2.29.2008

Grand Theft Auto IV Hands-On

MovieMiguel.com

Grand Theft Auto IV Hands-On

Liberty City is burning and we're to blame.

February 28, 2008-Grand Theft Auto IV is, without question, one of the most highly anticipated games of 2008. Rockstar Games has shown us pieces of GTA IV on three different occasions. With each visit we saw the incredible potential for GTA IV, but not having the chance to play it, we could only assume these things would prove true. We knew there was a new dimension of verticality to the city, that our anti-hero Niko would be a down-to-earth anti-hero rather than an over-the-top movie spoof, that the new level of physics would bring greater realism to driving cars, and that it would be fun going bat$#!@ crazy running through the streets with a gun in hand (Martin Lawrence style).

It wasn't until Rockstar turned over the controller and let us play GTA IV that we could finally confirm that, yes indeed, these statements are all true. The next iteration in the Grand Theft Auto series isn't just a prettier version of San Andreas or Vice City. It's more cinematic, more realistic, and yeah, more fun. It's a whole new ballgame in Liberty City.

For the first time, Rockstar gave us hands-on access to both the PS3 and 360 versions of GTA IV. The good news is that no matter which system you prefer, you're going to have a great-looking game to play. There are only some minor visual differences noticeable between the two preview versions. The 360 build is brighter and has slightly more vibrant color while the PS3 build has less aliasing issues. Both display a solid, consistent framerate even during scenes with heavy pedestrian traffic and wild explosions. While graphics whores will find subtle differences to nitpick, the average Joe is going to be happy with either version.

And just to prove it, we have takes on GTA IV from PS3 fanboy Greg Miller and the distinguished gentleman from Xbox 360, Hilary Goldstein.


Greg's Take
After getting run down by a car we were trying to steal, getting thrown through a windshield when we hit a barricade and gawking at the plume of black exhaust that poured out of a beater we fired up, it was time to get into some of the missions that make up Grand Theft Auto IV.

And because everything's new and we suck again, we started from the beginning.

First up was "Bleed Out," which acts as a hands-on tutorial for the brand new fighting engine. Niko's doing his thing and ascending the ranks of the criminal underbelly when a call from Roman -- owner and proprietor of the cab company Roman Bellic Enterprises -- comes in and the cousin rants and raves about some guys who are coming to beat him senseless. We jumped behind the wheel of a passing car and the HUD sprung to life with a GPS line directing us to our panicked cousin. After slamming into some mailboxes (Mail shoots into the air!), newspaper stands (Papers shoot into the air!) and people (Their lifeless corpses roll over the top of the car!), we arrived at a fenced-in basketball court and saw a handful of bad guys surrounding our kin.

Once on top of the perps, we were treated to a cutscene explaining the ass kicking and then thrown into GTA's hand-to-hand combat system. Whereas in the old games it was all about pounding a button and watching your character swing, specific actions are now mapped to specific buttons. Niko can punch, kick, head butt and block and you can choose in what order he does what moves. As one of the goons wailing on Roman stepped up to challenge us, we began swinging and kicking with style. If we timed our button presses correctly when the goon swung, we could reverse the punch and do some damage.

Niko dispatched the two fools, helped Roman to his feet and spotted Dardan, a local loan shark, hopping into a car and heading out. Our dynamic duo gave chase -- making use of GTA IV's new chase camera that centers the screen on the fleeing foe -- and eventually caught up with Dardan at a Liberty City warehouse. Niko prepared to throw 'bows with the shark, but the opposing jerkstore pulled a knife.

Now, normally we're against getting stabbed, but the "squish" sound of the blade entering our chest was so satisfying that it almost justified watching the health and armor meters around the radar deplete. When we got sick of dying, we tapped a button as Dardan attempted to shank us and disarmed him.

Then, we killed him with his own blade.

In between exploring the missions of GTA IV (FYI, the game autosaves after each mission.), we took in a few of the sights and sounds of Liberty City. Now, we could've tried to obey the rules as we took in the towering buildings, snazzy cars and intricate details, but most of our tour involved driving on the sidewalk and kicking people in the head. However, not everyone was ready to take Niko's crap. Not everyone is heartless in Liberty City. For instance, we ran our car into the back of some dude's ride, and this guy gets out like he wants to start something. We'll be damned if someone's going to disrespect Niko, so we climb out and start punching the guy in the face. Suddenly, a passerby runs into the fray and starts beating on us. Outnumbered and out-skilled, we took off in another direction with the pissed off pair in hot pursuit. We ran for awhile, and when it was clear we couldn't lose'em, we fought, lost and ended up outside the hospital with a little less money.

A similar running and beating escapade ended with the cops chasing us down. However, when all looked lost and Niko raised his hands in defeat, we were presented with a unique option in the GTA universe -- for the first time, we could run. Yes, when the cops catch up to you on foot, Niko will initially play along with the arrest but can take off before the cuffs are put on. Not a bad move if you need to catch your breath (Niko gets winded from running) or a car crawls across the screen to provide an easy escape.

The next chunk of Niko's adventure involved an incredibly hard to understand Rastafarian named Little Jacob. "Jamaican Heat" seemed like your typical GTA gun tutorial but it ended with a breathtaking view of the city and its lit-up buildings reaching into the night sky. Running a cab from Roman's company, you pick up Little Jacob, he hot boxes the car, mumbles for a while in an accent so thick neither the captions nor Niko can keep up, and hands you a piece. We proceeded to learn all about the new gunplay system -- you can lock-on, free aim and take out specific body parts if you like -- and take out a thorn in Little Jacob's side.

That's awesome and all, but "Concrete Jungle" was the mission that solidified Little Jacob as having some kick-ass tasks. Again, you pick up Little J. and take him to shakedown some thugs. Niko waits in the car while watching the back alley, things go wrong, and three bad guys burst through the emergency exit. We hit the gas, killed one guy with the car, nicked another and completely missed the third.

Knowing he was screwed, the guy we missed ran back from the direction we had come from and out onto a crowded street. We ditched the ride, got him in our sights and took him out … along with a handful of other people on the sidewalk. Then, we doubled back and found that the guy we nicked had headed out into the open as well. We opened fire and hit him in the arm, but after gripping the wound and mugging for the camera, the thug fired back. Turns out you can strike folks in the leg and arm, and they'll react to the damage but keep coming at you.

Of course, in the end, we killed the guy, picked up Little Jacob and headed to the next shakedown -- a rundown house. Here, we were introduced to the fine art of cover. Little Jacob headed into the home, and Niko straightened up against the home's exterior with the press of the button. We could pop out from behind the wall and shoot the evildoers in the head or just blind fire if things got heated.

Now, the one-button cover system is nice, but it didn't seem to afford much room for improvisation. With the first wave of bad guys down, Little Jacob stormed the inside, and we decided to fiddle with cover a bit. We went back to the door, walked into the room but couldn't get a shot, went back outside, and finally settled on a spot next to an open window.

We looked inside just in time to see Little Jacob get iced.

We were sad to see our partner in crime go, but we ran into the room, grabbed a shotgun and went out to unleash hell on Liberty City. We blew people away in the streets and marveled at the blood getting kicked back on the screen before shooting out some tires and putting a round into an incoming ambulance.

The rig caught fire, exploded and killed us -- which made the screen turn black and white and track our airborne body in slow motion.

What a way to go.

Hil's Take
There are three things we should warn you about before you choose to get excited for GTA IV. Consider all three items carefully, because if none of them appeal to you, then GTA IV will likely be a major disappointment.
  1. GTA IV fixes the questionable targeting system from past iterations

  2. Relationships are now dynamic, so ignoring calls from cousin Roman when he is being pursued by violent loan sharks will irrevocably alter your relationship for the rest of your stay in Liberty City

  3. There's lots of stuff to blow up and thousands of people to kill
If none of that sounds appealing to you, then walk away now. GTA IV will be your worst nightmare. For the few remaining who actually enjoy causing pandemonium on city streets, blowing up cop cars and rampaging with shotgun in hand, this is pretty much your dream come true.

When Greg finished showing off how terrible he was at playing Grand Theft Auto it was time to leave the training missions and delve a little deeper into the belly of Liberty City. "Final Destination" begins in a seedy Russian club where would-be thespians dressed as cowboys pantomime a Wild West showdown. The ever-quiet Niko sits at a table with some Russian mobsters who are worried that a cat named Lenny might have ratted to the cops about some pot that was stolen. It's Niko's job to take Lenny out -- rat or not.

While cruising town, we received a phone call tipping us that Lenny was seen looking to catch a train up on Guantanemo Avenue. Sure enough, when we got there we saw Lenny and a bodyguard waiting to hop a train. Taking the motto "shoot first, ask questions later" to heart, we popped the brain of the bodyguard without saying a word. Lenny hopped across the tracks, just as a train passed, giving him a bit of a head start. That didn't last long.

Once the train passed, we jumped across the tracks, hurried down the steps to street level and gave chase. Unfortunately, Niko isn't a track star and ol' Lenny managed to hop into a car to speed away. We kicked in the passenger window of a nearby parked car and hopped in for a quick hotwire, which can be made even faster by tapping a face button. And that's when we experienced a game-changing moment for Grand Theft Auto.

Tap the Right Bumper/R1 and Niko -- too impatient to roll down a window -- smashes out the driver-side window so he can fire freely out the car. This isn't the same drive-by controls of GTA's past. You have full range of movement while driving, allowing you to target a car you're chasing and try to shoot out its tires (Rubber explodes!) or cause enough damage to set it on fire (The car explodes!).

It was an extremely cool element that felt natural and worked well. It also ruined any hopes of completing another mission in GTA IV. Though we'd certainly try our best, once we realized what could be accomplished from the seat of a car, it was tough to focus on anything but total anarchy.

A cop spotted us exploding poor Lenny and gave chase. GTA IV uses the six-star wanted system once again, where the level of police pursuit increases as your wanted level rises. The change, however, is that cops now work on a line-of-sight pursuit. Our mini-map on the HUD showed a flashing red and blue radius of police interest in finding us. So long as we were in that radius, our wanted rating could only go up. The trouble with getting out of that small radius of pursuit was that any time an officer attained line of sight on us, the radius readjusted. This created a frantic race scenario as we weaved through city streets hoping to shake the cop cars behind us, while also trying to avoid incoming police cars that were being given eyes on our location by the cops already trailing us. And things only got tougher when the police brought in their whirlybird.

With cops in hot pursuit and the spotlight of a chopper locked onto our car, we made a wrong turn, drove over a cliff and crashed onto a beach. As we ran from our burning car, we narrowly avoided being squashed by a squad car that -- in true CHiPs fashion -- followed us over the cliff. We did our best to stave off an arrest, firing a few rocket-propelled grenades to take down one of the choppers overhead. The curling smoke trail is a gorgeous thing. The little scuffle soon turned into a standoff on the beach as we laid down suppressing machinegun fire on a group of cops attempting to approach from the beach. We were saved by a miracle -- a second police car drove over the cliff and crashed into the group of pursuing officers.

Once we'd stifled our gleeful giggles and collected ourselves, it was time to attempt the final mission of the demo. "Harboring a Grudge" proved a culmination of everything we had learned and experience in the first hour of playing GTA IV. Patrick (or Packie to those who might accidentally shoot him in the back of the head with an RPG) asked Niko for help ripping off a Triad shipment of meds down by the pier. We headed across the Algonquin Bridge and towards Liberty City's version of Manhattan.

The first time we tried this mission, we drove like idiots, weaving through traffic, smashing into everyone and every thing. At one point we t-boned someone's car and our own started smoking. So we leaped out and backed away. Funny thing is, the woman we t-boned hopped out and started cursing up a storm. Packie pulled out his piece and popped her. That's right -- no one talks $#!@ about Niko's driving! Then our car exploded and we died.

The second time around, we made it to the pier ahead of the Triad shipment. Using the new climbing mechanics (a simple tap of the action button near a scaleable surface) we made our way to the roof of a warehouse. There was a bit of a glitch with climbing, as we had to do a little dance of backing away and then inching forward before we could convince Niko to grab hold of a ledge and climb up. Good thing Rockstar still has two months to polish this off. And the fact that this was the only issue we came across during our hour-and-a-half play session is a good sign that GTA IV should be fairly bug-free.

Once on the roof we pulled out our sniper rifle and stood behind some cover. We waited for the Triad to begin unloading their cargo before we started taking headshots. The enemy AI wasn't dumb. They didn't all stand out in the open waiting to die. Once the first shot was fired, the AI scrambled, looking for cover. But our crack aim was more than they could handle and in short order we picked them off. We hopped down off the roof, switched to the shotgun, and kneecapped the remaining three thugs in the warehouse. As they writhed in pain, we slowly walked from one to the next, executing each one with a coolness not seen at IGN since we last accidentally hired a terminator (we miss you, Doug!).

With the sound of police sirens in the background, we hopped into the truck and accidentally backed over Packie. "Muh bad!" With a wounded Packie in the passenger seat, it was time to make a run for it. That run lasted about 10 seconds.

The first cop we came across managed a crack shot at our tire. With a first and then a second tire down, the truck moved at a snail's pace. And then we hit rush hour traffic. We were doomed. That's when we decided Niko would never be taken alive. Not only can you shoot out of windows, you can also drop grenades. We dropped a handful, hearing cars exploding behind us as we attempted to push through traffic. But we moved so slowly that we never made it past the last two grenades dropped and, once again, we blew ourselves back to God.

We ended things by going on one of the great rampages in GTA history. At least, we'd like to think that was the case. Determined to have a final spot of fun, we started a ruckus with some cops and then car-jacked a bus to make our escape. We tore through Liberty City, crashing through cars at intersections and tossing Molotov cocktails out the window as we went. At one point we saw an ambulance heading towards us, clearly on the way to care for the wounded left in the wake of our incendiary killing spree. One well-placed toss of a Molotov and the paramedics were forced to stop, drop, and roll.

It should be noted that every car we drove handled differently. Not only was each car unique in how it drove, but each its own suspension -- which you could see while making sharp turns. Some of our chase scene moments felt like they were ripped straight from Bullitt. Except instead of Steve McQueen, you had Hilary and Greg behind the wheel smashing in to every parked car on the street.

Our first chance to put our hands on GTA IV proved more satisfying than we'd expected. And there are many aspects we still haven't explored. At the start of the game, Liberty City is on lockdown due to a recent terrorist threat. All bridges are closed except for those who have documentation proving their citizenship. Niko doesn't have such documents. But you can still cross the bridges anyway -- you just earn an automatic 5-star wanted level. We call that Threat Level Orange. We also verified that there are vigilante missions in the game. Just hop in a cop car and access the computer to find wanted criminals. We know it exists; we just didn't have the opportunity to try it out.

As with any Grand Theft Auto title, there's a very large city to explore with a seemingly endless amount of distractions. What we experienced was only a taste of what gamers can expect on April 29, when GTA IV hits store shelves. It's only two months away, but it's going to be a long wait.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/855/855615p1.html



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Last Paramount/DreamWorks HD DVD Releases Next Tuesday

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Last Paramount/DreamWorks HD DVD Releases Next Tuesday
Source: Video Business
February 29, 2008


The March 4 releases Into the Wild and Things We Lost in the Fire will be Paramount Home Entertainment's last titles in the HD DVD format, reports Video Business.

The studio pulled the plug on the HD DVD versions of other titles that had been announced for the format, including DreamWorks Animation's Bee Movie, due March 11, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, due April 1. Their standard DVD versions will come out as planned.

Paramount also has slated There Will Be Blood for standard DVD release on April 8. No HD DVD will be released.

The studio has not yet said what its first Blu-ray Disc releases will be.



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New Line Cinema to Become Unit of Warner Bros.

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New Line Cinema to Become Unit of Warner Bros.
Source: Time Warner Inc.
February 28, 2008


Time Warner Inc. announced today the consolidation of its filmed entertainment businesses, Warner Bros. Entertainment and New Line Cinema. The combination brings together New Line's 40-year legacy as the world's most successful and innovative independent film studio with Warner Bros.' creative leadership and unparalleled scale and reach in global distribution and marketing.

As part of the consolidation, New Line will be operated as a unit of Warner Bros. New Line will maintain separate development, production, marketing, distribution and business affairs operations, but will closely integrate and coordinate those functions with Warner Bros. to maximize film performance and operating efficiencies, achieve significant cost savings, and improve margins.

In making the announcement, Time Warner's President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said: "We are moving quickly to improve our business performance and financial returns. New Line has built a strong franchise of cutting-edge entertainment. We can enhance its value by combining it with Warner Bros. Given the trend toward fewer movie releases, New Line and Warner Bros. will now have more complementary release slates, with New Line focusing on genres that have been its strength. With the growing importance of international revenues, it makes sense for New Line to retain its international film rights and to exploit them through Warner Bros.' global distribution infrastructure. We can also take better advantage of digital distribution platforms by combining our studios. These changes will enhance our revenue opportunities and drive dramatic cost efficiencies and higher margins at New Line."

New Line's Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne have elected to leave the studio, but are in discussions about possible future business relationships with the company.

Mr. Bewkes said: "Bob and Michael have a unique partnership that is noteworthy not only for its stability and longevity, but for its record of innovation and success. They have guided New Line's growth from a privately held art film distributor to the world's leading independent film studio that is home to some of the most popular films in entertainment history, including 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, 'The Mask,' 'Austin Powers,' 'Blade,' 'Rush Hour,' 'Elf,' 'Wedding Crashers' and 'Hairspray.' We thank Bob and Michael for their enduring contributions to Time Warner and look forward to a continuing working relationship with them."

Mr. Shaye and Mr. Lynne said: "New Line has been our respective life's work as well as our second family. While we're sad to be leaving, we're enormously proud to have overseen its extraordinary growth and worked with so many dedicated and talented colleagues. New Line represents innovation, creativity, and independent success. We hope that the company can continue to be a leader in creating entertainment that resonates around the world. We will now focus our efforts on exploring new entrepreneurial opportunities."



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The Latest on Upcoming Movie Productions

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The Latest on Upcoming Movie Productions
Source: Variety
February 28, 2008


Variety has published an in-depth article talking about how a posssible Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike could affect movie productions starting soon. The trade says Hollywood studios are refusing to schedule new start dates on films that can't complete shooting by June 30.

The uncertainty has prompted Steven Spielberg to halt an April production start on the Aaron Sorkin-scripted DreamWorks drama The Trial of the Chicago 7. He'll take the extra time to hone the script with Sorkin. Only Sacha Baron Cohen had been set to play Abbie Hoffman -- and is now looking at summer or fall start date -- when the prospect of an actor's strike should be in the rear view mirror.

Transformers 2 director Michael Bay said the labor cloud has made the process harder, but not impossible as he tries to keep the film on track for an early June start in order to make its scheduled June 26, 2009 release date.

"If there is a strike, we shut down, but shutting down isn't that big a deal," Bay told the trade. "You make accommodations, you make a deal with vending houses on equipment and on the stages where you are shooting. You hope for the best, but you can't be incapacitated by the possibility that there will be a strike. We've got to get this town back to work. I can't imagine anyone wants another strike, we're all tired. Hopefully clearer heads will prevail."

Bay said that the sequel is still recovering from the writers strike, and that he's playing catch-up after getting back his trio of writers, Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

"They did a detailed outline before the writer's strike, and now they are in Michael Bay jail, holed up in a hotel and working feverishly," Bay said. "We're paying for a beautiful suite and they are getting a lot of work done. Hiring three writers was unusual, but it has been a godsend in getting us to where we need to be. Somehow you find a way to get it done."

Warner Bros. is hoping for director George Miller to begin filming superhero extravaganza Justice League in mid-July for a 2009 release. The project has been off-and-on in the last several months, as the script needed work. The minute the strike was over, scribes Kiernan and Michele Mulroney began rewriting the script. The studio is hoping to get a draft in the next six weeks.

Warners revealed earlier this week that it will begin shooting Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins on May 5 in Albuquerque. All exterior scenes will be shot and completed by June 30 so that no extra location rental charges are incurred. Director McG will edit that footage, and visual effects artists will continue their work, moving the project forward even if the actors go home. The movie will be finished on soundstages once actors return to work.

Sony will begin shooting its The Da Vinci Code sequel Angels & Demons in Rome on June 5. Director Ron Howard will spend three weeks shooting all of the film's exterior scenes. The rest of the film will be shot on Sony soundstages, where sets will wait, if necessary, until an actors strike is over. That allowed Sony to somewhat contain the costs to halt and re-start the picture.



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2.24.2008

McD's franchisees foresee all-day breakfast

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McD's franchisees foresee all-day breakfast
By Julie Jargon Feb. 20, 2007

Feeling the heat from new competitors, McDonald's Corp. is overhauling its kitchens to speed up and expand its breakfast service, a move many franchisees see as a prelude to all-day breakfast.

In a memo to franchisees obtained by Crain's, McDonald's executives said the "breakfast optimization" program is intended to bring greater efficiency to the production of Egg McMuffins, McGriddles and other morning fare.

In the memo, McDonald's calls breakfast optimization "a critical element — and important first step — of our 2007-2009 Plan to Win" and says the program is intended to "make it easier and more efficient for our managers and crew to deliver a quality breakfast experience."

But franchisees see a more dramatic change behind the new machines and reconfigured kitchen layouts called for under the program: abandonment of the traditional 10:30 a.m. cutoff for breakfast service at McDonald's. "That's the speculation on the street," says Oklahoma franchisee Steve Biddle.

A McDonald's spokesman denies any connection between the program and expanded breakfast hours, insisting that the effort is solely aimed at improving operations during what has become the chain's most important mealtime.

Not only is breakfast the fastest-growing segment of the fast-food day, it's also the most profitable, because eggs and pork cost less than beef and chicken. That explains why chains like Wendy's, Starbucks and Burger King are expanding their offerings. This week, Burger King will begin selling some breakfast items for $1. The chains are hoping to challenge the dominance of McDonald's, which has about 15% of the $50-billion to $60-billion breakfast market, according to Chicago restaurant consultancy Technomic Inc.

In a phone message to franchisees last month, Jan Fields, chief operating officer of McDonald's USA, said, "Breakfast is the next battleground for marketshare."

As lucrative as breakfast is for McDonald's, it's also the most challenging meal operationally, mostly due to the number and variety of menu items and the difficulty of staffing early morning hours.

The new breakfast program aims to address those challenges. The company is asking franchisees to spend about $10,000 to reconfigure their kitchens and install new equipment, such as holding cabinets for McGriddles and hotcakes, to shave precious seconds off breakfast assembly time.

That request makes sense given the heightened competition, but some franchisees see an unspoken motive behind the program. Their suspicions arise from remarks McDonald's CEO James Skinner made in September, when he told investors that all-day breakfast could be possible with a new cooking system under development in the company's innovation center in Romeoville. After his comments, McDonald's representatives quickly told the press that Mr. Skinner was merely "painting a picture of what is possible" and that all-day breakfast might never happen.

But now, some operators believe it could. "You put two and two together and it looks like this could be a step toward accomplishing breakfast all day," says a franchisee in the Southwest who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Mr. Biddle, the Oklahoma operator, says he attended a meeting in Oklahoma City recently where fellow operators were abuzz about whether the optimization plan is a precursor to all-day breakfast.

Richard Adams, a franchisee consultant and former McDonald's operator, says more than a hundred franchisees recently have told him they view the program as the groundwork for doing just that.

The company continues to insist that the kitchen efficiency effort and Mr. Skinner's all-day breakfast comments are unrelated. The plan in the works now, a spokesman says, is about "assessing restaurant operations behind the counter and evaluating what type of prep line best sets us up for success with the breakfast items we have currently and what we'll have in the weeks, months and years ahead."

Operators say they aren't opposed to altering their kitchens for speedier service — they just worry about how they'll handle any breakfast expansion. As the menu grows, it's becoming harder to fill orders within McDonald's 90-second target.

Manhattan franchisee Irwin Kruger isn't sure whether the new push is a harbinger of all-day breakfast, but if it is, the new equipment will be vital. He recalls serving Egg McMuffins all day at East Coast franchises he owned in the 1970s. "We were a different restaurant company then — there weren't so many items on the menu," he says. "Those were simpler days."
©2007 by Crain Communications Inc.

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2.22.2008

2008 Cleveland Auto Show Preview

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The Cleveland Auto 2008 runs Saturday, February 23 to Sunday, March 2. I was lucky enough to be one of the lucky few who got a sneek preview on the feb 22nd. pics will be posted later.

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2.19.2008

Is Rover's Morning Glory Over?

MovieMiguel.com
Is Rover's Morning Glory Over?
By: Mike Kopcak
Updated: 02.19.2008, 12:00p.m.

After 5 years of broadcasting in Cleveland (not "from" there were those few months that we wont mention where they went to Chicago, IL and "bombed" horribly.) Rover's Morning Glory (RMG) is off the air. MovieMiguel.com & OpieAndAnthony.com both announced this morning (02.19.2008) that the duo who replaced Rover in his Chicago seat in August of 2006, will be taking over their morning drive time slot in Cleveland, Oh (the broadcast location of the current incarnation of RMG) that duo being Opie & Anthony.
Rover's Morning Glory and the Opie & Anthony Show did broadcast on the same station (K-Rock) in Cleveland; RMG and morning drive, O&A was syndication on a delay in the afternoons (Opie and Anthony original air time is 6-9am, they aired in Cleveland 3-6pm daily.)


OpieAndAnthony.com had this to say about the move:
  • "The Opie and Anthony Show is now LIVE in Cleveland on WKRK-FM... it's about time, aint it?"

  • RoverRadio.com had this comment:
    "Many people have been emailing me wondering why we haven't posted any info about what's going on or what the future holds for the show.

    At this time the show is still under contract to CBS. They've told us we can't talk about it, nor can we discuss what the future holds, or we'll be in breach of contract.

    They're also holding the website hostage, saying we can't post anything here in regards to what's going on (who knows, they may even demand this post be removed).

    Hang in there. You'll be hearing a lot more of us very soon."

    The fate of afternoon drive in Cleveland now that O and A are in the morning is yet to be seen, as well as the fate of Rover's Morning Glory in unknown this early after the announcement. Will this move bring back Opie & Anthony to the popularity they had in Cleveland before they were fired from their nationally syndicated show on August 22, 2002? time will tell, lets hope for the best.


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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover%27s_Morning_Glory#Off_The_AirQuantcast