Archive for the 'Movies' Category

Gaming News in Review: Part 2

Published on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 in Gaming, Microsoft, Movies, Noteworthy, PC, Software, Technology and TV's. 1 Comment

xbox hd-dvd

Part deux of the gaming news round-up over the last few weeks.

Could the Wii not support game saves to SD memory cards? According to the manual it is, but not according to the console itself. That’s what Joystiq found out. Lets hope Nintendo fix this in time for the release, as we wouldn’t want to replay an entire game when at your friends house, do we? [link]
Engadget’s Wii software walkthrough video and gameplay walkthrough videos allow you to see what it would be like if you owned a Wii. Shortly it will come true for a lot of people, or at least we hope.
Microsoft revealed the HD download service for US Xbox 360 owners. These will allow you to download 720p HD TV shows from CBS, Comedy Central VH1 and more. Deleted TV shows can be re-downloaded for free in either HD or SD. Movies are ‘rent-only’, whereby you have two weeks to watch a movie, but after you start watching, you have 24 hours to finish the film. After that the film will no longer play. During the 24-hours, you can watch the film an unlimited number of times. [link]
Engadget open the retail version of the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player and have a play around with it, naturally with tons of photos (above) [link]
The PS3 gets dismantled before it is even in circulation. The four part videos take you through a detailed disassemblement of the PS3 showing the CPU, heatsink, the blu-ray drive, etc. [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]
PS3 kiosk is a fake! The PS3 behind the glass in retail outlets are not even functional, no, it seems that Sony may be scared of the PS3 overheating or exploding, so they placed a separate version enclosed in the kiosk. The actual console is very well ventilated to make sure the heat dissipates as much as possible. My, my… [link]
Size comparison of the Wii, the PS3 and the Xbox 360. The PS3 is the largest, and the Wii is the smallest (though it’s not like we didn’t know that) [link]
The Xbox 360 HD-DVD player is fully functional in PC’s. Hook it up using the USB, and some Toshiba drivers you can not only view the files on the HD-DVD, but if your PC can handle it, it can also play back the movie. Nice. What’s more, the Mac recognises the drive instantaneously without any drivers, but there is no software to playback the video. Oh well! [link]
A DVD ‘enhanced’ version of the Wii will be released to the US and Japan in the 2nd half of 2007. The current Wii’s contain the DVD drive, however they do not have the software capable to play movies. The most likely reason for not including the software, is to avoid licencing fees which would increase the price of the console. [link]

Gaming News in Review: Part 1

Published on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 in Gaming, Microsoft, Movies, Noteworthy, Technology and Wireless. Closed

the wii house

While I was unable to post during the last two weeks, there has been plenty of gaming news floating around, so be prepared for a awfully long post.

New Halo 3 Info: 1up.com have revealed lots of new information about Halo 3. There will be three different editions of Halo 3, a standard, a collectors and a Legendary edition. New brute weapons, Spike Rifle and Spike Grenade. The Mongoose ATV, like the Warthog, however there is no turret. A new assault riffle as the starting weapon, Bungie hope to improve the tactics of the game, so it is more fair. Save multiplayer, and single player gameplay videos and watch them again. The left and right bumpers are being used as the reloading buttons for your weapons, so what happens with the X button now? [link]
PS3′s SIXAXIS controller is completely disassembled to reveal its innards. A layer by layer documentation takes you through the motion sensing parts, the non-replaceable battery, and the rest of the gadgetry. [link]
The Wii house of fun in London. SPOnG managed to take a look around Nintendo’s secret house which is kitted up with Wii gear, for the press. They took lots of photos and described their experience with the various games and such. Photo shown above. [link]
70GB Hard drive for the Xbox 360 spotted. While the photo could be a fake, the most likely explanation is, Microsoft wants you to be able to store those Movie and Video downloads somewhere (currently for the US only, more in the next post) The video marketplace allows you to download various movies, tv shows and short films, some in HD, which obviously needs plenty of space. [link]
Sony fanboys hijack the Nintendo Wikipedia entry and cover it with “nintendo sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1″, for a mere few minutes, until the Wikipedia admins notice. “In the short moments before Wikipedia admins could get the correct page back up, the assailant successfully misled several would-be Nintendo fans to assume the company had gone out of business, then deciding to ‘switch teams.’ [sarcasm]” [link]
Engadget get down to business, and get hands on with their final production unit of the Wii. Plenty of high-res images of the unboxing, the console and all its accessories. What more could you want? [link]

I split down the post into two separate articles. It’s probably more helpful for the eye.

Links for 21/09/2006

Published on Thursday, September 21, 2006 in Apple, Microsoft, Movies, Noteworthy, Shorts, Software, Technology and TV's. Closed

Today’s shorts for 21 September 2006.

USBCell provides a rechargeable NiMH battery in the shape of an AA battery to use in normal devices (above) [link]
Office 2007 details revealed for Mac, including new UI, with the ‘ribbon’ from Office 2007 for Window [link]
Microsoft steals Zune P2P idea from WeedShare? [link]
Apple sells 125,000 movies on the iTunes store within the first week of its launch [link]
iTV has Hard-Drive, well according to Disney’s Iger, the answer is yes! [link]

Engadget’s Hands-on with Apple’s new devices…

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Gaming, Movies, Podcasting, Technology and TV's. Closed

Engadget were at Apple’s “It’s Showtime” press event today and they were able to get hands on with all the new releases, including the iTV prototype, which was a big shocker. Check out the links for all the juicy pictures.

2G iPod nano hands-on [link]
5G iPod v2 hands-on [link]
iTV hands-on [link]
iPod Shuffle and new headphones hands-on [link]

They all look really good, and I’m even impressed with the iTV, even though that hasn’t been officially released. I’m still not sure about the shuffle though, however I do like the nano now. I do want to try them out, but my nearest Apple store is in Birmingham and we won’t go there for no reason just to visit an Apple Store. The other one is in London, and I don’t think we’ll visit it for a while. The other ‘tech’ shops around town are pretty rubbish. They wouldn’t have the new iPods for a while. The Currys.digital shop still has the iPod nano labelled under Hard-disk player. The obviously don’t know anything, but I was amazed to see a MacBook there. I tried it out and it was very fast, I really want one now. After I finished playing with it, one of the store clerks went and started that god-awful screensaver thing they have. I hate those so much; they aren’t really going to get customers to buy the product if they can’t test it.

The iTV – Apple’s Media Center

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy, PC, Podcasting, Technology, TV's and Wireless. 4 Comments

This is the one product which hasn’t been released, as in it is not on Apple’s website. The name iTV is not official yet, so it is subject to change. I think that is good because iTV sounds a bit plain, and similiar to Elgato’s EyeTV line of products. So people could get confused. Down to the details:

It looks like a flatter Mac mini.
No power brick, but there is USB 2, Ethernet, 802.11 Wireless, HDMI, Component and RCA jacks as well as optical audio.
Controlled via the Apple remote.
Hooks up directly to your TV, set-top box or other input device.
An enhanced version of Front Row, with windows media centre style browsing. The right hand side has menu and the left has images.
“You can do movie trailers form Apple.com right from your couch. This is big screen over the internet, live as we watch. [demo]“
Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, and Photos
Coming Q1 of 2007
Works with Macs and PCs
$299

As Apple doesn’t have an official page, I’ll link you to Engadget’s live coverage of the “It’s Showtime!” event.
This certainly seems like a very interesting idea and because of the price point even more so. Now we just have to wait for it to come out, doh!
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iTunes 7 – With Movie Store!

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Gaming, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy, Podcasting, Software, Technology and TV's. Closed

The new version of iTunes has a lot of new features, you can find a good walkthrough of the main features at TUAW. These are the main enhancements:

TV Shows are available in h.264, in 640 x 480 which is up from 320 x 240.
You can update your iPod from right inside iTunes now, you don’t need to go to Preferences. You can say, “I want to sync the 10 most recent unwatched episides of all my TV shows.”
You can sync content between multiple computers as long as you have the same iTMS account and both the computers are authorised.
Coverflow mode allows you to scroll through the artwork of your music as if it was on a shelf.
Music Artwork can be downloaded free from Apple, and it will fill up all the missing artwork in your library!
“Today we’re starting out with films from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax – four studios owned by Disney. Today we’re making over 70 films agvailable online today including Pirates of the Caribbean. They’ll be available the same day they’re out on DVD.“
New movies will be $12.99 if you pre-order them or buy them during the first week. Other movies are $9.99. The movie store is integrated into iTunes and you can preview new releases in album cover flow mode. They will also be at 640 x 480 with Dolby Surround Sound. Initially it will be for the US only, but it will go international in 2007.
Games for iPod are $4.99 and only work with the 5G iPod (old and updated).
A refined look with sections for music, other content, playlists etc. It is not really too big, but it allows iTunes to flow more seamlessley. You have to see for yourself, it is hard to describe.

It is available for download now. I think that’s virtually it, I’ll update it if I find anything else.

I’m going to see The Da Vinci Code!

Published on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 in Movies. Closed

It’s official, the tickets have been ordered and I just need to see it now! The first airing at our cinema (theatre) starts at midnight tomorrow. Well the movie starts at 11:40PM, but we have like 20 mins of adverts here in the UK (but the time difference means I get to see it before the US ). It’s awfull, I practically run out of drink by then! I read the book last summer and I loved it, and I’m in the process of reading Angels and Demons now (also a great book). The movie is 2:29 hours long, so I will be going sleep quite late. Expect a short-ish review on Friday.

5 fun things to do with Terminal on OS X

Published on Thursday, January 12, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy and Technology. Closed

These include:

Mac a remote mac sing
Look at calendar
Watch Star Wars EP IV in ASCII
Make an ASCII Banner
Browse the web in text only mode (faster than Firefox!)

This is a really cool ‘tutorial’ that lets you do some cool things in Terminal, for which it probably wasn’t made for. You may think that you can’t watch Star Wars, but you can, and it is as simple as telnetting into a server! This is by far the most interesting article I have read this week. If you have a Mac, and can access terminal give it a try.

Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’ could be made into a Film

Published on Tuesday, December 20, 2005 in Movies and Shorts. Closed

The Hobbit still faces legal hurdles before Jackson can make the missing film in the Lord of the Rings saga. However, there’s still a chance we’ll get to see Bilbo’s first journey in a few years’ time.
Peter Jackson explained the Hobbit situation to the media during the King Kong premiere gala: “MGM used to own The Hobbit and then MGM got bought by Sony a few months ago, and so now Sony have the rights — or half of The Hobbit rights, and New Line have the other half. Now, New Line and Sony have to talk to each other and I don’t think that anyone’s going to call me until those rights issues are resolved. That’s entirely between them, so…” [digg | story]

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – Exclusive Trailer

Published on Thursday, November 24, 2005 in Internet and Movies. 3 Comments

I love the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was and still is one of my favourite movies and when I saw this I had to watch the trailer. Sadly it’s quite low quality but if you zoom in you can just about seen what is happening. It looks really exciting, but it looks like it will be coming out next summer, and that’s for the US. Why do the UK always get everything late?

video (2.8MB – .AVI – XviD Codec required)
If the link goes down post a comment and I’ll upload the video to the blog.