The Slug

We're Embarrassed for Kim Cattrall

(AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Hello friends. So we're back in New York, but we wanted to tell you about something totally weird we witnessed while shopping at a mall in Seattle last week. OK. So a flat-screen TV monitor outside an Express had a message about a celebrity birthday. Naturally, we stopped to see what famous face was celebrating their b-day that day. The flat-screen TV read: "Kim Cattrall is 51 today." Wow. She looks great for her age, we told ourselves. Then, the TV said: "Happy Birthday, Kim!"

Ummm. Seriously? Here's our problem. First, why wish Cattrall a happy birthday on a mall TV monitor? Does anybody really think she's stopping by Auntie Anne's for a pretzel? C'mon. Everyone knows she's been shooting the "Sex and the City" movie in New York and was at the MIPCOM convention in France last week. (That's where the photo above came from.) Second, how dare they blast her age across the mall like that. Not cool. Third, her birthday was actually on Aug. 21. That birthday wish was well over a month late!

Let the World Cyber Games Begin

(AP Photo/Derrik J. Lang)

The World Cyber Games Grand Final — could that name be any longer? — kicked off here in Seattle last night with an Olympic-like ceremony. We've covered gaming competitions before, but we've never seen any video game contest as epic as the WCG Grand Final. Competitors from all over the world are battling each other  in multiplayer matches in games like "Gears of War," "Counter Strike" and "WarCraft III" throughout the huge Qwest Field Event Center. You can be a spectator online or in person. The action continues through Sunday.

It's a DigitalLife Afterall

(AP Photo/Hillary Rhodes)

Yesterday, we attended the first-day festivities at the DigitalLife technology, gaming and entertainment event here in New York. As far as video games go, there wasn't anything new. "Lord of the Rings Online." "BioShock." "Gears of War." Been there. Played that. (Of course, that didn't stop us from playing them again in this week's installment of "Up Down Left Right.") What was new at DigitalLife was a barrage of robot products. Spy bots. Cleaning bots. There was even a robotic Elvis. No thanks, DigitalLife. Didn't we learn anything from the "Terminator" movies?!

Ring! Ring! It's "Heroes" Calling!

(AP Photo/HO/Gameloft)

While everyone else was waiting in line for "Halo 3" last night, The Slug attended a preview event for Gameloft's "Heroes: The Mobile Game" at the Nokia flagship store in New York. Granted, the game looks more like "Double Dragon" than "Bioshock," but it's kinda cool 'cause you can fly around the city as Peter, teleport through a museum as Hiro and kick butt in a casino as Jessica. Most partygoers were bogarting the phones, but we did get to play the Jessica levels, which were far less annoying than any of Ali Larter's scenes last season.

Favoritest Photo of the Week: TV of the Future

(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

If you showed us our Favoritest Photo of the Week last year, we would've thought it was from the future. Oh wait. Then it would've been from the future, huh? Well, we would've thought it was from the distant future — or at least before December 21, 2012, which is the end of time according to the Mayans. We blame this line of thinking on that woman's ensemble.

A model holds a glass panel encasing a 29 millimeter (1.1 inches) thick prototype TV that Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. unveiled in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007. Sharp said the prototype TV is the thinnest, lightest and lowest energy-consuming liquid crystal display in the world. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

We're Good to Go ... Play Video Games

(AP Photo/HO/Red Mile Entertainment)

A few weeks ago, we told you about our time with "Jackass: The Game." Well, we've had a preview copy of the PSP version for over a month now and have completely mastered such stunts as launching our bodies over suburban terrain, stopping a shopping cart before it rolls off the edge of a skyscraper and vomiting up eggs — all without any trips to the hospital. Does this make us a professional now? Can we try these stunts at home?

Check out this week's "Up Down Left Right," asap's weekly gaming video co-starring moi, as we preview "Jackass" and two other upcoming PSP games that harness the full power of the handheld gaming device. Don't have a PSP? Well, lucky you because Amazon started accepting pre-orders today for the new light-as-a-feather-or-at-least-an-iPhone PSP that was announced at E3. No, they didn't pay us to say that. We'll be sticking with our clunky fat PSP 'cause we appreciate its curves, baby.

Set Your Wii Remote to Stun

(AP Photo/HO/Bethesda)

Here's some news that will surely please Trekkers and Wii geeks alike: Bethesda Softworks has announced that the first "Star Trek" game is coming to the Nintendo Wii (and Sony PlayStation 2) this fall. "Star Trek: Conquest" is set in "The Next Generation" era. The strategy space game will allow Wii captains to maneuver their starships throughout the galaxy with Wii remotes. What? No using your Wiimote as a phaser? 

Looking Back at E3

(AP Photo/Stefano Paltera)

After spending a week in Los Angeles with Becks, Posh and gaming geeks, The Slug is back on the East Coast, baby. This year's E3 Media and Business Summit will probably be remembered for its controversial decision to downsize and focus on compelling new content. Nintendo introduced two innovative controllers. Sony paraded its social networking platform "Home" and continued to tease with "Killzone 2." And Microsoft is putting its money on more family-friendly fare and something called "Halo 3." Find out what The Slug thought about the swag, setup and more as we ask ourselves questions about E3, after the jump.

Moment of E3 Reflection

(AP Photo/Stefano Paltera)

Now this is some social networking! During the first night of E3, The Slug attended five parties: Capcom and Sony's low-key cocktail hour, Nintendo's jumbo-shrimp-filled reception, Eidos' over-the-top "Age of Conan" celebration, Bethesda Software's Saddle Ranch Club rodeo and Electronic Arts' "Rock Band" concert featuring a super-secret performance by Queens of the Stone Age. You can see our exploits (in which we channel Brooke Burke from E's "Wild On") in this week's "Up Down Left Right."

Today, we've got meetings lined up with over a dozen game developers from  Midway to Microsoft to preview (and hopefully test drive) their upcoming games. It's strange. The mood seems to be somber at this year's downsized E3, despite the gaming industry's boom and game-play innovations. Perhaps that's just because of the hassle of getting from Point A to Point B since the expo isn't being held under one roof. Many are speculating it'll be the last E3 ever, but The Slug thinks this party is just getting started.

Back to School at E3

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

E3 festivities officially kick off tonight with Microsoft's press conference at Santa Monica High School. Yes, they're holding their press conference at a local high school. Microsoft is gonna fill an auditorium with a few thousand video game geeks. How redonkulous is that? If a bunch of football players barge in and start handing out wedgies, we're totally telling Mr. Belding. However, most gaming blogs are speculating that they're unveiling a new version of the Xbox 360. Score! We hypothesize it'll have something to do with recording television.

Favoritest Photo of the Week: Flipping for iPhone

(AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)

Did you get your iPhone yet? Neither did we! But these folks in line at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York are probably already watching videos of skateboarding dogs, reading The New York Times and chatting away on their new high-tech cellies. The Slug selected this as our Favoritest Photo of the Week because we loved that there's a guy doing skate tricks (that's such a Mac fanboy thing to do) right near someone who's sleeping. (And if you just can't get enough phones, check out this rad asap video featuring morphing phones through the ages.) Please leave a message after the original caption. Beep:

A skateboarder who was waiting in line performs a trick as he and others wait around the corner from Apple's flagship store (not pictured) on Fifth Avenue to be among the first to buy the iPhone, Friday, June 29, 2007, in New York. The long awaited gadget hits the market today. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)

"Heroes" and "Top Model" Going Mobile

(AP Photo/HO/The CW)

We're vibrating with excitement! The Slug learned today that "America's Next Top Model" and "Heroes" are being turned into mobile games. In the "ANTM" game from Artificial Life, players will train an avatar representing one of the ladies from the cycle 8 to become a top model. When that girl is eliminated, her avatar will be removed from the game. Harsh! And mini-games based on the show's modeling challenges (walking? connecting with the camera? uh, walking?) will be unlocked each week.

Meanwhile, in "Heroes: The Mobile Game" from Gameloft, gamers will be able to play as superhumans Hiro, Matt, Peter or Niki. (What?! No Claire?!) Interestingly, the press release says the game’s action, penned by writers from the show, will be based on "events from the electrifying first season as well as the hotly awaited second season." Hmmm. We're hot that this could possibly mean Niki will be included in season two. Both games will be available later this year.

Toy Fair 2007: Christmas Comes Early

(AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)

Yippee! The 2007 American International Toy Fair is in full swing, and The Slug will be reporting on — fine, playing with — all the new bizarre/silly/awesome dolls, robots, gadgets and games. We hear the Rubik's Cube will be showing off a new makeover and the "Desperate Housewives" will be in attendance, well, in doll form, anyway. Check back this afternoon for our take on the toy madness — unless we decide to never come back!

Gambling with the Stars

(AP Photo/Derrik J. Lang)

Well, The Slug made it to Vegas! We had no idea until we strolled through the casino that you could actually gamble alongside celebrities like The Munsters and Darth Vader. Seems like half of the slots here feature characters from television shows and movies plastered all over 'em. And some of them talk! After procuring some coinage, we tried out a few. Watch us lose the shirt off our back after the jump.

Watching the Wow Start

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

There are several things The Slug thought while attending the launch event for Microsoft Windows Vista today, such as "Wow, the line to get inside is long" and "Wow, this looks like OS X" and "Wow, this is way better than Windows 3.1." Basically, everything we said began with "Wow." After a one-song performance by Angels and Airwaves, Bill Gates and friends dazzled the audience with the new slick operating system. (Gamers unite! PC users can play games against Xbox 360 users.)

Afterwards, launch attendees noshed on fancy hors d'oeuvres and drank booze from three open bars. (Nothing for The Slug, thank you. We're on the clock.) For more on the Vista launch, check out our asap IM play-by-play of the ceremony. Tomorrow, we'll present 10 things we hate and love about Windows Vista. And the day after that we'll probably be saying, "Wow, mother, you shouldn't have bought Windows Vista if you don't know where your computer's on button is located."

How Does iCellular Phone Sound?

  (AP Photo/HO/Infogear)

The iPhone is here! The iPhone is here! Sound the alarm! Release the dogs! Everyone can leave school and work early today! Use exclamation points! In case you hadn't heard, Apple unveiled its 4- and 8-gigabyte portable just-about-everything device, making the iPod, Zune, Treo and Blackberry obsolete in one fell swoop come June. Ah, technology!

The Slug is still confused about that name. First, it's not just a phone. It can run Mac OS X. Second, the iPhone already exists. A quick look at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's site shows that there are nine instances of "iPhone" as a registered trademark. Plugging "iPhone" into the Associated Press photo archive turned up the above. Best (or worst?) of all, you can already get an iPhone (black or white) on Amazon. Impress your friends!

Our Favoritest Things in 2006

(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Our long national nightmare is almost over! The year-end lists that plague this time of year will be null and void at the stroke of midnight Sunday. So before we take off for a three-day weekend full of speculating and drinking, here's, um, yet another year-end list! We skipped the crap and just went for our favoritiest pop culture nuggets from 2006. If you disagree or think there was something better, we probably didn't see it — or you're just wrong.

Favoritest Viral Video: Reverend Alecia. She simply spun, spun, spun around on a gold lamé-covered office chair to "give praise to the name of the Lord," but there was something so hilariously beautiful about it. And just when you thought you've had enough, she spins via split-screen.

Favoritest Song: "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley. Sure, it's played out now, but we remember when, we remember, we remember at the beginning of the year when the infectious beat and repetitious lyrics shook our tush. While OutKast was busy making a movie, Gnarls Barkley's Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo filled the genre-spanning void with the bestest ditty of 2006.

Favoritest Commercial: Little Richard for Geico. Usually we cringe at celebrities shilling in ads. (Case in point: Alan Thicke offering a "second honeymoon" at the Tahiti Village in Las Vegas. Oh, brother.) But Little Richard steals the show while hawking car insurance with the best description of Thanksgiving dinner ever. Whooo!!!

Favoritest Reality TV Show: "Survivor: Cook Islands." It started with a scandal and could've gone horribly wrong. Instead, viewers of this aging reality show were treated to a season of interesting twists that had nothing to do with that racial divide. By season's end, we were left with a dominating multicultural alliance who concluded the potentially viscous game with more integrity than any previous season.

Favoriest Movie: "Borat" and "The Queen." We know. We know. We're lame for the tie, but we couldn't pick just one. Surprisingly, we sorta loved both for the same reason. These scathing looks at two very different cultures successfully undulated between real and fake, fact and fiction. "Borat" did it for laughs. "The Queen" did it for chills. And we're better for watching both.

Favoritest Roller Coaster: Tatsu. Opened in April, this soaring Japanese-themed coaster, which suspends riders horizontally, whirls 170-feet above Six Flags Magic Mountain's other rides and — gulp! — the ground. When we visited Los Angeles in October, we rode in the front and truly felt like Superman.

Favoritest Game Show: "The Price is Right." You can keep "Deal or No Deal," "1 vs. 100," "Identity" and all those other prime-time game shows. They're boring and, frankly, seem phony. We'll take the crazy everyday men and women who compose "The Price is Right" audience any day of the week. And although Bob Barker announced he's retiring next year, we think he's still got it.

Favoritest Scandal: Clay Aiken's hand. When the "American Idol" runner-up put his hand over Kelly Ripa's mouth on "Live with Regis and Kelly," it ignited a firestorm across daytime television. We're surprised it didn't cause any havoc in Harmony on "Passions."

Favoritest TV Show: "Heroes." While "Lost" was busy dragging out its tiresome mysteries — there, we said it — this superhero drama moved forward with superhuman speed, improving upon a very ehhhh first episode and veering clear of copying "X-Men" by focusing intriguing they-could-be-real characters. We can't wait until 2007 to find out if we're on the list!   

Favoritest Video Game: "Loco Roco." Our favorite game this year wasn't on Wii or PlayStation 3. It was on — gasp! — the PlayStation Portable. With spirited graphics, addictive soundtrack and innovate gameplay, we think this gelatinous puzzle game was more vanguard than anything on those next-generation consoles.

Favoritest Blog: Adrants. We love this marketing and advertising blog for exposing bizarre commercials, flogs and silly P.R. campaigns. In a year when the line between entertainment and advertisement became even thinner, Adrants was there to point its finger and giggle. (And no, we didn't pick Adrants because they linked to our HeadOn post.)

Favoritest asap Story We Did: Waiting for Cats. This past year, we had the opportunity to create stories about amazing people (Mr. T, Bazooka Joe), amazing animals (Lassie, mascots), amazing places (Costa Rica, Flea World) and amazing things ("Second Life," Mardi Gras), but our favoritest was simply tailing a group of talented teenagers who were putting on an amateur production of "Cats."

Welcome to the Toy Department

(AP Photo/HO/Discovery)

Time for one last look at an upcoming midseason show before 2007! If you count the AH-64 Apache Longbow or Dragon Skin body armor among things that are cool, you should check out Discovery's "FutureWeapons." Unlike sister show "MythBusters," the testosterone-fueld eye candy here isn't tenuously wrapped in a "Mr. Wizard"-like science lesson.

Nah, all baldheaded host and former Navy SEAL Richard "Mack" Machowicz does is excitedly explain what advanced weaponry is about to be detonated, fired, blasted, ignited, exploded or imploded. Then cut to the detonation, firing, blast, ignition, explosion or implosion. It's really that simple and fun.

Slug Gift Guide: Gentle Reader

(AP Photo/HO/Sony)

Granny likes to listen to books. That means gramps still likes to read them. (He's stubborn like that.) The Slug recommends you help grandpa get with the times by giving him a Sony Reader. At that Q&A we attended earlier this week, Sony Electronics president Stan Glasgow said Readers, which can hold up to 100 books each, were flying off shelves. The Slug tested it out and we can see why. It's light. It's easy to read. And it sorta looks like a book. But if your pa-pa doesn't like to read, just get him the fishy john instead.

Slug Gift Guide: Something Fishy

(AP Photo/HO/AquaOne)

Imagine the look of shock and awe on your daddy's face on Christmas morning when he goes into the bathroom to do his first No. 1 of the day and he sees that his standard porcelain throne has been replaced with a Fish n' Flush toilet tank aquarium. Could anything say Happy Holidays more than that? For $299, the Web site says the undersea commode will turn "the bathroom into the center of attention with its unique design of an aquarium that wraps itself around a clear inner tank." Fish not included.

Rolling in Sony

(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

The Slug attended a Q&A with Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics, at The Rainbow Room yesterday. Stuffy! Most of the face time was spent previewing what's to come at the Consumer Electronics Show next January — a 25,000-square-foot booth with the highest tower allowed in the convention —  and discussing high-definition television. After all, if you shelled out $599 for a PS3 (and/or beat someone up for it),  don't you want your games and Blu-Ray discs to meet their high-definition potential?

Glasgow said Sony surveys show most people — file The Slug under "most people" — don't understand HD television, especially the difference between 720p and 1080p screen resolutions. (Sony has a nifty presentation with their explanation here.) And what did Glasgow have to say about that massive PC battery recall? Well, this: "We could've fought it more. I think Sony took the high road on that. The good news is it's past us." Good. Now make more PS3s!

Slug Gift Guide: Buy the Book

(AP Photo/Derrik J. Lang)

Hope y'all didn't purchase all your holiday gifts on Black Friday. Beginning today, The Slug will begin presenting cool/weird/hot/stupid gift ideas. This is stuff that's crossed our desk, fallen on our heads or otherwise entered our personal space and made us go a.) hmmmm b.) ahhhh c.) ohhhh or d.) yummy.

First up: Something for granny that'll help her understand iPods. It's called Playaway. It's basically a tiny audio book player that you can plug headphones into. The online store sells everything from "The Da Vinci Code" to "The 9/11 Commission Report." Unlike an MP3 player, you can't change what's on it — which makes it perfect for regifting! We like 'em most because they look like lil' books. Cute, huh?

Zune Zune Zune in Your Boom Boom

(AP Photo/Derrik J. Lang)

The Slug made like Hiro Nakamura and transported ourselves one week into the future to play with the Zune on its launch date. Actually, in anticipation of next Tuesday's launch, Microsoft previewed the music/photo/video player for us and The Slug's wacky godmother/asap business reporter Stephanie Hoo this morning. Our first impression: We like it more than those iPods everyone seems to be carrying around these days. With 30 gigs of space, it's a biggie. The videos and photos are crisper. There's an awesome FM radio capability installed. And there's a neat wireless sharing feature.

But will Zune be enough to make iPod people throw out their nanos? Probably not. Marketplace, Microsoft's answer to iTunes, won't offer video download. That neat wireless sharing feature only allows transferred songs to be available for three plays or three days, which ever comes first. You can't transfer videos wirelessly. Oh, and our biggest complaint, which was also our problem with the new color nanos, is that Zune doesn't come in orange — only brown, black and white. Whatever. We're still gonna ask mommy for one for Christmas.

Napster Wants to Hook Up You

(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Look out, iTunes. Napster — oh, we remember when you were something that was illegal in our dorm room — just announced that customers will receive a free 512MB flash-based MP3 player when they sign up for three months of their portable music subscription service, which costs $14.95 a month for unlimited song downloads. Not as cute as or storage-laden as a nano but free is free.

This Beats the Heck Out of Simon

(AP Photo/Derrik J. Lang)

When The Slug was a kid, the only toys we had to play with were clothespins and tin cans. Oh, who are we kidding? We staged epic plastic battles between He-Man and G.I. Joe. But we most certainly didn't have digital electronics as playthings, which is why we were shocked when Fisher Price sent us their new digital camera and FP3 — Fisher Price, FP, get it? — player to test out.

Not matter how hard we tried, we couldn't get the Gnarls Barkley album to play on the Kid-Tough FP3 Player (and the headphones didn't fit our noggin) so we turned our attention to the camera, which was actually pretty awesome.

Using any excuse to post photos of our puppy, here's what our Kid Tough Digital Camera snapped. We even let him nibble on the plastic casing and it went undamaged. Not bad for something made for children ages 3 and up.