Chris Sabga

Have you always wanted to be a movie star without going through the hassles of taking acting classes, making a fool of yourself on some reality show, or lining up for endless auditions? You may now have your chance -- thanks to Daniel Myrick, the ... director of The Blair Witch Project. Myrick's next movie, The Objective, will be cast online through Abazab.com, a social site that enables its users to share their pictures and videos. The director checks Abazab every morning for new submissions. He says he'll make his final casting decisions in a few weeks. "We have a casting director on board but ... (view more)

Weren't The Xbox Murders enough? Just when you thought it was safe to pick up a controller again, there's been another suspected video game related fatality -- and I'm not talking about the kind found in Mortal Kombat. A 17-month old baby girl, ... Alayiah, was fatally wounded after her father allegedly beat her for pulling on the cords of his game system. "My baby is gone at the hands of her father," the child's mother, Mia Turman, said in tears. The father, 25-year-old North Philadelphia native Tyrone Spellman, was arrested and charged with "murder, endangering the welfare of a child, and ... (view more)

Can video games be used as an instrument of peace? Serious Games Interactive and ImpactGames hope so. They are the respective companies behind two upcoming games about the Middle East conflict, namely, "Global Conflicts: Palestine" and "PeaceMaker." ... At the very least, both titles are designed to be learning tools. From the official Global Conflict: Palestine website: "The Middle East is far away. This is your chance to get closer. Play a young journalist that has just arrived in Israel, and shape the region's future in a peaceful direction. You must complete your assignment at all cost ... (view more)

If you're the owner of a fifth generation video iPod, you can now turn your music machine into a bona fide pocket arcade, as Apple has officially added video games to the iTunes store. Leading the charge is the ultimate gaming classic: the ... dot-chomping, ghost-busting Pac-Man. The world famous Tetris and Internet favorites Bejeweled and Zuma are also on the lineup, along with several original titles. Each game can be downloaded for a very reasonable $4.99. However, they're only playable on an iPod -- not on a PC or Mac like regular iTunes video downloads. (Source: gamespot.com ) These are the ... (view more)

When it rains, it pours. Nintendo has finally let the cat out of the bag about several highly coveted bits of information regarding its new system, the unique and innovative Wii. The Price The Price Tag for the Nintendo Wii is set for $250 (in the ... U.S.). Does anything else really need to be said? Let's compare the Wii with its other next-generation counterparts: Sony PlayStation 3: $500 or $600 (U.S.) depending on which model you get. Microsoft Xbox 360: $300 or $400 (U.S.) for the Core or Premium versions respectively. Obviously, Nintendo is pricing itself much cheaper than its competition ... (view more)

Moviegoers may always have Paris -- to quote the famous line from Casablanca -- but will they always have access to their cell phones once the theater lights go down? Many of the people who voted in a recent UK newspaper poll actually hope not. The ... reason is obvious: no one likes being interrupted by an annoying "ring tone" in the middle of a movie. (Source: arstechnica.com ) Sadly, most theater owners don't seem to be doing much to combat the problem -- at least not enough to ease the frustrations of their fed-up customers. Over 80 percent of the poll-takers chastised managers for being ... (view more)

Remember McGruff? He's that salty old cartoon dog who vowed to "take a bite out of crime." Now he's chomping away at a different set of criminals: online predators and other cyberspace menaces. Here's a frightening statistic from the McGruff ... Network: 70 percent of children under the age of 14 have been contacted by deviant individuals over the Internet that have only one thing on their mind. (Source: pcmag.com ) ByteCrime.org has been established to "teach millions of consumers how to identify, report, and protect themselves against Cyber Crime" and "combat the growing plague of computer ... (view more)

Electronic Arts, the company best known for its Madden series of football games, has now jumped aboard the trendy retro gaming market. EA Replay for the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) will feature fourteen of the company's past hits. (Source: ... 1up.com ) Unfortunately for pigskin fans, old-school Madden isn't included in this collection. Classic versions of past EA Sports hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, and golf titles are also nowhere to be found. (Perhaps licensing issues with old players and teams prevented them from showing up?) But sports junkies can still get their fix on this ... (view more)

Advertising in video games is hardly a recent development, but Electronic Arts (EA) plans to add a new wrinkle to the formula: ads that are automatically updated and downloaded into games over time. To make this happen, the gaming giant inked a deal ... with two major marketing companies: Massive Inc. and IGA Worldwide Inc. Both IGA and Massive will begin streaming ads into the Xbox 360 and PC versions of upcoming EA titles. Battlefield 2142 and the next incarnation of the Need For Speed franchise will be the first recipients of this agreement. Never noticed ads in games before? Think about your ... (view more)

In 1993, Bill Clinton made the radical move of taking his campaign to the airwaves of MTV -- and he ended up becoming the President of the United States. Thirteen years later, Mark Warner is breaking new ground of his own. On Thursday, August 31st, ... the former Virginia governor and possible future President campaigned in the virtual world of an online video game called Second Life. (Source: 1up.com ) "In Second Life, distances and time differences vanish. It will allow us to reach people through a whole new medium," Warner said, explaining his reasons for making an appearance in the game. " ... (view more)