Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, November 09, 2007 6:01 PM
Here's what went down today in the world of videogames, technology and popular culture:
- Ubisoft announced today that composers Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco have created an original orchestral music score for Beowulf, the videogame.
- Mark Wahlberg was cast as Max Payne.
- The rumor du jour on the internet is that Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion, the PSP game based on Elder Scrolls: Oblivion has been canceled.
- Xbox 360 sold more units last week than the PlayStation 3. In Japan.
- Halo 3 player Moviesign asked his girl (Furtive penguin) to enter into the bonds of holy matrimony using the Halo 3 Forge.
- We captured some Call of Duty 4 multiplayer action for ya.
- Radiohead refuted rumors that most fans weren't paying for their new album.
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Tags: Daily Wrap-Up
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Friday, November 09, 2007 4:55 PM
This week, Fresh Ink Online has a couple of themes emerging, hot, scantily clad women and Joss Whedon. That's right, Blair Butler is here to give you your weekly dose of all things comic, including a look at Astonishing X-Men #23, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #8.
You're gonna love it.
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Tags: Fresh Ink, G4 Web Exclusive
Posted by Jonathan Hunt - Friday, November 09, 2007 4:45 PM
This week we have a very special episode of The MMO Report for you all. Very special because I'm actually in Hawaii, so you all get to watch a clip show! Yay clip show!
We like to have a lot of fun at The MMO Report, sometimes too much fun, and it eats into production. So since we couldn't give you a fresh batch of MMO news, we decided to share our juvenile sense of humors. It's a special behind-the-scenes look at how many laughs we have while making this nerdy little show. So crack open a cold one, smoke em if you got em, and laugh until milk comes out of your nose. This is...
The MMO Report.
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Tags: The MMO Report
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, November 09, 2007 3:15 PM
If you've played Halo 3, we hope you've also checked out Bungie.net.
The collection of detailed stats on just about every Halo 3 game ever played will spin your head. And it just got better. Along with some cosmetic upgrade, there are two awesome new features:
- Global Heatmaps: These shows you where most people got murdered on each map, worldwide.
- Local Heatmaps: The same info, except about you!
- Bungie's Favorites: A much needed video filter where the best videos are spotlighted and the worst ignored.
Sign on to Bungie.net and check them out. Very impressive stuff.
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Tags: Halo 3, Videogames, Xbox 360
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, November 09, 2007 12:58 PM
 As evidenced by the endless, ponderous discussions of console superiority, videogame fans are an obsessive group.
If you're obsessive, and eager to know everything about gaming by wading through the minutia of the game-behind-the-videogames, you need to bookmark Video Game Venture Capital blog.
The site details everything you ever wanted to know about venture capital in videogaming, and where the millions it costs to make games actually come from.
We've been reading it all morning, and now we're smarter than you.
Video Game Venture Capital - VGVC
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Tags: Videogames
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, November 09, 2007 12:54 PM
 Winona Ryder has been cast as Spock's mother in JJ Abrams' Star Trek. As you will well recall, Spock was born to a Vulcan father and a human mother, and Ryder will be playing that part. We don't know if she will be playing against Zachary Quinto, which would be strange since they're almost the same age, or if she will be playing his mother in a flashback.
The shooting on Star Trek finally began on Wednesday, for a Christmas Day 2008 release. We are very much looking forward to this film, and will have more news as it surfaces.
Dark Horizons.com: Ryder Is Spock's Mom In "Trek"
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Tags: TV
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, November 09, 2007 12:14 PM
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Tags: Nuggets From The Nets, Videos
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, November 09, 2007 11:43 AM
 Everyone knows that smoking cigarettes is a really cool pastime that makes you look sophisticated, smooth and intelligent. So why anyone would want to stop the awesome habit is beyond us, but apparently, people do, and a new injection might help them do just that.
The treatment involves an injection that stops smokers from gaining gratification from inhaling burning, dried out plant matter.
According to Dr. Frank Vocci, director of medications development at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the new treatment "clearly shows promise" and merits a definitive study.
The initial results indicate that more than twice as many people given five of the shots stopped smoking than those given fewer or phony shots - about 15 percent versus 6 percent after one year.
Keep in mind, in a study indicating a successful result, only 15 percent of smokers could keep smoke-free for a year. The other 85% just couldn't leave Flavor Country. If that's not evidence of how awesome cigarettes are, we don't know what is!
Wired: Study: Anti-Smoking Shot Holds Promise
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Tags: Other People's Misfortune, Prostate Health
Posted by stephen pryze - Friday, November 09, 2007 11:41 AM
Of course, you would expect with the upcoming release of the movie Beowulf, a videogame was sure to follow. Ubisoft has put in extra effort for their release of the Beowulf game by working very closely with Paramount Pictures and Shangri-La Entertainment in capturing the spirit and authenticity of the film.
Lead actors Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson and Sebastien Roche were all involved in the making of the videogame. In fact, here is a behind the scenes look at Beowulf himself, Ray Winstone, working through the cut scenes in the game.
Behind The Scenes - Voice of Beowulf
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Tags: PlayStation 3, Videogames, Videos, Xbox 360
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Friday, November 09, 2007 11:23 AM
Networks have long been in fear that online will be the death of television as we know it, leading people away from their sets to watch streaming programming online. Well, to a certain extent, that's been proven, as a survey says that more people are spending time away from their televisions to watch shows online. However, the good news for the networks is that people are spending more time on network-authorized sites.
In fact, they're spending an average of 90 minutes longer on network-authorized television sites than they would have spent watching shows on regular television. What does this mean? It means that networks will still be able to survive the new media explosion, if they are smart about dividing their resources between on and offline experiences.
In other words, people still like television.
Whew.
Ars Technica: Study: proliferation of web video a blessing to networks
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Tags: TV
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Friday, November 09, 2007 11:23 AM
Although Midway previously predicted Unreal Tournament 3 would be released in 2008, Epic's Mark Rein says a 2007 release for the game may happen.
Rein told Eurogamer yesterday that Epic are "very close to a release candidate" and they "should have it finished by the end of this week." After that, it heads off to manufacture and distribution. That means you could get the fast-paced shooter by Christmas...if you live in North America.
The European version, apparently, won't be coming out until 2008, because it takes so long to translate the games into various not-English languages.
Eurogamer.net: GC: Epic Games' Mark Rein
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Tags: Videogames
Posted by Mike D'Alonzo - Friday, November 09, 2007 11:05 AM
Warner Bros. has apparently gotten hip to how much videogame studios are worth, purchasing TT Games Group the UK-based gaming house that is responsible for the LEGO games, including the LEGO Star Wars series, the upcoming LEGO Indiana Jones game, and the first tie-in with their new parent studio, LEGO Batman, which should be out sometime in 2008.
The new group will also be in charge of developing a game to tie-in with the Speed Racer movie The Wachowskis are making, and has the rights to make a game based on the Guinness Book of Records. This is a pretty key acquisition for the movie company, and will, likely, make them a gajillion dollars*.
The Mercury News: Warner Bros. buys TT Games Group as it expands its game presence
*Not a real dollar amount.
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Tags: Movies, Videogames
Posted by Frank Meyer - Friday, November 09, 2007 11:00 AM
 Memphis beverage manufacturer and distributor Hardy Bottling Co. just signed a deal with Los Angeles-based Beverage Concepts to produce and distribute an energy drink named after guitar god Jimi Hendrix.
The Jimi Hendrix Liquid Experience drink is currently available in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida and Nevada for around $2. The drink comes in a 16-ounce can or a 16-ounce collector's item aluminum bottle.
Hardy, which took over the former Coors Brewery last year, says the initial contract is for 5,000 cases of the stuff, while Beverage Concepts is currently working to get the product placed in Sam's Wholesale Club and Wal-Mart stores.
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Tags: Music
Posted by Frank Meyer - Friday, November 09, 2007 10:53 AM
 A team from the University of Adelaide is hoping to commercialize a CD-to-DAP device that won first prize in a recent eChallenge event.
The name of this high-tech device?
Pyglet.
Aaaawwwww……cuuuute!
Pyglet works a lot like the iPod-only iLoad, allowing users the ability to transfer songs from a CD to a MP3 player of their choice without a computer.
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Tags: Internets Culture, Music, Tech
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