Wired Pumpkins

The folks over on the Wired Blog have thrown up a smorgasbord of pumpkin love for all of Geekdom to enjoy. Check it out.

I have no idea which one is my favorite, but right now I'm leaning towards the Cheshire Cat pumpkin. I think it's probably the clear lines (the WoW one is just too much for me) and the subject matter. Yeah, just a bunch of great pumpkins though.

[via Wired Blog]

Alien vs. Predator Sequel Coming 2007

Who would win in a fight: a Predator or an Alien?

It's one of those questions like, "Do I really exist?" or "Who is faster: The Flash or Superman?" that philosophers have been trying to answer since Predator was released in 1987 (Alien was released in 1979). All of the bent up frustration that fans of the two series felt though was supposed to be answered in the theatrical release of Alien vs Predator in 2004.

It should have been resolved in 2004, but, with a PG-13 rating, the only thing that was resolved in Alien vs Predator was the question of whether or not the fight would ever happen outside of fan fiction, graphic novels or video games. And a PG-13 movie doesn't jive with either of the two series gore-filled histories.

This fight is the gladiatorial match-up of two completely kick-butt pillars of the sci-fi horror/action community. It's also an excuse for one bad-ass, knock-down, drag-‘em-out movie that should end with gigantic fireballs coming out of your eyes - that's how thoroughly this movie should blow you away. Like I said though, the 2004 Alien vs Predator didn't meet these expectations. It was still good: it maintained the strong and intelligent female lead of the Alien series, it had an acceptable plot and good action, but, without the R rating's goodness, it felt empty. Like a doughnut that's healthy - it just doesn't work on a lot of levels.

That was then though, and this is now. There is a new Alien vs Predator movie coming out called Alien vs Predator: Requiem. The facts:

• Comes out on December 25, 2007. It could be direct to DVD, which would hurt a bit.


• It's directed by the Brothers Strause, which makes me nervous as hell because they have no movie-making experience. Yes, they are well known for some great music videos and commercials, and they do specialize in FX, but, still... no movie experience? Hell, it's possible that a director's eye more tuned in to the frantic moves and cuts of a music video will make a great addition to this storied series, but, still... no movie experience? It's the difference between writing poems and novels: the narrative length is hard to jump. This next item gives me a lot of hope though...


• The trailer looks great! Watch it here. Seriously, watch it. It's pretty damn good.

Wii - No More Heroes

No More Heroes is Star Wars for the Akira set.

You play as Travis Touchdown, an anime/wrestling obsessed American guy, who decides to rise to the top of the assassin food chain by capping off all of the other ranked professionals Lightsaber-style (technically his weapon of choice is Beam Katana, but that's the same thing to me). And, before you ask: Yes, of course there's an international governing body that determines rankings for assassins. Without one, well, there would just be a lot of murders, and that's just wrong.

No More Heroes is on the top of my To Buy list for the Wii. Screenshots of the game clearly show a drug-induced manga-art style, and the trailers bear out that the style is well executed. What's not to love?!

Here's what you need to know:

• It's a Suda51 project, which immediately flashes this title into a Snow Crash future with a Clockwork Orange twist of violence.


• Suda51's last project, Killer7, was an edgy, cel-shaded action marvel that was tailored for hardcore gamers.


• Ubisoft (trying to score some street cred after releasing a tumult of games that were very poorly ported to the Wii from other systems (double diss)) has agreed to publish the game in North America two months after it's Japanese release. Release date for North America: Feb. 2008.


• Type of Street Cred Ubisoft Hopes to Buy in form of two sound bites from IGN's article:
  - "...we expect the game to receive an 'M' for Mature rating." Ubisoft's Vice President of Marketing, Tony Key
  - "Suda 51 himself has in the past promised that No More Heroes would be just as violent as Manhunt 2." - IGN article. For the record, Manhunt 2 cannot be legally sold in the UK. Yeah, this game is gonna be ROUGH! ROUGH!

Anime and Rap

If you haven't already heard the hit single "Stronger" by Kanye West on the radio, then you don't listen to pop radio. If you haven't seen the video yet, then you're probably normal because no one really plays music videos anymore. I saw the video a week or so ago on MTV2 (during the day when no one was watching but me) and immediately realized that it was a beat apart, then I watched it again (because I thought it was good). What did I realize? The video is a live action recreation of parts of the famous Anime Akira.

For those of you who don't know Akira, it's a animated film from Japan that came over in 1989 set in a dystopian future that centers around the exploits of a teenage biker who develops strong psionic powers and the leader of the teenage biker gang who tries to reel him back from the brink. It was the first anime that I ever loved and it's credited with ushering in the flood of Anime in the early 1990's. To sum up: Akira is a big, big deal. It was completely visionary and still looks beautiful and artistic.

And what happened to Akira? Kayne puts himself into the movie as one of the characters and produces an electric video that is hard to stop watching. Of course, Kayne has some funky 80's sunglasses on, but that's only part of the reason that you should tune in.

Check it out here.

Tron's Reality - Welcome Visitor

Who doesn't love Tron? If you didn't grow up in the 80's, then I suppose I could understand, but all of you Gen Y's and Gen X's better get hip to this (not just because it predates the Matrix), but because it is live, in Technicolor and shiny.

I have no idea if this thing works like in the video or not, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief for now because this thing is just too cool for school. The neon edges, the crisp reality of early computer-generated art... it just makes me catch my nerd breath. I am mesmerized.

I really wish that the guy in the video had interacted with the display - touched it or something just so that we could see that it's really real, but the marketing side of it needs the buzz. Needs the "Is that real?" factor. Me? I just want to know where to enter my wife's credit card information. Oh, and can I Next Day Air this sucker?

Kevin Flynn and his digitized alter-ego have never felt so close.

[via product page]
[via Gizmodo]

Wiimote + Analog Stick Adapter

The friendly folks over at Cyber Gadget in Japan have come up with an interesting add-on for the Wiimote. I'm not saying I'm even going to buy one, but it just might me help form Wii-Voltron, so I'm considering it.

This plastic doodad changes the Wiimote D-pad into a more omni-directional, analog pad. It doesn't seem like an awful idea or anything, but I can't see it taking off at all. It might be a good idea for Nintendo to incorporate something like this into a future Wiimote redesign, but I don't want any extra plastic bits hanging off of controller any time soon.

Product Page [via Gizmodo]

Nessie Lives!

The Monster of Loch Ness lives - and so do I! Sadly there is no video footage floating around CNN to prove that I'm still kicking it, but the link has all of that and more for Nessie fans everywhere.

After watching that footage, described by CNN as "what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature", I hope you feel robbed. You feel robbed of your time and your eyesight. Not only does the video lack any clear depiction of Nessie devouring cars/people/livestock/Gozilla's breakfast/a good book, it also lacks any real glimpse of Animalia. I think I probably went blind at least twice (which clearly explains why I can see now - Blind x Blind = Sight) trying to see any discernible dorsal fin, giant flipper or anything besides WATER!

Still, some people are really hyped up about this, so I'll assume that they have access to a better copy of the video and a lot free time. Hope for prehistoric monsters all you want, I'm betting all my chips on robots. They are our future, after all.