CBS, the television network popular with grandparents and republicans, is teaming up with GameStop to create a new television "channel" to air in the video game store's locations across the United States. While programming on the service will include game previews and developer interviews, it will also feature full episodes of CBS programming, as well as clips from shows, music from Last.fm, and other CBS media properties. Mike Hogan, Senior VP of Marketing at GameStop, explains why they will never let you escape.
GameStop is gaining more brand traction every year, and part of our success is creating a fun, exciting store environment where our customers like to hang out ...
The digital GameStop TV network will add a new dimension of excitement and community to our locations, while at the same time providing excellent opportunities for advertisers.
I don't know if I've seen too many people hanging out at GameStop, but I hope they're ready for all the CSI they can stomach. Actually, there is no word about what shows we might expect on the service, but since the deal seems to be a good way for CBS to attract younger eyes, it's likely that the network might feature shows skewed toward a more appropriate audience, like How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.
Recently, CBS bought CNET, and along with it videogame website Gamespot, but it remains to be seen whether the channel will take advantage of the website's assets
Good for them! Sucks for us. That handy dandy TV Guide Channel that we talked about a while back has finally debuted in Japan. With it, "users can rate shows, share their favorite shows with friends, and mark their favorite programs to receive email/text alerts a half hour before they begin...."
In addition to that, one will be able to control the television with the Wii remote. You will be able to do with the TV the same things as you could with a normal remote, only using the Wii remote will allow you to switch back and forth from the TV Guide Channel. To do this, the Sensor Bar will relay commands to the TV in order to achieve this wizardry. Pretty nifty, eh?
There is no word on when, much less if, we might see this on this side of the world. Time will only tell, but it would be pretty darned cool.
If you enjoyed Blue Dragon for the Xbox 360, but kept thinking "This would be better without all this game-y stuff," you're in luck, as Viz has announced that it's bringing the anime based on the game over from Japan to air on the Cartoon Network in the United States.
Although no firm premiere date is given beyond Spring, it's expected that the show will start airing around April, putting it on the air around a year after the show's original Japanese air date. Blue Dragon premiered in Japan April 7, 2007 and is just about to finish up it's run of 51 episodes.
For those unfamiliar with the game, the story focuses around a boy named Shu and his friends who have the ability to summon monsters from their shadows in order to protect the innocent victims of an ancient evil doer. The game was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi, of Final Fantasy and more recently of Lost Odyssey. Akira Toriyama of Dragon Quest, Dragon Ball, and Chrono Trigger, produced the character design for the game and the show, and animation for the series is handled by Studio Pierrot, who also work on Naruto and Bleach.
If any of you managed to catch the Ellen Degeneres Show last week on her 50th birthday, you'll have seen her rocking out to Guitar Hero 3. Sure, she was playing on easy, but she still managed to get a 94% hit rate which is pretty good in front of an audience of millions.
Now Ellen has taken her love of Guitar Hero a step further by inviting onto her show some of the best Guitar Hero playing kids around. She basically finds these cool kids on You Tube and then invites them on her show to strut their stuff. As we all know, the younger the better when it comes to looking awesome on Guitar Hero, so check out some footage from Kotaku here of Shen, a 12 year old who got a little taste of what it's like to be a true rock God in front of a throng of screaming women.
Rock on Ellen, a lesbian and a gamer - just doesn't get much better really.
As I prepare to wing away from LA to spend a week at home for the holidays, sharp-eyed reader Teknomncr has brought this Craigslist ad to my attention. Someone is apparently casting a makeover reality show for gay geeks, 'ala Beauty and the Geek', here in sunny Los Angeles.
If you have a hard time "fitting in" not b/c you are gay but because you are a geek of sorts, then this show will teach you how to have "game" with other guys.
And you'll have the chance to compete for 125,000! think Beauty and the Geek having a gay guy who has had to face the same stereotypes
There are actually several posts, (see here as well). I'm not sure if it's legit or not, but given the writer's strike is still going on, I can see something like this getting the greenlight.
Of course, I doubt most of our readers are really in need of this kind of makeover. I would suspect the problem isn't so much with a lack in social skills among gay nerds, as a lack of suitable dates. You need someone you can talk to, of course. And that's hardly going to happen in the bar scene, most of the time.
Still, we're definitely a part of their audience, whoever they are. Tell us if any of you apply!
Christian games haven't exactly made for the most amazing releases over the years. Actually, come to think of it, has there been a good Christian game released? I've been sitting here in front of my computer for about thirty minutes trying to think of even one, and my mind is drawing a total blank. Does Jericho count? Sure, it may not be great, but I'm pretty certain there's a priest... or someone sponsored by the Catholic Church in there.
Over at Cracked, they've assembled a list of the worst Bible-based games to ever be released. There's all sorts of wacky titles on the list, though my personal favorite is Left Behind, mainly because of what a disaster that game was when it got released:
The game is of course in no way fun to play, but it is remarkably true to life in terms of some details of fundamentalist Christianity. For example, you go around trying to convert people to your way of thinking, occasionally killing them if you can't. Men are more valuable than women because they can build buildings. And the minions of the Antichrist include electric guitarists, members of a world government (un)surprisingly similar to the UN, and "Secularists." Basically, if you aren't praying to Jesus, you're the enemy.
Would Jesus Approve:
How's this for a mixed message: The multiplayer mode of the game actually lets gamers control the forces of the Antichrist, brainwashing believers with their secularism and electric guitars. Presumably the "win" screen for those players depicts them roasting in Hell, so it probably comes off as something of a hollow victory.
Oh! Wait! There was a good-looking game which had a lot of Biblical elements in it! Seraphim, by Valkyrie Studios... no, wait, that got canceled when they disappeared. Can anyone think of any pro-Christianity games that didn't suck? Well, that didn't suck and actually made it through development?
The success of Linden Lab’s MMO Second Life is based entirely of the user created content and economy. The game has gone on to create in-game millionaires (subject to ridicule), promoted real life causes like the human rights campaign for Darfur, and created the first online homeless person, as well as a bustling red light district. From the many tapestries of life the game weaves together, HBO is distributing a documentary of the cultural phenomenon entitled: Molotov's Dispatches in Search of the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey.
In January 2007, a man named Molotov Alva, disappeared from his California home. Recently, a series of video dispatches by a Traveler of the same name have appeared within a popular online world called Second Life.
In these dispatches Molotov Alva encounters everything from Furries to Cyberpunks to Neo-Luddites to Sex Slaves to the King of the Hobos, Orhalla Zander, who becomes Molotovs guide as he searches for the creator of their brave new world.
Submarine Channel produced the documentary and interviewed the director about his journey in Second Life:
Most people have never actually been inside an online world. Since this is based in technology, a learning curve is involved, one that requires downloading a computer program, then learning how to walk, talk, explore using... a computer keyboard. It just isn't a natural form of exploration for most people. It's antithetical to the seamless experience they have with other media, be it TV or books or film.
Comprised of seven mini-episodes the documentary runs thirty-five minutes, so HBO is planning on submitting the short film for consideration to the Academy Awards for Animated Short Subject. HBO will be airing the documentary next year, but you can check it out the first episode on the Submarine Channel.
Don Hebert, known to many of us as Mr. Wizard, passed away yesterday morning at 9:00 AM PDT after his battle with cancer. I'm not sure how many of you out there were Mr. Wizard's fans, but I was one of them. My memory is a bit foggy but if I recall correctly he would come on in the afternoons on Nickelodeon. Hearing the theme song again after so many years brings back a flood of memories.
He would fascinate me with his wonderful science. From him, I learned how to crush an empty milk jug using hot and cold water. I even learned how to slice a banana without peeling it - using just a needle and some thread! Truly amazing stuff, but what's more amazing is the countless number of children he inspired and educated over his long career.
One of the worst things about being obsessed with anime, or video games for that matter, is the long wait between Japanese release date and it's arrival in the States. The internet often makes this wait even more painful, with the pictures and videos of said game/anime constantly being shoved in your face each day of the tortuous wait.
Unless, of course, if the internet is the very solution to your problem. Bittorrents and fansubs have created a world where none existed before for many anime fans (cough One Piece cough) and as a result, distribution and translation is now happening faster than ever.
Take, for instance, Deathnote. Published by Viz in the US, Deathnote has been a runaway manga hit thanks to an extraordinary artistic style, strong writing, and an intense storyline. No surprise either, then, that it has been made into an equally successful anime in Japan. Thanks to the efforts of IGN Entertainment and Viz media, Deathnote the anime will be available to US fans in benchmark speed. By visiting Direct2Drive, IGN's online store, one can download the first english subtitled episode as of May 10th. This will be the first time an anime program that is still airing in Japan has been brought to American viewers. Hopefully this is a sign of a changing and growing industry, as anime distributors realize it's growing potential and compete with the popularity of fan-subbed releases. Perhaps we are on our way to a glorious new world with Japanese media releasing stateside faster than one can say, "Deathgods love apples."
After showing off these babies at CES, Engadget reports that Sony's OLED TVs are finally ready to hit production. The OLEDs feature 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and are only 3-mm thick; clearly, Sony ain't messing around. For now, the 11-inch version will be out within the year. And as with most Sony products, you'll probably have to take out a bank loan to get one. But it's oh so pretty and skinny...
Remember all that silly fuss back in January when the people of Boston thought that Lite Brites depicting Mooninites were bombs? Well Boston's mayor, Thomas M. Menino, is still pretty pissed about it and had asked local theaters to not screen the flick “out of respect to the people of Boston.” But the Boston Herald reports that a few theaters are deaf to his pleas:
“Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters” opens Friday on two screens: AMC Boston Common and Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge. Elizabeth Wolfe, vice president of publicity for First Look Pictures, said the film’s distributor had no trouble getting Boston theaters to show it.
The Herald also makes a good point: It's probably better for Menino that they don't ban the movie because banning it would've certainly garnered national media attention (and therefore, sold more movie tickets). But I'd pretty much forgotten that the bomb scare brouhaha ever happened until a friend sent me this news story. Like I've said before: Boston needs to chillax!
You read correctly, William Shatner telling us all to "Keep it gay!" He tells us this as he dances the forbidden dance and wears that absolutely fabulous suit (/vomit)! Haven't had enough? Make the jump for a musical montage of William Shatner's singing career. So much potential...where did it go?
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