While the physical doors of this month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo were only open to professionals from the video gaming world, E3 video coverage by YouTube, Viacom and G4TV.com successfully brought the biggest announcements and demos to online audiences, with hundreds of thousands of gaming fans tuning in.
[show=jacehallshow size=large]You might make the argument that the web doesn’t need another talk show of any sort — there are plenty of personalities, from the more traditional form used by Bob Kushell to that of DIGGnation and other direct-address series. But there’s always room for someone who can find a new spin on the format, such as Jace Hall, host and creator of The Jace Hall Show.
The first two seasons of Jace Hall ran on Crackle beginning May 2008, but the third season of Jace Hall premiered last week on IGN. Publisher and SVP of Content for IGN Entertainment Peer Schneider stated in a press release that “Jace and IGN are perfect bedfellows – his show blends the world of celebrities and the videogame industry’s hottest personalities with an irreverent voice that’s totally in synch with IGN.” Which pretty much means that he talks the nerd talk.
In comparison to the show’s earlier Crackle run, the new season is shockingly more kinetic, with an intense pace that will keep even the shortest attention span entertained. The use of on-screen text to emphasize points remains consistent, however, as well as Hall’s own informal, quasi-fictional style that inspires comparisons to Curb Your Enthusiasm — but at times more bizarre. Read More about Jace Hall Show Amps Up for New Season on IGN
[show=iphoneapps]All right, this is it: No more iPhone (S aapl) app review shows. You hear that, guys? It’s done. For as much a boom industry as it might be, devoting many many series to covering emerging new programs and technologies for the mobile device is just, frankly, unnecessary.
My final review is of the most recent show to hit the streets, iPWN, produced by Portal A Ltd. and hosted by video game and entertainment site IGN. Launched yesterday, the series features a variety of techniques for covering the world of mobile gaming — from lightning-fast reviews to opinion pieces to profiles of game creators. This varied approach distinguishes iPWN from other iPhone-reviewing series like iPhun and AppJudgment, but possibly the biggest difference can be found in iPWN’s relative lack of human touch. While other series derive a fair amount of credibility from their hosts, iPWN takes a different approach.
Sure, animated avatars standing in for human commentators aren’t terribly new — GOOD News being only one example that comes to mind — but the floating man-sized iPhone known as “TJ” brings a slightly fouler mouth to the proceedings than you’d expect. Read More about IGN’s iPWN: The Newest (And Hopefully Last) iPhone App Review Show
In an unconventional deal, startup Flixster is acquiring the online movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from News Corp. The acquisition gives News Corp., via its subsidiary IGN Entertainment, a minority stake in Flixster, which operates movie trivia and review applications on social networks and mobile devices.
