Filed under: Audio/Video, Video Games, Celebrities

Now that we live in a world dominated by licensing divisions, nothing is ever freaking sacred. So it’s no surprise that MTV and EA will be joining forces with Rhino Entertainment to bring the Grateful Dead to the upcoming megahit video game, ‘Rock Band.’ The game is essentially a four-person, multiplayer version of the karaoke-esque ‘Guitar Hero‘ that incorporates all the traditional instruments in a typical rock band.

It looks like 18 master recordings will be resurrected from the Dead’s back-catalog, and will be made available as digitally distributed files some time after Rock Band’s release this holiday season. Among the songs available will be the classic Dead tracks “Truckin’,” “Uncle John’s Band,” “Touch of Grey,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Casey Jones.”

Seriously, though, we’re excited. There’s a big difference between licensing songs to Toyota to hawk its newest SUV, and licensing them to a capable game developer like Harmonix (creators of the superb ‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Karaoke Revolution‘ games), which will ultimately allow millions of people to get closer to their favorite music.

(We think.)

Related Links:

• Pre-teen Lara Croft creator tells all
• Life-Sized Video Gaming
• After ‘Sopranos,’ “Little Steven” Tries Video Games

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Filed under: New Releases, PlayStation Store, News

It’s that time of the week again. No real surprises here, ThreeSpeech pretty much hit the nail on the head a few days ago and called out almost exactly what was coming out on the PSN Store today. The only things they missed were the Gran Turismo 5 and Invasion trailers. Here’s the full release list:

• Motorstorm Coyote Revenge VIP Pass (£3.99)
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue trailer (Free)
• Lair Launch trailer (Free)
• Heavenly Sword Making-of episode 4 (Free)
• Heavenly Sword Anime episode 4 (Free)

The Coyote Revenge Pass gamepack includes:

• Coyote Revenge - mauled into a completely new experience; more technical, new routes and more skillful rivals to battle against
• New Tickets - to get the most out of Coyote Revenge try to master these Revenge Weekend tickets; they cover all difficulty stages and completion will earn a nice surprise.
• 2 New Vehicles - a pair of special Revenge Weekend machines, chosen for your delectation.
• Eliminator Mode - played online yet? In this brand new online multiplayer mode being last is a REALLY bad idea; if you can’t hack the pace, the consequences can be quite explosive …

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Filed under: Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Ford Motor (F), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), McDonald’s (MCD), Centex Corp (CTX)

McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) loves hedgehogs — Ananova reports that McDonald’s in Germany is redesigning the holders for its McFlurry ice cream treat after reports that hedgehogs were dying for their love of the confection. Apparently, the creatures would wriggle into the containers to reach the last juicy bits in the bottom, become stuck, and suffocate. The new packaging is currently being tried out on a group of test hedgehogs before going into production.

McDonald’s also loves loyal customers like Lee and Mary Humphrey of East Sussex, England. The octogenarians have eaten the same meal in the same McDonald’s every day for the past 17 years. After more than 6,000 meals and $50,000 worth of their standard meal, a double hamburger each and shared fries, the couple claims their health is fine. Take that, Super-Size Me!

Won’t we ever learn? The Cox News Service reports that, as gas prices level out a bit, Americans have quit seeking out used hybrids and returned to SUVs. Cars.com’s Consumer Search Index showed that searches for used Ford (NYSE: F) Escape, Honda (NYSE: HMC) Civic and Toyota (NYSE: TM) Prius hybrids dropped precipitously in favor of gas guzzlers like the Buick Enclave and Ford Expedition EL.

Want to work for Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)? Prepare for a different kind of interview. According to Business 2.0, the company might challenge the candidate to estimate the charge for washing all the windows in Seattle, or calculate how many golf balls would fit in a school bus. The company made news a few years ago by posting math problems on billboards in Silicon Valley, inviting those who solved it to respond, thereby developing a pool of potential hirees from the area’s best and brightest.

Answers: About 500,000 golf balls. About $10 million to wash all the windows.

Working for google

McDonald’s hedgehog friendly

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2487251.html

McD’s best customers

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22254663-2,00.html

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I recently posted on Theo Jansen for his giant kinetic sculptures, always elegant, massive and impressive with their ability to be eco friendly at the same time than resembling apocalyptic robots. Yesterday, Laura Galloway, from the TED conference, offered me to exhibit the 8 min video Theo Jansen’s talk at the TED conference. The video is a must see.

Theo Jansen
From TED2007

Talk summary
Dutch artist Theo Jansen demonstrates his amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures, built from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His “Strandbeests” (Beach Creatures) are built to move and even survive on their own.

Bio
Dutch artist Theo Jansen has been working for 16 years to create sculptures that move on their own in eerily lifelike ways. Each generation of his “Strandbeests” is subject to the forces of evolution, with successful forms moving forward into new designs. Jansen’s vision and long-term commitment to his wooden menagerie is as fascinating to observe as the beasts themselves. His newest creatures walk without assistance on the beaches of Holland, powered by wind, captured by gossamer wings that flap and pump air into old lemonade bottles that in turn power the creatures’ many plastic spindly legs. The walking sculptures look alive as they move, each leg articulating in such a way that the body is steady and level. They even incorporate primitive logic gates that are used to reverse the machine’s direction if it senses dangerous water or loose sand where it might get stuck.

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Romance, Thrillers, Casting, Scripts & Screenwriting, Angelina Jolie, James Bond, Remakes and Sequels

I remember very little about the Pierce Brosnan / Rene Russo version of The Thomas Crown Affair. I know that A) I liked it, B) that Rene Russo was frequently topless in it (see A), and C) there was a really cool scene with a bunch of dudes in hats. The film grossed a respectable $70 million back in 1999, and was a huge hit on video. And now a sequel is underway. You’ll remember Thomas Crown was a remake of the Steve McQueen / Faye Dunaway original, which did not spawn a sequel. So are they coming up with an original story for TCA Part 2? Of course not, silly! Brosnan told Filmstalker that the sequel will be based on the Peter Ustinov classic Topkapi, and will be called The Topkapi Affair.

Moviehole is reporting that the screenplay is based on the novel Light of Day (this one, by Eric Ambler), so I suppose the script pulls from both sources. Casting has already begun on the sequel, and Brosnan says “This version of Topkapi will have a different part, different woman, and different affair. The guy is a little bit more seasoned and we’re using wonderful locations this time.” Wait, who is this different woman Brosnan is talking about? How do you one-up the gorgeous Rene Russo? Believe it or not, they did — Angelina Jolie has reached a deal to play the love interest. The plot for this new adventure centers on getting the Kasikci Diamond out of Topkapki Palace, which is in Istanbul. The IMDb lists the screenwriter as Harley Peyton, whose last produced script was 2001’s spotty Bandits. No word on a director yet, but let’s hope they bring John McTiernan back. Mr. Die Hard stooped to making Rollerball, for crying out loud. Expect The Topkapi Affair in 2008.

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Filed under: Back to School

Well, good morning, our favorite Slashfood friends! Did you finish that final chapter of the last book on your reading list? Did you put all your supplies safely into your backpacks? Most importantly…did you pack a healthy lunch?!?!

In case you didn’t know, we here at Slashfood are headed back to school today!

We’ll be taking the whole day to post about speedy breakfasts, well-rounded lunches, healthy after-school snacks, and dinners for kids and family that are easy to prepare during the hectic pace of the school year. But it won’t just be about the little kids. For some of us, “Back to School” means heading back to the college dorms, so we’ll have some tips on how to avoid the Freshman 15 (or 20, in my case), tips for late night study/cram session snacks, and how to cook in a dorm room.

As always, we love sharing, so if you’ve got suggestions, posts on your own blog, or just want to get a little something off your chest about anything related to going Back to School, leave us a comment, or send us a tip!

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Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

With the new heat the iPhone will be getting from the iPod Touch, Apple decided to lower the barrier of entry to a much more palatable $399, and that’s for the 8GB model, which just yesterday was rocking at $599 pricepoint. It also looks like Apple is doing away with the 4GB version, which was seriously lagging behind its big brother in sales, but there’s no official word yet.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Videos and Screenshots

If we notice anything about the newly released scans/screenshots of Tri-Ace’s Star Ocean 4, it’s that they haven’t yet pumped up the character designs from the critically acclaimed, but fanbase panned, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Case in point: Fayt enjoyed keeping his sword at an awkward horizontal position around his bum. Sure, it may be convenient for quick-unsheathing, but for moving through a crowd that would be irritating! Seems the new main character of Star Ocean 4 has the same line of thinking, along with touting a lady friend at his side.

We’re not complaining — the games deliver fun and fast-paced battles and we’re very excited to watch this newest entry mold itself into something spectacular. Seriously, the new generation of consoles need their RPGs and for a lot of people, Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata just won’t cut the mustard. We’ll keep looking for more info on this game as it develops, as it already looks to be on the right sci-fi track, as the screens depict. Despite this, we doubt it’ll surpass the sheer quality seen in PS2 titles such as Unlimited Saga.

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Panasonic isn’t new to the High Definition game, but the company has released yet another two plasma HDTVs known as the TH-42PZ77 and TH-50PZ77. You get full HD with both models, featuring an SD memory card slot that allows you to view snapped images on the big screen instead of squinting your eyes via a cramped digital camera display. The contrast ratio stands at 10,000 to 1 while connectivity options include a couple of HDMI inputs, three S-Video inputs, a trio of composite video inputs, and a pair of component video inputs. The screen itself has an anti-glare coating for superior images even with all the windows open. Both HDTVs are scheduled to ship sometime this month, with the TH-42PZ77 and TH-50PZ77 retailing for $1,799.95 and $2,799.95 respectively. It takes approximately 100,000 hours of viewing to arrive at half brightness, so by then we’d probably move on to Ultra HD. Image courtesy of Yahoo!.

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Filed under: Audio/Video, Advice, iPod, TV, iPhone

After weeks of speculation and anticipation, Apple finally dropped a few bombs on us eager gadget hounds yesterday. Some of the announcements, like the touch-screen-enabled iPod Touch and the new iPod Classics with twice the memory of previous models, were welcome (hey, we even like the redesigned new Nanos with video capability). Other news, such as the $200 price-drop on iPhones (a 33 percent drop in only two months!), was maddening to throngs of early-adopters everywhere.

Apple also announced a new Wi-Fi download store and an iTunes ringtone creator for iPhones. To get more information on all of yesterday’s announcements, check out the following posts:

Apple iPod Touch:
Apple’s New iPod Touch — Should You Get It?

New iPod Classic, Nano, and Shuffle:
Apple Announces New Nanos and iPod Classics

iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and iTunes Ringtones:
Apple Adds Wi-Fi and Ringtones to iTunes

iPhone Price Drop:
iPhone Price Drop Turns Early Adopters Into Cry Babies

Still not sure what’s what on the new iPods, or, more importantly, whether or not you should upgrade? Have no fear — we’ve got you covered with this handy chart that highlights all the major differences between old and new iPods (just remember 80-gigabytes, or GB, holds about 20,000 songs or 100 hours of video).

Related Links:

• Apple’s New iPod Touch — Should You Get It?
• Apple Announces New Nanos and iPod Classics
• Apple Adds Wi-Fi and Ringtones to iTunes

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