As you can see in the debut video below, Microsoft originally showed how Kinect could scan a real-world object if held in front of it, and then digitize it as an in-game object you can interact with (in the example shown in the video, a kid digitizes his skateboard to use it in-game). But speaking to Eurogamer, Kinect lead Kudo Tsunoda said it’s a feature that’ll be coming later on. “Being able to digitize real-world objects and take them into the virtual world — we saw a little bit of that at E3 last year, but it’s not stuff that we have in any of the launch games right now, and I think we’re going to see a lot more games start using that as well as we go forward,” Tsunoda said.

It’s unclear whether that means developers simply didn’t want to use the feature in any launch games, or whether they couldn’t as Microsoft just hasn’t worked out all the kinks in it yet. Either way, the end result is the same — you won’t be digitizing your stuff with Kinect until some time in the future.

Plants vs Zombies hit the Xbox Live Arcade this week, but platform-holder Microsoft once tried to own the makers of the tower defense game. Develop reports that developer PopCap once rejected a $5 million acquisition offer from the Microsoft, and that it still receives investment and acquisition offers on a regular basis.

“We had a couple of funny instances in the early years of PopCap where we were talking to Microsoft about a possible acquisition,” said creative director Jason Kapalka. “I think it was in 2002 – and they sat us down and gave us this long speech about why our company was worth five million dollars, at a time when we had four million in the bank. We didn’t know much about stock prices and business valuations at the time, but it really didn’t sound like a very good deal even then.”

Since then, PopCap has become a bona fide hit factory, and its value for investors has risen steadily. Kapalka recalls in 2004, an offer of $100 million was on the table, but that deal fell through “for other reasons.” He says that not a month goes by without investment or acquisition offers, but “so far nothing has worked out.”

A few days ago we reported that Company of Heroes lead designer Brian Wood was killed in a car accident late last week. We quickly received messages from community members asking how to contribute to his wife Erin and their unborn child. Now word comes from Kotaku that a donation fund has been established, titled the Brian Wood Memorial Trust.

“Brian was a very close friend,” said Szymon Mazus of Radical Entertainment. “He was just the kindest, most down to earth person you could ever hope to meet, as is Erin. We have set up a trust fund to help Erin and the baby during this very difficult time.”

Interested parties can donate in person, by mail, or online through PayPal. The site notes that you don’t need a PayPal account to donate using the service. Even if money is tight, we know from Child’s Play that gamers are capable of staggering generosity when spurred to action. Now might be a good time to pass on that bit of downloadable content or new game, and send the money to a more noble cause.

Bethesda parent company ZeniMax has once again filed a trademark for a motion picture based on one of its gaming properties. This time the company is looking to secure the rights to create a film around The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

VG Tribune spotted the mid-August application (via Joystiq) for Oblivion, which covers “Motion picture film production; entertainment services, namely, providing motion picture theatrical films in the field of fantasy games.”

ZeniMax picked up a pair of similar trademarks for movies and television series set in the Fallout universe well over a year ago. Nothing’s come of that as of yet, so you shouldn’t necessarily take these filings as a guarantee that an Oblivion flick is actually on the way anytime soon. We’ll keep an eye out for any further developments, though.

Valve isn’t a company that gamers would generally associate with failure, but in an interview with PC Gamer, the subject of their biggest mistakes was raised and it resulted in some fascinating answers — particularly when it comes to Valve’s past on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

“PS3, so far. The way we’ve dealt with those customers so far, and the product that they have, and the lack of updates on the 360 for Team Fortress 2 is also a total failure,” said project manager Erik Johnson, reflecting on Valve’s mistakes. “Those are the ones that sting the worst because it got all the way through to customers. It’s like a bug. If you fix a bug before it ever ships, it’s pretty cheap. If you ship it and then fix it, it’s really expensive. Those ones are really bad.”

Things are going better on the PS3, though, as Valve boss Gabe Newell says they’re pleased with their newly repaired relationship with Sony. “That’s why we’re really happy with the current situation with the PS3…We’re solving it now in a way that is going to work for our customers, rather than assuming something is going to emerge later that will allow us to fix this,” Newell said.

Ubisoft sent word today that the beta for Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood will hit on October 4, for those who pre-ordered the PlayStation 3 version. It will include nine playable characters to choose from, including the executioner, doctor, priest, and courtesan. Players can experiment with two maps (Rome and Castel Gandolfo), and two game types.

“Wanted” is a scored mode in which players try to be the first to reach a set number of assassinations. “Alliance” is a cooperative mode that matches players to fulfill killing contracts. The company hasn’t announced how long before the game’s November 16 release date the beta will end. Since this test is exclusive to PS3-users, it will probably give Ubisoft feedback on balance and usability issues, rather than system-specific game bugs.

Check out our multiplayer preview for more details, but don’t forget the game has a single-player component as well. We recently took a closer look at that too.

“With Heavy Rain it was right to be a PlayStation 3 exclusive, but after Heavy Rain the question can be asked whether we should stick to one platform or open out to different platforms,” said Quantic Dream founder David Cage to GamesIndustry.biz. “Now that we’re established, why are we limiting ourselves to one share of the market when we can reach more? There are pros and cons and it’s not an easy decision.”

But even as they’re looking at possibly developing for new platforms, Cage also had nothing but nice things to say about their arrangement with Sony. “We’re really thankful of Sony’s support and the relationship we have because there are very few publishers that would have supported Heavy Rain the way they supported us,” Cage said. “PlayStation 3 was the right platform for what we wanted to achieve. It was the platform with the Blu-ray disc, promoting movies, promoting a more sophisticated entertainment experience.”

The latest bit of Dragon Age: Origins downloadable content, which is meant to close the book on the game in preparation for its sequel, has run into an ugly bug for some users. The Witch Hunt DLC is apparently not recognizing some players’ completion of the “Dark Ritual” near the end of Origins, creating what BioWare is calling a “continuity bug.” The developer’s executive producer, Mark Darrah, wrote on the BioWare forums that they are working to solve the problem.

“While this issue is not affecting the majority of people, it is still a significant issue that we will address,” Darrah wrote. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing anyone. Clearly, it was our responsibility to catch this sort of issue in the interaction of Witch Hunt with Dragon Age: Origins. Our team is doing everything we can to fix this in a timely manner so those who are affected can go back to enjoying Witch Hunt as soon as possible.” BioWare’s Fernando Melo also chimed in to point out that the team is also working on fixing a bug that won’t let users create a save file after completing the DLC.

This is the final piece of DLC for Origins, and has been dubbed the “dramatic conclusion” to Morrigan’s character arc. We expect to see her actions factor in to the future of the Dragon Age universe in some way, which makes it especially important for fans to complete the DLC, bug-free.