They are going to turn Steven King’s Dark Tower into three feature length movies and a TV series, they being Universal Pictures and NBC, with Ron Howard in charge initially, directing the first feature film and the first season of the TV show. That’s a lot of screentime, but The Dark Tower is a lot of story, with 7 novels (and an eighth in the works), short stories, tie ins and appearances with most of his other books, a series of comic book prequils, and an online RPG. This one could be a true monster.
The new BBC iPlayer was rolled out yesterday, and it looks good. Unfortunately most of the video is not available outside the UK at the moment, but there is a subscription service in the works for the rest of us. But the radio segment works very well indeed wherever you are, with all the great programing one has come to expect from them, including my favorite, BBC Radio 7.
On the 2010 TV Choice Awards last night, Doctor Who was voted Best Family Drama, and Ashes to Ashes got Best Drama Series; congrats to both shows!
Also from BBC Worldwide comes two new games; Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth for the DS, and Doctor Who: Return to Earth for the Wii. The must-have for the DS games is the Sonic Screwdriver Stylus, while the mandatory item for the Wii is the Sonic Screwdriver Controller (Wii Remote). Unfortunately, so far the games are licensed for the UK, Australia, and parts of Europe, but not for the US. The stylus and Wiimote are not subject to the same kinds of licensing restrictions as the games, so those will hopefully be available to all of us.
If this was an Anime I would be so there; the style in this preview slips back and forth between dimensions, and it looks like there are murders to solve (or at least avoid becoming another victim). But this is the game Catherine, being released soon for the PS3 and XBox360. Either way, it looks like a fun world to hang out in.
When did you first start playing the game Metroid, and when did you last play? This one has been around for 25 years or so, and has been ported through a number of platforms (all Nintendo flavored). But if you are planning to go for the upcoming Metroid: Other M, you will probably need to refresh yourself on the back story. In the first video, Samus Aran (the heroine) brings you up to speed on the history, while in the second you get a trailer of the new game. Thanks to Kotaku for the heads up on this one.
Playing Doctor Who, that is. It has frustrated me for years that the BBC kept developing all kinds of wonderful online games that folks in the UK got to play, but the rest of us were locked out of. They have finally come up with a solution for that: Direct2Drive Dr Who is now an option for those of us on this side of the pond. Admittedly it costs money (4 or 5 dollars compared to free to folks in the UK), but since the previous games were not legally available at all I consider this a serious improvement, and will be handing them some cash.
In the meantime, you CAN have some fun working out the Doctor Who Jigsaw Puzzles, and they are a bit of a hoot.
The new Resident Evil trailer is out, and looks quite good. I am not a horror movie fan, or a fan of movies based on games, but the Resident franchise is done very well, and looks more like an Aliens-style action adventure to me. The Elvis on Black Velvet speed painting video may not be genre, but William Gibson sent out the link, and it was too much fun sad to share.