What do Sigourney Weaver, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Sony NGP have in common...?

Did you ever see AVP: Alien vs. Predator? How about Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem or Predators, the 2010 reimagining of Arnie's 1987 classic?  I myself saw all three and, as a long-running fan of both the Alien and Predator series, was left severely disappointed and frustrated by all three. What - to this day - I cannot understand is how anyone could take such a wonderful concept, gift-wrapped, and churn out three consecutive pieces of s**t? Just think about it for a moment; Predator told the story of a seemingly indestructible alien hunter - one lauded in Central American folklore as a frightening legend - tearing through US commandos as if they were infants. Similarly, the Alien franchise gave birth to a frightening race of lizard-like extraterrestrials who, beside their devastating size and seemingly limitless numbers, bled acid and spawned young who liked nothing better than to seek refuge amongst your chest cavity.

So, with this in mind, how on earth could a film depicting a millennia-long battle between the two turn out so bad? With such a large, pre-existing fan base, the film allowed for a weak storyline, poor dialect, even a unknown cast - just as long as there were a number of large, bloody and visually appealing alien-on-alien battles. Unfortunately, Paul W. S. Anderson decided to take the tale in another direction - focusing less on the conflict and more on a bunch of needy, unappealing archaeologists - and thus the series of terrible franchise extensions was born.

However, while the theatrical adaptations may have fallen horribly short, the same cannot be said of the videogame series. In fact, the console variation of PC favourite Aliens vs. Predator was so impressive, a number of sequels have now been planned, this time over a larger selection of consoles. Now, for the exciting news. After much testing, probing and fiddling, Rebellion - the team behind the 2010 Aliens vs. Predator console release - have concluded that the internal game engine that powered the fan-favourite is "fully playable" on Sony's Next Generation Console (NGP). The CEO of Rebellion, Jason Kingsley, went on to say that "technology, design and art teams have worked incredibly well with Sony's newest device, resulting in a fully functional transition that both looks great and works in double quick time".

While no date has been set for a NGP release, the news is certainly exciting for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it should allow the Alien vs. Predator franchise to regain some of its credibility, much of which has been irreversibly damaged through its movie franchise. However, most importantly is what this means for the gaming population in general. Thanks to Asura, developers across the genre now have the first, fully functional game engine with which they can work with. With a bit of luck by the time the NGP releases in "late 2011" it should be fecundated by a number of fan favourites. Spyro 3D anyone?

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