Follow us on:
Extreme Makeover: Insomniac Style
Ratchet & Clank developers make a little boy's dream come true.
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2007
Author: James Fudge

ABC-TV's hit show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" asked 9-year-old James Westbrook what his favorite activities included, playing and designing videogames were at the top of his list.

Enter Insomniac Games. Once the independent console videogames developer learned of James' interests, the studio went one step further to help make his dreams come true: They created a digital version of James and inserted him into their upcoming PlayStation 3 videogame, Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Players will be able to navigate the Polaris Galaxy as James in his spaceships when the game launches this holiday season exclusively on PlayStation 3 . Viewers who tune in to ABC on Sunday, April 22 at 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT will witness how Insomniac Games produced a digital replica of James and turned him into a playable videogame character. The 160-person studio rallied to produce what normally amounts to one month's worth of work in approximately one week's time.

The Westbrook family has been hard hit by two separate incidents. In April 2004, then-SFC Gene Westbrook was hit by a mortar at an American camp mess hall in Baghdad, Iraq. The attack left Westbrook paralyzed. Then, last July, another accident shook the family. While en route to visit friends in Oklahoma, the family van lost control, touched an oncoming vehicle, and flipped into a ditch. The accident left James paralyzed and caused internal injuries to one of two Westbrook daughters, who later lost a kidney. The day after the accident, Gene Westbrook suffered a stroke, leaving him with further damage to his right arm and some memory loss. Peggy Westbrook recovered quickly from the accident to take on the daunting task of trying to rehabilitate both her husband and son while raising the rest of the family. That task was made ever more difficult because the family had to maneuver two wheelchairs around their ranch home, which was not designed to be wheelchair accessible.

Hammer of the Scots Board Game Review
Hammer of the Scots is a easy to play lightweight wargame that while a bit loose with history, is engaging enough that it really doesn't matter.
Renegade Game Chair Review
This game chair offers a decent feature set at a more reasonable price than Ultimate Game Chair's other pricier offerings.
A stellar cast and good action saves this movie from becoming Jackass with a plot.
This martial arts film offers some wonderful fight scenes buried underneath an awful plot.
This DVD may have a lot of star power but its paper thin plot, bad acting and terrible fight scenes make it a lesson in why some movies shouldn't be imported..
Epic's game engine technology gets stereoscopic 3D gaming technology.
Activision's super hero title dominates the rest at retail.
Next Generation Optical Sensor Delivers 1:1 Tracking Precision and Zero Acceleration
Special cross-platform event planned for next week as well.
Midway E3 Report
From Spyhunter to Mortal Kombat, Midway showed off its top franchises this year in L.A.
Activision Impresses Again at E3 with Call of Duty 2, Marvel properties, Quake IV and so much more!
Midway Digs Deep Into Its Arcade Past for 2005 Lineup.
An overview of the upcoming Uwe Boll film based loosely on Atari's fourth game in the series being brought to the big screen by Lion's Gate Films.