A couple of weeks ago, Hasbro snatched the Boggle clone Bogglific from Facebook (and, by extension, from Marc) by presenting a DMCA notice. He quickly turned to Mass Effect for solace, and I lost prime quality time with the Xbox.
Bogglific’s developer, Roger Nesbitt, lamented that he had neither the time nor the money to fight Hasbro, and, so, closed up shop. Meanwhile, Scrabulous, a more popular game than Bogglific, faced the same fate, though the developers decided not to give in.
Fortunately for my gamerscore, we misunderstood the developer’s message. Yes, Bogglific was shut down, but a new app, Prolific, has taken its place.
Here’s what’s funny about our copyright system. If I understand this right, the only thing that may keep Prolific from suffering Bogglific’s fate is that Prolific has a slightly different scoring system and a special bonus square. Can the line between a successful innovation and a dirty, rotten criminal really be as fine as whether or not you highlight the letter “D” and give 5 points instead of 3?
The constellations are lining up for a couple of great hobbit movies.
In December, New Line and Peter Jackson settled their differences, and we learned that there would be not one, but two films made from JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit, or There and Back Again with Jackson as producer. Yesterday we found out that Guillermo del Toro will be directing both films, to be released in 2010 and 2011.
Hold on, you say! Hellboy II: The Golden Army will be released in July. Shouldn’t del Toro be working on Hellboy III sometime in the next few years?
As recently as December, he is quoted as saying:
“The way Mike [Mignola] and I did approach this was, when we were told, ‘Think about something, if you want, for a sequel,’ we went away and said, ‘Let’s talk about it. Do we want to continue the story?’ We did the first one saying, ‘That’s it. It’s a self-concluding story.’ And I said, ‘Let’s come up with an arc that makes sense for us for the second and third movie.’”
However, earlier this month, i09 reported a rumor that del Toro was “definitely not doing Hellboy III“, leading some to speculate that he would be brought in for The Hobbit.
Sorry, Hellboy fans. It looks like Anung Un Rama’s loss will be Bilbo’s gain.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
We reviewed this excellent documentary in Episode 11. As I said then, I got a review copy of the DVD and popped it in thinking it would be cute because of the subject matter, but either documentary-style dull or too self consciously quirky. Who knew there would be espionage, snivelling toadies and an antagonist worthy of Tolkien?
The story follows Steve Wiebe, a regular guy who seems to have almost succeeded in every endeavor he’s tried, including a 90s grunge band. After being laid off from Boeing, he starts playing Donkey Kong on a classic arcade machine in his garage. Not surprisingly, he’s really good and soon beats the world record. Or so he thinks until Billy Mitchell, a record-holding gamer with a very healthy sense of self, comes into the picture to assert his title as Video Game Player of the Century.
As a side note, the South Park episode “More Crap”, in which Stan’s dad battles Bono for the World’s Largest Bowel Movement record, was based on this documentary. Want.
King of Kong Trailer
Ranma 1/2 Season 5: Martial Mayhem (2008 Edition)
I love Ranma 1/2, but I had completely forgotten about it until I saw this. The basic story of this manga-inspired animation begins when Ranma and his father Genma, both martial artists, fall into cursed springs - Ranma into the Spring of the Drowned Girl and his father into the Spring of the Drowned Panda. The curse? When hit with cold water, Ranma becomes a girl and his father, a panda, of course. Transgender and transspecies hilarity ensues. See the intro here. Want. Read the rest of this entry »
Neil Gaiman fans, you can download a free, nearly-50-minute mp3 of the author reading his story “A Study in Emerald“. We like Neil Gaiman. We like free.
Alluding to both the Sherlock Holmes canon and the Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos, this Hugo Award winning short story will delight fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.P. Lovecraft, and of course, Neil Gaiman. A Study in Emerald draws listeners in through carefully revealed details as a consulting detective and his narrator friend solve the mystery of a murdered German noble. But with its subtle allusions and surprise ending, this mystery hints that the real fun in solving this case lies in imagining all the details that Gaiman doesn’t reveal, and challenges listeners to be detectives themselves.
Via Boing Boing
Ain’t It Cool News is reporting that Channing Tatum (Step Up, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints) has been cast as Duke in the upcoming GI Joe movie.
I tried to find a picture of Channing Tatum that made him look right for Duke, but all I found were shots of him in his underwear (looking far too “pretty” to be in GI Joe at all - well, maybe as Cobra Commander) and shots where he looked 17 years old. Neither fits with the Duke in my head, who is older, more battle-hardened and, if I may be frank, just a sexy daddy.
I already had my doubts about the casting for this movie, but I was holding out. I’m dating myself here, but I really liked the Cobra La storylines of the animated series and was hoping for a BSG-style reboot, a more sophisticated take on that universe.
I’ve got nothing against Channing Tatum, but this news (along with the other casting choices barring Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty) tells me that this movie is intended for the MTV-set, not me.
Via VideoETA
A couple of weeks ago, Hasbro snatched the Boggle clone Bogglific from Facebook (and, by extension, from Marc) by presenting a DMCA notice. He quickly turned to Mass Effect for solace, and I lost prime quality time with the Xbox.
