After reviewing over 550 pitches from filmmakers, six final stories were chosen for production. 

The filmmakers were given unprecedented access to the franchise, including storytelling elements, creatures, and characters, to bring a new, terrifying experience to life for audiences. Each of the six shorts brings forth an exciting new narrative for fans while paying homage to the original film. 

Starting this week, screenings for the first four Alien shorts will commence at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle on Friday, March 15th, followed by C2E2 in Chicago on Saturday, March 23rd. The final two shorts, both helmed by female filmmakers, will screen exclusively for fans at WonderCon on Saturday, March 30th, followed by a moderated panel with the directors. 

Afterwards, the shorts will be released weekly on IGN, starting on March 29th. So make sure to keep an eye out for them soon. In the meantime, check out the trailer for an early peak. 

ALIEN: 40th Anniversary Shorts Synopses: 

ALIEN: Alone – Hope, an abandoned crew member aboard the derelict chemical hauler Otranto, has spent a year trying to keep her ship and herself alive as both slowly fall apart. After discovering hidden cargo, she risks it all to power up the broken ship in search of human life. Written and Directed by Noah Miller 

ALIEN: Containment – Four survivors find themselves stranded aboard a small escape pod in deep space. Trying to piece together the details around the outbreak that led to their ship’s destruction, they find themselves unsure to trust whether or not one of them might be infected. Written and Directed by Chris Reading 

ALIEN: Harvest – The surviving crew of a damaged deep-space harvester have minutes to reach the emergency evacuation shuttle. A motion sensor is their only navigation tool leading them to safety while a creature in the shadows terrorizes the crew. However, the greatest threat might have been hiding in plain sight all along. Directed by Benjamin Howdeshell 

ALIEN: Night Shift – When a missing space trucker is discovered hungover and disoriented, his co-worker suggests a nightcap as a remedy. Near closing time, they are reluctantly allowed inside the colony supply depot where the trucker’s condition worsens, leaving a young supply worker alone to take matters into her own hands. Written and Directed by Aidan Breznick 

ALIEN: Ore – As a hard-working miner of a planet mining colony, Lorraine longs to make a better life for her daughter and grandchildren. When her shift uncovers the death of a fellow miner under mysterious circumstances, Lorraine is forced to choose between escape or defying management orders and facing her fears to fight for the safety of her family. Written and Directed by the Spear Sisters 

ALIEN: Specimen – It’s the night shift in a colony greenhouse, and Julie, a botanist, does her best to contain suspicious soil samples that have triggered her sensitive lab dog. Despite her best efforts the lab unexpectedly goes into full shutdown and she is trapped inside. Little does she know, an alien specimen has escaped the mysterious cargo, and a game of cat and mouse ensues as the creature searches for a host. Directed by Kelsey Taylor 

Alien Hunter

Playtech, one of the leading slot developers in the industry, has created a perfect alien themed slot in Alien Hunter. Taking place in deep space, the slot takes you on an adventure in the far corners of the universe where different kinds of aliens dwell. Your quest is to steal their vast riches and take them back to Earth, and for it, you will be handsomely awarded.

Featuring 5 reels and 25 paylines, Alien Hunter certainly doesn’t lack opportunities to win. Keep an eye for the bonus features while you’re travelling the intergalactic space – the scatters and wilds can trigger free spins and major wins which is exactly what you’re looking for.

Space Invaders

Who could forget Space Invaders, the 1978 Taito hit that grew into a cult hit. Space Invaders has entered many spheres of pop culture and even managed to make the jump to online slots. Drawing inspiration from the cult game, Playtech has developed another massive hit where you get to defend Earth from the attacks of hostile alien forces.

With 5 reels, 10 paylines, loads of bonuses, and an attractive retro theme, Space Invaders will appeal to old and new players as well. The UFO Wild Feature is especially exciting – if the red UFO and the cannon align, the laser will shoot the UFO down from the skies and give you respins while putting wilds across the reels. If you’re lucky enough to activate the feature, you could be looking at a massive win. The game is available at NetBet where you can also play different variations of Roulette.

Area 21

Cryptologic’s Area 21 slot has 5 reels and 25 paylines and is trying to answer an unusual question – what if aliens came to earth and set up their own intergalactic casino? Land 3 scatters on the reels and you’ll activate the unique bonus feature, which lets you play blackjack against an alien dealer. Sounds fun, right? The objective of the game is to get to 21 first and your reward will come in the form of 25 free spins and a 3x multiplier on some combinations which can fill your pockets pretty quickly.

Reptoids

Yggdrasil’s Reptoids slot is a fun take on a popular conspiracy theme which suggests that reptilians walk the Earth among us while trying to take over the world. With a retro theme, 5 reels, and 25 paylines, it offers big winning combinations and a few unique features. When you spin the reels, the Repto Detector looks for reptoids – if it identifies one, that icon turns to a wild, possibly triggering major wins.

The scatter is especially lucrative as well, offering prizes that go up to a staggering 5,000 times your stake! The slot has perfect graphics as is to be expected of Yggdrasil and is definitely worth your time.

Aliens vs. Pinball will also feature voices and key characters from the film franchise such as Ellen Ripley. The games is expected to offer a “dynamic interpretation of the terrifying atmosphere and white-knuckle situations that have made the ALIEN anthology one of the most popular, frightening and enduring franchises in science-fiction.”

Aliens vs. Pinball is slated to hit most consoles and Windows 10 on April 26th, 2016.

Key Game Features

– Join Ellen Ripley as she confronts her nightmares and help the Colonial Marines rid LV-426 of its Alien infestation in Aliens Pinball

– Watch out for the merciless Alien stalking you on the Alien: Isolation pinball table

– Defeat Xenomorphs and rise in Yautja society on the Alien vs. Predator table

– Original iconic voiceovers and sound effects from films and videogames set in the ALIENS
Universe

– Leaderboards, score tracking, exciting social features, and more

– The Aliens vs. Pinball pack will be released on consoles, PC and mobile platforms on ALIEN DAY, April 26th. For more information on Aliens vs. Pinball as well as other titles from Zen Studios, please visit blog.zenstudios.com.

The other day, Papermag.com published an interview with ex-Blink-182 member, Tom DeLonge, which was conducted prior to the Blink separation. The extensive interview deals entirely with DeLonge’s obsession with aliens and reads like research for an episode of The X-Files and, in fact, if you squint at the accompanying photo, DeLonge actually looks a bit like David Duchovny.

But the interview isn’t a piece of fiction, or at least DeLonge believes 100% in what he’s saying about aliens. Through the years he’s hardly concealed his beliefs, letting them be known publicly and even giving him musical inspiration. And he has done extensive research and networking to support his claims, whether you believe him or not.

Given DeLonge’s immersion in the subject, does that make him nuts or just better informed than the majority of us?

I’m inclined to believe him, since I share his belief that there’s intelligent life in the universe besides our own. It would be extremely arrogant of us to think otherwise. But have aliens visited planet Earth? I have no idea, but there’s no way I’d rule it out.

Of course, with a lot of what DeLonge says can’t be substantiated. We’ll just have to take his word for it when he talks about such things as a 70-year-old man telling him to be careful and not to get into a car if someone offers him a ride (after DeLonge had described the mechanics of a spacecraft), or his experience with “lost time” while camping near Area 51, or his claims that he’s had his phones tapped, or that the government purports conspiracy theories to distract our attention.

Then there’s the stuff that can be “verified,” like the NASA symposiums, the Vatican talking about life out there, and the consensus among top minds that there is life out there.

Whether or not you believe DeLonge, or whether or not you question his sanity, the interview is a fascinating read and you should definitely take the time to enjoy it.

Rock Hard \m/

Me. I’m the problem. Fox, they would make it. Like, tomorrow. They would make it. There’s a high possibility, a high degree of chance that it happens that I go back and try to get Alien made. – Neill Blomkamp

If you have no idea because you’d rather have someone else with a lot more creativity take on that challenge, then you may want to feast your eyes on Neill Blomkamp’s unofficial concept art for a secret Alien movie that features Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) reuniting with U.S. Colonial Marine team member, Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn). Based on his vision in the gallery above, I get the feeling Blomkamp would completely skip David Fincher’s threequel and the horrible Alien: Resurrection, and focus more on a story that picks up years after the events in Aliens.

So far, his vision is beautifully hand drawn on paper, but I’d love to see a draft of the story before falling in love with this. Keep in mind, this is an Alien project that will most likely never go into production.

Aliens – Michael Biehn

Do you remember that horrible FPS developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sega earlier this year? You know the one that didn’t really turn out to look and play as good as the one presented at conventions? Aliens: Colonial Marines ring a bell, anyone?

Well, I’m sure it does, and gamers won’t forget this disappointing title anytime soon. In fact, actor Michael Biehn (Aliens, Terminator, Navy Seals) just dropped his thoughts about it in an interview with Game Informer. Essentially, Biehn calls it a “passionless” effort by the developers.

“I think in movies, television, and the gaming world, you get some people that are really, really passionate, and some people that are just going through the paces. [Sega and Gearbox Software] think that because they have a brand name they’re going to get a hit game or hit movie out of it. That certainly was the situation on [Aliens: Colonial Marines].”

In addition, Biehn compares it to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, which he describes as a “great experience” with the games creative director Dean Evans, who by the sound of it was passionate about the project from the get-go.

“Dean is such an interesting and creative presence. He was talking to me about the game and the fact that it was an ‘80s throwback, and there would be a lot of lines that were Arnold Schwarzenegger-like, that were [Sylvester] Stallone-like, Bruce Willis, myself. Those kind of lines, that kind of vibe, and the fact that it was going to be a throwback to the ‘80s was something that I thought was interesting. But really it was his passion, man.”

Last week, the final DLC pack was released for Aliens: Colonial Marines, which features a new single-player campaign called “Stasis Interrupted,” it explores the tale of Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn) between Aliens and Alien 3 and explains his survival after the events in those films.

Since this game has been described as a true sequel to James Cameron’s film, we honestly can wait to experience this bad ass adaptation on February 12, 2013. Over the past few months we have been covering many updates on Aliens: Colonial Marines and it’s near bloody time to play it.

But before the big launch day we have another trailer for you to check out, which teases the Alien hive, “a dark, imposing place of fear you won’t soon forget.”

Watch it and let us know if you plan on picking up this game in the comment section below.

You can read each of the marines profile by clicking on the images below of Peter O’Neal (Private), Bella Clarison (Private), Christopher T-Winter (Corporal), and Jeremy Cruz (Leutenant).

Aliens: Colonial Marines – Character Details

[See image gallery at www.yellmagazine.com]

Aliens: Colonial Marines is still in development stage by Gearbox Software (Borderland 1-2, Duke Nukem Forever) and is slated for February 12, 2013 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PC.

Anyways with that part out of the way, I’d like to introduce you to a new trailer that Gearbox Software released for Aliens: Colonial Marines, which features the all-new multiplayer “Survivor” mode. A co-op campaign that challenges four-players to complete objectives, and face a wave of aliens. It may sound simple enough, but once you’re the last man standing will you be able to “fight the fear” of being alone against them?

That’s pretty much what this trailer promotes for Aliens: Colonial Marines, which was originally scheduled for 2012, but will now be releasing on February 12, 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Check it out, and drop us a comment or two below about the trailer.