Author: Rahul Shirke

D’oh! Pagans irritated by Homer Simpson

Homer vs. God of Fertility

The large white guy you see to the right in the image above is a great Fertility Symbol for the Pagans, named simply as the Cerne Abbas giant. The large white guy you see to the left in the image above is a great Cartoon Character for Americans, named simply as the Homer Simpson. And Pagans don’t like him.

The figure of giant above is supposedly from the 17th century and is regarded by the Pagan community to be a great fertility symbol. Heck, I can see his great fertility symbol right here, folks. He is located in Cerne Abbas, Dorset (which is in Great Britain) and has been revered for centuries. Well, some time ago he’s got competition.

The image of Homer Simpson armed with a donut and underwear was drawn with biodegradable paint to promote the upcoming Simpsons movie. A fine marketing idea, in my opinion. But the Pagans have been enraged by ol’ Homer.

Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: “It’s very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing.

“We were hoping for some dry weather but I think I have changed my mind. We’ll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away.”

She added: “I’m amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. It’s an area of scientific interest.”

Rain magic? Predict that, Weather Channel! The Pagans are further irritated that bringing cascading down will cause a mess as it washes Homer and his donut away. Is it a Church conspiracy? Who knows. But it sure as hell is funny.

[Via The Sun]

Blizzard working on new, unannounced title

Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard dropped a bomb when they announced StarCraft II. It looks like Blizzard is doing it again. During a discussion with Gamasutra, Blizzard’s senior vice president of product development, Frank Pearce said that a team of 40 people is working in “team 3”.

The diplomatically chosen revelation was found in the following context, straight from Pearce:

“Our global headcount is 2,700, and most of that is customer service for World of Warcraft! In terms of development staff it’s probably around 350. World of Warcraft is about 135 people, 40 for Starcraft II, 40 for team 3, our cinematics team is about 85 guys. Then there’s sound and Q/A and that sort of thing.”

Pearcesaid further that Team 3 is working on “something really awesome” (they always say that) and that he couldn’t give any hints. Gamasutra has confirmed that this is not the vaporware Starcraft Ghost, though.

Blizzcon starts 3rd August, which is not far away, as your friendly calendar will tell you. Is it possible that this new game, under construction by “Team 3” will be announced there? Most likely. What is this new game? Nobody knows for sure, though most fingers point towards Diablo 3. We’ll just have to wait for Blizzcon.

[Via Gamasutra]

Forget the PSP, I want a PMP!

The PMP

Yes. First off, I’m talking about PMP, not a PIMP. But pimp jokes are going to be rather common now, with this sweet little device in action. It may not look like much, but this PSP-killer is packed with more stuff than your grandma’s attic.

The manufacturer of this beauty, the Portable Media Player is “3rd party”, but I and Engadget are pretty sure it was made in China. I mean, we just need a Chinglish instruction manual to prove it. But regardless of electronic ethnicity, the PMP is able to:

  • Emulate NES, SNES, Sega MD and SMC.
  • Play AVI, MPEG-4, DivX, XviD, MP3, WMA, and FLAC files (with an “Equlizer”, OMG.)
  • View JPG, GIF, BMP images.
  • Capture videos with a 1.3 megapixel MPEG-4 video camera.
  • Record sound (MP3).
  • Read E-Books.
  • Support 4-goddamned-gigabytes via SD card.
  • Smash Sony’s teeth and swallow it whole.

Yeah, that above list contains more things than your godforsaken computer can. The PSP costs $200 and can’t emulate the SNES. The sweet, sweet PMP can, at a mere $109.68 (or 850.00 in Hong Kong currency). I freaking want this.

[Engadget via Gizmodo. Buy it here.]

60GB PS3’s to vanish by end of July!

PS3 as we know it, is going.

This news comes like a slap in the face for those who cheered when Sony announced a price cut for the Playstation 3. David Reeves, president of SCEE has announced PS3’s will no longer be available after stocks are sold out. Apparently, the price cut was to sell these remaining stocks out of 60GB PS3’s! Way to go, Sony.

Sony will be releasing an 80GB version of the PS3 on August 1st with a copy of MotorStorm bundled. This new version will be priced at $599, which was what the 60GB version was priced at, prior to the price cut. So the equation works out like this:

Sony makes a $599 console and cuts its price to $499. Then it makes a new version of the PS3, priced at $599 and sells out the original PS3, which should be priced at $499. So essentially, the price cut was nothing more than a practical joke from Sony. Anybody who fell for this joke and wants the PS3, my advice is, grab one while stocks last.

[Via gamesindustry.biz]

Star Wars: Force Unleashed’s Trailer, Site spark to life

Force Unleased

Star Wars: Force Unleashed is a godsend for a die-hard Star Wars fan like myself. Force Unleashed, set in the era between Episode III and Episode IV concentrates around a Dark Jedi who is a secret apprentice to Darth Vader, the big daddy. The game has caught public attention because of its ambitious goals and its eye-popping physics, which finally let you use the Force as you like it.

LucasArts released the game’s official site and unveiled the game’s trailer today. The site starts off with the trailer and then reveals several tidbits of info on the game. Some news I found interesting would be that the character roster includes a C3PO-esque protocol droid, PROXY and a hot Imperial spy and three Jedi. The list of Jedi includes Shaak Ti (who was supposed to be dead on Grievous’ ship. Then, she was supposed to be dead at the Jedi Temple. Now, she’s not dead at all!), a Clone Wars veteran, General Rahm Kota and finally, a fiery apprentice to Shaak Ti named Maris Brood.

Our protagonist will be traveling all over the galaxy, from Kashyyyk to Felucia, as well as the galactic junkyard Raxus Prime and a TIE Construction facility (seen in the trailer).

The trailer itself is a beauty. While I’d say the graphics are little off-mark, the trailer as a whole fails to disappoint. Starting off with a jaw-dropping Imperial Star Destroyer crashing into a planet, the trailer takes you through clips as our hero smashes, breaks, crashes, overwhelms, surprises, ravages and well, unleashes the Force. This is really one hell of a thing – to be able to use the Force as you like. This game is going to own.

The game’s trailer can be found at the game’s site or in HD at Gametrailers. May the Force be with you.

Universal to handle new Dracula movie

 

An older, more sophisticated Dracula.

I wonder what Bram Stoker would have to say about all the ridiculous Dracula interpretations in this day and age. Or heck, I wonder what Count Vlad himself might have said. I enter this philosophical soliloquy in lamentation of an act of torture committed by Universal Pictures. They are making a new Dracula movie. And I predict its going to be terrible.

Titled “Dracula Year Zero”, this new flick will be directed by Alex Proyas and produced by Micheal de Luca. The story, written by Mark Sazama and Burk Sharpless, will be revolving around Count Vlad “Dracula” himself, rather than a Victorian-era Dracula. Count Vlad, if you don’t know, was a Romanian Warlord who scared the living daylights out of the invading Turks. He was the prime inspiration for Bram Stoker to make Dracula.

The movie can be then, an excellent sword-slashing, curse-babbling period action flick with some supernatural influence here and there. Proyas said that the project “manages to play off the horror and the sympathy you have for a character that sells his soul to the Devil to save his kingdom and family.”

Dracula will be at the height of his powers and bashing Turks open in the movie. I wonder if Sazama and Sharpless decided to cross 300 with Dracula and see what happens. Heh.

“One of the cool things about this is that we’re doing it at Universal,” Sharpless said. “This is the home of monster movies.”

I can’t figure out here whether he means ‘monster’ as in terrible creatures or terrible, impossible-to-watch movies. Awesome or not, this is one movie I’d like to keep my eyes on.

[Via Variety]