I hope you have Monday February the 8^th free, because we here at Geekadelphia are teaming up with the great folks over at The Philly Zombie Crawl for a Movie Monday showing of Zombieland at the Troc! As you may know Zombieland made both Dustin and my top films of 2009 list, that coupled with our love of zombies here on Geek this event will be one not to miss!

The event is 21+ and only $3, that not only gets you in the door but goes toward a drink. Arrive before 7pm(doors open at 6:30) and not only get the pleasure of basking in Eric Smith’s company, but a free beer and a bag of popcorn as well.(What a bargain!) Also, show your love for zombies and come dressed up to be eligible for some great prizes courtesy of Brave New Worlds, Lionsgate Films and Screen Gems. We might be doing some other cool things as well, so keep an eye on the blog for details. So mark your calendars and hopefully see you there! I can’t wait!

Wow! Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to Lionsgate for these awesome prizes.

Without any further delay the winners are:

J.R. Blackwell

Jacob

Adam

Sara

Viv

You all will be getting an email from me about where I should send your prize pack to, and don’t forget to check Daybreakers out in theaters right now!

The folks over at Magellan were nice enough to give me their Magellan RoadMate app for the iPhone and iPod touch, to spend some time with it, compare it to a normal stand alone GPS unit and see what I thought. The iPhone was always thought of to be the one device to rule them all, but one thing it was missing from the very beginning(other than cut-and-paste) and that was the ability to use the device as a GPS unit with turn-by-turn directions.  Up until the newest iPhones this was nothing but a wet dream to anyone with an iPhone in their hot little hands, but Steve Jobs provided, and now it is here.

Now there has been quite a few types of Turn-By-Turn apps to hit the app store and I have tried several of them, I mean who doesn’t want to carry around one less device in these days? Sometimes I simply wish it was socially acceptable to wear a utility belt in public with everything I carry around.  There are 3 basic types of GPS apps I have noticed in the app store.  The first is where you pay for the app and all maps are included, its basically as if you purchased a GPS in a store; which is what the RoadMate is. The other two are ways to break the cost down in different ways, because the high price associated with a GPS app is basically the licensing of the maps it contains. The second is the Subscription based app where you’re charged a nominal monthly fee for use of the app and the maps, but if your not using the app that really doesn’t justify the $5 a month your paying.  The third is the portioned app where the maps are cut into bits so the cost is not as high because you’re only buying what you need. Just live in New York? Just buy the east coast pack.

The RoadMate is a full GPS in every sense of the word, in fact I think it actually has quite a few features that are only found with some of the more robust GPS units. I really thought this app should come with a manual of sorts due to the large amount of features, and my difficulty navigating them. But I think the fact that it is contained in an iPhone or iPod for that matter at times could be, and is it’s main drawback for me. First when you purchase the app, you should definitely buy it while connected to your computer, the app is a hefty 1.37 gigs due to all the maps so you might want to keep that in mind if your planning on getting it for your 4 gig touch. The app wont just work on the GPS enabled 3GS either, it will also work on a 2^nd generation iPhone and iPod touch with the purchase of  $129 Premium car kit which gives the older phones GPS capabilities, provides a louder speaker, and a much needed landscape mount for the iPhone.

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OMG! R BFFS BNW HAS BNW!*

* Translation: Wow! Our good friends over at Brave New Worlds, our favorite local comic book shop, have launched a brand new website, and we’re excited.

The new site allows the incredible staff (what’s up Brian, Robert!) to post their weekly picks, detailing their current reads and favorite issues.

You’ll also notice the brand new news section, where, according to our top-secret insider source at Brave New Worlds (who totally doesn’t have a beard), they’ll be posting a lot of great things in the upcoming weeks. So keep an eye on it.

‘Grats, Brave New Worlds.

Brave New Worlds (Old City)
45 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-6525
www.bravenewworldscomics.com

Don’t forget to get your entries in for the Daybreakers contest which ends this Thursday if you haven’t already. This week however, we have for our faithful readers thanks to Screen Gems tickets(2 per person) to an advance screening of Legion! 10 lucky readers will not only get to see the film before anyone else, but will also get a prizepack consisting of an awesome t-shirt and a movie poster as well.  I have been looking forward to this film since I saw the trailer before Zombieland and it had me sold after the first minute! Even if you don’t win you can check the film out next Friday the 22nd when it opens in theaters everywhere.

If you’re not familiar with the plot or haven’t seen the insane trailer here is a synopsis. “After God loses faith in humanity, the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany), who has become a fallen angel, is the only one standing between mankind and Armageddon. This time using angels to execute the Last Judgment, God’s wrath descends on Earth to exterminate the world’s population. In a desperate, last-chance gambit, Michael leads a group of strangers to a small New Mexico diner to protect a young waitress who may be pregnant with Christ in his second coming.” Pretty cool huh?

We will be picking winners on Monday the 18th and getting their passes and prize packs out to them.  The screening will take place next Thursday January 21^st at the Ritz Five theater at 7:30pm, the prize packs will be sent via Fedex. To enter to win simply comment with your favorite film involving angels. In the meantime check out the trailer.

Contest over! Thanks for entering.

Contests. We love ‘em. In fact, we currently have one running with Lionsgate, where you can win a prize package from the new film, Daybreakers. However, for those of you who are more into casual gaming and not so much into vampire flicks, we’ve partnered up with THQ, giving you, dear reader, a chance to win a new Nintendo DS game… Daniel X: Ultimate Power.

The new title, published by THQ and developed by Griptonite Games, the folks behind Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines and X-Men Origins: Wolverine for the PSP, places gamers into the shoes of Daniel, a boy who has inherited superpowers from his alien parents. The title is based on James Patterson’s best-selling book series, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X.

How to enter? Easy. Just answer this simple, trivia question.

Who is James Patterson’s co-author of The Dangerous Days of Daniel X?

Leave your answer in the comments. Next Tuesday, we’ll pick one of you at random, and you’ll get a copy of the game. Tip: You should check out Wikipedia. I’ve posted some screenshots, as well as the trailer after the jump. Have a look, and good luck!

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If you’ve played Guitar Hero in the past two years (let’s face it, you have), you may have ventured to play some of the lesser known tracks after playing Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” for the 500th time on expert mode. One of those tracks that may fall just under most players’ radar is An Endless Sporadic’s “Impulse” (found in Guitar Hero III), a much welcomed jab in the arm to the progressive rock scene from their first EP, Ameliorate. Thousands of downloads later and the prog rock duo decided it was about time to give us some more with a self titled debut.

Check out my review after the break and drop in a comment naming a new band you discovered via Guitar Hero  for a chance to win a signed copy of the album Unfortunately, it’s signed to Joe, but hey, it’s still pretty neat! Contest ends Friday, January 15.

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Welcome to Geekadelphia’s weekly discussion column, Cofffee Talk, where we talk about the finer topics concerning video games, technology and all the other things you can’t talk about with your slightly-less-geeky friends. Have questions or suggestions? Send an email to geekadelphia@gmail.com or tweet with us. Follow me on Twitter if you’d like to keep this week’s discussion alive.

In a recent interview at the 2009 Crunchies with TechCrunch founder Mike Arrigton, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg touched on the future of internet privacy and Facebook’s role in how it’s changing. When asked where he feels privacy on the web is going in light of Facebook’s recent policy change, Zuckerberg responded with,

“…in the last 5 or 6 years, blogging has taken off in a huge way and all these different services that have people sharing all this information. People have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time. We view it as our role in the system to constantly be innovating and be updating what our system is to reflect what the current social norms are. “

Funny thing, this wasn’t how he felt before Facebook’s big shift last December from nearly absolute privacy to almost full transparency. Web surfers now have the ability to see user’s names, friend lists, networks, pictures and even the pages they subscribe to with just a quick Google search. More discussion and the full interview after the jump.

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You know I remember “back in my day” when a game was ported to a hand held as Resident Evil would say “it was a shadow of its former self.” I find this fact to be exemplified with fighting games, which I am a big fan of.  I still remember when they first ported Mortal Kombat to the Gameboy(the black and white brick) the game was barely playable to say the least.  I think it probably ran at about 3 to 4 frames per-second and that’s just me being generous.  It’s pretty common knowledge fighting games are usually made to run at the fastest frame rate possible on the fastest console hardware possible.(Which is why most fighters have been bypassing the Wii lately) But, when they are ported to a portable console quite a few sacrifices have to be made.  That is until recently.

Namco Bandai was nice enough to send me a copy of Tekken 6 for the PSP to try out and I honestly have to say it was the best fighter I have ever played on a portable console, ever; and that doesn’t come lightly. After years of playing bad ports of really great fighters it’s nice to see one where they got it right.  The entire roster of characters is represented here in stunning detail. The character models while scaled down slightly for the PSP version still look great! The only thing I could see that might have been trimmed for the port-down to a portable console is the online network play is no longer present. You can still play against people in proximity, in an ad-hoc network but you can’t jump and brawl against people on the PSN, which is somewhat understandable. Another nitpick is the 3d fighter previews are gone in the character selection screen. These are puzzlingly replaced by really low-res pics of the fighters.

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I hope you all had a very safe and happy New Year. Well thanks to the folks at the Historic Keswick Theatre, New Years Eve I was lucky enough to attend the Cinematic Titanic event, starring the original creator and stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I should probably note that it really turned out to be the geeky place to be for New Years Eve, the place was packed to the gills with some of Philly’s best and brightest; podcasters and bloggers and even some readers of Geekadelphia.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of Cinematic Titanic, what it entails is one really bad B-movie and 5 people making fun of it or “riffing” on it if you will for the entire picture. Unlike Rifftrax, which seems to focus more on mainstream fare, Cinema Titanic likes to keep it to the more to cult and obscure films and for that they are my personal favorite. The event’s MC for the night was Dave Gruber, who honestly stole the show whenever he was on stage in my opinion.

Unlike their usual shows which they usually showed 2 films, here they showed 3 films back to back starting with a 1968 Japanese film dubbed in English(those are always funny)Genocide aka The Great Insect War, or War of the Insects. I had read online that this film didn’t exist in a English dubbed version but there it was. The film is basically about killer insects that cause the US government to lose an H-Bomb on an island, sounds like perfect fodder for the Cinema Titanic Crew. Since I love Japanese films especially bad ones, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and the commentary was priceless to say the least.

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You know I really thought everything that could be done with the vampire genre had been done, that is until I saw the trailer for Daybreakers and that definitely changed my mind.  Daybreakers tells the story of a world where a mysterious plague has turned almost the entire population of the planet into vampires. As the still-human population nears extinction, the vampires must capture and farm every remaining human, or find a blood substitute before humankind become extinct. The film opens this Friday the 8^th and stars Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, and I honestly can’t wait to see this!

The great folks over at Lionsgate Films were nice enough to provide us with 5 Daybreakers Prize Packs consisting of

·  A pair of Sunglasses

·  A Daybreakers Water Bottle

·   A Daybreakers Poster & Postcard

All you have to do to enter is comment with your favorite vampire film and yes I will accept Twilight as an answer.  We will pick 5 comments at random next Thursday the 14^th and let you know to expect your package. If you looking for even more cool Daybreakers swag Lionsgate is also running another sweepstakes over here http://bit.ly/gfbdaybreakers, they have some really great prizes as well. So, comment away and good luck!

Me and the geeks here at Geekadelphia are incredibly proud of Philadelphia’s Autumn Society, a group of illustrators and artists who continue to create fantastic, geek-tastic art that sends our nerdy hearts a-flutter.

See, several artists from the group are contributing to Gallery 1988′s upcoming exhibit Under the Influence, He-Man & the Masters of the Universe. Featuring He-Man inspired works inspired by everything He-Man, from the live action film to the recent new animated series.

Contributors from Philadelphia include Chogrin (who recently moved to NYC to work for Cartoon Network), Tom Whalen, Danielle Rizzolo, and Dave Perillo.

The show opens this Friday, January 8th. Luckily, since a lot of us are here in Philadelphia and won’t have the chance to scope out the show first hand, you can check out featured works on the Autumn Society’s site here.

Congrats guys (and gal!), we’re proud of you.

The Autumn Society
www.theautumnsociety.com