Welcome to From Somewhere, my semi-weekly digest of interesting nuggets strewn about the information highway. Be they about Technology, Pop Culture, or just random odd items, I’ll attempt to make sense of them…
The lines formed in anticpation of the one of the biggest events of the year–and I’m not talking about Snakes on a Plane. No, I’m talking about Madden 2007, which shipped on all consoles known to man this past week–although PS2 and Cube owners might want to wait for the upgraded versions when the Wii and PS3 ship.
Or–and this is just a suggestion–you could wait for the real NFL season (with the real John Madden) to start next month.
Or not.
Madden 07 promises a true football experience, and features the most realistic-looking players in a sports video game. Which kinda helps-considering Madden is the only NFL game in town (07 is year two of EA’s exclusive deal with the NFL).
Although I’d just like to see a football game using stick figures and ragdoll physics. Actually, Kingdom of Loathing with ragdoll physics would be kinda cool, come to think of it.
The Orange County rock outfit Supernova– most famous for the classic ode to “Chewbacca” from the film Clerks – has filed suit against Mark Burnett Productions and CBS (the producers of Rockstar: Supernova) to prevent further use of their name.
The Rockstar series, fresh from violating Michael Hutchence’s corpse last summer, is now in the midst of finding a lead singer for a band made up of hair metal refugees Tommy Lee, Jason Newsted, and Gilby Clarke (who, according to my notes, was a member of Guns’N’Roses for about five seconds). The completed band would be called–wait for it–Supernova.
Apparently, Alice in Chains had already replaced their dead lead singer, wanted more money, or perhaps had just taken note of what happened to INXS.
An attorney representing Burnett admitted the production was aware of the other Supernova (along with its three albums and the Clerks appearance), but noted that the case was “without merit” based on the fact that the band had disbanded in 1999 and had only reformed in May–shortly after the second Rockstar series was announced.
The band has filed for an injunction to prevent the eventual “band” from releasing or touring under the Supernova moniker. And of course, damages.
Meanwhile–the Rockstar Finale is set to air next month, and CBS has already renewed the series for next summer. No word yet which band (dead or already existing) will get the Rockstar treatment for season three.
EMI announced it was teaming up with Microsoft to provide pre-loaded music videos and other content for the Zune music player–the software company’s attempt to to make you forget Apple’s iPod. Microsoft has already lined up deals with most of the major labels and MTV’s new URGE service.
The Zune will reportedly have WiFi capability- which would allow users to purchase music on the fly and link up with other Zunes’ playlists. In addition to URGE, Microsoft will have its own branded music store which will also be available via xBox Live.
The Zune–which I should note has got to be the dumbest hardware naming this side of Wii–is tentatively set to drop in October, with the expected retail on a 30GB model clocking at $300.
NBC is plotting to make sure you have no excuse for not watching the Emmy-snubbed Battlestar Galactica series. A “Story So Far…” clip show has been produced to gently encourage viewers to watch the new episodes when the series returns to the Sci Fi Channel on October 6th.
Within the next week, the special episode will air on NBC, USA, Bravo, Sleuth, NBC HD, Sci Fi.com, and YouTube. The episode will also be available from the iTunes Music Store as a free Featured download (where the entire series is already available for purchase).
Further, Bravo will go a step further with the promotion, airing special episodes of Celebrity Poker Showdown (where it will be revealed Dave Foley was cloned by the Cylons back in Season three) and Project Runway (where the remaining designers will come up with snazzy new jumpsuits for the fleet). Gotta love synergy.
Interpol has been signed to Capitol Records, which means that 26 years after the fact, Joy Division will have their major label debut.
This week’s “sucks to be you” award goes to the 3 million Echostar Dish Network DVR owners who are now playing a waiting game as the courts decide if the devices are allowed to keep the box’s DVR capability. TiVo took the satellite television provider to court, claiming the company knowingly infringed on patents it filed for its own DVR boxes.
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge David Folsom granted an injunction in favor of TiVo’s claim-barring further sale of the boxes and ordering Echostar to disable the DVR function in all its units within thirty days. On Friday, a Federal Appeals Court stayed the injunction for an unspecified period of time. In its appeal, Echostar stated that it was “working on modifications to our new DVRs, and to our DVRs in the field, intended to avoid future alleged infringement.”
It should also be noted that Echostar’s counter-claim- that TiVo jacked their patents in boxes produced from 1998-2003-will be heard in 2007. All of which should give Echostar DVR owners just enough time to get all those Rockstar:Supernova episodes off their boxes.
