Fox News vs. Modern Warfare 2

According to our friends at Game Politics and the Entertainment Software Association, Fox News will be taking on the contrived controversies of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 this morning on the Fox & Friends morning show.

The ECA, which owns and operates the Game Politics blog, received an email from FOX News at around 11 a.m. EST on Tuesday asking to speak to an “expert gamer” about the controversies surrounding the game. Here’s a quote from that email:

“I write to inquire about a possible interview tomorrow on Fox & Friends. We’re the morning show of the Fox News Channel, and are planning on doing a segment on the new Xbox game, Modern Warfare 2. We’re hoping to have a debate on the game, and would love to speak to an expert gamer on the controversies surrounding the game. The debate is for 6:50am tomorrow morning, on camera.”

The email was sent to the ECA’s Jason Andersen, director of PR. The ECA declined to take part in the discussion, because according to GP, Fox News would not offer any details on the discussion planned for the segment. We all know how their last major segment on Mass Effect with psychologist Cooper Lawrence, so sending someone in there blind seemed like a bad idea, no doubt.

The segment will run on the morning show at 6:50 a.m. EDT, according to GP.

MLB, LucasFilm content now on PlayStation Network

MLB and LucasFilm content is now available on PlayStation Network’s video delivery service, if you care. This means that a variety of downloadable entertainment and sports content will now be available from the PlayStation Store. The first piece of content from LucasFilms will be the StarWars: The Clone Wars animated series that airs on Cartoon Network.

Meanwhile, MLB is offering the current 2009 World Series featuring the Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Yankees (in case you’ve missed any of the games so far), and also a section with classic games.

A new partnership with Image Entertainment also brings feature films like Powder Blue and Management, whole a deal with MPI Media Group brings in such classics as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a deal with ContentFilm International delivers Hurly Burly and Interstate 60 to the PlayStation Store. Look for this and other new content on the PlayStation Network beginning today.

SpongeBob Truth or Square game in stores this week

THQ has released SpongeBob’s Truth or Square to all major retailers nationwide for the Wii, Nintendo DS, the Xbox 360, and PSP. In this off-the-wall action adventure game, players will take poart in some of the most humorous events from the last 10 years. The game also introduces a new and unique morphing capability that turns SpongeBob into unlikely objects like a spatula or sledgehammer. The game is slightly tied to a special episode of the show that celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the show.

In SpongeBob’s Truth or Square, players journey through memorable SpongeBob SquarePants locations to find the missing Krabby Patty formula in time for Krusty Krab’s Eleventy Seventh Anniversary. From Jellyfish Fields to downtown Bikini Bottom, players will have to run, jump, spin and hammer their way through 10 levels. Each level will take players back to a happy SpongeBob SquarePants moment, such as when SpongeBob becomes a fry cook, gets into the Salty Spittoon or meets Sandy for the first time.

Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants “Truth or Square” one-hour prime time television event premieres on Friday, Nov. 6, culminating Nickelodeon’s 10th anniversary celebration of the pop-icon and top-rated kids’ series. The event features celebrity guest stars Craig Ferguson, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, LeBron James, P!nk and Robin Williams, among others. SpongeBob’s Truth or Square was developed by Heavy Iron Studios.

Players Only with Scott Steinberg examines game journalism

The latest episode of Players Only with Scott Steinberg attempts to tackle the tricky subject of video game journalism and the metamorphosis it is currently undergoing and how it is adapting to this brave new world of modern publishing via various interconnected platforms.

Topics covered in latest episode, Rewriting Game Journalism, include the field’s evolution and the struggle to gain widespread acceptance. Beyond examining the media’s supposed death through in-depth conversations with the industry’s most respected pundits, this episode further investigates how the lines between reporters and readers are increasingly blurring. Also scrutinized are the rise of citizen journalists and user-friendly tools for information sharing.

Check out the latest episode at www.digitaltrends.com/playersonly.

Warner Bros. forms DC Entertainment

Batman: Arkham Asylum has sold almost two million copies in less than a month, according to published reports. This kind of success with a DC comics-based game is one of several reasons that Warner Bros. is creating DC Entertainment, a brand new company dedicated to taking care of DC Comics properties. The new division will be headed up by Diane Nelson, the current president of Warner Premiere. Warner Bros. says that this new division will attempt to find the full potential of DC related products including games, films, television and other media.

Naturally this is a good idea given that Disney now owns Marvel Entertainment and will no doubt be doing its best to bring popular Marvel franchises to multiple fronts including TV, movies, comic books, and naturally video games.

Warhammer Online invades Ace of Cakes tonight

Tonight (August 27) on Food Networks Ace of Cake’s Chef Duff will be showing off a pretty amazing cake he and his team helped create for Mythic’s popular MMORPG, Warhammer Online. The cake, shown below, is modeled after a familiar Warhammer Online creature - the Squig. The cake was part of Warhammer Online’s Baltimore Games Day booth earlier this year and was well received by everyone that saw it first hand - as you’ll see in tonight’s episode. Interestingly, Duff calls the Squig the best cake he’s made on the show. In a recent interview with USA Today Chef Duff said as much:

“It’s coming up. We made a cake of a monster called Squig from a video game called Warhammer for a video-game convention. This thing was about the size of large sheepdog. It was gigantic. It was a humongous cake balanced on two legs.”

The show will debut tonight at 10 PM EST on Food Network. Click on the pciture below to see it now:

Warner Bros. secures rights to The Bachelor, Bachelorette

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Ludia have signed a deal to create and distribute video games based on the reality TV dating shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, from Warner Horizon Television and created by Mike Fleiss. The worldwide licensing and distribution arrangement will launch the video games across multiple platforms following the conclusion of The Bachelor’s 14th season in 2010 on the ABC Television Network.

The Bachelor and The Bachelorette video games will be distributed in retail by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and in digital formats by Ludia. Created by Mike Fleiss (who also created More to Love and There Goes the Neighborhood), The Bachelor and The Bachelorette television series are produced by Next Entertainment in association with Warner Horizon Television. For both series, Fleiss and Martin Hilton are the executive producers, and Chris Harrison is the host.

Yes Ludia, thank-you for ruining Monday night television for me.