moonwalker
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Some of Hollywood's best animatronics are going to auction
If you're a movie buff who can't get enough of Hollywood's monsters, you might want to brace your wallet for impact. Famed special effects guru Rick Baker is auctioning over 400 items from his collection, including animatronics that were key to livening up aliens, apes and other creatures in big movies ranging from Gremlins 2 to the Men in Black series. The amount of technology involved might surprise you -- in many cases, what you saw on screen was just a small part of what was going on. The bidding doesn't start until the 29th, but we've rounded up some of the highlights in the gallery below if you can't wait to see what's up for grabs.
SEE buys Planet Calypso for $6 million, talks with Massively for an encore
For $6 million you could buy a heck of a lot of tacos -- or one virtual planet. Wisely, SEE Virtual Worlds went the latter route, snapping up Planet Calypso from MindArk and saving itself massive heartburn. The sci-fi-themed Planet Calypso operates under the umbrella of Entropia Universe and boasts 950,000 registered accounts since coming online in 2003. As part of the deal, SEE Virtual Worlds also acquired all of the assets of First Planet Company, a former subsidiary of MindArk, which has been transformed into SEE Digital Studios. Under this reorganization, SEE Digital Studios is now responsible for developing and operating Planet Calypso, Planet Michael and Universal Monsters. The company is expected to hire on additional team members for these projects. Fresh from the champagne celebration, SEE Virtual Worlds President Corey Redmond sat down with us to discuss this deal and the future of these three titles. Hit the jump to boogie with Michael Jackson, scream in terror at the Wolfman, and navigate the economy of virtual worlds.
PEGI: Moonwalker throwing a magical hat into Virtual Console
Somehow, Sega has done the impossible: reacquired Michael Jackson's likeness rights for a digital re-release of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. At least, that appears to be the case, because the game has been re-rated by PEGI for release on Virtual Console. To give you an idea of the ridiculousness of that feat, Q? Entertainment has yet to release its PSP game Lumines for download on the same system because it has yet to acquire a license for digital release of its music. We don't know if this will be the Genesis version or the very different arcade game -- or even, we suppose, the Master System port of the Genesis game. We're contacting Sega for those and other details. Right after we catch a shooting star and turn into robotic, missile-firing versions of ourselves. Ow! [Via Nintendo Life, image by Orioto]
(Another) Michael Jackson video game on the way, scheduled for a 'holiday release'
After the King of Pop's passing last week, Joystiq has had an inordinately high volume of Michael Jackson-related stories. Day after day, the video game industry honored his passing -- free "Thriller" downloads on Xbox Live, Battlefield Heroes costumes, and a full on recreation of "Smooth Criminal" using Rag Doll Kung Fu's engine. Today, less than a full week after the singer's death, his production company (MJJ Productions) confirmed to MCVUK that a game starring Jackson and featuring his music has been in production at MJJ for "several months" and is purportedly on schedule to release "this holiday season." Though no definitive "yes" or "no" has been given on the game's release (or any info on the developer, publisher, or the game itself), reports say the game contains recent voice recordings by the singer. The closest we get to actual information on the game's release window is, "I am sure it will still be released ... Michael loved games," by way of an MJJ Productions rep. Here's hoping it's more Moonwalker and less Space Channel 5 -- but then, that's just how we get down.[Via Industry Gamers]
Moonwalker: the video game legacy of Michael Jackson
Unless you've been competing in a Starcraft lock-in all week, or living under a rock in the sub-Saharan desert somewhere, then you heard the news that Michael Jackson died yesterday in Los Angeles. As strange as the guy was in his later years, he made an indelible mark on the world of music which carried over into the world of gaming. If you were an arcade rat back in 1990, then you probably spent time playing, or at least listening to Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, which featured the singer doing battle against baddies and rescuing children by performing dance moves and using "Dance Magic" powers, i.e. spinning around and screaming "HOOOO!". Yes, for real. The game featured simultaneous three-player action, and includes a robotic MJ that appears when Jackson meets up with Bubbles the Chimpanzee.True story -- and there's more. Read on after the break for more about Moonwalker and a video clip of vintage arcade play, along with the other video games Jackson appeared in.[Thanks for suggesting this, Judd and Niko]
Virtually Overlooked Week: JC's picks
Virtually Overlooked has taken over Wii Fanboy! All this week, members of the staff will be outlining their personal picks for future Virtual Console releases.Everyone can guess how my childhood was spent, since I talk about old games constantly. So, instead of relating a nostalgic anecdote for you, I'm going to use this intro space to tell you about the last week or so.When I'm not personally advancing the cause of random old games on next-generation consoles, I'm a full-time grad student at the University of North Texas, working on a master's degree in library science. From last Thursday until yesterday, I was in the midst of my capstone-- a seven-day marathon paper-writing session meant to be the final test of my suitability as a librarian. My wife and I were also preparing to move from Texas to Washington, which happened this Saturday. Add my regular coursework and job responsibilities to that, and, as you can imagine, I've been a complete wreck. My Fanboy colleagues are probably rolling their eyes right now as I complain again about my workload, but I feel like it was a pretty significant experience, one I hope never to repeat.I am now safely ensconced in a Washingtonian apartment, and I turned in my last essay in the early hours of Thursday morning. Getting a chance to write about a bunch of old games is like a vacation. I've been looking forward to this all week.Since this is a VO special week, I'm taking the opportunity to talk about more mainstream games than I usually cover. So there's a better chance that you guys have played this stuff, and we can all share in some retro-euphoria.
What Sega Genesis Collection is missing
The Sega Genesis Collection has been earning some good reviews from critics. Featuring 28 games at a bargain price, it's certainly a steal (especially compared to the insane prices of Sega's Virtual Console offerings). However, Modojo points out the titles that could've been part of this collection to make quite possibly the greatest game anthology ever. Here's but a sampling of their suggestions:
