Fast Forward Weekly this week includes my “Joystuck” column, which this time around is a look at some of this summer’s video games that are based on movies.

The summer blockbuster season is upon us and these days the big movies also get big video games. Often, the most successful video games based on movies are those that don’t try to rehash the film, but use the celluloid story and setting as an inspiration.

The casual game market is exploding, which means it was high time for me to cover the industry segment in my “Trigger Happy” column that runs in the Georgia Straight.

Marc Saltzman can’t get enough of Plants vs. Zombies. Of all the games the Toronto-based video-game journalist could be playing, the one keeping him up at night is this Windows and Mac title, a so-called casual game that has players use plants to defend virtual homes from hordes of zombies.

I also work to define and categorize casual games.

The most popular casual titles are puzzle games, of which there are three primary subgenres: match three, hidden object, and time management.

Check out the brilliant t-shirt designs from Jeremy Kalgreen, including the one pictured here, entitled “Wonders of Alchemy: Because we know that gold is just a philosophers stone away.”

Another favourite is the “UFO Pyramid: Because we know that the pyramids were really outsourced to spacemen.”

Christine sent out a link to this mashup today. Steph, as she so often can, spoke eloquently for all of us: “Oh my GOD I miss Buffy so much.”

Vancouver’s Radical Entertainment is understandably excited about the release of the studio’s first game based on a new intellectual property. Prototype is a dark, conspiracy tale that plays out in New York City, and it’s a crackerjack game.

In today’s edition of the Georgia Straight is my profile of Radical and the people involved in the game’s creation.

Even though the video-game industry is overflowing with creativity, many of its biggest titles aren’t wholly original. They’re often adapted from movies, comic books, and other material.

Also in the issue is my review of Prototype

A dark and violent tale of conspiracy, Prototype tells the story of Alex Mercer after he’s become something other than a man.