Joe here with not a lot of news again.  We're deep in the post-summer-blockbuster, pre-holiday-game-release phase of the year more commonly referred to as "September," and, in some cultures, "October."  I support those of you who enjoy watching TV shows when they, you know, get broadcast (not on DVD months later, like me) then you are getting your fill of new entertainment each night.  But for the rest of us...it's a bit of a down period.

Except for Batman, of course (Steve's review coming soon!)

Oh yeah, and Uncharter 2 is coming, and will apparently melt your face with awesomeness.

The weekend movies...well, not so great, overall.  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs took first (second straight week) with $25 million.  Bruce Willis and his Surrogate could only drum up second place at $14.9 million; Fame (which I admit I haven't even heard of) came in at third with $10.1 million.  The Informant! took fourth with $6.6 million, and Tyler Perry took fifth place with $4.7 million.  And that was that.

Danny Trejo has been cast in Predators.  This is not a surprise, if you know the producer and look at Trejo's body of work to date.

With the end of summer comes the inevitable question: what movie performed the best at the box office?  Naturally, this being America, one of the worst films of all time did!  But only in total revenue, not necessarily in terms of ROI.  See explanation here.

Who likes Dawn of War II?  *Faint scream of affirmation from Steve, probably others*  Well, here's a trailer for the stand-alone expansion.  Yes.

Avatar.  THE GAME.

And because I'm obsessed, despite it probably not coming out until 2011: (another) Diablo III preview.

Joe here with the latest from this weekend.

...

Not a ton going on!  But at least the Box Office will always have numbers for us.  Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, based on the 30-page children's book, opened at $30.1 million over the weekend.  Matt Damon's The Informant! opened at second place with $10.5 million.  Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself took third place with $10.1 million.  Love Happens grabbed fourth with $8.4 million, and Megan Fox's presence was only enough to net Jennifer's Body fifth place with $6.8 million for it's opening weekend.

I think that news deserves a picture of Megan Fox, with a bag over her head:

The Emmy's happened.  Woo.  I personally can't get too excited by actors patting themselves on the back, but if you're into it the results are all here.

Nigeria is mad at District 9.  Why?  Just because all the Nigerians in the film are depicted as canabalistic, gun running prostitutes?

If you thought Karate Kid was safe from the Remake, you were sadly mistaken.  Though there are striking differences that will no doubt reveal layers of hidden complexity!  Such as it's called Kung Fu Kid this time around, and it stars Will Smith's kid.

Game news:

D2D continues with it's 5-year anniversary games sale; this week it's RPGs.  There are a couple good ones in there if you haven't already picked them up (*Cough* Titan Quest, Assassin's Creed *Cough*)

Already MMORPG Aion (the one with people who have wings) is having issues.

Dawn of War II is getting a standalone expansion.

And, because we love to shoot things.

Out.

Joe here with the news from the weekend (I was AFK).

The Box Office made a feeble showing this past weekend.  Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself took the top spot with $23.4 million.  9, the sack-creature apocalyptic CGI PG-13 film opened in 2nd place with $15.1 million over the extended weekend (it was released 9/9/09).  Inglorious Basterds fell to third with $6.1 million; All About Steve took 4th with $5.6 million, and Final Destination tumbled from 1st to 5th with $5.5 million earnings.

Perhaps the biggest news yesterday was the passing of Patrick Swayze.  The Dirty Dancing, Ghost, Red Dawn, Roadhouse, etc start died at age 57 after battling pancreatic cancer.

In disappointing (to me) news, DC has no current plans to make another Superman film.  Boo.  By contrast, Spider Man 4 is coming out on IMax on May 5th, 2011.  Because after Spider Man 3 we definitely needed another one.

Scary?

Harrison Ford is willing to come back for a fifth Indiana Jones.  Given the massive box office ofr the last one - despite it taking an axe to our youth, according to resident expert Steve - this is probably inevitable.  But...money has nothing to do with it?  Right?

Not much game news, but there is a new Torchlight trailer up.

Hey everyone, Steve here with another cool find!

You've all heard of Sling Box, right?  If not, its a box you can attach to your cable or satellite feed which allows you to watch your TV wherever you can get an internet connection on a laptop or computer.  Neat, right?  

Have you ever found yourself thinking "Hmm... I wish they could do something like this for my XBOX 360 and PS3"?  If so, then you either travel a lot or have a significant other who hogs the only HD TV to which your consoles are hooked up to (I'm not telling which I belong to(its the last one)).  Well, your days of dreaming are over!  Check this out!

Spawn Labs has ninja-d us with some stealthy coolness.  Their HD-720 box allows you to hook up all your favorite consoles and play them on your computer anywhere you can get an internet connection!  It even allows you to choose which controller you want to use to play it, which is nice.  Among the other features I love are the ability to turn on and off the console remotely, the ability to share your console for some MP fun if you want, or just let your buddy play on it, and a watch mode, so if you're playing a single player game that you just cant beat, and your buddy can, but he lives in the opposite corner of the world, download the software and watch him play!

Its a tad pricey at almost $200, plus you have to buy an extra adapter at $30 a pop to allow another player to play on that console with you, also it does not yet support HDMI, you would have to buy a converter/splitter to allow that with this build.

This is tempting me greatly.  I might talk myself into waiting to get one until they make one with HDMI in and out, just for ease of use, but having the ability to play my console games on my computer screen really is a cool idea.  

Wondering about lag?  It can be a problem if you are in a bad internet area, but the average, according to Spawn Labs, is 100 ms lag.  Hell, that's barely noticeable!  It can output 720p over the internet which can be toned down if lag gets to be too bad.

Overall, I'm going to be keeping my eyes on this thing.  I'll keep you all informed as more info comes in, but it is available now for anyone who wants it today!  If you do get one, or know someone who does, please let me know how it is, I'd love to hear from you!  Also, if you work for Spawn Labs or know someone who does, I am more than willing to "accept" one, try it out, and write a review!  Just saying...