Animated feature or cheap marketing ploy? Mix the fantastic CGI in this trailer and the solid track record of Sonic animation (my 3 year old turned me onto Sonic X — it rocks) with the need for Sega win back the hearts and minds of gamers, and I’m going to say it falls somewhere in between. Either way, this looks awesome.

Night of the Werehog is a short animated film set to debut sometime this month at nightofthewerehog.com, probably around the November 18th release date for Sonic Unleashed. No word on the specific details yet — will it serve as a precursor the game? Is made up of cut scenes? Does it smell like fresh baked cookies?

After going hands on with Sonic Unleashed at X08 earlier this year, I’m pretty psyched to get my hands on anything related to the came. Here’s to hoping Night of the Werehog debuts soon!

Gore Verbinski (”Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Ring”) has now been tasked with the monumental job of bringing Bioshock, easily one of my favorite games of all time, to the big screen. Among the things that made him want to bring the video game to film were the Art Deco architecture (which, you have to admit, is awesome) and the characters. Especially the Big Daddys and Little Sisters. Wow. Can you imagine Sander Cohen prancing ’round the screen?

John Logan (”The Aviator”) is currently in talks to write the screenplay. Take-Two will get a cool couple of million dollars in advance, gross points and a “deal structure to ensure the film gets made.” Verbinski went on to say that as soon as Logan’s script is ready and approved, pre-production will begin. Unfortunately, a target release date has yet to be set, but the more time they have, the better…I think. We’ll just have to play the wait-and-see game. So, how do you think things will turn out?

Gore Verbinski to Direct ‘Bioshock’ [Variety]

[via Dark Horizons]