Thursday, June 9, 2011

UFC in Discussions to Purchase Controlling Interest in G4 Network from Comcast

I’m not sure how I feel about this.  Even though I’m an MMA fan, I don’t want to see them mess with the G4 lineup.  If the UFC takes over I’m afraid they will turn the entire network into an MMA channel, then we would lose shows likes AOTS and X-Play.  Also, where would I go to get my daily Cheaters and Cops fix?  The UFC should just start its own network.



Several reports have surfaced stating that UFC officials are in talks with Comcast to purchase a controlling interest in the G4 network.

The UFC has long flirted with the idea of starting their own network, but it appears they may be on the cusp of buying one instead.


Reports began surfacing on Wednesday that UFC officials were in talks with Comcast to purchase the G4 network.

Comcast took over NBC Universal in early 2011 with a buyout from GE for $13.8 billion. Since that time, different NBC affiliates have undergone changes under the new ownership and this would be the first major sale since they took over.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, later confirmed by the New York Times, the UFC is in talks to take over the struggling network, which is currently available in approximately 60 million homes.
The New York Times later reported that UFC officials were seeking to purchase 60 percent or more in a controlling interest of the G4 network.
The UFC has confirmed that they were in talks to secure a new TV deal because their current contract with Spike TV runs out at the end of 2011. While UFC president Dana White recently stated that they’ve had a great relationship with Spike over the years, the organization was open to exploring all options.

“Negotiations are negotiations, doesn’t matter who you’re talking to. I have a lot of respect and a lot of good relationships over at Spike TV, and we’ve been with them for a long time. They built us; we built them. We’ll see how the whole thing goes,” White said in May just after UFC 130 ended.

The negotiations between the UFC and Spike TV have been ongoing for quite a while, but according to sources money is at the heart of the matter as to why the two are not coming together on a new deal. The New York Times additionally reported that the UFC was seeking a $325 million a year fee for the network to continue broadcasting its programming.

Reports are that Comcast officials and UFC officials were meeting on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal.

G4 as a network has taken several hits over the past few years with dwindling numbers in the ratings, although they primarily serve the powerful 18-34-year-old male advertising demographic. The network lost a deal with DirecTV, which struck another blow to their viewership, but the UFC and Zuffa have had a longstanding relationship with DirecTV that could mend some fences if deal gets done.

A 2008 report by Variety stated that G4 was struggling in television ratings, but their cross format with content on the internet and podcasts gained much better numbers.

The UFC has long discussed moving content more and more to the internet and areas like mobile devices, and the G4 network along with its viewing base appears to be the most tech savvy crowd in the television world.

G4 as a network has also embraced mixed martial arts over the years, running several segments on the sport on the popular “Attack of the Show” program, as well as running a feature called “MMA Chokehold” where hosts and fighters break down the biggest bouts and make fight picks.

The network mostly boasts rehashed programming, but with original shows like “Attack of the Show” and the video game focused “X-Play,” G4 does play perfectly into the UFC’s brand of demographics and programming.

G4 host Blair Butler, who has done several segments with MMAWeekly.com over the years, has stated that there is a symmetry between what the network does and the sport of MMA. They have long embraced the sport, and with the UFC in charge and with shows like “The Ultimate Fighter,” as well as UFC live events on the network, that would only grow.

While no deal is done, the UFC being in talks to purchase the network could all but seal the deal that they will not be back on Spike TV beyond 2011. Although in the ever volatile world of television, anything can change the channel.

http://mmaweekly.com/ufc-in-discussions-to-purchase-controlling-interest-in-g4-network-from-comcast

Monday, June 6, 2011

E3 Microsoft

Microsoft's press conference just ended and I have to say I'm a little disappointed.  For the second straight year they pretty much jammed the Kinect down our throats.  Some of the Kinect stuff was cool, but the rest I really didnt care for.

Here are a bunch of videos from the conference:

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier


Halo 4



Mass Effect 3


Modern Warfare 3


Tomb Raider

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Ikea Heights

A little while ago I was listening to Joe Rogans podcast, and they were talking about this internet show that came out a while ago called "Ikea Heights", so I checked it out and thought it was pretty funny.

The show is actually filmed in a Ikea, and whats funny about it is its filmed when the store is open, so when you watch it you will see customers walking by looking at them wondering wtf they are doing.

So in your free time check it out.  The episodes are short.

Here is the first episode.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Anchor from Blackbeard ship recovered

Saw this story and thought it was pretty cool, so I thought id share.


(CNN) -- Dead men tell no tales, but the sea does, as shown Friday when an anchor was recovered from the wreckage of pirate Blackbeard's flagship.

An expedition off the North Carolina coast hoisted the nearly 3,000-pound anchor, one of three belonging to the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Crews were working in just 20 feet of water, according to the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

The Queen Anne's Revenge is believed to have run aground in the shallow waters off Beaufort in 1718. The ship was discovered in 1996, with piecemeal recovery of artifacts intensifying only a few years ago.


Staff from the department's Underwater Archaeology Branch are focused on "conducting a detailed assessment of the main mound to determine strategies for dis-assembly and recovery," according to the Queen Anne's Revenge website.

Conservation of the anchor may take four years.

The expedition is trying to score a trove of 18th-century goods, which will be used to educate the public and raise awareness of underwater preservation efforts. The site has already yielded more than 250,000 artifacts, including cannons, gold, platters, glass, beads, shackles and rope, according to the state.

The largest exhibit of fully conserved artifacts from the shipwreck will open at the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort on June 11, the Department of Cultural Resources said in a statement.


An article published in March on the Smithsonian website said the Queen Anne's Revenge was found to have about 225,000 pieces of lead shot and at least 25 cannons, many of them still loaded.

Romanticized in history books as a notorious ruffian, Blackbeard, born in Britain as Edward Teach, terrorized Atlantic seafarers from the shores of the American colonies to the Caribbean.

In November 1718, the captain, believed to be in his late 30s, died in combat against British naval forces. He was on board another vessel, Adventure.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/27/north.carolina.blackbeard/

Sunday, May 22, 2011

First Post In A While

Ok so this is my first post since March.  I stopped doing the blog because I was getting a lot of work for school and I felt like doing a blog was just something else I had to do, but now that the semester is over with I have a lot of free time so im going to start blogging again.

I dont really have anything to say right now, so enjoy the first image from "The Dark Knight Rises".  Its Bane btw.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Jon Jones Stops a Thief Hours Before His UFC 128 Fight

Ok this is pretty awesome.  Basically a few hours before his TITLE FIGHT at UFC 128, Jon Jones went to a park to meditate and he saw someone steal something from a car and took off.  So Jones and his trainers chased after the guy, caught him, and held him down until the police arrived.

Full Story:
NEWARK, N.J. -- Jon Jones has a specific fight day ritual. He likes to visit a spot with some natural beauty to feel the energy of nature. It's supposed to be a peaceful time, a way to collect his own power and find his focus.

On Saturday afternoon, his peaceful spot turned to chaos. Jones found himself in the middle of a robbery, and along with coachesGreg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, helped apprehend a thief
.

Jones said he and his coaches were just getting dropped off at a park in the nearby city of Paterson when his co-manager Glenn Robinson warned them that the area was known for its crime. The trio shrugged it off and was no sooner out of the car when they heard screaming. Before Jones even realized what was happening, Jackson and Winkeljohn took off after the perp, who had allegedly smashed a windshield and stolen a GPS unit. Jones, who ironically had the career ambition of becoming a police officer before turning to MMA, quickly followed them.

"I got these gazelle legs, and I'm running, and next thing you know, I catch up to my coaches," he said. "I said, 'What do we do? We going to catch this guy?'"

Jones said it was then he "put the jets on" and sprinted past his coaches.

"The guy looks back, he sees me," Jones said. "You know I'm 6-foot-4, and I said, 'You know I'm going to catch you, right?'"

The thief tripped over his own feet and as he tried to regain his footing, Jones kicked his ankle out, figure-foured his legs and helped hold him until the police came for the easy collar.



Jones said it was then that one of the cops realized who he was.

"The policeman said, 'What? What are you doing here? Aren't you fighting tonight?'" Jones said.

Jones then returned back to the woman who had screamed for help, and she thanked him and told him God would be with him as he fought.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/20/jon-jones-takes-unexpected-turn-as-crimefighter-before-winning-u/

O yeah, Jon Jones also dominated Shogun to win the belt.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

American Pie Reunion Planned

Im not sure if this is a good or bad thing.  I guess we will just have to wait to see how it turns out.

Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott and Eugene Levy will reportedly reprise their roles from the original American Pietrilogy for another feature film installment in the comedy franchise. 

American Pie became a direct-to-DVD cash cow for Universal after the original trilogy ended with 2003's American Wedding. This new film, which TheWrap claims will go before cameras May 24, will mark the franchise's return to the big screen. 

TheWrap says "Universal in negotiations with Thomas Ian Nicholas, Tara Reid, Chris Klein, Mena Suvari and Jennifer Coolidge. The studio is hoping to bring back most of the original cast." 

Harold & Kumar veterans Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg wrote the script for American Pie 4 and will also direct.



http://movies.ign.com/articles/115/1156052p1.html

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Zuffa and UFC Purchase Strikeforce

I dont know how many of you are MMA fans, but this is a pretty big deal.  As of right now Strikeforce is going to remain separate and continue to go about what they have been doing, but it probably wont be like this for long.  Strikeforce has a deal with Showtime that is going to end in two years.  After their deal is done Strikeforce will probably merge together with the UFC.  Its kinda similar to how Zuffa bought the WEC.  At first they tried to keep WEC separate, but after a little while the WEC's LHW, MW, and WW divisions folded into the UFC, and a couple years after that all of the WEC merge into the UFC.  After Strikeforce deal with Showtime is up, I expect to see them merge with the UFC.

Here a full article with more detail:

In a move that will change the mixed martial arts industry forever, Zuffa, parent company of the UFC, has purchased Strikeforce.
The deal was announced by UFC President Dana White in an interview with MMAFighting.com on Saturday.
“It’s literally official right now,” White said in the interview about purchasing the San Jose, Calif. based promotion. “We literally just closed the deal.”
MMAWeekly.com had been told by sources a couple weeks ago that  Zuffa was talking to their partners in Abu Dhabi at Flash Entertainment about funding to purchase Strikeforce. Flash owns a percentage of Zuffa, and the deal was likely marked by a financial undertow from both Zuffa and their partners in the Middle East.
Zuffa has made a move similar to this before when they purchased Pride Fighting Championships in Japan and also buying World Extreme Cagefighting a few years ago.
This move, however, may end up proving to be the biggest deal of them all, as Zuffa has now purchased the only other major MMA promotion in North America, and by far their biggest competitor.
White says the deal just came together recently, but emphasized the point that the UFC and Strikeforce will continue to run as separate entities.
“Let’s face the facts, Strikeforce is a brand that fans have come to like, that they do have a following, people enjoy the fights that they are putting on,” White stated.
In the deal, Zuffa will be the owner of the Strikeforce brand and library of fights, but the contracts of all fighters remain under the Strikeforce name and they will continue to operate “business as usual.”
White also confirmed that Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker will remain with the company in the same role as before. He will lead the promotion and have free reign to handle all fighter contracts and continue signing new deals with fighters as well.
Fighters will continue to fight under the Strikeforce banner, including Fedor Emelianenko, whose management company M-1 Global has had a volatile relationship with White and Zuffa for years. White maintains that Emelianenko will remain in Strikeforce, and they will honor all previous deals.
White stated that fighters such as Paul Daley and Josh Barnett will remain with Strikeforce and they will fulfill those contracts, but did point out that Daley will still never fight in the UFC again. What that means for his future beyond his current contract remains to be seen.
The women’s division in Strikeforce will also remain status quo according to the UFC president. He stated time and time again that everything running in the MMA promotion remains business as usual.
Strikeforce remains in a contract with Showtime for approximately two more years. White says that his partners at Zuffa will deal with them for any issues, as he has never held his tongue when talking about the cable company.
Strikeforce employees will remain “for now,” according to White, but Zuffa will lend a hand wherever help is needed, including any behind the scenes issues and production.
The deal is a landmark change in MMA as Zuffa now owns the biggest conglomerate in the fighting world. While White stated “business as usual” several times in his interview, the business of MMA is now changed forever.

And here is a video interview with Dana White about it.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/03/12/zuffa-purchases-strikeforce/

Friday, March 11, 2011

Black Ops the Best-Selling Game in U.S. History

It only took four months, but Call of Duty: Black Ops has already taken the top spot as the best-selling game in U.S. history.

Since its release in November, Black Ops sold 13.7 million units in the U.S. combined across Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Wii, and Nintendo DS, according to retail tracking firm NPD.

Below is the latest, best-selling list of video games in the U.S. to date as provided by NPD:
1.Call of Duty: Black Ops
2. Wii Play W/ Remote
3. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
4. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
5. Guitar Hero III Legends Of Rock
6. Mario Kart w/Wheel
7. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
8. New Super Mario Bros DS
9. Wii Fit
10. New Super Mario Bros. Wii 
Note: NPD has only begun tracking video games sales since the late 90s. NPD does not track digital game sales.


http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1154965p1.html

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Old Spice Commercial Behind The Scenes

This is pretty cool.  If you ever wanted to know what it looked like when they filmed these here it is.
Actual Commercial 
Behind The Scenes

Friday, March 4, 2011

UFC On Versus 3 Gifs

Sanchez vs Kampmann
Bowles vs Page
Roller vs Tavares

Like last time this page might take a while to load but if you wanna see the whole set






Tuesday, March 1, 2011

L.A. Noire Gameplay

A little while ago a made a post about L.A. Noire posting the trailer and pics from the game.  Well here is a vid of some game play that passed by me but im posting it now and it looks pretty awesome.

Here is some info about the interrogation aspect of the game.
Each interrogation in L.A. Noire features the same set-up, whether it's a person of interest or a potential witness. You pick from a list of possible questions, listen to the answer (watching your subject the entire time), and then decide if they're telling the truth, holding something back, or flat out lying. The interface lacks an imagination -- a matter-of-fact list hovering in the top left corner of the screen -- but the results are pretty spectacular. Catch someone in a lie and there's an instant sense of satisfaction you rarely get in video game conversations. 

The trick is figuring out who to believe. If you haven't been following L.A. Noire, it uses a slick new MotionScan technology that renders an actor's face to perfection. Every furrowed brow, quivering lip, and shifting set of eyes is replayed during conversations, making for true performances on screen. That also means you aren't reading some animator's guess at how someone would act if lying -- you get a trained actor's interpretation of a character. If you've ever watched an episode of Law & Order and tried to figure out who was trying to pull the wool over Sam Waterston's eyes, it's pretty much the same feeling in L.A. Noire. 
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1152742p1.html

Sunday, February 27, 2011

UFC 127 Gifs

Penn vs Fitch
Bisping vs Rivera
Sotiropoulos vs Siver
Lytle vs Ebersole 

This page will be slow but if you wanna see the whole set

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Microsoft Welcomes Xbox Kinect 'Hackers'


Microsoft is to open up its Xbox Kinect technology to allow amateur software developers to experiment with it.
The company is to release a software development kit in the spring, which will give developers access to the secrets behind the technology.
For now it will only be for personal use, but Microsoft says it will release a commercial version in due course.
Kinect, which turns the player's body into a game controller, has been a big hit since it launched last November.
It has already captured the imagination of the hacker community, which has been demonstrating various uses for the technology, including 3D photography.
Microsoft is hoping that an army of smarter developers will now find more ways to take Kinect to the next level.
"As breakthrough technologies like these reach scale, the resulting creativity and invention will open up a whole new world of possibilities for computing," said Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer.
The announcement was made during an open day at Microsoft's research centre near Seattle.
The company is hoping that the success of Kinect, developed by its own scientists, can give it a greater presence in the home entertainment field.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Shane Black Set to Direct Iron Man 3

The man who gave the world Murtagh and Riggs is taking over theIron Man franchise. Deadline is reporting that Shane Black, the writer of Lethal Weapon and writer/director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is in final negotiations to direct Iron Man 3. 



Black's name surfaced recently as a contender to both write and direct the next Iron Man film, but it was stressed that he was not the only candidate for the job. While it looks like he's now locked in to direct, it's not clear if he is also writing the film yet, with a source telling Deadline, "That's not figured out." However, given that Black's background is first and foremost as a writer (with credits including Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight), it would be surprising if he was not also writing Iron Man 3. This will be Black's second film as a director, following Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - which starred Tony Stark himself, Robert Downey Jr. 

As Deadline notes, the news that Black was even a possibility to take over the Iron Man franchise from Jon Favreau (who is moving on to Disney's Magic Kingdom, after Cowboys & Aliens) got extremely strong response from fans – which couldn't have hurt his chances of getting the job. 

It had also been reported that Downey had approval when it came to hiring the director for Iron Man 3. It seems he was as eager to work with his Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director again as fans of that beloved cult film were to see them collaborate once more. 

Before returning to an Iron Man solo film, Downey of course will first reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man in The Avengers. Iron Man 3 will open May 3rd, 2013. 



http://movies.ign.com/articles/115/1150765p1.html

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Dead Island

When the axe sinks into rotten flesh, it buries deep, spraying gore with its impact. The blow cripples the shambling beast, buying precious seconds. But the strike, like its predecessors, is also costly. Repeated contact with ligament and bone has blunted the scavenged weapon. It will need repair soon, and if none can be made, it will be tossed aside in favor of something shiny and new. 

This is the brutal combat of Dead Island, a world overrun by infected humans. They're aggressive beasties with superhuman strength and a taste for the red stuff. Like other zombie games (and there are many), the players are the last holdouts against the tide of a shuffling undead mob. And while it would be convenient to provide them with a magical room full of firearms with which to dispatch the problem, the makers of Dead Island have settled on a different approach. 




The Royal Palms Resort is perched on the remote island of Banoi in Papua New Guinea. It's a tropical paradise turned tourist magnet, remote and exotic. Not the sort of place you'd expect to find scattered caches of weapons, boxes of grenades, rocket launchers leaning against walls, and mounted machine guns. In an effort to preserve that reality, Techland, the developers of Dead Island, have stripped those handy gaming conventions away, leaving a stark reality in their place.

Rather than run-and-gun their way through a meat maze, players will be forced to scavenge for objects and use them to beat their undead foes into submission. There are precious few firearms scattered around the island (and even less ammo), so the majority of the combat will be intimate. Knives, machetes, bats, broomsticks, pipes – these are your defenses against the horde of infected monsters. It's survival horror with a melee action twist, and it's disgusting.
Start choppin'.

Publisher Deep Silver and developer Techland recently showed me an early build of Dead Island, and the zombies were horrifying in their varying states of decay. With each blow, their already sloughing flesh fell away in sprays of blood, revealing layers of muscle underneath. The publisher describes Dead Island as dark, twisted and gritty, and the tiny sliver I've seen seems to support those claims. This is not the campy world of Dead Rising.

Dead Island's developers call it a "first-person zombie-slasher/action-RPG." That's a mouthful, and it's still unclear what the balance will be among those descriptors. Players will be able to choose from a cast of pre-set characters, including a former rapper named Sam B (the only character revealed so far).

If you have any doubt about how serious the Techland developers are about the setting and storyline they've created, watch the chilling Dead Island trailer. We watch a lot of video game trailers at IGN, but few cause crowds of editors to gather and watch in silence. This was one of the exceptions.

The player is cast as a guest vacationing at the posh hotel. When the zombie outbreak occurs, he and a handful of other guests remain uninfected. They set out on a mission to escape the island, but along the way, they'll uncover the secret behind the mysterious outbreak. Although Dead Island is a story-based experience, it's built for co-operative play, and Deep Silver says up to four gamers can drop in and out of the game seamlessly. But if you don't want to play with friends, you can also play through the game alone.

Although the player starts out as a simple tourist with minimal zombie-killing skills, his traits will improve along the way, thanks to a mini role-playing system built into the game. Although Deep Silver isn't spilling all the details yet, we know there will be a leveling system and a skill tree. As the player progresses, his stats will increase and he'll gain access to new combat abilities and animations. 



Beautiful. In a horrible, zombie-ish sort of way.

If Dead Island sounds familiar to you, then you have a good memory. It was originally announced in 2007, but no publisher was officially attached. Techland worked on other projects in the years since, but Dead Island was slowly shuffling along in the background. Now, Deep Silver is on board, and the game seems likely to see the light of day. It's scheduled for a 2011 release on Xbox 360, PC and PS3, but no specific dates have been revealed yet.

Dead Island's concept is striking. Place players on a tropical island; surround them with zombies of varying shapes, sizes, speeds and abilities; place only found objects at their disposal; degrade their weapons over time; and set the whole adventure against a backdrop of mystery and drama. But will a first-person melee combat action game with RPG elements really work? 


I've seen so little of Dead Island that it's impossible to make that call yet. The idea of an all-melee zombie game is great on paper, but when the baseball bat hits the bone, will it be exciting enough to sustain an entire game experience?

Will the constant hand-to-hand combat wear thin, or will the collectibles, storylines, environments and tense moments make up the difference?

I'm hoping to see a lot more from Dead Island in the months to come. I've been following its development for years now, and it should be fascinating to see how it turns out. Regardless, it's great to see a developer taking the zombie genre in an entirely new direction. Here's hoping the folks at Techland and Deep Silver are as good at making games as they are at making trailers. 


http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1150368p1.html

Friday, February 11, 2011

X-Men: First Class

Here is the trailer to the newest X-Men Movie.  Im glad they are doing something new with the franchise.  The last X-Men movie wasnt that good.


Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Lohan Rumored for Superman

I really hope this isnt true.


Lindsay Lohan is reportedly under consideration for a major role in director Zack Snyder's Superman film. 

According to TMZ, "Lindsay's people have had multiple phone conversations within the last few weeks with the people behind the new Superman reboot. We're told Lindsay is up for a role in the flick -- and while it isn't Lois Lane, we hear it would be a 'major character.' We're told Lindsay is supposed to meet personally with the Superman people soon -- but she might be a little busy with that felony grand theft charge thing." 

Rumor has it the second female lead in Superman will be Ursa, the Kryptonian villainess and Phantom Zone escapee played by Sarah Douglas in Superman: The Movie and Superman II.



http://movies.ign.com/articles/114/1148391p1.html

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Silva Front Kick

If you haven't seen it here is the front kick Anderson landed on Vitor.




If GIFS arent working just click.

Here is the rest of the GIFS from UFC 126.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Man Dressed As Breathalyzer Sentenced To Jail For DUI


The human Breathalyzer will soon trade his Halloween costume for jail scrubs.
Matthew Nieveen, 19, who was wearing a breath-test costume when a Lincoln police officer stopped him for drunken driving after leaving a Halloween party, was sentenced Wednesday to 90 days in Lancaster County jail.

In addition to his jail term, which starts Monday, County Judge Jean Lovell revoked Nieveen's driving license for three years and ordered him to pay $1,300 in fines.
The officer who stopped Nieveen's pickup said Nieveen had watery eyes and slurred speech and smelled like alcohol. Police said they found a bottle of vodka, a half-full bottle of Mountain Dew and vodka, and several cans and bottles of beer in his truck.
The officer cited Nieveen and took him to Cornhusker Place, where, a police report says, his blood-alcohol content tested more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent for non-minors. The legal limit for minors is zero.
At trial in January, a jury found Nieveen guilty of driving under the influence, minor in possession, careless driving and having an open container. Lovell later found the DUI to be Nieveen's second offense.