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Sylverster Stallone, Ann Coulter Nearly Joined This Season Of 'Dancing With The Stars'

Posted 9/2/10 1:30 pm EST by in Television, Video Games

The full cast of the new season of "Dancing With the Stars" is entirely set. On Wednesday (September 1), each celebrity was paired up with a professional dancer (some of whom, like Chelsie Hightower and Derek Hough, have become famous in their own right). The new season is full of interesting stars, including "Jersey Shore" alpha male Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, "The Hills" foxy lady Audrina Patridge, David Hasselhoff, former Super Bowl quarterback Kurt Warner, "Dirty Dancing" icon Jennifer Grey and R&B sensation Brandy.

(Click here for more photos of stars who were almost on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars," including Sylvester Stallone, Ann Coulter and Chris Jericho!)

But as with every dream team, there are always people who fell by the wayside. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the producers of the show put out feelers and requests to a number of movie, TV, music and media stars. "The Expendables" star Sylvester Stallone got an offer, as did Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, political talking head Ann Coulter, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, eccentric space-traveling billionaire Richard Branson, former "Home Improvement" star Tim Allen, Erin Brokovich (the actual woman, not Julia Roberts) and TV and workout tape star Suzanne Somers. Other reports also suggest that WWE superstar and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho intended on doing the show but couldn't make the schedule work. Past almost-dancers include Kirstie Alley, Joel McHale and Drew Carey.

While many celebrity reality shows are the kiss of death for many stars (or a sign that their fame is fading), a slot on "Dancing With the Stars" has become somewhat coveted (especially considering what a massive audience the show regularly draws). A handful of contestants (including former "Clarissa Explains It All" star Melissa Joan Hart) have successfully lobbied to get on the show, though there are some who are left out in the cold. In fact, a source claims that "Melanie Griffith tries to get on every season."

(Click here for more photos of stars who were almost on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars," including Sylvester Stallone, Ann Coulter and Chris Jericho!)

Who would you like to see on future seasons of "Dancing With the Stars"? Let us know in the comments!

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Pearl Jam Bonanza: 'Rock Band,' Ten Deluxe Editions Released

Posted 3/24/09 7:50 am EST by in pearl-jam, Rock Band

By Nick Neofitidis

Even in this mega-deluxe-edition era, the new reissue of Pearl Jam's 1991 debut album, Ten, is nothing short of awesome. With classic tracks like "Alive", "Jeremy" and "Black" defining much of alternative rock in the early '90s, to me, the album stands the test of time and certifies Pearl Jam as one of the best bands of the era.

Ten will be reissued in four editions on Tuesday (March 24), with extras ranging from a re-mastering and remix of the entire album, six bonus tracks ("Brother," "Just a Girl," "Breath and a Scream," "State of Love and Trust," "2,000 Mile Blues" and "Evil Little Goat"), re-designed packaging, a DVD of the band's 1992 appearance on MTV's "Unplugged," an album of its September 20, 1992, concert in Seattle, a replica of the original demo cassette, and a replica of Vedder's composition notebook. Phew! Now that's a deluxe edition!
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SXSW 2009: Big Boi Vs. Nirvana At The 'Rock Band' Lounge

Posted 3/20/09 2:14 pm EST by in Rock Band, SXSW

Big Boi had himself a rather grande Thursday at South By Southwest. Early in the day, he patrolled the streets of Austin, handing out daps to rather puzzled indie kids, joking with his posse, and taking drags off a Black & Mild cigar.

Later that night, he positively owned the stage at the Austin Music Hall, booming his way through a hit-filled set and previewing material from his much-anticipated (and much-delayed) solo album, Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty, which he promised would be in stores this year, so long as the folks at Jive Records play ball (note to Jive: please play ball).

But in-between the street and the stage, Boi did perhaps the most amazing thing of all. During a visit to the "Rock Band" Lounge, he decided to channel his inner Dave Grohl, jumping on stage and tackling the drums on Nirvana's "In Bloom."

How'd he do? Keep reading to find out Read More...

Will 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' Be The Best Comic-Book Video Game Ever?

Posted 3/13/09 3:21 pm EST by in Video Games

FINALLY, it looks like we may have our first-ever really great comic book video game. And it's about time!

We all know that the comic books-to-movies game is a tricky one that is gotten wrong more often than right ("Catwoman," "Daredevil," "The Punisher"). Well, an even worse situation is the world of comic books-to-video-games.

Whenever a comic book movie hits theaters, the inevitable onslaught of action figures, lunchboxes, clothing, coffee mugs and computer games begin. Comic book heroes are the perfect candidates to have great quality video-games made about them, and there's an enormous array of great story lines, characters, weapons, gadgets, fighting styles and love interests to include in what should be awesome video games. But with the rush to get the games out in time to meet the movie release dates, the games are rarely as good as they could be ("Superman 64," anyone?). Read More...

Talking Racism In 'Resident Evil 5' With USA Today

Posted 3/10/09 12:57 pm EST by in Multiplayer, Video Games

Resident Evil 5By Stephen Totilo

I didn't think that the first time I'd be quoted in USA Today would be for a conversation about racism, but it's racism as it relates to video games — that kind of fits. For years, I've been MTV News' video game guy.

So on Sunday night, after wrapping up a mini-marathon with a pre-release version of "Resident Evil 5," and right before I got started with the "Prince of Persia" expansion (thank goodness for my patient wife!), I got on the phone with Mike Snider, a reporter for USA Today. He was writing a piece that would be published in today's paper.

For well over a year, there has been passionate conversation across the Internet about the imagery first used to hype the coming of "Resident Evil 5." At our gaming blog, MTV Multiplayer, we published articles and interviews about it, exploring the issue and triggering hundreds of comments. The trigger for all this was the game's first trailer, which showed an impoverished Africa where white hero Chris Redfield would be sent to fend off a virus infestation that was turning regular Africans into zombified mutants. Read More...

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'The Beatles: Rock Band': Which Songs Would You Want To Play?

Posted 3/5/09 4:19 pm EST by in Rock Band

Earlier today, news broke that Harmonix and MTV Games will release "The Beatles: Rock Band" on September 9, and as the reigning rock editor here at MTV News, I was understandably excited by the possibilities this announcement unleashes.

Not the possibilities of actually playing Beatles tunes on "Rock Band," mind you, because I am terrible at the game (as the old joke goes, those who cannot play music write about it). No, I'm talking about stuff like the limited-edition Beatles instruments MTV Games is promising. Of course, the press release fails to mention what those instruments will be, but I tingle at the thought of sitting down behind a Ringo Starr drum kit pre-programmed to play the drum solo from "The End" or plucking away at a George Harrison "Norwegian Wood"-edition sitar. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

And then, of course, there’s the matter of the songs themselves. MTV Games doesn't mention a single tune in the release (or on the game's snazzy, look-inside-Abbey Road Studios Web site), but needless to say, there's plenty to choose from. It's a fairly daunting task. If you asked 100 Beatles fans to submit their dream playlists, you'd probably get 100 different responses. And when you factor in the cost associated with actually licensing the songs, well, let's just say this is going to be a very expensive, very debated decision. I don't envy whoever is in charge of making that call. Read More...

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AC/DC, 'Rock Band' Superstores Open In New York And Los Angeles

Posted 10/20/08 6:07 pm EST by in Rock Band

By Todd Brown

When your fans wait eight years for an album, the release certainly calls for an event, or maybe even a celebration — better yet, how about an entire store devoted to the record?


Well, that is exactly the kind of love AC/DC's new album, "Black Ice," is getting. MTV, "Rock Band," Wal-Mart and the band itself teamed up to open two stores — one in Los Angeles and one in New York City — devoted solely to the "Rock Band" and AC/DC experience. AC/DC and "Rock Band" fans alike can come down, buy a deluxe version of the new album, play the yet-to-be-released AC/DC live Track Pack on "Rock Band 2," and buy anything and everything related to "Rock Band," AC/DC or MTV. Read More...

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Metallica's Lars Ulrich Discusses Band's 'Guitar Hero' Future

Posted 8/6/08 10:49 am EST by in Metallica, Video Games

Metallica's Lars UlrichWe know "Guitar Hero: Metallica" is coming. "Guitar Hero" publisher Activision announced the game in a financial filing (odd, we know) a couple of months ago.

That didn't stop Metallica co-founder Lars Ulrich from getting a bit secretive about it when one of our MTV News reporters asked him about it recently.

Read the rest of this post on our Multiplayer blog ...

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New Guns N' Roses Track To Debut On 'Rock Band 2': Is The Apocalypse Nigh?

Posted 7/14/08 5:54 pm EST by in Rock Band

Today Harmonix and MTV Games announced in a joint press release that "Shackler's Revenge," a track from the perennially delayed, more-than-a-decade-in-the-making Guns N' Roses LP Chinese Democracy, would be making its worldwide debut on the forthcoming game "Rock Band 2," the release date for which is still up in the air. Could this be some kind of an omen that an official release date for the album is imminent?

We're not about to hold our breath. After all, we've seen signs before, and all they've gotten us was disappointed. We've been duped before into thinking the record would be coming out soon — by frontman Axl Rose himself, no less. In late December of 2006, after several unmastered tracks from the opus leaked, Rose, in an open letter posted on GunsNRoses.com, promised that the album would be released on March 6, 2007. That day came and went with no CD, and we all learned a valuable lesson: Never trust a rocker with cornrows.

But there have been other signs: a number of false alarms and marketing ploys, all of them suggesting the record might finally be nearing commercial release.
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