Conan ... the gameplayer

Now here's a game a Governator could love: Everyone's favorite Cimmerian, Conan, will be the star of a a video game defined by (get ready for it) "epic brutality, sheer evil and visceral combat." Wow, that sounds like Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. Anyway, the game will debut at Comic-Con at a booth with Conan look-alikes. Well, I'd be more interested in that if it was a Red Sonja game, but that's just me.

The publisher of the game, THQ, sent us a nifty piece of art (right) showing the sword-and-sorcery. Here's the release:

"Leading video game publisher THQ will premiere their most creative, challenging and visually stimulating games to date during Comic-Con. Fans will be thrilled with the opportunity to play hero and wreak some havoc in the process with THQ's newest game featuring the legendary warrior, Conan -- voiced by fan-boy favorite RON PERLMAN (Hellboy). To add to the festivities, Conan look-alikes will roam the booth as fans participate in the most visually stunning and interactive rendition of Conan ever. Based on the classic comic book hero, users will employ a deep combat system that offers a variety of fighting styles as you embark on your journey to save the world. An action-adventure game featuring a story of epic brutality, sheer evil and visceral combat, Conan delivers a cinematic game play experience no true fan will be able to resist."

Perlman, by the way, is in Budapest, Hungary, right now filming the sequel "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army." Perlman has become quite the icon in fan-boy circles, especially in the area of voice talent. There's his animated "Hellboy" movies (which are outstanding, if you haven't seen them; one of them, "Sword of Stone," got an Emmy nomination last week). And he also works on some of the DC Comics cartoons (he was Killer Croc on "Batman" and Orion of the New Gods in "Justice League") and video games (he was Batman in "Justice League Heroes") and had a key role in "Afro Samurai."

But for us he will always be the stern-faced Zeno from "The Ice Pirates," that gloriously awful 1984 movie that managed to fit Robert Urich, Anjelica Huston, Max Von Sydow and Bruce Vilanch (!) onto one screen. Sorry, Ron.

-- Geoff Boucher