Three Games Store relaunched in the UK

Leading UK mobile network operator, Three, has re-launched its Games Store with a string of highly innovative features including social media integration and a dedicated HD games section. A section featuring an extensive selection of social games which allow users to interact and compete with each other is also in the works but not yet available.

What is available is a browser-baser portal store is a variety of games and apps that will appeal to everyone from casual gamers to hardcore game enthusiasts. The objective of the new Games Store is to create a must-go-to destination for all gamers using Three. The huge range of games, tips, information and reviews, as well as the ability to connect with an active community of like-minded players and fans is the latest addition to a growing portfolio of hosted multi-content services managed by the Livewire Mobile Inc. team in partnership with Three.

The relaunched Games Store will support content across a number of phone operating systems.

Currently, the Games Store includes Android games and apps targeted at the increasing number of Three gamers that use the portal as their mobile gaming hub.  A dedicated Android app with integrated Three billing is scheduled to be released ready for devices that will be in-store and available during the holiday shopping season.

“This is an area that continues to grow in popularity and with the biggest 3G network in the UK — and one designed for the high-speed mobile internet — we believe our customers now have access to the very best mobile Games Store in the UK where ever they are,” said Neil Andrews, Head of Media Sales and Content services at Three UK.

The games never end in the UK thanks to GameStop

GameStop, the world’s largest multichannel video game retailer has launched a new website designed specifically for gamers in the Untied Kingdom. Game enthusiasts in the UK will now have round the clock access to the widest selection of gaming hardware, software , accessories  and pre-owned games, as well as GameStop’s full range of digital content and services through www.gamestop.co.uk.

To celebrate, GameStop is offering online customers at http://www.gamestop.co.uk a number of special offers, including:

• Nintendo 3DS Cosmic Black Console, no only £154.97
• Call to Juarez only £21.97 (for Ps3 or Xbox 360)
• 3 for 2 on Pre-owned Games — buy two pre-owned games and get the third free. Thousands of titles to choose from.
• Exclusive Assassin’s Creed® Revelations Animus Edition now available for preorder.

In addition, gamers who pre-order Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare on www.gamstop.co.uk will be entered into a contest to win two tickets to the Call of Duty XP event in Los Angeles, CA, USA. For more details on entering, visit www.gamestop.co.uk/MW3/Preorder.

All offers are limited and available on a first come first serve basis.

“GameStop’s entry into the UK online market will provide consumers with more choices and exclusive content that they can’t find anywhere else,” said Mike Mauler, executive vice president of GameStop International. “One of our European exclusives is for the anticipated release of Assassin’s Creed Revelations Animus Edition, which will be available to UK gamers on through www.gamestop.co.uk.”

Assassin's Creed Revelations Screenshot courtesy of Ubisoft

Enter the worlds of Mervyn Peake this summer at the British Library

You’ve never heard of Mervyn Peake? You’ve never heard of Mervyn Peake?

Next you’ll say you’ve never heard of the Gormenghast books either, or Alice in Wonderland.

Peake’s original drawing for the Mad Hatter's tea party - courtesy of Mervyn Peake Estate and British Library Board

Mervyn Peake is the English author of the Gormenghast novels as well as an artist whose work includes illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the Brothers Grimm’s Household Tales. He was also a playwright, poet and screenwriter. In fact, The Times, one of Britain’s longest running daily newspapers, name Peake among “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945″ back when they published that list in 2008.

Peake’s work is so significant and, indeed, there is so much of it in virtually almost every literary and artistic form, that the venerable British Museum is hosting an exhibition to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday and the publication of the fourth Titus book Titus Awakes in July 2011. The Worlds of Mervyn Peake examines Peake’s prolific output as a writer and illustrator by exploring the real and imagined worlds he inhabited in an exhibit at the British Library running 5 July to 18 September, 2011.

“I hope this exhibition will encourage visitors to look beyond the label of ‘gothic fantasy’, which Peake so disliked, to see a man who had a profound understanding of humanity and a wicked sense of fun,” said Zoë Wilcox, Curator of The Worlds of Mervyn Peake exhibition at the British Library. “Mervyn Peake’s archive was recently acquired by the British Library and this has provided a wealth of material for the exhibition, which focuses on the real places that inspired Peake’s imaginary worlds. As befits a master of nonsense, there are plenty of quirks: you can discover why Peake hated camels, had trouble with geraniums and nearly lost face over the purchase of a palm tree.”

Titus Awakes is the fourth title of Peake’s Gormenghast novels. Peake was working on it when his health began to fail and Parkinson’s disease eventually took his life in 1968. Since then it was believe the series remained unfinished.

A chance discovery in an attic in January 2010 changed all that.

Notes and drawings of Pear Fairies in Peake's notebooks courtesy of the British Library

Peake’s granddaughter discovered four notebooks containing not just Peake’s notes and drawings for a novel he never had a chance to finish but the complete novel. Prior to his death, Peak outlined the novel for his wife, Maeve Gilmore. She completed his work posthumously but for some reason it was never published. Until now. The first hardcover edition of the book Titus Awakes will be released by Overlook Hardcover on 7 July, 2011.

The complete manuscript of Titus Awakes is just one of the discoveries made among Peake’s papers, many of which are part of The Worlds of Mervyn Peake exhibition at the British Library. Another extraordinary find was the complete first scene of Peake’s sci-fi play Isle Escape. The premise of the play is a couple escaping to a tropical island to wait out a world war that never takes place. Other highlights from the Peake archive include:

• Gormenghast notebooks beautifully illustrated with character drawings of the Prunesquallors, Flay and Barquentine.
• Peake’s original drawings for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
• A letter to his wife, Maeve Gilmore, sent from Germany in 1945. Peakes attended the war crimes trial of Peter Beck and visited Bergen-Belsen as a war correspondent for The Leader magazine.
• ‘Just a Line”, a storyboard for an animated television program in which an ordinary line transforms into pirates, princesses and other strange sights as it journey across the screen.
• The earliest surviving story by Peake, The White Chief of the Umzimbooboo Kaffirs written when he was 11 years old upon his return from China when he spent the first part of his life.
• Various correspondence from Dylan Thomas, Graham Greene and C.S. Lewis.

The Worlds of Mervyn Peake is open from 5 July to 18 September, 2011 in the Folio Gallery of the British Library. Exhibition hours are Monday, Wednesday-Friday 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Tuesday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday/bank Holidays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Admission is FREE.

In addition to The Worlds of Mervyn Peake, two special events will also accompany the exhibition.

On 11 July, 2011 Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast will feature the launch and first reading of Titus Awakes, the recently unearthed fourth and final novel in Peake’s groundbreaking series. China Miéville, Sebastian Peake and other special guests will contribute to this unique event.

In 26 July, 2011, Peake’s associates, experts and family members will come together for Mervyn Peake: A Celebration, an evening of words, memories and images.

British Library partners with Google to bring European history online

The British Library and Google have announced a partnership to digitize a quarter-million (250,000) out-of-copyright books, pamphlets and periodicals published between 1700 to 1870 from the Library’s collections. The project will result in allowing access to up to 40 million pages from one of the world’s greatest collections to researchers, students and others around the globe through Google Books and the Library’s website.

“What’s powerful about the technology available today isn’t just its ability to preserve history and culture for posterity, but also its ability to bring it to life in new ways,” said Peter Barron, Google’s director of External Relations. “This public domain material is an important part of the world’s heritage and we’re proud to be working with the British Library to open it up to millions of people in the UK and abroad.”

No dates for when the digitization process will begin or be completed have been announced. The effort will focus on materials that are not yet freely available in a digital form online.

“There is no doubt that the digitization of this unique material will greatly benefit the research process,” Professor Colin Jones, President of the Royal Historical Society and Professor of History at Queen Mary, University of London commented. “Academics are increasingly using new technologies at their disposal to search for innovative ways of investigating historical material to enable us to probe new questions and find alternative patterns of investigation. Digitization gives us the freedom to not only do this quickly and remotely, but also enhances the quality and depth of the original.”

Among the first works to be digitized however, are an account of the hippopotamus (1775) and the tale of the first combustion engine-driven submarine (1858) as well as political pamphlets. In all the range of printed books that will be digitized covers the period that saw the French, American and Industrial Revolutions, the invention of rail travel and the telegraph, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the end of slavery. Material in a variety of major European languages.

The Hippopotamus (Leclerc) Courtesy of the British Library

JK Rowling faces Wizard Court battle over inspiration

The Trustee of the Estate of Adrian Jacobs, the late English author of The Adventures of Willy the Wizard, has announced the payment of 50,000 sterling to the court enabling the estate’s appeal and copyright breach lawsuit against Harry Potter author JK Rowling and her publishers, Bloomsbury, to proceed. The amount, ordered by the English Court of Appeal, is less than have the amount originally asked for by Rowling’s lawyers and the High Court.

“We welcome the opportunity to prove our case at trial next February and exposing the inconsistencies in the account of how J.K. Rowling came to write the Harry Potter books,” states Trustee Paul Allen.

The dispute casts doubt on JK Rowling’s account of creating Harry Potter on a train. The Estate’s position is that many of the familiar aspects of the books originated with Jacobs and their suit has already survived several legal challenges.

Rowling's Wizengamot or Jacobs' Wizard Court?

Rare horror double feature: Dracula joins Theatre of Blood

The Time Out Film Club is hosting a rare double bill screening of two classic horror films on 10 May, 2011. Horror and preternatural fans can catch a double-feature of the 1950′s version of Dracula along with the slightly newer Theatre of Blood at Cineworld Haymarket in London, UK.

Christopher Lee's Dracula courtesy of Time Out Live

The 1958 version of Dracula, which is also titled The Horror of Dracula, is a horror masterpiece though it varies significantly from the plot of Bram Stoker’s book. In this version, Jonathan Harker attacks Dracula and ends up dead, or perhaps undead, for his troubles. His friend, van Helsing, stakes him so Harker ends up finally dead either way. So presumably is Harker’s fiance, Lucy. Her friend, Mina, is next on the menu, but before the Dracula can Turn her, van Helsing rides to the rescue.

Recently chosen by 150 film industry experts including Sam Mendes (director of American Beauty) and Wes Anderson (director of Fantastic Mr. Fox) as one of Time Out’s 100 Best British Films, Dracula was produced by Hammer, the cult British film production company. Starring Christopher Lee (Saruman from the Lord of the Rings trilogy), this is the film often credited with dragging British horror, kicking and screaming, no doubt, out of the drawing-room and into the bold and bloody world of sex and violence. The hero van Helsing is portrayed by preternatural favorite Peter Cushing, a role he reprised at least 4 times and  whom some will recognize as either Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Who, Baron Frankenstein or Grand Moff Tarkin. This is a rare opportunity to see this outstanding film screened on the big screen as it was intended.

Theatre of the Blood is a psychedelic splatter classic made in 1973 stars horror legend Vincent Price as a suicidal then homicidal actor and producer, Edward Lionheart, who exacts revenge on the critics who denied him his finest hour and an acting award. Diana Rigg, frequent host of Mystery! on PBS stars as Lionheart’s wife/widow.

Both Theatre of Blood and Dracula represent significant milestones for the horror genre in British cinema history. Award-winning comedian, broadcaster and writer Robin Ince will introduce this unusual double bill screening of classic British horror as part of the Time Out Film Club series.

“The season offers people of London the chance to see some of the greatest British films ever made, presented by some of the film world’s most influential voices,” said Time Arthur, Director of Time Out Live. “A movie aficionado’s dream and the perfect opportunity to catch up on all those films you really should have experienced up there on the big screen where they belong.”

With tickets priced at just £8 (less than the price of a regular cinema ticket on the West End), the opportunity to screening both these moments in horror history is too good to pass up. Tickets for this very special double-bill are on sale now with a limited number of seats still available online at: www.timeout.com.

Forget Edward, Jacob, Bill or Eric: Go Team Geek!

Johnathan Ross is a geek.

Jonathan Ross reveals his inner geek

That’s right. One of the UK’s most erudite talk chat show hosts, not to mention best-dressed men, even with Easter and a Royal Wedding in the offing has been hiding a dark secret. His charming exterior is a comic book and toy enthusiast of geekish proportions, or so he claims in the first episode of Pulp Interviews on the just launched Pulp Channel.

In the interview, Ross reveals that he was “…openly laughed at on a train for reading Tintin…in my twenties.” His geekishness is firmly rooted in his childhood when “…it was kind of comics, or just sit alone, at home, looking at the wall.”

The first episode of Pulp Interviews and Ross’ interview is devoted to settling the age-old battle between nerds and geeks. No mention in made of dorks. The Geeks appear victorious, with many of the interview participants declaring themselves proud members of Team Geek.

“I think it’s become sort of desirable to be a geek now,” Ross claims.

Nick Hancock speaks to Pulp

Pulp has roped a number of thought leaders into joining the Pulp Interview debates. In addition to Ubergeek, Jonathan Ross, TV presenter and comedian Nick Hancock reveals his geek credentials. Gordon Banks, the 1966 England World Cup hero also shares his views on the changing nature of Geekdom while Coronation Street’s Craig Charles espouses radical theories on Star Wars.

Each of the Pulp videos are funny, Engaging, authentic and, in Some cases, fairly controversial. The topics discussed reflect real conversations we’ve all had, giving Pulp a real international appeal.

“We’re working on some great original content,” says Adam Hamdy of Dare Productions. “Online video entertainment is coming of age and there’s now a real opportunity to create high value comedy programming for an online audience.”

The videos are part of an emerging new comedy brand that includes Pulp The Movie, a comedy feature film due out in 2012. Pulp The Movie is set in the irreverent world of comic books and pays grass-roots homage to all things geek including comic books, movies and video games. It is being produced by Dare Productions and Reels in Motion Films.

The Pulp Channel is an online comedy channel dedicated to all things geek and offering exclusively online original programming to a global audience. The Pulp Channel content is being globally distributed across the AOL network via Asylum UK, AOL’s men’s lifestyle channel. The Pulp Interviews are being released in weekly 2-3 minute episodes in a platform allowing film and graphic novel fans to debate the most significant issues facing the world today: in a fight, who would win, Batman or Superman? was Kirk or Picard the best captain of the Enterprise? Why didn’t Gandalf just fly an eagle to Mount Doom and drop The Ring in himself?

“We’re extremely excited to launch the Pulp Interview series, Noel Penzer Vice-President, Business Development, AOL Europe UK said. “The Interviews are humorous and inspired and this partnership allows us to build on our ability to deliver on strategy and provide top quality original content to our audiences online.”

What scares them in the UK

If you want to give a Brit nightmares, show him, or her, an Alien. Or maybe a great white animatronic shark. Ridley Scott’s Alien and the shark from Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws took top honors as the scariest movie monsters of all time according to a poll of 4,000 film fanatics in the UK (United Kingdom) recently conducted by Jameson Cult Film Club.

The Alien, scariest movie monster of all time

Most people we polled agreed that CGI was making monsters much more realistic and scary compared to the Special effects of the early first half of the 20th Century,” a spokesperson for Jameson said. “I guess with technology developing the way it does we will have a lot more monster to give us nightmares in the future.”

That may be true but the movie monsters giving us nightmares now are largely “classics” though not in the way one might expect. At 32, Alien still reigns supreme as the scariest monster in British imaginations followed by “Bruce” the shark from Jaws. Another alien, this time the invisible, laser-wielding one from the 1987′s Predator fills the Number Three slot.  The sewer-dwelling Creeper from Jeepers Creepers and the half-Jeff Goldblum, half-fly from The Fly round out the top five.

“Four of the films that made the top five were made more than 24 years old,” the Jameson spokesperson explained. “They are classic movie monsters by anyone’s definition but what’s really surprising about these results is that the traditional and iconic monsters of the last hundred years like vampires, werewolves, Godzilla and King Kong were more likely to leave fans snoring than screaming.”

Well, yes and no. Vampire and shape-shifters fans are certainly screaming over movies like the Twilight Saga and television series like True Blood but not out of terror. And both vampires and were-wolves do make appearances in the top 10 of the Jameson list. The bloodthirsty were-wolves from British horror flick Dog Soldiers attack the Number eight position while the vampire Count Orlok from the classic German film Nosferatu hangs on at Number 10.

"Bruce" the Shark from Jaws...still scary?

“Years ago people would be scared of the unknown — fantastic creatures with fangs and a thirst for blood. These days we have become accustomed to the classic monsters — vampires and werewolves play out romantic teen dramas, the ghosts are friendly and even the recent remake of King Kong made him out to be a softie.”

Brits and horror buffs are still being frightened however. Nearly half of those polled admitted they suffered from nightmares after watching a monster movies. A third (including one in four men) admitted that they often hid behind their hands while watching a scary film. One in ten report leaving the room altogether during a horror flick.

So, what are the top 20 scariest movie monsters to horror film fans in the UK? According to Jameson they are:

1. Alien (Alien)
2. Jaws (Jaws)
3. Predator (Predator)
4. The Creeper (Jeepers Creepers)
5. The Fly (The Fly)
6. Crawlers (The Descent)
7. The Thing (The Thing)
8. Werewolves (Dog Soldiers)
9. T Rex (Jurassic Park)
10. Count Orlok (Nosferatu)
11. T2000 (Terminator)
12. Gremlins (Gremlins)
13. King Kong (King Kong)
14. The Creature (Cloverfield)
15. Triffid (Day of the Triffids)
16. Godzilla (Godzilla)
17. Frankenstein (Frankenstein)
18. Bugs (Starship Troopers)
19. Creature (Monster)
20. Worms (Dune)

Those using horror films as a means of getting closer to their date will want to keep in mind there are some gender differences to what scares us. The ladies are more likely to report having nightmares after watching Jaws. And if you want to scare a gentleman in the UK? Watch Alien.