Rockn The News – August 29th, 2004

****** Korn Turns Out Greatests Hits Early ******

MTV reports: Cant wait until October 19 for Korns Greatest Hits Volume 1 to hit stores? Good news: The release date for the 19-track album, which features covers of Cameos “Word Up” and Pink Floyds “Another Brick in the Wall, Parts 1, 2, 3,” has been pushed ahead two weeks and will now hit stores on October 5.

Full Story at Mtv.com

****** Nevermind, The DVD ******

Blabbermouth reports: According to The Internet Nirvana Fan Club, a DVD about NIRVANAs legendary “Nevermind” album is scheduled for an October 25 release. The DVD, which is part of the popular “Classic Albums” series, will most likely follow the recording of the album, based on past and possibly new interviews.

Get the full story at Blabbermouth

****** Vince Gets a Makeover, But Not On Jenny Jones ******

Blabbermouth reports: Former MÖTLEY CRÃœE singer Vince Neil has signed to star in MTVs “The Remaking of Vince Neil”, according to Billboard.com. The show, which will premiere on a date to be announced, will document Neils attempt at a career comeback with the help of makeover specialists.

Full story at Blabbermouth

****** VAST Helps Indie Artists ******

Day in Rock reports: Jon Crosby of Vast has been keeping real busy of late. Were not talking touring and recording, Crosby has been spreading his wings a bit. Thought it would good to highlight two of his projects here. One, Crosby is now an author. He is about to release his first book “Turquoise and Crimson”. Details are a bit sketchy but it sounds as if it is a non-fiction Kerouac-esq tome. The book is slated for release in October (preorders are now being taken, first 200 received a personalized, numbered and autographed copy. – see full story link)

Rockers writing a book isnt too out of character, but Crosby other major new project is. He has founded a storefront website called 2blossoms, which is billed as “a multi-media sanctuary for artists”. It appears the idea behind the project is to give indie artists a place to showcase and sell their material. 100% of the profit goes to the artists, all they have to pay is a $5 monthly membership fee. Not a bad deal! Kudos to Jon for doing this. Click the full story link to check it out, preorder the book and if you are Vast fan you can purchase “Turquoise” and “Crimson” – 2 sets of 10 MP3s for only $2.99 per set.

Check out Johns website for Indie Artists at http://www.2blossoms.com/

****** Manson Does The Cure ******

Drowned in Sound reports: Marilyn Manson will host a live tribute to the kings of glum, The Cure, on September 17th.

The show – part of MTVs Icon series – will feature performances and testimonials from artists and celebrities who cite The Cure as a significant influence upon their work. Itll be held at Old Billingsgate Market in London, and screened in October.

Drowned In Sound has more.

****** Halford Sings Sabbath *****

Blabbermouth reports: Ozzy Osbourne was forced to sit out BLACK SABBATHs performance at Thursday nights (Aug. 26) Ozzfest in Camden, NJ due to an attack of bronchitis. He was replaced at the concert by none other than JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford. Halford had previously joined SABBATH for two gigs to support Ozzy on his last shows for the “No More Tours” tour in November 1992 in Costa Mesa, CA after SABBATHs singer at the time, Ronnie James Dio, refused to take the stage.

More at Blabbermouth

Friday Night Fights – Custom Map Night!

Grab your gun Soldier! Its time! Friday Night Fights – Custom Map Night Returns. This action starts August 27th at 7:00pm CST and goes until we get tired of playing! This time around, we have a great line up of maps for you.

Server: GamersRadio.com |GRB|
IP: 67.18.226.34:15567

Tranquility
Radio Nguyen
Last Light
GRB No Remorse
GRB Operation Ebony Eyes
GRB Battleaxe Wetlands

Login and grab the Download.

Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for PS2

Click Read More… for trailer link.

Bandai Release “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” Trailer

Bandai is proud to present a new trailer from “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.” Featuring lightning-fast action and vibrant 3D graphics, this third-person shooter plunges players into a cyberpunk future where Major Kusanagi and the officers of Section 9 stand between Newport City and a host of armed-to-the-teeth criminals.

Gamers can experience the lushly detailed anime world as the female cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi, her tough-as-nails partner Batou or the quadraped enforcement droid known as Tachikoma. With over 20 minutes of beautifully rendered CGI, the “Ghost in the Shell” game features eye-catching martial arts moves, the ability to hack into machinery, computers, and enemy minds, and 15 different weapons, ranging from sniper rifles to missile launchers. Players can also challenge their friends with four-player multiplayer combat, including both team matches and battle royale.

Slated for a November 2004 release, “Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex” is rated “M” for Mature and retails at $49.99.

Continue reading Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for PS2

2nd Stone Sour Album a Reality

SLIPKNOT/STONE SOUR frontman Corey Taylor has posted the following message at the STONE SOUR message board StoneSourBoard.tk:

“Id like to give you a little update on the STONE SOUR front as we havent done that in a long time.

1. We have 30 full and partial songs brewing at the moment.
2. Jamey from HATEBREED has expressed his interest in doing a song with us and most definitely will.
3. Plans are being made to start work in September of 2005, or perhaps even earlier, depending on the schedule.”

“Thank you to everyone for keeping the fires lit while [guitarist] Jim [Root] and I indulge our other passion. Commitment has to be total, and at the moment our commitment is to the KNOT. But as soon as were done touring with SLIPKNOT, its on. Im writing, Jims writing, [guitarist] Josh [Rand] is writing, everyone is gearing up for this.”

In more music news……

BODY COUNT, the metal/punk band fronted by legendary rapper Ice T, recently announced plans to record their first album in seven years, tentatively titled “Murder for Hire”.

Will Madden fumble this year???

I very seldom play console games anymore; however, when it comes down to sport games, that is the only media to use. I think this has been the first year that I was not waiting for the new version of Madden NFL to hit the shelfs, and after seeing this preview/review I am glad I didnt.

I got stuck watching G4TechTV the other day and saw the new ESPN NFL 2K5… All I can say is OMG!!!!! But to find out what all the buzz is, read the full article at G4TechTVs website.

Here is a snippet….

“The hierarchy of console football is a funny thing. When it comes to PS2 decks humming in the back of a tricked-out Escalade, EAs Madden still kicks all comers. But down on the street level, where the rest of us live, a competitor has been building strength for a run at the title. The ESPN NFL franchise from Visual Concepts is an increasingly impressive contender, and with the field dramatically narrowed (no NFL Fever or NFL GameDay this year) this may be the year for the balance to shift.

Grokster Cleared in MGM Lawsuit, Big Implication for File Sharers

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won a preliminary ruling today against MGM studios and several other major Holywood players in their lawsuit against Grokster. If the ruling is upheld, it sets a precedent that file sharing programs such as Grokster, Kazaa, Morpheus, etc. cannot be held responsible for the content on their networks. This ruling will have a huge positive effect on the future of filesharing in general.

http://eff.org/IP/P2P/MGM_v_Grokster/

Halo Hits The Big Screen

A while back, a buddy of mine use to host a Halo night at his house. We put together 2 projectors, a 60″ Big Screen and a few stand alone tvs through out the house to host Halo. It was a blast, but even with the projectors and big screen, it was still cramped.

Taking this idea to a new level is a movie theater in Utah, where they have linked 4 theaters together for a 4 man tournament of Halo. In addition, a bunch of 36″ tvs show the matches in the lobby, where paying spectators watch.

Our evening of Halo mayhem was a blast, but this sounds much cooler than craming a bunch of people into one house. Get the full scoop here. In the meantime, Ill be figuring out how to bring BFV to the big screen in a similiar fashion. 🙂

BFV WWII Mod Due out on Friday!

I am not sure how I missed this, but yesterday EA and Dice announced that their World War II Mod for Battlefield Vietnam would be coming out THIS FRIDAY (W00t!), August 20th, 2004!

EA GAMES | Battlefield Vietnam

From the EA Announcement:

Have you ever wondered what Wake Island or Iwo Jima would look and play like with real tropical foliage? Do you love Battlefield Vietnam but you want to be able to relive the classics without having to dig up your 1942 disks?

Continue reading BFV WWII Mod Due out on Friday!

ATI Releases Catalyst 4.8 Drivers

ATI released version 4.8 of their Catalyst Driver package today. This release introduces an interesting new feature called “Geometry Instancing” which, to quote their release notes:

“This new feature provides assistance when a game has to render many objects where the geometry is highly similar. Geometry Instancing allows the VPU to create multiple objects from a single geometric model, rather than passing an entire new model for each item on the screen. This increases the rendering speed of images such as leaves, or grass. “

Wonder if this will help with Battlefield Vietnam Framerates?

You can read the entire release notes here: 8.042 CATALYSTâ„¢ Release Notes

And download the driver set directly here: ATI Technologies Inc.