See: Decent Star Wars videos. Shock!

Hot from E3 2010 here are 2 rather awesome Star Wars clips offering evidence that George Lucas may make good on his intention to make some seriously kick ass Star Wars. However they also irrefutably prove that George Lucas could have made Star Wars 1-3 really decent films, but opted to sell out instead.

Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 - Betrayal
The first clip is a teaser for LucasArts's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II game, called Betrayal. If you are aware of the The Force Unleashed game you'll know what's happening and it's been a long time coming. If not - Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 continues the galaxy-altering journey of Starkiller Darth Vader's secret apprentice, that shapes the key events between Star Wars: Episode III and Episode IV.

In the sequel, Starkiller returns with over-the-top Force powers and embarks on a journey to discover his own identity and to reunite with his one true love, Juno Eclipse. In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, Starkiller is once again the pawn of Darth Vader—but instead of training his protégée as a ruthless assassin, the dark lord is attempting to clone his former apprentice in an attempt to create the Ultimate Sith warrior. The chase is on – Starkiller is in pursuit of Juno and Darth Vader is hunting for Starkiller.

With all-new devastating Force powers and the ability to dual-wield lightsabers, Starkiller cuts a swath through deadly new enemies across exciting worlds from the Star Wars films - all in his desperate search for answers to his past.

Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 has an expected release date of 29 October, 2010


Star Wars: The Old Republic - Hope
The second trailer: Hope is for Star Wars: The Old Republic a massive online multiplayer role-playing game expected to be released sometime in Spring 2011.

The Battle of Alderaan. The Republic's gravest hour. Recently promoted to Darth, Malgus launches the first of many surprise attacks that would become his trademark during the Great War, perfectly timing the assault with a feint that pulls the Republic fleet light-years away. Thousands of assault droids and hundreds of Sith set the heart of the Republic ablaze, and Alderaan's few defenders are swept away with ease.

Unknown to Darth Malgus, small groups of Republic Troopers are stationed on Alderaan, some recovering from wounds, others are awaiting orders. As these brave soldiers take to the forests and mountains to fight a guerilla campaign against Malgus's forces, the Republic fleet rushes back to repel the invasion. With time running out and Alderaan's capitol threatened, it falls to Havoc Squad, the elite Republic Special Forces unit, to coordinate one last desperate stand against Malgus' vastly superior numbers.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is expected to go live during Spring 2011.

More info:
Over at the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 or Star Wars: The Old Republic websites

Red Bull is looking for Filmmakers!

Red Bull are calling all young filmmakers! Make a video mash-up for Red Bull X-Fighters and win a trip to Rome!

Red Bull and Dave TV are calling on the UK’s aspiring editors and filmmakers to take Red Bull’s archive of X-Fighters footage, images and sounds to create a high-energy mash-up that gets the adrenaline pumping for the Red Bull X-Fighters event in London.

The winner will be Red Bull’s VIP guests at the two remaining stops of the X-Fighters World Tour at London’s Battersea Power Station and the season’s finale in Rome! They’ll also have their film played on joinDave.co.uk, in cinemas across the UK and at the London leg of the X-Fighters World Tour.

The theme selected is “Red Bull X-Fighters is coming to London”, the winning film will need to sum up in just 30 seconds the high intensity, extreme nature of the X-Fighters World Tour. Entrants should head to www.joindave.co.uk to download the X-Fighters collection of footage, pics and sounds. Once they’ve created their mash up, they should upload it to Youtube or Vimeo and send it to the Red Bull team by Monday 19th July.

Deadline:
Monday 19th July, 2010

More info:
to sign up head over to http://xfightersmashup.co.uk/

See: Mortal Kombat Short

The 7 min short below was made by director Kevin Tancharoen as a way to sell his vision to Warner Bros for their expected Mortal Kombat rebirth to be released in 2013.

It features characters from the Mortal Kombat universe with decent production values. It's rumoured that the film is in production hell whilst legal issues are sorted out. Albeit a big nod to The Watchmen - if this is the quality that is to be expected count me in for the Kumite.

It stars Ian Anthony Dale as Scorpion, Michael Jai-White as Jax (Jackson Briggs) and Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade

See: Mortal Kombat Short

See: Red Dead Redemption: The Man from Blackwater Short Film by John Hillcoat

The year is 1910. The West is dying. The American frontier is undergoing a violent transition from the ways of old to modern times, and Mexico has entered a prolonged period of bloody civil war. Reformed outlaw John Marston is on his way to capture former running buddy Bill Williamson when he comes upon a half dead snake oil merchant named West Dickens. Marston travels under a bleak and unforgiving sun, teaming up with a violent sheriff and a colorful mentally deranged grave robber and together they discover a bloody massacre of homesteaders left in the wake of Williamson. They hatch a plan to break into an abandoned fort where the Williamson Gang is holed up - and a dark, surprising twist ensues.

Director:John Hillcoat
Starring (voices): Rob Wiethoff, Kevin Glikmann, Don Creech, Anthony De Longis

USA, 2010, 29 mins, English

See: Red Dead Redemption: The Man from Blackwater Short Film by John Hillcoat

More info:Over at the Rock Star Games website

Exclusive: Gears of War 3 Teaser the way it was meant to sound

Yesterday, Epic Games announced that the highly-anticipated third and final instalment in the current story arc of Gears of War will be released in April 2011.

BROTHERS TO THE END—GEARS OF WAR 3 COMING APRIL 2011

Jacinto, the last human city, has been destroyed. The Locust Horde has pushed the Stranded remnants of humanity towards the brink of extinction. And a fearsome new enemy has risen, threatening to destroy them both. The story of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad comes to an explosive conclusion in Gears of War 3, arriving exclusively on Xbox 360 in April 2011. Watch the trailer here on gearsofwar.com, or download it from our media page or on your Xbox 360 via the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Check the official announcement below for more details. And get ready—it’s gonna be one hell of a finale. - From http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/

At the same time they released a teaser trailer "Ashes to Ashes (http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/media/Default.htm)", as with their previous efforts it's a mixture of hard core violence, the melancholy of the Cogs and insurmountable odds.

After a little digging around I found this rather interesting variation of the teaser, the difference being that the visuals are set to Johnny Cash's brilliant "Hurt". Check it out below.

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Along with the games release announcement Epic also released a Desktop picture you can download it from http://electronictheatre.co.uk/index.php/xbox360/xbox360-images/4550-gears-of-war-3-official-wallpaper-released


Exclusive: Gears of War 3 Teaser the way it was meant to sound

When
Gears of War 3 will be unleashed in April 2011

Dante's Inferno Premiere

Sci-Fi-London will be hosting the UK premiere of Dante's Inferno – screening on the Apollo’s new HIGH DEFINITION projectors, this will be the only chance to see the movie on the big screen.

Crusader Dante returns home to discover that his beloved Beatrice has been murdered, and her soul dragged into Hell. Refusing to give her up, he steals Death's scythe and chases after her… into the Inferno.

These are the 9 Circles of Hell made famous by Dante Alighieri in his famed masterpiece, Dante’s Inferno, his first story of The Divine Comedy. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic will take you on a harrowing trip through Hell as Dante braves the forces of evil, slaying demons and monsters of extraordinary imagination, all to save his love Beatrice, from the clutches of Hell’s master - Lucifer.

With voice talent that includes Mark Hamill and Victoria Tennant, this is a stunning interpretation of the classic masterpiece that tells of one man's decent into Hell and his battle against the forces of evil.

The movie is an animated version of Dante Alighieri's Commedia Divina. An international co-production by Production IG (GHOST IN THE SHELL) and Manglobe (ERGO PROXY) in Japan, JM Animation and Dongwoo Animation in South Korea, and Film Roman in the USA.

Where
Apollo Apollo Piccadilly Circus
19 Regent Street, London, SW1Y 4LR

When
19:30, Tues 2 Feb, 2010

More info at SCI-FI-LONDON or book here!

Crikey! It's elementary, My Dear Watson!

As part of the second day goody bag from Movie -Con 2 (which included a rare/exclusive George Lucas (in Disguise) action figure now available on eBay). We each received a rather thick card with some odd characters and numbers printed on it. Most guessed that this was a promotional ploy for Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes as one could make out the words MR HOLMES on the card.

Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes memrobilia, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

The card had a slit down the middle and when slot into the card belonging to the guy sitting next to me. Created a a sort of propeller like shape and when spun around the characters on each card were a lot more legible and they read WIDEN YOUR GAZE MR HOLMES. OK! fair enough some really Victorian era style marketing and thought nothing more of it.

However I love a good mystery and excel at puzzles. I couldn't stop thinking about the cards after all this was marketing for Sherlock Holmes master detective. When I got home today I emptied my goody back and dug out the cards again. Naturally I had collected a number of them from other guests at Movie-Con as well as the box on the security guys desk (for my film memorabilia collection).

After having another look I thought the numbers on the cards could mean something 236., 221, 57. and 94. Perhaps a GPS location, map co-ordinate. The periods between the numbers made it obvious, it's an IP address. After some trial & error number swapping. My browser opened up the site at at http://94.236.57.221/ . How exciting!

Nice dark ambient music, a quality background and 5 empty fields awaiting my entry? A small question mark above the fields gave a clue "FIND HER". Find who? Well that much was obvious I am after all a product of many conspiracies that have needed unpicking - and if it's not the Butler you know where to look next. After a quick visit to IMDB I punched in my 5 character guess. And B-I-N-G-O was her name. I was through to the next stage.

Long awaited trailer for Gerard Butler's Game leaked online

By way of Filmstalker from RuTube through Teaser-Trailer - the first teaser for The Game. Trailer looks spot on to what the buzz has been saying.  A contender (Gerard Butler) in a virtual game gains consciousness and all hell breaks loose. Made by Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor the writer/Director team behind Crank. This looks like it is going to rock. Expected release date is still September 04, 2009.

Pillow Fight Club - London

Location to be discovered by you! The clues are on the streets...

Find out and spread the secret location online.

Pillow Fight Club - London
Saturday April 4, 2009 at 3:03pm
Secret location in London

More info here: http://mobile-clubbing.com/

Escape From City 17 (Half Life) - Purchase Brothers

Escape From City 17 - Part One. Directed by The Purchase Brothers. (David and Ian). It was made as a spec 'advertainment' for their demo reel.

Filmed guerrilla style. No crew. First two episodes made on a $500 budget, not including previous capital. Valve flew the brothers out to Seattle last year. and mentioned they were 'blown away' by the project on Steam.

It's rumoured that part II is still in production. A preview will be out at some point. The Purchase Brothers are currently making a feature film that requires quite a bit of their time.

Fan made Half Life film awesomeness!

Fan made Half Life film

Master Wayne you have just been P'wned

Down, Forward, X to throw your Batarang

Master Wayne you have just been P'wned

Down, Forward, X to throw your Batarang

Max Payne poster

Max Payne poster

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Red carpet premiere of Halo 3 in London

Microsoft's vastly anticipated Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, is about to be launched in the UK at a star-studded Halo 3 Launch Party in London.

The red carpet premiere will be taking place at the BFI IMAX Cinema in Waterloo on the 25th September.

As well as having a chance to play Halo 3 before anyone else in the UK, lucky guests will also be able to witness an epic battle over Xbox Live, with Pharrell Williams hosting and representing the UK against other celebrities based at premieres around Europe.

About Halo 3
The epic saga continues with Halo 3, the hugely anticipated third chapter in the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax.

Halo 3 represents the third chapter in the Halo trilogy—an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.5 million units worldwide, logging more than 650 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox Live, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel, an upcoming film adaptation, and more.

Red carpet premiere of Halo 3 in London

Microsoft's vastly anticipated Halo 3 for the Xbox 360, is about to be launched in the UK at a star-studded Halo 3 Launch Party in London.

The red carpet premiere will be taking place at the BFI IMAX Cinema in Waterloo on the 25th September.

As well as having a chance to play Halo 3 before anyone else in the UK, lucky guests will also be able to witness an epic battle over Xbox Live, with Pharrell Williams hosting and representing the UK against other celebrities based at premieres around Europe.



About Halo 3
The epic saga continues with Halo 3, the hugely anticipated third chapter in the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax.

Halo 3 represents the third chapter in the Halo trilogy—an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.5 million units worldwide, logging more than 650 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox Live, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel, an upcoming film adaptation, and more.

The Chap Olympics

An afternoon of idiosyncratic sporting delights. From the site:

"The single sporting event of the season in which buffoonery, ineptitude and panache are rewarded. The events may all be entered by members of the public, as long as they are adequately attired and not wearing sportswear."

Website: http://www.thechap.net/content/section_news/chap-events.html

The Chap Olympics

Saturday July 14, 2007 from 1:00pm - 6:00pm

Bedford Square
Bedford Square
London, England WC1B 3ED

The Chap Olympics

An afternoon of idiosyncratic sporting delights. From the site:

"The single sporting event of the season in which buffoonery, ineptitude and panache are rewarded. The events may all be entered by members of the public, as long as they are adequately attired and not wearing sportswear."

Website: http://www.thechap.net/content/section_news/chap-events.html

The Chap Olympics

Saturday July 14, 2007 from 1:00pm - 6:00pm

Bedford Square
Bedford Square
London, England WC1B 3ED

PS3's MotorStorm™ PS3 & XBox

PS3's MotorStorm™ PS3 & XBox, originally uploaded by Craig Grobler.

Pretty much this has been the state of affairs since our PS3 arrived. Its been mostly MotorStorm. A high octane dirt racing game. Game time has increased as both of us have been laid low by the dreaded Lurgi making its way around London.

This morning I caught a bit of BBC's Click. This is a British gadget show. They were doing a comparison between the Xbox 360 and the PS3. I am usually fairly impartial when it comes to these things. But I was a bit annoyed as to how the PS3 was portrayed especially its online offering. I have been a keen Xbox 'er for a while now and own both an Xbox and an Xbox360 and since just before the UK launch have had a PS3 .
The Click were doing a like for like comparison of " XBox Live " and " Playstation network " they expounded how Xbox live was great and that Playstation Network felt like an add on. I can tell you that the UI of the Playstation Network is streets ahead of Xbox live and that is free. No subscription charges at all.

UI: I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of navigating around the simple and beautiful interface. Sony have translated the PSP interface to a medium that really works well. By far the more superior interface. Think - Xbox's Big, clumsy colorful Hulk Hogan vs. an elegant, poised Sony Bruce Lee.

Online: I can also tell you that so far (the online offering is evoling as Sony rollout new features as more PS3'ers join) that the Playstation Network is more reliable than XBox live that did freeze and had constant lag issues.

Game graphics: PS3 has awesome high end clean graphics. The XBox360 less so. However the XBox's ambient graphics (lighting, texture rendering, etc) is much better so far. Bear in mind I have only played a handful of PS3 games but have a collection of Xbox games. I'm hoping this will be addressed as Sony rollout more games builr to match the most powerful graphics maching currently available on the market. My comparison has been mainly made comparing Gears of War to Resistance: The fall of man.

High Def: I cannot rate Blu Ray High Def Discs high enough - Mainly because I have had a high Def TV for awhile now and been subjected to really low quality broadcasts and regular quality DVD's. Note: Check to see the quality of standard quality rendering on your Hi Def purchase.

The guys that do the installations in our block are quoting a ton for Sky HD as there is no one else using near me at the moment. I'll wait a couple of months till someone else has paid for the cable to be run and then I'll get it installed.

The Xbox 360's high def output (translated via component) is no match for the PS3's purer HDMI output and it rocks. I spent some time actually analysing the pixel by pixel movement on my screen.

Negative: Although he PS3 has loads of ports; USB, Flash, SD, Memory stick pro, etc. It doesn’t matter if I cant play my downloaded Divx or Xvid films. Sony has been ignoring these codecs and favour of more standard easily controllable ones.