A rift between Monolith Productions and Vivendi SA is a video game developer; formerly known as Vivendi Universal">Vivendi almost cost fans a sequel to the FPS title F.E.A.R (PC, PS3, Xbox 360). Turns out, fans will be getting two sequels to the title: one from Vivendi (who still owns the F.E.A.R. title and plans to release F.E.A.R. 2) and another title from Monolith set within the F.E.A.R. universe.

Since Vivendi still owns the brand name, Monolith can't use it for their upcoming sequel. With a bit of quick thinking, Monolith has come up with a cool way to get around the whole name issue. They've announced a contest where gamers can send in their suggestions for what the new F.E.A.R. game should be called.

The contest will run until June 22, when submissions will be narrowed down to three finalists. These finalists will get an all-expense-paid trip to meet the game's dev team at Monolith and get a grand tour of the company's facilities. All three finalists will also get their names and likenesses included in the game.

Once the finalists are chosen, the ball will once again be in the fans' court. On July 23, voting will be open to the public to let the fans decide what name to go with. The voting will continue until June 27. For more details, click on the read link below.

Buy: [F.E.A.R. for the PS3]
Buy: [F.E.A.R. for the Xbox 360]

Just fresh from the "late" presses is SEGA's recent announcement of its games lined up for a 2007-2008 cycle. According to the report by game dev haven Gamasutra, SEGA has set Condemned 2: Bloodshot, Ghost Squad, Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm, Universe At War: Earth Assault and...what's this? A "new PC RPG deal with Gas Powered Games"?

 

The announcement of the title line-up for the next cycle was made at SEGA's Gamer's Day in San Francisco, and the details of the titles were spilled to certain extent although not as comprehensive as you might hope. The big mystery title being developed with Gas Powered Games comes with even more minute details, keeping the specifics of the game as an "an original and as yet unspecified role-playing game for the PC" coming for 2008.

Coming to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is Condemned 2: Bloodshot from original franchise creators Monolith Productions. The game was mentioned to be coming with "an all-new fighting mechanic and online multiplayer functionality." It was also added that players will be able to engage in "visceral" combat using the usual firearms, blunt makeshift weapons and combination moves for defensive and offensive purposes.

For the Wii, arcade game Ghost Squad, by SEGA's AM2 division, will be coming in the holiday season of 2007. Revamped with a few more Wii-specific features and game modes, the game will otherwise be coming with its original arcade feel and gameplay, for the casual and leisure gamer in you. Players can expect to use the Wiimote for targeting enemies, defusing bombs and rescuing hostages.

Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm will be heading to Xbox 360 gamers over Xbox Live Arcade, featuring the ironically gory concept of the animated series "Happy Tree Friends." The title, currently under the creative hands of Stainless Studios, will be available by fall of 2007. Combining action elements with puzzles, gamers will have to make use of concrete, ice, gasoline and nitroglycerin (among other resources) to save the Friends from their own bad luck.

Universe at War: Earth Assault, which is currently headed for the PC, will also be making a debut on the Xbox 360 by the first quarter of 2008. The game pits planet Earth under siege by an insurmountable Alien force, and Xbox 360 RTS fans can rest assured that the game is being developed with "a control scheme built from the ground up to ensure smooth gameplay and ease of command for console gamers."

A couple of days ago, we mentioned that UK retailer PLAY has put up a Condemned 2 listing to become available by November 11 this year. PLAY was unable to provide any details on this Condemned: Criminal Origins sequel save for the description,"a superb sequel of brilliantly brutal bloody hand to hand brawling..."

Anyway, gaming site Eurogamer tried contacting publisher Sega for confirmation regarding this rather exciting development. Unfortunately though, Sega rolled in its marketing strategy machine and neither denied nor confirmed Condemned 2's existence.

The original Condemned title, which was released sometime in November 2005, was considered by many to be one of the first better Xbox 360 video games.

Monolith Productions certainly has a knack for playing with our heads - or scaring us to flicking the lights on - with games like Condemned: Criminal Origins and F.E.A.R. Now a UK retailer PLAY.com is offering Condemned 2, listed to be available by November 11 this year.

Condemned: Criminal Origins was a first person shooter/brawler where players were thrust into the role of an FBA forensic investigator named Ethan Thomas. The storyline was quite reminiscent of Se7en (the serial killer movie with Brad Pitt). There's yet to be any info regarding the sequel but according to the review at PLAY, the game offers "a superb sequel of brilliantly brutal bloody hand to hand brawling..."

At least we know the old gameplay style of Condemned: Criminal Origins was kept. Until Monolith Productions releases any official information regarding the sequel, we'll keep this filed under rumor for now (along with the F.E.A.R. sequel). We'll keep our eyes peeled, stay tuned.