Green Hornet Clips!
Check out seven exclusive clips of the new Green Hornet movie coming out on January 14th, starring Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz and Tom Wilkinson!
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Lace Mamba Global announces that it will publish DARKSTAR – The Interactive Movie, a Science Fiction adventure game for PC and Mac, developed by J. Allen Williams at Parallax Studio.
“DARKSTAR is an extraordinary adventure game. It has been in development for over ten years, and has finally found its international publishing home. DARKSTAR is a perfect addition to our 2011 line up of independent adventure game productions”, says Jason Codd, European Managing Director at Lace Mamba Global. “DARKSTAR, with its extensive use of Full Motion Video, its famous cast and its eclectic mix of science fiction and dark comedy is a real gem in the adventure game genre. We’re confident that legions of PC and Mac players will truly enjoy this absolutely unique interactive movie experience. By publishing DARKSTAR, we once again prove that Lace Mamba Global is dedicated to the adventure game genre and are keen to bring the most exciting developments to our customers worldwide”, he adds.
J. Allen Williams, Producer, Director and Writer of DARKSTAR recently said “Lace Mamba Global is a perfect fit for a project like ours. Their commitment to bringing unique and cutting-edge entertainment to gamers everywhere while providing an unparalleled classic gaming experience is second to none. Their team knows how to take a release and put it out there with all the value-added extras that players want — they listen to the fans.”
DARKSTAR is set in the post-apocalyptic future in the year 2499. Captain John O’Neil awakens from cryogenic sleep aboard the lost and damaged starship Westwick. The ships’ computer voice informs O’Neil that he has been asleep for over 312 years, such a long time that his memories are gone — a side effect of being in hibernation centuries too long. A breath-taking journey through space and time begins as the player explores the haunted starship searching for answers and clues as to what the true mission is. Backstory cinema is unlocked as areas are unlocked and made accessible, and the epic story unfolds on this drifting and broken starship somewhere on the other side of the Galaxy as it orbits a strange, alien planet. Players must utilize their wits and ingenuity to discover what has happened to the Earth, the starship, and its crew. They must find out what has happened to O’Neil’s partner Ross Perryman, why Pilot Paige Palmer still slumbers in her cryo-chamber and who savagely murdered Navigator Alan Burk during his long session in suspended animation. O’Neil soon discovers that the Earth has been destroyed and the crew of the Westwick are the sole surviving members of the human race… or are they?
DARKSTAR, both an adventure game and an interactive movie, features more than 13 hours of Full Motion Video sequences to tell its amazing story. More animated footage than any other game in history is packed into this adventure with over two-dozen exhilarating alternate endings. The cast of live actors features Clive Robertson starring as Captain John O’Neil (Sunset Beach/StarHunter), as well as the original cast of the American cult television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, including Trace Beaulieu, Beth “Beez” McKeever, Joel Hodgson, Mary Jo Pehl, Frank Conniff and J. Elvis Weinstein. DARKSTAR is narrated by the late, great Peter Graves (Mission: Impossible/Airplane/A&E’s Biography Series), his final performance.
DARKSTAR combines the best of the adventure game genre with science fiction filmmaking in this ground-breaking production. With elements of dark humor, horror, and classic sci-fi, DARKSTAR introduces you to live-action characters in a pre-rendered, fully animated storytelling tool that allows you to wander, search, discover, and enjoy this refreshing and strange world at your own pace.
Lace Mamba Global will publish DARKSTAR worldwide, starting in the UK in Q2 2011.
Pull out sound clips from RiffTrax MP3s and create your own remixed video! It can be a movie, TV show, video game cut scene, virtually anything will work! You have until the end of January to upload your clip to YouTube and tag it with “rifftraxremix2011”. (You must use this tag for your video to be eligible!)
There is no minimum length requirement, just make it funny!
Our favorite video will win a prize of $100 cash and $100 credit for purchases at RiffTrax.com! For more info, visit RiffTrax Remix Contest!
VIZ Media has announced the release of the final installment of Rumiko Takahashi’s longtime bestselling manga (graphic novel) series, InuYasha, on January 11th. Fans won’t want to miss even a single page of the action in Volume 56, Curtain of Time, which is rated “T+” for Older Teens and carries an MSRP of $9.99 U.S. / $12.99 CAN. InuYasha is published under VIZ Media’s Shonen Sunday imprint.
Kagome, a modern-day high school girl, is pulled into Japan’s ancient past! There, her destiny is linked to a dog-eared half demon named InuYasha. Together, they battle evil demons who seek to acquire the shards of the legendary Shikon Jewel and wield its incredible power. But can Kagome and InuYasha stop feuding with each other long enough to save the feudal or modern world — let alone both?
In the climactic showdown, the demon Naraku’s true intentions are finally revealed! Then, Kagome is swallowed up by the Meido. Is she finally beyond her friends’ reach? And will the final battle over the Shikon Jewel draw InuYasha and Kagome together… or pull them apart forever?! Find out in the exciting concluding volume!
The spotlight on manga creator Rumiko Takahashi began in 1978 when she won an honorable mention in Shogakukan’s annual New Comic Artist Contest for Those Selfish Aliens. Later that same year, her boy-meets-alien comedy series, Urusei Yatsura, was serialized in Weekly Shonen Sunday. This phenomenally successful manga series was adapted into anime format and spawned a TV series and half a dozen theatrical-release movies, all incredibly popular in their own right. Takahashi followed up the success of her debut series with one blockbuster hit after another — Maison Ikkoku ran from 1980 to 1987, Ranma ½ from 1987 to 1996, and InuYasha from 1996 to 2008. Other notable works include Mermaid Saga, Rumic Theater, and One-Pound Gospel. These, as well as her newest manga series, Rin-ne, are also published in North America by VIZ Media.
Also catch InuYasha anime episodes — for free — on VIZAnime.com.
More information on InuYasha, or other Shonen Sunday titles from VIZ Media, is available at ShonenSunday.com.
The most anticipated Blu-ray release ever — the Star Wars Saga — emerges from light speed this September 2011. For the first time, all six of George Lucas’ epic films (Episodes I-VI) are united in one complete set. Fans worldwide are able to pre-order now with online retailers.
Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release Star Wars in three distinct sets to meet the needs of every Star Wars fan:
– Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray (9-disc Set includes all six films)
– Star Wars: Prequel Blu-ray Trilogy (3-disc set includes Episodes I-III)
– Star Wars: Original Blu-ray Trilogy (3-disc set includes Episodes IV-VI)
Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray will feature all six live-action Star Wars feature films utilizing the highest possible picture and audio presentation, along with three additional discs and more than 30 hours of extensive special features including never-before-seen deleted and alternate scenes, an exploration of the exclusive Star Wars archives, and much more.
Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray will be available for $139.99 US/$179.99 CAN and the Star Wars: Trilogy Sets for $69.99 US/89.99 CAN. Pricing for each set will vary by international territory.
Flanked by a legion of his finest Imperial Stormtroopers, Darth Vader himself joined Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment President Mike Dunn at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to announce the release, vowing “The forces of the Empire will be at your disposal to assure the success of this endeavor.’’
“The Star Wars Saga is the most anticipated Blu-ray collection since the launch of the high-def format,” Dunn said. “The epic franchise pioneered sound and visual presentation in theaters and is perfectly suited to do it again in the home, with a viewing experience only possible with Blu-ray.”
“With all six episodes available for the first time in one collection, this is a great way for families and home audiences to experience the complete Saga from start to finish,” said Doug Yates, Vice President of Marketing, Online, Distribution, Lucasfilm Ltd. “And with the quality of high-definition, Blu-ray provides the most immersive home experience possible.”
“The Star Wars franchise has been one of the most anticipated Blu-ray releases by Amazon’s customers,” said Bill Carr, Vice President of Music and Video at Amazon. “We think that Star Wars will be incredibly popular with our customers, and we expect pre-orders to be very strong.”
Marvel Comics made a name for themselves featuring heroes with “real-life” problems, but we’re sometimes skeptical. Oh, sure: Peter Parker has dating woes, and Iron Man’s a souse. But are these really the biggest issues such characters would face? Where are all the lawsuits over property destruction? The civil rights acts that protect mutants? Does Superman qualify as an illegal alien, and if so, how would you deport him?
Thankfully, we have the work of James Daily and Ryan Davidson to help us out. Both are actual lawyers, and yes, they spend their free time thinking about issues like these at their blog, Law and the Multiverse.
Watchmen and The Incredibles envisioned scenarios wherein superheroes were simply banned, but it’s hard to imagine those heroes wouldn’t take advantage of all the law has to offer and countersue in the face of such discrimination. Either way, it’s going to be a tough court battle if the defendants can utilize telepathy, shape-shifting, and all that good stuff. In the end, we gotta think these cases would probably come down on the heroes’ side. President Obama has been seen palling around with the likes of Spider-Man and Youngblood. When the chips are down, we imagine he might step in with an executive order or two.
For now, Law and the Multiverse is for entertainment purposes only… but if you’re ever bitten by a radioactive spider due to lab-tech negligence, you might want to drop Misters Daily and Davidson a line.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) fans (or MSTies for short) have been waiting a long time for this game, and I think I speak for all of them when I say it was well worth the wait. When J. Allen Williams first came up with the idea of creating a game, he called in his friends and started the decade-long labor of love that is DARKSTAR. It’s not just a game though, it’s an interactive movie, with your decisions leading to various outcomes, some continuing the story and others bringing you to a dead end (sometimes literally).
As Captain O’Neil, you’ve just awoken from a 312-year sleep that has robbed you of all of your memories, including your identity. You immediately discover a gruesome murder, a sleeping beauty and a missing shipmate. As you begin to explore your surroundings, you discover things about yourself, your crewmates and your mission. You also discover something has gone very, very wrong.
DARKSTAR is similar to the King’s Quest or Myst games in feel and style of play, and features high-quality graphics and textures. There is a mixture of interactive environments, exploration and puzzles, but it’s the video that really sets it apart from traditional adventure games of this style. Hours of video woven throughout turn it from a game into an interactive movie. One of the key parts of the story is a series of short, historical films that have been created for your mission, to be presented at your final destination. These films document the reason for your mission and stress the importance of your success. I can’t give much more information than that without providing spoilers, but I can say that the films are broken up into pieces and you can only access it as you unlock different parts of the game, typically by activating or restoring power to a part of the ship. Each of these, if you pay close attention, will provide hints and clues that will help you with the next step of your exploration.
At first, I found myself spending a lot of time exploring, but not accomplishing much. Then I realized I wasn’t looking hard enough. There are many hidden items, hidden clues and hidden panels. Once you find a few, you start to know where to look and will progress faster. Because there are so many variable outcomes of the game, based on where you explore and in what order, you may miss a large amount of the game without realizing it the first time around. I took a look at the All Revealed Guide (which is in PDF format) and realized that there are several videos I missed out on, especially relating to SIMON, the ship’s smarmy maintenance robot. I was having a bit of a problem with my video being choppy (more on that later) and at one key point, I missed out on an interaction with SIMON that affects his appearances throughout the game. The lesson I learned was that if the game seems to pause, don’t start clicking right away; give it a moment just in case it’s changing from a stationary scene to an animated one.
On that note, I should point out my video-related issues with the game. Here’s my specs:
Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 3
NVidia GeForce 8200 Motherboard with integrated graphics
AMD Athlon 64×2 Dual Core 5000+ (2.6Ghz)
3.25 GB RAM (XPs limit)
When I first installed the game, I couldn’t play it. I would receive an error message during the splash screen that informed me that iShell had crashed. I tried visiting the website for help but, at the time, there wasn’t any information there or patches available to fix the issue. I spent a few days off doing some web searches and the best suggestion I found was to roll back Quicktime. I uninstalled Quicktime (I was running 7.6.8) and reinstalled 6.0, and then installed updates up to version 7.6.5. The game finally ran properly but still had a few hesitations when switching to a video or animated scene. I saved the game frequently and it helped relieve the stress of lost progress in case of game crashing. I did discover that Quicktime tries to automatically update to the newest version, so while you are playing the game, it may interfere with your iTunes account. Hopefully they will be able to patch this soon, as I did have to go through the process of rolling back Quicktime several times because I had other multimedia programs that required the latest version.
Other than the video issue, which I finally figured out, I had no problems with the game and truly enjoyed playing it. It took me a little longer than I thought it would, but part of that is because I took the time to zoom in on what I’d consider Easter Eggs in the game, such as the bookshelves and personal items in the crew’s cabins. While SIMON’s room is blatantly an homage to MST3K, as is SIMON himself, there are lots of other more subtle touches throughout the game, but if you have no previous knowledge of the MST3K universe, you won’t feel like you’re missing out on anything. Well, maybe you will a little bit, but hopefully that will just encourage you to learn more about the DARKSTAR folks and their previous and current projects.
In addition to the 13 hours of video, the soundtrack includes 38 compositions featuring several genres of music. Much of the music is ambient with a dark, brooding and ominous feel, but you’ll also find classical piano scores in a few “scenes”, and the battles and other action sequences are backed by high-power rock. As my cohort here at ÜberSciFiGeek said, “The soundtrack is great! It has a hint of heavy metal sound that gets the adrenaline pumping, without being distracting.”
DARKSTAR: The Interactive Movie for PC and Macintosh
2-disc Sountrack Album with 38 songs by Progressive Sound and MetalWorx
PDF downloads of the All Revealed Guide and DARKSTAR Coffee Table Book
Pre-printed (not hand-signed) Cast Glossy
XL DARKSTAR T-Shirt
The All Revealed Guide definitely came in handy. While I tried playing most of the game without it, I did have to check through it a few times to see what I was doing wrong. It listed events out of the order in which I explored the ship, so I did get a few spoilers that I wasn’t looking for. Since it’s a PDF picture format, you can’t search for keywords, so be careful because you may see something you don’t want to know yet! If you stumble through DARKSTAR the first time around without the guide, check it out for your second round of gameplay to make sure you get to see all the cool death scenes and Easter Eggs you may have missed.
The DARKSTAR Coffee Table Book may be a PDF file, but it looks like one of those “The Art of…” movie books you see for Hollywood blockbusters. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of DARKSTAR and includes some beautiful images that I can imagine on high-gloss, archive quality paper. I think some of them should be available as prints, they are so impressive. In addition to images of the creation process, you’ll find information about the cast and crew and all the hard work that went into creating DARKSTAR. I think maybe they should make this available on Amazon or some other Print-on-Demand service. It’s really a gorgeous book and, as much as I love my computer, nothing beats holding a real book in your hands.
The Cast Glossy and T-Shirt are a nice bonus. The photos are high-quality photos printed on heavy card stock and the black t-shirt is made of 100% cotton, nice and thick — not the flimsy stuff you often find printed shirts made of. It’s sure to stand up to lots of wear and washing.
The only thing about DARKSTAR that needs improvement, as my cohort pointed out, is that the game is packaged in a large, bulky case with both discs on one side, resting directly on each other, instead of a 2-disc streamline case. While most games include printed material, and the larger case would be perfect for holding that stuff, everything is digital with this game so it takes up more space on your bookshelf than it really needs to and you have to be a bit more careful not to scratch a disc while removing one to get to the other.
Overall, DARKSTAR is a fun and funny game, and a fabulous addition to any adventure gamer or sci-fi geek’s collection. Unlike most games where, once you play it, you put it away, the film-like aspect, hours of footage, and multiple outcomes, death scenes and other scenarios ensure that you’ll most likely play this game several times and, rather than give it away, tell your friends to get their own copy.
How to Train Your Dragon was recently released on DVD and Blu-ray, but if you’ve already worn your disc out and need a new Dragon fix, then pick up a copy of the film’s companion book, The Art of How to Train Your Dragon by Tracey Miller-Zarneke. Published at the beginning of this year to coincide with the film’s premiere, publisher Newmarket Press has posted an announcement on their website that the title is now back in stock.
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon is a gorgeous hardcover, divided up into five easily accessible sections:
The Dragons: The next best thing to having a Dragon Manual — the dragon field guide that Hiccup consults on-screen (and needs to be replicated in real book form) — this chapter details each of the dragons that appear in the film, from preliminary design sketches through to finished CG animation stills. Stats on the different species, some that aren’t revealed in the film, accompany the illustrations, and thumbnails of several dragons that didn’t make it to the screen are included, as well. Budding fantasy artists will find the material in this section invaluable, not only as a tutorial on how to draw credible dragon anatomy, but as a creative reminder that dragons come in more shapes and sizes than the traditional green dragon seen in storybooks. Not surprisingly, Toothless, as the main dragon and the character who underwent the most changes as he winged from book page to silver screen, dominates The Dragons, with considerable coverage also given to his nemesis, the monstrous Red Death, who received a number of progressively scarier make-overs.
The Vikings: Early sketches, character studies, CG models, and biographies of the film’s human characters add background and depth to the main cast: Hiccup, Astrid and the other dragon trainees, Chief Stoick the Vast, and blacksmith/dragon trainer Gobber. As an added bonus, original drawings by the author of the How to Train Your Dragon books are reprinted alongside the film drawings. A two-page spread is devoted to the design of Berk’s Viking “extras”, and Hiccup’s mother, Valhallarama, who didn’t survive the journey from book to screen, is memorialized.
The Dragon World: Dragon Island’s forbidding environment is showcased, with a focus on the immense Dragon Cave. A maze of shadowy dragon dens, pits, and winding passageways, the intricate Dragon Cave proved to be quite a challenge to build in 3D, leading to it being dubbed “the Swiss Cheese set”.
The Viking World: In an exploration of Berk’s varied landscapes, from the sea to the highest mountain peak, digital paintings take readers on a breathtaking tour of the Viking village, houses, Meade Hall, harbour, and training grounds. In addition, visits are made to Toothless’ secret cove and some intriguing locations that were unfortunately dropped during script revisions. A wealth of sketches and illustrations delve into Viking culture, examining the Vikings’ props, iconography, boats, weapons, statues, and the fascinating Meade Hall carvings and tapestries.
Bringing the Worlds Together… and Bringing It All to the Screen: The final chapter offers a run-down of the tasks assigned to individual units of the film team: story, layout, cinematography, 3D rendering, animation, character effects, general effects, lighting, and editorial. Filmmaker comments take viewers even further behind the scenes of creating a full-length animated film, and the job descriptions may help those who aspire to work in feature animation decide where their skills lie, much like Hiccup finding the place he fits best in Viking society.
The book’s preface is written by Cressida Cowell, whose children’s book of the same name (the first in a series) inspired the How to Train Your Dragon film, which The Art of How to Train Your Dragon classifies as a prequel of sorts to Cowell’s stories. In her introduction, the author engagingly relates the story of her family’s annual camping trips to a remote Scottish island, a tiny, rugged spot that sparked the idea for How to Train Your Dragon and served as a model for the Isle of Berk, the place that her imaginary tribe of Vikings inhabits. Comedian and late-night television host Craig Ferguson, the voice of Gobber, provides a humorous yet heartfelt foreword that reveals how he conquered his fear of flying, singling out a favourite scene from the movie that expresses his newfound passion for flight.
Expertly penned by Walt Disney Feature Animation alum Tracey Miller-Zarneke, The Art of How to Train Your Dragon benefits from the knowledge of an animation insider, coming to life as Miller-Zarneke deftly pulls quotes from the production crew, sprinkling them throughout the book to enhance her narrative. Compared to other “The Art of…” books, the The Art of How to Train Your Dragon does seem to have less of a text-to-pictures ratio, but is still as enjoyable and informative a read as Miller-Zarneke’s prior film animation book, The Art of Kung Fu Panda, and Dragon’s 350-plus images really do speak for themselves. Beautifully printed in full colour on large, glossy pages, the development art, sketches, pencil and marker drawings, storyboards, digital paint renditions, and finished artwork collected in The Art of How to Train Your Dragon makes reading the book feel like a stroll through a fantasy show at an art gallery. The volume’s binding is stitched, rather than glued, so the book lies perfectly flat, which is particularly handy for artists using it as a reference work.
Fans of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, the previous film helmed by How to Train Your Dragon writer-directors Chris Sanders (whose unique visual style is evident in the look of both films) and Dean DeBlois, will obviously be drawn to this book, but, as Newmarket Press points out, The Art of How to Train Your Dragon is actually “a book for anyone who loves moviemaking, animation, art, Vikings, and, of course, dragons.”
The Art of How to Train Your Dragon is distributed by Newmarket Press. Follow Newmarket Press on Twitter. For more information about How to Train Your Dragon, please visit DreamWorks Animation’s official How to Train Your Dragon website.
Who could forget the first Back to the Future videogame? You remember, it came out in 1989 for the NES. It was the one where Marty walked down a street while dodging swarms of bees and hula-hooping girls who shot darts. The one where he rolled bowling balls at his enemies. You know, the one that had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE?!!?
It’s high time someone pulled a McFly and fixed the mistakes of our videogame past.
Enter Back to the Future: The Game, a new adventure prepared to make up for the earlier incarnation’s biffs. Now available for Mac and PC (and at some point in 2011 for PS3 and iPad), the new game picks up six months after the conclusion of the third BTTF movie. Set to unroll in multiple episodes over the coming months, the game finds Marty rescuing Doc Brown in the past… with the help of Doc’s teenage self. And don’t worry, this time the storyline was created in consultation with BTTF’s co-creator Bob Gale. Plus the producers found an amazing Michael J. Fox soundalike to voice Marty and, most awesomely, Christopher Lloyd returns as Doc Brown. Great Scott!
The impressive trailer gives a feel for the game’s looks and only leaves one concern left to address. Like the original game, does this one include a jump button even though there’s nothing you can actually jump? Get the game and find out, slackers!
Catching the final installment of a popular sci-fi trilogy is usually such a chore. First you’ve got to pre-buy the tickets. Then you’ve got to camp out in front of the theater. Then you’ve got to hold back tears while Triumph the Insult Comic Dog stops by to make fun of how you’re obviously still a virgin.
Thankfully, Family Guy has made the whole process easier. You can watch the final installment of their Star Wars spoof trilogy from the safety of your own home on DVD. Today marks the debut of the show’s Return of the Jedi parody: Family Guy: It’s a Trap! Just like their previous two Star Wars spoofs — Family Guy: Blue Harvest and Family Guy: Something Something Something Dark Side — this outing features Peter as Han Solo, Chris as Luke, Lois as Leia and Stewie as Darth Vader. Cameo alert: one of the trailers shows Meg as the Sarlacc, and Klaus (the fish from American Dad!) as Admiral Ackbar. Meanwhile, celebrity guest voices include Carrie Fisher, Adam West, Patrick Stewart and Rush Limbaugh… who voices the Rancor. Talk about typecasting.
For anyone who prefers all their spoofs in a single box, you can also get Laugh It Up Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy, which collects all three Star Wars parodies into one set. Grab these flicks while you still can. If history is any guide, the creators may decide to go back in a few years and ruin them with unnecessary CGI effects. When that happens, throw us into the Sarlacc.
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Now Accepting Submissions for Contest #78: J!NXCEPTION
This contest is about movies. And endings. A bad ending can ruin an otherwise brilliant film. A good ending can save a mediocre film from cinematic obscurity. We’re very passionate about our movies, and often wish we could be in charge of how they end. Your assignment is to use the photos provided (or any other photos of the J!NX Crew) to create an alternate ending to a well-known movie. For example: what would have happened at the end of Inception if Nooch had been around to knock that top over? See? Completely different. So let’s see your alternate endings! Submit Yours!
