Daily Wrap-Up 4.3.08
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 6:00 PM
Here's what went down today in the world of videogames, technology and popular culture.
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TAGS: Daily Wrap-Up, Videos
Arizona Bill Could Target Video Games
Posted by Justin Fassino - Thursday, April 03, 2008 4:07 PM
Another week and another round of legislation vs. video games. This time, Arizona has a bill drafted that may potentially hurt the future of video games.
The bill, if passed by the state legislature, will punish those who "distribute audio, written, or digital materials" that contributes to a felonius or terrorist act. The material would have to be proven to be legally obscene, and convincing evidence would have to be shown that the material was one of the impetuses for the act to be performed.
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TAGS: Videogames
Today's Announcement Wrap-Up
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 3:53 PM
There were a lot of announcements today. We got a few games confirmed and a few released dates announced. We just wanted to organize that all into one post for you to easily digest. We worry about your stomach.
First up, confirmed release dates:
Next up, game announcements.
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TAGS: Daily Wrap-Up, Nintendo DS, PC Gaming
'Summon Night: Twin Age' DS Screens
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 3:50 PM
Look at that box art. It's so... delightfully Japanese. Are you even ready for the beauty of this entirely touchscreen controlled DS RPG from Atlus?
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TAGS: Nintendo DS, Videogames
TeamLiquid StarLeage: Non-Korean Pro 'SC'
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 3:30 PM
StarCraft II is approaching, but StarCraft is still one of the most played games in the world. Its status in South Korea is legendary and the top pros there easily pull in six-figure incomes. They're celebrities.
TeamLiquid.net is a North American site dedicated to following Korean pro-StarCraft as well as the "foreigner" scene. Foreigners in this case meaning "non-Korean".
Recently, they've started up their own league with $10,000 up as total prize money.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, Videogames
iPhone Pwnage Tool Released
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 3:05 PM
The Pwnage Tool has been released. The software, which only runs on Intel Macs for the moment, will hack an iPhone and install an unlocked version of the beta 2.0 firmware, which supports applications.
You'll need to track down a copy of the beta 2.0 firmware and we can't help you with that. That's illegal-style.
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TAGS: Apple, Internets Culture, iPhone
Edgar Wright Gets Two More Films
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:56 PM
 Edgar Wright's deal with Working Title has been extended to include two more movies, including the third collaboration with Simon Pegg, entitled The World's End, which is supposed to be another genre-skewering film, following the success of Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.
The other film will be called Baby Driver, and will come first. It will be an action/crime film set in the United States. Both movies will be distributed by Universal pictures. We don't know what genre The World's End, which is set to be the end of the trilogy, started by Shawn and Fuzz, will send up, but we're betting it's a disaster film. Should be fun.
Variety.com: Working Title extends Wright deal
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TAGS: Movies
Sprint Delays WiMax to "Later"
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:55 PM
 Those of you in Chicago, Baltimore or D.C. hoping to get your WiMax on later this month are in for a total non-surprise. Sprint is delaying their roll out of the technology to "later in the year."
Sprint is betting their future on WiMax and they'd better get it out soon. 4G is just around the corner and could shut them down if they can't get up and running soon.
Try again next time, Sprint.
Gizmodo: Sprint Delays Xohm WiMax Service to 'Later in the Year'
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Tech
'Halo 3' Legendary Map Pack Trailer!
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:39 PM
This trailer is way more serious than we thought it'd be and it certainly sets the mood. The mood being: getting teabagged by 14 year olds.
Check it out and remember: the Legendary Map Pack releases on April 15, 2008 for 800 Microsoft fun bucks.
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TAGS: Halo 3, Videogames, Videos
Pandemic Working on New 'Batman' Game?
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:31 PM
 With Pandemic done with Mercenaries 2, they're ready for their next project. Is it a Batman game? Looks like it. IGN put up and then quickly pulled down a page detailing a new, next-gen Batman game from Pandemic.
This is the same way we learned about the possible Wii/DS ports of Skate earlier today.
What do you think? True?
NeoGAF members quickly posted the story.
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TAGS: Comics, Movies, PlayStation 3
Twin Cities to Get DOCSIS 3.0
Posted by Ty Colfax - Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:21 PM
 Minneapolis-St.Paul is the first metro area in the U.S. to see the effects of Comcast's new DOCSIS 3.0 network service, or wideband as some are calling it, which provides a considerable bump in downloading speed and a surprising increase in upload speed, the oft-forgotten part of the net equation.
Although the new service is going to run residential customers $150 a month (OUCH,) their new downloads will be equal to 50Mbps while the uploads will jump to 5Mbps. That's extremely fast and we can only hope that this tech sees it's way to all our networks in the very near future, regardless of provider.
Full disclosure in an effort to enhance journalistic integrity: G4 is owned (but not pwned) by Comcast.
engadget.com: And we're off: Twin Cities get first DOCSIS 3.0 deployment
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Tech
'Smallville' Team Out After 7 Years
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:20 PM
 After seven seasons as executive producers on the show they created, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are leaving Smallville, though the show will be continuing on to an eighth season. The creators offered no explanation for the departure, but they did leave a note for all of their fans, saying goodbye.
Apparently, this is not an acrimonious split, though a clue can be found in that letter from Gough and Millar, who say that they are proud that, over seven seasons, they haven't once compromised their vision for the show. Can it be that what the network has in mind for season eight would leave them unable to say that? We don't know.
Superheroflix.com: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar Call It Quits on Smallville
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TAGS: TV
Epic Fail Thursday: 2008 April Fool's Gags
Posted by Ty Colfax - Thursday, April 03, 2008 2:01 PM
April Fool's Day is a day to pull pranks. It's a day to get clever and make people think something that just isn't true. It's a day Type B personalities love and Type Aers just can't stand. Many of the gags that happened earlier this week on April 1 were quite amusing. They didn't go too far, they were well-thought out and executed comments on society, or they were just plain harmless leg-pulling. Some of them, however were uninspired, ill-advised, or down right stupid. Here, we present, TheFeed's list of those that disappointed us in a most epic way.
"Kaketaku" - For April Fools, Kotaku did a series of articles about cake under the fake name “Kaketaku”. Now, we love Kotaku, but really? Yes, Portal was great and we all had a laugh at the cake joke, but it’s been done to death already. This joke falls on the side of obvious fake-ness and made many of us roll our eyes. There was no added level of “is it true?” to this one. One article might have worked, but 10 articles about the same joke gets old.
- Brian Leahy
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TAGS: Epic Fail, Other People's Misfortune
Verizon to Release Home Cell Boosters
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 1:58 PM
Cell reception can suck in some places. Usually your tiny, cramped, overpriced Los Angeles apartment. Or is that just me?
Verizon hopes to alleviate this by selling you a broadband connected mini-cell tower for your place. It will probably cost a lot of money.
Think about it, though. You'd have cell reception in your place! You could possibly even charge your neighbors some money to piggyback on your awesome home tower. Then you'll get cancer! Awesome*!.
Gizmodo: Verizon Promises In-Home Cell Boosters This Year, But For How Much?
*Not awesome.
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TAGS: Tech
XM Radio: The Sweeter The Juice…
Posted by Frank Meyer - Thursday, April 03, 2008 1:51 PM
 BlackBerry users just got a whole lot cooler (impossible, I know…)…
Word just got out that BlackBerry users will now have access to XM satellite radio if you have the 8800, 8700, Pearl or Curve models. For $7.99 a month, users will get 20 exclusive XM channels using QuickPlay Media.
Best of all, since XM uses the phone's regular data connection, you won't have to wear silly headphones to get reception. Yee haw!
XM is using QuickPlay's OpenVideo to make its mobile satellite radio service universally available on select BlackBerry smartphones from Research In Motion. The service, which can run across major U.S.
mobile service providers' networks, allows consumers to get 20 exclusive XM channels of commercial-free music and 24-hour comedy programming.
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Music, Tech
All AT&T Smartphones Going 3G (iPhone)?
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 1:32 PM
 AT&T Mobility CEO dropped some hints that the iPhone 3G dream might be true after all. He made a statement that all of AT&T's smartphones would be 3G within the coming months.
This certainly jives with rumors of a 3G iPhone on the horizon.
The question is when and how mad will I be when I have to buy a new one...
iPhone users: Would you be pissed if a 3G iPhone dropped in the next few months?
Non-iPhone users: Would you finally go iPhone with 3G?
Engadget: AT&T Mobility CEO: all smartphones to be 3G within "months" -- including iPhone and Centro?
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TAGS: Apple, iPhone, Tech
'Alone in the Dark' Delayed Once Again
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 1:24 PM
Alone in the Dark has been delayed again. We'll be waiting until June 20th to get our hands on this franchise reboot.
This date is for the PC, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2 versions of the game.
The PS3 version will release at a later date. Trailer after the break.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames
'Mercenaries 2' Gets Dated!
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 1:19 PM
Mercenaries 2 is finally set with a release date: August 31, 2008.
We've been waiting for this game for a long time. Work your memory with this video from E3.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames
Yankees To Fans: "No Looting!"
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Thursday, April 03, 2008 1:11 PM
 We can not, for the life of us, figure out why you'd be a Yankees fan to begin with. Still, if you are, and you go to The Stadium, don't steal any souvenirs, or the team will kick you out...for good. Yep, two fans who tried to steal some of the bunting from the stadium, now in its final season, were kicked out and had their season tickets canceled on the spot. They will also face up to a year in prison.
This comes hot on the heels of an announcement yesterday that the Yankees organization is planning on selling the stadium brick-by-brick for millions of dollars, including the dirt in the outfield, by the vial. The message? It's ok to be a fan, as long as you keep spending money on us, but the second you stop, we will pretend you never existed.
We hate the Yankees.
Yahoo! News: Yankees fans barred for trying to take souvenirs
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TAGS: Other People's Misfortune, Sports
'Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.' Media
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 12:02 PM
Ubisoft announced Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. and now we're going to show you the trailer and screenshots. Check it!
Then check out the screenshots.
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TAGS: PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, Videogames
Double Viking: 7 Really Stupid Video Games
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 11:58 AM
Check out this funny article from Double Viking. You kids like lists, right?
These games represent a mixed bag in terms of quality, but they share as a commonality conceptual frameworks which can only be described as "born of farts." Or "stupid." Either one.
Where's Waldo?
"This is just retarded. Where's Waldo is meant to be a giant-sized children's book with crisp, detailed illustrations, not a super low-resolution, ugly mess of just a few colors vaguely resembling a well-populated scene. What's worse is that not only does the player have to move a cursor wildly about with the d-pad at breakneck speed, but the entire image doesn't even fit within the screen, meaning you have to scroll at the edges just to see what the hell is going on. And Waldo looks like a mostly-digested candy cane that came out of my dog's ass."
Check the other 6 at DoubleViking.
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TAGS: Internets Culture, Videogames
Super Hot New 'Friday the 13th' Babe
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Thursday, April 03, 2008 11:55 AM
 You might not remember Amanda Righetti from her time on The O.C. as Hailey Nicol, nor will you likely remember her from Reunion, which was also on Fox for about five minutes a couple of years ago, but you will remember her after you see her in the upcoming Friday the 13th remake, in which she will star.
Righetti got the job as the "damsel in distress" for the new version of the film, and we certainly hope she lives a while, considering she's nuclear hot. As far as the movie goes, we're hoping they don't take all of the camp out of Friday the 13th. If there's one thing that Rob Zombie taught us with Halloween, it's that reverential treatments of beloved horror films don't always work.
IGN: Friday the 13th Babe Cast
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TAGS: Movies, TV
'GTA IV' Has 7+ Hours of Cutscenes?!
Posted by Brian Leahy - Thursday, April 03, 2008 11:46 AM
Yesterday, we learned about the naughty stuff you can do in Grand Theft Auto IV from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Today, another gem of information was gleaned from the report.
The cutscenes in the game hit a total run time of 7 hours and 43 minutes. That's about 2.75 times longer than Scarface!
We... can't... wait!
Sidenote: We bet nobody criticizes the amount of cutscenes in the game and then turn around and bash MGS4 for the amount of cutscenes Kojima put in |
