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Microsoft is Working on a Live-Action ‘State of Decay’ Series
Microsoft is serious about their plans to bring quality original programming to the Xbox One. They’re currently working on bringing A-list Hollywood talent to adapt some franchises you may be familiar with, including State of Decay, Halo, Gears of War, Forza, Fable, and Age of Empires.
“These are six properties that we have immediately identified as having potential, that the company has raised as ones that they’re interested in looking at,” executive vice president of Xbox Entertainment Studios Jordan Levin told Destructoid. “All are at the earliest stages of conversation, we don’t want to force anything, we want to get to know each of the individual games studios responsible for those properties.
“We want to fully digest all the created materials that they’ve generated. We want to then try to create some of the right partnerships and really allow them to ride in the shotgun seat with us, so to speak, so that we’re not coming in an arrogant disrespectful manner. Trying to do something that in success enhances and expresses that world in a different way cause the worst of all possible roles is to create something that disappointed. There’s nothing worse for a fan than being disappointed with something.”
If the live-action State of Decay series is anywhere near the quality of that fantastic Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn series was, The Walking Dead may have some serious competition on their hands.
In related news, State of Decay’s second expansion, Lifeline, releases in June.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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