E3 hasn’t even officially started yet, but some of Hollywood’s biggest names turned up at pre-show news conferences Monday to show off the video game industry’s newest technologies and titles:

• Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving Beatles, took the stage briefly at Microsoft’s news conference in the morning to (very) briefly tout MTV’s new version of its Rock Band music game that focuses entirely on the iconic band. The L.A. Times tech blog has a full report on their appearance.
• Later on at the event it was Steven Spielberg’s turn to surprise the crowd. But the A-list director wasn’t there to talk about any games in which he’s involved. He dropped by to plug Project Natal, Microsoft’s new peripheral for the Xbox 360 that lets players control games by moving in front of a camera and using their voice. “I felt like this was as significant as the transformation from square-shaped movie screens to CinemaScope and then Imax,” he said of his first glimpse at the technology. Get all the details on Project Natal and the rest of Microsoft’s plans to expand the Xbox 360’s audience without losing its hard-core fans in the story from today’s Times.
• James Cameron played a more traditional role at publisher Ubisoft’s news conference, where he talked about the upcoming video game based on his movie “Avatar.” It will be the first video game produced in stereoscopic 3-D, mimicking the technology used in the film (though only a tiny percentage of people have TVs that support 3-D images). “When entertainment succeeds in today’s market, it does it by combining games, films, books, toys … where you can visit the world and characters in different ways,” Cameron said, according to video game news site Gamasutra.

There were also a few new games unveiled based on Hollywood properties. Ubisoft announced that it would be making a game based on Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s upcoming film adaptation of “Tintin.” And Warner Bros. confirmed longstanding rumors that it will apply the Lego video game formula that has proved so successful with Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Batman to Harry Potter. Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 comes out next year and will be produced by Traveller’s Tales, the game development studio Warner bought in 2007 for about $200 million.

It looks like David Archuleta’s booked himself a pretty frantic summer schedule.  Along with his tour (which will also feature Demi Lovato), he’s working on his next album — along with a special treat for his fans.  (CLICK ON THE MEDIA BAR TO HEAR (DAVID ARCHULETA)

Word on the street is that AMERICAN IDOL runner-up ADAM LAMBERT will knock down the closet door in the next issue of ROLLING STONE magazine. Click the link for the full story.

As grandson to one of the most respected actors in American movies, ETHAN PECK will have a lot of eyes on his debut in the upcoming ABC Family series 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU. We spoke with PECK a few days ago and he talked about his famous grandfather and when he knew he was going to be an actor. (Click on te media bar below):

THIS JUST IN FROM OUR PALS AT WARNER HOME VIDEO…THE WIGGLES MEET THE A-LIST!

THE WIGGLES JUMP INTO THE HEART OF THE JIVIN’ JUNGLE AS WARNER HOME VIDEO RELEASES THE WIGGLES GO BANANAS! ON JULY 14, 2009

“The Wiggles Go Bananas!” Features 24 New Songs and Special Appearances by

Kylie Minogue and Wiggles Fan Favorite Captain Feathersword

 BURBANK, CA (June 2, 2009) – Join the kings of the pre-school jungle in their newest animal kingdom adventure The Wiggles Go Bananas! available on DVD from Warner Home Video (WHV) on July 14, 2009 for $14.98 SRP. Featuring an all-new collection of 24 groovy songs and celebrity guest appearances by Kylie Minogue and John Waters, The Wiggles Go Bananas! will be released just in time for their upcoming U.S. concert tour kicking off on July 15^th.

 Currently airing six days a week on the Disney Channel and the #1 program in its time period, The Wiggles continue to dance and sing their way into the hearts of children everywhere. In their latest adventure, The Wiggles Go Bananas!, our favorite fab four swing into the jungle and record some of their most catchy and infectious songs to date. The Wiggles Go Bananas! features 24 brand new original songs including “The Lion Is King,” “Kangaroo Jumping,” “Tassie Devil” and “The Chicken Walk.” Even international pop superstar Kylie Minogue joins in on the fun in a pink skivvy and performs “Monkey Man” with The Wiggles, while Australia’s John Waters croons “Rusty The Cowboy” and Captain Feathersword sings “The Dingle Puck Goat.”

STU’S SONG from FUNNY OR DIE is NSFW or for the young’ins….

We caught up with bestselling author DEAN KOONTZ a few day ago to talk about his upcoming memoir, A BIG LITTLE LIFE, and the subject of the KINDLE and electronic books came up. Apparently, KOONTZ isn’t quite ready to accept the idea as the wave of the future. Listen in below:

After many years of starring on the top rated cable series, THE SOPRANOS, EDIE FALCO found herself in the position of being able to pick and choose what projects she wanted to undertake next. With her new series, NURSE JACKIE, FALCO tells us that having some control over the show was part of the appeal. (Click on the media bar below):

With her new series for ABC FAMILY, RUBY & THE ROCKITS, ALEXA VEGA is becoming familiar with a real life show biz dynasty. The show is being produced by SHAUN CASSIDY, the sets designed by RYAN CASSIDY and it will co-star DAVID and PATRICK CASSIDY. We spoke with ALEXA and DAVID over the week-end and asked her if she was aware of these CASSIDY guys before going into this project. Listen in below:

We caught up with MARK-PAUL GOSSELAAR (SAVED BY THE BELL) over the week-end to talk about his second season return to the TNT series, RAISING THE BAR. A few years ago, GOSSELAAR also did a turn in JOHN FROM CINCINNATTI,  the mysterious  DAVID MILTCH series for HBO. We couldn’t help but ask if he (unlike everybody else in the world) had any idea what JOHN FROM CINCINNATTI was about. Listen in below: