Spike TV announced today the nominations for its 2009 Video Game Awards. Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 and Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Asylum scored multiple noms and are set to go head-to-severed head in the Game of the Year category. Gamers can vote in 28 cats by visiting vga.spike.com now and through Dec. 11.
Spike TV’s 2009 VGA Awards will air live on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. (7 Central). The show will feature plenty of stars and sneak peeks at upcoming games. To learn more, check out the following press release:
This year’s show features awards for the best games of 2009, plus amazing world premieres of the most anticipated games for 2010 and 2011. And to add even more intrigue, almost all the world premieres will be ANNOUNCEMENTS of new, never-before-seen games.
Today we’re announcing our first premiere — HALO: REACH, a game that has been announced but never shown. All of us at Spike are incredibly excited to be working with Bungie and Xbox to bring you the first-ever look at the VGAs. At E3, Bungie’s Joe Staten announced that the game, a prequel to the Halo trilogy, is coming out in the Fall of 2010. He also screened a brief teaser trailer that showed nothing more than the planet Reach from space. At the VGAs you’ll finally get to see the world of Reach for the first time — and I promise that you won’t be disappointed.
Over the next three weeks we will be sharing more details on the other world premieres right here on Spike.com and GameTrailers.com. So please check back frequently to learn more about what we have planned for the show. I can hardly wait to tell you about some of the other exciting surprises we’re planning with all the major game publishers. Publishers 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, and more to be announced in the coming weeks.
Until then, check out the nominees and vote for your favorites in all the categories!
Finally, a vampire flick with teeth is upon us. Daybreakers, the high-concept bloodsucker feature from directors Peter and Michael Spierig, explores a future where humans are farmed by vampires for their blood. As mankind nears extinction, vampires are faced with a similar fate unless they can find a substitute for our tasty plasma.
Check out the following PSA:
Daybreakers stars Ethan Hawke (Gattica), Willem Dafoe,(Anti-Christ) Sam Neil (Jurassic Park), and Isabel Lucas (Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen). Lionsgate will unleash the vampires on Jan. 8
Soren, the protagonist in author Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’Hoole, will be voiced by actor Jim Sturgess (21, Across the Universe) in director Zack Synder’s (300, Dawn of the Dead) upcoming animated film adaptation. The film is said to be in 3-D and is scheduled for a late 2010 release. However, audience test screenings for the film were held in Los Angeles on Sunday, suggesting that an earlier release date is more than likely.
I was really excited about doing this as I had always wanted to be the voice of an animated character. I had been offered to be in some other animated projects but they seemed to be the same as a lot of the other ones that I had seen before and not really interesting to me. I really wanted to hold out and find something special so when ‘Guardians’ turned up I was over the moon! I play the character of Soren in the film. It was alot of fun to do but so different from anything I had done before! You really have to use your imagination as there is no reality infront of you at all. There were moments when I was flying and in full battle, fighting owls coming from every direction, when in reality you’re standing in a dark room with a microphone! I found myself doing all the actions whilst I said the lines so I was constantly flapping my arms!!!….I would hate to watch myself doing that on video tape!!!
I have seen bits of the animation that Zac showed me whilst I was out in LA. He said that even the stuff I saw wasn’t 100% done and that looked unbelievable. If you’re gonna be in animation film you want it to be directed by Zac Snyder!
Guardians of Ga’Hoole is the story of a young barn owl (Soren) and his quest to escape the clutches of evil war-mongering owls. The film is Snyder’s first family-friendly picture and is based on the first three books in the Ga’Hoole series.
Amidst the vampires and zombies populating movies and TV, human predators seem to be getting poised for a comeback. Projects in development such as Hammer Film’s The Residentand HBO’s serial adaptation of crime novelist Jason Starr’s The Follower are setting the spotlight back on stalkers. Sony Screen Gems The Roommate, an update on the Bridgett Fonda thriller Single White Female, stars “Gossip Girl” Leighton Meester as an emotionally unstable college coed obsessed with her dorm-mate, played by Minka Kelly (Devil’s Highway).
"This Couch is Lumpy ... Like Your Pants."
The Roommate doesn’t move into theaters until Sept. 17, 2010, but we can obsess (at least three times a day) over Meester’s lingerie photo shoot for GQ Magazine’s December issue.
It’s time to dust off your denim and strap on your studs. Metal gods Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament are embarking on a 26 date tour across the U.S. and Canada, kicking off on Jan. 18 in Seattle. The “American Carnage” bill marks the first time Slayer and Megadeth have shared a stage since 1991’s “Clash of the Titans” tour, which included thrashers Anthrax. Tickets for most shows go on sale this Friday. Check out the info:
If you’re wondering what’s so horrific about a concert, you obviously haven’t found yourself on the floor, gasping for breath, as eight 300 lbs guys fall on your head during Slayer’s “Angel of the Death.” Nor have you had your girlfriend ripped off your shoulders, stripped, and carried off like The Vanishing during Megadeth’s “Wake Up Dead.” That reminds me: Dude with the Corrosion of Conformity shirt, we left your girl by the Chevron on 3rd St. Hope all worked out!
"No Way, Dude, Dave Mustaine Was Totally Looking At Me, Not You!"
Seriously, this tour is gonna be some crazy, violent fun.
The ghost of Paranormal Activity’s success is haunting Hollywood; expect a spike in supernatural thrillers.
One spook show scaring up a lot of attention is Ouija, the first collaboration between Universal Pictures and Hasbro after signing a six-year deal to produce films based on Hasbro’s boardgames. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes are also on board as producers.
“Lost” writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have been hired to pen the Ouija script. The duo recently wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Disney picture Tron Legacy. Described as a “supernatural action-adventure movie,” Ouija will tap into many of the game’s creepy rules to create maximum chills.
My Boo
Hasbro reports that over 12 million Ouija games have been sold since 1966.
When I was 11, I mistook Ouija for Spin-the-Bottle. I ended up kissing my dead great, great, great grandma. Her lips were cold.
Update: McG (Terminator: Salvation) will handle directing duties.
Universal Pictures Wolfman sure gets around. The poster you see here was revealed in France today, which explains why its focus is on the lycan’s flair for fashion accessories. Pretty fancy cane. I like it. I also like the following French trailer for the film (watch closely as it includes new scenes).
Directed by Joe Johnston, The Wolfman stars Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, and Anthony Hopkins. To see U.S. poster art, click here.
Tron Legacy, the sequel to Disney’s 1982 innovative sci-fi actioner Tron, races into theaters and IMAX screens in 3-D on Dec. 17. The Mouse House premiered the Tron Legacy trailer at this year Comic-Con geek-fest and nearly slayed more virgin boys than the entire Mayan civilization. Gotta admit–it looks pretty bad ass.
Check it out:
Jeff Bridges (Iron Man) reprises his role as ENCOM software engineer Kevin Flynn. Tron Legacy finds Flynn still trapped inside the Tron mainframe. His only hope for escape is his son Sam, played by Garrett Hedlund (Death Sentence, Eragon). Also along for the ride is brunette stunner Olivia Wilde (Turistas) who stars as a confidant (perhaps love interest) to Kevin Flynn. Wilde, who was born two years after Tron’s original theatrical release, is reportedly a big fan of the film and was honored to partake in the sequel.
In an interview with Moviefone.com, Olivia Wilde said:
There’s such a cone of silence around ‘Tron,’ but it’ll be fun to watch. That was also an amazing honor, to be able to carry on a legacy like ‘Tron.’. I don’t think diehard fans will be disappointed. I think they will be very happy with what we did. There’s a real story. It’s going to look cool, but that’s not all.”
Light cycles, disc wars, and Olivia Wilde in some form-fitting outfit? Game on!
Tron: Legacy arrives in theaters on Dec. 17.
(TO SEE OLIVIA WILDE IN NEW TRON TRAILER CLICK HERE. TO SEE WILDE ASS UP & FACE DOWN, GO HERE)
Left 4 Dead 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the award-winning, multi-player shooter from Valve Corporation, burst onto store shelves this morning. Technically superior to the first and loaded with much more hair-pulling intensity, Left 4 Dead 2 unleashes new, faster (Chargers) and frighteningly agile (Jockeys) zombies on unsuspecting gamers. Fortunately, there are plenty of new weapons to be used, including a frying pan (proving that the secrets to life can all be found in episodes of Looney Tunes).
Online gamers eager to get at each other’s throats should immediately jump into “Scavenge” mode, where they can play as either survivors in search of fuel or as “the infected” out for blood.
If Left 4 Dead 2 sounds just too nerve-racking, gamers can take a step back–way back–to an 8-Bit Nintendo version of Valve’s original Left 4 Dead courtesy of PixelForce. The game will be available as a free PC download on Jan. 4, 2010. For a rib-tickling preview, check out the trailer:
Here you see the first promotional poster for Overture Films remake of the 2008 Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In.
Now renamed Let Me In, the film explores the secret friendship between a young, bullied boy and his vampire girlfriend. Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and Chloe Moretz (500 Days of Summer) star in the lead roles. Let Me In will arrive in theaters next year.
