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Epix HD queues up Iron Man, Madonna and Eddie Izzard for online & FiOS launch October 30
Epix HD has locked down a launch date and lineup, confirmed for Verion FiOS subscribers so far, the festivities will kick off October 30th with television and online premieres of Iron Man, Madonna "Sticky & Sweet: Live from Buenos Aires," and Eddie Izzard: Live From Wembley. Other titles set for launch weekend are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Madea Goes to Jail, Pink Panther 2, the Indiana Jones movie that sucked, Cloverfield, The Duchess and more. Epix has previously stated a goal to build the largest stable of movies online with a planned 3,000 titles available in the Epix Megaplex, you'll see if this whole new way of delivering a premium movie experience is all it's appeared to be very soon.Update: Epix just passed along the launch weekend schedule so check after the break for all the times (EST)
BlizzCon 2009: Ozzy Osbourne closes show down, injures no bats
Blizzard fittingly chose Ozzy Osbourne to close down BlizzCon last night, since he's been in a fairly funny World of Warcraft commercial arguing about who is the true Prince of Darkness. He put on a fairly deafening, rocktastic show -- some of his setlist was appropriately composed of tracks off his 1980 "Blizzard of Ozz" album -- though he did stumble a bit through the words to "Iron Man." However, he made up for that by maniacally turning a hose on the audience, and I kid you not -- some women actually threw their panties on stage.Opening up for him was Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, although they've now changed their name in protest over their own name changes to a familiar Prince-esque symbol, or The Artists Formerly Known As Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain (TAFKAL80ETC). They put on a good show as well, although they really need to write some new songs. Browse the Ozzrific gallery below, and you can also check out one of Ozzy's classics below without the need for earplugs and a raincoat. Even though the show is over, we'll have more BlizzCon news soon. All aboard!
Impressions: Iron Man 2
Last year's summer blockbuster, Iron Man, was a surprising hit. The game? Not so much.The next film in the franchise isn't due for another year, meaning Sega's internal San Francisco studio has a lot of time left to work on Iron Man 2. Already six months into development, Iron Man 2 will have nearly two years of development by the time it releases, benefiting from some recycled tech and assets from the first game. Certainly, the team should have a much easier road for the sequel than the first -- but will it produce a good game? We're not entirely sure.There are certainly some good ideas being worked into the sequel. For example, the game now features indoor environments, something that was apparently absent in the first game (seriously?). Sega's also adding on-rails flying sections to the game. In one scene, we saw the titular hero flying out of (what else?) an exploding factory. Finally, Sega's promising some ridiculously large bosses. A "mini-boss" that we saw was about the size of a small warehouse. The main bosses, we're told, will tower above that.
Marvel not doing 'crappy' movie games anymore, says exec
Marvel Executive Vice President of Global Digital Media Group (wow, long title) Ira Rubenstein tells Joystiq that Marvel is done making "crappy" movie-based games. The executive told us that while the company would like to have games tied to the release of movies, each character should stick to their own worlds. He used the recent X-Men Origins: Wolverine game as an example of what the company is looking to do. The M-rated Wolverine game was clearly not based around the PG-13 escapade in theaters. "We are not doing movie-based games anymore," Rubenstein said following yesterday's announcement of Digital Comics for PSN at Sony's GamesCom press conference. "Actually, wait ... we are not doing crappy movie-based games anymore. You can quote me on that." Oh, we did. Rubenstein tells us that work on Iron Man 2 has been in process since the first game wrapped. He wasn't involved in the first one, so he asked us not to blame him for that wreck. However, he swears the second one is going to be good. He's also really excited about the Thor game and seems proud with the team working on it. If Wolverine is any indication of future Marvel games, it seems that Rubenstein is doing his best to make sure fans of the comics won't be served watered-down Hollywood entertainment.
Adorable Marvel superheroes coming to LittleBigPlanet
What does the future of Marvel video games hold? According to the aptly titled "The Next Generation of Marvel Video Games" panel at San Diego Comic Con, the future holds ... LittleBigPlanet costumes! Kotaku nabbed pictures of concept art for three different superheroic costumes that were previewed: Captain America, who is pictured above, and Wolverine and Iron Man, who can be viewed after the jump.Marvel was non-committal about when the costume pack would be released, or even whether these three heroes would be the ones that would receive the DLC treatment. We've contacted Media Molecule to try and discern some concrete details. Personally, we've got our stuffed burlap fingers crossed for an appearance by Howard the Duck.
Here's your first look at Iron Man 2 in action
There, that was the first trailer for Iron Man 2. Now, here's a brief history lesson, courtesy of "Iron Man's new trailer looks unexpectedly awesome":"We know, we know, it's just a video clip. And yes, we know that we've been burned by sexy trailers for mediocre licensed games before. But this new trailer for Iron Man (shown during last night's Spike VGAs) is just so freaking good, we're finding it hard to keep our cynical composure.How about when Iron Man throws a fighter jet, or when it grabs a missile and redirects it? How about the original gray armor? Awesome. Everything here is."Never, ever forget this lesson: You can believe what we're saying 99.9% of the time. But when it comes to pretending to be a man in a robot suit, we are frail, weak, and, above all, not to be trusted.
Motorola's Sawgrass, Android-powered Heron do the vertical slide onto AT&T?
The previously rumored Motorola portrait QWERTY slider Iron Man has popped up again, this time as the AT&T-bound Heron, with listed specs being a 2.8-inch touch screen, 3 megapixel camera with flash, aGPS, 3G, and a big red "subject to change" notice since the device has moved to (drumroll, please) Android OS. Planned availability is said to be November 2nd here, but we suspect these slides are a bit dated and that may ultimately be wholly off target. Also on the menu is another portrait slider, the Sawgrass. This one may in fact be Alexander, and if that's the case, at least we've got a cleaner press shot to put on its tombstone. Then again, we hear from Boy Genius Report that it's reincarnated under the name Somerset. The information you (probably) seek is in the gallery below.
Suit up in Champions Online's power armor trailer
Between the resounding success of last year's Iron Man film and the fact that power armor is a wholly fresh set of superpowers in Champions Online, we've had a feeling that they're going to be very popular come launch day. This new trailer for the game does nothing to change our minds, in fact if only solidifies the original assumption.Not that legions of power armor wearing superheroes are a bad thing. On the contrary, we welcome our new armored masters. It's pretty hard to resist things like shoulder mounted mini-guns, micro rockets, energy shields, laser eyes and repulsor beams. The temptation is so strong, actually, that we're not sure how much longer we can sit here and write this post before our brain shuts down and... and... brraaainss... Uh, wait. What were we saying? Something about Iron Man... damn him and his armored cranium. You can find a video something or other past the link.
Songbird takes flight in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
It's been quite some time since we last heard anything on the Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 front, aside from a trailer loosed at last month's NY Comic Con. Today, however, Marvel has revealed a new character in "Songbird," an ex-female wrestler turned supervillain turned superheroine, whose main superpower is -- and we're not kidding -- "enhanced vocal cords." Pictured above, Songbird "fuses" with Iron Man to produce ... what precisely, we're not sure ... though Marvel's Steve Nelson assures us that "fusions are BIG," (his caps, not ours). Mr. Nelson continues on the Marvel website, saying, "Songbird solidifies sound waves into objects, which she can use for a number of purposes on the battlefield ... one of our concept artists, Dave Phillips, came up with a really stunning piece of art for her 'wings,' and we ended up basing the look of her powers largely on that." Looks as though Songbird will not only be able to solidify sound waves and toss 'em at foes but also do so while flying high above their heads. Who knew strong vocal cords could do so much?For more on MUA2, check out our (limited, we know) gallery below and the most recent trailer, after the break.%Gallery-48082%
The Dark Knight Blu-ray sells 1.7 million in a week, shows Iron Man a magic trick
Just like it did to the one day Blu-ray sales record, The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc jumped even Warner's projections for its first week, selling 1.7 million copies worldwide, topping Iron Man's 500,000. Apparently undeterred by any claims of issues fans jumped on the release, with DVDs added it moved a total of 13.5 million on both formats. No word yet whether there's still space to chat with director Chris Nolan on the 18th, but Warner's also claiming 300,000 digital copies activated, and the number on spot on iTunes. Not enough celebratory back slapping for you? Check the press release after the break while we try to figure out what movie has a chance of breaking the #1 sales figure next.
Paramount searching for new games pimp
Dear Mr. Paramount, Recently it has come to my attention that Paramount is looking for a new executive to lead its gaming initiative. Although I assume that holding the lucrative Saturday Night Fever and Mean Girls gaming licenses means you've received a countless amount of quality resumes, the chance to work with Lindsay Lohan was too great an opportunity to pass up -- we actually almost worked together once, as I regularly volunteer at various rehab facilities throughout the Bay Area but she had supposedly "got all better" and checked out by the time I started at three of the nine centers she has "visited" in the last four months -- but, I digress. I humbly throw my hat into the ring of "exciting executive possibilities."
Iron Man Blu-ray review roundup
Considering that Iron Man is the best selling Blu-ray Disc of all time, it makes sense that there are countless reviews of it out on the web. If you've somehow held back from picking up a copy of your own, you'll be glad to know that pretty much everyone in existence agrees that this film rocks. The most noticeable positive was the absolutely outstanding video transfer, making this flick one you'll undoubtedly pull out when trying to wow your friends with your system's capabilities. Amazingly enough, critics on the whole were even more impressed with the audio, with TweakTown going so far as to say that the soundtrack " almost single-handedly justifies the cost of a home theater." The only real knock that we could find was that blacks fell a tad flat in a few scenes, but really, that's neither here nor there. The critics have spoken, and this is a must-own title for any BD fan.Read - DailyGame Read - HighDefDiscNewsRead - Film School RejectsRead - TweakTownRead - DVDTalkRead - Monsters And CriticsRead - IGN
Iron Man's Blu-ray release manages 20 percent of DVD's market share
At this point it seems that the only one not talking about how well Iron Man sold on Blu-ray is Paramount, as Adam's Research tells Video Business that the Blu-ray version of Iron Man managed to take 20 percent of the market share away from DVD. This number confirms our estimates that Blu-ray market share has doubled since HD DVD demise. The previous record holder, I Am Legend, that was released around the time HD DVD called it quits, only managed 9 percent. We have to say that this even exceeds our expectations though, and although there is no doubt that this title fits in the Blu-demographic, it once again is some indication that the future might just be Blu after all.
Iron Man lives up to expectations, breaks all Blu-ray records
Although we'll probably have to wait another week for the official Nielsen VideoScan charts to reflect the sales of Iron Man this week on Blu-ray, director Jon Favreau was bragging on the Howard Stern Show that the sales of Iron Man had already outsold every other Blu-ray release to date. We can't say we're that surprised though, especially after reports that the load on Paramount's BD-Live servers were too much to handle -- not to mention the fact that it is/was the number two selling disc on Amazon (the DVD version is number one). Either way, it'll be interesting to see how much better Iron Man moved discs then the previous record holders like Spider Man 3, I Am Legend and Casino Royale.
Are BD-Live download times bogging down your Iron Man experience?
Paramount was more than adamant that absolutely nothing was wrong with its Iron Man discs, but in what's easily one of Blu-ray's biggest releases of the year, folks are still having issues. The bulk of the problems seem to hover around clogged up pipes from everyone downloading BD-Live material at the same time. Users are reporting a handful of issues ranging from the film hanging on a "blue chest loading screen" (affectionately dubbed the Blue Ring of Death) to a muffled TrueHD soundtrack. Some PS3 owners have suggested that manually telling it to bypass the whole BD-Live download circumvents the hangs, but it seems that other players aren't having such luck. So, how has your Iron Man experience been? Do these folks have legitimate beefs, or are these fools just whining for nothin'?[Thanks, Mark]
Dell pre-loading Iron Man, world asks "Why?"
While in the throes of customizing your dream machine over at Dell, weighing CPU cost vs. memory cost, would you click on a $19 option called "Iron Man movie with bonus content?" We sure wouldn't, but now you can, part of what the Director of Dell's Global Consumer Group is calling the company's "slow immersion into content as a major piece of the puzzle in terms of what consumers want from a PC." Right. The (surely DRM-riddled) film is available on any Inspiron, Studio, or XPS laptop or desktop, playable on that machine itself or through your choice of Windows Media Extender. Iron Man is the only film on offer now, but meaty palms are likely being pressed as you read this to drive other partnerships and more choices. This could let the company hook customers before even shipping their hardware, a potential advantage for what looks to be a looming content battle with Apple.[Thanks, SebS]
Blu-ray releases on September 30th 2008
We are finally getting our first Summer blockbuster in time for the holiday season, after some rumors of delays, as Iron Man is set to hit the shelves tomorrow. This is the first title to be released in some time that is expected to once again raise the Blu-ray bar and be the best selling titles to date. But this isn't the only news this week, for starters Discovery has its latest title, When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions, which we expect to sell well, but nowhere near what Planet Earth did. Universal has a decent slate as it has a few catchup titles HD DVD and DVD fans have been enjoying for some time like Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Halloween is very obviously right around the corner as all the horror flicks are being released in droves this week, like the famous Dawn of the Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Another catalog we look forward to enjoying for the first time all over again is The Sixth Sense. Noticeably absent from the list this week is two Olympic titles like the Opening Ceremonies and a Michael Phelps special, that are only available on DVD. Looking forward, next week is the first time Disney is going into the vault and releasing a classic on Blu-ray with Sleeping Beauty, and there are a bunch more horror movies on the schedule as well. Iron Man (Paramount) When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (Discovery) The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Universal) Knocked Up (Universal) Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Universal) Can't Hardly Wait (Sony) Daredevil (Fox) The Sixth Sense (Disney) Dawn of the Dead (Universal) Halloween Starter Pack (Land of the Dead / Dawn of the Dead / The Thing) (Universal) Land of the Dead (Universal) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Dark Sky) The Thing (Universal)
Looks like the Blu-ray release of Iron Man may be postponed
Bad news Blu-ray fans -- it appears Paramount hasn't gotten past all its production problems and it just might affect the Blu-ray release of Iron Man. Easily one of the biggest movies of the year, Iron Man was expected to really move some volume on Blu when it was set to release this Tuesday on September 30th, but after some rumors that review copies weren't working in some players, it was expected that Paramount would issue a full recall. At this point the studio is doing everything it can to deliver enough replacement discs to retailers, but if it doesn't happen in time, then we'll all have to wait another week until October 7th to take in the latest sci-fi action flick.Update: Paramount rang to say that the release is still on track for a September 30th release. Phew!
Ohio library now loaning video games
Eager bookworms visiting the Washington-Centerville Public Library in Centerville, Ohio, will face exposure to the new-fangled "video game" entertainment medium, as the library will now be loaning PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 games. According to the Dayton Daily News, the library will carry two categories of games: Titles aimed at families, and ones aimed at players aged 10 and up (sans adult-only games). Each game will be available for one-week loan with the option of one renewal.You can check for yourself which games are available in the library's online catalog, though the Dayton Daily News has gone and confirmed the presence of Guitar Hero, Kung-Fu Panda, Madden NFL 08 and, err, Iron Man. That one's probably meant to frighten the kids into reading books again.[Via Shacknews]
Iron Man contest winner announced!
After weeks of hand-wringing, we've finally settled on a winner of our contest for LG's uber-limited $1,500 Iron Man edition Shine! We asked you to send in pictures of the busted-up pieces of garbage you call "phones," and holy cow, did we get some doozies.Without further adieu, our winner, Mark H., comes to us from Novato, California. Here's his story:"I need a new phone as you can see. I have had this Nokia phone since 2001. I'm in the military service and my friends make fun of my old phone and now they're really on me since my phone was run over by a car and I use electrical tape to keep the faceplate together. I don't get paid enough by the service to buy a nice new phone."Congratulations, Mark! Even if this relic were in perfect condition, it'd still be time for an upgrade. Let's try to keep this one a little less scuffed, because that solid gold battery cover definitely does not live up to the "Iron Man" name. Follow the break for some honorable mentions -- you guys made it really hard to choose!
