During this year’s E3, EA announced EA Sports MMA, a new mixed-martial arts fighting franchise EA hopes will be a major contender against THQ’s UFC series. And while I am excited to see more developers get behind the sport and want to create other alternatives to UFC Undisputed, the folks over at UFC are apparently not happy.

Word on the street is that any non-UFC-affiliated fighter who signs on to appear in EA’s MMA will “forever be banned for fighting in the UFC.”

Given the critical and financial success of THQ’s recent UFC game, it’s hardly surprising that the UFC wouldn’t want to ensure it maintains first right of refusal with regards to unsigned talent. Plus, UFC is the dominant force for mixed-martial arts for most fighters it means the big time if they can land a contract with UFC, and I find it hard to believe that any young fighter would want to jeopardize his entire future just to appear in an EA-published MMA game.

No absolute confirmation from either UFC, THQ, or EA have been released. Reports of when people contact EA they respond with “No Comment” so hopefully this is just a wild rumor that got out of control. I would hope that UFC and Dana White would have a little more class than that. They already dominate the real life world of MMA and I feel they have no right to deprive gamers and developers from doing there jobs and create possibly a great game. I have seen UFC fighters fight on other leagues, Pride, Elite XC, and so on and suffer no such consequences so why put such a steep punishment on a video game?

-Steve

[g4]

For some reason the Game is a leading candidate towards landing the coveted role of B.A. Baracus (made famous by Mr. T) in the upcoming feature film reboot of The A-Team. The Game joins a rather long list of prospective candidates for the role, the most prominent of which, include rapper/actor, Common, rapper/actor, Ice Cube, and MMA fighter, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. (Pictured left to right, with The Game being in the third slot.)

Liam Neeson as Col. John “Hannibal” Smith and Bradley Cooper as Templeton “Face” Peck for the reboot film (currently set for a June, 2010 release.)

Who is the right person to play the role? There certainly are plenty of “fools” that need to be “pitied,” and plenty of “predictions” of pain to be made. Mr. T was definitely an 80’s icon of the tough guy persona, and will probably be the most important role of the film which could make or break the movie if the casting is not on point.

I think it truly depends on the direction the film will be going in – if it is to be a carbon copy of the original hit show but of course made current I think it would narrow it down to picking out real tough guys which would in my opinion definitely put rapper/actor Common out, he just does not strike me as a tough or even a threatening guy although I think he has great acting abilities and is an amazing artist, I don’t see him successfully portraying Mr.T very well.

The Game, I do not understand why he is even being considered at all, definitely not a role he would fit well into. Sure he can play the tough gang banger and all that fine, but this is different and I think if he was to score the part it would definitely doom the movie, as well as if Ice Cube were to get it. (anyone remember XXX 2? the horrible sequal to Vin Diesel’s movie) And just imagine either Common, The Game, or Ice Cube in a mo-hawk it just wouldn’t look right.

Now Rampage Jackson I think would do a killer job playing B.A. Baracus, I think Jackson’s natural personality is the modern version of that character. I have personally met Rampage several times, and am a huge fan of his, he is my favorite MMA fighter, now weather or not he can act I don’t know but even if the acting is not all that believable it would still do the character more justice than the Game,Cube, or Common. I am sure there are plenty of other good potential actors that could pull off  B.A. Baracus but out of these choices I say it has to be Rampage Jackson.

As for Liam Nielson and Bradley Cooper, I am happy and excited to see them pull off those roles and think the casting job there fits pretty well. I wonder if they’ll bring back the original A-Team Van with the red stripe and all?

-Steve

According to sources at TMZ this is footage of MJ’s last time on stage – seen here the King of Pop is performing a rehearsal on stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. From the looks of it Michael even at age 50 could still get down and deliver an electrifying performance. It is truly a shame that he never got a chance to kick off his last tour before passing on.

-Steve

Everyone and their mom makes PCs with some form of Microsoft’s Windows, but only Apple makes Macs, legitamly that is. Psystar, known for their cheap Mac knockoffs, recently filled for chapter 11 bankruptcy but it looks like they’re coming out of it soon. They have even announced a new computer they will be launching soon. The Intel Xeon-based computer called the Psystar Open(7) features Intel’s Xeon processor with OS X that can support up to 24GB of RAM. They are selling them for $1,500. Psystar sent out a message to customers saying that while they did file for bankruptcy, they used that time to reorganize and make a comeback. Will they be successful this time? Or will Apple try and come down on them hard?

“As you may already be aware in late May, Psystar filed for Chapter 11 protection. Although this was critical to our continued daily operations, we now are ready to emerge and again battle Goliath. More information will become available in the coming days when we will be formally discharged by the Bankruptcy court. When life gives you apples, make applesauce” Psystar statement

-Ray

Dell Taiwan accidentally priced a 19 inch monitor, normally costing around $150, at only $15, and received roughly around 140,000 orders within the 8 hours the typo was up. Now, the Taiwanese government is forcing them to honor the sales.

I would imagine this kind of thing isn’t too uncommon for such an honest typo mistake, and normally a company like Dell would either honor the price (if relatively few orders were placed) or offer some kind of discount. But the Taiwanese government is saying Dell must honor all 140,000 orders or face prosecution for violation of fair trade laws (and no, we have no idea what fair trade has to do with this situation). If roughly 140,000 orders were placed at the mistaken price and if Dell does somehow have to honor that price due to fair trade laws, dell stands to lose around $2,100,000.

Dell has apologized and says it will compensate buyers for the mistake, but they probably mean some sort of discount instead of a loss of millions of dollars. I am sure whomever is responsible for the typo is waiting in the unemployment line right about now.

-Steve

[gizmodo]

Advertising firm McCann Erickson has won a lucrative advertising contract with Microsoft. Zune advertising people—are now talking on record about Microsoft’s “Pink” project, and gearing up to promote it.

A look at the McCann T.A.G site reveals a portfolio that contains three videos for the Zune, including two ads and a trade reel. Zune? Pink? Zunephone? Pinkphone! PinkZune! Pink Zune Phone! And so on.

Now, these ads are among a fair number of Xbox promotional ads, so it’s clear that this is one of Microsoft’s go-to teams for advertising in general. But since we still haven’t heard any true confirmation as if this project has been given a green light just yet or if the Mobile 7 rumors are true, but the speculation of such a project can’t be to far from true because we got to assume Microsoft wants to compete with the iPhone. And from looks of the Zune HD which looks pretty darn amazing, a Zune phone could definitely change the mobile device market in a way we haven’t seen since before the iPhone.

-Steve

[gizmodo]

Inspiretech, known for their iPhone, iPod and Zune accessories, has just released their new line of slim fit polycarbonate protector cases for the BlackBerry Storm, Curve and Bold series of smart phones. The new slim-fit polycarbonate case encloses the entire back of the BlackBerry while still allowing full access to all of the phones ports as well as the screen.

The new line of slim cases is made of a highly durable polycarbonate material with a multi-layer coating for a long lifespan and provides maximum protection from scrapes and scratches. The slim Polycarbonate Protector cases from Inspiretech features a one-year manufacture warranty against defects and comes in three stylish colors, blue, red and matte black. The new line of slim-fit cases is currently available for the BlackBerry Storm 9530, BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Curve 8900 and 8300. Check out the new Inspiretech BlackBerry cases at Inspiretech.com.

-Ray

With Microsoft’s continual push to make the XBOX 360 more than just a gaming system but a all-in-one multi-media entertainment system, they add yet another cool feature to the XBOX 360 Dashboard. Last.FM is a music streaming service which is currently available online but will soon be available for you XBOX 360 owners.

Silver users, you’ll have access to a 3-month trial, which is lumped with video advertising. Gold users, you’ll get unlimited access, but again, this will be ad-supported. To get Last.fm with no ads, you’ll need to subscribe, which will also get you a few extra features.

There’s no word yet on how much a 360-related subscription would cost you, but a regular Last.fm subscription is $3 a month, ain’t to bad to me, I would gladly ditch my radio for this I am tired of the same 3 or 4 songs played every 10 minutes.

-Steve

[Kotaku]

So you’ve finally got yourself an issue of Playboy featuring every nerd boys crush (mine included) Olivia Munn.  Wouldn’t it be cool if you had her sign your copy?

Well you are in luck! If you want Ms. Munn to sign your copy of her Playboy issue, it’s as easy as sending the magazine with a self-addressed and stamped envelope to:

Olivia’s Autograph
5850 W. 3rd St. #155
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Olivia will be signing the issues mailed to that address for a limited time, so send yours in before it’s too late!

-Steve

[g4tv.com]

Firefox is my web browser of choice and has been for some time now, so whenever there is a new update to Firefox I’m always sure to update. Well the new Firefox 3.5 is done and ready for public consumption, and it’s pretty darn good! Mozilla claims their updated Firefox browser is more than two times faster than Firefox 3 and features the support for plugin-free “open codec” video and audio playback using Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora. It is still rather new but this new feature seems like a hit. Check out the new Firefox 3.5 upgrade over at Mozilla.

-Ray