By Andrew Sorcini

Squeezing in a tiny corner in the vast expanse of the LA Convention Center’s South Hall, obscured by titans such as EA and Microsoft, was an area reserved for independent games, called IndieCade. These plucky Davids are the antitheses to the Goliaths backed by multinational corporations such as Sony and Nintendo. I always make time during E3 to check out their games. I feel, as I do with motion picture studios, that where the majors often get stuck in a rut, making derivative sequels and regurgitating stale ideas, the independents are often where you find the most cutting-edge creativity, bold concepts unsquelched by corporate groupthink.

Every year, one or two of these games stand out amongst them as potentially groundbreaking. Last year it was Miegakure and Hazard: The Journey of Life, two games I feel are still ahead of their time. This year, the game that really caught my eye was called Q.U.B. E.: Quick Understanding of Block Extrusion [...]

The $10 t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel today is the Star Wars-inspired shirt called “Kessel Run” by artist Eldermoon.

The sale at RIPT began today, Thursday, June 23, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore [...]

It seems like ages ago we found out that actress Natalie Portman and director David O. Russell had decided to walk away from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the movie adaptation of author Seth Grahame-Smith‘s twist on the classic Jane Austen novel…which of course adds the walking dead to the formal 19th century setting.

According to sources Lionsgate has now chosen their leading lady to replace Portman, formally offering the role to Emma Stone. Stone is of course best known from Zombieland and Easy A, and has also appeared in Superbad, The Rocker, The House Bunny, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Portman is still going to produce the film and, after a bit of shuffling, Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, Fright Night [2011]) was chosen to replace Russell in the director’s chair. [...]

After a few whispers that Will Smith might be starring in Quentin Tarantino‘s upcoming western, Django Unchained, Academy Award–winning actor Jamie Foxx has been officially announced as the star instead.

Foxx will take on the role of Django (once played by Franco Nero in 1966′s Django), a former slave who, along with a German bounty hunter played by Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds antagonist, Christoph Waltz (The Green Hornet), sets off to get his revenge on the plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio) who enslaved him, and free the woman he loves from captivity.

Though not confirmed at the moment, reports are that Tarantino constant Samuel L. Jackson will play the role of Stephen, the right-hand man to DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie character, and Kerry Washington (Fantastic Four, The Last King of Scotland) has met with the director about playing the role of Broomhilda, the slave-girl Django is going back to the plantation to free. [...]

Last we heard, the planned remake of the 1994 Alexander Proyas title starring Brandon Lee, The Crow, was facing its possible demise by way of legal battles after The Weinstein Company presented to the court their case for owning full rights to distribute the movie globally, and seeking that production be halted on the project.

Since then the two parties have been going back and forth (we’ll touch more on that below), but none of this is preventing Relativity Media from continuing to put their pieces together on the film. It’s being reported that the studio has hired screenwriter Alex Tse to work on the script, which would follow his work on the Zack Snyder adaptation of the classic Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons graphic novel, Watchmen.

Tse joins director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Days Later), and yes, Bradley Cooper (Midnight Meat Train, The Hangover), who is still attached to star in the remake should the Weinsteins lose their case. [...]

Just yesterday we found ourselves wondering if the new Universal Pictures take on the Snow White fairy tale, titled Snow White and the Huntsman, could cast known actors in all seven dwarf roles.

The reports yesterday were that Ian McShane (Deadwood, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) had been cast as the lead dwarf, Caesar, and that Oscar nominee Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Enemy at the Gates), Eddie Izzard (Shadow of the Vampire, Cars 2), Toby Jones (Harry Potter, Captain America: The First Avenger), Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire, Snatch), and Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes, V for Vendetta) were all in talks for other dwarf roles.

This left one more, which has now been filled.

The wonderfully intimidating talents of Ray Winstone have been chosen for the role of Trajan, and the actor now joins some of the others in negotiations for a part. [...]

Duke Nukem Forever
Xbox 360 | PS3 | PC
2K Games
Release Date: June 14, 2011

Duke Nukem Forever has had a wild ride. This game had been in development since 1996, herald at many an E3 convention as being the next “groundbreaking” game. The problem was, it never came out.

Developer 3D Realms would occasionally release some pictures or game play footage, but always staved off finishing the game by trying to put whatever was new and popular into it. Imagine someone you know is writing a book. For 14 years they would change it around adding whatever was hot at the moment: zombies, vampires, robots, the book would be a mess, right? This is the situation I imagine Gearbox Software was in when they inherited the unfinished game after 3D Realms was sued by its publisher. The very fact that this game was able to be pieced together into something releasable is a miracle. And that’s exactly what we got, something that feels 14 years old and pieced together. If you think about the game’s history, why would you expect anything less? [...]

Each week, MK2Fac3 and Henchman21 read a lot of comics. Seriously, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull list, grab some issues, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of June 22, 2011. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

This week, expect to see some All Nighters, intrepid girl reporters, one of the best comic books on the shelves, the death of an icon, mysterious men, and a really fast youngster. Not to mention some collections about spooky fairy tales and some of the best ongoing manga today. So, brace yourselves, and hit the jump to see what our most anticipated books of the week are! [...]

I’ve often said this to fellow metalheads, but it’s pretty much true: Bruce Dickinson can make anything interesting. Not only is he the air raid siren vocalist for Iron Maiden, but he is also an accomplished solo artist, professional fencer, author (he wrote a kids’ book!), and of course, a qualified pilot.

In fact, for those who haven’t seen the Iron Maiden: Flight 666 documentary, Dickinson actually pilots Ed Force One, a customized 757 that carries the personnel and crew and gear for Iron Maiden when on tour. It’s pretty mind-blowing seeing that stuff all set up in one single plane, watching Dickinson pilot it out into the skies, land it, and then change into his stage gear to scream it out loud on top of the very gear he just flew across the world. Seeing this in action in the Sam Dunn documentary is damn impressive.

Anyway, Dickinson recently recorded a training video called Safety in the Balance for the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The premise of the clip is to discuss the precise requirements in load and balance on aeroplanes, and emphasizes the importance of the mathematical precision to ensure that aircraft, ground staff, crew, and passengers are kept safe [...]

When looking at the multiple Snow White projects in the works, one might assume that not all of the seven dwarf roles would be filled with a known actor. One or two, maybe, but all seven? Pretty doubtful. But one project looks to be trying to prove that assumption wrong with the announcement of six possible well–known and respected actors taking on dwarf characters.

This particular Snow White project seems to be the biggest of them all (thus far, anyway), and is called Snow White and the Huntsman. The movie already has its stars locked up with The Twilight Saga‘s Kristen Stewart set for the lead, a princess who escapes her evil queen of a stepmother (played by Charlize Theron) with a huntsman who was sent to kill her but ends up joining her and seven dwarven warriors, and training her how to fight instead. The huntsman is will be played by Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth.

Which brings us back to the seven dwarfs, who sound like they’ll pass up on being lovable little workers and instead be ready for battle. [...]

Superman: The Motion Picture Anthology
Blu-ray
Starring Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey
Release date: June 7, 2011

With all the superhero movies that have been made over the last few decades, the first Superman movie is still by far my favorite. Based on the DC Comics character, the 1978 film was the superhero film for all ages, not just children and set the bar for all comic book movies to follow.

Now, all four original films, which starred Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, along with the 2006 sequel/reboot hybrid Superman Returns starring Brandon Routh, are now collected in high definition in Warner Home Video’s new offering Superman: The Motion Picture Anthology Blu-ray Edition [...]

An amusing new video has hit Funny or Die for those of you who played the recent Rockstar Games and Team Bondi release, L.A. Noire (Read: Game Review: L.A. Noire).

The video shows us what the popular game—which takes place in 1940s Los Angeles as a WWII vet named Cole Phelps works his way up the LAPD ranks by showing off his keen eye for details and his ability to solve tough cases—might look like if it existed in real life.

The video exaggerates some of the things you find yourself doing often in the game, which is what makes it so humorous. Though I must question the jab about running over pedestrians at the end of the video—anyone who’s played knows that every person in ’40s L.A. was a ninja, and almost always finds a way to inexplicably avoid death by vehicle.

You can see the live-action L.A. Noire video by heading below now! [...]

2009’s Star Trek movie breathed new life into a franchise that had been floundering for a few years, and now many Trek fans are eagerly awaiting the next film.

In the meantime, IDW Publishing will release a new comic book series featuring the new versions of the classic crew. Star Trek #1 comes out in September and will feature stories that re-imagine episodes of the original television series, as well as tell new stories. The series will be under the creative control of Star Trek writer/producer Roberto Orci, and will be written by Mike Johnson with art by Stephen Molnar, and covers by Tim Bradstreet and David Messina.

The series will start with a re-imagined version of the second Star Trek: TOS pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and will go from there to expand the universe of the new movie timeline. Talking about the series, Orci said, “Movies cost money. Lots and lots of money, but comics give us unlimited budgets to take the crew of the Enterprise farther than they’ve ever been. Join us!” [...]

I’m going to post this with as little commentary as possible, for the video really truly does speak for itself. What you have at the bottom of this post, dear Geeks of Doom readers, is Matt Smith‘s monologue from the Doctor Who episode, The Pandorica Opens. It is performed by a young kindergartener. Yes, you read that correctly.

This little dude has better control of memorizing the lines from Doctor Who than I do, and he does it very well.

And for bonus points, he’s dressed up in costume as the Eleventh Doctor as well – complete with bow tie! Believe me, you’ll want to share this one with your friends who are fellow Doctor Who fans.

Check it out! [...]

The MP3 album deal of the day over at Amazon today is Alpocalypse, the new album by “Weird Al” Yankovic, for only $3.99.

The album contains 12 songs, including “Perform This Way,” an awesome parody of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” as well as spoofs on Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, T.I., and more. This album download of Alpocalypse also comes with the digital booklet.

There’s also a CD and Deluxe CD version of the album, the latter of which comes with a bonus DVD.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the genius that is Weird Al’s contributions to music and comedy, thanks to his successful parodies of several Michael Jackson hits and his ability to not only keep up with pop trends, but to mock them in a way we can all relate [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is the Xbox 360 4GB Console with Kinect. When you purchase this item, which is $299.98, you will get a $100 promotional credit to use on products sold and shipped by Amazon.

Note, this deal is valid only for today, Tuesday, June 21, 2011, until midnight PST while supplies last.

This bundle contains:

* Xbox 360 4GB S Console
* Kinect Sensor for Xbox 360
* Kinect Adventures game – rated “E” for Everyone
* Xbox 360 Black Wireless Controller
* Xbox 360 Composite A/V cable (standard definition)
* One Month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership
* 1 year limited warranty on console [...]

First of all, let it be known that this discussion will include major spoilers. If you’re not caught up with Game of Thrones yet, do yourselves a favor and finish watching the entire first season before reading on!

OK—so this was supposed to be a little chat about last night’s season finale of Game of Thrones and what everyone thought. Instead, it’s come to my attention (many of you have most certainly noticed this as well) that there’s really not a whole lot to discuss. It seems like 99% of all people who have watched love every second of what they’re seeing. That, paired with the fact that many of you have read the books and know exactly where the story is going (spoilers about the show are fine here; book spoilers are a big no–no considering so many want to see it before reading), makes this feel like a finale that doesn’t need to be chatted about so much as it needs to be admired collectively.

Continue reading to see just what caught my attention, what we should be discussing, and why—as so eloquently stated in the headline above—you would be downright out of your freakin’ mind to stop watching Game of Thrones now. [...]

Doctor Who
Series 6, Episode 7: A Good Man Goes to War
Directed by Peter Hoar
Written by Steven Moffat
Starring Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Frances Barber, Charles Baker, Dan Johnston, Christian Chong, Joshua Hayes, Damian Kell, Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart, Richard Trinder, Annabel Cleare, Henry Wood, Dan Starkey, Simon Fisher, Danny Sapani, Hugh Bonneville, Oscar Lloyd, and Nicholas Briggs
BBC America
Air date: June 7, 2010

Doctor Who is certainly a show that often raises more questions than it answers and “A Good Man Goes to War” is a perfect example of this. Yet, when the series provides answers, it’s done in such a satisfying way that the various unanswered questions don’t matter. While “A Good Man Goes to War” poses many of these unanswered questions, there’s also a surprising amount of clarity. Before we dive into some of these queries, let’s take a look at the bulk of the episode [...]

Director Peter Jackson has made the last major casting announcement for his t adaptation of The Hobbit, and one of the new announcements is causing a bit of a stir.

Jackson announced that LOST star Evangeline Lilly has been cast as Tauriel, a Woodland Elf whose name means “daughter of Mirkwood.” Jackson shares his excitement in Lilly being the one who will “bring our first true Sylvan Elf to life,” but says the character is a new one, leading many to wonder why the director would add a new character to J.R.R. Tolkien‘s classic tale.

If you’ll recall, this project was originally planned as one movie based on The Hobbit and a second that would be completely original and bridge the story to Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. It was ultimately decided to just turn The Hobbit into a two-part film instead of risking faithful fans not reacting positively to an original story, but that hasn’t stopped Jackson from bringing back actors from LOTR to reprise their roles—even if they weren’t part of the earlier book—and now creating this new elven character. [...]

Now that Green Lantern is playing theaters around the world, it’s become the biggest attempt to launch a DC Comics character whose name didn’t begin with Super or Bat on the big screen since 2004′s seriously misguided Catwoman. In a summer movie season crowded to the gills with everything from 3D swashbuckling to animated animals who also function as masters of kung fu, the concept of a superhero with a galaxy-spanning mythology whose power comes from a mighty ring is a risky proposition for a tentpole movie franchise.

But there was a time only a few years ago when the possibility of a reverential adaptation of the classic comic book character was so remote, the studio that owned the rights actually considered going in a radically different direction.

As early as 2004, New Line Cinema, flushed with revenue from the success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and in possession of the Green Lantern movie rights, floated the idea of making a big-budget comedy loosely based on the character but more in the vein of the studio’s 1994 smash hit The Mask, which itself was an adaptation of a comic book series that was lighter in tone than its source material. When news of this turn in the development of the Green Lantern movie first broke, it was not well received, but the studio persisted in the idea and entered into discussions with Jack Black to play their version of the iconic hero [...]