The Xbox 360 and PS3 each already have some very strong multimedia capabilities. The 360 has that wonderful Netflix streaming, allowing Gold members to stream their “Watch Now” playlist directly to their TV, even with some shows and movies in HD. The PS3 is famously a blu ray player, and one of the best on the market. If you’ve seen blu ray in action, you know that it really is a substantial difference. Both have various applications available for both PC and Mac that allow you to stream video that’s on your computer to your system of choice, moving you away from the computer screen and back to the living room, and can play most divx files off your computer or a burned disc.

But what about that wonder of wonders, Hulu? Hulu, for the uninitiated, is a website that streams video from several sources like Fox, NBC, Comedy Central, and many many more. Missed your favorite show? Forgot to Tivo it? Hulu to the rescue. However, the limitation has been that you have to watch it on the computer. This is something a lot of people have gotten used to and really don’t mind too much, but it’s still not the optimum way to watch video when you have that big widescreen in front of your couch.

Enter PlayOn. From MediaMall Technologies, PlayOn solves the Hulu problem (and much more) for Xbox360 and PS3 owners. The program is remarkably easy to use. Download the server onto your PC (XP and Vista only for now), and there’s virtually no setup. On most computers, the automatic settings are perfect (it even auto-detects your firewalls) and you’re literally good to go the moment you start the program and turn on your console. You can also input your Hulu username and password to access your queue. Varying quality settings allow the streaming to work no matter how fast your system and internet connection, provided you meet the relatively low minimum requirements. Now, this is still internet streaming, so this is not high definition quality, but it’s good enough to have in the background or to watch that missed episode. Videophiles will complain, but the general public should love it.

Hulu is actually only the tip of the iceberg, as well. Youtube (including user queues) streams nicely through PlayOn, as does CBS, ESPN, Amazon Video On Demand, and even Netflix. That last one is quite the boon for PS3 owners jealous of their 360 counterparts. Again, since it’s through an extra server, you’re not going to get quite the same quality. HD is not yet available through this extra software, but the quality is passable; think pre-digital cable and you have a pretty good idea of how things will look on your TV.

PlayOn is not free beyond the two week trial. The $39.99 price tag is the only downside to the story. This is considerably steeper than most media servers, but it also does a lot more than just stream your saved video. They have also recently launched an affiliate program, allowing you to get the software for free by signing up for a number of other services. If the program were $20 or even $30, this would be an absolute must-own for 360 or PS3 owners. At $40, I can still give it the highest recommendation for PS3 owners, as it equalizes the Netflix issue, plus adds the bonuses of an easy-to-use interface for Hulu and Youtube. For 360 owners, only tv/movie addicts need apply, but it certainly does expand the options for them in a major way. Easy to use from start (on your PC) to finish (on your 360 or PS3), MediaMall Technologies has put together an amazing product, updates it on a regular basis, and has turned two great multimedia hubs in the living room into something even more special.

MTV has the exclusive on the new trailer, but with the help of handy dandy embed code, we get to share it with you! Unfortunately, since it’s from MTV, it is not viewable outside the US. As soon as the trailer is available to the general press, we’ll get it up in our video section here so the whole world can see. Until then, enjoy the trailer focused on just one part of the gameplay, “Invisible Predator”, America!

Do you like Snood? Do you like Iron Man? Are you excited about the upcoming Iron Man animated series? Do you like free web based games? Do you think I could write this entire post using nothing but questions? If you answered yes to all of those questions, you were wrong. If you answered yes to all but the final one, Marvel has a fun little treat in store for you, by the name of Iron Man Armored Popper.

The game, surprisingly, has nothing to do with popping corn for Rhodey and Pepper. Instead, it’s a matching game, where you fire one of the icons at the ones above you, the goal being to match 3 or more and remove all of them from the screen. If it sound familiar, well, that’s because there’ve been about 30,000 of this type of game out there. This is the first one thats linked with ‘ole (er… young…) Shellhead, though, and it’s free, so the price is right; it does also increase Marvel’s already massive web presence. Sure it’s on the Marvel Kids site, but fun is allowed to be had by all ages, so give it a click, and brag about your high score here.

The Sixth Sense: Not the Bruce Willis movie, but some crazy technology that Warren Ellis has video of over at his blog. Is crazy, and very cool. Go check it out.

Watchmen: The Hathor Legacy reviews Watchmen, though I’d like to have seen them deconstruct Laurie’s character more. Oh well, maybe I’ll do it myself one of these days.

PIXU: Via Becky Cloonan, apparently there’s a 17-page PIXU preview at Publishers Weekly. You’re welcome.

More Previews: Jason Aaron has preview pages from this week’s Ghost Rider and Scalped. If you’ve any sense you’re already buying Scalped regardless of preview pages, but if you haven’t the sense maybe this will convince you. Also, flaming skull head guy.

Racialicious on The Big Bang Theory, Nerds of Color, and Stereotypes. An interesting look at the assumed whiteness of “nerds” and of geek culture in general, and how the different stereotypes play out on TV.

Eliza Dushku not only stars in Dollhouse (to which I am now completely addicted), she’s also a producer.

Jezebel takes on the Japanese rape simulation video game. And here I was really hoping this was a bad joke.

Finally, a good friend of mine took me up on my suggestion that he read Northlanders. He was thrilled with the results. (Like the comic, the review contains some adult language.)

Usually when a game ties in to a movie, the aim is to release it alongside the film, or at the latest alongside the DVD. However, some developers and publishers have actually recognized that movie tie-in games tend to, well, suck, and have elected to do what they can to buck the trend and produce some quality games that happen to tie-in to movies. The upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine game was actually being developed before they got a license for the movie, and includes a whole bunch of new content written by Marc Guggenheim. The most popular movie last year, The Dark Knight, skipped the movie tie-in altogether; instead, Warner is releasing an original game that has more to do with the comics than the movies this summer with Arkham Asylum.

Now the Wanted tie-in is coming, set after the events of the movie, and based on the demo that’s available now on Xbox Live and PSN, this game is going to be a ton of fun. The demo features a few tutorials to give you the basics of the cover system and a few of the advanced techniques, then throws you into the airplane level that’s been in every trailer for the game since it was announced.

The tutorial gives a quick look at just how easy developers Grin implemented things like Bullet Curving and their version of “bullet time:” “Assassin Time.” You charge your special meter the easiest way possible, by killing some bad guys. There’s a fantastic sticky cover system here, complete with flashy animations for dashing from one point of cover to another. Baseball slides, tuck and rolls, roadie-runs, they’ve got them all, and it looks great. There are basically two levels to Assassin Time, too. One is achieved simply by blind firing from cover. This puts you just a hair faster than your enemies, but does allow you to sneak up behind them and use your knife (or hands, or knees) for a swift kill, if there’s enough cover to navigate. The other is an actual special ability that almost pauses the screen, allowing you to quickly take aim and fire on as many enemies as you can see.

The bullet curving is an easy to use, one button (plus thumbstick) function. Hold the button, find the right angle, and release- it’s that easy. This isn’t typically going to kill an enemy, but it will hit one in cover without you having to break cover yourself, and usually causes them to stumble out into the open, ready for an easy kill.

Great cover system, easy-to-use advanced moves, solid controls, voices of the actors from the movie, a sensibility that combines the movie and comic a bit more; this is all adding up to be a great game that just happens to tie-in to a movie, just the way gamers have hoped. The game comes out March 24th in the US (European gamers have to wait a little longer- 26 June for them), and we’ll have the full review for you here. Until then, I’ll be mastering the airplane level. If it’s any indication (and I’ve now played the demo 10+ times), this game will be wanted all over.

Mezmer Games announced yesterday that with the cooperation of three independent game development studios, they are releasing an “arcade-like approach to the RTS genre” in a game called Stalin VS. Martians. The game takes place in 1942 Russia, but is a little less serious than the time and country are known for. From here, I’ll let the trailer speak for itself:

The game is scheduled for an April 2009 release for PC.

Star Trek Online is likely still over a year away. Cryptic Studios still has to release Champions Online before it becomes their number one priority, after all. That isn’t stopping them from showing off more of the game, however, with these four new screenshots designed to show a couple of ships in various space environments, the inside of a warehouse, and a snowy planet with a player exploring. This sure seems like it will be one massive game, and every shot looks better than the last. Here’s hoping the final product will be as good. Click on through for the other shots.

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Rock Band may not be “genre” in the sense we usually speak of here, but just about everybody has played it or its competitor, and they are games nearly universally liked, so I thought this bore a mention here. So often, in an economic downturn, charity is forgotten. As bad as things may be for some, it is always relative. That makes it especially nice to hear that MTV Games and Harmonix have made a donation of 650 Rock Band bundles to hospitals and Starlight Children’s Foundation Great Escape events. In addition, they’re providing funds for families with chronically or terminally ill children to attend Rock Band Tour concert events, and are sponsoring more Great Escape events for the kids and their families to get away for awhile and enjoy activities that take a back seat when medical bills are in the forefront, including behind-the-scenes looks at the already released and upcoming games. The “minimum $50,000″ donation may not sound like much, but that makes for quite a bit of fun, distracting gaming for hospitalized kids across the U.S. Bravo, MTV and Harmonix. Rock on.

One of the better FPSes in terms of story, the Half Life series has been praised for the right combination of tension, action, background dealings and face-to-face confrontation. Sounds like a natural for a live action adaptation, right? Well, the Purchase Brothers sure thought so, and decided to take matters into their own hands. With a reported budget of only $500 (sounds like a bunch of people worked for free), they put together an amazing sequence that shows just how well the Half Life games can translate to live action. Here’s part one, with part two promised to come soon.

(Thanks, James!)

With special thanks to my lovely friend Jenna Busch (check out her work on SciFi Wire, UGO, and much more), I was directed to the UK Watchmen movie site. Little did I know there would be a wonderful surprise there. Veidt Enterprises is saving the world, one Arcade at a time. The game is called Minutemen Arcade, and it is in the vein of the old-school beat ‘em ups, like The Simpsons Game, X-Men, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After choosing Nite Owl or Silk Spectre, you go on an adventure, kicking and punching a parade of generic thugs.

There are even some nice Easter Eggs for comic book fans. In the Subway, for example, there is a “towards street sign” labled “Charlton Street,” which you end up exiting onto. Famously, Alan Moore was originally planning to use the Charlton characters DC had acquired, and instead (thanks to some pushing from the folks in charge) wound up using analogues of those characters (The Question = Rorschach, Captain Atom = Dr. Manhattan, etc). It’s a fun, quick little 3 level game, and a great distraction to kill time until the movie premieres March 6th. Click on through for a crack at the game, and see if you can get the high score!

Valve just announced via press release that the much anticipated Left 4 Dead downloadable content will be the best price of all, FREE. This applies to both Xbox 360 users and PC gamers, and includes all the previously announced DLC content. The L4D Survival Pack will include:

1. New Multiplayer Game Mode called Survival; think Horde in Gears 2, with Zombies
2. 2 Complete Campaigns for Versus Mode called Death Toll and Dead Air.

The content will be available this Spring, and for latecomers, you’ll be able to buy the “Critic’s Choice” edition of the game with the DLC already included. It’s nice to see someone taking a page from Burnout Paradise’s playbook and offering some quality downloads to reward faithful players. I can’t wait!

I’ll have a full report of my first impressions with the latest build and developer walkthrough of DCU Online in the main Games section tomorrow, but to tide you over, for the first time anywhere, here’s Lex Luthor as designed by Jim Lee for the game. Enjoy.

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GameTrailers.com has the exclusive Cinematic Trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine: The Game coming up from Activision. No gameplay footage yet in this one (I’ll be checking it out next week, look to the main site for that coverage), but still a pretty awesome little trailer. Enjoy here, or click through to the site for glorious HD.

Because there’s no such thing as a surprise anymore, Sony Online Entertainment’s “mystery guest” for NYCC has been revealed by early shipping copies of Wizard’s latest issue. The man in question is living legend Marv Wolfman. With a tiny story in his past called Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wolfman has a pretty intimate knowledge of most every character in the DCU. Geoff Johns did the original plotting, and Wolfman will be working from those plots to further flesh out the missions your created hero or villain can undertake alongside DC’s best and brightest good and bad guys. He joins Johns and artist extraordinaire Jim Lee, lending three very high profile comic book names to the ambitious PC and PS3 MMORPG. More details on Wolfman’s involvement will be revealed next week at the convention. Regardless, this game is looking better and better.

When reached for comment, the game’s PR representatives were currently unable to confirm or deny, as they didn’t expect the issue in question to be out this week at all.

When you people lose your jobs, or are feeling down about the price of milk, it seems you seek one solace and one solace only: Video Games. While individual companies such as Midway, EA, and even Microsoft have had mass layoffs in the past few months, showing signs of financial strain, the video game industry as a whole has literally never been better.

$22 BILLION worth of video game software and hardware was sold in 2008. That’s the Gross Domestic Product of Costa Rica right there. Of this, over half, $11.7 billion was software, meaning it’s not all from people buying Wiis or taking advantage of price drops for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

December is perhaps the most baffling. In this month that was supposed to show the worst time for retailers, this 13th month of the then officially declared recession, sales weren’t just healthy, they were record breaking. For the first time ever in a single month, video game sales brought in over $5 billion. In fact, according to the ESA’s report on the sales numbers, they brought in more in December 2008 than in the entire year of 1997.

Mature games, which typically get the widest coverage in the “hardcore” market, accounted for only 15% of these sales, while E and E-10 made up 57%.

So, clearly, there are some well-entertained, starving, naked gamers out there. The question is, what is separating Video Games in people’s minds as still being such a strong value compared to comics, movies, or any other form of entertainment? While January has no doubt been a slow month, with games like Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil V, Halo Wars, and more on the horizon in just the next two months, it will be interesting to see if growth can truly be maintained.

[Via]

While Wonder Woman doesn’t look to be getting a live action feature release anytime soon (though there is an animated DVD releasing in March), and some people agree with a ridiculous statement made by a Warner exec a couple of years ago saying females can’t carry a big time action movie, Warners are nevertheless relaunching and rebooting the Tomb Raider franchise. When they bought 20% of Eidos Interactive, the producer and license holder of the Tomb Raider games, a few months ago, part of the deal was the movie rights, once held and used by Paramount for two pictures.

Dan Lin, Executive Producer of Terminator: Salvation and producer on this year’s Robert Downey-fueled Sherlock Holmes, as well as the on again-off again Justice League movie, is producing with Stephen Gilchrist (Rules of Engagement) and Executive Producer Ian Livingstone from Eidos Interactive. The movie, like the announced upcoming game, will see a revamped Lara Croft, going even further in giving her a new origin (and thus presumably a new raison d’être). As such, it is unlikely they’ll be pulling Angelina Jolie out of her semi-retirement from acting for the role. Megan Fox, rumored for the last few days apparently because of a blog post in South America (no kidding), has likewise been disspelled as a possible Lara.

So, who do you think can fill those… boots?

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I did NOT come up with that “Shell-ebration” bit, as it was actually in the press release. Ubisoft and Game Arts, the development team behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl, are bringing a new Turtle Power infused fighting game to the Wii this year. TMNT: Smash UP looks like it will share more than just a developer and the word “smash” in its title with its cousin, providing a similar gameplay experience in the world of the 25 year old Daredevil parody. Turtles co-creator Peter Laird is writing the single player story, which promises to be all original, “not tied in to any movie, comic, or tv show” storyline. And these are the first two screen shots. Enjoy!

It’s one of the many games getting great genre buzz this year, and even made out list of top 9 for ‘09. It’s using the original cast, the original writers (who incidentally are one in the same). It is completely in continuity. It even picks up only a short time after the second movie, and according to Dan Aykroyd, has a story script 3-4 times the length of either movie. The Ghostbusters: The Video Game is bringing the franchise back in a huge way, and should be a boon to the reborn Atari when it comes out this June. Today, Atari released seven new screenshots, and from slime guns to close ups of digital Harold Ramis, it looks like this is going to at the very least keep the style of Ghostbusters intact. All screenshots are from the PS3 version of the game, and should match the Xbox360 version pretty well. Click Read More for the other six! (more…)

Some enterprising individual named Patrick Bolvin has developed a way to play a Street Fighter game IN YouTube. It sounds baffling, but its true. There are some great action figure animations, a rockin’ soundtrack, and a genuine fighting game built into videos. It is kind of like Choose Your Own Adventure, but with Street Fighter. After each move, it loads you into a new video, based on what you chose before. Check it out below:

[Via]

Variety got the list of nominees for the Writers Guild’s Best Writing in a Videogame 2008 award, and well, I’ll get right to it:

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA). Writer: Haris Orkin. Story Producer: Mical Pedriana.

Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! (Mousechief). Writing: Keith Nemitz. Additional Writing: Adrianne Ambrose.

Fallout 3 (Bethesda). Lead Writer: Emil Pagliarulo. Quest Writing: Erik J. Caponi, Brian Chapin, Jon Paul Duvall, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Bruce Nesmith, and Fred Zeleny. Additional Quest Writing: Nate Ellis, William Killeen, Mark Nelson, and Justin McSweeney.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). Writers: Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey.

Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos). Story: Eric Lindstrom and Toby Guard. Screenplay: Eric Lindstrom.

It’s an…interesting list to say the least. There are some things to bear in mind here, though. First, far from every game is written under WGA guidelines by WGA writers. It’s a relatively new medium for the WGA (last year was the first time this award was offered), as story has only recently become a dominating factor in games. While there have been games using deep detailed stories for a couple generations of games now, with the current generation even racing games like Need for Speed have been heavily driven (no pun intended) by their stories. Also, for WGA awards, the first nomination needs to come from the writers, developers, or producers of the game. So, of the few that were WGA based, even fewer moved into the nomination pool.

Digressing, of the nominees I’d say the competition is likely between Fallout 3 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Fallout 3’s sheer scope, offering multiple dialogue paths and personal choices is intimidating. The Force Unleashed, though, told the best acted out Star Wars story since the original trilogy, and did so with an important, in-cannon tale.

[Via]