It’s very cold outside (well it might be for you, but where I am its stinking hot in winter, furnace of hell in summer) but this is considered, in movie terms, the summer blockbuster period. Not so much for games though. It’s more a time for quiet reflection and trying out the odd movie game that looks okay like Amazing Spiderman.

This week we begin with a little movie game news for a future summer release that might excite you.

Assassins Creed is coming to the big screen with no less than soon to be a Academy Award winner Michel Fassbender producing and set to star in an unknown role, although it’s kind of hinted that he won’t be playing Desmond or any of his ancestors necessarily. Likely the movie will compliment the storyline of the games the way the comics and novels have so far. While this might immediately give you cause to be cynical and inflate like a puffer fish to make yourself look both more intimidating, and more difficult to swallow for predators, keep in mind Ubisoft are keeping this pretty closed to their handsome French chests. They’re producing it with Fassbender’s own film company and then shopping it around to big dogs for release and marketing funds, something that failed SPECTACULARLY for the Halo move, even with Microsoft and Peter Jackson backing it. SO we’ll just see how Ubisoft goes with this. Best of all is the original Variety piece describing the purported films plot, "plot revolves around a man who learns his ancestors were trained assassins after he is kidnapped by a secret org with ties to the Knights Templar, and sent back in time to retrieve historical artifacts,". Never mind that’s pretty much the game plot and someone at variety just asked their nephew what the games about, they obviously fail to understand a plot can feature multiple era plot threads, and yet also not involve any time travel.

More movie news, Deus Ex Human Revolution has been picked up by CBS Films to get the celluloid treatment. CBS Films report they’ll be working closely with Eidos Montreal to make sure they get the film ‘right’.

Another slightly terrifying story from Variety magazine (source of the Assassins Creed story), Rocksteady Games are apparently working on a new Batman game. Unfortunately, and I mean very unfortunately, it might be a 'Silver age Batman' story. The silver age is broadly considered the period from the 50's to the 70's when Super hero's had their pre celluloid heyday. It's also the source of all the camp and weirdness that still plagues superhero tropes today, things like superman getting a space flu that causes him to sneeze down buildings, or Batman for no particular reason going back in time to help King Arthur or teaming up with Sherlock Holmes. The Rocksteady game isn't due till 2014 or so, but I'm praying this is a joke, after the excellence of the last two games, a Batman game with a blue cape, bright yellow belt and dialogue taken from the Adam West TV show could put me in an early grave.

The Ouya, open platform game console that was announced last week opened a kickstarter page to seek funding and made its goal off $950,000 in just under a day. The goal is to have the console released first quarter 2013.

Trent Reznor, the man behind seminal band The Nine Inch Nails and, strangely, academy award winning composer for his soundtrack work on The Social Network, is providing some tunes for Call of Duty Black Ops 2.

Xbox has just released the Kinect PlayFit dashboard for people to compare calorie burning goals across multiple Kinect games. It’s even got leaderboards and its own built in achievements and special events. I may have to resume my Kinect weight loss challenge.

Mass Effect 3 has another free multiplayer DLC release called Earth, featuring new locations and character classes.

Lucasarts are reportedly working on a secret DLC project. Come on Republic Commando 2.

Activision’s mobile catalogue is working on bringing some it’s classics up to date with a mobile release. No not Call of Duty 2, older than that, before you were born older. Their first release will be ancient relic of a game Pitfall. Pro tip: don’t jump on the alligators heads when their mouths are open.

Borderlands 2 will reward fans of the first game with free skins and heads for their characters if the game detects save game details from the first Borderlands when you boot it up. Really, this is something a lot more games should be doing.

Filed under, ‘the last thing I expected to read today’, Sir Paul Mcartney, former Beatle and lover of evil one legged ladies, is providing music for Bungie’s next game, whatever that may be.

A budget re-release of Metal Gear Solid 4 will include a patch to finally, finally, include trophies in the PS3 classic.

Planetside 2 is less than a month away from a Beta opening. Check your inbox.

Something called Legend of Grimrock is on sale right now for $7 and it looks pretty amazing. If you were a fan of those old first person RPGs like Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder, this might be the game you’ve been looking for. Check out the amaziing trailer below.  http://www.grimrock.net/

Peter Molyneaux has started hinting at his next game project out of his new studio 22Cans called Curiosity. He claims that at the heart of the game, whatever it is, is a secret, ‘so valuable and life changing... it will appear on news reports’. My son, a lifelong Molyneaux fan showed me the details on Eurogamer and suggested that the developer has gone Colonel Kurtz levels of crazy. Time will tell.

In case learning that there’s an Expendables 2 game in the works didn’t cause your testicles to swell with manliness and testosterone, news of a Rambo game to be announced at Gamescon in August certainly will. On a more serious note, if your testicles have swollen, or you notice any odd lumps or growths upon self examination, you should see your doctor immediately.

In case you didn’t know Halo 4 will have another crazy detailed forge world to play in.

To wrap up the week here’s some slightly more disappointing news about Batman. I’ve been playing an inordinate amount of Batman Arkham City lately so this information seems fitting. A group of British Physics students analysed the way Batman uses his cape to fly in Batman Begins (very similar to the gliding method in Arkham City) and concluded if Batman did attempt to fly in this manner it wouldn’t end very well for him. In a paper titled "Trajectory of a falling Batman", the group argued that if he jumped from a 150-metre (492-foot) high building, the 4.7 meter (15-foot) wingspan of Batman's cape would allow him to glide 350 meters (1148 feet). However, he would reach a speed of 68 miles per hour (109 km per hour) before hitting the ground at a life-threatening speed of 50 mph. So lime any pre-Wright Brothers amateur aviators before him Batman could indeed potentially fly in real life, but just the one time as landing would be fatal.

Now you know.

Have fun, game and be happy.