• by Erik Sass , May 23, 2010

Whiskey Media, the parent company of Wiki-style enthusiast Web sites including Giant Bomb, Comic Vine, Anime Vice, and Tested, has launched a new Web site -- Screened -- targeting film, movie, and TV enthusiasts.

After a limited preview for current Whiskey members two weeks ago, during which users created over 25,000 pages of content, the site went live for the general public last week. Whiskey media also introduced new social game mechanics, in the form of "Quests," to drive greater engagement with online media and advertising.

Like Whiskey's other enthusiast sites, Screened uses a moderated Wiki model in which users generate content that is filtered and modified by Whiskey editors who also contribute content (Alex Navarro and Matthew Rorie, both formerly of GameSpot).

At launch, features include news and rumors about upcoming movies, reviews, a weekly DVD release update, a roundup of new, weird, and obscure video-on-demand offerings from Netflix called "It Came from My Instant Queue," a podcast called "Behind the Screened Door," and various amusing videos on themes like "Worse and Worser," in which the editors opine about movies good and bad, past and present. Although movie content currently predominates, the site covers also covers television -- e.g., a feature on TV finales.

Also last week, Whiskey officially unveiled "Quests" -- social gaming experiences that give users incentives to create more content and engage with brands. In one of the first such experiences on Giant Bomb, Whiskey's site devoted to gaming, 7,800 visitors watched 42 minutes of promotional video to get a "badge" that helps them advance in the current quest. The site encourages competition (and/or cooperation) with lists of which users have recently leveled up, and what they achieved.