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Creative Assembly’s ‘Alien: Isolation’ Prototype Went Viral Within Sega

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Prior to its official reveal last week, Alien: Isolation was merely a thread of rumors, speculation, and leaked screenshots. Now we know it’s coming, and we’ve been assured that it will bring the series back to its roots in survival horror. Limiting it to a singular, terrifying xenomorph that stalks an unarmed Amanda Ripley throughout an abandoned space ship — like Outlast in outer space — is a solid start, I think.

Following the confirmation that Creative Assembly is indeed the studio making it, I couldn’t help but wonder how this particular studio — known for its portfolio of strategy games — got Sega to greenlight such a project. Find out how they scored a dream gig after the break.

Creative Assembly’s Alistair Hope and Jude Bond recently sat down with Edge magazine to chat about the upcoming game. After Sega acquired the electronic rights back in 2006, the two formed a small team with the goal of creating a prototype for a survival horror take on the series.

Six weeks later and they had a working concept that featured a player-controlled xenomorph. The decisions the player would make even guided the design of the AI in Isolation. It showed a lot of promise, and eventually, it started to get attention within Sega.

“In a way, that was just us being fanboys, just having a chance to build some alien environments,” Hope told Edge. “But that little tech demo went a bit viral within Sega, and suddenly it seemed like this pipe dream of making a game based on the original Alien [film] started to get some momentum.”

If you aren’t already envious of them, you’re about to be.

Once development on Alien: Isolation kicked off, the folks at Creative Assembly were given access to 20th Century Fox’s archive of never-before-seen Alien material. Concept art by HR Giger, who’s responsible for the now iconic design of the alien, pen and paper designs from Ron Cobb, and more. I don’t know about you, but I have the sudden urge to go apply for any opening they may have available right now.

Alien: Isolation is near the top of my most anticipated games of 2014, as I’m sure it is yours. It’s slated to release on the PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 later this year.

Feel free to send Adam an email or follow him on Twitter:

Gamer, writer, terrible dancer, longtime toast enthusiast. Legend has it Adam was born with a controller in one hand and the Kraken's left eye in the other. Legends are often wrong.

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Stephen King, James Wan & Osgood Perkins Horror Movie ‘The Monkey’ Wraps Filming; Meet the Cast

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The Monkey Stephen King

Three horror powerhouses are coming together for The Monkey, an adaptation of the Stephen King story that’s being produced by James Wan and directed by Osgood Perkins.

The Monkey is a short horror story that appeared in Skeleton Crew, a 1985 collection that also featured The Mist, The Jaunt, The Raft, Survivor Type, The Reach, and more.

Deadline reports today that filming on The Monkey has wrapped, and the website has revealed the full cast for the upcoming horror movie. Read on for everything you need to know.

Theo James (The White Lotus) stars alongside Tatiana Maslany (SheHulkAttorney at Law), Elijah Wood (Maniac), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), Colin O’Brien (Wonka), Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) and Sarah Levy (Schitt’s Creek).

Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Gretel & Hansel, the upcoming Longlegs) wrote the screenplay for the feature film adaptation and he also directed the upcoming movie.

“In The Monkey, when twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years.

“But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them.”

James Wan is producing with Atomic Monster partner Michael Clear (M3GAN), and C2 Motion Picture Group’s Jason Cloth (Joker) and Dave Caplan (Babylon).

Stephen King Monkey Elijah Wood

Elijah Wood in ‘Maniac’

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