games-related stories
Posted Nov 12th 2009 10:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Web, Reality-Free
If there aren't already enough
Star Wars video games for your liking, you can make your own with Cartoon Network's
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Game Creator.
With the animated action show continuing to draw big numbers on Friday nights, its home network is serving up a chance for fans to
build their own Clone Wars game and share it with other gamers.
According to the network, these game creators aren't a stunt to generate TV show buzz. The
Ben 10: Alien Force Game Creator posted more than 630 million game plays since it went live a year ago, with more than 4.6 million games created by online visitors.
Once fans open their game creator, they choose their character (Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex or Cad Bane) and their vehicle (AT-TE, AT-RT or Speeder), allowing nine different combinations of character abilities and vehicle powers.
Continue reading Cartoon Network lets Clone Wars fans design online games
Posted Mar 15th 2009 6:02PM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: News, OpEd, Video, Reality-Free
Andy Rooney is 90 years old, and has spent the greater half of the twentieth century (and well into the twenty-first) providing political and cultural insight to the masses through op-eds in both print and on CBS newsmagazine staple
60 Minutes. Despite remaining America's
favorite most recognizable curmudgeon, Rooney's weekly diatribes have grown increasingly stale, and significantly more bizarre with each episode.
Any semblance of lucidity Rooney may have employed in ... I guess (?) what was once considered clever or funny or - at the very least - entertaining material has most assuredly fallen to the wayside. The scraps with which we've been left are, indeed, entertaining, but not for the reasons Rooney (or the producers of
60 Minutes) probably intended.
Continue reading Andy Rooney is making the elderly look terrible - VIDEO
Posted Jun 27th 2008 12:41PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E04) It's only a matter of time before we hear "Love Will Keep Us Together" on
Swingtown, because that seems to me to be the theme of this show. Oh, yes, there's some experimentation with open marriage, there's been indications that the Millers could become full-fledged swingers, but it's feeling more and more that sexual curiosity will not trumped abiding fidelity and true love.
So while Susan is talking a big game, she's really more into Bruce and their re-energized sex talk. I don't really think her inviting the Deckers to the Miller cabin by the lake was a move to have a wild weekend, although it sure looked like it was going in that direction -- until the previously invited Thompsons turned up.
Continue reading Swingtown: Cabin Fever
Posted Sep 17th 2007 9:01AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Contests and Giveaways, Cancellations
Every year we get a new crop of fall shows to look forward to (or maybe not-so-much), and while some gain a huge fan following and others barely truck along, one thing is for sure -- at least one show will not complete even one season.
Already
we've seen that it's possible for a show to be canceled before it even starts, but that won't stop us from holding our annual contest to pick the first new show to get the boot. In fact, this time we're going to give everyone three chances to win. The prizes:
$75 Amazon.com gift certificates. Read on for details.
Continue reading Enter the TV Squad cancellation trifecta game
Posted Sep 9th 2007 8:35PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Software, TiVo
Sure, you may have an Xbox 360 and/or Playstation3 sitting next to your TiVo. But wouldn't it be nice to play some video games with your TiVo remote without having to turn on your game console?
Yeah, maybe if you're into console games you're not the target market for
PlayTeeVee's new service. But we'll still give the company some credit for finding an innovative way to bring online video gaming to your TV.
PlayTeeVee works with any broadband-connected Series2 TiVo. You add the PlayTeeVee IP address to your TiVo in order to play one of four games, including a soccer game, puzzle game, action game, and a pool simulator.
PlayTeeVee is free, and according to the frequently asked questions section in the user forums, the developers all "have day jobs," so it's not clear if and how they expect to make money off of the service. It'd be nice to see TiVo buy the rights to a few games or even hire a developer to work full time on developing games for the platform. But again, TiVo is hardly a serious video gaming machine, so maybe PlayTeeVee is just a fun distraction and not the start of a new trend toward multi-purpose PVR/gaming devices.
[via
TiVo Lovers]
Posted Aug 27th 2007 4:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Sports, Web
Hey football fans, how about games streamed directly to your computer?
Yeah, well, don't get too excited yet, cause it'll cost you. The streaming is part of DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket Package, so unless you already have that, you're out of luck. And, if you do have the $269 Sunday Ticket package, upgrading to the SuperFan package that includes the online streaming will cost an additional $99. Also, it only works with Windows XP and Vista and Internet Explorer.
Now how do you feel?
Continue reading NFL to stream games online
Posted Jul 31st 2007 2:22AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, Big Love, Episode Reviews
(
S02E08) [
Spoiler Warning!] Please don't read the extended version of this review if you have not yet watched this episode. What a great episode. There were so many threads in this episode, it was great to see how fast and furious old and new facts were being hurled out through the dialogue. Oh, poor Benny. How humiliating. I think it's bad enough for any teenager to have his parents find out that he's having sex-- but it has to be especially bad when those parents think not only is he too young, but what he is doing is also a pretty serious sin.
I love looking at episode titles, and of course, obviously this title comes from The Lord's Prayer (which is pretty funny, because Joseph Smith instructs his followers to pray in a different way, and not to use this prayer), indicating that the Lord's will will be done. And that probably means not Bill's will.
Continue reading Big Love: Kingdom Come
Posted Jun 11th 2007 4:04PM by Brad Linder
Filed under: PVR Wire, Software
Steven Harding, the developer behind
Yougle has issued a major updated to his MAMECenter plugin for Windows Media Center. In fact, it's a big enough update that Harding gave the program a new name,
EMUCenter.
EMUCenter provides a 10 foot interface for launching classic console games using emulators including
MAME,
ZSNES,
KEGA Fusion, and
CCS. In other words, if you've got Roms for Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis or Commodore 64 games lying around, EMUCenter helps make it easier to play them on your media center PC.
EMUCenter is Windows Vista only, and it's currently in beta, so don't be surprised if you find a glitch or two. Harding gave the MAMECenter interface an overhaul, and added the ability to launch Windows games.
You'll need to download and install the emulators separately, and of course you need to legally own any of the games that you want to play using EMUCenter. But we didn't have to tell you that, now did we?
[via
Ian Dixon]
Posted Feb 14th 2007 2:04PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Industry, Animation
Ubisoft, the French video game maker behind such titles as Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six has plans to spend $400 million to extend its production facilities and begin making CGI movies. The company also hopes this will lead to the development of CGI television series in the future.
Continue reading Gamemaker wants to extend to movies and television
Posted Jan 30th 2007 6:03PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Cable, Web, Children
Nickelodeon is paying attention to its demographic. Not only do the kids these days enjoy the cartoons, they also enjoy the online experience. So, the network has significantly built upon its website by adding games, videos and chat capability. It's what the bigwigs are calling "a virtual community for kids."
Nick launched its new website today,
Nicktropolis.com. There will be more than 300 hours of videos--including full episodes of some Nick shows--and more than 350 online games. It also has a Second Life sort-of spin to it. Kids can create a user name and build their own room. When they play the games, they rack up points that they can use to buy stuff for their rooms.
The "chat rooms", by the way are being called Nick Safe Chat. Kids have to get parental permission to use the chat rooms and then they can only communicate with other users via a pre-approved Nicktropolis Dictionary. You can bet that will be heavily monitored so no one ends up on
Dateline.
Posted Oct 9th 2006 3:01PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Cable, Animation, Web, Children
Nickelodeon's broadband site,
TurboNick, recently relaunched with a few new features. Most of them I couldn't really care less about, such as creating playlists and trade them with friends (I always appreciate a good cartoon, but I'm a little too old to be sending
SpongeBob clips to my pals). The coolest part about TurboNick 2.0, I think, is the new mash-up game that lets you create mini-movies by inserting video clips, audio and transition effects. I've been playing around with it, and if you're a young kid or a bored adult like myself killing time between blog posts, I recommend you check it out. The new site also offers games, a searchable database of Nick shows available online, user ratings and content available in other languages.
Posted Sep 13th 2006 6:59PM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Games, Web, Celebrities
Gold Rush is live. It's an interactive online game, styled like reality TV, brought to you by AOL and
Survivor/Amazing Race producer Mark Burnett. Anyone can play. $2 million in gold bars has been hidden throughout the United States in 13 caches. To win, players should keep their eyes peeled for clues at AOL.com, in magazines, and on television. Quintessential D-lister, Kathy Griffin is on board in various capacities, and the main site has a blog, (or glog as they're calling it) where she and others are posting entries about the game. Her first post is
pretty funny.
The introductory video on the site has some of the same elements that make up the opening segments of any of Burnett's trademark shows. There are spinning graphics, a fleet of thirteen black SUV's in a secret underground location ready to carry the gold to its secret destinations, a reality-TV hosty-type guy, and -- just to get you in the mood -- a spectacular musical theme reminiscent of
The Amazing Race. There's lots poke around the site and see. I barely scratched the surface.
If any of you here happens to win a chunk of the gold, don't forget your friends at TV Squad. At least post a comment here to gloat.
Posted Jun 15th 2006 3:01PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Cable, Industry, Animation
Cartoon Network Enterprises announced recently it had signed a license deal with Mattel to create toys based on its animated series for the 6 to 11 age group. What this means is that in 2007 we'll be seeing new toys and games hit the shelves based on shows such as
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends,
Camp Lazlo,
My Gym Partner's A Monkey,
Powerpuff Girls,
Ed, Edd n Eddy,
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee. Relationships between Cartoon Network and other toy manufacturers will remain unaffected. I don't buy toys for myself anymore, obviously, but since I have nieces and nephews in this age bracket the news caught my attention.
Foster's will be the first show to have its toyline launched, and I'm curious to see what kind of action figures they come up with based on those characters.
Posted Feb 22nd 2006 11:24AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Sports, NBC, Programming
While NBC is focusing on speed skating
and alpine skiing today, the real action is on its other networks, MSNBC and USA, where you can watch live hockey games
all day long. The American men will play Finland in the quarterfinals at 11:30 this morning. Also, the American men's
curling team is in the semifinal game against Canada. It airs on CNBC at 5 pm.
No figure skating tonight but
the ladies will be back Thursday to determine the gold.
Here's the schedule:
Continue reading The Olympics: Day 13
Posted Jan 11th 2006 8:26AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Sports, NBC, Cable, Programming
That's 17.3 days of Olympics coverage, people. And most of it is going to be focused on figure skating. The Olympics
run for 17 days (from February 10-26), but NBC will not be playing the events around-the-clock. Instead, it will spread
its coverage out during daytime, primetime, and late night viewing hours on six stations: NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC HD,
and Universal HD. In comparison, NBC had 375.5 hours of coverage during the Salt Lake City winter games four years
ago.
Bob Costas will return as primetime host for the winter games, his seventh year with NBC Sports. And,
to feed the needs of all those ice skating fans, Dick Buttons will host
Olympic Ice, a daily report on the
games' most popular sport. NBC is also prominently featuring David Pelletier and Jamie Sale in their coverage. The
Canadian couple, who just got married, were a crowd favorite in 2002 when they ended up tying for gold with the Russian
pairs skaters.
The TV Squad Podcast: Vik Sahay of Chuck, Oprah talk, brutal timeslots, and more!
TV Squad Ten: Top Ten ESPN shows from worst to first
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
