This week, it’ll cost you more if you text and drive, catch the Hunger Games films on Steam, and what makes Nexo Knights something different from Lego. But first, Homer Simpson gets his first live TV spot.

Homer Simpson, live

The Simpsons television show has broken plenty of new ground in its 27 years on air. This Sunday, May 15, it will do so again.

Homer Simpson will appear live for three minutes at the end of the episode, answering questions from fans during the east and west coast broadcasts (8:00 p.m. ET and PT).

The producers are pulling the stunt off using motion capture on actor Dan Castellaneta, who performs the voice of Homer.

The producers have indicated they will be selecting questions that will help prove that the animations truly are being created on the fly.

If you’ve got a question for Homer you can call 1-888-726-6660 or tweet using the hashtag #homerlive.

Doing so implies you’ve agreed to Fox’s terms of participation.

Province beefs up distracted driving penalties

Put your smartphones away, drivers. Get caught using one while operating a motor vehicle and you’ll be facing a total fine of $543. Get caught a second time within a year and the fine goes up to $888 and comes with an automatic review and possible driving ban.

The province of B.C. yesterday announced a new base fine of $368 for distracted driving, with escalating penalty-point premiums for repeat offences within a 12-month period. The base fine had been $167.

If a person racks up 10 offences in a year, the total fine would be $14,928. Think that’s not possible? Last month, a Vancouver-area driver lost her license after accumulating 14 distracted driving tickets. But that took her five years to do.

The new fines take effect on June 1.

The changes come out of public consultation on distracted driving that the province held last summer.

There was no announcement of a wider range of activities that classify as distracted driving, however. I’d really like to see people driving with dogs in their laps get a ticket or two.

Steam moves even further into film distribution with Lionsgate

Steam is an online, digital distribution service operated by Valve Software. It’s primarily used for the sale and distribution of video games, but Valve has been expanding it with other forms of entertainment.

Last week, Valve made the biggest move yet into the general entertainment space by signing a deal with Lionsgate Films.

The licensing agreement makes more than 100 feature films available on Steam, including blockbuster series Divergent, Hunger Games, Saw, and Twilight.

Steam users can watch films on computers, on televisions, and even in virtual reality headsets with SteamVR.

Nexo Knights is Lego’s newest multi-channel property

The newest Lego franchise, Nexo Knights, mashes up the medieval with the modern with characters that are armed with swords and shields that can download special powers.

Lego has been leveraging its properties with television shows and video games before, but with Nexo Knights it all works together in ways that it never has before.

A mobile app, Merlok 2.0, is a touchscreen-enabled game that has characters from the world battling enemies. But the app is more than just a beat-em-up game. It’s also the connection point for the episodes and the building sets.

Particular images found on shields in the television show and on the mini-figures can be scanned into the app, providing powers to the characters in the app.

Merlok 2.0 is a free download available for Android and iOS.