In almost every article or interview of Jack’s Mannequin, two details about Andrew McMahon — Jack’s front man — are always mentioned: (1) he was in Something Corporate and (2) he has lymphoblastic leukemia. But with Jack’s Mannequin now on their third full length album and his leukemia in remission for the past six years, it is safe to say Andrew McMahon is now in a different headspace.

“People and Things” — an all-encompassing title — is Jack’s Mannequin’s third album, which was released back in October of 2011.  It debuted at number one on Billboard’s alternative rock album chart and has received warm reviews from critics. The songs on the album range from the radio-friendly “My Racing Thoughts” to the anthemic “Release Me” to the piano ballad “Platform Fire.” Andrew has stated that the album in many ways is about love, relationships, and his marriage: his goal to write songs that offered less flowery language exposing the more honest underbelly of relationships. The song, “Television,” exemplifies this idea about Andrew’s literal inability to fall asleep without a television on; but the idea is extended to explain the intimate state of uneasiness in his relationship. Jack’s Mannequin is currently on tour in support of “People and Things.”

BLAST: How is the tour going so far?

ANDREW MCMAHON:The tour has been excellent. We’re on our fifth or six show. All the shows have been, truthfully, better than I expected. It has been a fun run. I’m in Chicago tonight actually, just pacing around the House of Blues.

BLAST: How is it there?

AM: It’s great. I love Chicago. I actually spent a little bit of time growing up here when I was a kid. I certainly feel at home when I make my way out here.

BLAST: You moved around a lot as a kid?

AM: Yeah. I actually lived outside of Boston too. (Andrew chuckles)

BLAST: Are you excited to return? Do you ever feel nostalgic for the east coast?

AM: I do. A lot of my nostalgia probably comes from my early travels with Something Corporate just because I was so young when I lived out there. I was in Massachusetts for my first few years of life and then Jersey for the following three. So I don’t have tons of memories from the east coast. But I think there is a sort of feeling of home when you go to places that you’re from and have lived. I definitely feel a kinship to the east coast. No doubt.

BLAST: Are you still doing yoga on tour?

AM: Oh yes, yeah, it is a big part of my life on and off the road now. When I’m on the road, I get a good three or four days of yoga per week. But it got a little tricky with all the show days and the record coming out and doing press and things like that. So I do it every other day, including my days off. It keeps me feeling pretty good.

BLAST: What else do you do to fill your time on the road?

AM: There is not a ton of free time on the road when you’re promoting a record. A lot of it will be sneaking around to radio stations or doing phone interviews. When I do have time, I try and read. And when I am on the bus, I try and put on a good movie and get myself to sleep. But I’m pretty busy out here.

BLAST: You have said before that you are a fan of Billy Joel, so does your song “Television” have any relationship to Joel’s “Sleeping with the Television On”?

AM: It’s so funny that you should say that because truthfully there was no relationship to it. Actually, as I was finishing that song, I was going through a bunch of old vinyl and I came across the Joel album. I forgot what record it was on. So I saw on the back of it and I was like, ‘Oh my God are you kidding me?’ So it is hard to say whether or not it had any subconscious influence on me. As a kid, I don’t remember ever listening to the song. I remember listening to his Greatest Hits volume one, while I was growing up as a Joel fan.  But yeah, I was definitely surprised to see the song title when I came across it.

BLAST: What television show do you usually fall asleep to?

AM: Truthfully for me, it is usually movies. I try to put in movies that I’ve seen like a million times, so that I can kind of zone out. It is usually The Big Lebowski, Super Troopers, usually a funny movie. But that tends to be my prescription before bed.

BLAST: Jack’s Mannequin’s bio by Warner Brothers Records says that People and Things “delves into the joys and conflicts of the first years of marriage” and you have stated that the album is about love and relationships. What does your significant other think of the album?

AM: (He chuckles) I think she likes it.  Yeah I hope so. I don’t think she would tell me otherwise. But I think in a lot of ways it’s kind of our album as well. I think it’s tricky for anybody in my life who ends up being the subject of the songs that I write. In my wife’s case, we’ve been together for the better part of ten years and [she] knows that it kind of comes with the territory. But as far as I understand, this is her favorite of the Jack’s records. I think I did alright by her.

BLAST: What music do you listen to that you wouldn’t normally tell anyone about? What’s your guilty pleasure music?

AM: I don’t know. I don’t normally subscribe to like the guilty pleasures thing. I like lots of different types of music and I tend to be pretty okay with that. I can’t really think of the type of example that I wouldn’t be so proud to share. You got me stumped on that one.

BLAST: That’s okay. You have said before that you love to explore other mediums of art. What kind of other art are you working on?

AM: Personally, in a hobby sort of way, I have been taking a lot of pictures. I got a new camera over the summer that I have been experimenting with and have a lot of fun with that. I used to do that a lot with my Polaroid, but it is a little bit more difficult to get the kind of film that I need for my old camera. I also do quite a bit of writing on the side, none of which has really come out, other than in the forms of blogs.

BLAST: How many tattoos do you have? Do you have a favorite?

AM: Let me count here: one, two, three, four, five. Five! So five. You know, I am pretty close to all of them. The cool thing about my tattoos is that they all represent a different time in my life. There’s the Starry Night on my left arm, which I am very close to. So I will go with that for now.

BLAST: Who would your perfect collaboration project be with?

AM: I’ve definitely been digging Danger Mouse. I like a lot of what he has been up to, something in that vein. I like the thing he did with Broken Bells; I thought that was really cool. There is certainly a lot of great stuff that he has been attached to.

BLAST: What’s the Dear Jack Foundation?

AM: It’s something that I started after my own experience with cancer. We do our best to raise money for organizations that are fighting leukemia and young adult cancer. It’s what we have been up to for the better part of six years. We help raise money for research. We try things with initiatives for young adults like sending kids to camp who are sick.

BLAST: Anything else you want to tell the Blast Magazine readers?

AM: Thanks for listening. And I hope to see you at one of the shows in the next few weeks.

Jack’s Mannequin will be in Boston on February 3 at House of Blues. The list of tour dates can be seen here.

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Publicity

Funny guy Jonah Hill strayed from the norm with his most recent film, Moneyball, a drama about the relationship between business and baseball.

The movie, also starring Brad Pitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman, is based on a book by Michael Lewis about baseball-player-turned-manager, Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) who struggles as the general manager of the Oakland A’s.  Beane hires a nerdy Yale grad with a degree in economics, Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to employ his innovative idea about player statistics and success. Surprisingly, the new method takes them far, but not too far.

“The movie is about underdogs to me and people who are undervalued,” said Hill.

Although Hill’s character is definitely the underdog, Billy Beane always seems to be the ultimate second best.

Beane just can’t win, despite some valiant efforts.  Jonah Hill unknowingly touched on this subject in a 2007 interview when he said “It’s funny to see people struggle and you don’t buy that Brad Pitt is struggling.   You know that guy could be the most skill-less guy in the world, but if you look like that you will be fine for the rest of your life.”

When asked about this quote, Hill gave a sheepish smile and said, “I eat my idiotic words from when I was 20 and 21-years-old.”

“I just meant…it’s more identifiable to be someone going through shit. It’s a perfect example of why I was wrong,” Hill backtracked. “Brad, in this movie, plays a guy who’s just going through it, and his attractiveness has nothing to do with his character. He’s really just playing a guy you can identify with going through some shit. And it’s a really beautiful performance and its funny and raw. It’s cool.”

And Pitt’s performance is spectacular. Hill matches Pitt’s acting prowess, however, because he was able to make his debut role in a drama.

Jonah Hill at the Moneyball premiere in Toronto, courtesy of Sony Pictures Publicityseem effortless.

“There are funny moments in the movie…but it comes from a different type of character than I’ve ever done,” Hill explained.  “I am no longer an underdog in the comedy world…with this film, I’m an underdog again.”

Hill said he did a lot of studying for the movie, which included reading the book it was based off of.  He also drew inspiration for the character through his own life. He compared Peter Brand’s analysis of baseball players, which is largely centered on how much money and wins they will bring a team in the long run, to his own analysis of fellow actors.

“We look at a receipt and see how much you’re worth…this is how my friends and I analyze other actors…it’s all dollars.”

In spite of his recent success and major league collaborations, Hill remains humble and enthusiastic.

“I just want to make cool stuff, I want to make cool movies,” Hill said.

ORLANDO — The Madden franchise is used to being the only game in town. Following an exclusive $300 million agreement with the NFL and NFLPA in 2004, the franchise became the only game that could use the NFL’s teams, players, logos and stadiums — but this year was different.  With a potential lockout threatening the entire season, Madden NFL 12 came close to being the only football this year period. The goal of EA Sports and Tiburon was clear then, create the most authentic game of football ever. One that looks, plays and sounds different than any that came before. Blast sat down with Madden NFL 12′s  Creative Director Mike Young to talk about what went into this year’s game and that pesky lockout.

To create a better and more realistic football title, EA knew that the first thing they needed to do was ramp up the series production values, which turned out to be quite the extensive process according to Young.

“We put a lot of effort into improving our presentation this year.  Our goal was simple:  Matching TV shot for shot,” Young told Blast.

“Our philosophy was bring in the experts, so we had NFL Films filming our cameras, CBS teaching us broadcast, Troika (MNF, SNF, Sports Center)designing our broadcast graphics.  Through the NFL we were able to arrange relationships with CBS crews to really understand how they execute the broadcast.  How they chose cameras, how they tell stories, etc.  We were able to attend pregame meetings with the director and camera operators.  We sat in the trucks during the games learning how all the elements come together.  We even brought in directors later in the year to critique our work.  The access was incredible. On one trip to Philadelphia we got to drive the wire camera.  We were given production bibles, diagrams for camera placement, and director instructions for each operator.  On top of the camera direction several other pieces were needed to make the content feel authentic to TV.  We added several scenes to the game like exterior blimp shots, cheerleaders, players running on and off the field, pregame runouts, etc.   I think people are really going to notice the attention to detail.”

The difference in the presentation is instantly noticeable from the start of a game. Team specific introductions (mascots and pyro included) start each game and the camera now employs a more broadcast style, much similar to that which you’d see on Sunday afternoons.  Also included this year are player specific celebrations and while you won’t be seeing T.O. taking out popcorn during a touchdown celebration, you do get things like Aaron Rodgers’ championship belt and Ray Lewis’ signature strut. It’s elements like these that according to Young were a culmination of the Madden team’s work over the past few years. ” Several of the features we delivered this year were several years in the making. 

For instance our realistic TV Broadcast style presentation was the result of three years of planning and building better presentation and camera tools and systems.   Some of that work manifested itself in previous versions of the game but I think Madden NFL 12 was the first time we were able to pull it together and make a huge leap forward.”

But football isn’t just about flash and show, and EA knew that it had make its players as realistic as its presentation and created the Dynamic Player Performance system as a result. Essentially, Dynamic Player Performance allows players to act more like their real life counterparts and not just a rating; how they play will be effected from everything from injuries to weather and even fatigue. It’s a system that according to Young, will change how players play Madden entirely.

“Adding Dynamic Player Performance is the biggest change we’ve made to Franchise mode in years and it’s the feature we’re the most excited about. In most if not all sports games including Madden in the past every game feels exactly the same. The players always play exactly like their ratings and there’s no such thing as having a good or bad day. In the NFL you never know what’s going to happen. Is Jay Cutler going to have the game of his life or struggle the entire game? That is why we watch the games.”

So just how realistic are these new dynamic player ratings (Jake Cutler jokes aside)? Young believes that the system makes this the most realistic and true to the league Madden yet.

“We feel like they are very true to life.  In fact Dynamic Player Performance is allowing us to capture intangibles and behaviors of players that we never truly represented before.  I like to think we had previously captured only the raw skills each player possessed, things you would measure at the combine, but now with Dynamic Player Performance we are capturing how players respond in situations.  When you played against Mike Vick in previous Madden’s he wouldn’t play like Mike Vick. He would stay in the pocket just like Peyton Manning.  Now we are able to not just represent the abilities that make players unique but now we ensure they use those abilities just like they do in real life.”

As odd as it may sound, Young believes that the pre-season in this year’s game is another one of the big changes that players will love, especially those that bury themselves deep in the game’s franchise mode.

“The second biggest enhancement in my opinion is the addition of expanded rosters and cut days,” Young said. “Finally the pre-season is meaningful in the game.”

The expanded rosters and cut days gives players the ability to fully access their team during pre-season games and drills, making risky cuts when needed.  “Now there is a real challenge to evaluate the talent on your team and fill the holes.  It’s all about finding the next Danny Woodhead.  Should you keep a veteran that you are familiar with or stick with a rookie to reveal his true potential? By the end of the preseason, if you keep a rookie or training camp invite on the roster for all four weeks, his ratings will be completely unlocked and you’ll know his true overall rating. At that point, you’ll know if you made a mistake by keeping him or if you found a diamond in the rough.”

Madden NFL 12 launches for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and 3DS on August 30. A demo is available on PSN and Xbox Live Today.

Editor’s Note: Hey folks, here’s Matt’s conversation with famed composer Bear McCreary, famous for working on TV shows like The Walking Dead and BattleStar Galactica, along with Socom 4, which releases tomorrow. The transcript is below, but to get the full feel, you’re going to want to check out the audio here. and via the play button above this paragraph, it’s a great listen and you really get the whole feel of the piece. Like it? Hate it? Let us know, hopefully it’s the start of something brand new here at Blast –JS

Matt: Let’s start with SOCOM4. First off, I’m wondering –you’re composing music forSOCOM 4, correct?

Bear McCreary: Yes.

M: Or composed I should say, I guess you’re all done at this point?

B: Yes, I’ve been done for a year.

M: Oh, wow. So that’s a bit of a disconnect between finishing the music and gamedevelopment time.

B: Well, with a game as technically complex as SOCOM4, the implementation of themusic is probably as important as the composition of it. So, I needed to be donewell in advance so that they could take those recordings and implement them intothe game which is a pretty complicate process. I’ve done other games where we’vefinished a little closer to the final deadline and certainly, when you’re doing a film ora TV show, you’re finishing right at the end, but SOCOM4 is complex both musicallybut also technically. It really required a lot of time and energy on the part of thedevelopers so I needed to be done early.

M: There’s a couple things I want to talk about that you touched on there. First, didyou compose music just for the single player, for the multiplayer, both, co-op?

B: I composed everything. Anything you hear in SOCOM4, I wrote.

M: OK, then, if you wouldn’t mind just walking through –you touched on it a littlebit already- the creative process, how does that work? If you finished up a year inadvance of when the game is going to be released, there is obviously a lot moredevelopment time left finishing the game.

B: Yeah.

M: How exactly does that work then? Are they tossing you an early build of thegame, are you sitting down and just talking about ideas and going from there?

B: Well, you know, I was able to play an early build of the game but it wasn’t in anykind of format that I could take home. And, beyond that, it wasn’t even finished tothe point that it would be particularly helpful to me. What I found inspirational wasthe story, the characters, the location, the script, and the concept art. These are the
things that tell me what the game is about, what kind of story we’re telling. SOCOM4is a more narrative game than –I think- any other franchise to date and that’s whatreally drew me. That’s what really was appealing to me, being able to tell a cinematicstory and write character themes and do all of the things in a SOCOM game that I doin feature films and on television. So, the actual technicalities of how the game feelsand how it works –I had a pretty good idea of that because I’ve played through of allthe other SOCOM games.

M: Ok, so you’re a fan of the other [SOCOM] games too?

B: Sure, absolutely. I’m definitely a gamer. I’ve played through all the other games soI was familiar with the franchise already. I didn’t really need to play a lot of SOCOM4 to understand the basic mechanics of it, which is good because there wasn’t muchto play when I was writing.

M: Interesting. So, you’re getting an early build and you’re sitting down –but likeyou’ve said you’ve already got a good idea of all the games because you’ve playedbefore. It sounds like there’s a little bit of a, not necessarily a shift in direction in thisgame, but a little more fleshing out [of the single player]. The previous SOCOMs havereally focused heavily on multiplayer, and that’s not to say that they’re excludingthat because that’s obviously still very heavy in this game.

B: Yeah.

M: It sounds like a lot more work went into fleshing out that single playerexperience this time.

B: Oh, absolutely. The single player was my main focus. The single player is thething that I find more inspiring. Because, ultimately, music in a multiplayer gameis, ultimately, not as important. I don’t want to generalize, but what’s importantwhen you’re playing an online multiplayer game is that you’re able to hear whatyour teammates and enemies are doing. There’s a reason that they don’t blast outaction music over a football game. Athletes need to know what’s going on in theirsurroundings and in a similar way the music in a multiplayer environment –it’simportant to set the mood but, ultimately, it’s decorative. Music in a single playerstoryline -this is interesting to me. This is artistically challenging, this is creativelysatisfying. What happens in SOCOM4 that does not happen in previous SOCOMgames to this degree is that you really have characters. You have actual charactersthat learn and evolve and are forced to make difficult ethical decisions, moraldecisions. You have revelations, you have all the things that a good story needs tohave. Zipper Interactive and Sony really stepped up the game on motion captureand facial performances; they got great acting performances. You have a story hereand where there is a story you can write really interesting, narrative, thematicmusic and that’s what really drew me. The thing that’s fun about the single player SOCOM story is that the gameplay music itself, the music that is playing while you’re on missions, actually changes and evolves to reflect what the main character is learning, and thinking, and dealing with in the bigger picture of the story. I foundthat really challenging and also really fun. To be able to write music that is not justgeneric action music but writing action music that still tells us something about thestory. That’s something that you can do in a narrative single player storyline that’sreally exciting.

M: That sounds very interesting. You’re talking about the music changing, is thatsomething that is dynamically handled on the fly or you were given the shiftingpoints of the story and to compose to that.

B: The answer to all of your questions is “yes”. Let me address this in two sections.First of all, looking at the big picture, zoom out and look at the game as a whole.You have a story here. The music itself evolves over the course of the game so thatgenerally speaking, the music in the first third of the game sounds one way. Then,when the main character realizes certain things, or a new character is introduced,or the character is betrayed by someone -whatever happens- the music shifts. Then,later in the game when new information is revealed the music generally shifts.There’s this big-picture sense of a narrative arc, ok? So, music in the beginning,middle, and end, sounds –the actual sound of it and what it is emotionally saying isvery different. Now, if you zoom into a little microcosm -if you look at a mission byitself- the adaptability of that music is, I think, taken to an extreme. I generally don’tlike to say that this is the most adaptive game that has ever been made because Ihaven’t played every game that has ever been made. However, I think that SOCOM4is really pushing boundaries in terms of the adaptability of the music and in termsof how often it shifts based on player decisions. It shifts based on random factors,it shifts based on AI. I deliver music in so many different variations and so manydifferent layers and so many different combinations. Our goal was to create a gamethat you could play from beginning to end and you would, literally, never hearthe same piece of music played twice. I think we got really close to that, what I always called the “Holy Grail of videogame score”, would be a game score that never repeats.

M: Is there any game that has come close, in your mind, to that sort of level beforethat you would draw comparison to?

B: Like I said, I never say never, but no, I have never personally played a game –and Iplay a lot- that I felt did this as well as it could be done.

M: Have you seen the finished product? You’ve gotten to sit down and play andyou’re happy with because it seems like-

B: -honestly I have played a lot of the game. I haven’t played the whole game. Ican only comment as to where our mindset was, what our goals were. I’m surewe weren’t able to make it EVERYTHING that we wanted but our goal was pretty damn ambitious if I may say so. Our goal was to create the feeling that there isan orchestra in your living room and there is a conductor watching you play andthe conductor is changing things as you are playing and completely tailoring thatexperience to you. Second of all, if you do the exact same thing –if you die in a leveland you go back and you play again and you make the exact same movements- youstill won’t hear the same music. Now that’s something that I think is very exciting.

M: Definitely.

"Our goal was to create a game that you could play from beginning to end and you would, literally, never hear the same piece of music played twice."

B: I should touch on the reason. We didn’t just do this to make it exciting or to havesomething to do. The reason we did this is that I find that game music frequentlyviolates its primary function in terms of audience reaction. Game music is supposedto, nine times out of ten, make you feel tension, suspense, fear, panic, adrenaline,excitement, and one of these emotions. But, the more you hear it, the less effective itis at doing exactly that. And, ultimately, no matter how scary music inherently is, nomatter how dissonant, or fast, or aggressive, or spooky, once you’ve heard it threeor four times your brain categorizes it as something that’s familiar and it no longerhas that impact. You can see this happening in horror movies; you see it happeningin games; you see it happen in television. It’s just the way our brain is hardwired.Quite frankly, I think it goes back to our primordial caveman days. A sound thatis different out there in the woods is probably a lion that is going to eat you. Yourbrain automatically knows, pay attention to that. But then after awhile, if it justkeeps going and proves that it’s no threat your brain knows as a survival instinct,that’s not a threat. It’s like a car alarm outside your window, after five minutes youdon’t even hear it anymore. How does this apply to game music? I think the answeris obvious. The more that you hear something, the less scary it is. I think we can allthink of examples of games that we’ve been playing that had one piece of music forevery boss or one piece of music for most combat scenarios. After awhile, it’s notdoing what it needs to do. So, when we set out to do SOCOM4 we really decided toaddress this problem head on and try to make it so that in the game you’re hearingsomething different –subtly different. It doesn’t have to be a completely uniquepiece of music; it’s just a variation, an alternate orchestration. It’s something that’sdifferent every time so that your brain can’t relax, your brain can’t categorize it assomething it’s heard before. I think the reaction to that is that gamers are going tobe a little more on the edge of their seat because they’re not familiar with the music.I’m exciting about that and personally I think this is the future of videogame music.Whether or not we fully achieve it in SOCOM 4, this is where the industry is headingand, ultimately, where it needs to head to fully take advantage of the potential of themedium.

M: It sounds incredibly ambitious. As I’m sitting hear listening to you talk about it,I’m thinking if it’s pulled off it sounds like it would be fantastic. I also think, at theother end, if it’s a failed implementation, you could get just random, not working,incoherent music.

B: Exactly. That’s why when we were talking earlier about my finishing the musica year in advance -this is why because the implementation is almost as important.Yes, the music has to be good but if it’s implemented poorly it doesn’t matter. So, wewere really going for a combination of music that is written well, produced well, andimplemented well.

M: You’ve got me extremely curious about this thing now because I’m kind of atechnical guy so I’m going to keep stabbing down this road. I’m just wondering –andI also have a little bit of background in music too- I’m really curious, was this a fullsymphonic orchestra for the score?

B: Yes. In my music you don’t hear sampled instruments, you don’t hear mock-ups-it’s all real. On the score to SOCOM4 we had over 100 musicians and some reallyincredible ensembles. You’re going to hear, not only a full symphony orchestra,which you’ve heard in games before; that’s nothing new.

M: Sure.

B: But we’ve also got a live gammelon orchestra, a live tyko ensemble, and then agroup of about six or seven specialty soloists playing Asian instruments from allkinds of traditions including shakohachi, bansuri, bewa, koto, erhu, and really justan incredible array of Asian instrumentalists. All of these things combined withcustom electronics and analog synthesizers and there’s all of these different soundsthat combined to make the SOCOM4 score. So, ironically, to me, the symphonicorchestra that we had on every cue –that’s actually, to me, the least interesting partof the score. It’s epic, it’s huge, it’s lyrical, and it’s beautiful but, to me, it’s almostovershadowed by these incredible ethnic soloists and the gammelon orchestrawhich I had never heard in a videogame before.
M: I’m sorry, what’s gammelon?

B: Gammelon orchestra, it’s a Google search away but I’ll get you started. Agammelon orchestra is an ensemble from Southeast Asia. It originated in Bali andJava. It is a group of instrumentalists playing wooden and metallic, pitchedpercussion instruments. The closest analogy is like a marimba and xylephone inWestern music but it sounds nothing like that. The sound is very ethereal and verydreamy; it’s very hypnotic. They play very long patterns that repeat and change forvarious reasons. The whole philosophy behind gamelan music is very different fromWestern music. It’s not the kind of structural, sonata form-inspired classical –it’sreally more like Indian music. It almost lulls you into a trance. I took a gamelanorchestra and decided that, rather than use them to create these very peaceful,serene patterns, I would use them to signify violence and combat. So, you hear thesephrases that are really aggressive and foreign sounding. Ultimately, the thing thatmakes a gamelan orchestra unique to a Western audience is that the scale is not the12-note scale you hear when you run your hands up the piano keys. The notes are a different tuning. What happens is, the more you hear it, it kind of rewires your braininto thinking that that scale is normal. Then, when you start hearing a Westernpiano or Western orchestra that can start sounding dissonant just because the notesdon’t sound right. In combining these two things, I found it really heightened thetension. Just hearing notes in one scale superimposed over notes in another andcertain ones line up and others don’t -it’s just this absolutely unique sound. A hugepart of the SOCOM score, for me, was taking this very unique Asian ensemble, thegamelan, and combining it with a Western orchestra and seeing where I couldcombined them for effects that were pleasing, where I could combine them foreffects that were very dissonant and harsh and it creates a sound that is totallyunique. One of the things that is exciting is that it symbolizes the inherent narrativeconflict that’s happening in the game. In the game you have Western forces againstlocal, Southeast Asian guerrilla fighters. What better way to symbolize that than tohave a Western orchestra literally clashing with an indigenous ensemble? I thoughtthat the narrative, philosophical statement there was really exciting.

M: It sounds like you really lined this up with the story. It sounds like you also reallychallenged yourself and pushed yourself. Are these new instruments –have you hadexperience working with these types of ensembles before?

B: I had some. I think that experience is one of the reasons that Sony and Zipperhired me in the first place. I had done a lot of this on a TV series called BattlestarGalactica-

M: -sure, yeah-

B: -where I used a lot of taiko drumos, yeah, ok. So, that score was very world musicinfluenced. Among the influences that Battlestar Galactica had –there was a lot ofAsian instrumentation. The thing that made SOCOM exciting was that I was able toreally dive in and further research these sounds. The gamelan in particular –I hadnever worked with a gamelan for Battlestar. Just logistically to do that on a TV serieswould be impossible because a gamelan orchestra is like 30 people and truckloadsof instruments that need to be brought into a studio. It’s not practical. To be able toexplore that in a videogame where we had the budget to do that –of course that wasvery exciting for me. Also, just to address your other point about challenges. I findthat I basically only take on projects that I can challenge myself with. I don’t like todo the same thing twice. I like to challenge myself and if I find the project that willforce me to learn about a new style of music or a new instrument or just push mylimits as a composer and as a orchestrator, those are the projects that I’m drawn to.Those are the projects that I’m the most passionate about. I can think of almost nobetter example of that than SOCOM4 because SOCOM4 took everything I knew as anorchestral writer and as a writer of ethnic music and forced me to up my game onboth styles.

M: I was wondering about that because you seem to have –I’m going to stray just a little bit from SOCOM here and then we’ll come back- you seem to have a pretty diverse career. Obviously Battlestar Galactica is huge. Some other big TV shows like the Walking Dead and The Cape. You’ve done a fair share of movies and short filmsas well. I guess Dark Void was your first videogame, right, is that correct?

B: Yes.

"I think what is really going tosurprise people when the game ships is the emphasis on the single player and how good it is. The cinematics and the story telling, really, have been taken to a new levelin SOCOM4"

M: I was wondering how you got into that project and what the draw was for youthere. I don’t think -maybe this is happening more nowadays- I don’t see a lot ofcrossover in musicians from movies, television, over into the videogame realm.

B: I think you will see more crossover but that’s a different conversation. DarkVoid was a really exciting project and I highly encourage anybody who has heardBattlestar and has heard The Walking Dead and is enjoying what they’re hearingon SOCOM4 to check out the Dark Void album. That really was some of the mostambitious music I’d ever written. In many ways Dark Void opened the door tovideogames for me. Prior to that I hadn’t done any videogames. I grew up playingvideogames. I’ve been thinking about what I want videogame music to do since Iwas five years old. So, for me, it really wasn’t any question of moving from televisionto games or from television to movies. These are all mediums that I’ve always beeninterested in. Like I said when we first started talking, the thing that appealed tome in SOCOM and in Dark Void was the story and the setting and the ability to tellwhat is, ultimately, an emotional story. To be able to find that emotional core, that’swhat’s exciting to me. Ultimately, games, in that regard, are no different than film orTV. If a game had no story, it’s not something that I’m ultimately as interested in. I’mnot interested in writing action cues that don’t go anywhere or moody underscorethat has no narrative purpose. In that way, Dark Void and SOCOM4 are really just,to me, big movies that happen to have details of implementation that have to beremembered as you’re writing. Ultimately, in terms of the way I write characterthemes, the way I approach the integration of those themes into action cues isjust like Battlestar or Human Target or The Cape or, for that matter, Step Up 3D orWrong Turn 2. Any of these things that I’ve done, I always approach from the sameplace.

M: I actually wanted to ask you about what are the differences and some of thedifferent challenges that you see working between videogames, television, movies,and even live orchestra performances because I know you do some of that stuff too.

B: I don’t really see that much difference. Of all the things you cited, the one that isthe most different is working with a live ensemble. Being able to do some of that,being able to perform my music in front of an audience with the actual musicians who created it in the studio originally –that’s a whole other can of worms. It is so rewarding, it’s so exciting to be able to perform that music in front of an audienceand get that immediate, visceral reaction. It’s something that, when you create music for media, you’re deprived of. You don’t get to play a piece of music, create it with an instrument, and then immediately get that response from somebody. To me,that playing live, even thought it takes a lot of time and I don’t necessarily have a lotof time throughout the year to be able to do that, it’s something that I have done alot of and that I plan to continue doing because it’s that missing part of my musicallife. It’s that one part of my musical life that is not complete when I’m working in thestudio.

M: You’ve got to scratch that itch.

B: Exactly.

M: I want to jump back to, real quick again, because you’ve got me fascinated by thetechnical aspects of the dynamic music you were talking about. You’re talking aboutrecording this with a full orchestra and various ensembles. When you’re composing,are you just writing full, complete pieces and just integrating those and then they’rechopping them up to use in the dynamic or are you recording-

B: -no, no-

M: -phrases and parts of the song and then they’re mixing them?

B: It’s hard to explain. Honestly, it just depended on the various missions. Each one was approached a little differently. There is no general rule. Sometimes I wrote complete, or relatively complete, pieces but I would always make sure that they’rewritten and delivered in such a way that they could be easily reconfigured. Othertimes I was writing shorter -much shorter pieces. I don’t use the word phrases. To me, that approach in games creates music that just feels random. If you’re just writing a little phrase it’s not musical. That’s the balance that we tried to strike withSOCOM4. I had to write music in such a way that, technically, the developers had maximum control over it but not so much control that it would ultimately make themusic feel jagged or random because, again, it’s not enough that the music justchange. If your only goal is that the music adapts constantly –that’s actuallyrelatively easy. The challenge is you want to make it feel authentic. You want tomake it feel like there’s a composer writing for you while you’re playing the game.That required a lot of collaboration between me and the development team.Ultimately, the technical side of it was all on Sony and Zipper’s side. Mostly, my sideof it was dealing with the creative issues. With finding a way to make the shorterand the longer pieces and the various layers that acted as a foundation, to makethem all musically make sense. To make sure that they are written in such a waythat they are still telling a story, that they’re emotional, that they are communicatingthe feeling that I want the gamer to feel. But, also, I’m not so set in stone that –it hasto still function if it’s played back in different order, if it’s played back in differentlayers, if it’s played back in different combinations or if certain segments areremoved. It was a very complex process. When I say I finished a year ago –I startedthree years ago. This was two solid years of sketching and writing. We delivered the final cinematics about six or seven months ago so it as basically a three year processfor me and the development team to be able to pull off something this complex. I doalso think it’s worth mentioning that, when we first met, the developers and I satdown and we’re just talking about general ideas, general approaches we could use,and when I was asking them about how to do some of this stuff –when I’m workingwith a videogame development company I just start asking questions. Can we dothis? Can you do that? The answer to most of the questions was “no, but we’ll getback to you.” A few months later, the Sony guys –in particular the guy spearheadingthis who’s name was Monty Mudd and Keith Leary, at Sony- these two guys figuredout a way to make this possible. I do think that the uniqueness of the PlayStationhardware is a huge step in being able to do something that you can’t on an Xbox. On an Xbox you’ve got limitations in terms of storage. Right there, you’ve got a major bottleneck; you can only fit so many minutes of music on the disc. With SOCOM4 Idelivered nine hours of music for that game. That alone, right there, that’s almostthe complete single player missions right there and that’s not even accounting allthe adaptability and variation. I think there’s a lot of things coming together to makeSOCOM4 a unique experience for games.

M: You were touching a little bit there on working things out with the developersand I’m pretty interested in that. Obviously you were influenced because you’veplayed the previous SOCOM games -you talked about that a little bit- but I’mwondering when you are first meeting with these [development] guys, they’vegot their vision for their game, obviously, where they want to take it. Gameplay,graphics, even the full monty including your music and everything. Are they sittingdown and saying “this is the direction we’d like to see you take with the music” oris it like “here’s is our idea for the game, this is what we want to do with gameplay,what we want to do graphically, visually, all that -you run with it and make it work”.Where’s your leeway there?

B: I have been in every situation. I’ve been in ones where I had complete leeway; I’vebeen in ones where producers had very specific ideas. I think part of it is almosthard to remember because that early conversation was two-and-a-half, three yearsago now. I think that Sony, Zipper, and I really did meet in the middle. It was a reallyeven, 50-50 balance, because they knew a lot about what they wanted. They knewthat they wanted music that drew from local colors, [music] that drew fromSoutheast Asian sounds. They knew that they wanted some amount of orchestrabecause previous games had that and there’s grandness –a grandeur- withorchestral music that is very appealing. I brought a lot of detail into those ideas. Ok,we want to use Southeast Asian instruments. Well, which instruments and how dowe want to use them? Which instruments are going to signify certain characters andsignify certain events? How are we going to use the gamelan? How are we going touse the orchestra? There was an even bigger question. I felt very strongly that I didnot feel this game was the kind of epic, brass fanfare that the previous SOCOMgames had. This game was just a little more layered, narratively, a little more
complex. You’re talking about a multi-national force working together. There was anorchestral bombast in the previous games that was cool and appropriate but I didn’tthink it would work in SOCOM4. So, one of the bigger questions we had was “wheredo we use the orchestra and how do we use it?” You’re going to hear that theorchestra never really rises above the Asian instrumentation. There’s never reallymoments where it’s all orchestra. These were questions that you need the composerto really think about. These are problems that really only the composer can tackle. Itwas great being able to work with them because they did have a strong vision forwhat they wanted. That was helpful because then immediately we’re all on the samepage and almost in our first meeting start getting into the details. How are we goingto do this? How are we going to make it work?

M: You were talking about the multiplayer versus the single player. We’ve talked alot about the single player and the dynamics. You mentioned some of the problemswith music in multiplayer games. Your core focus, especially in a game like SOCOMwhere you’re very heavily team oriented, talking with your teammates is numerouno on the priority list.

B: Absolutely.

M: How do you balance that and try to still provide an interesting aural experience?

B: Let me put it this way -and this and this is not even discussing so much my approach on SOCOM specifically but just my philosophy in general. Your goals with multiplayer games are entirely different. Multiplayer games really are acompletely different animal. So, to create the vibe, to create the mood, really, the best opportunity you have –as goofy as this sounds- is the menu screen.

M: Yeah, I was just thinking that.

B: You know, loading music -a little piece of music that plays when you respawn andplays when you die or plays when an objective is completed. Outside of those coreareas, really, music is distracting an ultimately takes away from the collaborative,heightened reality that you need in a multiplayer game. In that regard it reallyis a very different experience than the kind of immersive, narrative experienceyou’re trying to create in a single player game. Ironically, even though it’s the sameengine, it’s the same graphics, it’s the same control when you’re playing SOCOM4multiplayer, musically, it was a whole different approach and, ultimately, was muchsimpler. All of the nuance that I’m talking about really applies to the single playernarrative.

M: As I’m sitting here listening to you talk about the single player versus themultiplayer and I’m thinking -because you’ve had this career where you’ve doneTV and movies- I was thinking coming into this that, man, it must kind of stink toactually deal with the music in the multiplayer where you’re dealing with people
talking over what you’ve got going on. Versus where, most people when they’replaying a single player game they’re sitting there silently and you maybe haveyour cut scenes where characters are speaking and interacting but, for the mostpart, your music can do your thing. But now that I’m thinking about this sittinghere listening to you talk, it almost seems like you’d be more at home with themultiplayer compared to TV because with TV you’ve got that dialogue going theentire time and you’re working around that.

B: Sure.

M: Do you think that maybe multiplayer is a little more similar to the other mediumsyou’ve worked in?

B: Ultimately, yes, what you’re saying is true. There’s always competitive dialoguein film or TV but, ultimately, it’s not similar in that it’s narrative music. Again, I thinkyou’re thinking too much about the specific. You’ve got your camera zoomed intoo far. You’ve got to zoom back and look at an episode of TV or even a series as abigger picture. The music needs to comment on that bigger picture and frequentlytelevision music does not but the best television music does. And, in that same way,you’re telling a story over a long period of time. So when you look at a specific scene,or in the case of a videogame a specific level or a specific cut scene, whatever, interms of the big picture, the long story, what do you want to say? And, in that regardvideogames are, to me, exactly like film and TV. Multiplayer does not have that.Multiplayer is not about getting from point A to point B. It’s not about followinga story, it’s about collaborating with your friends. It’s a much more interactiveenvironment but it’s not a narrative one. And that’s not to say that there aren’t multiplayer games that are like that -and there will be more in the future- but,generally speaking, they’re more about the microcosm of right now. Multiplayergames are about this thing that is happening right now. A single player game, like afilm or TV, is about what’s happening now in the bigger context of what happenedbefore and what’s going to happen next. I think that, ultimately, is where music hasa totally different function. I think if I could generalize it –and it’s funny, I’ve actuallynever really thought about this because no one else has even asked me about it- butI think that’s the biggest difference between those two. In multiplayer you’re dealingwith the instantaneous and in single player and in narrative media you are dealingwith the larger picture at all times. You’re always thinking about “well how does thispiece of music fit in with the last one and how does it lead into the next one.”

M: I’m very interested to see how this all plays about because SOCOM always seemsto be the multiplayer focus but I’m very intrigued by the nuance that you’re talkingabout.

B: I think players are going to see –the multiplayer beta is out, I’ve played it and it’sa lot of fun. The reviews have been really positive but I think what is really going tosurprise people when the game ships is the emphasis on the single player and how good it is. The cinematics and the story telling, really, have been taken to a new levelin SOCOM4. It’s not an afterthought at all; it’s been a priority from the beginning. Ithink fans of the franchise and gamers in general are just going to be thrilled.

M: I hope everyone’s got their patience on and doesn’t just go right to multiplayerand does take the time to experience that thing. That can always be a little bit ofa concern when you’re talking a game like that or Black Ops or any games wherepeople think of it as historically multiplayer

B: Yeah.

M: I want to jump around to a couple other things because I think we’ve really covered SOCOM4 pretty nicely. What got you started into or started in music composing? Obviously, if you wentto school that was probably your first big step in that direction but what was the precursor to that, your musical inspirations.

B: I’ve always wanted to write music for movies, and TV, and videogames. It’s literally all I’ve ever wanted to do.

M: Really? That’s amazing.

B: That’s it. When I was five years old I knew what I wanted to do. I startedcollecting soundtrack albums, first on cassette, and then replaced them all on CD. Iwas destined to either become a soundtrack nerd or a professional musician and inmy case I became both-

M: Was there a seminal –sorry to cut you off- was there a seminal experience whenyou were five years old, maybe something like Star Wars, where it just clicked foryou?

B: Was there one? There were so many that I can’t even count. The one that standsout in my memory as the most visceral was seeing Back to the Future and hearingAlan Silvestri’s score. That was the first time that I –I did not even know thatsoundtrack albums existed- so I snuck a tape recorder into the movie theatre. Theseare the beginning of my pirate bootlegging days. I snuck a little, kids-sized cassetterecorder in there and recorded it so that I could listen to the main titles and credits
at home. Then, a few months later I saw that, my God, people put music from movieson cassette tape? That was really the beginning of the end. By the time that I wassix or seven or eight, I would watch movies in the theatre or on video and I wouldturn to my parents and, before the credits even rolled, I would say “that sounds likeDanny Elfman, that sounds like John Williams, that sounds like Alan Silvestri.” Andthen, when I was in high school, my friends and I would all go see some stupid actionmovie and they would be talking about the set pieces or the hot chick and all I wouldtalk about it “did you hear that French horn solo Jerry Goldsmith wrote? Oh myGod, he took the scene and he turned it upside-down –that was so cool!” Stuff likethat, that’s all I ever thought about. In high school I started writing music. I startedwriting music a little earlier but really in high school is when I got super seriousabout it. I just wrote music after school and over the summers all the time; that’s allI did. Really, it was sort of inevitable because it’s all I ever thought about and all Iever wanted to do.

M: That’s awesome, you meet very few people who that straight arrow from thestart of their life to where they end up and I love hearing those stories.

B: Yeah, it is, it’s a little weird. But, at the same time I’ve literally never had thatconversation with myself: “well, what do I want to do?” There were times when Ithought about doing something else, maybe when I was a kid, but I just never took itthat serious. My grades were ok in other areas but especially by the time it becametime to apply to colleges I had, at that point, connected with Elmer Bernstein whois –was- one of the greatest film composers to have ever lived. I met him and justasked him, “where does one go to learn how to do this?” And he said “go to USC andmove down to L.A.” so that’s what I did. There were no backup plans. That’s how Iended up here.

M: Can you talk a little bit about that? Was that just a chance meeting with him?

"The thing that’s fun about the single player SOCOM story is that the gameplay music itself, the music that is playing while you’re on missions, actually changes and evolves to reflect what the main character is learning, and thinking, and dealing with in the bigger picture of the story."

B: Basically it was. I was 16 and I was awarded the student of the month honor forthe local rotary club. This is a thing for kids who had high GPAs –it was just resumefodder. It was just something you could put on your college application. So, they didthis presentation and they said, “he wants to study film music. His heroes are DannyElfman, Elmer Berstein, Bernard Hermann –whatever.” So this guy comes up to meand he says that he’s actually friends with Elmer Bernstein who, as it turns out, kepta sailboat in the town that I grew up in because it was the last town on the waterbefore you hit Vancouver, British Columbia. So, he would take his sail boat up everysummer and he actually knew this guy and through him he sent a recording of someof the pieces I had been writing and, ultimately, the next time Elmer was in town,Elmer met with me. Then I began a long –seven or eight year- relationship where hetook me under his wing and taught me the tools of the trade and gave me my firstprofessional job. He really had a huge impact on me both creatively and personally.This was a guy –it’s hard to put into words how much this guy’s music meant to mebefore I even met him. So, to be able to work with him –for example one summer I worked in his studio archiving his materials, which are now actually housed at aspecial collection at the USC library. These were scores and manuscripts and pressclippings and he had all of this stuff in boxes but it wasn’t organized by year or byproject. So I would go through and I would find a score but you couldn’t see whatproject it was from so I would sit there and read the hand-written orchestralsketches and have to figure out “oh, that’s To Kill a Mockingbird, ok, that goes inwith the To Kill a Mockingbird pile or that’s The Great Escape or The MagnificentSeven.” At the end of the day he would come into the studio and help me figure outall of the stuff that I couldn’t figure out on my own. Now, put that in the context ofmusical and historical education –there is nothing more valuable than that kind ofone-on-one experience with a composer but also with that history. I was able toread these sketches and see what The Magnificent Seven looked like before anyonehad ever heard it. This is what it looked like when it came out of his brain. This is anamazing experience for me. Another summer I re-orchestrated a film that he did, a1968 film called Kings of the Sun, starring Yul Brener. This film at the time had beenlost –no one had put it on TV and it wasn’t on DVD. The scores had been destroyed,the tapes had been destroyed; there was nothing left but his hand-written sketchesSo, I re-orchestrated it from scratch and he was in the final recording sessions of hislife, re-recorded it and it’s out on CD now. He also, in the final years of his life, heplayed this concert suite that I had orchestrated in concerts around the world. Sothat, again, was just an incredible learning experience.

M: That sounds incredible. So, did he help you –I feel like I have to ask at least oneBattlestar Galactica question or readers are going to call me an idiot for not evenbringing it up- did he kind of get you into that?

B: No, not at all.

M: How did that happen?

B: With Battlestar, I was working for and with Richard Gibbs who was the composer of the mini-series. I worked with him as his assistant. When he worked on Battlestarthere was a huge amount of material to generate in an incredibly short period oftime. So, I contributed to some of the percussion cues and some of the action cueswhile Richard was writing a lot of the thematic material. Ultimately, when the showwent to series, Richard wasn’t able to stick around because he had a lot of featurefilms going on at the time. He is a feature film composer. So, it just made sense thatthey’d give me a shot at it and the rest is history.

M: When you were getting into that did you have any idea how special that projectwould end up being, ultimately?

B: Absolutely. The first episode that I scored myself was the first episode of the firstseason.

M: Yeah, ‘33’? That episode is insane.

B: As I’m watching this –and I was watching a rough cut with incomplete visualeffects and a temp score- but I knew that this was something special. I felt that wayabout the min-series as well but, really, it was seeing ‘33’ when I realized that theseries was going to –not only be as good as the mini-series- but really was going tobe even better and take it to a whole other level. Absolutely, that was crystal clearfrom a very early stage.

M: Yeah, that first episode has got to be one of the best first episodes of anytelevision series, ever. What a great start right?

B: Absolutely. It also sends a strong statement that it’s not going to back down fromthe mini-series and that it’s only going to get better.

M: I also think Battlestar –you were talking about how with television, a lot ofshows, maybe it’s an afterthought with music- and I think Battlestar especially wasalways highly recognized for having outstanding music-

B: If I could make a general statement about Battlestar, the thing that it did that hassince influenced my thinking on all television series –most television series wantthe music to create a sound and then remain in the background and do not changethat sound. The idea is that once you establish what the show sounds like younever change it so that everybody knows what show they’re watching. Battlestarreally wanted to do something different. The show evolved, the show changed, thecharacters changed. It was very much based on large story arcs. I had no choice butto evolve the music as well. In the early stages I don’t I could have ever –I knew theshow would be a hit but I had no idea how far the music would go. I really didn’t.It was a long, incremental process of realizing this character is changing. Adama isbecoming more of a caring, father figure; he’s not just the stern military commander.Here’s one episode where I can bring in some bagpipes. And then suddenly, nowthat I have bagpipes I guess I can continue to use them and we start bringing ina little orchestra. We start bringing in more Japanese instruments, more MiddleEastern instruments. Now some rock and roll –just a taste of it. Now we haveheavy metal Bob Dylan! Now we can do that. Now there’s an Italian aria and nowthere’s Armenian music. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger until bythe end, the final season –especially the final episodes- is this huge swashbuckling,thematic, orchestral, lyrical symphony basically. It’s a symphonic experience, theabsolute antithesis of the philosophy of the first episode and, yet, it all fit. It wasa natural musical journey. Ever since then, whenever I take on a series, I look forthose opportunities to evolve and change and you hear it. Although, to be fair, I don’tknow that any show will ever have a score that evolves and adapts in the ways thatBattlestar did. Especially for fans that got to the end and saw what happened withthe music in particular in the fourth season –it was not even just a score anymore.It really entered into the world of the characters in such a literal and figurative way – I don’t think anyone had done that before and I don’t know that anyone ever will.It was very bizarre. But, it was super exciting. What an incredible opportunity for ayoung musician to take part in.

M: Definitely. Ok, so we only have one or two more minutes left. I want to hit somequick lightning round questions with you real quick if you don’t mind.

B: Sure.

M: What’s the most fulfilling project you’ve ever worked on?

B: Fulfilling, oh my God?

M: At the end of the day, favorite -most fulfilling.

B: I almost don’t think that I could pick that but if I had to pick one I would probably guess Battlestar Galactica only because it was six years of my life.

M: What would be your dream project to work on? Something that no one has doneyet but if you could score anything, what would it be?

B: Boy, you’ve got some tough ones. I don’t know, maybe a live-action, bad ass,gothic, serious, Mega Man movie.

M: [laughing] I think-

B: Like, Mega Man Begins.

M: Call Nolan up, he’d probably love to that.

B: Let’s do it, man.

M: What’s next for you after SOCOM?
B: Well, I’m working on The Walking Dead season two. I’m looking forward to coming back with that. I think it’s going to be even better. Hopefully the music willget to even be more spooky and creepy. It’s just a really exciting musical experienceto be able to play around with the story. I’m also doing a movie called Knights ofBadassdom which is as awesome as it sounds like it would be. That comes out laterin the year and it’s got songs and score that I’ve done for it. Otherwise, I’m alsoworking on some soundtrack album stuff at the moment. I’m hoping to put out analbum for The Cape in the next couple of months and then the next thing that I’mgoing to work on –because fans are really bugging me about it -is a soundtrackalbum for the full season of Caprica which has some great music in it and deservesto be released.

M: Awesome. And, very last but not least -if you just want to talk for one minute- I saw that you’re involved with the Play for Japan: The Album and I didn’t know if you
maybe wanted to mention that and what you’re doing for that.
B: Well, it’s a little too early to mention what I’m doing but I can say that I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to use my talents for good and to be able to contribute to acause that is as worthy as this. And, also, just on a side and personal note, to be ableto collaborate on this project with Matsuto and Uematsu and the guys that wrotethe music that I grew up listening to when I played video games is very exciting. So,when they asked me to be involved I leapt at the opportunity.

M: Is that going to be something looking for new music from you there?

B: I think it’s still too early to know; we’re still figuring it out. Definitely keep aneye out on their website and my blog in the coming weeks and once we know whatwe’re doing we will let everybody know.

M: Great, that sounds really, really good. [various administrative stuff]. Well, again,thank you so much for your time. It was really a pleasure talking to you and I really,really enjoyed it.

B: You bet, thanks!

Did you guys pick up a 3DS this morning? Are your eyes bleeding from too much 3D? Well, so are ours! While the review is coming soon (we promise), we took the time to sit down with Nintendo to discuss one of our favorite parts of the new handheld, the Augmented Reality Cards.

For those who have yet to get their hands on the new system, the cards are a pretty unique little feature. As Nintendo of America’s Assistant Manager of Public Relations David Young puts it, ” Augmented reality is when a screen shows a live image of something with superimposed graphics, text or animations that appear to interact with the actual environment. Nintendo 3DS comes with six special cards, called AR Cards, for augmented-reality games and tools.”

Sounds technical. So just what does that mean for the user?

“Users take the included cards and place them on a flat surface. The Nintendo 3DS camera reads the cards and superimposes images and animations onto the scene,” Young told Blast. “So for instance, users might point the camera at a card on a tabletop, only then to see a dragon popping out of their kitchen tables. Users will have fun exploring the different augmented-reality functions that really showcase the 3D images and other functions of Nintendo 3DS.”

It would be understandable to look at the AR cards as a sort of gimmick for the new system, but Young says that Nintendo is very optimistic that developers will be successful in integrating the technology into future titles. “Nintendo is constantly working to create new experiences that appeal to a wide range of consumers, though we expect many developers may also want to create their own cards featuring characters or images that are specific to their franchises or games.  Developers could use AR Cards in a variety of ways, such as requiring players to solve a puzzle or shoot a bad guy. They could use the cards that come with the system or make their own cards, specific to their games. It’s up to each developer to decide. History has shown that developers always find creative ways to make use of all of the functions of our game systems. While we don’t have anything new to announce at this time, we look forward to seeing lots of imaginative and highly entertaining content for Nintendo 3DS in the future.”

When Sony officially announced Little Big Planet 2 last year, it came as a bit of a suprise as Media Molecule’s level designer Danny Leaver was quoted as saying that a sequel to the DIY platformer wouldn’t be such a great idea. “We’d never want to do that. That’d be the most counter-productive thing you could do I think,” said Leaver. Or did he? Blast Magazine sat down with Media Molecule’s Technical Director David Smith to talk about the upcoming sequel, being the faces of creativity on consoles and that infamous quote.

Blast: So let’s talk about that quote, why is now the right time for a Little Big Planet sequel?

DS: That was a rather unfortunate misquote. He was actually saying that we would never split the community, and we kept that promise by allowing LBP2 to access the more than 3 million levels that the community has created in LBP1. Danny was rather disappointed at the time, since he was referring to the hypothetical scenario of us releasing a sequel to LBP that wasn’t backwards compatible with LBP and thus fragmented the community. Our whole approach to LBP and DLC has been to focus on what would most excite our community while making enough financial sense that we can afford to do so. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of how our community would have reacted to us making a sequel that effectively made all of their levels and hard work redundant. We really respect all of that hard work. There must have been tens of thousands of hours spent making content for LBP, so we spent a lot of coding time and QA time on ensuring the best possibility compatibility between LBP and LBP2 that we could. Because so much of LBP had to be rewritten for the sequel, this was a big undertaking.

Blast: The scope of LittleBigPlanet 2 is unquestionably larger than that of its predecessor, how does the team at Media Molecule manage to allow players such a sense of freedom and creation yet keep the experience so well structured at the same time?

DS: A key to preventing some of the more advanced creation tools from feeling overwhelming was to retain the modularity and physicality that we focused on with the first game. By modularity, I mean that we try to give the users a relatively small number of tools that can combine together in may useful ways, rather than a large number of complex objects that are harder to understand and potentially more limited in what things you can use them for. So for example, the most complex additions in LBP2 are the Music Sequencer, AI Sackbots, and the Controlinator. Initially the Sequencer was just something for making music, Sackbots were just for making AI enemies, and the Controlinator was just for making vehicles. But we continually revised and improved these elements so that they became as useful as the other fundamental building blocks alongside things as simple as the existing blocks of wood, or motor bolts! So you end up with weird possibilities like using a Controlinator to remote control an army of Sackbots that are dressed up to look like pop stars and then using the sequencer at the end of your level to lay out the timeline for not just the music but the dance moves, lighting and camera movements for a Thriller style music video. Or use Sackbots in Controlinators to actually drive vehicles with their AI and then the Sequencer as a tool to choreograph the procedural generation of landscape ahead of the Sackbot! There are so many exciting combinations that it will really take the combined effort of our whole community to try them all out and see which ones lead to new gameplay/music/visual possibilities.

We also really tried to keep the interface consistent between all these different tools, so that our creators don’t need to waste time relearning how to edit all the different objects. Everything the player does comes down to placing physical objects in a physical world, moving them about, and tweaking a few numbers/options in these objects for more specific effects. We avoided ‘abstract’ interfaces as much as possible. Of course, some of the logic tools that we give the users can be a bit overwhelming for some of our users but we try to soften the learning curve as much as possible by keeping the interface clear and friendly. And ultimately, we really encourage our users to work together and share inventions and techniques. The new Microchips are a good example of this as they allow you to take a large amount of cleverness and boil it all down into a cute user-made gadget that can be easily shared with other users.

Blast: From the Sackbots to the ability to record and implement music, LittleBigPlanet 2 features a number of improvements both feature wise and cosmetically. How many of these ideas were originally intended to be the original game but were cut due to time restraints?

DS: In hindsight, it’s hard to recall which of these ideas we were planning on doing for LBP but dropped due to time constraints. Regardless, I think we set ourselves enough of a challenge with the feature set of the first game! Lots of the new LBP2 features were quite specifically asked for by our community, often after we’d planned on doing them anyway, so that was very important to keep us feeling justified in doing a sequel and on the right track regarding the needs of our community. It was heartening and sometimes surprising to see discussions on forums where people were suggesting big new features but then suggesting that there was no chance that they’d really happen. I hope a lot of these people are pleasantly surprised at how aligned we are with their needs. A lot of the challenge was empowering people to do all these cool new things, but in ways that fit the LBP style and so feel cute rather than clever.

Blast: One look at the user created levels for the original LittleBigPlanet and you’re sure to see homage’s and tributes to other games and media. Why do you suppose these have survived in LBP when other game’s that feature user created content have been forced to ban these references?

DS: We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how willing other developers and IP holders have been to have their games, films, and music recreated in LBP. I think that this is in part because of how remarkably friendly our community is! These homages are really driven by love, as opposed to any sort of cynicism. So they perhaps act as a form of marketing. In LBP, the homages tend to be much shorter than the games they imitate and have a distinctive LBP look that reminds you that you’re still in the LBP universe. With LBP2, the homages are becoming immensely more sophisticated while still generally retaining a lot of the LBP look and feel.

Blast: Along with Killzone, LittleBigPlanet is one of the first of Sony’s major franchises to incorporate Move control. How easy was it to integrate this technology into the game, how does it add to the LittleBigPlanet experience?

DS: It’s something that we’re still working on! While there is a demo of this technology on the LBP2 Blu-ray, we are still tweaking it. Being able to use the Move to control a cursor unlocks or greatly improves a variety of game genres that typically would rely on a mouse. Of course, there are many types of gameplay that don’t naturally map to these sorts of controls, so it’s a case of exploring the new types of gameplay which this controller is uniquely suited for. Of course, this is a new technology so we (in the games industry) are still discovering all the possibilities about what things it’s really good for and what sort of gameplay needs completely rethinking to fit a Move controller. Ultimately, our community is going to be very active in discovering the best ways to use Move for new types of gameplay. I would love to see some of our community Creators come up with novel uses for Move that are then ‘borrowed’ by commercial games.

Check out Blast’s review of Little Big Planet 2 later this week!

If you’ve played any of the Killzone games before – you’ve undoubtedly shot your fair shair of Helghast soldiers. Now, for the highly anticipated Killzone 3, the team at Sony and Guerilla Games wants you to go inside their world.

“What we’re trying to do with this one is to stretch our legs more and show not necessarily both sides of the equation of why this war is going on, but show that there’s a face behind the mask,” said Michael Graham, Associate Producer at Sony Santa Monica. “. The Helghast are there and they have this iconic image, but at this point in time, it’s always been Emperor Visari as the only un-helmeted Helghast you saw so it was tough to actually view the opponents you’re fighting during the course of the franchise as an actual human type entity. We’re really stretching out legs and learning how to progress our story telling technique and we’re able to tell a more humanistic story – both from the ISA (Interplanetary Strategic Alliance) side and being able to give a glimpse as to what’s going on in the Helghast’s government structure with this enigmatic leader Visari having been killed.”

The goal for the team at Guerilla Games and Sony was clear from the start, to make this a much more balanced and much more cinematic entry in the long running first person shooter series. Yes, you’ll still mow down a ton of enemy soldiers – but now, they’re not just faceless enemies, we actually get to learn about their world and motivations, a perplexing idea when the characters in question are so clearly inspired by Nazi forces. “So it’s not necessarily seeing both sides of the coin, but you’re definitely seeing more motivation and what’s going on behind the scenes with the helghast to make them more relatable.”

Killzone 3 picks up shortly after the events of the second game, and finds protagonist Sev trapped in the middle of warring Helghast factions with no way home as the ISA attempts to recuperate from its own loses. A major part of the game’s campaign takes place on the Helghan world, which was a challenge creating according to Graham. “Killzone 2 was very much an urban set game. You know, we had a story tell which was the invasion of the ISA and retribution from Killzone 1 to take down Visari and make him answer for his crimes. What we wanted to do with Killzone 3 was definitely hit on the variation of the planet, that it’s not just one giant city which gives us a lot of room to play.”

The environments of the alien planets add a ton of depth and variety to the world in Killzone 3. Where Killzone 2 often seemed like a mess of broken steel and urban skyscrapers, Killzone 3 adds artic worlds and dense alien jungles to the mix, all aiding in Guerilla’s goal of telling a much more rounded story. “. You see that the Helghast have basically been pushed to this world from past transgressions against the Earth Government, so in the wake of Killzone 2 you and your ISA forces are essentially trying to escape and trying to get home, but you also see this power struggle in Helghan and their motivations.”

One of the most striking additions to the game is the inclusion of several mechanics from outside of the first person shooter genre, include adventure style platforming and awesomely violent melee attacks. “One thing we wanted to do was introduce something new to the genre. We know shooting, we do it very well and it’s what we’ve been based on for a long time. One of the objectives Guerilla had when developing this game was variation – in everything from level design to game mechanics. We don’t view it as deviating from what the core game is, you know, it’s still a shooter but we thought what can we add to this game that will add to the user experience? Take coming up with something like the brutal melees, you know normally in first person shooter games, melee is you know, I swipe a knife or in the case of Killzone 2 a riffle but, and it may be hyper violent but it also gives the player a grinning ‘wow that was really cool’ moment. It allows us to vary it up so the player doesn’t always feel like ‘oh I’m slogging through another corridor’, or I’m shooting more bad guys’. Our goal was to play with a ton of variations on gameplay. The jetpack also allows us to play with the level design itself and allows us to take a more vertical design with how to complete the objectives in the game.

New elements, such as the jetpack allow Guerilla Games to offer more varied mission types

The main campaign of Killzone 3 is only half of the game though, as the team is bringing back the fan favorite online play for a third go-round. “The team out at Guerilla games actually is in charge of the overall vision of the game, but there’s also a distribution between the multiplayer and single player design, so both are equally weighted in our eyes when developing the franchise. The multiplayer team starts off right away with the map design. How do they want to balance the classes, the unlocks, the character progression through the online, while the single player team is working on the level design and story. The technology is shared because this is our second game on the PS3 so we’re not having to take the time to develop the engine and spending time building the tools for the game, it’s really allowed them to stretch and design the best game they could. So the tools are there for both multiplayer and single player, and neither would exist if they had to compete for resources.”

A major part of building a winning format for Killzone 3’s online component has been getting feedback from fans through a long beta process. Through invites given out to select  Killzone.com community members and select news outlets (like Blast!), Sony used an open beta process to fine tune and tweak the multiplayer aspect of Killzone 3, and according to Graham, it’s been incredibly positive. “Community Feedback has always been important to us. Starting back with Killzone and Killzone 2, we always looked to our community to help us tweak the game, tweak the balance and absolutely try to create the best online multiplayer experience possible.  We generate a large online community that will talk through Killzone.com and discuss and participate in the online. By us opening it up and having a lengthy beta and having the feedback through our forums, we’re able to create a better user experience by the time we release.”

Killzone 3 will also be the first of the series to take advantage of Sony’s Move motion controller, which Graham hopes will help entice a more casual audience to try the game. ““With the Move it was actually really easy for us to adopt it and get it into the game.  We’ve been playing with it and testing it ever since the first controller, and it’s always been something that we were going to support because it’s a company initiative and it really opens it up to a more casual audience, for instance anyone who may be intimidated by playing a first person shooter with two analog sticks. They can play it with the Move and maybe be able to get into it a little bit more than if they picked up a foreign controller and couldn’t understand the controls.”

Also debuting in Killzone 3 is the game’s full support for 3D technology. Though it’s completely optional , Graham admits that it’s something the team has been wanting to incorporate for some time. “The decision was actually made to try to incorporate 3D into Killzone 3 actually before Sony had really shown our push to the world with 3D technology.  We’d been playing around with it in Amsterdam to see what we can do. When the initiative came along from a Sony Corporate Standpoint, we really embraced it. There’s always challenges with 3D – making sure it’s integrated, making sure the point of view looks good and ensuring that the quality level that we’ve always had with the Killzone franchise is still there; the visual fidelity is very important to us. It’s always been something we’ve wanted to do since we finished Killzone 2.”

After Killzone 3, Guerilla Games has stated that they will be working on a brand new IP, which would make it their first game set outside of the Killzone universe since 2004’s Shellshock: Nam ’67. While Graham wasn’t able to comment on whether this means the end for the franchise, he did say that having them, and other studios such as Naughty Dog as a first party publisher was integral to the success of the PlayStation brand.

Killzone 3 will be released February 22 of next year for the PS3. Stick with Blast for all of the up to the minute news and reviews.

Mila Kunis graces the cover of NYLON Magazine’s December/January issue. Here are excerpts from the interview:

On “Black Swan:” “It was the most intense training I’ve ever had in my life, and probably will have for anything. I lost 20 pounds, so I went down to 95 pounds. I weigh 117 usually, like today. I looked like Gollum [from The Lord of the Rings].”

On shooting “Friends with Benefits” with Justin Timberlake: “I’ve never seen people in my life with so little respect [as the paparazzi]… when we were filming on the street in New York it was pure and utter insanity. ”

On her early acting days: “It was just play-pretend. Trust me, I did not have a clue what I was doing. It wasn’t a job for me, I didn’t think anything other than a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a fireman, or a policeman was a legitimate job because when you’re little those are the things you see. It wasn’t until I was 20 that I thought I could actually make it a career.”

Check out additional photos and exclusive outtakes of the actress at, nylonmag.com.

Ask Emmanuel Ayvas how he would describe his band and suddenly the articulate front man is at a loss for words.

"I don’t know. We are not easy to categorize,” he finally says.

It might be hard to categorize Emmanuel and the Fear because they have 11 band members.

That’s right, 11.

Ranging from Ayvas, the lead singer to David Nelson the trombone player, Emmanuel and the Fear is not your grandfather’s rock band. If Sufjan Stevens and Beethoven made a love child, it might just be Emmanuel and the Fear.

The fact that you can’t quite put this New York rock band in a box is something the band enjoys and even came up with their name because of it. The band’s name came from a theme the lead singer found a lot in his writing. "It’s centered on fear and how to handle fear in our lives. Also, I liked the fact that it didn’t brand us. It leaves room for the imagination," said lead singer.

In March the band released Listen, the 19-track album that continues to receive rave reviews. The lead singer describes the sound as "dreamscape" like and says that the album is very visual.

"I think there is a very clear story being told,” Ayvas said. Many artists have a set pattern on how they create their music; either music first or lyrics. Emmanuel and the Fear are neither. "I like to write the lyrics and the music at the same time. We want to create music that provokes an emotion. The lyrics are very important."

One of the songs off the album was featured in the ABC Family series “Huge.”

"It was weird for me," he said. "I watched the show and the words of my song lined up with the story of the show. I’m flattered that they believe our song evokes what they are trying to evoke."

The band has also been featured on Fearless TV and the new ABC aired Jimmy Lloyd’s Songwriter Showcase. Also, as the band gains more recognition, they also receive more acclaim. Earlier this spring the band was named BMI’s Band of the Month.

Currently, the NYC rockers are on tour. Touring with eleven bands members may seem like a recipe for disaster but Ayvas believes the band is a perfect mesh of personalities for life on the road.

"We are lucky we are with really cool people," he said. "Touring with so many people sometimes isn’t easy after breathing each other’s air for months. So far it has been a lot of fun."

Some of the favorite places for the band to perform thus far have been Amsterdam and Germany. In Germany, the band went on for three encores. "It kind of strange,” he admitted.

"Hopefully we are still touring as much as possible," said Ayvas. Ultimately the band hopes to be "on the map throughout the world.”

Pop stars come and go. Some stay and will forever be remembered in the history of pop culture. Others fade as quickly as a shooting star. Emmalyn Anderson (artist name: Emmalyn) hopes to be one of those that are remembered.

With the release of her first single Love Letter, which is available on iTunes, Anderson is understandably thrilled.

"It’s awesome. I’m really excited," Anderson said.

The Falmouth native penned her recent single on real life experiences. "I was in a relationship with this guy and I realized I needed a break from him. I planned on going back to him but then I met someone else. So the song is me writing a love letter to him being like you broke my heart but I’m over it.”

Most of the songs Anderson writes are based on experiences she has faced.

"Its how I get my emotions out. It’s a release for me," she said. "It’s nice knowing people can relate to my songs and have been through similar situations."

Anderson is a fan of matching an upbeat tune with deep and sometimes even sad lyrics. "I don’t want people to be brought down by the lyrics. I want people to have fun with it," she said.

The same goes for Love Letter. "The lyrics in this song are very important to me," said Anderson. "Every word was written with strong emotion, yet the beat matched with it was added to give it an uplifting and fun vibe. I want to give people a reason to dance!"

When Anderson isn’t writing songs for herself, she is busy creating hits for Canadian pop artist Dustin Disco. Writing songs for another artist is a different experience in itself.

"You don’t know whether they will like it or not," Anderson said. "They might love it or hate it. You just have to learn not to take it personally."

Along with being a singer/songwriter, Anderson has another gun in her arsenal; acting. The budding actress has a minor role in Mission Park. The superhero adventure movie was a fun experience for Anderson. "It was fun filming. It was all green screens. My manager (Lindsey Vinson) and I were in it together so that was fun," said Anderson.

Mission Park premiered on August 25, it was Anderson’s first time seeing herself on the big screen and walking a red carpet.

"Having the paparazzi go crazy on us, seeing the movie all put together, watching my name roll through on the credits-it may sound strange but I felt completely like this is where I’m meant to be," said Anderson.

The aspect about acting that she loves the most is how the craft always help bring her mood up. "If you have to smile on camera, then you smile and that sort of makes you feel better," said Anderson. However, if the soon to be 21-year-old had to choose between acting and music, music would win that battle. "Acting is a lot of fun and something I want to do on the side but I think I have a stronger path in music," said Anderson.

That path in music began as a child for Anderson. "I was in chorus in 6th and grade and throughout high school. I loved it. Singing has been a blessing in my life," said Anderson. In the fall, Anderson will be returning to Lasell College for her senior year. She is majoring in communications. Juggling a budding singing career and school might be daunting to some however; Anderson is quite calm about the situation. "I don’t really have a game plan on how to balance the two. Whatever happens happens. At least I will have a degree," said Anderson.

Ask Anderson where she sees herself in five years, and her answer is honest. "I don’t really know where I’ll be," said Anderson. "You can’t predict it. It’s all up in the air. You just have to throw something up and see what lands."

SAN DIEGO — When the name Sean Astin comes up, most people associate the actor with his roles in "Lord of the Rings" and "The Goonies" where he plays both leader and loyal friend. What may come as a surprise is Astin’s current project in Disney’s "Special Agent Oso."

Not well-known for his voice-over work, the veteran actor leads the children’s series as Special Agent Oso. The series celebrates the classic spy genre, centering on an adorable stuffed panda bear that works for U.N.I.Q.U.E (United Network for Investigating Quite Usual Events). Special Agent Oso helps children problem solve matters from raising awareness about the environment to personal safety.

This series has since become a success and ranked No. 1 in its timeslot after its debut in April 2009, beating its competition by 12 percent among kids 2-5.

Blast Magazine talked with Astin about "Special Agent Oso," and its upcoming second season, which premieres Saturday July 10 at 8 a.m.

BLAST MAGAZINE: Special Agent Oso is a wonderful children’s show, how did you come across this project?

SEAN ASTIN: They offered it to me. I was doing a show in London and I got this package. Before I even read the cover letter there was this big fat color illustration of Oso (laughs). I was like "Oh yeah, that is me." In fact, the first show I did was over the phone from this studio in London and I was patched through. So I did the pilot episode before ever meeting the creator. It was pretty cool. I think they just knew from my other movies that I was Oso.

BLAST: Most people are not familiar with your voice-over work as much as your live action films. What’s the process been like for you? And how is it different than working on a live set?

SA: We’re into the second season and we’ve all developed the sort of friendships you would on a live-action show. We pretty much all work it out together, and the guys Ford (Riley), and Jamie (Mitchell), who I like to affectionately refer to as "the other side of the glass," are there so it’s like a radio play you put together.

BLAST: What does your family, especially your kids, think of the show? And hearing your voice as such an adorable character?

SA: They were incredibly excited when the first season premiered. They saw that Dad, the guy who hangs around the house all the time, does something. They got comfortable with it, you know? Their friends all knew that their dad was the voice, and that was cool for them. I would come in once and a while and read for them. Everybody wanted me to do the Oso voice and that kind of stuff, so that was really cool. Recently they just got to meet the Oso walk around — which is this life size cuddly Oso that walks around (and meets people). Something happened I don’t know, but they came home and were glued to the television. They were like, "we met this guy, and he’s awesome. We’re on the inside track now. We love Oso." I think my four year old who will be five in the coming weeks is the perfect target and demographic for us. She latched on to it the most. Recently the title song was nominated for an Emmy in Best Original Song, which we’re very proud of, and my oldest (daughter) knows all the lyrics.

BLAST: The visuals and design for the show is done wonderfully. It easily gains a child’s attention. There are a lot of fun elements to "Special Agent Oso."

SA: ("Special Agent Oso") is bright and colorful. The voices are up-toned, it’s very pleasing. The gadgets are all fun and the kids seem to know the spy universe pretty well. The way they do the discoveries and (set up) the organizational skills themselves are fun. (For example) Oso will come down from his helicopter to help solve a problem, but then he’ll make a mistake. So you’ll have these little kids teaching him, and showing him how to do it correctly.

BLAST: This doesn’t just make it engaging for the kids but for the adults as well.

SA: I think that’s because when you’re teaching a kid how to do something, like a puzzle, repetition is important. I think most parents are like me, you want to be deliberate and explain everything to them. You can tell when you’re losing them. They’re not really focused anymore; they’re bored with what you’re saying. Oso breaks things down with his "paw pilot" this little PDA he’s got (on the show) into these basic steps. You’re going to do this, then that, and (so forth). Then you’re going to know how to do it. As a parent watching my kid connect with that is pretty cool.

BLAST: And that’s the thing that’s great with this show, it also takes on subjects which generally are harder to perhaps conceptualize for a younger crowd.

SA: They really do this year. They push the envelope with that as far as I’m concerned. I saw the scripts come through and thought, "Wow we’re going to tackle this?" And one is about the importance of telling the truth. A little girl breaks a vase, her grandma’s vase, and their dog is around. She has to decide what to do: Is it important to tell grandma the truth? Or blame it on the dog? And when she learns it is important to tell the truth, she has to learn how to apologize about it. Modeling the importance of apologizing is so critical. And another one that’s big this season is about what to do if you get lost; cutting right to the core of issues for little kids. In terms of themes, there’s this big push within the administration and around the country about physical fitness. So (the show) made a concerted effort this year to put an element of physical fitness in there: playing catch, miniature golf, how to ride your scooter, and how to play football. I like that element in being part of this animated show, you’re contributing to people’s health and not just entertaining.

BLAST: You’re going to have some special guest appearances this season like Mel Brooks. How does it feel having them involved?

SA: It’s validation. You do an animated show for the Disney Channel, and you look at your peers like Jenna Elfman or Rita Morena and you sort of go, "So they probably have kids or nieces and nephews who watch the show. " These are people who like the Disney Channel and are cool enough to go out of their way to be in an episode or two. So it’s a validation to what we’ve been doing these past years.

BLAST: Your films, especially earlier the works, has been a big part of some people’s childhoods. How does it feel knowing the work you’re doing now is a part of your own children’s childhood?

SA: I’ll tell you how, they’re making toys! I brought home from work the other day the new Oso car set, and you would have thought I brought the Hope Diamond. Everyone in the house just gravitated to it!
I know there is "The Goonies" toy, and "The Lord of the Rings" toys. So you talk about going into the popular culture and finding a place in people’s hearts. But when it comes right down to it, I’m another toy (laughs).
___

Toy or not, Sean Astin certainly has an aptitude for embodying memorable characters for generations of kids, and "Special Agent Oso" is no exception.

"Special Agent Oso" premieres Saturday July 10th (8:00-8:30 A.M. ET/PT), and continues with new episodes at the same time every Saturday from July to August.

PHOENIX — Just days before the release of “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” fans gathered in their respective cities across the country (check out our Denver and San Diego coverage) for “Twilight Night,” an event hosted by Summit Entertainment.

Fans in Phoenix and Scottsdale gathered at the Desert Ridge Marketplace to rewatch the first two beloved Twilight films on a large outdoor screen as well as get the chance to play some games, win some prizes, and get their questions answered by “Twilight” star Justin Chon (Eric Yorkie). Watch the video below to see what he has to say about the next installment in the “Twilight Saga.”

SAN DIEGO — There is a small patch of green known as the “Park in the Park” that exists near San Diego’s Petco Park, where the city’s baseball team usually plays to a cheering crowd. Park in the Park is a designated area for attendees who want to catch a game without breaking their wallets; it’s a picturesque space with a wonderful city view. And during Saturday night’s lunar eclipse, San Diegans lined up to celebrate the upcoming movie "Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which hits theaters nationwide on Wednesday, June 30th.

San Diego is one of several cities (see our coverage in Phoenix and Denver) chosen nationwide to host Summit Entertainment’s "Twilight Night." It’s free event that includes a double feature of the first two movies ("Twilight" and "New Moon"), guest appearances from the cast, live music, and exclusive sneak peeks of "Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

Whether you’re a fan or not of Stephanie Meyer’s explosive vampiric series, there is little doubt as to the significant impact its followers have in pop culture right now. An event such as "Twilight Night" is proof positive the franchise is not slowing down any time soon. In San Diego, fans camped out the previous night just for the chance of being inches closer to a Cullen or to support the Quileute werewolf tribe known as "The Wolf Pack."

The Park closed its iron gates off to the public after reaching maximum capacity in less than an hour. Several families who arrived late stood (literally) on the outside looking in. Some pleaded by explaining, "I left work hours early for this…" or "I won’t get too close." Children cried; parents threw tantrums, but all were rejected admission.

Usually a fanaticism left for rock stars and concert tours, "Twilight" is one of the few pop phenomenons which continues to bring in droves of people and cause hysterics. Proper planning at events like "Twilight Night" is crucial in maintaining safe crowd control and ensuring a good time. The organization at Park in the Park from all parties involved was great, and easily could have turned into mayhem without their efforts. As for the fans, their energy added to the electric atmosphere as they waited for the cast appearances. Many walked around proudly in black shirts with the words "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" written across their chests in the trademark "Twilight" font face. Whispers and sighs from many of the younger fans could be heard as they debated over their favorite characters. Some even took it a step further and wore the "bite mark" prosthetics which showed more than the classic two, small dotted marks of a vampire; it looked as you would expect a real bite to appear: bloody, fleshy, and slightly gory.

Hosting the event was Jenna Busch from Moviefone and Quddus best known for his previous work in MTV’s "Total Request Live (TRL)." Fans even cheered them on as they set up for their live event, showing their love isn’t just left for the stars of the films. Local San Diego band War Stories set off festivities playing a live set to a frenzied crowd which could be heard easily within several city blocks, perking the curiosity of many locals who stepped over to the gates to catch a glimpse. The music of War Stories is reminiscent of band Interpol but with the lead singer, Evan Robinson, blasting out amazing vocals it feels as if he were channeling Michael Hutchence from INXS. Their song "Insecure Boyfriend" was a highlight, and judging by the audience reaction they’ve got themselves a whole slew of new fans.

As War Stories’ performance came to an end, the focus quickly shifted to the main stage area where Busch prepared to go live on air. Meanwhile Quddus connected with several select attendees whose questions were sent to Taylor Lautner, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

It was worth the wait as members of the cast made their way onto the red carpet, and fans reacted with a swirl of ardent screams. Edi Gathegi (vampire Laurent) was originally schedule to appear but could not attend at the last minute. In his place was the lovely Christian Serratos, who plays Forks’ human resident, Angela Weber. Joining her was none other than Dr. Carlisle Cullen himself: Peter Facinelli.

Serratos wore her long brown hair in a simple braid. Dressed in a white strapless gown, she looked exquisite despite the chilly weather.

Peter Facinelli followed shortly afterwards sporting a dark ‘do, a change from Dr. Cullen’s trademark blonde hair. He dressed casually in dark denim and leather jacket while carrying a smile for all the fans. When Facinelli was asked about making it to San Diego, the crowd burst into screams, and the actor couldn’t help but note the audience attendance was as enthusiastic as the "Twilight: Eclipse" LA premiere days ago.

As soon as their time on camera was finished, both Serratos and Facinelli took an extended amount of time to sign autographs, and chat briefly with some of the people at the front. It’s the cast’s patience and respect for fans that makes the film so successful. There was even a moment were Facinelli held a baby, making him appear more like a politician than actor.

Yet the most dramatic turn was about to unfold as a sudden stillness spread through the crowd, and a stretcher was brought in by some medics. Although it’s uncertain exactly the cause for the situation, it appeared one of the fans may have passed out while Facinelli came by to sign autographs. After the situation was resolved, and no serious injury caused, the crowd returned to its excited state, proving again that nothing holds back a good time at a "Twilight" event.

"Twilight Saga: Eclipse" will be the last film of the year as the final installment "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" won’t start production until 2011.

"Eclipse" hits theaters and IMAX June 30.

Hey Twi-hards, are you Team Edward or Team Jacob? Well this time around, you should all be Team Eric, Bella’s human friend played by Justin Chon.

Justin is swinging by Phoenix this Saturday to talk to Blast, and we want to give all of you Twilight fans out there a chance to ask him anything you want. Dying to know if Taylor Lautner’s abs are as impressive in person? Want to ask questions about Eclipse, which comes out next Wednesday? Leave your questions in the comments section below or email them to us (info in the contacts section).

And be sure to check back to see your burning questions answered by your favorite Twilight human!

Summertime is starting to feel more like fall with the amount of new series’ debuting recently. Among them is ABC’s cop drama "Rookie Blue," a show that follows the lives of five rookie cops fresh out of the academy with big dreams and ambitions. Missy Peregrym ("Heroes," "Reaper") and Gregory Smith ("Everwood") are some of the cast members who spoke with Blast about this new series in a special video interview.

"Rookie Blue" also stars Charlotte Sullivan, Enuka Okuma, Travis Milne, Ben Bass and Eric Johnson. The series airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC and premieres June 24.

Slick Entertainment, a development studio comprised of two guys, released “Scrap Metal” on Wednesday. A top-down racer released exclusively on the Xbox Live Arcade, its design was a product of the development duo’s wanting to build something other than a ‘behind the car’ style racer. And with its simple controls, dynamic physics, plethora of weapons, and empowerment by way of multiplayer, it’s one hell of a digital title.

Blast: Your first project, N+ was a smash hit success, but not a racing game at all. Can you explain why Slick Entertainment decided to craft a vehicular combat racing title after N+?

Nick Waanders: N+ was developed in cooperation with Metanet Software, who designed the original game N for the PC. When we were done with that title, we decided to make our own game, something we always wanted to do. We brainstormed for a few days about which game this would be, and it came down to us both loving old style top-down racers. We also had some technology that could work with this game genre, so we were set.

Blast: Scrap Metal is not a simple racer or a straight demolition derby title. It’s a hybrid. Explain what you were going for when applying this formula?

Waanders: We built the engine to be very modular, so adding different game modes was fairly easy. Our first mission structure had lots of racing missions, but when we played through the missions, it became clear that we needed more variation. We added a demolition derby mode, and it was so much fun that we instantly decided to add more game modes such as elimination races, end boss battles, etc.

Blast: The market for digital download gaming is growing, where does Slick Entertainment and Scrap Metal see itself in this transition?

Waanders: When we worked on N+ we were convinced digital downloads were the future. There are no extra costs for packaging and storage, so it’s a lot cheaper and simpler. In the end, the gamers benefit because they can buy great games for less money — something we’re all for.

Blast: Were the environments in Scrap Metal designed after anything in particular? Or simply the creative vision of your artists and designers?

Waanders: At Slick, we’re only two guys, so it usually came down to editing the shape of the track first and making sure that the track flow was right, and we worried about the decoration/setting after that. Most of the settings were either related to the track names (Coal Harbour is a harbor track, Gastown is a gas factory track), and some were simply the twisted imagination of Kees (Technical Artist, Vice President).

Blast: Scrap Metal controls very easily. There are no crazy button mashing combo sequences and its control mechanic are simple and inviting, yet the game itself has a heftier feel to it. Was this a design choice from the onset and if so what does incorporating such appealing and intuitive controls offer the gamer?

Waanders: We’ve always been big advocates of simple controls. N+ showed this really well: there was left and right and jump. That’s it. Those were really all the buttons you absolutely needed to control the game. Making the controls this simple meant it was a lot more accessible for people, and therefore easier to pick up.

When we built Scrap Metal we decided that we didn’t want the cars to feel too arcade-y. We like the physics feel, it gives you a good feeling when you actually are able to slide a car around a corner properly. That in and of itself is fun – the player is battling the movement of the car, not battling the controls, which is exactly what we wanted.

Blast: Scrap Metal is part of the month-long Microsoft Block Party event. Sandwiched between Toy Soldiers and Perfect Dark is a tough place to be. If gamers have only enough money for one, why should it be Scrap Metal?

Waanders: Scrap Metal is a different genre than Toy Soldiers and Perfect Dark, and we believe each game in the Xbox LIVE Arcade Block Party is excellent in its own right. Scrap Metal is an awesome top-down racer, the likes of which you’ve never experienced before, and exclusive to Xbox LIVE Arcade. So if you’re a fan of race games, you owe it to yourself to try this game out.

Blast: A multiplayer component is becoming more and more common in today’s gaming universe and Scrap Metal’s multiplayer is fleshed out, well-polished and a lot of fun. Where on the importance ladder was multiplayer in the development of Scrap Metal and how did Slick Entertainment go about nailing it so well?

Waanders: Multiplayer was one of the main requirements for Scrap Metal. We actually implemented it on top of our single player game, and when we tried it out we were shouting at each other across the room within minutes! It was a lot more fun than we even expected. This set the stage for more multiplayer improvements, especially the special weapons and the King of the Hill game mode.

Blast: The amount of variance in vehicles in Scrap Metal is staggering.  What does having so many vehicular options afford the player and why is this important to Slick Entertainment?

Waanders: We started with three cars, and we tried to get them to control the way they look. So for example, I’d expect a big monster truck to be a bit bouncy and leaning over in corners, while I’d expect a muscle car to accelerate really fast and be hard to corner. When we got this right for the first three cars, Kees started modeling more and more cars, and we tried to give each its own handling characteristics.

One of the main goals in our game is to ‘scrap’ other cars. When you scrap them, the wreck of their car goes into your junk yard. You can then grab that wreck and repair, repaint, and upgrade it into an awesome new car for your own garage. This is where lots of cars pay off!

Blast: Your game, a top-down racer felt refreshing to me. Its design was simple and this unique perspective truly makes it stand out. Why make a top-down racer?

Waanders: Because we were sick of playing ‘behind the car’ style racers! Especially in car combat titles, we find it really hard to know what’s going on around you if your camera is always pointing forward. What happens behind you is just as important as what happens in front of you! Add to this that you can build awesome visual effects in a top-down view and you’ve got one action packed game!

Blast: Weapons: Scrap Metal has lots of them. From a can-opener to a shotgun, the player has a wealth of opportunities at their fingertips. Where did the ideas for these weapons come from and how much time and effort went into designing them?

Our tools allow for very fast iteration (everything is real-time), so it was very easy to try out new things. Most of the weapons were inspired by movies that used crazy weapons (‘Zombie land’ comes to mind). We decided it would be good to give each car its own weapon so that we could balance the game better. This also made designing the weapons a bit easier.

Blast: I’ve played Scrap Metal, thoroughly enjoyed it and wrote my review. But this is your chance to win over our readers. The floor is yours. Explain why gamers should play your game and why missing out on it is a mistake.

Waanders: Cars. Guns. Explosions. End-bosses. Multiplayer. Need I say more?

“Scrap Metal” is available today on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 1200 MS Points or $15.

“If I Can Dream” is what co-creator Simon Fuller calls a “post-reality show.” Fuller, who also created “American Idol,” says “If I Can Dream” will document the authentic stories of five young people who dream of success in Hollywood. Viewers will be able to interact with the stars in real time by commenting on the 24/7 live stream that will air on www.ificandream.com.

“If I Can Dream” gives viewers open access to a show in a way that has never been done before. Watch the Hollywood hopefuls’ every move live online as they rehearse, write, socialize, and plan their careers.

In this new type of reality show, there’s no Snookie; there are no booze-fueled sex-rampages — well that’s actually to be seen. But according to Fuller, this is meant to be more of an intimate peek into the lives of normal people struggling to become one of the lucky ones that make it big in Los Angeles.

The five cast members met for the first time in New York City before embarking on a global tour introducing them to the world. They have traveled to Berlin, Tokyo, Taipei, Sydney, Rio, and Toronto, and have returned to the U.S. for a cross-country road trip before moving into their Hollywood Hills home to begin filming on March 2.

Blast met up with the stars at The Hard Rock Cafe where Justin Gaston, the musician of the group, performed following Selena Gomez. Gaston, 21, is a Louisiana native who has already gained some notoriety for being in Taylor Swift’s "Love Story" video as well as for dating pop princess Miley Cyrus in 2009. Along with Justin is Ben Elliot, 22, an actor from Hamburg, NY; Kara Kilmer, 21, an actress from Crowley, TX; Giglianne Braga, 20, a model from Kearny, NJ, and Amanda Philips, 23, an actress/model from Geneva, NY.

BLAST: Justin, how do you think your performance went?

JUSTIN GASTON: I thought it went great.

KARA KILMER: It was an epic performance.

BLAST: How’s Selena Gomez?

BEN ELLIOT: Very sweet girl.

KK: She seems really solid and carries herself very well.

BLAST: Have you seen where you are going to live in Hollywood?

ALL: Yes!

KK: It’s really amazing. On hulu.com you can look up trailers for the show and you can see the house.

BLAST: You guys have been on a tour all over the world the last few weeks. Where is your favorite place?

AMANDA PHILIPS: Everyone says Australia but my favorite was Rio.

KK: I loved Taipei.

BLAST: Did you get some good food in Taipei?

KK: Good food. Good people.

BLAST: How did you guys like the interviews there?

BE: (laughs) Different.

AP: Absolutely crazy!

BLAST: Were they game shows?

KK: They were all partly game shows. It’s so indescribable. It was kinda like walking into Candy Land.

JG: There were always teenage kids interacting on the shows.

KK: (laughs) They always had crazy sound effects going the whole time. You would say one thing and then “booooinngg.”

BLAST: How were you guys cast for the show? Did you send videos?

KK: It was different for all of us.

JG: I was in LA and casting directors had been sent out all over the city for the show.

BLAST: Did you guys ever think you would be doing something like this?

ALL: No.

KK: Great opportunity though!

BLAST: Has this all been a whirlwind lately?

KK: It is still sort of surreal going into interviews and taking pictures with people.

AP: I love every second of it. I got a chance to go home for a couple of days after we got back from Toronto. I’m from upstate New York. It feels so different to be home after you get out of the whole interview thing. You’re home then all of a sudden you are back out in it.

BLAST: Who wants to give our readers a sum up of what the show is and what you will be doing?

AP: To viewers it’s an inside look at Hollywood. But to us, it’s a way to make our dreams come true by getting great acting coaches. Justin will be working with amazing songwriters and producers; Giglianne will be working with modeling coaches. We are getting the best out of the business and get to progress in our talents and a chance to be somebody, and of course make our dreams come true!

BLAST: You guys seem very excited for this opportunity.

BE: We are pumped. But we realize how fortunate we are to have an opportunity that no one really gets.

KK: We all know we are very lucky.

BLAST: Did you guys go to school or have you been focusing on this your whole life?

JG: Well, we went to high school. (Laughs)

BLAST: Hopefully.

KK: I am actually in my last semester at Baylor. I am completing it abroad.

BLAST: At Blast we get a lot of twilight fans hitting the site…

JG: TEAM ED!

GIGLIANNE BRAGA: Team Ed.

JG: I really don’t think there should be a team Bella, personally. There should just be Ed and Jacob. I mean they are going after Bella right? A team Bella shouldn’t exist.

BE: I really think you should really know that we are gonna be on 24 hours, completely unedited on ificandream.com. There are 50 cameras in the house and you could click on me and follow me around all day. There are even cameras in the car so the car is like part of the house.

AP: A Ford Fiesta.

BLAST: What about the bathroom?

BE: There is only one in the mirror. You can’t see anything inappropriate.

BLAST: Do you feel prepared to be filmed 24 hours a day?

ALL: No idea.

BLAST: Guess you can’t actually prepare for this experience.

JG: Well, I had my roommate follow me around with a camera for a while.

BLAST: What! Really?

JG: No, not really

ALL: (laugh at gullible journalist)

BLAST: It’d be a lot funnier if you did. Any advice for young people looking to get in the industry?

KK: Keep trying.

JG: MySpace has an audition process for the show so definitely try out. Once one of us moves on in the industry and out of the house they will put someone new in.

BE: Yea, this is going to be an ongoing type of thing.

JG: But, yeah, just definitely be persistent.

Rock Band 2. Image courtesy of Harmonix.

The folks at Autodesk have a great product. While the Autodesk suite is made up of of an astounding array of software, many of their 3-D visualization titles that have became industry standards in special effects development. Autodesk’s software is the workhorse behind movies like G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well as video games like Gears of War 2 and Rock Band 2.

Blast recently sat down with Maurice Patel, entertainment industry manager at Autodesk:

Blast: Tell us a little about Autodesk and your software products.

Patel: Autodesk software is the secret sauce behind many of the movies, games and TV ads you see today: from G.I. Joe to Evian’s skating babies. We also make design software for everything from automotive design to architecture. Our digital solutions provide powerful tools for building greener buildings, eliminating wasteful physical prototypes and helping build a better, more sustainable, human environment. Our entertainment software is used to create compelling entertainment from 3D stereo movies like ‘Monsters and Aliens’ to games like ‘Rock Band.’

Blast: What exactly is your software used for in video game production?

Patel: Our software is used in many places throughout the entertainment production chain. Products like Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya are used for visualizing, prototyping and testing ideas; for building detailed scenes and texturing and lighting them and for creating compelling digital characters like Altair.

Autodesk also develops middleware solutions that give artificial intelligence to digital characters so that they behave more realistically in the game. If you have played games like Assassin’s Creed you’ll have seen technology in action. When Altair, runs, rides and jumps our middleware makes sure he doesn’t slip and slide but interacts realistically with objects and the environment.

Photos by CIS Hollywood. Copyright: (c) 2009 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Blast: What makes your software different then similar software on the market?

Patel: There are many things. Firstly we believe we have some of the best tools for making compelling, believable digital characters and imbibing them with great performances. Obviously the tool is only as great as the artists that use them, the talent that makes the game, movie or TV ad so spectacular, but we strive to provide them with great technology so that they can be truly free to experiment and try out new ideas. This is done by focusing on interaction “" making things perform fast enough to provide immediate feedback, as well as by creating sophisticated tools that enable artists to produce the highest quality work without compromise. Also the diversity of our product portfolio helps us take the best techniques from one area and apply them in another “" such as compositing images or tracking objects “" and enables us to provide customers with more efficient production workflows

Blast: What projects has your software been used on in the past?

Patel: Wow, where to begin the list is very long; Autodesk software has been used to create countless movies, commercials, TV shows and video games.

Recent movies created with Autodesk solutions include: “Ëœ9′ “ËœG.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra’ “ËœStar Trek’ “ËœTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ “ËœTerminator Salvation’ and “ËœHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.’ Many of this year’s Oscar-winning and nominated films were also created with Autodesk software, such as “ËœThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ “ËœIron Man’ “ËœThe Dark Knight’ and “ËœKung Fu Panda.’

Popular video games created with Autodesk art creation tools and middleware solutions include: “ËœFIFA 09′ “ËœRock Band 2′ “ËœPrince of Persia’ “ËœWarhammer Online: Age of Reckoning’ “ËœAmerica’s Army’ “ËœFallout 3′ “ËœGears of War 2′ and “ËœMortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.’

Blast: Are there any upcoming projects using your software that you would like to share with our readers?

Patel: Well our customers don’t like us to steal their thunder by talking about projects before they have been released publicly, but many of the upcoming visual effects movies and games slated for the holiday season have used our software as part of their production process. We always post our latest feature stories here.

MANSFIELD — Most bands would completely crumble when their lead singer leaves (even the Beatles did), but Hit The Lights have come back stronger than ever since the departure of original lead vocalist Colin Ross left the band in September 2007. Since then, former guitarist Nick Thompson has stepped up to the mic and Hit The Lights recruited Kevin Mahoney to play axe.

The Ohio based rockers are playing all of Warped Tour 2009 after getting off the AP Tour supporting The Maine and 3OH!3. Mahoney and drummer Nate Van Dame hung out with Blast in the press room of the Warped Tour before their set to discuss the weather, writing and the pina colada song (yes, the pina colada song).

BLAST: How has the tour been for you guys?

Kevin Mahoney: Couldn’t really be more happy with Warped Tour.
Nate Van Dame: I would say catering is pretty awesome.

BLAST: Have there been any low points for you guys on the tour?

NVD: The rain.
KM: Not being able to shower and now I’ve been walking in mud and I’m really miserable.
NVD: Yesterday I got to take a shower three times in my own shower, just because I could, and slept in my own bed. It was awesome.

BLAST: You just released a new EP, where can kids go to get it?

NVD: It’s only on Itunes right now actually. It is going to be available on Itunes or on tour only.
KM: It’s kind of like a reward, for the real fans you know? It’s our way of giving back to the people that actually come out to shows. Now they can get something special and it’s going to be cool looking.

BLAST: What is Hit The Lights doing after Warped?

KM: Kiss each other a lot. After Warped we are gonna sit around and write at home and shower as we god will please. Then we will do a full US headline tour in October/November.
NVD: We also just recorded a cover of the Pina Colada song for Taco Bell.

BLAST: Like the Jimmy Buffet song?

NVD: JImmy Buffet actually didn’t write that song. It was some random guy, but everyone thinks it was Jimmy. I can’t remember who it was. Nick [our lead singer] knows.
KM: That song is the worst in the world but we covered it for Taco Bell for their new Pina Colada drinks. We got sponsored by Taco Bell for winning this battle of the bands thing, we beat Paramore and Four Year Strong. Us, Underoath and someone else all won.

BLAST: So you guys have jumped on the Twitter trend as well. Do you dig it?

KM: It was actually our management’s idea and I thought it was lame at first but whatever I’ll do it and yeah, now everyone uses it. There’s like 3 million bands on twitter.
NVD: And you can tell when it’s really late and we’re all really drunk. It’s just all inside jokes back and forth.

BLAST: Is there anything you want to make sure readers are aware of when they read this interview?

KM: You can tell them that Kevin from Hit the Lights is really good looking. I just wanted the world to know, in case there is any confusion.

Hit The Lights released their ‘Coast to Coast’ EP mid July which you can purchase on Itunes right now.

LOS ANGELES — Dead Space 2 is the Wii-exclusive prequel to Electronic Arts’ gripping, ballsy horror action game. The original Dead Space was announced here at the Electronic Entertainment Expo last year, and to see a second game already well through development “" set for a Sept. 29 release “" is impressive and shows EA’s dedication to the genre and to this new intellectual property.

Blast had the chance to play Dead Space Extraction at E3, checking out the two player co-op mode with Chase Colasonna from Fortyseven Communications.

I also had the chance to chat with Steve Papoutsis, senior producer at EA’s Visceral Games, the studio behind Dead Space, Dante’s Inferno, and other hot titles.

The game is on a rail. There are tons of cut scenes and lots of story tidbits that reveal themselves as you progress. Papoutsis told me that they weren’t going for an arcade game feel, but seconds through the first level I was thinking “Time Crisis,” and I stand by the comparison.

The visuals are impressive, especially for a Wii game, and the co-op mode is fun, with tons of weapons and powerups that the players can share. The arcade feel actually works very well for the game, so it was surprising to hear that EA is shying away from that label. They are really going for a thick plot that sucks you in, and though I didn’t get that far in Extraction, I’ll buy the argument.

One thing I like is that there are puzzles throughout the game that the players have to complete together in order to advance. This adds to the game significantly with a bit of cerebral exercise, though it’s mostly about moving the Wiimote in the right direction.

But the main thing is that the game is fun and lets you jump quickly into the action, like raining molten fire down on some serious baddies.

Q&A with Visceral Games’ Steve Papoutsis:

Blast: So this is the Dead Space prequel. What does the Nintendo Wii add to this game?

Steve Papoutsis: So right off the bat, the Nintendo Wii brings a whole new kind of design thinking to the game. You have the unique Wii Remote and the nunchuck controls “" you have to really think about how you’re going to use those. So for Extraction, it’s just a perfect analogue for pointing at the screen and shooting. The controls first and foremost are the big difference.

Blast: Dead Space is still a fairly new product. Where do you want to take this IP from here?

SP: Well right now I’m personally, solely focused on extraction, but I’d love to see more games in the Dead Space universe in the future.

Blast: Were you going for an arcade feel with this game “" a kind of classic shooter game?

SP: No. Our goal with Extraction was to try to deliver on the same atmosphere, mood and visuals that Dead Space had. The way that extraction plays, you’ll notice that it’s not just a shoot-’em-up every five seconds. There’s areas where there’s pacing and story and there’s puzzles and different things that bring innovation to this type of game.

Blast: What do you think is the best part about the game so far? What should fans be looking for?

SP: My favorite feature is co-op. It’s really great to be able to play with a friend. When we started making the game, one of our goals was to make sure that it was easy to play with a friend. Jump right in. That was one of our goals. It’s really fun playing with a friend, making up different strategies and piecing the story together.

When you think of “celebrity” journalists, a thorough background in covering political campaigns or working for Fortune 500 businesses does not fit the typical profile. But for Carlos Watson, not adhering to the norm has brought amazing results. Although his face is not exactly plastered on billboards across America, his interview shows have booked big names from every field, garnering rave reviews and top ratings nationwide.

Audiences get intimate chats with personalities like Heidi Klum, Barack Obama, Joss Stone, and even Rudy Giuliani in the hour-long Conversations with Carlos Watson. NBC produces the quarterly show, the latest one aired on December 18, and others are set to run in March, June and September. What makes the show different and interesting is its set up: essentially an interview show, guests are treated more like pals chatting over dinner rather than professionals answering stiff questions.

Thanks to his charismatic personality, Watson makes it even easier for guests to unwind and share things like childhood memories or business projects alike, all the while cooking a meal or testing racecars.

Watson, 37, was raised in Miami, and attended Harvard University, having graduated with a degree in government. After graduation, he worked as chief of staff and campaign manager for Florida state representative Daryl Jones, and managed Bill Clinton’s 1992 Election Day effort in Miami-Dade County. He began legal studies at Stanford Law School, where he became editor of the Stanford Law Review and president of the Stanford Law School Student Government. As he explains he has a need to explore.

"I always had a broad set of interests and while I loved politics, it wasn’t the only thing I was interested in," he explained. "The best conversations I ever had happened at a barbecue or at a coffee shop or on an airplane. You may talk about your views on world events or family and the conversations are wild ranging, unpredictable, unbinding and I wanted more of that."

Watson later ventured into a different field, having worked at McKinsey & Company, a global strategic consulting firm. He left the company to co-fund an educational company, Achieva College Prep Service, and help students reach higher education. His company did so well that it was sold to a publicly traded corporation, leaving the field wide open for Watson to finally pursue a career in media.

"I grew up loving Barbara Walters specials; I loved how she was intimate with guests but though it would be good to have a show that was broader, hipper, with writers or entrepreneurs being interviewed because viewers are interested in Barack and Heidi and everything in between," said Watson.

The idea for the show began in the late 90s, but Watson didn’t start working on it until 2003. He spent a number of years making guest appearances on Fox and Court TV as a political analyst, manned primetime specials for CNBC, and was eventually offered a position as a regular contributor with CNN.

"The shift was scary but I had to do it because it would have been worse not to do what I wanted to do,” said Watson. “The reality is that this is such an interesting world and working in politics and business before being in media helped me be more involved and creative, I think you can be a better innovator when you have more experiences.”

Being involved and creative made him co-producer of the show, but the position came with greater responsibility. With tapings in New York and press engagements across the country, Watson’s schedule now makes it hard to have an active personal life.

"It’s a challenge for sure,” he said. “In the course of seven days I’ve been in eight or nine places so it makes it tough to be completely available for anyone really; but, as my dad reminds me people have harder things to deal with than traveling so I can’t complain.”

His efforts are not only focused on managing his program and surviving travel, though. After selling his college preparatory business, Watson remained interested in helping middle and high school students continue their education.

"As a young kid I got in trouble in school, I was kicked out of kindergarten but thankfully, I got two, three, four chances. I still believe we all have promise and potential and I love the opportunity to help kids," said Watson, who currently serves on the board of directors for College Track, a program he co-founded to aid students in East Palo Alto and Oakland, Calif.

Watson’s wide-ranging interests continue expanding, but his persona remains accessible and grounded. He rarely gets star-struck; considering everyone equals who deserve respect and acknowledgment for their achievements.

“I think it is because I realize we are all fortunate to be here, there’s a fundamental humanity about all of us which means I am not ‘not’ excited about meeting celebrities but I’m not star struck,” he said. “I mean, what folk wouldn’t enjoy meeting Heidi? I’m lucky I get to see [personalities] in a personal level and I want to explore the whole picture to show audiences that their favorite celebrities or idols are human too.”

So what can an accomplished 30-something do to thrust some more excitement into his life? Playing basketball and trying to regain his cooking abilities can do the trick. One of the things Watson said he’d like to return to is cooking, saying that he enjoys trading recipes with his guests.

More specials are scheduled for production and Watson continues his involvement with College Track, hoping his efforts can prompt others to achieve and dare to try.

“The conversations I can have with people are not only fascinating but will get you thinking about the possibilities in your own life, different issues and topics in the show can prompt fresh thinking,” he said. “I would love even more if audiences enjoy the show and regard it as meaningful. I’d be honored if they did.”