Exclusive: Minor Booyah: One Good Thing about the G.I. Joe Game & Movie

One of the things I’ve been pretty concerned about as I write my book, “The Game Changers,” is how popular culture has influenced videogames over time.

Along those lines, the movie industry and the game industry have not only been strange bedfellows over the years. They’ve been angry, mocking bedfellows. How bad? Probably like the last days of Kate and Jon. (”Please don’t squoosh the cereal in your anger!”) Probably like the long bouts of arguments in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (”If you start in about this other business, Martha, I warrrrrnnn you!”)

But now, you can see that the blockbuster movie is influenced more and more by games (despite crappy movie games, which will always be with us — remember Coraline). Look at the action in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” for instance. Looks like someone watched (or maybe even played) Burnout for inspiration.

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Shipping Out: August 3 - 7, 2009

It’s a pretty mellow week at retail, with the highlights of the week being Singstar Queen, the new G.I. JOE game, Brave: A Warrior’s Tale, Daisy Fuentes Pilates and the brand new DLC pack for Fallout 3 - Mothership Zeta. All this week’s releases can be found below:

August 3:

East India Company - PC

Fallout 3 Mothership Zeta - PC, Xbox 360 (on Xbox Live and as a card at retail), PC

Ultimate Duck Hunting - Wii

August 4:

Brave: A Warrior’s Tale - Wii, Xbox 360

Daisy Fuentes Pilates - Wii

DSi AC Adapter - DSi

G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra - Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP

Hearts of Iron 3 - PC

SingStar Queen - PS3, PS2

Sony PSP Hannah Montana Lilac Bundle

EA prepares for Comic-Con

Electronic Arts revealed the titles that it will showcase at San Diego Comic-Con International from July 23 - 26, 2009. Located at booth #5213 in the San Diego Convention Center, EA will showcase ARMY OF TWO: THE 40th DAY, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Battlefield 1943, Brutal Legend, Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space: Extraction, G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra, Dragon Age: Origins, Left 4 Dead 2, The Saboteur and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Part of the booth will also contain a retail corner with unique EA merchandise for sale (details on that merchandise can be found at www.easpecials.com).

In addition to its booth, EA will host the ‘EA Gaming Lounge presented by Xbox 360′ at the Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Hotel (401 K Street, San Diego, California 92101) that will run from Thursday July 23 to Sunday July 26. The ‘Gaming Lounge will be open from 2pm - 9pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday 6/25; 12pm - 5pm on Sunday. Show-goers will be able to get hands-on play with Dragon Age: Origins, Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Left 4 Dead 2. On July 22nd, EA will also host a press-only preview showcase from 11am - 5pm.

Finally, several EA’s development teams will be participating in the panels as well:

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Hasbro: power through partners at E3

Hasbro has more than a dozen of its popular toy and game properties coming to various video game platforms in the second half of this year. The company’s popular board games and toys will be become video games through licensing alliances with Electronic Arts, Activision, and Glu Mobile. The new wave of video games builds on the momentum achieved by EA in the past 18 months with its release of nearly 40 Hasbro-inspired titles across 16 brands and 13 platforms, several of which have held top sales rankings by platform. Additionally, through an extended licensing agreement with Performance Design Products (PDP), a new line of Hasbro-branded video game accessories will land at retail in 2009.

This summer will kick off with the launch of Activision’s TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN in June on the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii, PlayStation 2 , Windows PC, PSP, and Nintendo DS . Glu Mobile will also release the game on a variety of mobile devices as well as a mini-application on the iPhone. EA will launch G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra on the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION3, Wii, PlayStation2, PSP, Nintendo DS and mobile devices in August.

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EA reveals massive E3 line-up

Electronic Arts today revealed the games it will show off at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) June 2 - 4. The year’s lineup features sequels franchises, new intellectual property, and licensed titles across various platforms.

Highlights include Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Army of Two: The 40th Day, Brütal Legend, Dead Space Extraction, Dragon Age: Origins, Dante’s Inferno, G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Mass Effect 2, The Saboteur, MySims Agents, Need For Speed NITRO, Need for Speed SHIFT, Spore Hero, Spore Hero Arena, The Sims 3, Battlefield 1943, and Littlest Pet Shop Online.

EA Sports will be showcasing EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis, FIFA 10, Madden NFL 10, NCAA Football 10, NHL 10, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10, and Fight Night Round 4. EA Mobile will be showing off FIFA 10, The Sims 3, Mass Effect Galaxy, G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Command & Conquer Red Alert, and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR.

EA’s entire portfolio will be on display at booth (#1501) at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Those that are not at the show will want to check out www.ea.com/e3.