K Monthly - May 2010

By Michael McWhertor

K Monthly - May 2010

K Monthly - May 2010Welcome to the May 2010 edition of K Monthly, a look back at some of the best original coverage, including reviews, previews, features, weekly columns and more from Kotaku.

It was a month of big changes, with Resistance developer Insomniac Games moving on to greener, multi-platform pastures and key Xbox execs making their own moves. It was a somber month, with the deaths of legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, actors Gary Coleman and Dennis "King Koopa" Hopper hitting within a few weeks of each other.

May also featured some amazing guests on the weekly Kotaku Talk Radio podcast, including Sid Meier, the creators of Red Dead Redemption, ModNation Racers and Alan Wake. Catch up now if you missed any of the following stories from May.

—-

TABLE OF CONTENTS

May 2010

FEATURES

REVIEWS

PREVIEWS & IMPRESSIONS

COLUMNS

Well Played by Brian Crecente

Stick Jockey by Owen Good

Tim Rogers

Leigh Alexander

Lisa Foiles

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May 28: Google-AdMob; Apple TV; IRMA-3 Strikes; "Glee"-Download Sales

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May 28, 2010 · Today's Sponsor:
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Top Stories

Mountain View, Calif. - Google announced on Thursday that it has closed its $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising form AdMob. [more..]
Los Angeles - An anonymous tipster tells Engadget that the next iteration of Apple's streaming media server, Apple TV, will abandon the set-top box shape in favor of a smaller device based on the iPhone that will sell for $99, down from the $230 price tag of the current model. [more..]
Los Angeles - After a successful lawsuit against ISP Eircom that resulted in the introduction of a "three-strikes" policy that disconnects repeat file-swappers, the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) has taken legal action to compel the implementation of similar policies by mobile network operators O2 and 3 Ireland, according to published reports. [more..]
Copenhagen, Denmark - Denmark's Supreme Court has ruled that local ISP Telenor must continue to block access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, upholding the rulings of two lower courts. [more..]
New York - Fox's "Glee" has so far driven sales of more than 7.3 million song downloads, including 2.5 million in the past six weeks alone, according to Nielsen.
[more..]
Arlington, Va. - For the first time since the start of the financial crisis, sentiment among U.S. senior executives about the next year's economic outlook has crossed into positive territory, according to a new survey by the Corporate Executive Board (CEB). [more..]
San Jose, Calif. - BlockChalk, the provider of a neighborhood-based social networking service, has raised seed financing from a group of investors that includes Battery Ventures, Mitch Kapor, Harrison Metal, Founder Collective, Joshua Schachter, Josh Stylman, Tom McInerney and David Liu.
[more..]

DMW Notice Board

International Game & Film Lounge, Los Angeles, June 14, 2010
UPDATE:  Dan Winters, VP, Developer Relations and Acquisitions, Activision Blizzard, will be featured in  a keynote interview with Marty Poulin, CEO at ShadyLogic Studios. Ronald Azuma, Research Leader, Nokia Research Center Hollywood to deliver Keynote Presentation on augmented reality, location-based services for media and entertainment. New speakers announced from Lionsgate, NBC Interactive, Tokyo Pop, Imagination Studios, Team 17, Starbreeze Studios and many more!
Together with our friends at Variety and Nordic Game, we are pleased to announce the agenda for our second annual pre-E3 transmedia event. This year's event features two keynotes, demos and a showcase as well as 6 panels and bustling after-party by the pool! We invite you to join an exclusive group of decision-makers at the event and take part in the discussion with executives, investors, analysts, press, filmmakers and gamers who will be instrumental in shaping the future of the game and film business. We are accepting speaker submissions and offering sponsor/exhibit opportunities now. Please contact Event Director Jay Baage via email (jay@digitalmediawire.com) for more information.
Register now for only $249. Limited number of tickets available.

Opinion & Analysis

Los Angeles - Remember our article on Jay Park a few months ago? Over the past few months, we have gotten to know this incredibly talented artist and today, we are pleased to announce that DMW's CEO and entertainment attorney Ned Sherman is representing artist Jay Park (aka Park Jaebeom) with respect to his global entertainment career. [more..]

Briefly Noted

Los Angeles - An anonymous source tells Edge-Online.com that Microsoft's Project Natal motion-based game system will begin selling in the U.S. from October for $149, or in a bundle with the Xbox 360 Arcade for $299. [more..]
San Francisco - Nokia and mobile browser developer Opera Software have stated they will support the new version of Adobe's Flash development platform, CNET News com reported. [more..]
Los Angeles - Boxee, the provider of a Web-to-TV streaming service, said this week that it has added live music content from Wolfgang's Vault. [more..]
New York - Satellite radio firm Sirius XM on Friday announced the release of a mobile radio streaming application for Google Android-powered smartphones. [more..]
Toronto - Kobo, a maker of e-book reader software, announced on Friday that it has released its iPad app in all markets where the iPad is available. [more..]

Extras


Job/Event/Marketplace Classifieds


- Gannett Digital - McLean
- VMIX MEDIA INC - San Diego, CA
- Socialcast - San Francisco, CA
- Zynga - San Francisco
- Synacor - Buffalo, NY
- Live365 - Foster City
- Amazon.com - Seattle, WA

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Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time Movie Review

By Luke Plunkett

Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time Movie Review

Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time Movie ReviewAs the most high-profile video game movie since 1993's Super Mario Bros., Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has a lot riding on it. Which for a movie like this, is a little unfair.

See, being a Disney movie, with a big budget, big stars and big names behind the scenes, I think people may go into this hoping that, perhaps, Hollywood would finally make a great movie based on a video game. Something gamers can point to and say, yes, this is what we want when Tinseltown comes knocking.

Prince of Persia is not that movie.

Loved
It Doesn't Suck - I'll deal with this in more detail later, but on the whole, this is a solid, if unspectacular adventure movie. It does what it does, and it does it well. Jerry Bruckheimer may look like a fox, but he's canny like one, too: He knows how to craft a piece of entertainment. It may not win any awards, but not every movie has to; some can just be a cheap thrill, a guilty pleasure. This is one of those films.

The Sands Of Morocco - While the film suffers in parts from an overuse of CGI, in others its visuals are breathtaking, the backdrops and environments doing their best to turn a fluffy family adventure movie into something Lawrence of Arabia would be proud of.

Yup, It's A Video Game - The advantage of basing a movie on Prince of Persia is that the series doesn't really have an established canon. There are no real characters or plotlines to violate. All this movie needed to do to stay faithful to the source was to make sure the Prince was as nimble as a cat, and decent with a knife. On both counts, he succeeds, the frequent use of (appropriate) acrobatic moves doing a better job of bringing the character to life on the big screen than 1000 pages of dialogue could have managed.

Roguish Charm - Jake Gyllenhaal does a passable job as Prince Dastan, even appearing genuinely dashing at times in his tense relationship with Gemma Arterton's Tamina, but Alfred Molina's Sheik Amar is the one who really kicks the movie along, his brevity providing a welcome injection of humour at key points to an otherwise blandly serious film.

Ostrich Racing - Ostrich racing is awesome.

Hated
Scooby Doo - The end of the film dances a very fine line between being clever and being contrite. While it succeeds on the whole, there's a certain section that plays out like the end of an episode of Scooby Doo. It's torture.

The Sands Of Time - The movie is too long. There comes a point around 2/3 of the way in when you think, yes, with this story and these characters, this is a good point to end it. Sadly, it then drags on for another whole plot arc, and while the end ultimately justifies the means, the plodding pace of the middle section of the film undoes a lot of the great work done by its snappy opening and closing sections.

Plot By Numbers - I get that producer Jerry Bruckheimer packages entertainment. He doesn't craft fine films (though director Mike Newell sometimes does!). I also get that the primary audience for this flick will be families, not grizzled cinema snobs. But this movie is at times unbearably predictable, its clichés coming thick and fast, particularly towards the end of the film.

I think it's terribly unfair for gamers to continually hope that a single film can somehow light up the genre. That after two decades of Tekken and Doom we'll somehow get lucky and land a Citizen Kane. It's just not that easy.

Look at comic books. It took years of trial and error before films worthy of Batman and Spider-Man could hit the silver screen, and I think video game movies are going through that same teething process. A process in which Prince of Persia may ultimately play a vital role.

Why? Because it doesn't suck. Sure, it's no blockbuster. It'll be lucky to get a sequel, let alone go down in history as an epic tale of sand, back flips and knife-play. But it's a solid film. It has a decent cast, a decent story and some decent effects. Most importantly, though - for me at least - for the first time in my life I could sit down with my wife, watch a movie and not feel embarrassed to say it was based on a video game.

And surely that counts for something.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was directed by Mike Newell and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Released in North America on May 28.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

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Get Ready for E3 10, A New MMO Report and More!

May 28, 2010
G4
News From The Feed Reviews Previews Videos
Road to E3 2010: Emerging Tech
E3 2010 is just around the corner, which means it's time to hit the road to find out what tech will be debuting! Check out Morgan Webb and Abbie Heppe as they preview the emerging tech from motion control, 3D gaming, Project Natal and more.
Best of X-Play
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Casey returns to tell you about World of Warcraft's Remote Auction House, the planet Hoth in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Uncle Casey's mail bag!
NCAA Football 11 will cater to 120 different play styles that you can use to fit your favorite teams march to victory.
This Saturday night, May 29th is the world broadcast premiere of the original short film made from Red Dead Redemption, created and directed by John Hillcoat. Check out the trailer for the 30 minute short film and be sure to tune in to FOX.
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Vote For Your Favorite Booth Babe In Our E3 Booth Babe Contest
Win a PlayStation 3 Signed By George Romero
Rumor: Project Natal Officially Named Wave?
4% Of Gamers Are Playing 48.5 Hours Of Games Per Week -- Who Are They?
Reports Suggest Home Leaving Beta In December -- Not So Fast, Says Sony
E3 2010: Our First Look And Hands-On With Killzone 3
Red Dead Redemption Short-Film Trailer Looks Familiar
Tomorrow's Warrior Premieres On G4 On June 3
de Blob: The Underground Details Bouncing Around
Alice Cooper, Stone Temple Pilots And National Anthems Coming To Guitar Hero
Square Enix Announces Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes Of Light For October
April 14, 2010
Adam and Morgan review Again for the DS and the TV show-based game Prison Break. Then, get previews of NBA Jam and 3D Dot Heroes. Plus, Pro Gamer Tsquared drops by and gives you tips for dominating the Afghan map in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and get a look at the latest gaming keyboards. X-Play starts tonight at 6:30 PM!
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