Good lord, I saw some great stuff this week that I can't discuss yet. I know that's a fairly worthless thing to say, but considering all I've done for the last several days is travel--the airport security guys recognize me now, which is slightly depressing--I don't have much else to say.

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The Running With Scissors guys send along word that they are hiring, with the Postal developer looking for a junior and senior level designer.

After years of expressing casual resentment or disinterest towards the online treatment of his films, Uwe Boll has made himself very clear to Eurogamer about his feelings on his online critics, video game movies, Hollywood producers, and his plans in the near future. In short, he's quite frustrated. Dr. Boll feels that there are too many gamers who are judging his films not on actual experience but rather solely on his already poor reputation. In his view, each of his films is a substantial improvement over the prior one. In fact, he points out, the source material for the projects he works on is generally itself not of the highest caliber when it comes to things like plot, character development, or insight.

Furthermore, Boll has a lot of negative things to say about the process of turning games into movies in general. He claims that film producers know little about the games whose licenses they acquire, and furthermore game publishers do not take enough initiative in protecting and guiding the development of films based on their IP. He points out comic giant Marvel as an example of a company which takes a more active role in films based on its properties.

Boll also contradicted claims that his films exist to take advantage of a now-defunct German tax loophole for unprofitable films. He states that due in part to his low budgets, he is in fact well known for paying back his investors. Plus, his DVDs sell--House of the Dead is reportedly at 1.4 million sales.

"When I try to get videogames turned into movies, and get videogames accepted as [the equivalent of] best-selling books for the younger generation, I get only sh** from the videogames press - what an asshole I am, what a criminal I am for doing these movies, whatever, instead of being happy that there's a movie getting made of a game. This is what's confusing me."

Boll goes on to suggest that after Far Cry, he might stop making video game films completely. There are still a few more movies until then, however. The article contains a few tidbits about Boll's next film, the already controversial Postal adaptation. Vince Desi, CEO of Postal developer Running With Scissors, had vocally defended Boll as the perfect director for the project. He identifies with Boll as being something of an outcast in his field, and trusts that Boll is one of the few directors around willing to uncompromisingly translate the extreme shock value of the Postal games to the big screen. It looks like he's probably right about that, at any rate.

For example, the movie prominently features Osama bin Laden running a Taliban operation out of Arizona. Boll himself will also be violently killed in the movie, possibly by actual "Boll haters" who will be credited as extras. Oh, and also, there's this.

Brian D. Crecente at the Rocky Mountain News takes a rather in-depth look at that oddly persistant game-adapting cineaste, Uwe Boll. Reading the article, it occurred to me: If this guy sucks so much, how is he still around? While I am the first to admit that talentless hacks comprise a good deal of the popular charts of any medium, the ones who stick around actually sell. Boll's first video game movie, House of the Dead, made back its budget--barely--but his next film Alone in the Dark made back just under a third of its budget, and his most recent release BloodRayne has made just under 6% back so far. And yet the man's shooting schedule is absolutely booked solid, with In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale releasing later this year, and Far Cry, Postal, and Fear Effect in the works. In fact, he is apparently so busy that he had to turn down the Metal Gear Solid script he was recently offered. So what's the deal here?

Could he be merely misunderstood?

An hour on the phone with Boll can leave you thinking that perhaps you were wrong after all, perhaps his movies - even those that cast Tara Reid as an archaeologist or tell the story of zombies hanging out at a rave - aren't that bad, just misunderstood.

"He's very personable, very honest," [IGN's Chris] Carle said. "He's quick to laugh, he's a fun guy to hang out with."

[Jim] Schramm, whose company distributed BloodRayne, said he was so charmed by Boll that he ended up putting some of his own money into promoting the film.

"He is so serious about making sure his investors are taken care of, that his actors are taken care of...he's more interested in that than anything at all," he said.

Word has gotten out, Schramm says, that Boll is a good guy to work for.

Similar positive comments were also heard from Vince Desi, founder of Postal creator Running With Scissors, and Jeremy Snook of Dungeon Siege developer Gas Powered Games. "Passion goes a long way for us," admitted Snook.

So maybe he's not so much misunderstood as he is some kind of internal marketing wizard. And in an industry where, like so many others, it's all about who you know, that might mean we'll be seeing films from Dr. Boll for a long time to come.

Today's Games In 2005-2006 Q&As on GameCloud: Mythic Entertainment producer Matt Firor and Mike Jaret of Running With Scissors.

Running With Scissors sends along this press release, announcing that they have signed "a suicide pact" with movie director Uwe Boll to create a Postal movie. Boll had previously mentioned that Postal was one of his favorite games, so it's no real surprise this is happening. Hey at least it will take time away from him molesting a good game franchise right?

"Uwe Boll is the perfect producer-director to make POSTAL," affirmed Running With Scissors' CEO Vince Desi. "He understands the subject matter and has an appreciation and affinity for controversy and political incorrectness. POSTAL has always been about reason and insanity, violence and motivation; producer-director Uwe Boll is simply the right guy to bring that vision to the screen." The man behind the camera, Hollywood outsider Uwe Boll ranks POSTAL as his personal, all-time favorite video game. "I see it like a mirror for our society -- funny, violent, absurd!" he declared. "So then the movie must be powerful, strange, and so full of the game's political incorrect outrageousness that if we do it correct, we will all probably end up in jail!"

The movie will start shooting in 2006 for a 2007 release.

Burned Over Hot Coffee? is a new GameCloud article, asking id Software's CEO Todd Hollenshead, Running With Scissors CEO Vince Desi and 3000AD CEO Derek Smart for comments about the whole Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas/Hot Coffee incident.

There's a Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend Q&A on HomeLAN Fed, asking the Running With Scissors about this new singleplayer expansion. According to the Q&A Apocalypse Weekend is already done and will be released soon.

Also on HomeLAN Fed today, two more Gaming 2003-2004 Q&As. Today with Bryan Dillow of Running With Scissors and John Whitmore of 2015.

Running With Scissors has released a Postal 2: Share the Pain demo, allowing you to try out this upcoming multiplayer expansion pack for the game. The 156mb download offers three maps, one playable in CTF mode and the other two in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch or Grab mode.

Gamers Gallary has six new screenshots from the Postal 2 multiplayer edition Share the Pain. Developer Running With Scissors announced yesterday they will release the game themselves in December.

New on HomeLAN Fed today is this Postal 2 multiplayer Q&A. Running With Scissors CEO Vince Desi, lead game designer Steve Wik, lead level designer Bryan Dillow and AI/special effects programmer Nathan Fouts answer questions about sales numbers, the main goal for the multiplayer addon, the game modes, plans for new weapons, the release date, and future plans for the company.

The guys at Running With Scissors have released a patch for Postal 2, updating the game to version 1337. The patch takes care of the atrocious load times, and also adds two new levels, a new weapon and several other new features.

Also on GameHelper today is an interview with someone at Running With Scissors about Postal 2. Topics include the current status of the game, things you'll do as the player, NPC interaction, use of the Unreal engine, Gary Coleman, available weapons and more.

The official Postal 2 website has been updated, offering new screenshots from the violent Running With Scissors first person shooter.

WorthPlaying's Postal 2 Q&A is online this morning. Running With Scissors' Vince Desi is on hand to answer questions about the size of the game world, system requirements, NPCs, multiplayer (looks like this will be an addon now) and censorship among other things.

The guys at Doupe.cz let us know they have posted a Postal 2 Q&A with Vince Desi of Running with Scissors about pretty much all aspects of the game. Meanwhile, Running With Scissors announced they have found a North American and European publisher. A company called Whiptail Interactive will be publishing the game once it's done.

Elited has a Postal 2 Q&A, asking Vince Desi of Running With Scissors about the storyline, interactivity, weapons and more. New screenshots are included.

The guys at Action Trip have a new Postal 2 Q&A with Vince Desi of Running With Scissors. Another new movie from the game is included.

The Postal Network sends word that they'll be hosting a chat event today with the people from Running With Scissors to talk about the upcoming Postal 2. The chat will start at 6PM CST in #postal2 on irc.gamesnet.net.