Justice League New Frontier Trailer

DC has released the trailer for the direct-to-DVD release of Justice League: New Frontiers. Its a feature length cartoon based on the graphic novel produced by Bruce Timm who created what is called the "Timmverse" with Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League Unlimited. Its supposed to come out sometime in March I think and personally I am looking forward to it and hope more come out. Also I hope that at some point a CGI Kingdom Come gets produced but not holding my breath.

Hellboy II Teaser Trailer

The teaser trailer for Hellboy II: The Golden Army is out. Pretty interesting trailer. I know I will be there on opening day. Below is a flash version of the trailer, but better resolutions can be found here. (source)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army trailer

Daily Show, Colbert Report Return January 7th

Comedy Central announced today that The Daily Show with Jon Steward and The Colbert Report will return with new episodes starting January 7th. The show went dark because of the ongoing writers strike.

From USA Today: In a joint statement, Stewart and Colbert said: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

From Variety, it appears that lot of the funnier features of the shows are going to remain on strike:

According to insiders, trademark features like Stewart's "Headlines" and Colbert's "The Word" will obviously have to take a break since they're heavily scripted.

Instead, it appears the shows will try to work around the missing writers (and the guild rules that bar anything that's traditionally the domain of scribes) by relying heavily on pretaped segments from the field.

In many of those cases, the segments are produced and edited by non-WGA members. That would still seemingly prevent correspondents who are WGA members from participating, but it's believed that some of the show's contributors are with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, rather than the WGA. (In addition, "The Daily Show" has occasionally run pieces by individuals who are not regular contributors.)

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit Greenlit

Its official, Peter Jackson and New Line has worked out their disagreements and are now moving forward on The Hobbit, the prequel to Lord of the Rings. Actually the agreement is two Hobbit movies. The first based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien and the second serving as a bridge between the end of the Hobbit and the first Lord of the Rings based on the ancillary material in Tolkien's novels.

Jackson hasn't agreed to direct yet but I find it hard to believe he will not but the plan is to make both movies at the same time (similar to how the trilogy was done) starting in 2009 with release in 2010 and 2011.

The press release that makes it all official.

ACADEMY AWARD-WINNER PETER JACKSON AND NEW LINE CINEMA JOIN WITH MGM TO PRODUCE “THE HOBBIT,” EAGERLY-ANTICIPATED FANTASY ADVENTURE EPIC

NEW LINE AND MGM TO CO-PRODUCE AND SHARE WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS

PETER JACKSON AND FRAN WALSH TO EXECUTIVE PRODUCE TWO FILMS BASED ON “THE HOBBIT”

Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, December 18, 2007) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:

* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.

* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.

Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

“Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life and we full heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making ‘The Hobbit,’” said Sloan, MGM’s Chairman and CEO. “Now that we are all in agreement on ‘The Hobbit,’ we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film.”

Bob Shaye, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO comments, “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with ‘The Hobbit’ movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy.”

“Peter is a visionary filmmaker, and he broke new ground with ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” notes Michael Lynne, New Line Co-Chairman and Co-CEO. “We’re delighted he’s back for ‘The Hobbit’ films and that the Tolkien saga will continue with his imprint. We greatly appreciate the efforts of Harry Sloan, who has been instrumental in helping us reach our new accord.”

The two “Hobbit” films – “The Hobbit” and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of “The Hobbit” release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

The Oscar-winning, critically-acclaimed LOTR Trilogy grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box-office. In 2003, “Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the eleven categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The Trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.

For more information about “The Hobbit” films, please visit http://community.thehobbitsite.com.

AJC: Citizen Journalism Too Risky

Citizen Journalism is a term being used to describe the online proliferation of bloggers and other sources of news that bypasses the standard media outlets. The growth over the years has reached a point where those same media sources are starting to feel threatened as more and more the news is reported first by the "citizen journalist" before taken up by the major media outlets.

Often times this is mostly noticed in the realms of politics and star watching but more and more its spreading to all forms of news. The result is the media outlets must grudging use bloggers as a source of news. They don't like it, but they do it. Its rarely a week goes by where I read a story on the front page of CNN or Fox News that I had read on a blogger a few days before.

David Hazinski, a professor at the University of Georgia and former NBC correspondent, has decided that this represents a danger to media in the form of inaccuracies and deceptions, in article he wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The citizen journalist is not really a journalist as they lack the "education, skill and standards are really what make people into trusted professionals. Information without journalistic standards is called gossip." He feels to prevent this, media organizations must create standards involving citizen sources, clarify and reinforce their own standards, and universities must "certify" citizen journalists "much as volunteer teachers, paramedics and sheriff's auxiliaries are trained and certified."

Obviously I disagree with these notions. The idea that delivery of news requires special training seems ludicrous to me. News is news, regardless of source. We have all seen what "real" journalists with "education, skill and standards" leads to: all day reports about Michael Jackson going to court, D-list actress overdosing, and little or no reporting on complicated issues such as the Iraq War or what the previous records (versus words) of candidates for President may have on our future.

If it can't be summed up in a sound byte, it must not be news. At least that seems to be the current standard. The rise of the citizen journalist resulted in a vacuum created when the traditional sources of news and information abdicated their authority when they decided the the sensational (infotainment) was more important.

Bloggers and the like can be a source of inaccurate information but one hopes that when "professional" journalists pick up the information, they don't just regurgitate but follow the same standards they have already developed for any source. That ultimately is what citizen journalism is - another tip, another source of news that needs the same confirmation of accuracy that would be necessary if it came in via a phone call or email rather then a blog. New standards are not needed, just the same standards applied to new sources.

I think Professor David Hazinski could better use his time not teaching his students to fear the citizen journalist but instead embrace them as new sources of information and news that can help them, not hinder them, in doing their job of spreading truth, on conducting investigations, and on restoring faith in a journalistic system that few believes in any longer.

Special Commentary: NIE and Bush

Keith Olbermann did another Countdown Special Comment yesterday, this time about the NIE report and how it contradicts the doomsday statements from Bush about Iraq. For the last few months Bush has been building up to creating a third front on his so-called War on Terror (really War For Haliburton) by invading Iran. He was been following the Iraq playbook from 2002 point for point, all of them various tactics involving fear by using such terms as "World War III" and "nuclear weapons." The tactics are predictable, they are dangerous, and as Olbermann notes, they show either an incompetent President or a "unhinged, irrational chicken little of a President." I vote for both. A full transcript can be found here. Video is below.

Speed Racer Teaser Trailer

The teaser trailer for Speed Racer is out. I can't decide if its going to be any good or not. The trailer didn't exactly excite me but then I was never a Speed Racer fan.

Abstinance Only Education Failing

For the first time in 15 years, the teen birth rate has increased 3%. Government health officials are calling it a statistical blip but experts believe the cause is the abstinence-only education pushed by the Bush administration that doesn't teach about contraception. At the same time, other reports do indicate that condom use has gone up among teens.

I have no problem with abstinence education, I just take issue with the "only" part of it. The idea that if you don't talk about having sex and just say no no no will fix everything is ignorance. Actually its dangerous and irresponsible. There are literally lives at stake and to not take every step is making sure that they are safe, be it no sex or covered sex, should be taken. All sex education should stress abstinence but no that teenagers will be teenagers and some will have sex anyway. So arm them with the knowledge they need to get pregnant and get STDs. Abstinence and contraception should be the education standard in this country. (source)

White House Illegally Deleted 10 Million Emails

A new report indicates that the White House deleted not 5 million, but 10 million emails beginning with March 2003 to October 2005. This covers such fiascos as the start of the Iraq War, Katrina, and the Plame-Gate. This is all illegal according to the Presidential Records Act of 1978.

Considering the almost of incompetence, deception, and possible illegal action that where taken in that time period I find it really hard to believe it was an accident. Its pretty clear the White House is hiding things.

Click here to read about it.

Pac-Man Christmas Tree

Its a Pac-Man Christmas Tree in Madrid. Always weird to see how far the influences of American culture goes. (source)

GameSpot Responds to GerstmannGate

Gamespot has provided additional information to the firing of Jeff Gerstmann rumored to be caused by pressure from Eidos for a bad review. The article, written by Tor Thorsen (with his personal commentary here), knows that the article may not be believed and judged as damage control, "Guess what? You're right. It is damage control, because--let's face it--GameSpot has taken a beating over the past week. However, just because it's damage control doesn't mean we're being disingenuous or misleading." A valid point.

The article takes a Q&A approach to the controversy that repeats most of the previous comments that have come out about the issue.

I recommended reading the full text here.

To sum up it, Eidos had no hand in the firing, they did express displeasure at the review but to sles, not editorial. The pulled advertisements where done as schedule as based on the buy days of November 17th to 29th. Jeff was fired on November 28th, the exact reasons unable to reveal. The text for the Kane and Lynch review was altered because the negativity of the review didn't match its "fair" 6.0 score. The review video was removed (on November 14th) because of quality from a faulty microphone and limited game footage and has since been restored (youTube version here). GameSpot is currently doing an internal review to try and restore credibility with readres but "at no point in its history has GameSpot ever deviated from its review guildlines".

So there you go, GameSpots position on the issue. I personally wouldn't mind hearing Gerstmann's side of the story but he is bounded by the same legal issue that GameSpot is. They could sue him, he could sue them, it could get messy.

The whole thing still seems suspicious to me and the various rumblings suggest that sales has more of a say in editorial then it should. For instance, an analysis by Joystiq of the changes made to the orginial Kane and Lynch review made "significant changes to tone and focus", "edits...seem shoehorned in to point out potential positives", and "further edits that circumstantially seem designed specifically to placate Eidos.

In addition, 1UP is reporting that "series of advertising vs. editorial issues on GameSpot -- Sony Computer Entertainment America came down on the site for scoring Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction a 7.5 just a few weeks prior to the Kane & Lynch incident -- and the Eidos Interactive situation was where they finally drew the line." The line apparently being Gerstmann as an example. I guess this goes back to the nebulous and undefined "tone" reasons.

Adding to that you have rumor of a mass resignations of GameSpot employed from a "devasted, gutted and demoralized" editorial staff because of "a lack of transparency from management."

Remember that and others are just a rumor but still jibes with other information on the net about sales interfering with management including a comment from Gerstmann "As for the future of game journalism, you asked if it's realistic for readers to expect a church and state separation between editorial and sales. Realistic or not, I think readers should demand that from a publication." He wasn't talking specifically about GameSpot but find it hard to believe its not a jab in their direction.

About the only conclusion you can draw is the water is mighty murky on how CNET, GameSpot and possibly Gerstmann conducts themselves from an editorially side. Since advertisments is a primary source of their revenue and management inevitiably coming from a sales background, its hard to believe that pressure isn't applied on a regular basis in some form or fashion and this was just a public spectacle of the dam bursting.

In the end, if GameSpot wants to save its reputation, full transparency is required with a clear and defined wall between sales and editorial. Probably in the best interst of the company to make sure the wolf isn't guarding the henhouse and make sure that those making the decisions on things of this nature cannot and will not be influenced by sales.

GameSpot Posts Gerstmann Firing Article

Gamespot finally released an official article about the Gerstmann firing. The article does not provide any additional insight in the controversy instead simply stating he is not with the company, they "wish him nothing but good luck in his future endeavors" and that "CNET Networks nor GameSpot has ever allowed its advertising business to affect its editorial content" while reiterating that legalities and company policy are preventing them from speaking further on the issue.

Based on the rumors and comments from across the web including past and present GameSpot employees, it seems that while article says there is a separation of church and state, that doesn't seem really true as it seems the editors are more then a little away of the impact their reviews have on sales, suggesting at the very least a rather sizable leak in the wall.

CNET's Buzz Out Loud podcast was the first CNET related site to break the silence which could be summed up as "[Human resources is] not going to come and tell us why a dude got fired." This after a two hour mandatory meeting allegedly about the podcast delayed the meeting. How you can have a two hour meeting but apparently share zero information is beyond me. Basically the hosts reiterate their support of CNET and feel "that CNET will never dismiss someone based on outside advertiser pressure."

Regardless, the article nor podcast is not reassuring and there is definitely something going on behind the scenes that can only have a negative effect on how GameSpot and CNET site editors perform their jobs. Read the sites but sadly the information contained within is buyer beware from now on.(source)

Gerstmann / Gamespot Controversy Update

Its Monday and sadly for CNET and it's site Gamespot, the controversy surrounding the firing of Jeff Gerstmann for the rumored reason of a bad review costing the site thousands in ad revenue continues unabated and seems to be getting worse. The internets exploded over the weekend with comments all over the place, Eidos forums shutdown, and many Gamespot employees past and present carefully providing their own opinions. A list of those can be found here, towards the bottom.

More importantly the mainstream press such as USA Today, The Mercury News, The Guardian, and Dallas Morning News is starting to sniff around the edges of the stories with their own blogs commenting on it. A first step for greater unwanted attention.

Now people have planned Blackout Monday, where people refuse to visit or link to Gamespot and CNET sites. Planned at the last minute, doubt it worked but doesn't means later plans will not. There is also a plan to protest at CNET headquarters in San Francisco from December 8th to 10th.

Gertsmann has somewhat commented further on this controversy with Joystick but remains mum on specific details due to legal reasons. Basically he says he was shocked by the firing, stands by his reviews, and determining what he will do next.

Basically this story isn't going away like CNET wants it to. They need to say something or do something to repair their reputation because at this moment the rumors say that reviews and information can be bought. That makes their sites worthless. I personally have stopped listening to their podcasts and stopped visiting their sites for this reason. I am happy to change my mind but the silence is deafening.

GameSpot Editor Confirms Firing Reasons

The gaming sphere has blown up in the last 24 hours because of the firing of Jeff Gerstmann for a bad review of an Edios title that cost the website thousands in ad revenue. Gamespot, CNET, and Edios have all refused to comment on the story accept to say they did nothing wrong but when pressed for details will switch to "no comment". The end result is readers have no choice but to assume that the line between site business and site editorially simply doesn't exist and that favorable news and reviews are available to anyone who wants to buy them.

Valleywag is now reporting that an unconfirmed Gamespot editor has pretty much confirmed the above assumptions in a post on their forums. The text is reproduced below.

We're very clear in our review policies that all reviews are vetted by the entire team before they go live - everything that goes up is the product of an entire team's output. Our freelancers are especially guilty of making snide comments, but those are always yanked before the review goes live, because everyone in the office reads these reviews and makes sure they're up to our standards before they get put up.

If there was a problem with his reviews, then it would've been a problem with the entire team. Firing him without telling anyone implies that anyone else on this team can be fired at the drop of a hat as well, because none of us are writing any differently or meaner or less professionally than we were two years ago before the management changed. I'm sure management wants to spin this as the G-Man being unprofessional to take away from the egg on their face that results after a ten-year employee gets locked out of his office and told to leave the premises and then no one communicates anything to us about it until the next day.

This management team has shown what they're willing to do. Jeff had ten years in and was fucking locked out of his office and told to leave the building.

What you might not be aware of is that GS is well known for appealing mostly to hardcore gamers. The mucky-mucks have been doing a lot of "brand research" over the last year or so and indicating that they want to reach out to more casual gamers. Our last executive editor, Greg Kasavin, left to go to EA, and he was replaced by a suit, Josh Larson, who had no editorial experience and was only involved on the business side of things. Over the last year there has been an increasing amount of pressure to allow the advertising teams to have more of a say in the editorial process; we've started having to give our sales team heads-ups when a game is getting a low score, for instance, so that they can let the advertisers know that before a review goes up. Other publishers have started giving us notes involving when our reviews can go up; if a game's getting a 9 or above, it can go up early; if not, it'll have to wait until after the game is on the shelves.

I was in the meeting where Josh Larson was trying to explain this firing and the guy had absolutely no response to any of the criticisms we were sending his way. He kept dodging the question, saying that there were "multiple instances of tone" in the reviews that he hadn't been happy about, but that wasn't Jeff's problem since we all vet every review. He also implied that "AAA" titles deserved more attention when they were being reviewed, which sounded to all of us that he was implying that they should get higher scores, especially since those titles are usually more highly advertised on our site.

I know that it's all about the money, and hey, I like money. I like advertising because it pays my salary. Unfortunately after Kasavin left the church-and-state separation between the sales teams and the editorial team has cracked, and with Jeff's firing I think it's clear that the management now has no interest at all in integrity and are instead looking for an editorial team that will be nicer to the advertisors.

When companies make games as downright contemptible as Kane and Lynch, they deserve to be called on it. I guess you'll have to go to Onion or a smaller site for objective reviews now, because everyone at GS now thinks that if they give a low score to a high-profile game, they'll be shitcanned. Everyone's fucking scared and we're all hoping to get Josh Larson removed from his position because no one trusts him anymore. If that doesn't happen then look for every game to be Game of the Year material at GameSpot.

Now this post could turn out to be false but it has an authentic feel to it. Its sounds like the actions a suit would make, where numbers are the driving force and not much else. Its also clear that CNET needs to provide a comprehensive response to this event and a course of action that can restore trust back in their websites. Obviousily the first step is fire Josh Larson for gross incompetence for even creating this pretty predicable PR disaster and the second is create rules that establish a seperation of editoral from sales. Anything less is an improper response to this controversy.