Opinion BY Armin

THQ gets a New Q

Founded in 1989 and originally named Toy Headquarters, THQ is a developer and publisher of video games with ten offices around the world. THQ produces its own original titles and also holds exclusive licenses to develop titles for World Wrestling Entertainment and Ultimate Fighting Championship, making it popular with the beat-’em-up, shoot-’em-up crowd. Gamers and the industry alike have all taken notice of THQ’s change over the years from what Kotaku calls having “a licensed-schlock publishing reputation” to “one of quality-focused ‘transmedia’ brand builder.” Or CVG who considered THQ as “Unreliable, uninspiring… unexciting” but acknowledges that “in the last 18 months it’s clear something’s very different at the firm.” And that something is now signaled by a new logo, introduced yesterday at the New York Gamers Event.

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Opinion BY Armin

Alamo Drafthouse

Founded in 1997 in Austin, TX, Alamo Drafthouse is a small chain of movie theaters across Texas. The Austin locations are notorious for their off-kilter showings and events, which include Rocky Horror Show sing-a-longs or Terror Tuesdays, as well as hosting not only Air Guitar contests but Air Sex contests. The redesign was done by Austin-based Guerrilla Suit.

Thanks to Moisés Chiullan for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

Antena 3

On the air since 1990 Antena 3 is a television network in Spain.

Thanks to Sergio Albillo for the tip.

A B-Side BY Armin

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

If you watch this show you will appreciate this mention. If you don’t watch it, you are probably going WTF? That’s okay. It’s Sunny in Philadelphia is a sitcom on FX, now in its sixth twisted season.

Thanks to Robert for the tip.

Opinion BY Armin

Mega Amount of Triangles

Originally launched as Red Televisiva Megavisión in 1990, Mega is a popular TV channel in Chile, specifically in the capital city of Santiago where it airs, with a mix of news, reality, and sitcoms like a remake of Married%hellip; with Children (the Bundys are replaced by the Larraíns). In October, Mega introduced a new logo, reportedly designed by local agency Hambre, who were also in charge of the recent Chilean government identity. (They don’t have a website I know of, so it’s hard to corroborate 100%).

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Opinion BY Armin

Comedy Central: Still Funny?

Launched in 1991, Comedy Central began quite modestly if not downright unpopularly with only a bevy of sitcom reruns and an abundance of stand-up comedy sessions. Almost 20 years later, Comedy Central is one of the most popular channels thanks to, of course, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and South Park — not to mention the always hilarious Roasts and to a certain degree the antics of Tosh.0. Yesterday, Comedy Central unveiled a drastically different new identity, designed by New York-based thelab that will begin playing on air in January 2011.

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Opinion BY Armin

Telecine Gets Animated

Telecine is a family of channels that air in Brazil. Originally a single channel in 1991, Telecine began adding spin-offs in 1997 and this past November it announced a slight restructuring and naming of its channels, along with a new addition. The current line-up includes Telecine Premium, for the latest releases; Telecine Action, for all your Schwarzenegger needs; Telecine Touch, for romance movies; Telecine Fun, for comedies; and Telecine Pipoca (Pipoca means popcorn), for the latest blockbusters. A pumped-up new identity for all the channels was created by Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-based Beeld.

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Opinion BY Armin

Tilde in the News

Launched in 1997, CNN en Español is the Spanish language counterpart to CNN airing across Latin America and is the leading news outlet in most of those countries. Last week, CNN en Español announced a major overhaul of their programming, a fancy new studio at Turner headquarters in Atlanta, a new tagline — Vive la Noticia (Live the News) — and a new logo.

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Opinion BY Armin

Zoo in Disguise

Founded in 1838, Natura Artis Magistra (Latin for “Nature is the Teacher of Art”) located in Amsterdam is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands. Home to 900 species it also has a botanical garden, a planetarium, an art collection, a geological museum, and a zoological museum. Currently undergoing a major renovation, Artis has introduced a new identity designed by Amsterdam-based Van Lennep.

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Opinion BY Armin

Myspace Goes Blank

Launched in 2003, Myspace — capitalized as MySpace at the time — became the de facto social networking platform for youngsters attracting 1 million users in its first year, 5 million a few months later, and over 100 million users amassed to this day. With the ability to customize their profile pages, users unleashed a fury of apocalyptic, senses-attacking, browser-crashing designs laden with unicorns and party pictures that eventually became a user interface punchline. No Myspace story is complete without the mention of Facebook which took on the reigns of the social network kingdom and became the Myspace Killer. More than killed, it wounded. And it has taken Myspace three or four years to recover, or at least attempt a recovery. And it starts this week. Myspace announced a complete redesign of its platform with new features, interactivity, and bells and whistles for its users along with a new identity.

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