AZM Ally Greg sends word that the ever so shirtless Garrett Hedlund has been cast as the lead in the Tron sequel, now entitled Tron until they change it again. I haven’t seen anything he’s been in, but Greg quite liked him in Four Brothers. Oh wait, I forgot. I saw Eragon. But that movie sucked so bad that I completely forgot any of the secondary characters. So I am completely unfamiliar with Hedlund.

No new details about the plot, but Jeff Bridges will reprise his role as the now CEO of ENCOM Kevin Flynn. No word of Bruce Boxleitner or Cindy Morgan returning as Alan or Lora which would be so geekfully awesome, but I’m guessing they won’t.

If it lives up to the geek hype, Tron could be the big breakout flick for Hedlund and breath new life into the franchise. Here’s hoping for the best.

UPDATE: io9 has a little bit about Bruce Boxleitner’s involvement in the sequel. Looks like we’ll see the return of Alan 1! Hooray! Now I’m excited!

[Via Hollywood Reporter]

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Okay, so it’s a little late for a holiday post, but this is too funny not to share. This guy is really excited about his Broccoli Ocarina.

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Holy BALLS! This is absofuckinglutely AMAZING! Each frame of animation is hand drawn. And I thought Street Fighter II HD Remix was gorgeous. This thing looks better than most anime OVAs.

The down side is that only 20 characters will be playable which is apparently the lowest number in the franchise. But who cares! This shit looks brilliant! It’s set to hit Japanese arcades in April 2009 with home versions on the 360 and PS3 to soon follow and an American release some time after that.

2009, the year of the fighting game!

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I never got the chance to play Street Fighter IV at Magfest, but this shit still looks amazing! However, for the game to be playable, there MUST be a way to turn that fucking announcer guy off. Or at least change the language to something more entertaining like Swedish. Still, I’ve never seen Dan more badass than in this clip.

DO. WANT.

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This short film entitled In the Pursuit of Perfection tells the story behind the founding of Japanese sporting goods manufacturer ASICS and is pretty much the most amazing video I’ve seen in a good long while. Models were folded by origami artist Sipho Mabona with additional work provided by computer animators. I’ve watched this thing a few times and am still completely blown away.

Absolutely brilliant.

[Via Mabona Origami]

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AZM Ally Kensei Dave sent along the English language version of the Street Fighter Chun-Li movie which is pretty much like the Japanese version. So that guy with the frosted tips, Neal McDonough, is supposed to be M. Bison. I don’t know, he doesn’t seem very Bison like to me. Well, neither did Raul Julia. Bison is physically imposing, towering over all the other Street Fighters. He towers over his minions, commanding their respect with but a look. This McDonough dude is a shrimp compared to Michael Clarke Duncan who plays Balrog (so says the IMDB). I suppose McDonough’s performance could creep the shit out me with extra evilness. But frosted tips? Quite the opposite of imposing.

In terms of the fighters, we’ve got Chun-Li, Balrog, Bison, Nash, Gen, and Vega. And then we get some random new characters. Hard to tell who’s who from the trailer since no one is wearing their signature Street Fighter outfit from the games, but in some cases that would be just silly. Still don’t like Vega and now knowing that frosted tips guy is Bison, not so sure about him either. But I like Kruek as Chun-Li doing her little hadouken at the end there.

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And then he did that “One final thing” schtick and my ears perked up (well, my eye balls. One, because I was reading. Two, because they started to flair up after touching them for so long). iTunes will offer DRM-free versions of all its songs. By the end of March, all songs on iTunes will have the DRM-free iTunes Plus format available. If you wish to upgrade your current library to iTunes Plus, it’s 30 cents per song. As of yesterday, eight million of iTunes ten million song library now offer iTunes Plus versions. The final two million will be DRM-free by March. Not only is the iTunes Plus format DRM-free, it’s also higher quality than standard tracks.

I guess in a way, this isn’t such a big deal. Amazon has offered DRM-free mp3 downloads for a good while now at $.79 a pop. And in this case, Apple is following a trend rather than starting one. But as the top retailer of online music, when iTunes moves to drop DRM, that’s big fucking news. DRM has done little to stem the tide of piracy and now iTunes drives the point home with DRM-free music. In the very short term, I wouldn’t be surprised if all online music retailers abandon DRM altogether and just let people play their jams where ever.

The movie and television industries have caught on. By embracing technology, by streaming their content online, their fanbase is growing. Streaming television and movies are radically changing the way audiences enjoy entertainment. And the music industry is still putzing around with DRM. The fuck is wrong with them. The RIAA needs to be shut down. They’ve hurt music so much more than they’ve helped. They’ve tried their best to keep what used to be a revolutionary industry in the dark ages. It’s time to end them.

I applaud iTunes for moving in this direction and I’m hoping to see finally buried in the new year.

[Via Gizmodo]

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This March, Bandai Namco is releasing Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield Portable for the PSP. This is a port of the arcade game which puts you in a Gundam Pod for a first person, online, 4 on 4 orgy of hardcore Mobile Suit action! It looks like this:

Hmm… I must say that playing a PSP isn’t nearly as FUCKING AWESOME as sitting in a Gundam Pod. But I’m sure only the most insane Gundam Otaku would want to buy an actual Gundam Pod for their home. I mean, of course I would, but they probably wouldn’t sell a lot of them. So PSP it is. It would be really cool if the PSP had some sort of accelerometer so that you can scan left and right by actually moving the PSP left and right, but then I suppose you’d elbow your neighbor on the train into work. So that’s a dumb idea, too. Damn.

I think it’s a fun looking game. But the whole point of it is to sit in a pod and pilot a Mobile Suit. You won’t get the same experience with a hand held portable so it’s kind of hard to get too terribly excited.

[Via SRW Hotnews]

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This SD papercraft of Char’s Gelgoog is awful damn cute. And it comes with shield, beam rifle, and double blade thingy. The only problem is that the link to the pattern seems to be broken so for now, all we can do is ogle its cutie redness.

[Via Paperkraft]

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Ah! BBC has a YouTube channel and they posted their extended interview with Matt Smith. He sounds like he’s trying not to piss himself with joy. Got a bit deeper voice than I imagined, but I think he’ll do fine. No real info and you can’t tell all that much from this sort of interview, but he really seems excited, flabbergasted if you will. Well, here’s to Matt. Looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the role in 2010.

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