they grow the family business. Using the Don’s View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families. Players will also learn to master the business of organized crime by building a family of Made Men, hiring crew, handing out orders, and promoting their best men up the ranks.

Set in a stunning open-world environment, The Godfather II expands on the popular gameplay mechanics of the first game and doubles down on the series’ signature BlackHand control scheme, which now features even more visceral hand-to-hand brutality at your fingertips, introducing a new combo system, pressure tactics and executions. In The Godfather II, players will fight alongside their hand-picked crew, who have their own skills and expertise. Each family member specializes in a specific field such as demolitions, arson, engineering, first-aid and more. As The Don you control the family, sending some of your men on missions while heading off into action with others. The combination of strategic organized crime gameplay and brutal BlackHand action sets The Godfather II apart from other open-world games.

“In the 1960’s, a mafia Don was only as strong as his family,” said Hunter Smith, Executive Producer of The Godfather II. “We found the hierarchical culture of organized crime intriguing. Running an organized crime family in a world defined by family loyalty is something that we felt could introduce a new strategic element to the genre. That is what the Don’s View is all about — laying out a strategy to pick off the competition one by one. The Don’s View is so unique, it could fundamentally change the rules of open-world games by blending action and strategy to create something entirely new.”

Geoff Keighley’s GameTrailers TV on Spike TV will have an exclusive premiere of Godfather II: The Game on August 15. The episode, entirely devoted to the game, will include behind-the-scenes features and interviews with the development team. The game’s trailer will also be unveiled.

The trailer will also be available on August 18th at: http://godfather2.ea.com.

The decision was made after company research said HD DVDs had the necessary technology on the market, low manufacturing costs and best value and quality for consumers, they said.

On August 28, Blades of Glory kicked off this new program as the first release. Transformers and Shrek the Third follow.

These three movies represent more than $1.5 billion in worldwide box office sales, and company executives believe the sales will keep increasing.

“The combination of Paramount and DreamWorks Animation brings a critical mass of current box office hits to consumers with a line-up of live action and animated films that are perfect for HD DVD,” said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, the leading studio in domestic box office revenue. “I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount.”

Regular DVD players are hardware-based, while HD DVD and Blu-ray systems rely on software. That means updates and movie extras can be easily downloaded from the web. Even with this similarity, many movie and technology powerhouses support Blu-ray technology since it offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs while still having great image quality.

The price between HD DVD players and Blu-ray players, however, is what interests consumers the most. The cheapest HD DVD player retails for approximately $300, while the cheapest Blu-ray devices sell for at least $599.

“We decided to release Shrek the Third and other DreamWorks Animation titles exclusively on HD DVD because we believe it is the best format to bring high quality home entertainment to a key segment of our audience,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg CEO of DreamWorks Animation. “We believe the combination of this year’s low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the best way to view movies at home.”

Paramount Home Entertainment will issue new release dates for upcoming films and will also sell catalog titles in the future. Steven Spielberg films remain uncommitted to either format.