Its only a few seconds long, and its only a rough animation, and its less than hi quality source.

But Access Hollywood has posted the first look at any Transformers in motion from the movie.

Watch “Transformers” First Look on their site, and keep an eye out at the very end for the robots.

UPDATE: Michael Bay has posted a downloadable version of the report in much higher resolution. You can get it HERE.

I wasn’t a fan of the TV show. I was hardly looking forward to the movie when it was announced.

But a funny thing happened: The Colbert Report. I began to really get an respect him, and went looking in his history and sure enough, Colbert was on the old Comedy Central series “Exit 57” with Strangers with Candy co-creators Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris. I thought I’d take a look with a more open mind this time.

Now, the movie was getting mixed reviews, so I was still a little skeptical. Even the trailer wasn’t entirely impressive.

Thankfully, I enjoyed myself. In fact, I really loved this movie. I haven’t laughed this hard since Anchorman (and I still giggle like a moron at the mention of Dorothy Mantooth). Strangers With Candy the movie drops the afterschool special conventions the show had, but it gains better pacing as a result. Voiceovers and monologs are gone, instead giving way to more screwball convict talk, racism, and homoeroticism. Its a real family movie.

Now like I said, I wasn’t a fan of the show, so if this is mostly recycled jokes I wouldn’t know. Still I found Sedaris to be positively astounding as Jerri Blank, bouncing between a moronic child to streetwise hustler at the drop of a hat. Colbert and Dinello return as teachers Mr. Noblet and Mr. Jellineck, though their screen time is diminished to more supporting roles. Cameos from famous fans like Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Mathew Broderick add little, as their scenes are stolen in every instance by Greg Holliman’s Principal Onyx Blackman.

So I’m going to make this appeal to you, dear reader. If you missed the show the first time around or maybe just didn’t think it was funny, try the movie. It doesn’t quite push the limit like South Park or Chappelle, but the final line of dialouge left my mouth agape in shock and I was laughing well after I’d left the theater.

Of course, this review won’t change your mind now, but maybe you’ll watch it on cable in 6 months anyway.

The days of Pilotwings 64 and Wave Race: Blue Storm are a distant memory.

Nintendo appears to be getting huge support from 3rd parties, with Ubisoft promising 7 launch titles, including the previously announced Red Steel and Rayman. PC/Xbox island survivor shooter Far Cry will likely get the Wii off to a good start with a solid online multiplayer. Monster 4×4 World Circuit and GT Pro Series will add racing action, and Ubisoft is also planning an adaptation of the forthcoming animated movie Open Season. Finally, theres Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, which is about squadrons of WWII or something. Prince of Persia has been mentioned but not yet confirmed.

Thats not all! Midway is in on the act too. The Chicago based publisher will bring Rampage: Total Destruction, Blitz: The League, and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon! While all 3 of these are current gen titles, they have no presence on the PS3 or 360. Rampage is an update on a classic arcade game. Blitz is a football title stripped of the NFL license but beefed up with arcade play and a more true to life atmosphere. MK: Armageddon is the final installment in the legendary fighting franchise, featuring every character in the series thus far (see right).

EA’s been eerily silent on the Wii but plan on Madden NFL, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, SSX, Need for Speed, Harry Potter, and The Godfather to make it out sometime. Madden NFL and Need For Speed are the only titles from their camp likely to make it out in the launch window, but the rest won’t be far behind.

Sega’s Sonic Wildfire has slippsed to the beginning of 2007, but Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz is planned for launch.

Finally, Activision is going to port Marvel Ultimate Alliance to Wii as well, giving the Wii an awesome action RPG and comic books fan’s dream all in one.

Thats over a dozen third party games to hit on or near launch for the Wii! And don’t forget they’ve still got Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Mario Galaxy, and Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Also, if you love reading tech specs, look at a breakdown of the Wii, and if you like rumors, check out the The Ultimate Wii Rumour Compilation . All that stuff is secondary to what we’re really excited about: a ton of good games.

I’ll try to compile some info on the PS3 launch too when I get more info. But honestly, just look at whats happening here. Nintendo in less than a year’s time has gone from the 3rd place purple box to the developer darling. Got to admit, its getting better. Getting better, all the time….

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Oh boy, this is going to be a regular ongoing joke, isn’t it? [Read the rest of this entry…]

Let me get this right out of the way:

Click the thumbnail on the left to find a desktop friendly promotional image for the Virtual Console. Luigi is driving the Sega Outrun car, Raccoon PacMan, ROB, and Kirby dressed as Simon Belmont all show up in this mish-mash classic characters.
If you love Emo as much as you love Nintendo, check out Nintendo Fusion Tour. No word on anything playable, but they’ll at least be showing off new games along with the music.
Kotaku heard rumblings about a Cross-Country Tour for the Wii, but now it looks more like it will be more of a secret invite-only tour. I hope Nintendo realizes the trendsetters at Powet would love to attend.

Finally, a keynote at the Leipzig Germany games conference has been booked called “Wii Prove Our Promise” for Aug. 23.

The biggest event in gaming may be gone for good.

Cost, over crowding, and undue stress on developers to get games ready for the show are all a factor in an announcement expected to be made monday morning, July 31st.

Next-Gen says the convention is to be done with altogether, and replaced with multiple yearly events for publishers. Gamespot says it will simply be shrunk to a press only event.

Until we get an official press statement from ESA’s Doug Lowenstein, enjoy the baseless rumor mongering and over excited reactionaries of the blogosphere:
4CR: E3 Gone Kaput?
Joystiq: E3 cancelled for next year and beyond
Kotaku: E3 Cancelled?!
NeoGAF: E3 Cancelled for Next Year and “Forseeable Future”?
Powet: e 3 Cancelled?

1UP’s Jenn Frank reports on the launch party for the new PSP exclusive Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. Held at Sony’s Metreon center in San Fransisco, PSP toting fans weren’t as prevalent as hardcore arcade competition players. She’s rather amazed that arcade fighters have such a devoted following, and talks about the community as if it were some kind of fringe thing.

I’m not exactly new to this scene(see: Chicago), but I’m weirded out that a games journalist could be barely aware of the fighter community. Fighters like Tekken would fall off the face of the earth without the annual, monthly and even weekly events fans organize. I mean, you can’t play against the computer for very long before getting bored, and your non fighting game friends stop playing if you beat them enough times. Thats why these competitive events exist.

You get to like a game and you’ve gotta find people who will play with you, even if they’re not always friends. And the more specific your taste, the harder it is to get a game going. Running with Soul Calibur and Tekken players doesn’t mean they’ll play Virtua Fighter or Street Fighter III. And while DOA, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighter have all migrated online in the past few years, the split second timing required for fighters has kept a lot of them off Xbox Live or other services. Who can blame them? Maybe as broadband speeds increase over the years this will change, but for right now, the only way to fight real fighting game fans is at events.