Gaming News Round-Up: March 4th, 2005

Today's pre-GDC round-up includes news of a long-term relationship between Atari and Spark, as well as The Rock's Doom-related sortie to Mars. - Atari Inc., the French games publisher,and Spark Unlimited, developers of the recent Call of Duty: Finest Hour, have entered into a long-term exclusive agreement for Atari to control not only the game publishing rights to Spark's titles, but the rights to all other forms of media as well. The first joint project between the two companies has already been earmarked for potential outlets in film, television, and other products; little is known about the new game apart from its intended release on consoles, but more details will come out in the spring, likely at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo. - Wrestler-turned-actor The Rock, whose film credits include The Rundown, Walking Tall, and a small part in the just-opened Be Cool, talked more about his role in the upcoming Doom movie based on id Software's seminal first-person shooting franchise. The Rock mentioned that the Doom movie is "rated 'R', it's unapologetic, just like the video game," and that his part in the movie would be one of the human marines fighting against the forces of Hell on Mars, rather than a member of the demonic brigade.