A bunch of different writers from some of our favorite television series of all time have joined forces with Machinima.com to write 15 episodic comedy pilots. The Machinima Comedy Lab pilots will air on the website, but when… we don’t know yet because they have not announced a release date.

According to the press release, writers from The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, Family Guy and Futurama (among others) and Bill Oakley from The Simpsons seems pretty excited about it.
“Machinima.com lets us put our work in front of an audience that already knows and loves our style of writing and is embracing new forms of digital entertainment,” said Bill Oakley, an Emmy-winning writer and past showrunner of The Simpsons. “We get to do what we love the most”write and create fun content while Machinima.com handles all the production, marketing and distribution.”

Here are just some of the writers we can expect pilots from:

• Chris Cluess: Mad TV, The Simpsons, Beggars and Choosers, Cheers, SCTV
• Bill Freiberger: Drawn Together, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, The Simpsons
• Eric Horsted: Boondocks, Knights of Prosperity, Futurama, Home Improvement, Coach
• Ken Keeler: Futurama, The Simpsons, Wings, The Naked Truth, The Critic, The Late Show
• Stacie Lipp: King of Queens, Roseanne, Married With Children
• Christina Lynch: Wildfire, The Dead Zone, Unhappily Ever After
• Peggy Nicoll: WordGirl, Daria
• Bill Oakley: Mission Hill, The Simpsons, Futurama
• Max Pross & Tom Gammill: The Simpsons, Seinfeld, Monk, The Critic, Saturday Night Live, The Late Show
• Mike Rowe: Family Guy, Futurama, Comedy Central Roasts, The Jaime Kennedy Experiment
• Loren Segan: Wildfire, The Dead Zone, Spyder Games
• Patric M. Verrone: Futurama, Muppets Tonight!, The Simpsons, The Critic, Pinky and the Brain
• Maiya Williams: Mad TV, The PJs, The Wayans Bros., The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

“As an emerging entertainment network, we’re dedicated to bringing aboard top creative talent,” said Allen DeBevoise, Machinima.com chairman and chief executive officer. “Machinima.com provides these writers with a new, evolving medium in which to reach the highly desired 18 to 34 male audience, showcase creativity and develop episodic pilots for multiple platforms.”

If any of the episodes are anything like the Machinima used in “Make Love Not Warcraft”, we are in for a treat.

Check back with us as more information and a schedule becomes available.

Aside from it’s unique brand of humor, you have to admire South Park for at least one thing: their timeliness. Where most movies and TV shows would have made up some Doom-looking game that no one would actually play (*cough* Simpsons *cough*), this show keeps up-to-date with the current video gaming world. Last night’s episode for example had the boys playing Call of Duty: World At War, a game that’s been out for just over a week — and just over two days on PC. This being a game that focuses a lot on Americans fighting the Japanese in World War II, you can probably imagine what Cartmen’s thoughts on the whole thing are.

Next week is Thanksgiving for us turkey lovers in the U.S., and that means three things: 1) getting together with family and friends to stuff your gullets, 2) officially starting the Christmas season, a time of sharing and giving, and 3) marking all of this by stampeding over strangers in a mall to save a few bucks on a Simpsons DVD box set. Yes, Black Friday — as it has come to be called — will soon be upon us. For those adventurous enough to hit the stores that day, you’ll be in for some mighty fine deals. But of course, you’ll want to be prepared before you start setting up camp in front of your store of choice the night before, lest you end up like Mr. Schwarzeneggar in his Oscar-nominated (note: not really) Jingle All the Way.

Luckily, Cheap Ass Gamer has your back, as they’ve put together a pretty comprehensive list of just about every gaming-related sale going on that day. They’ve got most of the major chain stores covered already, and they’re updating the list as more information becomes available. Granted, fighting through the hordes of shoppers that day probably isn’t going to be worth it unless you you’ve got a big purchase in mind. Still, if you wanted to get an Xbox 360 anyway, it might be nice to know which store is bundling them with copies of Tony Hawk Proving Ground and which one is giving away wireless controllers.

You can check out the full list here.

Ever since a few days ago, when movie studios began vying for the film rights to EA’s new game, Dante’s Inferno, people have been wondering one thing: just what the heck is Dante’s Inferno? Other than the title and the fact that it will involve a journey through hell, there hasn’t been much information available to give us a better picture of the game. Luckily, we’ve now got a few more details, which were dug up by Gamecyte from a rather unlikely source. Apparently, the game’s creator, Jonathan Knight — best known for his work on The Sims 2 and The Simpsons Game — updated his resume to outline some brief details for an “Unnannounced Franchise,” which is most likely Dante’s Inferno. Inadvertently, Knight’s resume reveals some key details of the game, including it’s platform, genre, and EA’s future plans for the IP. Here’s what he reveals on his resume:

Executive Producer, Unannounced Franchise (PS3, X360, PC)

1. Creator and executive producer of an original action/adventure trilogy currently in production.
2. Building and managing a large internal team from ground up, with contractors and distributed development.
3. Simultaneously preparing the IP for a comic series, graphic novel, animated feature and feature film.
4. Planned worldwide announcement of the game in January 2009.

Unfortunately, after Gamecyte tried to reach Knight for comment on this information, his resume was taken off of his personal website. That probably means they’re keeping a tight lid on this project, and we won’t be hearing anything new about it until early next year, as the resume indicates.

So it’s going to be an “action/adventure trilogy?” If you’ve ever read the actual 14th century Italian poem this game takes it’s title from, then you already know that an allegory-laden tour of Hell with a classical Roman poet as your guide is nothing but action and adventure. And does this mean there are already sequels in the works for Purgatorio and Paradiso? One can only hope…that they change the title before its release.

Image Via Amazon.com

Comic-Book Legend and all around cool customer Stan Lee will be leading a behind-the-scenes look at bringing famed characters to next-gen games which will be the highlight of Activision’s Comic-Con activities. Highlight.. I’ll say it is! Stan Lee is one of my heroes.

If you plan on attending the event, here is what you have to look forward to:

WHO: Stan Lee; Marvel comic book writer, Brian Reed; and Activision developers Vicarious Visions and Shaba Games

WHAT: Moderated panel at San Diego Comic-Con followed by audience questions.

Stan Lee joins former game designer and current comic writer Brian Reed, along with members from Activision’s development studios behind Spider-Man™: Web of Shadows and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion, for a behind-the-scenes discussion of the creative process, story development and technology used to bring comic book heroes to life in the most advanced Super Hero games ever.

Additional Activision Comic-Con booth activities include:

• Voiceover sessions for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion
• Scheduled viewings of new Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion trailer
• Unveiling of consumer-selected trailer for Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

MEDIA / CONSUMER OPPORTUNITY:

• Photo opportunity with Stan Lee, Chairman Emeritus of Marvel Entertainment and Chief Creative Officer of POW! Entertainment
• Interview with Brian Reed, Marvel Comic Book Writer
• Interview with Brian Shutt, Vicarious Visions, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion
• Interview with Chris Scholz, Shaba Games, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

If any of our readers out there do decide to attend Comic Con, let us know what you thought of the festivities. Details like dates and times are posted after the jump. In the meantime, I just had to post my favorite Stan Lee apperance in cartoon form from one of my favorite Simpson’s episodes, “Angry Dad”.

Enjoy.

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When we first started getting news about the new Ghostbusters game from Sierra, we were all very curious as to whether the original actors would be lending their voices to the videogame counterparts. Imagine our excitement when we were informed that indeed the original Ghostbusters, cranky genius Bill Murry included, would be starring in the game as well, but with this announcement, a couple of names were missing from the list. Both Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis’ names were missing from the press release, which led us to wonder if they had just not hopped on board yet or if Sierra was just saving that last tidbit of information just to add a bit of suspense to the title.

Unfortunately, that is not the case because thanks to Das Gamer, the light has been shed on why these two names were vacant from the list. Well, they tell us why Rick is not in the game but as for Sigourney, nothing is mentioned but I have a feeling it has to do with her just being a stick in the mud.

According to Bit-Net, her character will not even be included in the story:

The cast has also been trimmed down a little bit and Dana, who was played by Sigourney Weaver, has been cut completely and replaced with a new female lead character. The developers have said that again, they couldn’t find a way to re-integrate her into the story, but the general opinion is more along the lines that they either couldn’t afford the actress or that she didn’t want to be involved.

Not wanting to be involved is more likely the case. She lent her voice to other works, including a Futurama episode, so she can’t be THAT expensive. I mean, seriously, what noteworthy film or anything for that matter has she done in the past few years? Almost everything she has been in that has released to theaters worldwide has flopped at the box office, and her “indie” films are basically sitting on retail shelves gathering dust. Maybe she really was too expensive, but considering the fact that her career is headed towards hawking tires for your local mechanic shop, she should have reconsidered the offer. Maybe, though, Dan Akroyd and the others did not include her character because just do not like her and tore-up her invite to the party. For what I can remember, she had issues with certain cast members in the movies anyway *cough Bill Murry cough*.

Now, back to Rick Moranis.

Apparently, Das Gamer is reporting that his reason for not being in the game is because he is retired. During a preview of the game with Sierra producer Ben Borth and Terminal Reality development director Brendan Goss, Broth stated Rick’s absence was because:

“He made so much money off of Honey I Shrunk The Kids that he retired. He just doesn’t want to work anymore”

Ah, come on now Rick. How hard could it be to do voice work? I mean that is really all you have done since 1997 anyway, the last of which being in 2002. You could easily phone it in from the comfort of your lazy boy. Actors do it for The Simpsons all the time.

This is a bit depressing, and I think that I can speak for all of us when I say that DJ Lubel says it best in the video below. We miss Rick.

Via: Das Gamer

I haven’t seen Mike Meyer’s newest film, The Love Guru, and I never intend to, since everything I’ve seen from the movie just looks incredibly unfunny and/or stupid. So it seems only fitting that the film is being advertised with a cheap Guitar Hero knock-off that may or may not be stealing a Simpsons joke. Over at the movie’s official website, you can play a little flash game called “Sitar Star.” It’s basically what you’d expect: the exact same gameplay of Guitar Hero, just with sitar music and Mike Meyers’ “O-face” staring back at you the whole time. You get to choose between two songs with “Rock the Ashram” and “Don’t Stop Bhagavan.” They’re both maybe a minute long and really only gave me a craving for some Indian food. But if you really want to check it out, you can give it a go here.

PC gaming is dead!

We’ve all heard it over and over recently from many pessimistic sources in the games industry. They cite software piracy as a major culprit, claiming an incredible percentage of games are stolen. We’ve heard how PCs are so much more expensive to upgrade than consoles and with the seemingly infinite combinations of hardware, software and drivers is it any wonder consoles look so promising to developers? With each successive generation of systems, consoles have become more sophisticated and now rival the performance capabilities of midline PCs.

PCs are hard to write games for. Again and again, developers complain about the time and money involved in creating games for systems that have no standard specifications and have a wide range of performance capabilities. Consoles represent a base configuration, sure they may or may not hare a hard drive and even when they do the size might vary but its nothing like PCs and its use of different hardware, OS and drivers. There’s no guarantee that a game will work for every build out there even if the machine meets the minimum system specifications.

All these are legitimate complaints, but I think there is one very important reason why the cries of PC game death are false. PC games have an appeal that is uncommon among the proprietary game consoles by offering a training ground for future developers. Gamers modify PC games adding increased value for other players while granting the titles a longer life span if the mod scene takes off after release. Developers even plan for and encourage game owners to create new content and change existing code. What console offers this sort of tool? Some games come with tool sets packaged with the game, while others are free to download. Its become common for development teams to challenge amateur game makers to enhance or create new game content through contests, some – like the Make something Unreal contest, offer substantial prizes to the winners.

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Cryptic has been working diligently on Champions Online and has been updating the site to keep gamers abreast of all the latest happenings. Up on the website is a new Team Member Introduction as well as a new Villain Profile.

Cryptic introduces associate producer Dennis Adams. He’s in charge of the art team and designers on Champions Online which includes the concept artists, character modelers, animators, FX artists, powers and combat designers. Adams worked five years for Disney animation and did a gig on The Simpsons Movie before coming to Cryptic. You can get to know him better and read what he has to say about breaking into the business on the latest Meet the Team.

The newest Villain Profile introduces Paul Bressler aka Ankylosaur. This super villain for hire owes everything to his shiny metal battlesuit designed like the dinosaur of the same name. The armor effectively makes Bressler a walking tank. He’s the equivalent of Rhino meets Scorpion. Funny thing that the ankylosaur was a herbivore, not a predator. Check out the details and additional concept art for Ankylosaur on the Champions Online website.

I imagine most people are going to be busy with Grand Theft Auto today, but that didn’t stop Harmonix from doing their weekly Rock Band DLC thing. Three new songs are now available, each for 160 Microsoft Points.

• “Zero” – Smashing Pumpkins
• “Red Tandy” – The Mother Hips
• “Time-Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear” – The Mother Hips

Is anyone going to be tearing themselves away from GTA IV to download any of these? Personally, it would have taken the very top of my wishlist to manage that task, and it’s not often that there’s even so much as a single song released that I’m all that excited about, and this week is no different.