Posts with tag video games
Posted Jul 17th 2008 7:57AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on DVD, TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Reality-Free

I've never interviewed
Babylon 5 creator
J. Michael Straczynski and don't know him personally, but he sure seems like one classy guy. He recently posted a note on
his web site, giving readers his thoughts on more
Babylon 5 DVDs.
In short, he's against it. He feels that offerings like the TV movie,
Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers, and the straight-to-DVD story,
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, take away from the strength of the original TV series.
He writes that
The Lost Tales was commissioned at a $2 million budget, and they did the best they could with it. Apparently, the studio wasn't sure there was an audience for
Babylon 5. Silly studio.
Continue reading Straczynski: It's a Babylon 5 feature film or nothing
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 8:58PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Dexter

Too many anguished nights have I spent watching Showtime's
Dexter, wondering aloud, "Why can't I control
Dexter's actions through my Xbox like so much Lara Croft?", and I know you have too. Believe it or not, we freaks are in luck, because it looks like there's going to be a
Dexter video game. Finally! Another few months without it and I would have killed someone.
Okay, I think I have reached my sarcasm quota of the day, so let's get serious here.
Dexter is a fantastic show and I have watched it faithfully through its run so far. However much I enjoy it, I cannot imagine it becoming a video game, let alone playing it. The show is built around blood, self-tortured deception, and internal monologue.
Continue reading Dexter finally comes to the Xbox 360
Posted Dec 2nd 2007 6:40PM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: OpEd, Documentary, Software

Would you play a
Meerkat Manor video game? I sure would--I would love to play as Flower leading her massive group of offspring around. I'm sure the fight scenes would be good too. Those meerkats have some pretty sweet moves.
Well, if you love
Meerkat Manor and you love video games, you're in luck because Activision (the same people who brought you the immensely-popular
Guitar Hero 3) has teamed up with Discovery Communications. The two companies are in talks to produce a series of video games based on cable network's shows.
They decided on
Meerkat Manor for the first game (it is Animal Planet's highest-rated show) and more titles will be released in early 2008. I wonder what other shows they will turn into video games? Discovery Communications has several cable networks so they have a wide array of shows to serve as the basis for a multi-media project (i.e. Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel). I have a few suggestions:
Man vs. Wild (or
Survivorman if you like him better),
Orangutan Island and
Deadliest Catch.
Posted Nov 7th 2007 11:02PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: South Park, Episode Reviews

(S11E13) After seeing the title of this episode, I'm more embarrassed than I already was to admit that I'm a fan of Guitar Hero. In fact, I own all four versions of the game. There. I said it.
Thankfully, I will say that I never have, nor will I ever, play in my underwear. As far as you know.
This was a strange episode given what we've been seeing the past few weeks. We barely got anyone other than Stan and Kyle this time, but what we got was, as always, pure gold. Oh and by the way, one of our sister sites, Joystiq,
liveblogged the episode tonight.
Continue reading South Park: Guitar Queer-o
Posted Nov 7th 2007 9:00AM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: The Simpsons, Contests and Giveaways

It seems we're hopping all over the weekdays recently to make room for more giveaways. Oh come on, who's complaining? Anyway, today we've got something a little different. How about winning a copy of
The Simpsons Game, which just came out in stores on November 1st? We've got one copy for the following three platforms: Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii. All you've got to do is leave a comment below mentioning which platform you want this game for (out of the three mentioned) before next Wednesday, November 14, and we'll pick three random people, one for each platform.
Some other details:
- To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating what platform you want The Simpsons Game for (Xbox 360, Nintendo DS or Nintendo Wii).
- The comment must be left before November 14, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Three winners will be selected in a random drawing, one for each platform (Xbox 360, Nintendo DS Lite or Nintendo Wii).
- One winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Xbox 360 (valued at $59.99), one winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Nintendo DS (valued at $29.99) and one winner will receive a copy of The Simpsons Game for Nintendo Wii (valued at $49.99).
Click here for complete Official Rules.Posted Jun 25th 2007 4:01PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Animation
Back in January, I mentioned that actor/writer Adam De La Pena (I'm with Busey, Crank Yankers, Minoriteam) was creating an animated series for G4 called Code Monkeys. Well, the series will debut July 11, and based on the seconds-long promos I've been seeing, it looks pretty cool.
The series is animated in the 8-bit style of retro video games, with blocky backgrounds and characters who move as if being controlled by some unseen entity with a magical joystick. The main characters, Dave and Jerry, are game coders who occupy this bizarre pixel-y world.
I love the idea, but I also played a lot of video games in the '80s and '90s, so I'm excited to see how many of the show's inside jokes I'll comprehend. My only worry is that the series might be too much of a "niche show," much like Minoriteam was, and it won't attract a wide audience.
Note: the theme song is "Code Monkey" by Jonathan Coulton (used with permission). Thanks to our own Annie Wu for telling me 'bout that.
Posted Apr 20th 2007 2:39PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: News, Web
What happens when you cross an old fashioned video game with the latest news headlines about politics, business and war? You get Newsbreaker, from MSNBC.
Basically it's like that game where you have to keep a ball in play with a paddle and hit colored bricks up above, something you probably played in the 80s. And yes, the name of that game has completely slipped my mind because, well, I'm old enough to remember playing the game in the 80s. Brick-something? I'm sure you folks will help me in the comments.
But you don't just hit the colored bricks, you also have to try to collect "news headlines." I'm not exactly sure why, but it's a pretty good way to waste an hour or so this afternoon at work.
[via Lost Remote]
Posted Mar 31st 2007 8:02AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Cable, The Simpsons, Animation, Games, Web, Anime, Children, South Park

Hey gang, here's what happening in the world of cartoons:
A new Simpsons game, possibly created to coincide with the movie, has been showing up on some retailer's list as "The Simpsons Game." Electronic Arts is publishing the game, which will be available for pretty much all the major platforms, including Wii.
Continue reading Animation news: Toonami, Ralph Bakshi and games
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 22nd 2007 7:31PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Game Show
Does anyone out there remember Starcade? I sure don't. However, I've been getting up to speed by watching full episodes of the '80s game show. Starcade pitted two contestants together to answer trivia questions about video games and then play different arcade games for points. If you were a child of the '80s as I am, it's cool to remember all the games you used to play. They even have an episode that features Dragon's Lair, which I remember as being the most frustrating arcade game I ever played.
Reruns of the series popped up on G4 from 2002 - 2004, and according to both IMDb and Wikipedia, the second unaired pilot of Starcade was hosted by Alex Trebek. I assume he was taken off the show for asking contestants questions about both Kierkegaard and Frogger.
The episodes are worth checking out not just for the cool retro look, but also for the great "prizes," such as the portable record player pictured on the right.
Posted Nov 21st 2006 2:02PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: TV on DVD, Animation
Like Saturday Supercade followed Atari in the '80s, Captain N: The Game Master followed the success of Nintendo in the '90s. Not unlike The Last Starfighter, in which a young man's video game skills are utilized to defeat an evil alien army, Kevin's talent for defeating various Nintendo games results in his being turned into a cartoon a la Kid Video and sucked into a strange land inhabited by a menagerie of product placements.
I was a Nintendo geek, so I remember watching this growing up, though not much of it has stayed with me. Watching some clips on YouTube, it's easier to see now that the show was essentially a half hour commercial like pretty much any other series based on a toy or game. There were some interesting touches, such as the use of video game sound effects. Ultimately, though, it's a half hour of bad dialogue and bad animation. Perhaps it would have some nostalgic value to folks my age, but it's mostly a relic of its time.
The four-disc set will be available February 13, 2007 from Shout! Factory.
Posted Oct 13th 2006 1:01PM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Cable, Industry
The struggling G4 network has been brought under the E! Networks tent, with plans to continue expanding the network's focus from video games to a more general entertainment destination for young men. As with most acquisitions, the network will most likely see layoffs, but the hope is that it will be able to attract more viewers, something it hasn't been able to do in its current form. While video games have seen a huge resurgence in recent years, the gamer demographic is too narrow, according to Ted Harbert, CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group. Meanwhile, I have yet to find any buyers for my network focusing entirely on the game of mumbletypeg. It seems kids these days just don't play with pocket knives like they used to.
Posted Aug 18th 2006 3:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Talent, Games, Celebrities, Obituaries
Yes, the headline would usually include the "at (age)," but I can't find anything that says what his age was. Nothing on the IMDB, and nothing on his site either.
You would recognize Jay's voice as much as his face, as he voiced an incredible number of cartoons over the years, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Reboot, Spiderman, Teen Titans, Superman, The Mighty Ducks, Gargoyles, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as a massive number of videogames: World of Warcraft, X-Men Legends, Lionhearts, various Star Trek games, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and just about every other video game ever made that used a voice. But he had live action roles in TV and movies too, including Lois and Clark, Newhart, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Mr. Belvedere, Twin Peaks, Beauty and the Beast, Eerie, Indiana, Matlock, Murphy Brown, Picket Fences, and The Golden Girls. He was also a Royal Shakespeare Company actor and a singer.
He died earlier this week after surgery for removal of a non-cancerous growth on his lungs.
Posted May 14th 2006 6:12PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: CBS, Daytime, Games, Music and Variety, Children

Should I know what this Dance Dance Revolution thing is? I mean, I feel really out of touch. I mean, the
Wikipedia page for it is bigger than the one for
poker.
And now CBS has
announced that they are making a TV series out of it. It will air on Saturday mornings, so I'm assuming it's a kids show? It's going to be part of the network's "Saturday Morning Secret Slumber Party," which, to be honest, sounds kinda creepy to me.
[via
Boing Boing]
Posted May 12th 2006 3:27PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Talent, Games, Celebrities

Yup, Paris Hilton
has a video game out, called "Paris Hilton's Jewel Jam," though for some reason she thinks it's called "Diamondquest." She unveiled the game in Los Angeles at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. You can play the game on a cell phone, if, you know, you want to be caught in public playing a stupid Paris Hilton video game.
The object of the game is to capture Nicole Richie and lock her away forever. Watch out for the tiny dogs that will try to bite you! Make it back to the Hilton Hotel and you win the game!