The War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast - October 30th, 1938

The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells‘ novel The War of the Worlds.

The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast was presented as a series of simulated news bulletins, which suggested to many listeners that an actual Martian invasion was in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a ‘sustaining show‘ (i.e., it ran without commercial breaks), thus adding to the dramatic effect. Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic, careful research has shown that while thousands were frightened, there is no evidence that people fled their homes or otherwise took action. The news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast, but the episode launched Welles to fame.

Welles’s adaptation was one of the Radio Project’s first studies.

Below is the radio adaptation in seven parts using YouTube. This program is still a lot of fun to listen to and holds up VERY well on its own considering that it was broadcast 70 years ago. Enjoy the show and have a safe and sane Halloween. Read more

Commands & Colors Ancients Expansion #4: Imperial Rome Makes the Cut

Congratulations to designer Richard Borg and all the members of his development/testing team, as Commands & Colors Ancients Expansion #4: Imperial Rome has just passed 500 orders on the P500 list and thus Made the Cut.

We’ll keep you guys updated on getting a production slot for this game as orders progress. Thanks again to all of you for your ongoing support of the P500 program.

Source: GMT News Read more

Essen 2008 Report - Boardgames Everywhere!

Thanks to Ward Batty from icv2 for this report.

Editor and writer Ward Batty, who has over 30 years experience in retail management and publishing, sent us this report from the recently completed game fair in Essen, Germany.

Every October, over 150,000 board game enthusiasts fill a space about nine times that of Gen Con to check out the hundreds of new games that debut at the show each year.  This year’s fair is against a backdrop of continuing softening sales in the German boardgame market, which would have fallen even more last year except that Germans discovered Texas Hold ‘em Poker and everyone bought poker chips, which are included in the game sales totals.

A famous designer that I’ll decline to name once told me the reason board games sell so well in Germany is “there is nothing else to do.”  Stores close early; few businesses are open on Sunday.  However, it appears that the same forces that have reduced the time many families in America spend together, such as the XBox, or cell phones, are now having the same effect in Germany and families, especially with older kids, simply don’t play boardgames the way the once did.

Still, for an American gamer, it is amazing to attend an event where publishers have the resources to erect massive displays and hire dozens of people to teach games.  Just to see boardgaming as a mainstream activity is a delight.  Nothing is more attractive than a cute girl with big bags of games in each hand.

The most common theme for games this year seemed to be race games.  A number of them should appear on store shelves throughout the year.  My favorite was Fast Flowing Forest Fellers, a new Friedemann Friese game race game about log-rolling that could be compared to a simplified Robo Rally, which will be available from RGG.

Read more

Review: Vampire Hunter D - Vol 1

Here is a great review by Theron Martin over at Anime News Network.

SYNOPSIS
In the wake of an apocalyptic war, vampires – eventually popularly called Nobility – rose to supernatural, psychological, and technological dominance over humanity despite their daytime weakness. They rebuilt the world to their liking and, for thousands of years, subjugated what was left of humanity through power and terror. Gradually their dominance waned and a class of Hunters able to fight them and their genetically-engineered denizens arose, but still they remained fearsome presences. In the frontier village of Ransylva, farm girl Doris Lang, the tough and beautiful daughter of a Werewolf Hunter, has found herself the target of the ancient vampire Count Magnus Lee, who seeks to draw her into the Nobility and marry her, much to her dismay and to the consternation of the Count’s daught Larmica. Thus she seeks out the aid of D, a passing Vampire Hunter who also happens to be a dhampir (i.e. a half-vampire). What follows is a multifaceted battle between D and Doris, Magnus Lee, Larmica, village tough Greco (who is obsessed with Doris), and a deadly band of mutant bandits led by the suave but lethal Rei-Ginsei.

REVIEW
In the early 1980s, writer Hideyuki Kikuchi, heavily inspired by the 1958 American movie Horror of Dracula, penned the first of a long line of Vampire Hunter D novels, two of which would eventually be made into anime movies. The first, an iconic 1985 movie
based on the seminal novel, is one of those anime movies that nearly any anime fan whose fandom dates back at least to the ’90s has probably seen at some point, as despite its aged technical merits it still stands as a classic tale of a stoic hybrid hero and his battle against the forces of darkness. (And if you are too new to fandom to have ever seen it, Halloween is an ideal time of year to check it out.) Due to the popularity of that movie and its 2000 follow-up, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, Digital Manga has spent the last three years releasing many of the novels in the series. No place is more fitting to start reviews with than with the original, however. Read more

Michael Turner Tribute Coming Out Next Week

Newsarama has a great piece on a tribute to the late Michael Turner…

When artist Michael Turner passed away in June, the comic book industry reacted with an outpouring of emotions that proved what a lasting effect he had on those whose lives he touched.

Next week, the company he founded, Aspen MLT, is releasing a collection of artwork and stories by comic book creators in A Tribute to Michael Turner, an 80-page softcover book that will benefit Turner’s favorite charities. As Aspen’s Editor-in-Chief Vince Hernandez told Newsarama in September, Turner’s friends and colleagues wanted “to do something to remember his name and his legacy,” something that “fans could have forever.

As Hernandez shared some of the pieces that will be in the book, Newsarama talked to him about what fans can expect to see in A Tribute to Michael Turner and how the response from creators surprised even him.

Newsarama: First, Vince, how did the book turn out? [Aspen President] Frank [Mastromauro] told Newsarama in Baltimore that you guys were getting a lot more stuff than you expected for this collection.

Vince Hernandez: Yeah! It worked out that way because when we first started, we had a list of people we knew we wanted to include and people who had mentioned it to us beforehand that they wanted to participate, so we had that basic list to go off. And by the time we went to print on it, there was about 50 percent more people than we anticipated. It’s huge!

NRAMA: How many pages is it? Read more

More ‘Star Trek Online’ Answers

More details are given for Star Trek Online enabling fans to know what to expect when the game is released.

As reported by Star Trek Online and Startrek.gamona.de, questions ranged from weaponry and Federation foes, to space travel and time frames.

Both the Klingons and Federation will have access to martial arts or weapons. But Star Trek Online developers caution that “it may be more difficult for a Federation character to obtain a bat’leth or a Klingon Empire character to acquire a lirpa.”

And skills will be important. Players are cautioned that “a Federation character may be able to pick up a bat’leth and use it, but without training he or she will be less effective than a Klingon who has studied the use of the weapon. And certain martial arts may be limited by faction or race. Not everyone can perform a Vulcan nerve pinch.”

Combat isn’t limited to hand-to-hand. Starship combat will require that one has full control of one’s ship and that will be available to players. The player’s ship will be able to be maneuvered to protect vital systems while at the same time trying to attack the enemy’s weakest point.

And what about the enemy? Although the Romulans and the Dominion are penciled in as future player factions, players will make contact with those two empires before that. According to Star Trek Online, “But how could we call the game ‘Star Trek Online’ and not include the Romulans and the Dominion?”

Star Trek Online isn’t solely blasting the PetaQ Klingons to StoVoKor though. There are planets to visit and systems to explore. Players and their away teams can transport down to planets. However, if a planet or location is only accessible via shuttlecraft, the player won’t be able to manually fly the shuttle through the atmosphere and land on the surface of the planet.

Star Trek Online will have a progressive timeline. According to the developers, “Expect dramatic and subtle changes in the timeline and expect every change to make sense.”

To read more, head to the articles located here and here.

Source: TrekToday.com

J. Michael Straczynski Updating ‘Forbidden Planet’

Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski, who also wrote Clint Eastwood’s upcoming Changeling, is writing a long-in-the-works update of the SF classic Forbidden Planet for Warner Brothers, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Joel Silver is producing via Silver Pictures.

Warner picked up the project on the down-low earlier this year. As late as last year, it was set up at DreamWorks, with David Twohy attached to direct. Prior to that, New Line had it. James Cameron, Nelson Gidding and Stirling Silliphant have been associated with the remake over the years.

Released in 1956, Planet told the tale of an expedition sent from Earth to check on a colony of scientists on a far-off planet. They find two members, a man who has found alien technology that doubled his intellect, Dr. Morbius, and his daughter, both of whom have managed to survive an unseen monster roaming the planet. The movie is loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

The movie, directed by Fred Wilcox, starred Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis and Leslie Nielsen, but is perhaps best known for the character Robbie the Robot.

Source: Scifi Wire Read more

Scifi Channel Greenlights New Reality Series ‘GameQuest’

SCI FI Channel has given the green light to production of WCG GameQuest (working title), an eight-episode elimination-style reality competition that pits 12 contestants against each other in a series of video-game challenges in order to find the “Best All-Around Gamer”; the show is slated to premiere in the first quarter of 2009.

The series features top game titles from various studios and includes physical challenges that bring video games to life, as well as elimination challenges in an arena before hundreds of spectators. This exciting new format features a diverse group of contestants who embark on an intense and emotional journey, all hoping to win a prize package that includes $100,000 and trips to future World Cyber Games (WCG) events across the globe.

Source: Scifi Channel

City Of Heroes Coming To The Mac!

Today, October 30th, 2008, NCsoft announced a partnership with TransGaming, Inc. to bring the award-winning City of Heroes franchise to the Apple® Macintosh® computer platform for the company’s western territories. The Mac version will be available for public beta testing with the release of the game’s thirteenth free expansion, Issue 13: Power and Responsibility this fall. The official launch of the Macintosh version is planned to follow shortly thereafter via a special digital-only edition.

For more details, please click here to read the full press release. Here’s an excerpt:

“Players will soon be able to join the battle of good versus evil in the most popular comic book MMO on both the PC and Mac platforms…and in the same game world,” commented Brian Clayton, executive producer of City of Heroes for NCsoft West. “Given Mac’s fame as a platform for creative people and City of Heroes’ unprecedented character customization options, I think City of Heroes is a perfect fit for the Mac gaming community.”

For anyone interested in pre-ordering the Mac version of City of Heroes, please visit Gametree Online.

Additionally, If you are interested in getting an early look at the Macintosh version of City of Heroes by taking part in the open beta test, click here to sign up!

Source: CityOfHeroes.com

War Machine’s First Appearance: Iron Man #118 - 1979

A little information and background on Jim Rhodes AKA War Machine…

James Rhodes grew up in South Philadelphia. Bullied as a child, he was determined to get out and make something of himself, eventually becoming a U.S. Marine. Rhodes served several tours in Southeast Asia, studying while in the service to become an aviation engineer. As a soldier, Rhodes was willing to kill if a mission required it, but every life he took would haunt him. During one mission, Rhodes’ helicopter was shot down and he crashed into the jungle. He was found by Iron Man, who had only recently escaped from Wong-Chu and needed transportation out of the combat area. Iron Man helped repair Rhodes’ helicopter and the two men made it to safety together. Afterwards, Rhodes was approached by Tony Stark, Iron Man’s “employer” (in fact, Tony Stark was Iron Man). Stark offered Rhodes a job as his pilot, and Rhodes agreed to take him up on his offer when his service was over.

Rhodes was true to his word, serving for some time at Stark International as Stark’s personal pilot and becoming Tony’s close friend. Rhodes was forced to watch as Stark gave in to alcoholism, and finally, during a battle with the villain Magma, Stark went into battle as Iron Man while intoxicated. After a humiliating defeat, Iron Man went to Rhodes to help recharge his armor, and inadvertently revealed his double identity to Rhodes. Too inebriated to continue his fight with Magma, Stark passed out, and Rhodes donned the armor in order to save Stark International from Magma’s rampage. Rhodes succeeded in his first mission, and Stark asked him to stay on as Iron Man so that he could continue to pursue his life of alcoholism. Read more

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