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   Epic Games... now there's a smart developer. There are plenty of reasons for us to say that, but the one we have in mind here has to do with Epic's deal with Microsoft, for the publishing of their insanely successful Xbox 360 game (of the year), Gears of War. Contrary to what a small-time developer would have probably done, when Epic signed with Microsoft to publish the game, they held onto all ancillary rights to the property - such as movies or novels based on the Gears of War franchise. And by no coincidence!

   A Variety story this week reveals that the Gears of War movie is more than just a fleeting thought, now that New Line Cinema has won the auction for the game-to-movie rights. The film's screenwriter will be Stuart Beattie, previously credited with writing for Collateral and Derailed, and currently also involved with another playful adaptation, based on Midway's driving game SpyHunter.

   The Gears of War movie is being produced by Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey (via their Temple Hill Entertainment compay), who plan to start looking for a director as soon as Beattie completes the script. Variety also reports that the game's lead designer Cliff "CliffyB" Bleszinski "will exec produce the film and consult on its development for Epic".
"We wanted to make an entertainment property that's not just for games but for other media," said Epic VP and co-founder Mark Rein.

"I'm not a gamer, but what blew me away about 'Gears' was how it captures the mythology of a war mission and how high the stakes are," Godfrey told Daily Variety.    For now, we can only hope that the GoW movie will have a better fate than the Halo movie, which was abandoned by Universal and Fox last autumn. All is not lost, though.