| Source: Wikipedia |

The Lost and Damned looks damned good

Rockstar Games does it again and delivers a promising new installment of the mighty succesful Grand Theft Auto franchise. Taking place in the bike gangs universe (think Sons of Anarchy as a video game), this add-on to the full verison of GTA IV will be available exclusively for download on the Xbox 360 on Feb. 17.

According to Dan Houser, from Rockstar, “The story will show you a different side of Liberty City.” You will play Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost.

Watch the trailer after the jump!

Watch the awesome making of and the commercial after the jump!

Source: Autoblog

We’ve heard that before: studio head honchos don’t like to release their movie the same week a blockbuster video-game is released. Some even blame video-games for the poor results of theirs. GTA IV hit the shelves the day before Iron Man opened last week. So how bad is Niko Bellic for Tony Stark?

Just before the big opening, the guys from Reelz Channel and Variety were wondering if Iron Man’s results could be hurt by the release of GTA IV (watch the video below).
6 days later the results are here and they speak for themselves, even if Iron Man has been out one day less than GTA. Grand Theft Auto IV raked in more than $500 million in its first week in stores, selling more than 6 million units worldwide. On the other hand, Iron Man grossed “only” $214,614,492 worldwide. Here at CARS+MOVIES we’re big fans of both so we wanted to understand why.

From what we read in various sources, the price of GTA ($60.00), compared to the price of a admission in a theater ($10.00) explains a lot, but it’s also what it represents. It’s an investment for a lot of gamers, who know that they’re going to spend much more time in the game (100+ hours) than watching Iron Man. In a word, the cost-per-hour of entertainment is lower with GTA. On another hand, we don’t think that buying the game will prevent a lot of people from going to a movie.

We also have to keep in mind that Iron Man is having a great start, which explains why Marvel was so quick to announce a sequel. But GTA IV is just amazing…

Source: Associated Press

Watch the Reelz Channel video after the jump.

Coming up with a racing video game a couple weeks after Gran Turismo 5 hit the shelves can sounds like a risky idea, but when you’re wearing the Speed Racer name and have all the buzz generated by the movie with you, it might not be that dangerous.
The in-game video (that you can watch below) reminds us of games like F-Zero, Wipe-Out, TrackMania and Mario Kart (the Nintendo Wii version has been launched 3 days ago, and will compete with it too), as it’s arcade oriented, very colorful, futuristic and on crazy tracks with jumps and loops.
We believe the game will do well, especially among the younger crowd, and as a specific enough setting, story and unique look to get a lot of racers behind the wheel.

Watch an in-game video after the jump!

The Iron Man video game will soon be in store, and Sega has rolled out some commercials on TV. Here’s the video!

A couple years ago, the video games industry started bringing more money than the movie industry. Now, it’s starting to look just as real. The new Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is the most realistic game on the market (it will be out on April 17th), both visually and physically. The lighting, the reflections, the reaction of the cars are incredible

More and more ads are finding their way into games, which have become a crucial market for product placement… just like movies.

The game and film industries are also becoming increasingly intertwined, with companies like Sony having significant stakes in both. A large number of summer blockbuster films spawn a companion game, often launching at the same time to share the marketing costs. Wikipedia.

Keep reading after the jump.

A new narrativity

While movies are certainly not on their way out, what will the future be made of? Interactive movies were tried in the 1990’s with not much success, mainly because both the storage capacity and the graphic capabilities of the days didn’t allow for much freedom (limited movements and story trees).

However, a second wave could happen:
Consider a possible movie in which:

the author has used various cinematic techniques and software technologies to create a movie;

the viewer can interact at any level — plot, role, and character;

the presentation of the movie is controlled dynamically by a computer system which also monitors the viewer’s behaviors as a source of interaction; and

the story is constructed from a scripting language which is interpreted at run-time by the computer. The movie script can therefore be modified, at any time, in response to the actions of the viewer. The scripting language is directly analogous to the movie script in that it controls the flow of events of the actors, camera movement, and scene.

Wikipedia

That’s the optimistic point of view… What could also happen is the emergence of tailor-made ads during the movie, based on your tastes or previous purchases (like the “suggested” products on Amazon).

For car movies, the merging between the video games and feature films could spawn new experiences. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Source: Wikipedia

We absolutely LOVE the new Pontiac G8 commercial. So much, we couldn’t wait for our next Sunday Ads to share it with you (by the way, next Sunday Ads will focus on Michael Bay). Inspired by the 80’s video game Spy Hunter by Midway, the ad mixes it beautifully with some live action/cgi sequences of the new sports car smoking both tires and foes.

In the game, you were driving the Interceptor, a super car based on a 1983 Z28, here, it’s the G8 GT. The SUV looks like the love child of a Hummer H1 (slented back) and a 1994 Ford Bronco Concept, while the third car reminds us of a second-generation Camaro (1970-81) in disguise. Any ideas for the first car? Go ahead and leave a comment!

The decor, the cars, the action, everything is perfect. We think it’s a great ad for their target demographics, the early Y-gen, who grew up with the NES, and may now be interested in buying a replacement for it’s first or second car. It’s powerful but not too flashy, has four doors and looks respectable. Keep’em coming, Pontiac!

As a side note, a Spy Hunter movie, directed by Paul WS Anderson, is coming up in 2009.

Sources: Jalopnik, Wikipedia, Imdb

Official Pontiac G8 website.
Midway official web-based version of Spy Hunter!

Wow… Nope, you’re not hallucinating, it’s a real trailer. It immediately made us think of the the Hot Wheels AcceleRacers series and of video games like Trackmania. It feels like the Wachowski brothers were tripping pretty well when making this. They apparently came up with some good gadgets, but the overall look and some corny dialogues are a turn-off for us.
We already voiced our concerns in a previous article, but now… Maybe we’ll catch a matinee to make it less painful?

In 1982, Namco released Pole Position, it’s famous racing simulation (yes, it was considered a simulation at that time…). The game was available on all Atari game systems and the brand was taking care of the promotion. They came up with this long, fantastic and hilarious commercial (1min 30s), that starts with the narrator talking to the dad driving his family:”Hey! You look like a real jerk!”. We’re guessing that at that time only a jerk would buy a hatchback like the VW Rabbit, small and underpowered for the American market…

“It will leave skid marks on your soul”

To emphasize the “realistic’ aspect of the game, the family is thrown into Indy cars during a race, and they literally get blown away. It ends with the narrator saying that the game will “leave skid marks on your soul”, while the family is walking in some kind of hell. So basically: “It’s so real, will you have the guts to play it?” Makes me hesitate between Pole Position and Gran Turismo 5.

Watch the video after the jump.