WIN: Digital zombies
The Walking Dead is going digital, and I am a-twitter with anticipation of whether or not this will mean new content that’s exclusively digital, in addition to the print comic. While after viewing the rather disappointing AMC motion comic version of the title’s first issue I’m not exactly anxious to see the comic go the motion route (the live action TV show will suffice), a simple digital comic will be convenient and exciting.

FAIL: Verti-go-bye-bye
DC’s massive restructuring has seen three of Vertigo’s editors, Joan Hilty, Pornsak Pichetshote and Jonathan Vankin, suddenly jobless. What’s more is in the shuffle, as many as 80 of DC’s 250 employees could find themselves without a job. We call this move a fail for the staggering proportion…80 out of 250 could be gone…how well does that bode for DC? It certainly bodes poorly for Wildstorm, another DC imprint, which will put out its final title in December.

WIN: Extraterrestrial Life
Scientists from UC Santa Cruz have discovered a planet three times the size of Earth and likely to be as hospitable to life. Planet Gliese 581g was found while they were keeping track of the neighboring red dwarf star Gliese 581. Since it’s neither too hot nor too cold they’ve dubbed it the “Goldilocks” planet. My question is, when we send voyagers the 20 years it takes to reach Gliese 581g, will aliens be the three bears?

WIN: No Ordinary Family
Despite fully expecting the new TV show No Ordinary Family to be nothing but a giant Fantastic Four flashback with Michael Chiklis in the starring role, I was pleasantly surprised. The family-cum-supergroup pilot episode aired on the 28th and while there’s still much to be uncovered and much to be explained, the superpowered family storyline is shaping up well. It was an enjoyable watch, and that’s not something I can say about most fall premiers.

FAIL: Temporal Inconsistency
The world has now been subjected to 2 episodes and some major Jason Ritter boystache, so we can fairly well reveal that what The Event boils down to, aside from odd facial hair, is an inability to stick to one time line. The creators just can’t stop themselves from jumping 23 minutes, 8 days, 13 months, or any other nonsensical quantity of time away from the actual plot and action. The end result is a show that’s virtually unwatchable. What a pity.

WIN: The Walking Dead
Freshly edged out of its long-occupied #1 spot of most watched trailers on IMDB, The Walking Dead‘s TV adaptation (from a zombie comic penned by Robert Kirkman – for the uninitiated) is still buzzing hardcore. It won’t actually air until Halloween, but it’s been on fire since ComicCon. It’s already been granted a second season. What else can this fledgling program accomplish before we actually see it?

FAIL: Brand Secrets
Microsoft’s latest mouse has been leaked on a Russian web site, and it looks more like something Posh Spice would wear on her head than something you’d find on a desk. Called “Metro Mouse” (which is in fact a mini-win, since it brings to mind Mighty Mouse), it uses BlueTrack blue laser technology to allow it to cope with less-than-optimal surfaces. Biggest selling point, perhaps literally: it’s the cheapest mouse in the range at a mere $20.

WIN: Resident Evil 5
Milla Jovovich spilled the beans that Resident Evil 5 is already in the works, and that, most importantly, the plot will depend on input from fans of the series as collected via social media. Zombies and the Internet, double geek win. And speaking of zombies…

WIN: Zombies
Zombies are proving their cultural staying power is still in full force, as they’ve been trending on Surchur for several weeks straight. No doubt this is because of things like the most recent Resident Evil film, a blockbuster hit, and the aforementioned Walking Dead show. Or perhaps it’s the first sign of the zombie apocalypse?

FAIL: Spam Control
Specifically, Apple’s spam control. While this isn’t so much this week’s news – because it began early this month when Apple debuted its iTunes-based social media service Ping – the fact that Apple put in safeguards against inappropriate profile pictures (manual approval) but failed to anticipate the spam that plagues other social networks is a total fail. What elevates it to an epic fail is that the spam is primarily malware and phishing scams offering iPods, iPhones, and iPads – Apple’s very own products. Let’s just call it a timeless fail.

WIN: Catfish
This week saw a meteoric rise in interest in the upcoming social network movie Catfish, which will release nationally against rival The Social Network. From the relative obscurity of film festivals to the major social media radar, the word on the ‘net is it does for online dating what Jaws did for swimming. Now, I’ve absolutely nothing against online dating, but I’m positively all for movies that give social networking an intriguing spin. That Catfish is a documentary only heightens its appeal, whereas The Social Network, at least to me, has fallen flat as so much Hollywood flotsam – rooted in truth or not.