the scoop

the scoop

johnny depp as riddler?

As the Tuesday DVD release of “The Dark Knight” approaches, fans have been casting picks for director Christopher Nolan should another Batman film be made. According to a survey conducted by Blockbuster Inc., movie fans are hoping to see Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie play starring roles. The villains that fans would most like to see Batman take on are The Riddler and The Joker’s therapist turned girlfriend Harley Quinn.

“Both Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie are actors who can bring a Batman villain to life in the complex, realistic style that have made Nolan’s films so popular,” said Keith Leopard, director of film product for Blockbuster Inc.

jack black to host vgas on spike tv

Jack Black will take viewers on a trip to gamer heaven when he hosts Spike TV’s 2008 “Video Game Awards.” Recognizing outstanding artistic and technical achievement in the gaming industry, plus premiering first-looks at the hottest games of 2009 and beyond, the 2008 “VGAs” will debut live at 9 p.m. Dec. 14 In emceeing the night’s festivities, Black will be capping a year that saw him star in two Hollywood blockbusters, “Tropic Thunder” and “Kung Fu Panda,” which grossed more than $800 million worldwide combined. Also, he will star opposite Michael Cera in director Harold Ramis’ “The Year One.”

coldplay is itunes download champ

Coldplay was the hottest iTunes album download this year: Its “Viva la Vida” was crowned the best-selling album of 2008, while Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” was named the top-selling single.

Coldplay’s CD has sold more than 2 million copies since its release in June and has sold more than 500,000 copies digitally — most of which was through iTunes, according to the band’s representative. ITunes does not release its sales figures, its spokesman said in releasing its list Monday.

Jack Johnson’s “Sleep Through the Static” was the No. 2 selling album, while the soundtrack to the film “Juno,” Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” and Sara Bareilles’ “Little Voice” rounded out the iTunes top 5. Two more film soundtracks were in the top 10 — “Once” and “Across the Universe” — while Jason Mraz’s “We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things,” OneRepublic’s “Dreaming Out Loud” and Leona Lewis’ “Spirit” rounded it out.

Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” sold 3.2 million digitally, according to her label, J Records. According to iTunes, the title track of Coldplay’s album was its No. 2 most downloaded track, followed by “Low” by Flo Rida (featuring T-Pain), Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” and Rihanna’s “Disturbia.”

Rihanna also made the top 10 singles with “Don’t Stop the Music.”

you and what army?

The U.S. Army has been receptive to video gaming since 2002, when it developed “America’s Army” as a recruiting tool.

Now, according to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, the Army is planning to invest $50 million over the next five years to develop games to help train soldiers for combat.

Specifically, the Army is looking to adapt a commercial product for combat training. Does that mean the next “Call of Duty” could be heading to Afghanistan?

downloadable updates

When you sell used games back to the store where you bought them, the publishers don’t make any money. So they want you to hold onto games after you’ve finished them — and perhaps even spend a few more bucks to download some add-on material.

Most downloadable content (aka DLC) is fairly simple: new weapons or armor for characters, or new maps for multiplayer action. But more companies are looking at ways to lengthen the single-player adventure. Rockstar Games has announced the first downloadable chapter for “Grand Theft Auto IV,” and some of the fall’s hottest titles have more ambitious DLC in the works.

This month, fans of Microsoft’s “Fable II” will get a new story in a new setting, the mysterious Knothole Island. Bethesda Softworks has three chunky add-ons coming for the Xbox version of the post-apocalypse thriller “Fallout 3”; the first, “Operation: Anchorage,” recounts the liberation of the Alaska city from the Chinese. And Square Enix is offering a pair of “challenge packs” for “The Last Remnant.”