The perfect place to crash for a hub of news and reviews on all the Music, Films, TV and Games that are making a noise in short bit size pieces and all in one place on a weekly schedule. If it's a smash hit, it's on crash hub.
Written by Tom and Kieron...
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds New Single
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds are set to release their new single Everybody's On The Run on August 6th. The song is the epic rock-orchestral opener from last year's album Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.
Green Day ¡Dos! Album Trailer
On Friday, Green Day released the trailer and album art for the second album ¡Dos! from their upcoming trilogy. ¡Dos! will be released on the 13th November, following ¡Uno! which will be released on the 25th September.
For more information on the first album in the trilogy, ¡Uno!, click here.
Isle Of Wight Festival
With no Glastonbury to contend with, Isle Of Wight was big this year. My favourite acts were Elbow and Bruce Springsteen. For highlights of the weekend, click here.
Labrinth Announces New Single
Labrinth announced that Treatment from his debut album Electronic Earth would be his new single. The music video has been filmed and will be on the web very soon (so will probably feature in next weeks news). Labrinth also appeared in BBC's Project Hackney documentary alongside Plan B and Leona Lewis.
The Fratellis Reunited This story is actually a bit old now, but it's all news to me. The Fratellis were a cheeky rock band who were most famous for their album Costello Music which the famous track Chelsea Dagger came from. The band reformed for a charity gig earlier this month, and they will be doing more gigs, dates for which are gradually being released. Yesterday, the band announced a gig in Glasgow on the 26th September.
For more on this story, click here.
Happy Birthday! Best wishes to guitarist Jeff Beck who turned 68 yesterday.
And that's all for this week. Let us know what you think, especially your favourite acts at IoW, in the comments. Tom :)
This week windows released there new tablets and phone:
Many people say this is the IPad Killer!
As standard they both havefront and rear-facing cameras, an SD slot, along with some neat tricks: a magnesium casing protection, DisplayPort out, Gorilla Glass, a kickstand and a subtle groove around the entirety of the device.They will have a 16:9 "ClearType" 1920 x1080 display. ClearType is aiming for Retina connection. It is 208 pixels per inch which is slightly less then the Ipads 264. Microsoft also claims they will have the best Wi-Fi reception of any tablet, with 2x2 MIMO antennae (wireless antennae that are harder to block while you're holding it).
Surface RT: This focuses on low power and being thin and small and cheap...er. It has an ARM processor (this is like a phone chip) and will run windows RT not Windows 8. It is 9.3mm thick which is thinner then the Ipad and 1.5 pounds (680g). It will be available in 32 or 64 GB of storage.
Surface Pro: This will run a Ivy Bridge Core i5 x86 processor have a USB 3.0 port and other ultrabook-y specs. It'll be a little thicker (13.5mm), a little heavier and
be available with either 64 or 128 GB of storage. But most importantly it runs Windows 8 all of it. It will support semantic zoom and it will provide a perfectly superflat frame for the perfectly superflat Metro UI. And it will run the desktop meaning that you can put all your normal applications on it ie. photoshop. It will also have apps that go on the startup menu if your not familiar see my post on windows 8 here. It will probobly cost about the same as an Ipad.
The final big selling point of these tablets is that they can be paired with a magnetic super thin cover. That has a keyboard and mulitouch trackpad that apparently...WORKS, WELL.
And just the other day they announced the Windows phone: This will be dual-core. It will support 3 resolutions: WVGA at 800x480px, True 720p at 1280x720px and WXGA at 1280x768px.
Directed by: Joss Whedon Written by: Joss Whedon Starring:Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston Release Year: 2012 Genre: Action Certificate: 12A
What do you get when you give a 12 year old boy a litre of coke and 50 blue smarties, then tell him to write a list of everything he wants in a film? The answer is Avengers Assembled. There is more explosions then a popcorn machine on overdrive. And yes this is a good thing. And when there isn't any explosions there is sexy fighting from black widow or a massive green hulk smashing everything to pieces.
The film also has some memorable and funny quotes and scenes and it is hard to choose my favorite. It is well directed and written throughout and I never felt like there was a bad line or moment.
The story line is alright, but then with a film like this a lot of action sequences would suffer with an in depth story line so this was not needed. Some things that bothered me in the film was how powerful Iron man, The Hulk and especially Thor are compared to the rest of the gang. I mean, what can Captain America do, really? He is a slightly stronger then a strong human and his shield would be better off in say Thor's other hand. Obviously paint it so it looks less like a giant lolly pop then we can kill off Captain America.
Another slight moan is that although Hulk did look really good in this movie there was still a couple of moments where he looked unnatural (well apart from being a giant green man, you get what I mean though right).
I would defiantly recommend this film and I might even be one of the people who goes back and watches the re-release with an extra 30 minutes (if it is released), because it is that good.
1. Prometheus
Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror adventure mash-up is still at number 1 in it's third week. Although, I doubt it will still be here when Spidey turns up next month and blows it out the water. For our review of Prometheus, click here.
2. Men In Black 3
The sci-fi comedy is still kicking, a non-mover from last week. For our review, click here.
3. Snow White and the Huntsman
Another non-mover from last week. NEWS: If you enjoyed the film, a sequel has been confirmed.
4. Rock of Ages
I really really really want to see this film. I know it's got pretty poor reviews, but I love the music, and it's got Russell Brand in it. New this week.
5. The Pact
Moved down one from last week.
6. Red Lights
I love supernatural films, and I think Cillian Murphy is brilliant. I can't wait to see this film. New this week.
7. Avengers Assemble
Just uttering it's last dying words before Spidey and The Dark Knight Rises battle it out to be the next big superhero movie. My money's on TDKR. Down 2 from last week.
8. Fast Girls
This new olympic-themed chick flick starring Being Human's Lenora Crichlow is new this week.
9. What To Expect When You're Expecting
This is a non-mover.
10. Top Cat - The Movie
Everybody's favourite cat is just hanging off the bottom of the charts this week after moving down 4 places.
There's this week's chart. Any surprises? Let us know in the comments. Tom :)
Hello again, it's Thursday, and we bring you movie news.
Joe Cornish For Snow Crash
For those of you who aren't familiar with the name Joe Cornish, he made his directing debut last year in Sci-Fi/Comedy hit Attack the Block. I'll admit, I am yet to see the film, but I have only heard good things and as soon as I have watched, a review will be heading your way.
Anyways, the news is that Cornish will be directing upcoming Paramount film Snow Crash. The film will be based on the Neal Stephenson book of the same title, which was released in 1992. Paramount attempted to make a film of the book when it was first released, but it never happened. For those who aren't familiar with the book (and that's me included), here's a synopsis from amazon: From the opening line of his breakthrough cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson plunges the reader into a not-too-distant future. It is a world where the Mafia controls pizza delivery, the United States exists as a patchwork of corporate-franchise city states, and the Internet - incarnate as the Metaverse - looks something like last year's would lead you to believe it should. Enter Hiro Protagonist - hacker, samurai swordsman and pizza-delivery driver. When his best friend fried his brain on a new designer drug called Snow Crash and his beautiful, brainy ex-girlfriend asks for his help, what's a guy with a name like that to do? He rushes to the rescue. A breakneck-paced 21st-century novel, Snow Crash interweaves everything from Sumerian myth to visions of a postmodern civilisation on the brink of collapse. Faster than the speed of television and a whole lot more fun, Snow Crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible.
I can't wait!
For more on this story, click here.
Exclusive Look At Pixar's Brave
This film looks alright, and hopefully it will be able to renew the magic that we know Pixar is capable of. A new preview clip was released on Thursday. To watch it, click here.
Preview Clip From The Amazing Spider-Man
You may have noticed, me and Kieron are getting a little bit excited about this film. Mainly because it looks awesome!!!
In the original comics, Spidey is renowned for his smooth, sarcastic wit. And it seems the guys behind the upcoming film have really grasped that in this new preview clip which was released on Sunday. Brilliantly written and very funny acting from Andrew Garfield. Check it out below:
Also, loving the music from James Horner.
Abraham Lincoln: Publicity Stunt
Cast and crew of the upcoming movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter flew out to USS Abraham Lincoln ship as it patrolled Middle Eastern waters for a special screening of the film for the sailors. Actor Benjamin Walker, who plays America's 16th President in the film, even showed up in full costume, including fake beard.
For more on this story, click here.
First Look At Disney's Maleficent
This week, filming officially started on Disney's upcoming live-action fantasy film Maleficent. The film is an origin story about the title character, who is the villain in the animated classic Sleeping Beauty. Angelina Jolie is in the lead role, and Disney released this photo of her to publicise the start of production.
The film is due for release in the US on the 14th March 2014.
The Watch New Trailer
This upcoming comedy shows a lot of promise to be the big comedy of the summer. But can it take the top spot from Men In Black 3?
Lots of news this week, and that's your fill. Which of these upcoming films are you most looking forward to? Let us know in the comments... Tom :)
Developer: Valve Corporation Publisher: Valve Corporation Director: Joshua Weier Writers: Erik Wolpaw, Jay Pinkerton, Chet Falisek Platforms: PC, Mac, PS3, Xbox 360 Genre: Puzzle-Platform Age Rating: 12 Release Year: 2011
One of the most anticipated games of 2011! The best puzzle game I have ever played.
If I had a moan it would be: Why is this a 12, what?, how? if this were rated by movie ratings it would be below a U, it is that child friendly.
Now where to begin. The gameplay is: You are, in single player, a human who wakes up in aperture science, a testing place run by robots. Only you have over slept by a long time and the place is now falling apart. You and your robot sphere thing try to escape with the help of a portal gun. So the portals work so that when you shoot your portal on to a wall and the other on to another you then teleport between the portals when you go through it. This muddles with physics a little but you get used to it. In the game you get sent through many individual tests or puzzles which are sometimes difficult, I would say perfect. In each test there are many other obstacles and guff but I won't tell you what they are, that would spoil the surprise. They are very clever and well used. It is the simplicity and uniqueness of the gameplay the idea of the game that makes it such a hit.
Stephan Merchant
The game does have a story behind it. The writers have got the perfect balance of voice acting to gameplay and story adds lots of engagement to the game. Thumbs up, well done. Now the voice acting. This game has won awards for its well scripted and incredible voice acting. All the characters are very funny. The three main characters for voice over are: Wheatly (your robot friend) voiced by Stephan Merchant, GLaDOS who is voiced by Ellen McLain and Cave Johnson voiced by J.K Simmons. Here is some voice acting from the start of the game when GLaDOS awakens. It has Wheatly and GLaDOS voice acting. It has no puzzle answers in it. Very funny watch it :D. J.K Simmons also has some top notch quotes, but I wont spoil them.
The game also has a Co-Op mode. This is very good and online is via steam and cross platform. Thumbs up valve. However you do have to connect with friends and using the network of that platform would mean we could play with anyone, which I would prefer. So in mode you play are robots, I love the characterising if them they are very likable and you can make them do cool stuff like high 5 or hug. This mode also has the added advantage of being able to be reassembled, so dying doesn't mean you have to start the level again, and I die allot. It has commentary from GLaDOS and is set after the single player ends. You work your way through levels in set chapters all cleverly reachable from the main hub in a fancy way and you can choose what level you want to repeat in each chapter. It is indeed double the portals double the fun.
This game has won many awards and it is defiantly the best puzzle game ever made, well maybe sudoku but shh that's not a computer game.
10/10
Now watch the credits and the amazing GLaDOS song, it is spoiler free (well ish):
Short Stories
Microsoft have announced they will not be attending Gamescon (the gaming convention in Europe) or TGS (the gaming convention in Japan).
Limbo Screenshot
A Screenshot of the Limbo follow up has been released
The Last of Us will not be released until 2013
Dead Space 3 has a co-op controversy with more of a focus on killing things all the time, this might be a bad thing for survival horror fans.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops Declassified (the PS Vita COD) will be $50 in the USA and they have released a paragraph about the game. But I'm not going to waste my time looking for it because COD is terrible and the Vita is terrible.
The Amazing Spider-Man is coming out this week and it looks good.
Spec Ops: The Line is also coming out this week.
Rage DLC being made.
Ubisoft Movies
A movie is being made using the themes and possibly characters from Ubisoft's Splinter Cell and another possible movie could be on the themes from their new game Watch Dogs. Personally, I think these could work really well as films as long as they have good scripts.
X-Box 720 Over the weekend some documents were leaked from Microsoft about the next generation console. They call it the X-Box 720. I will be 6-8 times more powerful then the 360. It is likely to be an ATI card for graphics. It will be backwards compatible with 360 games. It has 4GB of memory. Full HD 1080p on most games at 60fps and in 3D. The Kenect 2 will be integrated into the X-Box. It is the same technology as the current kenect but all the cameras have been upgraded and it can now track 4 people. It will cost $299 in the US and probably a lot more here in the UK as stuff always costs more. It will release around the same time and the Playstation 4. In the article they talk about smart glass which wasn't announced until a couple of weeks ago and it was written in 2010 so this is probably legit.
Labrinth announced that Treatment
