Author: RPadTV

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Al Franken Fears Comcast/NBC Merger Will Stifle Netflix

The approved merger of Comcast and NBC Universal has all sorts of implications for the entertainment business. For those of you that use Netflix on your consoles, this could mean bye bye to all NBC Universal content. Senator Al Franken believes that’s the case. Check out this bit from Ars Technica:

When it comes to the Comcast merger, Franken was even more vocal. “As you probably know, I hate this merger,” he told the group. Not only will it raise prices on TV subscriptions, it will give the combined entity incredible power to stifle competition from online sources like Netflix.

“I’m hearing that Comcast is already preparing to pull NBC Universal’s programming from Netflix when it’s next up for review,” Franken said. The cable industry is worried about the threat from cheaper options like Netflix; “they aren’t stupid and they want to shut it down.”

Allowing mega-powers to merge is rarely a good thing for consumers. This looks like another case of lobbying money trumping what’s good for the consumer. In the immortal words of Han Solo, I have a bad feeling about this.

What do you think of the Comcast/NBC merger? Do you think it will impact your entertainment experiences? Is it Comcastic?

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What I Learned From American Idol Season 10 NJ Auditions

American Idol is back with new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)! Gone are the awesome Simon Cowell, the useless Kara DioGuardi, and the ineffective Ellen DeGeneres. Adding continuity and stability are everyone’s favorite dog, Randy Jackson, and Ryan Seacrest, the hardest working man in Hollywood. So what did I learn from the season premiere of AI? Check it out.

– Jennifer Lopez wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping for. She’s supposed to be this raging-bitch diva…but she was the sweet one — almost Paula-like. Hopefully this will change. I need her to have a bad day so that she can take it out on the contestants and her fellow judges. That would be immensely entertaining. Sweet J.Lo is not doing it for me at all — far too normal and polite (so far).

– Steve Tyler wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping for either. I wanted him to be “the Paula” in terms of acting drugged out and making spacey comments. Instead, he came off as a stable dude that was reasonable and having fun on the show. What the hell?!?

– Randy is…Randy. Ryan is the object of lust for millions of American housewives and cougars. I wonder if that fact disturbs him….

– As for the contestants, Robbie Rosen shall henceforth be known as Crippy Boy. This kid’s sob story is that he was in a wheelchair at age five, but he appears to be fine now. After having homeless contestants and a blind guy, Crippy Boy’s sob story comes off as week. I hope America is tough on him.

– Ashley Sullivan believes that she can bring the Liza Minelli sound back to the mainstream. She deserves support just for thinking that’s a reasonable goal. I have to admit that living in a world driven by show tunes would be pretty amusing.

– There are 15-year olds now. The one that passed seems like an annoying 15-year old. Big surprise.

– The gag auditions included an 18-year old boyscout, a woman from the Ivory Coast with a thick accent that nearly overshadowed her horrid voice, and a Japanese dude that horribly sang a horrible Miley Cyrus song while busting out Michael Jackson dance moves. Personally, I would have given the Japanese cat a pass for ironically singing a song he didn’t like and performing a passable version of MJ’s signature steps.

– There were a few cute 16-year old contestants that made me feel dirty. Brielle Von Hugel was probably my favorite. She trotted out her father that battled throat cancer for her sob story. More importantly, she sounded like every girl I’ve ever met from Staten Island.

– Overall, the show was missing Simon’s snap, but the new judges did okay. I was also disappointed that the New Jersey auditions didn’t have more people the resembled Snooki or The Situation…though I suppose that’s more of a South Jersey thing.

Anne Hathaway is Catwoman!

Warner Bros. has announced that the absolutely delicious Anne Hathaway will play Catwoman (Selina Kyle) in The Dark Knight Rises. In less sexy news, Tom Hardy has been confirmed as Bane. As much as I enjoyed the Bane character in the comic books, I rather look at some Anne Hathaway pictures and discuss her playing Catwoman. I have all sorts of naughty thoughts in my head of her purring while crawling on all fours. Raaawwwwrrrr!!!

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Nintendo 3DS American Launch Lineup

According to Nintendo of America, the company will have more than 30 games for the Nintendo 3DS’ launch window — a conveniently concocted term that covers the period from the 3DS’ March 27 launch to E3 2011. Here’s more information from the press release:

During the launch window (between the March 27 launch date and the E3 Expo in early June) more than 30 games will be available to Nintendo 3DS owners. These include Nintendo-created games like Pilotwings Resort, which has players soaring acrobatically over iconic Wuhu Island; nintendogs + cats, a new version of the Nintendo DS classic with a feline enhancement; and Steel Diver, a side-scrolling submarine adventure that gives the illusion that the player is peering into an aquarium. Other Nintendo 3DS games in the works include The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising and new installments in the Mario Kart, Animal Crossing and Paper Mario series.

Nintendo 3DS also enjoys some of the strongest third-party support of any system launch. A partial list of titles coming soon to Nintendo 3DS includes Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked from Atlus; Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D from Capcom; Madden NFL Football from EA SPORTS; The Sims 3 from Electronic Arts; Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D from Konami; LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars from LucasArts; Ridge Racer 3D and Dual Pen Sports from Namco Bandai Games America Inc.; Super Monkey Ball 3D, Thor: God of Thunder and CRUSH 3D from SEGA; BUST-A-MOVE UNIVERSE from Square Enix, Inc.; Samurai Warriors Chronicles and Dead or Alive Dimensions from Tecmo Koei America Corp.; and Asphalt 3D, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D, Rayman 3D and Rabbids Travel in Time from Ubisoft.

I’m all about the first-party games, as well as Dead or Alive and Street Fighter. And you? Which Nintendo 3DS launch games have your attention?

Andrew Garfield Likes Spider-Man Costume, Emma Stone

Andrew Garfield is enjoying his time working on the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. Well duh! Who wouldn’t enjoy getting paid millions of dollars to play around in a Spider-Man costume and make out with Emma Stone?!? People caught up with The Social Network actor to get his thoughts on the experience. Regarding trying on the costume for the first time he said:

It was humbling and strange, and I was really moved by it. It felt right. It felt wrong. Kind of all of the above. It was just a strange, surreal moment.

As for working with Emma Stone, who plays Peter Parker’s love interest Gwen Stacy, Garfield said:

She’s just an incredible actress, and she’s one of the most spirited people I’ve ever met and just incredible fun to be around generally. On top of which, she’s beautiful and talented and kind of impossible to dream up.

I like Andrew Garfield…but jealousy issues will probably have me hating him in a few months. Lucky bastard.

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Nintendo Announces American 3DS Pricing and Availability

At a recent press conference, Nintendo announced that its upcoming 3DS gaming console will be available on March 27, 2011 for a price of $249.99. Industry pundits expect the 3DS to be another dominant handheld gaming system from Nintendo, but the company has more and different competition than in years past. In addition the Sony PlayStation Portable 2 (expected to be announced on January 27, 2011), the 3DS will compete with the Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

What do you think of the Nintendo 3DS’ price (vote in the poll please!)? Will you pre-order one? Or will you take a wait-and-see approach?

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Looking at the Apple iPad Through the Old Retroscope

During yesterday’s earnings call, Apple revealed that is has sold 14.79-million iPads since the tablet computer launched in April 2010. That’s a frickin’ ridiculous amount of hardware! It’s crazy that in less than a year, the iPad has become so successful that it has eclipsed Apple’s MacBook division in terms of revenue.

I was confident that the Apple iPad would be a massive success, but I didn’t think it would be this nuts. Just for kicks, let’s take a look back at some of the comments you left in the iPad-infused Coffee Talk #115:

Personally I won’t consider this device until the 2nd generation. I don’t know what I would use it for necessarily. — smartguy

I don’t think that the first generation is anything to really write home about. Maybe the second or third generation will change my mind on this, but as I see it now it really doesn’t seem revolutionary. A giant iphone is nothing different so far other than it’s bigger. — bsukenyan

It will be a fad for some and that’s about it. — N8R

I predict it will go the way of the Apple III. — Iceman

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to be all, “I told you so!” Lord knows I’ve had my share of bad predictions (hello PSP!). I’m just trying to contrast your expectations with the iPad’s crazy sales.

Obviously many of you “think differently” (*snicker*) about the iPad. Now that it has been out for nearly a year, how do you feel about Apple’s tablet? Did it turn out to be much different than you originally thought? Are you surprised by its massive success? Are you considering getting one or an iPad 2?

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Congrats TQ Jefferson, Now Where’s My Quasar Game?!?

I was pleased to learn that TQ Jefferson was promoted to vice president of production for Marvel Entertainment’s games division. A friend of mine works at Marvel and introduced me to TQ at Game Developers Conference. He’s a cool guy…and I’ve been bugging him to make a Quasar game ever since I met him. Perhaps with his newfound (great) power he will do the (greatly) responsible thing and make a frickin’ Quasar game.

For the record, I’m talking about Wendell Vaugh Quasar, not the lesbian Quasar…though at this point I’ll settle for any videogame that shows the world how awesome Quantum Bands are…. How about it TQ?!?