Robin Williams makes Batman 3 plea to Christopher Nolan.
UK, June 28, 2010
Robin Williams has been discussing his desire to appear in a Batman movie, stating that he'd play anything from The Riddler to an Arkham Asylum inmate in Batman 3.
Speaking to Empire Magazine about his work with director Christopher Nolan on Insomnia, Williams says "I would work with Chris again in a second, playing anyone in anything. I'd play The Riddler in the next Batman, although it would be hard to top Heath [Ledger] as the villain, and I'm a little hairy for tights."
Robin Williams in Christopher Nolan's Insomnia.
Williams even applies additional pressure by stating "I'm using this article as an ad. Chris, call me, I'll do anything. I could be a great character - or some weird little man in the background in Arkham Asylum."
The actor also spilled the beans regarding his chequered past with the franchise. "The Batman films have screwed me twice before" he explains. "Years ago they offered me The Joker and then gave it to Jack Nicholson, then they offered me The Riddler and gave it to Jim Carrey. I'd be like 'OK, is this a real offer? If it is, then the answer's yes. Don't pump me again, motherf**kers'."
It's been a while since Williams has done scary on screen, but if he reigns it in and delivers the same kind of creepy that won him so many plaudits in Nolan's Insomnia, he could be just the man for the Riddler role. What do you guys think? MovieMiguel.com
We're learning this afternoon that Microsoft's Kin line, for all practical purposes, is riding off into the sunset just a few short weeks after its release. Sources close to Microsoft tell us that Andy Lees has rolled Kin into the Windows Phone 7 team and has canceled the existing product's launch later this year in Europe on news that sales weren't as strong as expected. Speaking of sales, Verizon's already-launched Kin One and Kin Two are soldiering on for the time being, but for how long is anyone's guess. Here's Microsoft's official statement:
"We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned. Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones."
Interestingly, CNET is reporting that Roz Ho -- the exec who masterminded Kin under the codename "Pink" following Microsoft's acquisition of Danger -- will "oversee" her team's move over to Windows Phone 7 before taking a to-be-determined role elsewhere in the company. For what it's worth, we didn't think much of the Kin when we reviewed it -- to be fair, we're not the product's target demographic, but it certainly seems as though the phones got no love from the tweens, teens, and twentysomethings it sought to win over, either. It's hard to say how the Kin's untimely (or is it timely?) death ties into Robbie Bach and J Allard's departure, but since Lees has his hands more closely wrapped around this project than he had in the past, it stands to reason that there's a link there. After all, just how bad do sales have to be to kill a project mere weeks into its retail launch?MovieMiguel.com
Here's the latest pair of MPAA ratings announced for two upcoming releases.
The 3D Saw VII, no shocker here, is getting an R rating "for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, and language."
Meanwhile, and this is a bit surprising, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night will arrive in theaters with a PG-13 rating "for scenes of creature violence and action, language including some sexual references, and some drug material." The film is directed by Kevin Munroe and stars Brandon Routh. Distribution news is said to be coming soon.
Everyone on the Hulu team shares three things in common. I’ll cover two of those immediately. We’ll get to the last one at the end of this post.
First, we are proud to say that we love TV shows. TV shows entertain billions of people across the globe and are among the most durable, high quality forms of storytelling in our society. TV shows play a significant role in billions of people’s daily routines.
Second, we believe that the TV show experience — while already great — has the opportunity to be even better. We have great conviction that consumers should be able to watch the TV shows they’d like to watch, whenever they want to watch them, wherever they want to watch them. The Hulu team has taken that conviction and built a very special service we’re calling Hulu Plus. The Hulu Plus service is our answer to the question of “What if your favorite TV shows loved you back?”
Hulu Plus is not a replacement for Hulu.com. Hulu Plus is a new, revolutionary ad-supported subscription product that is incremental and complementary to the existing Hulu service. For almost all of the current broadcast shows on our service, Hulu Plus offers the full season. Every single episode of the current season will be available, not just a handful of trailing episodes. Now there’s never a bad time to jump in on a hot new show like Modern Family (which I recommend highly). From Family Guy to Glee, from The Office to 30 Rock, from Grey’s Anatomy to Desperate Housewives, from Parks & Recreation to Parenthood, from House to Saturday Night Live, and dozens of other hits, the best time to jump in on any series is any time, and with any episode, that’s right for you.
As a Hulu Plus subscriber, you’ll now also have access to back seasons or full runs of some of TV’s greatest shows. All nine seasons of The X-Files. All three seasons of Arrested Development. Ten seasons of Law and Order: SVU. All five seasons of Ally McBeal. Seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and three seasons of Roswell. Every episode ever of Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. Classic skits from the first five and most recent five seasons of Saturday Night Live. The list goes on. This is all on top of hundreds of shows already on Hulu.com today. It’s a treasure chest in the cloud for TV lovers.
How can someone watch all these TV shows? The only possible way is if someone could pull up these shows wherever they were, on whatever device they happened to have available. That’s why we’re excited to announce that Hulu Plus subscribers can now watch their favorites through more than just the browser on their Mac or PC.
Let’s start in your living room. You’re sitting down for dinner, and you’d like to pull Hulu up on your TV. Today you’d have to plug a computer into the TV and try to connect the audio from your computer to your sound system. It’s certainly doable, but it’s not as easy as it could be. Starting today, Hulu Plus subscribers who own select Samsung Internet-connected TVs and Blu-ray players can download a Hulu Plus application from the Samsung app store and start streaming Hulu Plus directly.
Now let’s say you migrate from the living room to your den or bedroom or patio where you don’t have a TV. You can always pull up Hulu Plus on your laptop, but starting today you can access Hulu content via Wi-Fi or 3G on another device: the Apple iPad. I’ve been watching Hulu on my iPad for several weeks now, and I’ve watched more TV through the iPad than any other device.
Now let’s head out of the house and onto the road. Wouldn’t it be nice if, while you were waiting for your coffee order at the local cafe, you could finish watching that episode you started watching that morning on your iPad? Starting today, if you’re a Hulu Plus subscriber and you own an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 or third-generation iPod Touch, you can.
The Hulu Plus app on the iPhone streams over 3G and Wi-Fi. It’s TV shows in the palm of your hand. A spare five minutes will never be as boring again. You can start watching a show on your HDTV one night, pick up where you left off on your laptop at lunch, watch another chunk on the bus ride home on your iPhone, and finish watching in bed on your iPad. The time to watch your favorite shows is any time you want.
These are the devices shipping with Hulu Plus today. But this is just the first step in our mission to bring you TV wherever you are. We are already hard at work on porting Hulu Plus to other devices and platforms, with PlayStation 3 coming soon. But that’s a story for another day.
More content. More devices. But that’s not all. We want to take full advantage of beautiful display devices like your HDTV connected to your Samsung Blu-ray player, or your iPad. So for all Hulu Plus subscribers, we’ll now stream all native HD content in 720p high definition.
The last question, and an obvious one, is how much this costs. We wanted Hulu Plus to be priced for as many people as possible. We’re thrilled to be able to bring all of this to you for the price of just $9.99 a month.
How do you sign up for Hulu Plus? Starting today, we’re issuing invitations to become a Hulu Plus subscriber. If you’re interested, you can request an invitation here. To ensure we’re offering the best experience for all our Hulu Plus customers, we’ll be sending out invitations in waves [hint: if you follow Hulu on Twitter ( www.twitter.com/hulu) or “Like” Hulu on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/hulu), we’ll be handing out invites to a random set from each of those groups from time to time over the coming months]. We’ll be sending out as many invitations as we can each week, and as soon as we’re ready, we’ll remove the need for an invitation and start bringing in new subscribers without delay.
At the start, I mentioned I’d come back to the third thing that all of us at Hulu have in common. That third thing is this: we believe that any lasting solution to the challenge of making TV show discovery and viewing dramatically easier has to work for all three of our customers, and those are our end users, our advertisers, and our content suppliers.
With Hulu Plus, we believe we’ve met that goal. For our end users, we’re offering them the most convenient way to access their favorite shows, on devices they love, in high definition, at a fair price. For our advertisers, who allow us to keep our Hulu Plus price low with the support of ad revenue, we offer one of the world’s most effective advertising platforms, with the ability to speak effectively to users across a variety of devices, anywhere they happen to be. And finally, for our content partners, we offer revenues that compensate them fairly for bearing the cost of producing the shows we love.
Is our work done? Not even close. There are more shows to license, more countries to expand into, and more product features to build. And we will.
But for today, we just want to share our latest project with you. We think it’s pretty great. We hope you do, too.
Jason Kilar jason@hulu.com
CEO, Hulu
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced that the "Back to the Future" 25th Anniversary Trilogy is hitting Blu-ray and DVD on October 26. The newly restored movies will feature more than two hours of new bonus features. The full announcement:
At 88 miles per hour, Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd took millions of spellbound viewers on a high-flying voyage across the space-time continuum in a trio of wildly inventive tales that broke box-office records around the world. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Academy Award®-winning cinematic franchise that generated nearly one billion dollars worldwide, the Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy will debut on Blu-ray™ on October 26, 2010 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The 25th Anniversary Trilogy will also be available on DVD.
Now, for the first time ever, the past, present and future collide in eye-popping high definition for a time-traveling celebration featuring new 25th Anniversary restorations for perfect picture and the purest digital sound. More than two hours of all new bonus features have been added, including an all-new, six-part retrospective documentary featuring never-before-seen interviews with the cast, crew and filmmakers, including Michael J. Fox, for the definitive Back to the Future experience.
On October 26, 1985, Marty McFly took the driver's seat in Dr. Emmet Brown's DeLorean and introduced audiences to Back to the Future, a journey that launched a new era of moviemaking magic and reinvented the adventure-comedy genre. The film, which spent 11 weeks at #1 at the U.S. box office, boasts a legendary Hollywood pedigree that includes director Robert Zemeckis, executive producers Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, producer and screenwriter Bob Gale and producer Neil Canton. Accompanying Fox and Lloyd on their warp-speed tour of McFly family history are an array of stars including Lea Thompson ("Caroline in the City"), Crispin Glover (Hot Tub Time Machine), Thomas F. Wilson ("Big Love"), Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas), Billy Zane (Titanic), Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings trilogy) and Mary Steenburgen (The Proposal) as well as 1980s musical icons Huey Lewis and ZZ Top.
BONUS FEATURES EXCLUSIVE TO Blu-ray™: Unleash the power of your HDTV with perfect picture and the purest digital sound available.
* U-CONTROL: Universal's exclusive signature feature allows viewers to learn more about their favorite film without ever leaving the movie.
o Setups & Payoffs: As you watch each of the three films, each "set up" showcases items in the scene that prepare you for a future plot point. When you get to that moment in the film, the "payoff" is shown to complete the correlation.
o Storyboard Comparison: Compare key scenes in the movie with the original storyboards.
o Trivia Track: Get inside trivia and facts while you watch the movies.
* BD-LIVE™: Access the BD-Live™ Center through your Internet-connected player to get even more content, watch the latest trailers and more!
* My Scenes: Bookmark your favorite scenes from the movies.
* pocket BLU™: USHE's groundbreaking pocket BLU app uses iPhone®, iPod® touch, iPad®, Blackberry®, Android™, Windows and Macintosh computers and more to work seamlessly with a network-connected Blu-ray™ player and offers advanced features such as:
o Advanced Remote Control: A sleek, elegant new way to operate your Blu-ray™ player. Users can navigate through menus, playback and BD-Live™ functions with ease.
o Video Timeline: Users can easily bring up the video timeline, allowing them to instantly access any point in their favorite episode.
o Mobile-To-Go: Users can unlock a selection of bonus content with their Blu-ray™ discs to save to their device or to stream from anywhere there's a Wi-Fi network, enabling them to enjoy exclusive content on the go, anytime, anywhere.
o Browse Titles: Users will have access to a complete list of pocket BLU™-enabled titles available and coming to Blu-ray™. They can view free previews and see what additional content is available to unlock on their device.
o Keyboard: Enter data into a Blu-ray™ player with your device's easy and intuitive keyboard.
* Archival Featurette Back to the Future Night: Hosted by Leslie Nielson, this original 30-minute special aired on NBC prior to the first television screening of the Back to the Future.
BLU-RAY™ and DVD BONUS FEATURES
* Tales from the Future: New six-part retrospective documentary featuring interviews with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Director Robert Zemeckis, Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton, plus Executive Producer Steven Spielberg.*
o In the Beginning . . .: Delve into the genesis of the project, casting, re-casting, the DeLorean, sets and overall pre-production.
o Time to Go: Production stories through the release of the first film.
o Keeping Time: The score and the songs of the Back to the Future Trilogy.
o Time Flies: Learn more about how the sequel came about, the futuristic look, the special and visual effects, recreating 1955 and more.
o Third Time's the Charm: Learn about building a western town, Doc Brown's love story, the casting of Mary Steenburgen, the train sequence and completing the Trilogy.
o The Test of Time: Back to the Future becomes a phenomenon! President Reagan quotes the film, the Back to the Future ride opens at Universal Studios theme park and fans rebuild the iconic DeLorean. The film's cast and crew take a look back and discuss why these beloved movies live on.
* The Physics of Back To The Future: A discussion with celebrity best-selling author and physicist Dr. Michio Kaku about the overall appreciation of the science in the Back to the Future Trilogy*
* Nuclear Test Site Ending Storyboard Sequence: Storyboard sequence of the original proposed ending of the film.*
* 16 Deleted Scenes
* Michael J. Fox Q&A
* Q&A Commentaries with Director Robert Zemeckis and Producer Bob Gale
* Feature Commentaries with Producers Bob Gale and Neil Canton
* Archival Featurettes
o Making the Trilogy: Chapters One, Two & Three: Original 2002 DVD documentary that takes a look back in time.
o The Making Of Back to the Future Part I, II & III: Provides a vintage and historic first look at the making of all three films.
o The Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy: a televised special hosted by Kirk Cameron addressing fans unanswered Back to the Future questions.
* Behind-the-Scenes
o Outtakes
o Original Makeup Tests
o Production Design
o Storyboarding
o Designing the DeLorean
o Designing Time Travel
o Hoverboard Test
o Designing Hill Valley
o Designing the Campaign
* Back to the Future: The Ride
* Music Videos:
o Huey Lewis and the News "Power of Love"
o ZZ Top "DoubleBack"
* Photo Galleries, Including Production Art, Additional Storyboards, Photographs, Marketing Materials and Character Portraits
* Theatrical Trailers
* Denotes new footage debuting on the 25th Anniversary Trilogy
SYNOPSES
Back to the Future
From the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis comes Back to the Future, the original, groundbreaking adventure that sparked one of the most successful trilogies in Hollywood history. When teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is blasted to 1955 in the DeLorean time machine created by the eccentric Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), he finds himself mixed up in a time-shattering chain reaction that could vaporize his future—and leave him trapped in the past. Powered by innovative special effects, unforgettable songs and non-stop action, Back to the Future is an unrivaled adventure that stands the test of time.
Back to the Future Part II
Getting back was only the beginning as the most spectacular time-travel adventure ever continues in Back to the Future Part II—the sequel that proves that lightning can strike twice! Picking up precisely where they left off, Marty and Doc (Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd) launch themselves to the year 2015 to fine-tune the future and inadvertently disrupt the space-time continuum. Now, their only chance to fix the present is by going back to 1955 again before it's too late. From Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future Part II provides more of the timeless excitement that made Back to the Future an unforgettable adventure.
Back to the Future Part III
They've saved the biggest trip for last as the most popular time-traveling movie trilogy ever comes to a rousing conclusion in Back to the Future Part III. Stranded in 1955 after a freak accident, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) discovers he must travel back to 1885 to rescue Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) before he becomes smitten with schoolteacher Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen). Now, it's up to Marty to keep Doc out of trouble, get the DeLorean running, and put the past, present and future on track so they can all get back to where—and when—they belong. From the Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future Part III is a spectacular grand finale to the unforgettable blockbuster series.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION BLU-RAY™:
Street Date: October 26, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Selection Number: 61112394
Layers: BD-50
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen, 1.85:1
Rating: PG
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French Subtitles
Sound: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish DTS Surround 5.1, French DTS Surround 5.1
Run Time:
Back To The Future – 1 hour, 56 minutes
Back To The Future II – 1 hour, 48 minutes
Back To The Future III – 1 hour, 58 minutes
TECHNICAL INFORMATION DVD
Street Date: October 26, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Selection Number: 61114696
Layers: Dual
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Rating: PG
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French Subtitles
Sound: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
from: http://twitter.com/GearsViking (Executive Producer of the Gears of War franchise at Epic Games) Next explosive XP event - "Tick, Tick, Boom!" Horde waves 1-9 all Tickers, wave 10 all Boomers and 8x XP. Event runs July 1st (Canada Day!), 9 AM EDT thru to July 6th, 9AM EDT to cover the holidays. update To answer some questions - XP applies to all modes, also Tickers 11-19 and Boomers on 20 (repeat) and it's 4x the now default double XP (2x4=8) MovieMiguel.com
For the uninitiated, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is a cavalcade of fascination; a pulsing, explosive beacon of lasers, smoke machines and silicone. Dreams get thrown into the spotlight, promises get made, fans cheer and millions of dollars are lit on fire. But for game developers and publishers, E3 is also a dangerous tightrope walk above a pit of embarrassment. And this year many found a creative new way to fall face-first in to it. Here are the absolute worst offenders.
5. Ubisoft's Sweaty Out-of-Breath Guy Plays Laser Tag
In a sea of revolutionary new videogame ideas and hands-free motion controllers, leave it to Ubisoft to spend ten minutes in the middle of their press conference showing us a "game" that was fun at birthday parties in 1994. Battle Tag isn't a videogame, which means you shouldn't even be reading this paragraph on this website, and I shouldn't have had to sit through that portion of their press conference. Hey Ubisoft, maybe next you can make a game about Perfect Strangers! Crap, we probably said that too loud.
4. Sony Pretends We Care About Who They're In Bed With
Kevin Butler might be the single greatest persona to ever grace the stage of a videogame press conference, but that's A) because he's a paid, professionally trained actor and B) because his competition usually ranges from "soccer mom recounting her recent ski trip" to "guy who did something upside-down at the X-Games." He's a character from Sony's hilarious and successful ad campaign, and he rocked the stage with a confident swagger unseen in the usual batch of awkward nerdy guys sputtering sales chart data. Good stuff. But having his whole bit prefaced by Sony of America CEO Jack Tretton bragging about the recent deal he cut with Coca-Cola? Yeah, that's probably a bit too much.
Congrats on convincing a carbonated beverage company to temporarily turn their bottling plant in to a PlayStation Move sticker assembly line, but as gamers, that has zero bearing on anything we care about. We don't gather all of our friends in a hall and regale tales of when we hooked up with the most notoriously trampy girls at the local bar and neither should Sony. Keep your secret handshakes and hook-ups to yourselves.
3. Microsoft Press Conference Devolves Into a Giddy Oprah TV Taping
Microsoft kicked off their formal press conference with obviously expected yet still anticipated sequels to things we already liked when they had lesser names and numbers attached to them. Gears of War, Call of Duty and Halo all prominently flashed their newest sequel thematic plastic surgeries and polygonal appendages on mega screens. But then Microsoft's gun-toting sausage party devolved into a whimsical dance of motion-controlled Kinect games, instantly alienating a hall packed with burly, unkempt manbabies (present company included) by highlighting a grueling new world of dance, pet and sport minigames, all of which are based on a videogame controller that didn't recognize thumbs.
Yet, just as we were ready to write the whole fiasco off, Microsoft announced that a new Xbox model was being shipped to stores that minute, injecting some sense of urgency into an otherwise stagnant and jaded crowd. Better yet, everyone in attendance gets one for free! It was a beautifully orchestrated magician's trick, and we all scrambled like children with birthday caps to grab our freebies. Never mind the reports that Kinect might have some issues with seated players. Or that your pet Kinectimal can't recognize your hands unless you violently air-grab it. Or that pretty much any game that any of us has played in the last two decades won't work properly on this thing. Free Xbox, you say? Put it in our hands and we'll cheer like horny tweens in the front row of the new Twilight flick, tossing problems to the wind. Ellen, we're all yours now.
2. The Creator of Legend of Zelda Can't Play Legend of Zelda
Blame cell phone interference, George W. Bush and BP, but the bottom line is, Shigeru Miyamoto pretty much spent 20 minutes at Nintendo's E3 struggling to play Nintendo's latest Zelda title. Technical difficulties meant his Wii remote's IR sensor looked like it was having a seizure the whole time, making Shiggy way off on even the simplest of sword slashes and attacks. It didn't help that Skyward Sword in general looked unprepared for its big stage debut, with a bland and minimal demo forest that featured nothing but two enemies and a tree. It was a dark moment for a franchise that otherwise thrives on being polished and gloriously presentable.
1. Microsoft Humiliates and Shames a Stadium Full of Gamers
We flew in to Los Angeles on the Sunday before E3, giddy with excitement and anticipation. Why were we there on Sunday when the actual show didn't start until Tuesday, you ask? Because Microsoft had a magical and highly secretive Kinect unveiling to wow us with. We anxiously lined up around the block to enter their mystical arena of hands-free enlightenment. Two hours later we emerged dizzied, baffled and shamed. What happened during that time was a horror that few will tell the tale of, but it involved Microsoft forcing us to wear shimmering white space muumuus while Cirque Du Soleil contortionists molested each other on a ramp covered in plastic ferns. Whitewashed families hung from couches in the rafters and pristine living rooms full of happy children rotated in the distance. Flower petals grew from our once hairy chests, a Pantera album bonfire erupted from the center of the room and every maternal unit in America found a testicle to crush. It was nothing short of terrifying and no one in attendance will ever, ever fully cleanse themselves.
Not lucky enough to find yourself in front of a Kinect sensor at E3 last week? Then it looks like you might not have to wait until November after all -- Microsoft has just announced that you can now try it out at any Microsoft Store nationwide. That includes the San Diego store that just opened today and, well, all three others -- in Scottsdale, AZ, Mission Viego, CA, and Lone Tree, CO. Interestingly, Microsoft is also reminding folks that they can pre-order Kinect at the Microsoft Store website, but that site now states that "official pricing has not yet been announced," and that "$149.99 is an estimate only and subject to change."
Dear Xbox LIVE Members, Today at E3, we revealed our vision for the transformation of games and entertainment. It was an honor to share with you the work the Xbox LIVE team has done this year.
On stage, I announced an exclusive collaboration between ESPN and Xbox LIVE to bring the stadium experience right into your living room, with more than 3,500 live and on-demand global sports events on ESPN3.com. I also announced Video Kinect and Zune music on Xbox LIVE, which will be enhanced by Kinect for Xbox 360, a truly extraordinary technology that makes these experiences simple, natural and above all, fun. I also talked about our continuing commitment to our global members, bringing Xbox LIVE to virtually every country where Xbox is sold and continuing to expand content and experiences around the world.
This innovation is our passion and our obligation to you, the Xbox LIVE community. The 25 million of you playing “Halo” (Microsoft Game Studios) and “Call of Duty” (Activision), watching movies on Zune and Netflix, and sharing with your friends have pushed us to think big and to continue delivering new and meaningful experiences.
We also unveiled the new Xbox 360. Built for you, the Xbox 360 250GB is back in black with a sleeker and leaner design, is whisper-quiet, and comes with an internal removable 250GB hard drive. It also boasts the fastest Wi-Fi built in on any console providing an even easier connection to your Xbox LIVE favorites, including the new offerings that we announced today.
With that in mind, I’d like to share a few more announcements and details about what’s in store for Xbox LIVE, including downloadable hits delivered in the third annual Summer of Arcade program, enhanced Netflix features, and much more.
• The New Dashboard and Kinect for Xbox 360. Here at E3 we’ve shown how Kinect for Xbox 360 will transform the way we experience entertainment. We’ve updated the dashboard with a new look and feel that makes it more inviting and open. We’ve also added the Kinect Hub, a portal to all the controller-free games and entertainment available on your Xbox 360, which you can access with the wave of your hand or the sound of your voice. Our vision for using your voice is “if you can see it, you can say it.” When you say “Xbox,” your console will reveal the commands you can say to navigate and interact with your entertainment. Kinect can also track 48 different points on each player’s body simultaneously. In only minutes it can learn your face and recognize you the next time you want to sign in. It’s truly remarkable to witness technology disappear, and we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of what it can do. Kinect also makes your existing games better. If you want, you can use it for party and in-game voice chat for all of your games on LIVE.
• Summer of Arcade. Summer of Arcade is a program that has delivered some of the most beloved Xbox LIVE Arcade games of all time, including “Braid” (Microsoft), “Castle Crashers” (Microsoft), “Shadow Complex” (Microsoft), and “Trials HD” (Microsoft). This year, enjoy another stellar line-up: “Castlevania Harmony of Despair” (Konami Digital Entertainment), “Hydro Thunder Hurricane” (Microsoft), “Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light” (Square Enix), “Limbo” (Microsoft) and “Monday Night Combat” (Microsoft). The third annual Summer of Arcade will kick-off in July, and will continue to bring you the best downloadable titles in the industry. This comes hot off the heels of Xbox LIVE Arcade Block Party, which resulted in a record breaking March – the highest number of downloads for the month of March to date in Arcade history.
• Netflix Search. We're proud of our continued innovation with Netflix. We were the first gaming console to bring instantly streaming movies from Netflix right to the living room. The first to let you update your Netflix instant Queue without a computer. And Xbox LIVE remains the only place you can share the fun with up to seven friends in a Movie Party. Starting this November, Xbox 360 will offer Netflix search. Just type what you’re looking for, immediately search from thousands of titles you can watch instantly, and update your Queue, all right over Xbox LIVE. We’re making your entertainment easier to discover.
• The Xbox LIVE and ESPN Community. Our breakthrough collaboration with ESPN is going to fundamentally change the way people think about sports at home. But beyond bringing the competition into your living room, Xbox LIVE is bringing unique new ways to share the sports you love with your friends and the entire community. With ESPN on Xbox LIVE you can become part of the action by declaring your allegiance to your team and seeing how many other Xbox LIVE members are on the same side. Join other fans with group trivia, polls and predictions that pit you against friendly rivals. You’ll be able to see what the Xbox LIVE community is watching, and which are the most popular games and events at that moment in time. It’s sports made more social, exciting and accessible, only on Xbox LIVE.
• More Music with Zune. Today, we took the next leap forward by bringing Zune music to Xbox LIVE. Zune will deliver seven million tracks to the Xbox LIVE community and an intuitive music experience unlike any other with Kinect. Zune music on Xbox also integrates seamlessly with the 16,000 music videos available through Zune on Xbox LIVE, so if you own a video it will automatically play on-screen during the corresponding song.
We’re proud that we have new partners, more gaming and entertainment content than ever before, and new ways to access and discover that content.
As we head into a new decade, my hope is to continue breaking barriers and crossing boundaries on Xbox LIVE by delivering the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, wherever you are. While I’m incredibly proud of my team and what we’ve shared with you today, the best is yet to come. Keep playing, keep sharing, keep pushing us.
See you on LIVE,
Marc Whitten
Gamertag - Notwen
www.twitter.com/notwen
Ask the right questions, get the right answers. An internal marketing Q&A for Microsoft about confirm that Kinect will be bundled with consoles, and a $199 configuration of its new Xbox 360 will be available this fall.
In its document, Microsoft said Kinect would be available as a standalone device and as "part of a bundle with the newly designed Xbox 360 console," but "we have no additional details about pricing or retail strategy to share at this time." Kinect bundles already sprouted up at GameStop, earlier this week, an Arcade bundle for $299 and an Elite bundle for $399.
An Arcade version of the new black Xbox 360 was also alluded to, although, read verbatim, the Microsoft document says simply:
Q: Will you sell a $199 version of the new Xbox 360?
A: We will offer a $199 Xbox 360 this fall.
There were no further details about this console's features, such as hard drive/onboard storage (if any) or WiFi, which is 250GB and internal, respectively, on the new Slim design. A $199 model would probably lack both. The current Arcade layout supports HDMI output so that would probably carry over, at least.
In case you're wondering, that's the promo shot of the 250GB layout, which one assumes will look the same externally. Microsoft has provided no images of the bundles or the $199 slim.
The new, smaller, sexier Xbox 360 is in stores now, and if you know where to go it can be yours for as little as $90.
As a member of the Kotaku team not present at Microsoft's 2010 E3 press conference, I do not get the new Xbox 360 for free, so as soon as I got home I contacted my local GameStop to see if they had them in stock. They do, and even better, they've got trade-in specials going for the original Xbox 360 that make upgrading a lot less painful.
I feel it bears mentioning that my local GameStop manager didn't know about the new model until a customer called him asking for it, ten minutes after the Microsoft presser ended. For a company the regularly leaks information like a sieve, that's rather impressive.
But we aren't here to be impressed by secrets. We're here to be impressed by savings.
Right now the Xbox 360 base unit is trading in for $100 store credit. That's without hard drive and with one controller.
GameStop trades in the hard drives separately as they have to send them off to be cleaned. The smallest size, 20GB, trades in for $30, with the 60GB, 120GB, and 250GB netting you $35, $40, and $50 respectively.
Then there's the network adapter. The new system has built-in Wi-Fi, so your wireless adapter is now obsolete. The white version trades in for $40, while the newer black version will score you $50 credit.
And let's not forget the Edge card, which gives you an extra 10 percent store credit for accessories.
So, if you've got a 250GB Xbox 360 with the black wireless adapter, your trade-in credit works out like this:
System: $100
Network Card: $50 ($55 with Edge card)
Hard Drive: $50 ($55 with Edge card)
————————————————————————
Total: $200 ($210 with Edge)
With the new Xbox 360 selling for $299, that leaves only $90 to $100 unaccounted for.
Other items you can trade-in include wireless controllers at $25 apiece, and wired controllers for $20.
So yes, trading up to the new 360 isn't as painful as it could be, and GameStop told me that if they sell out, they'll let you reserve from the next batch, with the trade-in special still applying.
Of course you have your saved data to worry about, but that just means you'll have to play your favorite games all over again, and who doesn't love doing that?
Update: Someone named Fred informed us that GameStop will give you the trade-in price for your hard drive up to seven days after your purchase, meaning you can transfer your data and bring the drive back later and still receive the credit.
Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek, the developer behind Crysis 2, wants the newest demo of his studio's game to demonstrate all the ways the franchise has changed since the original Crysis. And change it has: the days of fighting stupid alien enemies or having to manage a large number of suit powers are gone. Gone also are the gigantic jungle environments that became synonymous with the original, replaced instead by partially destroyed city levels that Yerli calls "Orchestrated Sandboxes."
In layman's terms Orchestrated Sandboxes translate into smaller, more linear stages that guide the player in the direction the game wants you to go. Still, the world of Crysis 2 is by no means tiny -- and compared to other guided shooters it's actually quite large -- it's just noticeably smaller than it's predecessors. What you have in Crysis 2 are a series of arenas more on par with the Halo franchise -- a number of environments that still have a singular exit, but that are playgrounds that you can exploit in a number of ways.
To exploit the environment Crysis 2 sees the return of the franchise's signature Nanosuit. However, if you fell in love with the somewhat large number of suit options in the original, prepare to be surprised: this time around the Nanosuit's been streamlined, with all the powers being combined into two modes that cater to stealth and aggressive players. If you're in a situation that calls for more armor and higher strength you hit one button and you're suddenly receiving both powers (unlike the original, where strength and armor were separate). Alternatively, if you want to be a more tactical warrior, you can activate a stealth mode that makes you temporarily invisible.
But while I'm sure PC purists will cry foul at the simplification of the Nanosuit, one thing everyone should enjoy is the enhanced enemy A.I. Fighting against a series of new alien opponents, Yerli filled me in on how various enemy types will come at you in different ways. For instance a Predator-looking alien that commonly attacked me in the demo always comes in pairs, and attacks in a hit-and-run fashion. Here's the catch, though: if you give chase to the one that runs it's partner will jump at you, forcing you to reconsider pursuit lest you fall into an enemy trap. While this was only an example of one coordinated A.I. behavior, I was told that other enemy types will challenge the player in other unexpected ways.
When the enemies start behaving in ways that surprise it's up to you to adapt and surprise them right back -- and Crysis 2 gives you the tools to do so. If you run up to cover your character will now dynamically aim over it, or lean from it just like he could on the PC. And if you have your strength suit power equipped it sometimes gets even better: many items in the environment are interactive, meaning that your character can kick them across the world, giving himself what is essentially mobile cover, or changing them into mobile bombs if you take the initiative and attach some explosives to them. A high strength suit kick is also useful for taking out enemies who get close to one of the cities many abandoned cars, as you can kick them into enemies and kill them outright.
One thing that was missing from the Crysis 2 demo I played was the alien's signature ice weapons, but Yerli assures me that they have more announcements coming for how the aliens will affect the world around them. Not that I'll be surprised if they just outright abandon the ice element of the original, as Yerli admits that Crysis 2 is more a reboot of the franchise than a straight up sequel. Oh well, you can call it a sequel, you can call it a reboot, but I'll just call it like I see it -- entertaining to play. MovieMiguel.com
There isn't just one paid online console gaming service, anymore. There are two. Xbox Live and the newly revealed PlayStation Plus are going head-to-head. But, how are the two services different?
This is what we know so far:
Price
An annual "Gold" membership for Xbox Live is $49.99. The "Silver" membership is totally free, however. The upcoming PSN Plus is also priced at $49.99 for a year and $17.99 for three months. The regular PSN service is free of charge. Sony is planning on offering an initial three month trial membership, free of charge.
Downloadable Content
Both Xbox Live Gold and Silver members have access to downloadable content like demos and game trailers; however, some Xbox Live Gold content becomes available to Silver members a week later. According to Sony, the PlayStation Plus "Exclusives" include "full game trial" as well as "select early demos". PlayStation Plus offers a "Full Game Trial". According to Sony, that means players can play a game for up to one hour and purchase the title to unlock trophies and continue said title.
For current PSN users, demos and game trailers, and we do not see this changing, because it is such a powerful marketing tool for games. The "select early demos" bit sounds similar to how Microsoft rolls out content early on Xbox Live for Gold members.
Discounts
Microsoft has had "weekly deals" on Xbox Live to Gold members with 50 percent on select Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox originals and downloadable content. Sony's Playstation Plus is planning to offer its paid users PSN Store discounts, free games and downloadable content. You would also get access to one new PSN game per month (possibly only for as long as you're a paying subscriber, though we're not sure of that).
Chat
Both Xbox Live Gold and Silver members have voice chat capabilities, but video chat and party chat are reserved for the fee-based Gold members. Sony currently offers free voice chat and voice free of charge to its PSN users. No word yet on what new robust chat services will be offered via the PlayStation Plus.
Social Networking Sites
Paid Xbox Live Gold users get Twitter and Facebook integration, while Xbox Live Silver members do not. Sony's free PSN service already offers Facebook integration.
Netflix
Netflix is already available on both the PSN and Xbox Live. It is currently a paid, separate subscription for the PSN users. For the Xbox 360, only Xbox Live Gold membership members may access their paid Netflix account.
Multiplayer
The traditional divide between Microsoft's paid Gold service and its free Silver service is multiplayer. On the Xbox 360, players that want to experience multiplayer online gaming must play the Gold membership fees. Conversely, since the PS3 launched, it has offered free multiplayer gaming. PlayStation Plus does not currently appear as though it will change this.
Firmware...Wait, Firmware?
According to Sony, the company has made it easier for PlayStation Plus users to get their firmware updates. More details on this as they become available. Microsoft does not offer such a service to Xbox Live members.
This is, as previously mentioned, what we currently know and obviously subject to change once Sony launches PlayStation Plus later this summer. There will be kinks for the company to iron out, so stay tuned to see how Sony continues to differentiate its paid online service from Microsoft's. The battle of the paid subscriptions is just getting started.
The news today that a new version of Nintendo 64 classic GoldenEye 007 was met with cheers at today's Nintendo E3 press conference. I played the game. It's good but it's not the remake you may have thought it was.
The James Bond game is being developed by Eurocom and Activision, not Rare and Nintendo, the companies that made the original Nintendo 64 GoldenEye. That's not a surprise and not necessarily a problem. Eurocom can make a good game.
It is a first-person shooter, based on the fiction of the 1995 Pierce Brosnan movie. But the story of that movie has been changed. GoldenEye is now the adventure of the Daniel Craig version of James Bond and plays up an international banking crisis angle rather than a Cold War problem. Both games, however, send the player, as Bond, around the world to locations important to fans of movie and games: A dam, a statue park, the streets of St. Petersburg, where a chase involving a military tank will occur.
The levels of the new GoldenEye are not necessarily recreations of the original game's. The locations have been changed in some cases the developer told me. Happily, the game's opening dam level gets some loving care in being updated for a modern audience. It opens in similar fashion with a camera swoop that brings us into Bond's point-of-view. It starts with a scramble past some guards into a guard tower (which contains a sniper rifle, of course) and then through a tunnel inside a truck. That's the spot where differences become abundant. Did you play the original GoldenEye dam level and hide behind that truck? You'll be in it, riding shotgun (Alec Trevaylan is behind the wheel), getting stopped by guards and suddenly in an on-rails shootout. You'll be shooting your machine gun through the front window as guards try to run you off the wall. You'll be blowing up a tanker truck that is in the way and out to the dam you'll go, as a rocket launcher flips your truck.
As with the original GoldenEye, the game will require players using harder difficulty levels to complete more mission objectives. New to the game will be forking options to turn the game more into an action shooter or into a stealthy hunt.
Many of Bond's classic weapons are back, including the Klobb, which has been renamed the Klebb. The health system has changed, now using the same regenerative system seen in most shooters.
Multiplayer is presented in four-player splitscreen or eight-player online, with an experience points system that unlocks perks. Maps will be drawn from familiar locations, but the layouts will not be the same as they were in the Nintendo 64 version of the game. After watching the dam level, I was able to play a round of four-player split screen. In the mode we played, the first player to 10 kills won. I got seven and found the gameplay to be smooth. I used a Wii Remote and Nunchuk set-up which used the pointer to aim and mapped a melee move to a shake of the Nunchuk (probably will be changed to a button press, I was told). Other players used the Wii Classic Controller Pro.
I didn't see but was told that sticky mines will be back. I think people will like that, yes?
GoldenEye will be out exclusively for the Wii in November. It was fun, but for better and worse it is not a slavish remake of the original GoldenEye. They are doing the reinvented-for-modern-times thing. Let's hope that is the right thing. The re-imagined dam level had enough callbacks to the original game to make me smile and just enough high-action set-pieces to remind me that we are not in a 90s video game world anymore.
Be optimistic about this one, but pay attention to the pitch.
I think the social cliques would look a little something like this.
June 15, 2010
With all the rumors, backstabbing, parties, and secret hook-ups, E3 is already kind of like High School. But what if E3 really was a High School. I think the social cliques would look a little something like this.
Wireless messaging lets you receive special text messages about Movie Miguel directly on your cell phone! We will let you know about The Movie Miguel Show, Dj Movie Miguel, TV appearances, events, special announcements, and other information that you just can't live without. You can unsubscribe at any time. To sign up, just enter your cellphone number and hit submit! Standard text message rates apply.
Universal Studios 
Ask the right questions, get the right answers. An internal marketing Q&A for Microsoft about confirm that Kinect will be bundled with consoles, and a $199 configuration of its new Xbox 360 will be available this fall.
The new, smaller, sexier Xbox 360 is in stores now, and if you know where to go it can be yours for as little as $90.
There isn't just one paid online console gaming service, anymore. There are two. Xbox Live and the newly revealed PlayStation Plus are going head-to-head. But, how are the two services different?
