The Harry Potter comparisons are unavoidable, but this is starting to look like a somewhat intriguing Fantasy movie. Check out the new trailer below:
Trouble-prone teen Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out school – but that’s the least of his problems. The gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology texts and into his life – and they’re not happy. Zeus’ lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, Percy and his friends must embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true thief, save Percy’s family, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.
GAME OF THE YEAR
- Assassin’s Creed 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive – Warner Bros)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Publishing / Infinity Ward)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve)
- UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)
STUDIO OF THE YEAR
- Infinity Ward
- Naughty Dog
- Rocksteady Studios
- Valve
BEST MUSIC GAME
- DJ Hero (Activision Publishing / FreeStyleGames)
- Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Publishing / Neversoft Entertainment)
- LEGO Rock Band (MTV Games – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Traveler’s Tales Games – Harmonix)
- The Beatles: Rock Band (MTV Games / Harmonix)
For a full list, please go to VGA.Spike.Com
New York, NY, November 18, 2009 – Spike TV today announced the nominees and categories for the biggest world-wide event ever to celebrate the video game industry, the 2009 “Video Game Awards.” The seventh annual “VGAs” will be a global event, broadcasting in over 180 territories and countries and gathering megastars from the worlds of video games, Hollywood, music, sports and more to honor the outstanding achievements within the video game industry during the past year. The two-hour event, taking place in Los Angeles, CA, will premiere LIVE on Spike TV Saturday, December 12 at 8:00pm, ET/PT (tape delay west coast). Beginning today, fans can vote for their favorite nominees at VGA.Spike.Com.
The 2009 “Video Game Awards” will reveal blockbuster global premieres of never-before-seen titles and break international news with announcements of new games from the industry’s leading publishers. Game companies contributing exclusive new content to the VGAs include 2K, Activision, Disney Interactive Studios, Electronic Arts, LucasArts Entertainment, Microsoft Game Studios, THQ, Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, with more to be announced in the coming weeks..
This year VGA viewers will get a sneak peek at Halo: Reach with the debut of an exclusive, world premiere video from the opening of the game. Halo: Reach is an all-new prequel to the massively popular Halo trilogy from developer Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios which launches in the fall of 2010 exclusively on the Xbox 360.
“The global appetite and response from the fans internationally has been astounding,” said Casey Patterson, executive producer and senior vice president, Event Productions Spike TV. “Video games, like movies and music, are a universal language and Spike is thrilled that we will now be showing gamers all over the world a glimpse into their future with more than 12 mind-blowing world premieres.”
For additional information about other “VGA” world exclusives and announcements, fans can log onto VGA.Spike.com as well as get updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Spike_TV.
Leading the way with eight nominations this year, including nods for Game of the Year and Studio of the Year, is Naughty Dog’s cinematic adventure Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios’ dark and gritty Batman game, racked up seven nods, including Game of the Year as well as Best Voice for Mark Hamill’s portrayal of The Joker. Infinity Ward’s military shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Valve’s zombie thriller Left 4 Dead 2 each landed six nominations.
Nominees for Spike TV’s 2009 “Video Game Awards” were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of the most well-respected experts in the industry of leading game media outlets such as GameTrailers.com, Game Informer, USA Today, Wired, Penny Arcade, GameSpot and IGN. Games released between December 2, 2008 and November 23, 2009 were eligible for nomination.
The play in question,
From ESPN.com:
DUBLIN — Ireland appealed to France and FIFA on Thursday to replay their World Cup playoff after an obvious handball by Thierry Henry set up the deciding goal.
Ireland’s government and soccer association asked for Wednesday’s 1-1 draw in the second leg at Stade de France to be replayed. France advanced to next year’s World Cup in South Africa 2-1 on total goals.
FIFA said it received Ireland’s request for a replay, though it was unclear if the governing body of soccer would seriously consider it.
Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni called the prospect of a rematch “impossible.” Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he would “have a chat about it” with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at a meeting of the 27 EU leaders in Brussels.
“Fairness is part of the game,” Cowen said.
FIFA declined to comment specifically on Ireland’s protests but pointed to its rule forbidding second-guessing of on-field decisions by referees.
John Delaney, the Football Association of Ireland’s chief executive, said he doubted FIFA would respond positively unless French soccer authorities agreed to Ireland’s call for a rematch.
“It’s up to them, in particular the French, to recognize there was a travesty last night, an injustice,” Delaney said.
Founded in Mississauga (it’s near Toronto), Ontario in the year 2001, illScarlett plays what they now call ‘pop-infused rock reggae.’ While this description is mostly a joke, that is basically the best way to describe their sound. With influences including Sublime, the band was broke when they played in the parking lot outside of Warped Tour in 2004, but founder Kevin Lyman heard them and invited them on Warped Tour the following year. In this video, http://www.WatchMojo.com sits down with the boys from illScarlett to learn more about the subjects they like to write about, and about a very messy video shoot.
For more information check out http://www.illscarlett.com
Vampires, Werewolves and teen romance combine on the big screen to bring the fantasy series by Stephanie Meyer to life. Inspired by the works of Shakespeare, this series was originally rejected by publishers. However, The Twilight Saga went on to become an overwhelming phenomenon with young adults, resulting in the spawning of several books and an ongoing film series. Join us at http://WatchMojo.com as we take a look at the universe that has grown in popularity to rival that of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series as we examine the seven things you should know about the Twilight Saga.
So Robert Pattinson doesn’t only play a Vampire? Weird!? Check out the trailer for the movie “Remember Me”, part of Pattinson’s secondary, non-Twilight career:
Christmas is around the corner, and what better way to start thinking about the holiday season than to watch a bizarro music video where Bob Dylan sings a hyper active version of the classic tune, “Must Be Santa”… I love this:
In this music interview http://www.WatchMojo.com gets the chance to sit down with Matt McGinley drummer of Gym Class Heroes to find out more about the band.
New Moon is the second film adapted from Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series. The series is based on the forbidden love between mortal Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen. The Volturi are first introduced in New Moon, the new cast members are a venerable coven of vampires who weigh and impose the laws of the vampire world. Aro, Caius and Marcus are the leaders of the Volturi. They command the Volturi’s guard and act as representatives when dealing with other covens. Marcus has the ability to sense relationships, as demonstrated in New Moon. In this video Christopher Heyerdahl who plays Marcus sat down with http://www.WatchMojo.com to discuss his role in this year’s most anticipated movie.
This is pretty impressive control by the skydivers… not to mention a badass extended nose-dive by the pilot!
RJD2 fans rejoice. The producer/musician/singer extraordinaire has just released three deluxe reissues of his groundbreaking albums originally released on Definitive Jux Records. 2002’s Deadringer, 2003’s The Horror and 2004’s Since We Last Spoke, lauded as one of Spin Magazine’s Top 40 Albums of the Year, are now all in stores with two previously unreleased bonus tracks per album.
All three reissues are streaming in full at AOL Spinner through the end of the week.
This year has marked a turning point in the innovative producer’s 10 year career. After scoring the theme to the hit AMC show, “Mad Men,” and starting his own label RJ’s Electrical Connections, RJ reissued 2001’s Your Face Or Your Kneecaps as well as a box set entitled RJD2 2002-2010 and announced that his first new LP in three years, The Colossus, will hit stores on January 19th, the same month RJ hits the road for a massive cross country tour.
And as if that’s not enough, he also decided that he’d spend his holiday season giving free gifts to all of his fans! On October 29th, RJ announced via his RJ’s Electrical Connections website that he’d be giving away free records, MP3s, and more each Monday until the release of The Colossus. Visit http://rjselectricalconnections.com/ for this week’s contest.
Listen to Deadringer, Since We Last Spoke & The Horror on AOL Spinner:
http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/15
RJD2 on Tour
01/09 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
01/10 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
01/11 - Charlotte, NC - Visualite Theater
01/12 - Savannah, GA - Live Wire
01/13 - Orlando, FL - The Social
01/14 - Tampa, FL - Crowbar
01/15 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder
01/16 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade (Heavan Room)
01/17 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
01/18 - Chattanooga, TN - Rhythm and Brews
01/19 - Knoxville, TN - Valarium
01/20 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
01/21 - Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theatre
01/22 - Morgantown, WV - 123 Pleasant Street
01/05 - Columbus, OH - Sully’s Music Diner
02/06 - Newport, KY - Southgate House
02/07 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
02/08 - Nashville, TN - Exit In
02/09 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Cafe
02/10 - Oxford, MS - The Lyric Oxford
02/11 - New Orleans, LA - Tipitinas
02/12 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon
02/13 - Austin, TX - Emos
02/14 - Denton, TX - Hailey’s
02/18 - Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
02/19 - Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College - Harris Center
02/20 - Urbana, IL - Canopy Club
More RJD2
Wow, this might be the best Between Two Ferns yet!
from DigitalTrends.com:
Just one week after the record-breaking launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 helped kickstart the holiday shopping season, Ubisoft plans to release Assassin’s Creed 2 on Tuesday at midnight.
Specifically, Ubisoft designed the second game to offer even more mission and objective flexibility, additional characters and NPCs, and new character development. The game itself has players work their through an environment similar to the Italian Renaissance, with a realistic portrayal of the 15th century, according to Ubisoft.
The second Assassin’s Creed game is expected to be one of the most popular games this holiday season, but isn’t expected to launch with the same enthusiasm as CoD. The first version of Assassin’s Creed has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide in 2007, with the sequel entering development immediately after the first game’s release.
Assassin’s Creed 2 will be available tomorrow for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 game consoles, with a PC game launch expected early next year.
The video game industry has struggled as of late, but November could prove to be a good month for the industry. Assassin’s Creed 2 is expected to be the second of three highly anticipated games to launch during the month. The final anticipated game title is New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a Nintendo Wii exclusive, which should also help generate spending among Wii owners.
The video game industry made $21.3 billion last year, and depending on the popularity of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii, it’s possible the 2009 industry tally could be from $20 billion to $21 billion.
Vagrant Records will release EELS’ eighth studio album End Times on January 19. EELS is the ever-changing project of singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett (aka E). End Times follows on the heels of EELS’ critically acclaimed 2009 release Hombre Lobo, hailed by Vanity Fair as “anti-anthems that get your dopamine pumping instead of your fist” and praised by Rolling Stone for its “muddy roadhouse rockers.” Largely self-recorded on an old four track tape machine in the basement of Everettt’s Los Angeles home, the “end times” he writes about isn’t “Mayan calendar conspiracy theory bullshit,” says Everett, but, “the state of the desperate times we live in. The bottom line-ness of it all.”
While Hombre Lobo was written from the point of view of a fictional character (namely, the Dog Faced Boy of EELS’ 2001 album Souljacker), End Times is purely real life as Everett sees it: a “divorce album” with a modern twist. He equates his personal loss with the world he lives in losing its integrity. This isn’t Everett’s first break-up record. His 1993 solo effort, Broken Toy Shop, chronicled the broken heart of a young man in his twenties. End Times focuses on the loss of a middle-aged man growing as an artist. The loss has more weight.
As for the timing of the release, “I felt guilty about the long gap between the last two albums so I’m making up for lost time,” Everett says. The longest gap between EELS albums (four years between the 2005 release Blinking Lights and Other Revelations and the 2009 Hombre Lobo) is being followed by the shortest (six months between Hombre Lobo and End Times).
During the four years prior to Hombre Lobo Everett embarked on a number of projects including his acclaimed book Things the Grandchildren Should Know and the BBC produced multiple-award winning Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives documentary film about Everett and his quantum physicist father, Hugh Everett III, which was broadcast on PBS’ Nova series in the fall of 2008. Everett says he’s now “back to my real job: making music full time.”
Check out the new track “Little Bird” from End Times :
from TrailerAddict.com:
Kick-Ass tells the story of average teenager Dave Lizewski (Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name — Kick-Ass — assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There’s only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers.
His life is forever changed as he inspires a subculture of copy cats, is hunted by assorted violent and unpleasant characters, and meets up with a pair of crazed vigilantes, including an 11-year-old sword-wielding dynamo, Hit Girl (Moretz) and her father, Big Daddy (Cage).
PLAY
