playstation Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Spyro:' The Movie
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Deals », Family Films », Games and Game Movies »
Well, it might not be the best idea for a video game movie I've heard lately, but I will say this: at least it's better than Joust. Variety reports that The Animation Picture Co. has optioned the rights to an animated big-screen version of the Vivendi platform game, Spyro the Dragon. The best-selling game (from a franchise that has earned over $50 million dollars over the years) centered on a winged purple dragon that suffered from the usual hassles of any platform game protagonist -- collecting gems, evil sorcerers; you know, just another day at the office. A director has not been chosen yet, but Steve and Dan Altiere (Dr. Doolittle 4) have already been hired to write a script. The story will be based on the recently re-launched Legend of Spyro trilogy.The first installment was released back in 1998 and has spawned numerous sequels. Some extra fun facts for game aficionados out there: Stewart Copeland of The Police fame was responsible for the first game's soundtrack and Gary Oldman provided voice talent for The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning back in '06 (what did we ever do without Wikipedia?). I remember playing Spyro a few times and the most I can remember is this: collect coin, jump, fly, collect egg, double jump -- not exactly the makings of a tale of epic sacrifice. I can only assume that this will be a kid's movie, considering who is already involved. Plus, it's not like we are dealing with battles and high body counts; he is just a little purple dragon after all. APC have just finished (inexplicably, I might add) a Garfield movie with creator Jim Davies (Garfield Gets Real) and have already lined up another one (Garfield's Fun Fest) before heading off to start production on Spyro.
Blu-ray to Replace DVDs by 2010?
Filed under: Disney », Lionsgate Films », MGM », New Line », Paramount », Paramount Classics », Sony », Sony Classics », Universal », Warner Brothers », Warner Independent Pictures », Focus Features », 20th Century Fox », Fox Searchlight », The Weinstein Co. », Dreamworks », Home Entertainment », Games and Game Movies », Miramax »
Almost every weekend I see people on the sidewalks of Brooklyn attempting to sell their used VHS collections. And I get sad -- not for these people desperately trying to make a little extra with their tag sale, but for the poor videotapes that have absolutely no place in the modern world of DVD. I'm often reminded of The Brave Little Toaster and my eyes well up for the poor obsolete items of yesterday. I too have a box of VHS in my closet, but I know there's no use trying to find people who will buy them. But at least I never got into the habit of collecting DVDs, because the currently popular video format will also one day be replaced.The European chairman for the Blu-ray Disc Association claims that day will come within three years. While addressing the crowd at the CeBIT technology trade show in Germany, he also stated that Blu-ray, not its competitor, HD DVD, will be the format to succeed DVD as the home video standard. Of course, there is no definite front-runner in the hi-density disc format war, and representatives from HD-DVD argued that in terms of sales of movie titles, the two are about even. Blu-ray's reason for declaring a lead is based on sales of Blu-ray players, which include Playstation 3 consoles -- how many PS3 owners do you know who were primarily interested in its ability to play Blu-ray discs?
PSP Dives into Movie Downloads
Filed under: Sony », Home Entertainment », Games and Game Movies »
Two of the most important stories in movie news this year have been the push for movie downloads and the related focus on portable viewing. Apple came in a bit late with its attention to both trends, but it quickly became the major front runner of interest with its iTunes movie store and its promotion of iPods that play movies. But there are many download services out there and many other portable devices, much of which can play downloaded films. Sony's PSP is primarily a video game player, but it can also be used as a video player. It used to have its own hard-copy video format, the UMD, but due to poor sales Sony appeared to have killed them in favor of simple MemoryStick movies (UMDs are still made and are supposedly popular in Japan, at a new discounted price). As an alternative, there have been ways to convert DVDs to PSP-capable files and also ways to download movies for viewing on the device, but nothing officially promoted by Sony. Until now. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that third-party sites are in negotiations to offer downloads for the PSP -- though Sony hasn't yet issued any statements confirming this -- and another site is in the works for direct-to-PSP downloading.
According to the numbers provided by THR, sales of PSPs have been on a downward slope since their debut in early 2005, so making movies more available to the device may be Sony's hope for boosting public demand. Living in a metropolis, I see a good amount of PSPs on the subway, but I see more iPods, and I rarely see anyone watching videos on either machine.
Is portable movie watching something that you are interested in?
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