In a bit of more obscure news for the week, it seems that another key member of the entertainment industry has left us, but not one of the ones you’d think of initially.

Don LaFontaine, also known as the “Movie Voice-Over Guy” who has done the recordings for over 5000 movie trailers and tv commercials (most recently his GIECO appearance), has died at the age of 68 due to complications with a collapsed lung. He was pronounced yesterday.

If you’ve watched any amount of movies in your lifetime, you’ve likely encountered LaFontaine’s performance several times, most notably his “In a World….” introductions in his booming ominous voice that were his niche. These became so frequently used, that parodies have popped up in the past on shows like Family Guy and as a comedy act by Pablo Francisco.

With another media star gone, one has to wonder if 2008 is a Black Year for the entertainment scene.

George Carlin, one of the greatest and most prolific comedic minds of all time has died. He stayed on stage until the end, releasing his final HBO special March 1. He was 71.
I hope he rests in peace, but given the content of his comedy, you know he’s not in heaven or hell.

Following the break, his most famous routine: The Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television. Obviously, don’t watch these videos at work. Join us in the forums and share your favorite George Carlin routine. [Read the rest of this entry…]

The master of special effects and make-up arts Stan Winston died yesterday in his Malibu home at the age of 62, after battling for years with multiple myeloma. (a type of cancer of the plasma cells)

Winston was the wizard behind the visual effects and an Oscar winner for his ground-breaking work on blockbuster’s such as Jurassic Park, Aliens, and the Terminator series, was well as Edward Scissorhands, Pumpkinhead, as well as one of this summer’s hit movies – Iron Man.

It is yet unknown if the 4th Terminator movie was finished before Winston’s death, as he was slated as working on it for some time. He was also noted for working on a 4th Jurassic Park movie, and a future “The Suffering” movie based on the game of the same name.

Winston is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren.

Interesting little video that’s circulating the net is one that was featured on X-Play that tackles the topic of video game violence and its effect on children. The perk of this comes in the fact that Doctors Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson discuss the fully-encompassing figures that revolve around video games, and even go so far as to mention that research showed kids that didn’t play video games at all are as much at risk for developing emotional problems as those who played too much. Certainly sounds much more balanced that some other rants made by politicians that all video games are bad for kids.

Check it out:

OK, so GTA IV is merely days away. Saints Row proved itself to be a worthy contender to the open world genre when it debuted, and the sequel looks to amplify that. Of course, no personality is more amped than Gary Busey, so the following videos show off some of Saint’s Row 2’s improvements with comments from Gary.

More after the break…
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Screen legend Charleton Heston died Saturday April 5 in his home. He was 84.

I don’t watch the Tyra Banks Show, simply because it’s Tyra Banks and I have no interest in anything she says, as it tends to come out sounding like the adults in Peanuts cartoons to me. However I happened to watch a little clip from the show that had a segment on “Decoding Your Man”, where a poor hapless gamer geek is verbally castrated by his girlfriend and Tyra both. Then to add insult to injury, “Gaming Goddess” Morgan Webb is brought in as the expert opinion.

Here’s the clip:

Basically, Webb disses and degrades the very genre that gave her the popularity and stardom she [unfortunately for us] now enjoys. Rather than helping the girlfriend understand why her guy plays video games like he does and come to a mutual agreement, Webb re-enforces the girlfriend’s desire to all-out change her man altogether as she sees fit. Morgan spouts a whole lot of nonsense about gaming genres and tries sounding like some kind of psychologist on the subject, and fails miserably. I had little regard for Webb to begin with, since I see her as being a poser when it comes to trying to act like some kind of gaming expert. This just knocks any respect I had for her down to 0% as she proves she’s just another bimbo who thinks she knows her stuff, but instead is just flailing her ego around.

Guys, not all women are like this. Honestly. This is a poor representation of women understanding guys, and more importantly understanding gaming. This video is just an estrogen-filled globe of stereotyping on all gamers as being “obsessed” with their games. Obviously this is not true, as the majority are casual in their gaming exploits. If more women took the time to try and get inside their guys heads and understand their man, rather than control him and mold him into their own personal plaything, then there would be alot more happy gamers out there with happy girlfriends.

The world of gaming and fantasy has lost one of its fathers. Gary Gygax, creator of the Dungeons & Dragons, has died. He was 69.

Farewell, Dungeon Master. Though I wasn’t much for your game, it is because of your games that the world of sci-fi fantasy and videogames are what they are today. You will be missed.