October 25, 2000
- Nine
Monsters Rated: Which is Scariest? - Every
year the community center down the block from my house sets
up a "haunted house" at Halloween. For a couple
bucks, you can stick your hand into a bucket of warm
fettuccini and pretend they're entrails.
If you try you might even feel a twitch of fear. Why some
people want to feel frightened, I don't know, but we do.
Lots of us do...
October 26, 2000
- What's
the Big Friggin' Deal About Sony PlayStation 2? - Jesse
Berst, Editorial Director, ZDNet AnchorDesk - The
PlayStation 2 hits stores today. Most media outlets want you
to believe it is the Second Coming. A new age in home
entertainment. I want to know: What's the big friggin' deal?
The PlayStation 2 is not revolutionary. Today I'll tell you
about the PlayStation 2. Why it isn't a great leap forward
for entertainment. And why it will still be the hot item
this Christmas...
October 17 2000 - Judge
allows Indy video game ban - "A federal judge has ruled that a city
ordinance banning minors from playing violent and sexually
explicit video games without parental permission can take
effect immediately. The law, passed by the City-County
Council in July, was to go into effect Sept. 1. But
representatives of the pay-for-play video game industry
— including manufacturers, distributors and arcade
owners — sued on Aug. 21, seeking a preliminary
injunction..."
September
06 2000 - Interactive
TV in Next Windows - SEATTLE (AP), The next consumer
version of Windows, due in 2001, will not only let users
watch television on their personal computers but also
support what is being touted as the next big thing in home
entertainment _ interactive TV technology , Microsoft Corp.
said Wednesday. The operating system has supported TV
viewing since the Windows 98 version was introduced two
years ago. The next version, codenamed ``Whistler,'' will
have code to take advantage of new, interactive television
features currently under development. ``We see this as
something that, for now, will probably only be used by real
hardcore users and in some business applications, like a
stock broker who needs to keep an eye on the news,'' said Ed
Graczyk, director of marketing for Microsoft's TV platform.
In the future, however, as set-top cable boxes become more
like computers, Windows could power entire entertainment
centers from a single computer.
``I imagine something
that's black and sleek and sits in your living room, instead
of something beige and clunky and sits on your desk,''
Graczyk said. For now, however, Microsoft is committed to
using its Windows CE operating system _ a stripped-down
version of Windows for simpler devices _ for set-top boxes.
The company already has deals with a number of cable
operators, including AT&T, to provide set-top cable
boxes. Microsoft plans to unveil a prototype of the
interactive TV technology in Whistler at an industry
conference in Amsterdam on Friday.
September
15 2000 - Jail Pushed
Downey To Change Life - NEW YORK (AP), Though he
describes his first days in prison as awful, Robert Downey
Jr. says the experience has motivated him to change his
life. ``I would have been the first to say it's
unconstitutional, to put drug abusers in jail or prison.
Well, it's unconstitutional to be a human being and screw
your life up that way,'' the 35-year-old actor says in the
October issue of Details magazine. ``I wouldn't wish my
experience on an enemy. But there was value in it.'' Downey
was jailed in June 1999 after he admitted during a probation
hearing that he missed scheduled drug tests. He was
sentenced to three years in prison for violating his
probation but gained early release last month. Downey then
moved into Walden House, a facility he had previously lived
in while trying to end his drug problem. This fall, he will
have a recurring role on the Fox series ``Ally McBeal,''
playing a mysterious stranger who seems able to connect with
the complicated Ally, played by Calista Flockhart. ``I'm
proud of the way I've conducted myself since my
incarceration and proud of the choices I've made since I've
been released,'' Downey said.
September
16 2000 - -
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Surrounded by the media types he loves to
bash, Gov. Jesse Ventura mixed playful banter with a stern
lecture to leaders of the broadcast news industry. During
his speech Friday at the Radio Television News Directors
Association conference, Ventura criticized news coverage for
being more entertaining than informative. Using himself as
the prime example, Ventura said reporters tend to focus more
on his celebrity than his policies. ``If we want to be
entertained, there's hundreds of sitcoms,'' he said. ``We
want to be informed. Stick to informing us rather than
entertaining us.'' For the most part, Ventura was gentle and
his tone was less confrontational than in his new book, ``Do
I Stand Alone? Going to the Mat Against Political Pawns and
Media Jackals.'' Robert Garcia, the association's chairman,
said Ventura's novel style is the reason for the unique
coverage. ``There are not many governors who go make
appearances on soap operas,'' Garcia said. ``It's kind of a
natural for us to report on that. People find it
interesting, they find him interesting.''
October
04 2000 - BMG:
NAPSTER WON'T
COMPROMISE
- The record
company claims it
proposed various
business models to
the song-swap
service company --
contrary to
Napster's
claims...
Doom
3 maestro speaks
- John Carmack,
the co-founder of
id Software, top
code creator and
man behind the
trail-blazing Doom
shoot-em-up game
has been talking
to
Voodooextreme.com
and provided some
grand info on
where 3D gaming is
going...
Gaming MODs 2 Die 4
- Doom proved that
fan communities
are capable of
creating just
about anything
given the proper
tools. Hundreds of
levels, unofficial
patches, and other
tweaks flooded the
Internet at a time
when the fastest
home connection
was a 14.4Kbps
modem. This could
have been an
isolated
phenomenon, but as
more companies
released editing
tools with their
games, a cottage
industry formed
faster than anyone
could have
imagined...
Click
Here for more "Entertainment Void" Archives
(Real
Audio Enabled)
TOP
