I’ll save you the trouble of having to read a full review of Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2, folks. It stinks just like Part 1 stunk. Both parts are ridiculously repetitive and there’s only so much you can take of Rorschach hitting a guy in the nuts, head butting another and breaking some dude’s arm. There’s also the incessant repetitiveness of having Nite Owl lifting a garage door so that Rorschach can get through.

Really? All this over a snuff film, Rorschach? The gameplay is lackluster and the storyline makes it marginally tolerable. At least it comes with the Blu-ray Director’s Cut of the movie, which is visually appealing if nothing else.

Zing! Don’t try to watch your copy of Watchmen on your Vaio laptop with Blu-Ray on your Sony TV! Says one forum member at quartertothree.com

I bought the watchmen DVD. Pretty cool right. Tried to play it on my sony laptop hooked up via hdmi to my sony flatscreen. Crashed of course. This was only annoying. The next six hours spent upgrading and rebooting the sony software that the sony updater software forgot to tell me about was fun. Even now, I’m at a point where I can hear audio on the commercials, but my entire sony setup tells me it can’t understand the audio format when trying to play a sony blu-ray disc on my sony setup.

The author also notes that “Sony sucks balls the size of Los Angeles.” Another posulates:

Man, you wouldn’t believe the amount of trouble I had hooking up my PS3 to a brand new Bravia TV last month. It still won’t work over HDMI!

I truly believe the different departments of Sony Corporation are entirely staffed by different breeds of hamster.

I simply state that Sony has gone so far off mission that I wouldn’t be surprised if they start selling Sony Slap-Chops.

via BBG

Why am I so giddy over a movie that I wasn’t a big fan of? Because it comes bundled with Parts 1 and 2 of the Watchmen: The End is Nigh videogame. If you’re looking to pick up the movie, the videogame or both then WB has a few options laid out for you.

• Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience is a distinct, retail Blu-ray Hi-Def game and film hybrid which will include the Watchmen: The End is Nigh Parts 1 and 2 video game and the Watchmen: Director’s Cut on Blu-ray. This two-disc collectible set of the action-packed blockbuster includes an additional 25 minutes of footage not seen in theaters and exclusive artwork in a premium collector’s package. Both the game and Blu-ray disc are playable on the PLAYSTATION®3 entertainment system. Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience launches today for a retail price of $49.99.
• Watchmen: The End is Nigh Parts 1 and 2 is available today for the first time as a single game on Xbox 360 for $29.99.
• Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2 will be available for download on PC on July 29 and PlayStation®Network on July 30 for a retail price of $14.99, and on Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360 on August 26 for 1200 Microsoft Points.

I’d say go for The Complete Experience since it has the Director’s Cut and both parts of the videogame. But that’s just me.

If money is no issue, and you’re looking to play 1080p content—alt.binaries.hdtv.h264 says hi—on your big screen TV, you really ought to look into getting a proper PC, one with one of those fancy nVidia GPU that you can use to hardware accelerate said Blu-ray rips. That being said, it looks like LaCie just came out with a stand-alone device that should play most of the HD content you “find” online. Oh, it’s called the LaCinema Rugged HD, and LaCie wants $350 for it.

The device has a 500GB hard drive, which should be enough for plenty of feature-length movies. (I generally see 1080p movies anywhere from 7GB to 14GB in size.) It works with all the major codecs including H.264 and WMV9; it works with MKV! And as we all know, MKV has become the standard for scene HD releases. So, you put your file(s) on the drive, then plug the device into your TV using an HDMI cable. All of a sudden, you’re watching Che Part One or Watchmen in full HD.

(I doubt the LaCie people are thrilled with me referencing piracy so often in this post, but, really, how many of you are sitting there ripping Blu-ray discs? Is that even legal? It happens: people download stuff.)

My one concern is that, in my experience, on a lot of the better handled Blu-ray rips have pretty high video bitrates. (Here’s Children of Men, a 1080p Blu-ray rip.) So I don’t know how high that number can climb before the device starts to choke. Video at 720p shouldn’t present any problem.

Contrary to popular belief, I was not a big fan of the movie adaption of the Watchmen, but I didn’t think it was terrible. Anyway, the Blu-ray Director’s Cut will include the The End is Nigh PS3 game, Parts 1 and 2 of Watchmen: The End is Nigh film hybrid as well as the Director’s Cut that includes 25 minutes of extra footage.

Watchmen: The End is Nigh The Complete Experience is an innovative, retail Blu-ray Hi-Def game and film hybrid which will include Watchmen: The End is Nigh Parts 1 and 2 and the Watchmen: Director’s Cut on Blu-ray. This new cut of the action-packed blockbuster includes an additional 25 minutes of footage not seen in theaters only available on Blu-ray and DVD. The two-disc collectible set will also feature exclusive artwork in a premium package. The game will be playable on the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system which can also play the Blu-ray disc of Watchmen: Director’s Cut.

via Comics Alliance

One of Peter Ha’s favorite movies of the past few months, Watchmen, comes out on Blu-ray and DVD in late July. Maybe the 21st, maybe the 28th; who knows. What we do know is that the Blu-ray version of the movie will have some sort of viewing party mode that one dude already called “stupid,” an opinion I disagree with.

When watching the movie, the disc will go out onto the Internet and call up your Facebook friends. “Hey, guys, Peter Ha is watching Watchmen right now, do you want to watch the movie with him?” Then the disc syncs you all up and y’all can chat and so forth while watching the movie. Sounds harmless to me. I picture most Watchmen fans as huge nerds and tech geeks, tech geeks who probably own like 18 Blu-ray players, just because. Why wouldn’t they want to chat and whatnot while watching the film? Or, if they don’t want to, then don’t; it’s really not a big deal at all.

I think people are too quick to pull the “this is stupid, DO NOT WANT” trigger these days.

So Nokia has finally launched that Point & Find service into beta. Point & Find, you’ll recall, was first introduced at Mobile World Conference a few weeks ago, and it lets users—wait for it—point at things to get information. Right now, the service works with movies.

For example, you whip out your phone and point it at a Watchmen poster. The phone then pulls up all sorts of data, like the trailer, reviews, etc. It seems like a neat, shiny new way to market movies. Hollywood must be thrilled.

This beta is only available in the UK and U.S. And if I had a Nokia phone, and any interest at all in movies, I’d be all over this. Such is life!

Watch the video in HD over here.

Thanks for sending this in, Nick!

Just in cased you missed it earlier this week, it’s a fan created video. But it certainly opens the realm of what should never be. And for fan content, it’s really well done. And funny. And just… wrong.

Not to mention what Alan Moore would do to anyone who tried to create such a thing for real. The man is an animal.

Click the upper left Arrow to share this video

I’m still on the fence about the Watchmen, but I was fairly impressed by the opening credits. I actually think it was the best part of the movie. Heh. Anyway, if you’re interested then check it out.

via itsartmag

ItsJustSomeRandomGuy is on point once again with his latest creation, Hi, I’m a Marvel…and I’m a DC: Wolverine and Watchmen.

Here’s what went down today in the world of gaming.

The other week we told you about Atari’s Riddick title coming in April and today they’ve let loose the demo for Xbox Live. No word on when the demo for PS3 will drop, though.

Featuring the Athena Main Decks level, the demo showcases the evocative art style and breadth of gameplay contained in The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, including brutal melee combat, nerve-rattling stealth, and high-powered gunplay. Among other gameplay elements, the demo also lets players try one of the game’s unique features, controlling a Drone, while classic Riddick cut-scenes bring the harsh Riddick universe into sharp focus.

On the PC side, the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum title will be a Games for Windows Live title. It hasn’t been dated, but we’ll see it this summer along with Stormrise, Battlestations: Pacific and Red Faction: Geurilla.

For all the Watchmen fans in the crowd, the XBLA title Watchmen: The End is Nigh is available today for download on the Xbox 360 and PC. PS3 owners will have to wait until tomorrow. In case you’re wondering, this game takes place before the Keene Act gets passed and follows Nite Owl and Rorschach. It’s more or less a prequel to the story we’ve all read. You can play as either vigilante and they both have special finishing moves like Rorschach’s Rage and something to do with Nite Owl’s Owlsuit. There are six levels and you can play single player or split screen co-op multiplayer.

Capcom’s Resident Evil 5 launches on the 13th and they’ve come up with a pretty novel launch day stunt. Capcom has teamed up with American Red Cross and are encouraging gamers in LA to hit up the World of Wonder Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard to donate blood. While you’re there, you can play the game at one of the many kiosks they’ll have set up and enter for a chance to win a red RE5 Xbox 360 or the game itself. Capcom will also be handing out goodies like limited edition posters, buttons and other crap.

If you live in LA and want to schedule a time to donate bleed hit up this link.

When:
Friday, March 13, 2009
11 AM – 5 PM
Where:
World of Wonder Gallery
6650 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

EA Montreal is expected to announce a brand spankin’ new title on March 12th. No word on what the game is or even could be, but these guys developed Army of Two. Apparently there’s some sort of press event for local media in Montreal to come check out whatever it is, but there’s an embargo until the 16th.

And Majesco just announced that they’re bringing back A Boy and His Blob for the Wii. Look for it this fall.

One last thing. Microsoft is now including the NXE update on games as it’s a mandatory upgrade going forward. No word on which games will be the first to carry the update, though.

This news is coming straight from Home’s community manager TedTheDog. Enjoy. Now!

This week

Patch 1.11
This is a minor bug fix release and addresses a problem with Game Launching. If you opened the list of game sessions available at the same time one of the sessions launched it could cause a crash.

WATCHMEN
Two complete outfits for male characters and black & white t-shirts for male and female characters are now available for free from the Threads store. Some of the items are not quite ready and will follow on as soon as they are.

Clothing
Various items of free and purchasable clothing have been added

Whats coming soon

Street Fighter IV
The unlockable items are already available in Home and are rewarded for winning online matches in the game.
Purchasable outfits will be available within a few weeks.

Home Square
A slightly updated Home Square will arrive in early March, possibly as early as the 5th.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune Space
This is currently being worked on and we hope to release this for you within a few weeks

SOCOM: CONFRONTATION Space
This Space is also nearly ready but a specific date for its release is not yet available, but we are expecting it within a few weeks.

Siren: Blood Curse & Resident Evil 5, Warhawk
Content for all of these have arrived here and are being prepared for SCEE’s audience now. We will bring you more information on these as it becomes available.

Game Launching
Many titles are preparing support for Game Launching but this often requires a patch to their title. It is not our intention to be announcing new releases and patches to other titles here in the Home community but hope to bring you news in the coming weeks.

Music within Home
Playing your own music to others within Home is an extremely complex licensing issue that will take time to solve, if it is at all possible.
In the meantime we are investigating various ways of allowing you to play your own music to yourself. We are also talking to other 3rd parties about making their music available to you in various ways.

via CVG

via the Gizza

via Wired

Watchmen, the highly anticipated superhero film based on Alan Moore’s cult graphic novel of the same name gets yet another trailer. This one was released by Warner Bros. Japan today and features a lot of new (and fantastic looking) footage from the movie.

Watchmen is scheduled for release in the USA on March 6th, 2009. The movie is directed by Zack Snyder, the man responsible for 300.

No words. Just watch.

You probably need to be a comic book connoisseur to appreciate this, but here’s the new trailer for the upcoming movie Watchmen.

Like the trailer that debuted alongside The Dark Knight, it still has that Smashing Pumpkins song in the background. Why that’s relevant, I don’t know.

Still, as far as superhero movies go, this looks to be better than, say, The Fantastic Four, even though that’s not saying much.

For those of you who are still interested in seeing the potential train wreck that will be G.I. Joe: The Live Action Film and/or Star Trek and a few other future Oscar winners, we are pleased to inform you that a young man named icaddyforjohnnydrama saw them all and says that GI Joe’s trailer involves toppling the Eiffel Tower, Star Trek looks very fun, and the Watchmen looks pretty damn cool.

GI Joe – we saw a number of unfinished scenes including introductions to Duke, The Baroness and Snake Eyes. We also saw a computer generating scene which acted as a story board for the eventual filming. There was a scene where the baroness comes home to France and we got to see the mansion, another scene where a member of GI Joe is captured by COBRA, Chris Eccleston and Arnold Voslo both look on form. Finally we saw a scene which involves a MASSIVE car chase and the eventually toppling of the Eiffel Tower. The film itself look like typical Steven Sommers schtik, massively enjoyable, Sienna Miller looks amazing but I do not think it will fare well with critics, action is very stylised from the scenes I saw, the character development is terrible, Marlon Wayans in particular looked bad!!

Bad as in bad or bad as in badass? The world will never know.