Yesterday the evil (unfounded claim) Hearst corporation took over the 1Up network, putting an end to the failing Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine and laying off most of the recognizable 1Up staff. The 1Up crew has been one of the most celebrated teams in video gaming journalism, and I’m sure they will all find work in the industry again. Instead, let’s focus on the death of EGM.

I spent a lot of money on video gaming magazines over the years. Nintendo Power, CGW, GamePro, OPM, OXM, Play, I read ’em all. But EGM was always my favorite. From their innovative three-person reviews to the hilarious suffering of Seanbaby, that magazine was always a blast. Now that it’s gone, I’m afraid I may finally be done with all of magazines. Sure, my GameStop card gets me a subscription to Game Informer, but I hardly ever read that. GamePro’s like the only other magazine left, and that shit’s for babies. No, I think this is the end.

Anyway, just thought I’d let you guys know that several of my gaming personalities have been put out of work, and I think that’s a bummer. It’s Wednesday, what else was I supposed to do?

What a great song, I think it’s like the Jonas brothers. Sorry for not posting anything interesting or anything that required effort for today. I’ll do a post of Gran Torino soon enough. I can’t wait for Nancy’s full in depth analysis of Seven Pounds as well! In other news I’ve recently started watching bad movies for my “Top Ten Worst Movies of 2008 list” (starting with Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) which means we’ll have various 2008 themed lists throughout January, pretty sweet… Well at least it will be when were all done with it.

The Cat Fancy crew would love to wish all of our faithful readers a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah or fun-filled Kwanza. If you celebrate any other holiday, we hope that either did or will go well too. No hatred here, not at this time of the year.

As you celebrate… let’s face it, Christmas, we’d like you to keep the blog in your heart and mind. Sure, we may not update as much around the holidays, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care. Expect some exciting updates in the days to come, and end of the year awards are coming soon too!

Also, we recently passed the 300 post mark, so, it’s almost like we earned a break. Almost.

Some math:

• 33 Albums declared classic
• 6 Retrospecticus(es?)
• 340 Top ten items
• 33 Posts by Nancy
• 31 Posts by Colin
• 135 Posts by John
• 102 Posts by Sean

Did you know that Spike had its very own video game award show last night? That’s right, the generically named “Video Game Awards” or VGAs. They’ve had ’em for a few years now. Did you actually watch? Me neither. But apparently this was a good time for several long-awaited titles to debut trailers, proving once again that all award shows are really just marketing events.

My favorite trailer was for Brutal Legend, the upcoming platformer/action game from the guys who made the fantastic Psychonauts. This title is poised to followup that last game’s greatness, plus its got the starpower of Jack Black behind it. I hope it’ll be a hit. This trailer doesn’t reveal much about actual gameplay, but the nun bit was funny.

The Uncharted 2 trailer was interesting, I think I’d be a fan of that franchise if I had a PS3. I can’t say much for God of War III, Fight Night Round 4, Terminator Salvation or the new GTA IV DLC, they’re exactly as expected. I probably won’t download that GTA content, I mean, what’s the point?

This brings us to the one everybody’s talking about, Dante’s Inferno. Obviously an incredibly odd choice for a game, those Dead Space guys have a lot to prove with this one. I think most people are just scratching their heads right now. At least Watchmen has fighting in it, although I still think that’s a really bad idea for a video game.

Oh, right, the award show. Here are the winners:

Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto IV

Best Xbox 360 Game: Gears of War 2
Best PS3 Game: LittleBigPlanet
Best PC Game: Left 4 Dead
Best Wii Game: Boom Blox
Best Handheld Game: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Best Individual Sports Game: Shaun White Snowboarding
Best Fighting Game: Soul Calibur IV
Best RPG: Fallout 3
Best Shooter: Gears of War 2
Best Team Sports Game: NHL 09
Best Action Adventure Game: Grand Theft Auto IV
Best Driving Game: Burnout Paradise
Best Music Game: Rock Band 2
Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show: LEGO Indiana Jones

Studio of the Year: Media Molecule
Best Multi-Player Game: Left 4 Dead
Best Independent Game: World of Goo
Big Name in the Game (Female): Jenny McCarthy
Big Name in the Game (Male): Kiefer Sutherland
Best Performance by a Human (Female): Debbie Mae West
Best Performance by a Human (Male): Michael Hollick
Best Original Score: Metal Gear Solid 4
Best Soundtrack: Rock Band 2
Best Graphics: Metal Gear Solid 4

Obviously not my choices, but you’ll get those when we do 2008 week (three weeks from now). My biggest complaint is their choice for best fighting game. Soul Calibur 4? No one bought that shit. Smash Bros. Brawl hands down deserves that.

What thy hell?!? Apparently one of my most anticipated movies of 2009 has been moved yet again. I of course am referring to The Wolfman remake directed by Joe Johnston (Hidalgo, Honey I Shrunk the Kids and the upcoming Captain America movie) and starring Benicio De Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving. The film was originally set for release in February 13, 2009, then moved to April 3, 2009 and now November 6, 2009. Seriously I am beyond pissed but I guess life goes on.

So what’s in other news? Hugh Jackman is hosting the Oscars, what’s the deal with that? I thought it was a tradition to get comedians to do it… I guess that means no Ricky Gervais this year. 90s Brit Pop band Blur is reuniting for a show at Hyde Park (Their first show in nine years), the Boston Red Sox got new uniforms, legendary pinup model Bettie Page died, legendary horror collector. magazine editor Forrest J. Ackerman who coined the term “Sci-Fi” died recently. A lot of stuff going on but so little time. I should probably take a break from all these posts I’ve been writing lately, but as the world turns I feel it’s our duty to keep you updated, Otteni Out.

I noticed that the Golden Globes were announced today, more or less the unofficial precursor to the Oscars, I though I’d make a quick post regarding my opinions. I don’t mean to intrude on Top Ten Thursday but I feel like I should write about this while it’s still fresh in my mind.

Every December we have the Golden Globes which is basically a sneak peak at the year’s Oscar contenders. For example, all the films nominated for Best Picture at last years Oscars had at least a Best Picture nom at the Golden Globes. So the chances are pretty good that the Golden Globe films were looking at here will be pretty similar to the Oscar nominations in late January. So let’s see for Best Picture we got;

Frost/Nixon
Dir: Ron Howard
Written by: Peter Morgan
Cast: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell
Thoughts: This definitely makes sense it’s a star studded political drama directed by Ron Howard and written by Peter Morgan (The Queen) starring Frank Langella as a spot on Richard Nixon. There looks be to drama, humor and entertainment so I look forward to checking it out.

Slumdog Millionaire
Dir: Danny Boyle
Written by: Simon Beaufoy
Cast: Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan
Thoughts: It’s always a pleasant surprise to see a unique, creative and beautiful film like Slumdog get this kind of attention. I mean this a pretty different film compared to your regular awards fare flicks. Who’d of ever thought that the guy who directed 28 Days Later would make such an acclaimed film as this? It is all very exciting.

Revolutionary Road
Dir: Sam Mendes
Written by: Justin Haythe
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates
Thoughts: This is just one of those films that’s got Oscar written all over it, complete Oscar bait if you will. With it’s cast in the reuniting of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, many will look forward to seeing them together again. Not only that but it’s a dramatic period piece, based off of an acclaimed novel and directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, The Road to Perdition).

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Dir: David Fincher
Written by: Eric Roth
Cast: Brad Pitt, Kate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Taraji P. Henson
Thoughts: Very surprising as I never thought a 167 minute long fantasy film directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) would get this kind of buzz. Though it’s always a good sign when you’ve hired Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Munich) to pen the script. The visual and makeup effects look out of this world and I can’t wait for it’s upcoming holiday release.

The Reader
Dir: Stephen Daldry
Written by: David Hare
Cast: Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross
Thoughts: Huh? I think I heard about this once but a possible best picture contender? This is one of those films that award ceremonies spring out at you at the last second to try and be cool and show that their unpredictable. I really don’t know what to think about this film, whatever it’s about. There were definitely a handful of other films that a majority of people were pulling for. Both Milk and The Dark Knight were favorites but both of those only got a single acting nomination each. If this is indeed a look at the Best Picture noms for the Oscars then it’ll be a disappointment, especially for The Dark Knight which has been working it’s butt off to get some well deserved award recognition.

As for the rest of the awards I often find that they could go either way when the Oscar nominations see the day of light so I’ll skip that for now. There are some nice surprises here but as well a a few upsets. It’s not like the Golden Globes set the Oscar nominations in stone, so all we can do now is play the waiting game.