The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tells the haunting tale of a man, born at the close of World War I, who ages backwards while those around him age forward. Where others are born unformed and unwrinkled, Benjamin comes into the world a decrepit old man; where others wither, he dies in a pink and creaseless state of infancy. For Benjamin, love is inextricable from loss since his path runs counterclockwise to nature. This unsettling, melancholy notion is attached by the thinnest thread to its original literary source, a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. But in the hands of director David Fincher, and with Brad Pitt as Benjamin, this Button is a curious case: an extravagantly ambitious movie that is easy to admire but a challenge to love.

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Enjoy this everyone. Oh yeah, and wish me a happy birthday!

Usman Ihtsham In Front of VGA Board

The video game awards season is a great time to catch up with developers out of their studio’s and in their jammies. Okay, well not exactly but you get the idea. WhatIfGaming attended (finally) the SpikeTV Video Game Awards after much participation with it already and was able to get some quality time in with: Ted Price, Alex Evans, Neil Patrick Harris (What?!?!—Yeah we know) and the master himself, Hideo Kojima. For the sake of making things brief –consider this article in a 1st person reflective perspective.

We arrived at Sony Pictures Studios HQ in Culver City, CA (flew from San Francisco). The atmosphere was timely for these awards and the weirdest part was that the security crew did not bother checking our ID’s? First off, first weird. No worries –it can only get better right? We arrive at check-in and get our exclusive passes to the “red carpet.” You will all soon find out why we have that in quotations soon enough.

Our goal was simple: Meet up with our friends on the red carpet, mingle after they passed the limited stream of media outlets on the red carpet, and then go home (no we did not stay for the show due to complications). Apparently, we did not get the pass for the show which is what we initially requested, but then it’s sort of a give and take sort of deal. Either you meet the celebs, or watch the show. Only complaint we have is that the coordination team had no idea who was actually attending the show. One manager told us:

“Even I don’t have tickets to it!”

Our question poses: Who does?

No clue apparently! But from the seeming influx of pre-pubescent teens and high school/middle school attitude and aged cheerleaders attending the event (the screening —red carpet was off limits) as if it were prom not to mention the children of someone completely random —there was something seriously wrong with the whole SpikeTV VGA 2008 Screening shindig for the taping. Clearly tickets to the actual screening were not given to people who actually gave a damn, but to family members of Sony Pictures and …who knows! Anyone?

Original Review Content by Contributor: James Pikover

When it comes to music game instruments, there is very little selection in terms of hardware. It’s essentially first party from Harmonix’s Rock Band 1 or 2, any version of the Guitar Hero guitars, and now the Guitar Hero World Tour drums and microphone. With the exception of a few things here and there, such as ION Audio’s Premium Drum Set and Pearl’s Omega Drum Pedal, there is no market for music gaming equipment.

For those of us who have spent too much time and money at game shops buying the latest software and hardware, you’ll recognize Madcatz as a name to stay away from except for very specific situations. In the past, they have been known as that 3rd party peripheral company who makes worse hardware than 1st parties, but with one or two features that made them sell well enough for some of us to buy. Features like a macro button or wireless connectivity (back when wireless wasn’t the standard).

After keeping quiet for a few years, Madcatz is making a comeback in a big way: making music equipment for the likes of Rock Band. They have introduced a very solid lineup of peripherals, and we had the chance to look at their three biggest ones: the Fender Precision Bass, standalone microphone and cymbal expansion kit. The results are surprising.

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WhatIfGaming Best of 2008: Game Of The Year Awards

Guess what just happened again this year. We just rolled out the feather carpet and the winners for 2008 are here with us live!

Happy Holidays all WhatIfGaming readers! See you all 2009.

Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a widowed, retired autoworker alienated from his grown sons and just about everybody else in Gran Torino, a thrilling drama. Walt spends most of his time growling, tinkering, mowing his postage-stamp lawn, and raging against a world that’s changed and won’t change back no matter how hard he glares. Change has certainly come to his run-down Detroit neighborhood: Hmong immigrants with strange, foreign ways have moved in. Next door, there’s a fatherless, generational family that includes a quick-witted daughter (Ahney Her) and an uneasy younger teenage son (Bee Vang) who struggles to steer clear of the local Hmong gangbangers pressuring him to join them.

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