Who ‘Ads’ Up the Most Golden Trailer Awards?

 

We recently posted the nominees for the 14th annual Golden Trailer Awards, honoring movie and video game trailers. On May 4, the winners were announced,  and it looks like Disney knows how to market (duh)!

Here are some of the big winners and some of the trailers to boot!

BEST IN SHOW:  “Iron Man 3” “Not Afraid” – Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Trailer Park

SUMMER 2013 BLOCKBUSTER TRAILER: Iron Man 3 “Not Afraid”, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Trailer Park

BEST ACTION:  “Skyfall” “Domestic” – MGM/Columbia Pictures, Picture Production Company

BEST ANIMATION/FAMILY:  “Wreck it Ralph” “Dreams” – The Walt Disney Studios, mOcean

BEST COMEDY: “The Hangover Part III” “Teaser” – Warner Bros., mOcean

BEST DOCUMENTARY: “Brooklyn Castle” – Producers Distribution Agency, Wheelhouse Creative

BEST DRAMA:  “Argo” – Warner Bros., AV Squad

BEST HORROR:  “Mama” “Forever”  – Universal, Buddha Jones

BEST INDEPENDENT TRAILER:  “Silver Linings Playbook” “Never Met” – Weinstein Co., Buddha Jones

BEST MUSIC:  “Les Miserables” “I Dreamed a Dream” – Universal, Seismic Productions

BEST ROMANCE:  “Silver Linings Playbook” – The Weinstein Co., Motive Creative

BEST THRILLER:  “Trance” “Red Band” –  Fox Searchlight, Motive Creative

BEST VIDEO GAME TRAILER:  “Tomb Raider” “Trlr 3 Survivor” – Square Enix, Ignition Creative

THE DON LAFONTAINE AWARD FOR BEST VOICE OVER:  “John Dies at the End” – Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing, M3 Creative

GOLDEN FLEECE:  “Hit & Run” “With Friends Like These” – Open Road Films, Buddha Jones

MOST ORIGINAL TRAILER:  “Monsters University” “Admissions” – Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Pixar, Trailer Park

TRASHIEST TRAILER:  “Spring Breakers” – A24Films, Mark Woollen & Associates

GOLDEN TRAILER Awards Honors the Marketing Side of Movies, Games

All too often, the best part of many movies or video games is the trailer. A good editor can cut a film into a two-minute preview that can make the most boring French art film into a seemingly action-packed explosion fest with just a few choice scene selections and jump-edits. That’s why we were happy that the marketing teams will get their day in the 14th Annual Golden Trailer Awards on May 3.

The Golden Trailers gives tribute to movie trailers, video game trailers, and movie posters. But they really get into some awesome specific categories like The Don LaFontaine Award for Best Voice Over (you know, named for the “In a world…” guy) and the Golden Fleece presented to the best trailer for a terrible movie.

We’ll bring you the list of winners when they are announced. In the meanwhile, here are some of the nominees you might want to root for:

Summer 2013 Blockbuster Trailer:

 

Movies not your thing? how about Best Video Game Trailer:

(via Golden Trailer Awards)

Five Favorite LucasArts Games

LucasArts is shutting its doors, and while they haven’t put out much lately that wasn’t Star Wars related (or very good, for that matter, KOTOR not withstanding), the LucasArts name on a software box used to mean a must-have game for He Geek without ever having to read a review.

Here are my five favorite LucasArts games that sent me on some of the greatest adventures in the 90s and 2000s.

1. X-Wing

X-Wing put you in the pilot seat of the greatest snub-nosed fighter in the galaxy. Some of the missions were really easy, others ungodly difficult, but they all made you feel like you were doing your part to free the galaxy from the evil Empire, even with blocky graphics and repetitive chiptune theme song.  I never had the opportunity to play Tie Fighter, the follow-up to X-Wing, and many people say TF is superior, but X-Wing satisfied me anyway.

2. The Secret of Monkey Island

In this comedy-adventure, a young Caribbean man with dreams of hitting the high seas, falls in love with the Governor’s daughter, but gets tangled up with a variety of rogues, most notably an evil ghost pirate. Sound like a Johnny Depp movie? It should. Pirates of the Caribbean was adapted from a script originally meant for a movie based on The Secret of Monkey Island, which explains why the movie was so good. The Monkey Island series was the hilarious story of Guybrush Threepwood and his quest to become a pirate. It was so good that it was recently re-released as a remastered special edition on Steam and console downloads. If you’ve never played Monkey Island before, stop reading this, go buy it, then come back and finish the rest of the article. We’ll wait…

3. Zombies Ate My Neighbors

I’ll admit, I was never able to finish ZAMN. I got very far and lost a lot of lives and my game got saved at a point where I only had precious little life and my character was in a very precarious place I could never survive. But ZAMN was my favorite game on my favorite gaming system (SNES). My ex and I would spend hours killing zombies before it was even cool. The weapons and monsters were awesome (the creepy laughing bop-it clown you’d inflate to distract the axe-wielding dolls made me laugh every time. “Here! All kids love clowns!” I’d yell at the screen.) Plus the chapter with deadly plants named “Where the Red Fern Growls” gives the giggles to this day.

4. Grim Fandango

Adventure games hit perfection with Grim Fandango. With an art style based on the Mexican Dias de los Muertos, Grim put you in the shoes of Manny Calavera, a travel agent for the dead whose job it was to get new souls safely to the afterlife. It was an amazing film noir-esque story that would have been right at home on the big screen starring Humphry Bogart back in the day (if Bogey were a skeleton. I guess today he…nevemind).

5. Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi

Ok, just kidding. This one really sucked. Hey, they can’t all be winners.

There are so many great games that game from the minds of the creators at LucasArts that we couldn’t possibly list all of our favorites in one post. But what about you geeks? Which LucasArts games do you have fond memories of? Sound off in the comments!

Here’s What We Now Know About the Next Playstation

Today is a day gamers worldwide have been anticipating for weeks: Sony has finally detailed plans and specs for their next generation of gaming, starting with the official name: Playstation4. Did NOT see that coming! From the @Playstation Twitter stream, here are the highlights of what Sony revealed tonight about the new PS4:

• Every PS4 game will be playable on Vita via WiFi
  
• You’ll be able to share screenshots and video clips using DualShock 4’s new Share button.
• PS4 will enable you to broadcast your gameplay in real time
• Digital titles will be playable as they’re being downloaded in the background
• DualShock 4 revealed: Improved analog sticks, enhanced rumble, lower latency, touchpad, headphone jack, Share button http://bit.ly/11Lo7WS
• Media Molecule (Little Big Planet) has big plans for the Move
• Upcoming games: Killzone:ShadowFall , DriveClub, inFamous: Second Son, The Witness (from the creator of Braid), Deep Down (new IP from Capcom), Knack, Watch Dogs (finally), a new Final Fantasy, Diablo 3, Destiny

You can catch the announcement video on the Playstation blog here.

Excited yet? Is Sony going to be the one to beat this generation? Sound off in the comments!

You can catch the announcement video on the Playstation blog here.

14 More Great Geeky Snow Sculptures

Sure Batman fighting a great white shark is awesome but you know what else is awesome? These!

The Evolution of Video Game Consoles Infographic

I once thought I was a fortunate kid/young adult/old man because I’ve owned 16 video consoles in my gaming history (including the Atari Pong system). But looking at this infographic, I realize how many systems I was deprived! Thanks for nothing, mom and dad!

Of all of these, which console was your favorite? He Geek is all about the Super Nintendo!

 

(via Ript)

LEGO Minifigure Infographic

What was the first LEGO minifigure? Why do the heads have a hole in the top? How many LEGO videogames have there been so far? You have many questions, grasshopper! Luckily, HGSG (and this infographic) is here to give you the answers!

(via Visually)

 

Winners of the 2012 Video Game Awards

This was a good year for both the smaller downloadable and the larger event games on Spike TV’s annual VGA show. How many of the winners have you played? Do you agree with the academy’s choices?

• Game of the Year: The Walking Dead: The Game
• Studio of the Year: Telltale Games
• Best Xbox 360 Game: Halo 4
• Best PlayStation 3 Game: Journey
• Best Wii/Wii U Game: New Super Mario Bros. U
• Best PC Game: XCOM: Enemy Unknown
• Best Shooter: Borderlands 2
• Best Action/Adventure Game: Dishonored
• Best RPG: Mass Effect 3
• Best Multiplayer Game: Borderlands 2
• Best Individual Sports Game: SSX
• Best Team Sports Game: NBA 2K13
• Best Driving Game: Need for Speed Most Wanted
• Best Song in a Game: “Cities” by Beck (Sound Shapes)
• Best Original Score: Journey
• Best Graphics: Halo 4
• Best Independent Game: Journey
• Best Fighting Game: Persona 4 Arena
• Best Handheld/Mobile Game: Sound Shapes
• Best Performance by a Human Female: Melissa Hutchinson as Clementine (The Walking Dead: The Game)
• Best Performance by a Human Male: Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)
• Best Adapted Video Game: The Walking Dead: The Game
• Best DLC: Dawnguard (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)
• Best Downloadable Game: The Walking Dead: The Game
• Best Social Game: You Don’t Know Jack

(via IGN)

CITY OF HEROES Shuts Down Its Servers Tonight

I had tried Everquest after hearing about the addictive gameplay, but I was bored of it within the month. Something about the fantasy setting just didn’t appeal to me. But I started reading about a new take on the game genre involving superheroes fighting supervillains in a living ever-changing metropolis. As a member of the Straight Dope message boards (SDMB), a number of us decided to try out this City of Heroes and team up on missions. I went to Best Buy after work, shelled out my $50, went home, and installed it. About 30 minutes later I was creating my first superhero, Max Carnage, a 7ft tall, muscle-bound tank.

At first, everyone was earthbound, having to run to places by foot, using the always on-time rail system to get from region to region in Paragon City. Within the week, people started leveling up enough to gain movement powers. I will never forget the first time I logged in and saw heroes in flight. It was amazing. I imagined what a time traveler would have felt like seeing an airplane for the first time. I couldn’t wait to join them in the clouds.

The group from SDMB eventually created a supergroup (the equivalent of “guilds” in fantasy games) named CECIL (Cecil’s Excellent Counter-Ignorance League, or something like that.) We’d meet up nightly and fight crime, do task force missions, or just gather in one area and shoot the breeze while playing with on-screen emotes. I always relied on the ever-present member Culex to know the inner-workings of CoH. She’d explain the best way to load-up on powersets, what all the percentages meant, things my pea brain couldn’t wrap around. The more complex the game got, the more into it she got.

A couple of years later I met my future wife. She’s a geek but wasn’t into online gaming, so I found myself having to split my time between CECIL and She Geek. Eventually She Geek won my affections and City of Heroes became a very sporadic pastime for me. I couldn’t justify the $15 per month fee, when I could spend that money on dating the love of my life. Still even after years of neglecting my crime-fighting duties, when I’d log on, I’d nearly always find a member of CECIL online willing to help me get back up to speed.

And today, the lights will go dark in Paragon City. CoH has been such a minor part of my life the past few years that I shouldn’t care that much, but I do. Not having the option to get my superhero fix just stinks. I’ve tried DC Universe Online and Champions Online, but neither of them had the same…purity of City Of Heroes. I spent nights doing nothing but playing with the robust character creator and taking screenshots of my near-ripoffs and comedic attempts. CoH’s story lines were fun and harkened back to the golden age of comics. And best of all, the people I spent time with were genuinely good folk, unlike so many of the rude jerks you find on XBL or PSN (you know who you are.)

So in honor of City of Heroes, I wanted to share a gallery of some of my characters and in game screenshots. I know these won’t mean a lot to you who never got to experience the joy of leaping across Perez Park to fight the Skulls or teaming up with literally hundreds of other heroes to ward off a Rikti invasion, but if you were ever a part of City of Heroes/City of Villains, please feel free to tell us some of your memories and share your characters with us.

Thank you Cryptic Studios, NCSoft, and Statesman for the great experience of the only MMO worth playing, in my humble opinion. Long may your capes wave.

Max Carnage

She Carnage

Robo-Carnage

Re-InCarnage (the undead Max)

Mack Carnage (Max, before the accident)

Kid Carnage

Max sans helmet

Linda the Free

Homer the Brave

Pestilenz

Kablammo, my villain

The Electric Amish

The Cleveland Steamer

Tennessee Titan

Science: “Screw What Mom Says! Gaming is Good for You!”

Science has been a real jerk lately, telling Pluto that it’s not a planet after all, making it impossible to clone dinosaurs in real life…. But then science comes along, gives us something like this, and totally redeems itself!

 

(via Geek Pride)