Knocked Up and Movies Based on Video Games

This week, the Cowboys review the latest comedy from Judd Apatow (the writer and director of The 40 Year-Old Virgin), Knocked Up. It's been billed for many months now as a sleeper hit, but by its very nature, that definition puts a lot of pressure on the film to perform to expectation. Alex, Paul, Tony and Tom all saw it and review it under our new rating structure, which will be in effect from now on (for ease of understanding where we're coming from). It is as follows:

A: Brilliant
B: Great
C: Good
D: Not good
E: Rubbish
F: Terrible

With plus and minus points in between to highlight aspects we liked or didn't like.

We round off the show with a discussion on the two decades or so of movies based on popular video games. Pretty much every important one is broached upon, and as most of you will know, a great deal of them are utter cack. We try to get to the root of why and which, if any, are worth tracking down. We also lend our thoughts on the big budget ones, due in the next few years and why they might work, where others have failed.

Party on.

The Bourne Ultimatum/Waitress/HDDVD vs Blu Ray/Console price drops/Why don't they remake..?

This week Digital Cowboys turns 18 and we're all about sex and violence.

First up, some surprising news about a major move in the ongoing war between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. This fight, it would seem, is not such a dead cert. Then we unveil the newly announced UK prices for the Xbox 360. For all those of you who haven't got one yet: if this prompts just one of you to buy one, then we've done a good thing.

We review latest spy flick The Bourne Ultimatum, from directing powerhouse Paul Greengrass. Is Jason's last speedy walking, driving and punching session a match for the previous installments or will it fall foul to the curse of the sequel, so very prevalent this year?

Then we look at Waitress, the romantic comedy starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion that deals with infidelity and pies in equal measure and splits the Cowboys down the middle.

Finally we have a new spot on the show: "Why Don't They Remake...?", in which we pick a title each that applies to that question. Ghosts of the past get dragged back into the limelight for one last hypothetical chance.

Stick around for a rather embarrassing treat at the end.

The Future of Video Gaming

As last week was a little flaky, we decided to come back with a bang and discuss a really key issue: what's likely to happen in the gaming industry in the next few years?

Of the three cosmic superpowers doing battle for our bucks right now, which is the most likely to succeed and what sort of games can we expect to come forth when they do?

Hardcore gamers and mainstream casual folk are now, more than ever, the two sides of the market. What will the effects of all the new players have? Will simplicity become the norm? Or does this spell the end for expensive blockbuster games if they don't make the money they need?

All this and more in a most future-tastic episode of Digital Cowboys.

Write to us at digitalcowboys@googlemail.com

Shortbus/Eragon/Tonying

The X-Treme Edition!

This week, the Cowboys take a break from the big stuff and discuss the oddball little things that have caught their attention during the long, hot summer minutes.

00.00 Firstly some sad news. Between the three of us we’ve owned five Xbox 360’s and two of them have died. Last week another went. We won’t spoil the surprise as to whose.

06.00 Shortbus. The three Cowboys review this odd, quirky and incredibly explicit sex comedy from director John Cameron Mitchell.

17.00 Alex reviews retarded, uninspiring, cheap-ass dragon-plodder Eragon in one minute, although three words sum it up far better.

23.00 Grand Theft Auto IV has been pushed back. The Cowboys discuss why.

33.00 Alex brings up two very daft products he saw at the Supermarket and Woolworths.

41.00 The show rounds off with a discussion about 'Tonying': the little known practice of immediately playing your new video games all the way through as soon as possible.

Transformers/The Simpsons Movie/Sicko/Guitar Hero: Rocks The 80s

In our longest episode ever, we've jam-packed info into this weeks episode. First Alex talks to Canadian correspondent Mat Lo about Michael Moore's newest documentary about the US health service, Sicko.

Then Alex, Paul, Tony and Tom discuss firstly Transformers and then The Simpsons Movie, two long awaited TV shows turned movies. Both get the thorough treatment that befits projects of this magnitude and by the end it's clear that not every Cowboy loves both films. Sparks fly!

Then Guitar Hero: Rocks The 80s for PS2 makes a much anticipated appearance. We've squeezed into our sequined jumpsuits and feathered our massive haircuts just for the occasion. Find out whether our appetites for tasty riffs and blinding fret-work will be sated until the holiday season.

We round off with a look at two new PS3 items: the Heavenly Sword playable demo and real in-game footage from Metal Gear Solid 4 - Guns of the Patriots.

At the very close of the show is a last minute update of a couple of previously discussed issues.

The show is getting more fun to produce every week. Keep on downloading us and thank you in advance for telling all your friends to do the same.

Also the website link on our iTunes page is fixed so you can now click on it and be taken here, rather than being sent to a bunch (completely unrelated) Cowboys of the Digital variety.

00.00 Sicko
16.00 Transformers
35.00 The Simpsons
54.00 Guitar Hero: Rocks The 80s
1.04.00 PS3 Demo Focus
1.18.00 Round off and update