The Flickcast – Page 756 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

RIP: ‘Treme’ and ‘The Wire’ Writer David Mills

Posted on March 31, 2010

Just weeks before his latest show Treme debuts on HBO, TV writer and producer David Mills has died of a reported brain aneurysm in New Orleans at the age of 49. Mills was head writer and producer on the show, which is about how a group of people of New Orleans rebuild their lives after Hurricane Katrina.

In additon to Treme, Mills was an accomplished and award winning writer for such shows as the HBO miniseries The Corner, ER, Homicide: Life on the Street, Kingpin, NYPD Blue and was a story editor on the CBS drama Picket Fences.

Mills also worked closely for years with David Simon, creator of one of the best shows ever to grace television screens The Wire and who is also the creator of Treme. He also wrote for several newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

Mills was a talented man who provided a destinctive voice for characters and stories through his writing. His work will be sorely missed.

Treme premieres April 11 on HBO. I’ll be watching and so should you.

SXSW: Seth Meyers Talks ‘MacGruber’, The Boner Ghost

Posted on March 31, 2010

While we’re still winding down from our crazy week over in Austin for SXSW, there are still plenty of great goodies and stories to share with you. One of which is for a film that debuted at the show, MacGruber, starring Will Forte.

The film is another skit-turned-film in the vein of Night at the Roxbury and Wayne’s World as the character is taken straight from Forte’s performance on Suturday Night Live. The film is directed by SNL writer Jorma Taccone, and written by the trio of Forte, Taccone, and John Solomon, another SNL writer.

With three writers from SNL working on the film, it only makes sense that head writer Seth Meyers would have some input on the film as well. He was down on the set for a while with the cast and crew. After the jump, check out a panel for MacGruber at SXSW in which Meyers discusses a harrowing  story about his experience.

MacGruber hits theaters May 21st.

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PAX East: The Tech Roundup

Posted on March 31, 2010

Some of the latest and greatest in gaming technology can be cool and exciting, but it can also be expensive and unnecessary. We saw a lot of both at this year’s PAX East, and while everything was a whole lot of fun to play with, here’s what we found to be either absolutely necessary to your gaming needs or a waste of time.

NVIDIA 3D Surround

I’m not a first-person shooter fan by any means, but when I saw Battlefield Bad Company 2 being played on 3 screens in 3D, I had to try it. And it was amazing. At first, 3D gaming technology seems like a gimmick, the same as 3D cinema.

But once experienced in the right format, its value becomes pretty apparent pretty quickly. Playing BBC2 in 3D gave me better visibility and depth in the game, but it also totally immersed me into the game play experience. I really felt like I was running around in the jungle shooting bad guys.

If 3D gaming is something you’re interested in, you’ll need an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 GPU, NVIDIA 3D Vision, and and NVIDIA Surround Technology plus three HD monitors. While this will cost you a pretty penny, it’s something to take into consideration if you’re looking for an incredible gaming experience on your PC.

Gunnar 3D Glasses

When I tried out NVIDIA’s 3D Surround technology, they told me they had specifically designed the 3D glasses to fit over my own prescription glasses. While they did, it wasn’t exactly comfortable. This is where Gunnar comes in.

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Tom Cruise’s ‘Knight & Day’ Gets A New Trailer

Posted on March 31, 2010

While Tom Cruise has been working like a fiend to pick a director for the upcoming sequel to his popular Mission Impossible franchise, he’s also got a new film coming out where he plays an international action spy. That’s called range.

While the characters may seem a bit played out, the premise is somewhat fresh. From 20th Century Fox:

An action-comedy centered on a fugitive couple (Cruise and Diaz) on a glamorous and sometimes deadly adventure where nothing and no one – even themselves – are what they seem. Amid shifting alliances and unexpected betrayals, they race across the globe, with their survival ultimately hinging on the battle of truth vs. trust.

The film also stars Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Lost’s Maggie Grace, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Marc Blucas. Check out the newest trailer after the jump. Knight and Day hits theaters on June 25th.

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Gamecrush.com Crashes Due to High Traffic

Posted on March 31, 2010

Last week, a new site came to the attention of the video game world. Game Crush launched with the promise of giving gamers something they have searched their lives for… a girl to game with. Unfortunately, this isn’t a social networking site to help gamer guys and gamer girls connect with an interest of mutual friendship. Instead, Game Crush more closely resembles a service you’d see advertised on late night cable that comes with a 900 number. For just $6.60, a gamer can play over XBox Live or a browser based game against a hot girl.

Yes, “connecting” to a hot girl has been reduced to 66 cents a minute for gamers (although that rate is better than the $2.99 for phone sex lines). With either voice chat over Live or video and voice chat through browser games, these girls will actually play certain games with their customers.

After each interaction, users are encouraged to rate each girl which, according to the site, will decide which girls get a stronger spotlight on the site. Without a doubt, the most “enterprising” of these gamer girls will quickly figure out what these guys are actually paying to hear.

What’s even more sad at a service like this coming into existence is the fact that it is already becoming an internet sensation. Logging on to Game Crush today, potential “dates” were greeted with the following message:

“The GameCrush Public Beta is temporarily unavailable due to the incredible user response (more than 10,000 inquiries in five minutes). We are adding new servers to provide players with the best PlayDate experience possible. Games with GameCrush PlayDates start at $6.60 for ten minutes.”

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Marvel Comics On Sale This Week

Posted on March 30, 2010

Today is Tuesday so that means new comics drop tomorrow. And what better guys to support than your friendly neighborhood comic book publisher Marvel comics. This week, as they do almost every other week, the folks at Marvel are releasing a whole slew of new books for your reading pleasure.

Of the ones coming out tomorrow, we’re particularly looking forward to a new X-Force, Punisher #15, Dark Wolverine #84, the new X-Men Forever and the debut of Cloak and Dagger. Remember to get to your nearest comic shop early tomorrow for best selection.

Don’t know where your nearest comic shop is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Comics On-Sale:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #627 (GNTLT)
CLOAK AND DAGGER #1
DARK WOLVERINE #84 (S)
DOOMWAR #1 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT
FANTASTIC FOUR #577
INCREDIBLE HULK #607 SECOND PRINTING VARIANT (FOTHS)
MARVEL PREVIEWS #80
NEW MUTANTS #11
PRELUDE TO DEADPOOL CORPS #5
PUNISHER #15

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iPhone Finally Coming to Verizon?

Posted on March 30, 2010

If you believe the folks at The Wall Street Journal, AT&T’s monopoly on the iPhone will finally be coming to an end this June when Apple will release a CDMA version of the iPhone which will be available on Verizon. According to people “briefed on the matter” a special CDMA version of the iPhone will be made starting this September by Pegatron Technology Corp., a subsidiary of ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

To which company will this CDMA device be headed? Verizon Wireless. Even though I bash AT&T for their network (and I’m not alone here for sure) and the fact that calls continuously seem to drop, I can actualy tell they’ve made a few strides in improving their network, at least in the Los Angeles area.

Still, in LA at least, Verizon is usually the clear winner when it comes to network availability and the ability to make a call and stay on that call without dropping. So, if their really is an iPhone coming to Verizon, I may just have to pick one up. That or I may just give up the iPhone all together and go for a Google Nexus One when it comes to Verizon. The next few months should be interesting indeed.

Game Review: ‘Just Cause 2’ for XBox 360

Posted on March 30, 2010

XBox 360 (Also Available on PC and Playstation 3) – Square Enix – $59.99

Most gamers playing now can look back and remember their first time stepping in to the ultra-violent sandbox of Grand Theft Auto III. Given run of a city where ever car could be stolen and every pedestrian was a target to run over and every cop could be shot at. It quickly brought out the dark side of many people who were just looking to live life on the other side where they finally got to be the bad guy. Even though the game’s narrative didn’t require the player to become a violent terrorist who got hookers and then killed them after to get their money back, that’s pretty much what all of us became.

Just Cause 2 takes that to a whole new level. Taking that original Grand Theft Auto III formula and adding helicopters, planes, boats, a grappling hook and unlimited parachutes, the mayhem that can be caused is elevated even further. Add in a story and game mechanic that not only encourages but actually requires destruction and chaos, you have a recipe for disaster (the good kind that is).

Gameplay:

The fictional patch of islands known as Panau stretches across 400 square miles of in game world. Every inch of it, be it desert, mountain, city, swamp, beaches and all of the airspace above it are areas for mayhem. Using the game’s 200 vehicles and a variety of upgradable weapons from handguns to rocket launches, players are given the opportunity to cause chaos (measured by an on screen Chaos meter which unlocks more missions and black market shopping opportunities) by destroying statues, oil tanks, gas stations and weaponry of the Panau government. In the process, government forces are summoned depending on the level of chaos being caused. A few frag grenades can quickly lead to helicopters raining down machine gun fire on our protagonist.

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