The Hollywood legend has reportedly been seeking the movie rights to the popular shoot‘em up for quite a while. Now a recent French press release for Halo: Crytum, a new book, is suggesting that the director responsible for such classics as E.T., Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and Jurassic Park has indeed been successful and the movie will hit the big screen in 2012.

A translated statement from the press release stated ‘A film adaptation is set in 2012.’ It went on to explain that both DreamWorks and Spielberg will be conducting the movie cooperatively, describing them as ‘heavyweights of American cinema.’ As with a lot of news that come from translations, this could end up being a huge misinterpretation. On the other hand it could be true which means we are some of the first to know.

According to CVG, reports that Spielberg was interested first began to circulate in October last year, now a year later it could well be happening based on the novel source material. By basing the movie on the novel rather than the source which Fox and Universal used for their Halo movie failure, DreamWorks and Spielberg will avoid legal battles.

What do you make of this news? Are you excited to hear that there could be a Halo movie with a blockbusting director?

The rights were received through a lucrative deal that was secured with the animations company, which is reported to be costing Netflix an estimated $30 million per movie, though over how many years that’s for is unknown. The deal is also said to be replacing the deal that DreamWorks, the company behind popular animated series like Shrek, currently have with HBO which is less profitable.

According to The New York Times, both companies are claiming this is the first time a deal like this has happened, where a pay television company loses out to a Web streaming service. DreamWorks’ Chief Executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg is also claiming that soon consumers will not distinguish between Web streaming and pay TV saying ‘This is a game-changing deal.’ He believes the deal has mapped out a long-term plan for the company.

Despite the deal Netflix still have several obstacles to overcome if they want to become king of the industry. They still face tough competition from the likes of Vudu and Apple when it comes to similar streaming services. Also new companies are attempting to break into the industry hoping to make an impact, like Dish Network, responsible for helping Blockbuster out of bankruptcy, who recently announced a Blockbuster branded DVD by mail and streaming service like Lovefilm.

What are your thoughts on this deal? Will it aid Netflix in their plans to rise to the top?

It seems Activision intend to take full advantage of the fact that Mario Kart is only available to Nintendo consoles as they have teamed up with DreamWorks and developed a very similar racing game called DreamWorks Super Star Kartz. Like Mario Kart it features an array of characters, only these ones all feature in the DreamWorks movies.

According to Eurogamer, there are a total of 14 characters available to select from the likes of movies such as Monsters vs. Aliens, Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek. The Super Star Kartz will also feature a variety of weapons as you would get in Mario Kart, designed to help out-wit opponents, as well as ‘awesome’ tricks and stunts. It also includes three game modes; Time Trial, Circuit and Battle, again very similar to the modes you’d expect to find in Mario Kart.

There was no mention of the online mode in Eurogamer’s source, though there is a multi-player mode available with split-screen for up to four people. Apparently the game is expected to hit the market this autumn, which is fast considering we’re only just hearing about it, and it will be available across all platforms. Check out the link above for more screenshots from the upcoming Activision title.

What do you think of DreamWorks Super Star Kartz so far? Will you be getting it?