Set 20 years before “Halo: Combat Evolved” this is the opening cinematic for “Halo Wars”

GameTrailersTV has a longer look at the game, footage of gameplay, and words from developers Ensemble Studios.

And in a move that surprises no-one, Microsoft confirmed earlier this week that former Gearbox director of Technology Corrine Yu has joined one of the Halo Teams. Gearbox developed Halo CE for PC as well as Brothers in Arms. Former Bungie writer Frank O’Conner is also working at Microsoft on Halo. Oh and Ryan Payton, the Metal Gear Solid 4 producer who helped bring Hideo Kojima’s wacky world to life? He’s also leading a Halo team, quite possibly Halo 4. None of these people are working on Peter Jackson’s Halo project, which means there may be as many as 4 new titles in development. Get ready for Halo 4… as well as Halo Kart, Halo Party, and Halo Tennis

This is not to say Halo creators Bungie Software aren’t staying busy because they just released this clip last week… [Read the rest of this entry…]

This is the latest in Powet Editor Zac Shipley’s series on video game culture in Madison, WI for TheDailyPage.

Rock Band 2 retains title as the Golden God of music games
Music and video games have been naturally complimentary since the latter became complex enough to emit more than a single beep. Rhythm games have allowed players to experience music by tapping out beats on controllers, using dance pads, or even shaking maracas. But there has been no game as successful at simulating the truly American art form of rock ‘n’ roll as Rock Band. >More

Variety is reporting that when CW finally swings the axe on Smallville (oh, please let it be this season), they’re going to fill its place with an equally uninteresting pre-super hero show called “The Graysons.” This will follow the travelling circus lives of Dick Grayson and his parents before they fell to an untimely end and Dick was recruited into the world of the goddamn Batman.
Well, I guess I shouldn’t say its a totally bad idea. The execution might be excellent, and if it fit into the Dark Knight or even the Smallville mythos it would instantly gain a huge numbers of fans. Still, the last time WB tried to dip Batman’s sidekicks into a show, we got Birds Of Prey. Given the way WB and DC want Batman handled, its highly unlikely he’ll even appear in the show (much in the same way Smallville has no cape for Superboy, even if its beyond reason that he doesn’t by now). And though young Clark or even young Bruce had compelling backstories before being expanded (in Smallville and in Batman Begins), I have my doubts that Dick Grayson can be a character worth watching without changing him.
McG will produce the show and Dick will be called “DJ Grayson” and I think I can pretty much stop this story right here. I’ll leave you with a quote from Iron Man director Jon Favreau on Why Superhero Movies Sometimes Fail and let you draw your own conclusions.

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke with IESB about what fans can expect from Transformers 2 and it sounds pretty good of course. When asked about characters, he wouldn’t say any specific names, but did says “3 times as many characters” and that a lot of fan favorites would be in there, including everything we wanted from the first one. Not confirmation of Devestator and the Constructicons, but he was too optimistic to think otherwise. He did downplay the inclusion of Cybertron, so don’t get your hopes up that the Autobots are going home this time.
He also said GIJOE is in the cutting room and they hope to have a trailer for the holidays. Less optimistic is a tipster from AICN saying specifically “action is very stylized, character development is terrible” but it had a car chase that knocked over the Eiffel Tower, so maybe it’ll turn out to be a fun popcorn flick. Just like Transformers before it, I’m setting the bar low for characters in GIJOE since I know they’ll never get to the lever the comic books or even the animated series did. But some cool effects shots are always welcome.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who will be playing Cobra Commander in the film, told MTV he will not wear the traditional blue hood or the silver mask, but something different altogether. And although he wouldn’t be doing the exact voice from the old cartoon, he’s been heartily inspired by it.
Back to Transformers, Walmart of all places is hosting weekly videos from the set, and the first 2 are up. The first has the Audi R8 and the motorcycles, the second is Shia and Megan Fox goofing around on set. Watch them here after entering the code “AllSpark62609”

Gremlins Fan Sequence by Sacha Feiner from Sacha Feiner on Vimeo.

Sacha Feiner has made an incredible fan film paying tribute to the trouble making Gremlins. From his myspace page:

In the middle of the movie Gremlins 2, there is a sequence where the film seems to break, and where the gremlins invade the projection booth. In the VHS edition in the early 90’s, director Joe Dante managed to reshoot a special sequence where the VHS tape seemed to be torn apart and in which the gremlins invaded a John Wayne movie. The DVD just kept the original theatrical version. Today I decided to make an alternate 5 minutes sequence for the DVD.

Its outstanding work. I wouldn’t mind seeing another Gremlins movie…

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen is filming in Long Beach, CA and such a public place demands amateur camera footage! Check the video above to see Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Bumblebee information with the trio of concept cars: The Chevy Beat, Chevy Trax, and the sleek silver concept Corvette

After the break, something blows up good, and another mysterious car is revealed!
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Directed by Takashi Murakami, this is the animated music video for the opening track of Kanye West’s album “Graduation”

Do note an appearance by one of our Top 5 Movie Cars!

I used to write about Halo on this site all the damn time. Thats when Halo 2 multiplayer was in full swing and Halo 3 stuff was still trickling out. Now Halo 3 updates are so frequent I can’t report on them all, and theres still no news of another game from Bungie Studios.

Well its not a new proper Halo game, but Ensemble’s Real Time Strategy based in the universe should still scratch that itch, at least aesthetically. And to prove that, here is the box art.

Click to maximize
We don’t know when its coming out. Early 2009, probably March or April. Are you interested in playing an RTS based on Halo? Can an RTS really be played with a controller? Does halo have a shot being out of the hands that made the first 3 games a success? Let us know in the comments section.