Variety reports that the live-action Turok movie is not being handled by Disney, which publishes the video game series through its Touchstone Pictures label. Instead, the film rights are being handled by Classic Media, the same IP management firm that handled the direct-to-DVD Turok animated film.

What does this mean for the dinosaur hunter's big-screen debut? Variety's Ben Fritz warns us that without the backing of a major studio like Disney, it's likely that Turok won't be on par with major film adaptations like the upcoming Prince of Persia and BioShock flicks. Let's just keep it out of the hands of Uwe Boll, shall we?

Turok didn't make so much a splash as a dull thud when it landed on consoles earlier this year, but that doesn't mean we don't still all love the idea of a Native American warrior killing dinosaurs. In fact, it's one of our all-time favorite premises, right after immortal guys trying to cut one another's heads off and Arnold Schwarzenegger being pregnant. That's why we're happy to hear that actor Adam Beach (who played the Son of Stone in the animated version previewed above) says that a live action version of the story is in the works.

"We just finished the animated movie and now we're going into the feature film movie [which should lens] hopefully in a couple years. We're about to set up meetings to develop a script and put it out there," Beach told MTV. Sounds great, but we just want to go on record: If the Cerebral Bore doesn't make an appearance, we're getting our tickets refunded.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in.]

Sometimes we get so obsessed with Call of Duty 4 or new Halo 3 maps that we forget there are other games people like to play online. Take, for instance, Turok, which we just learned will get five new multiplayer maps (the "Velociraptor Pack") via Xbox Live and PSN tomorrow. The DLC will run you $5 (400 points) on both systems.

Well, by "five" maps, we really should say "two," because one is a new co-op map and two are re-lit versions of already available maps. But three maps for $10 seems to be the standard now, so we're not complaining. No, what puzzles us is this: We know it's not one of the big guns, but is anybody playing Turok online? Is this a gem we missed out on?

Side note from that same release: Expect the PC version of the game to arrive on April 22 for $50.

Zero Punctuation tries to be helpful this week by beating Turok with blunt vocabulary and attempting to help other first person shooter developers not make the same mistakes. The six minor points Yahtzee lays out ask shooters not to be cheap imitations of Halo, which itself is a cheap knock-off of ... oh, let's avoid finishing that sentence for the sake of being able to turn on the car tomorrow morning with reasonable knowledge it won't explode.

This week's NSFW review of that game with dinosaurs, Turok, is embedded all cozy-like after the break.

The new Turok title was originally scheduled for release in November of last year, but only came out this past week. The reason for the four-month delay? According to developer Propaganda Games, it's the PS3's fault.

Josh Holmes, VP and studio manager at Propaganda, tells Canada.com that lead development of Turok took place on the Xbox 360, due to the console's easy compatibility with the Unreal Engine 3. Though the Xbox 360 version was finished on schedule, the PS3 version took a bit more finagling to get it "up to the standard of the 360 version."

X3F points out that Propaganda's difficulties stem somewhat from the sub-par PS3 port of Unreal Engine 3, which also led to Silicon Knights' lawsuit against Epic.

[Via X3F]

With the revamped version of Turok apparently not shipping out until next week, you still have a little time to decide if you're going to be able to take the dino-killing brute back into your life. Now, you non-PS3 gamers have been given the tools to do so, with the demo for the game arriving on Xbox Live Marketplace. You PS3 players have already had the chance to take it for a spin.

So, here's what we need to know: What's the verdict? Are you going to be able to give Turok another chance to win you over? Or is the new effort too little too late?

Concerns over developer-encouraged griefing can now be quelled, as Game|Life reports that a patch will be released the same day that Turok launches in the US (Feb. 5), removing the controversial team-killing achievement from the online modes of both the PS3 and Xbox 360 version.

The patch will keep the "Grab Bag" achievement (and its parallel PS3 "accomplishment") intact, but remove the requirement that players must kill a team-member to acquire it. Once patched, the achievement will only require players to kill at least one creature, one enemy, and themselves in order to unlock.

Since the achievement only affects online play, the patch will probably have to be downloaded before any players can engage in multiplayer mayhem. We're happy Propaganda Games decided to release this patch sooner rather than later, though here's hoping eager griefers who heard about the sadistic achievement will also hear about its removal. Otherwise, there or not, the achievement may turn Turok into a TK nightmare.

Maybe we've taken one too many cerebral bores to the head, but we've decided to feature Touchstone's Turok relaunch as our game of the week. Since we didn't get the demo here in the states, (Ed: The demo is available, but only on PSN). We have no idea if it's a solid title or more of the dreck that the series devolved into. But we hate dinosaurs so much we want it to be awesome. Nay, we need it to be. Check the full list after the jump.

[Update: Though GameStop has the game set to launch this week, Turok's official site says Feb. 5. So don't go looking for it this week.]

We had our heart broken by Turok more than a few times in the past, so we were a bit trepidacious when he showed up on our doorstep again, clean-shaven and with a handful of flowers. But we decided, after dancing in our pajamas and eating ice cream with some of our closest female friends, that love, real love, was worth the risk.

So when we saw Major Nelson's post that a demo had hit Xbox Live Marketplace we'll admit we were a bit excited. We found one of the black dresses from our college days that still fits, put on our best perfume. And then hopped on to Xbox Live to find that he was nowhere to be found. We're sitting there all alone just listening to the violinist and eating breadsticks, waiting for him to arrive. What's worse, people in the UK say they've already seen him! We'll let you know when he gets here, but he better have a great excuse. Unless he comes in missing an arm and with velociraptor teeth marks on his head, we are finished. Again.

Update: Major Nelson has updated the post to say that two-timer Turok will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and United Kingdom. Or in other words, not in North America. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to go buy a pint of Chunky Monkey and take a long bath.

After reviewing concerns about its Xbox achievement choices, Propaganda games says it'll consider removing the "team kill" award after the Turok launch early next year. Although CVG reports in its headline "Turok dev to scrap team kill achievement," the quote from Propaganda VP Josh Holmes is actually, "We are currently looking at readying a patch or solution for it if it does become an issue when the game releases" (um, looks like somebody forgot to read the story before writing the headline). That's not a definitive statement that Propaganda will nix the controversial achievement, but merely acknowledgment that the developer will consider doing so after the game releases.

Actually, a few statements made by Holmes in the interview are a little frightening. For example, he says that the team kill achievement -- which gives ten points for killing one creature, enemy, teammate and yourself in a single round -- was originally created as a joke because they found that players in their first Turok match met all the criteria. That's not exactly a confidence builder.

In a show of confidence, Touchstone (read: Disney) and Propaganda games are making a pre-order demo available now for Turok -- a full two months before the full game's Feb. 5, 2008 release. The disc has "approximately 30 minutes of gameplay from Turok" and is available at Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart.com and Game Crazy. Although there doesn't appear to a release date change for the PS3 version, the pre-order demo is currently only available on Xbox 360. The PC version of Turok will begin stalking reptiles sometime in Spring 2008.

The demo disc also includes a "premium item" and at this point.... we have no idea what that means. Our short time with Turok at E3 did impress us, so we're looking forward to getting another chance to experience the hunt two months before launch. No word if a PS3 demo will be distributed some other way, but we're just happy that Propaganda and Disney had some sense to release next year instead of dropping Turok like a cow into the raptor pit of this holiday season.

[Via Press Release]

It's difficult to watch these recently released multiplayer clips of Turok and be completely satisfied. Sure, what's here looks solid, but the one key omission is so glaringly obvious, we're not even going to mention it. ... What, don't you see it? It's the only thing we can see: None of the players are dinosaurs.

It's a fact that playing as a dinosaur is considered by many experts to be the raddest thing you can do in a video game, short of skydiving into a dynamite factory. In our younger years, we went so far as the pick up the Genesis version of Jurassic Park just so we could experience the thrill of playing as a velociraptor. It's been nearly 15 years since then, and our thirst to rend human flesh with our razor-like teeth and talons still has yet to be slaked. Come on, Touchstone Studios, just think about it. The opportunity is lying right there, like a golden ... thing, just waiting to be picked up and pawned. ... Or is that pwned?

Ask anyone: Killing your own teammates is just about the most fun you can have in a multiplayer game (except for walking around crouched and claiming you have scurvy, natch). Thankfully, Propaganda Games, the developers of the "we-swear-it's-not-crappy-anymore" Turok finally acknowledged this awesome pastime with the "Grab Bag" achievement.

The 10-pointer is awarded to you if you "Kill at least 1 creature, 1 enemy, 1 teammate, and yourself in the same round of a public match." So keep that in mind the next time a team member shoots you in the face with an arrow before tripping on their own grenade. They're not awful. They're achieving.

Turok still has every intention of making his console debut on Feb. 5, '08, but Propaganda Games has announced that a PC version is also in the mix. The PC version will release on the same date and is being converted by Aspyr Media, complete with multiplayer mode supporting 16 players.

Turok really was a sleeper surprise as last year's E3 and our hands-on time with it had us wanting more. The console versions should get a little more attention from a post-holiday lull and will hopefully match our initial impressions. 'Cause, you know, hunting dinosaurs is cool.

[Update: Added PC version release date.]