dragonslair
Latest
Netflix is working on a live-action 'Dragon's Lair' movie
After the massive success of Stranger Things, Netflix is delving back into '80s culture for another of its upcoming projects. It's developing a live-action movie based on the classic arcade game Dragon's Lair (which the Stranger Things kids actually play in the show's second season).
How modern tech saved my 'Dragon's Lair' arcade game
In the early 1980s, the arcade was still the place to play the newest and best video games. Sure, consoles existed, and were just starting to give arcades a run for their money -- and were even starting to shed their wood-grain home-furniture look for a more modern feel. But home play still lacked the arcade's mystique. As attendance began to dwindle, game makers started looking for a hook; something incredible and new that would lure people back to the arcades to spend their quarters.
'Dragons Lair' movie project leaves Kickstarter, heads to Indiegogo
Don't worry, Dragon's Lair fans, the proposed feature-length project is still happening -- but it won't be raising money on Kickstarter. Creators Don Bluth and Gary Goldman have cancelled their original crowdfunding campaign and will be relaunching it on Indiegogo on December 1. They promise it'll be "a stronger, more valiant campaign" that takes into account suggestions from fans. One big advantage Indiegogo has over Kickstarter is "Flexible Funding," which lets crowdfunding organizers keep the money they raise, even if they don't reach their goal. The pair aimed to raise $550,000 to produce a short to court investors and studios, who would hopefully back a feature-length Dragon's Lair film (which ultimately could cost upwards of $100 million). They ended up raising over $241,000 in one month before nixing the Kickstarter campaign. I can't blame them for aiming high, but honestly I'd settle for a lower-budget film backed by the likes of Netflix or Amazon.
The After Math: You've got to see this
What a week it's been for entertainment news on the internet! Netflix's first theatrical release, Beasts of No Nation, is racking up views; the NFL's first live-streamed game, which debuted on Yahoo!, was reasonably well-received; and we learned something new about our friend, the chameleon. And now for some numbers.
'Dragon's Lair' hits Kickstarter in search of a feature-length movie
That Dragon's Lair debuted as a LaserDisc format game/interactive movie but was never a proper film was always a little weird, but that could change. Original creators Don Bluth (An American Tale and The Land Before Time -- not Arrested Development) and Gary Goldman are taking their cinematic aspirations to Kickstarter in the hopes that you'd want to see protagonist Dirk the Daring once more. Dragon's Lair: The Movie will be a prequel this time 'round and fill in the bumbling knight's backstory. The idea here is that if the $550,000 goal's met, the team at Don Bluth Films, Inc. can make a fleshed out teaser presentation to show investors that a feature-length flick is worth pursuing to the tune of the proposed $70 million budget.
Dragon's Lair 30th anniversary now available for iPhone
Has it been 30 years? Wow! Dragon's Lair is a classic video game that arrived way back in 1983 featuring animation by former Disney animator Don Bluth. The original game kept its extensive graphics on a LaserDisc, the now dead optical disc format that was replaced by DVDs. The game had plenty of limitations. LaserDisc players started to fail under the strain of gameplay, as early players were really designed just for movies. The game moved to the arcades, and was one of the earliest games to charge 50 cents. I have dim memories of waiting in long lines to get a crack at it. The game is one of only three that sits in storage at the Smithsonian Institution, along with Pong and Pac-Man. Today, the game hit the App Store at US$4.99. The Dragon's Lair app includes all the original scenes, and a watch mode where you can just sit back and enjoy the animation. The game features high-definition graphics and looks great on Apple's Retina display. It also connects with Game Center. Just as in 1983, you take on the role of Dirk the Daring, a knight trying to rescue the princess from an evil dragon. You'll battle wizards and other nasty creatures to complete your quest. So grab a piece of history, and make your way down to the Dragon's Lair. The app requires iOS 4.3, and is optimized for the iPhone 5. It's not a universal app, so it will have to upscale on the iPad.
Steam Greenlight advances 13 more games, including Dragon's Lair
Valve is giving the Steam Greenlight to 13 more games and six non-gaming bits of software, taking the total for software advanced via Greenlight to 50. Moreover, the new batch of greenlit games includes a few recognizable names, including MMORPGs Darkfall: Unholy Wars and Dawn of Fantasy, and, yes, laserdisc classic Dragon's Lair.Digital Leisure, who only this year brought Dragon's Lair to Xbox Live Arcade, will now deliver the 1983 arcade game on Steam. As with the XBLA release, the Steam port will feature remastered game footage in 720p high definition.We have the full list of advanced software after the break.
Dragon's Lair landing on XBLA with Kinect support, lets you act out your princess-saving fantasies
The 1983 laserdisc classic Dragon's Lair is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade. That much we knew. What has us excited is that it'll come with a new control scheme, one that relies not on well-timed button mashing, but well-timed body flailing. That's right, whenever it does make its way to virtual shelves, the updated playable cartoon will sport Kinect support. Now, instead of making sure you press the button (yes, the one and only button) or flick the joystick in the right direction, you can mime sword swipes and swing from imaginary ropes. We can hardly wait. One more screen shot after the break.
Digital Leisure's Space Ace headed to HD DVD and Blu-ray
If you didn't quite get your fill of Dirk the Daring with Dragon's Lair on HD DVD and Blu-ray, Digital Leisure has you covered. Slated to arrive on April 8th on both major formats, the completely restored Space Ace will allow fans of the series to check out a 1080p version of the game and treat their ears to a freshly created 5.1-channel audio mix. Additionally, the title was authored in both BD-Java for Blu-ray and HDi for HD DVD, ensuring that customers have access to the highly-anticipated interactive features regardless of what camp they're in. Also of note, each title will have slightly different extras (detailed in the read link below), so hardcore fans should be sure to pick up both for the full experience -- if you're cool with dropping $49.95 apiece, that is.
PSP Dragon's Lair game needs publisher
Dragon's Lair is like Dracula in Castlevania games. No matter how many times it's killed, history's most interactive DVD menu screen continues to rise from the abyss, ready to arbitrarily kill players for their lack of memorization skills. Now, the game's making its way to PSP, that is, if United Coders can find a publishers for Dirk's reanimated corpse.This "Director's Cut" does have a few tweaks, with new scenes added, a castle map that displays your progress and five lives per player instead of three. (There's also an "Arcade" mode if you prefer fewer retries.) ... So, that's the end of the post. We know it was jarring, but unfortunately, our supply of punchy ways to end a story about Dragon's Lair were used up around the game's 17th iteration.
Dragon's Lair becomes even more linear on the DS
United Coders sent out a press release aimed at soliciting publishers for the PSP version of Dragon's Lair, and revealed some details about the identical-in-gameplay DS version in so doing. Since we didn't know anything about the game other than that it's Dragon's Lair, we were happy to see some specifics.The Director's Cut mode adds the drawbridge sequence that didn't make it into the original arcade game, but has been found in most home releases since then. It also removes the score counter from the game and increases the number of lives. But more interestingly, the Director's Cut changes the level structure of the game into a more linear one. The original Dragon's Lair levels were presented in a semi-random order, with each level selected from a small pool of potential choices. The Director's Cut follows a prescribed level order designed by Technical Producer Dave Hallock. There's also a scrolling display of your progressIn the NeoGAF discussion thread, we also found a link to videos taken by a beta tester on the game. Some HUD elements have been added since the last video. the Director's Cut is not shown, but the Arcade Mode footage looks fantastic, with the arcade-accurate LED score counter and everything. It is unknown whether the bizarre dual-screen view option is still around.Check after the break for, oddly enough, the PSP press release.
Dragon's Lair DS dares to display video
The news that Dragon's Lair would be making its way to the DS is either very exciting or very meh. Either way you slice it, the title is still one of the most revered in gaming and will surely find many consumers wishing to pick it up on the DS (that goes without saying that the game will find a brand new audience on the handheld, as well).
Dragon's Lair coming to HD DVD
More than a year after we first heard it was being remastered in high definition, Digital Leisure has announced plans to release Dragon's Lair on HD DVD. The old laserdisc classic, which already shipped on Blu-ray earlier this year comes to HD DVD August 15th. The 1080p visuals and 5.1 surround of the Blu-ray release are intact, and if that's not enough, it also plans to follow up with future releases of Space Ace and Dragon's Lair II on the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.
Dragon's Lair now bound for HD DVD
If you're like us, there was one primary factor in your choice of high-definition disc formats: the availability of Dragon's Lair. By that logic, we were siding with Blu-ray for awhile, but now we're just ambivalent.An HD-DVD version of Dragon's Lair is coming August 15 for $29.99, the same price as the Blu-ray incarnation. O, what are we to do? We can't decide, so we'll just stick to our DS version, thank you very much.
Dragon's Lair coming to DS
Released on Blu-ray just a few weeks ago, a DS incarnation of the classic arcade/Laserdisc adventure Dragon's Lair has been announced by Digital Leisure. At first we thought the two would go together as well as peanuts and bubblegum, but after reading what developer Wizardry Engineering is doing to make the game fit the system, we might have to reconsider.Dragon's Lair DS will be playable on one screen or split across two, holding the DS like a book. Touch screen control will be implemented, and there's even talk of voice recognition (blue ... BLUE!!!) and rumble pak support. Hey, if it worked on Game Boy Color, it should go over fine on the DS.[Via DS Fanboy
DS Dragon's Lair makes a Daring choice
The laserdisc classic Dragon's Lair is back again, after appearances on basically every system ever built, either in its original form (PC, Sega CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, Game Boy Color) or in some kind of terrible adaptation (NES, SNES, PS2). This time, Digital Leisure is releasing it in more or less original form on the DS, with some ... interesting options. Of particular interest is the ability to control the game via touch screen. We imagine this will involve tapping the appropriate side of the screen. There are also optional move indicators, voice control (?), rumble support, and multiple difficulty settings.And then there's the big feature. You can choose to play the game on one screen, or stretched across both. This allows Dragon's Lair to benefit from the advanced view obstruction technology not available in the arcade version. [Via NeoGAF]
Don Bluth trying to make Dragon's Lair movie
Lately it seems like Dragon's Lair has been all over the place. In addition to the recently released (and problematic) Blu-ray version, Cinematical reports that Don Bluth has been shopping around a new Dragon's Lair project recently, complete with a finished script and concept artwork. Bluth had worked on a feature film version that never saw the light of day back in 1983 ( you can check out some storyboards from that here).It'll be a prequel that details Dirk the Daring's adventures outside the lair ... so wouldn't calling it Dragon's Lair be a bit misleading? Kind of like a Star Wars movie that all takes place on one planet. Still, Bluth was quite the animation director back in the day, so here's hoping that this one gets off the ground and makes it to theaters. It'll have to be better than the Saturday morning cartoon version.Also, let's hope they give Dirk more to say than "Uh oh." Plus they should talk to this guy about the costuming.
Dragon's Lair may foil your Blu-ray player
Earlier this week, Dean Takahashi of The Mercury News asked in his blog, "Can anyone figure out what's going on here?" The question was brought about by the recent Blu-ray release of the arcade's animated reflex-a-thon, Dragon's Lair, as well as the unfortunate observation that it didn't seem to work at all on Dean's Philips player. He also experienced audio issues when placing the disc in his PlayStation 3.We contacted publisher Digital Leisure, hoping to ascertain whether or not this was a widespread issue. While they were unable to replicate the PS3 audio problem, they did note that certain stand-alone drives may be prone to playback issues. If you're at all interested in partaking in Bluth-ray antics, this is the part you'll want to pay attention to.During restoration and development , Dragon's Lair was tested on the following players: Samsung BD-P1000, Panasonic DMP-BD10, PowerDVD (PC), Sony BDP-S1 and the PlayStation 3. The use of BD-Java in Dragon's Lair is likely the source of problems in other players, as the Blu-ray Association's deadline for mandatory hardware BD-Java support (enabling fancy picture-in-picture features) was only recently set for October 31, 2007. "Due to the lack of Java standardization many players just aren't able to handle proper playback," says the Canadian publisher.Be sure to consult your manufacturer's website and support forums before you purchase the game -- "There is no way to tell whether a disc will or will not work without trying it out on a player." Excellent. Future firmware updates for your player may improve your chances, but for now, getting it to work is a game of chance. And even if you win, you still get Dragon's Lair.
Dragon's Lair bound for Blu-ray
Nostalgia can warp a mind in strange and terrible ways. Indeed, the fond memories swimming about in your brain may have lead you to believe that Dragon's Lair was, back in the day, a rather swell game. And look at that -- you've even been coerced into thinking it was a game. You've got a nasty surprise in store for you, or rather, a shockingly vivid, high-definition nightmare, should you decide to pick up the newly announced Blu-ray (and thus PS3) version of Don Bluth's "classic."The postcard we received (depicted above) prompted this warning of sorts, but perhaps we're being too harsh. The April 9th Blu-ray version does come equipped with 5.1 surround sound, remastered 1080p video, creator commentary and several new interviews. The official website also points to upcoming Blu-ray versions of Dragon's Lair II and Space Ace, two of the most revered entries in the die-over-and-over-again genre established by Dirk's original dragon-slaying adventure. If you're going to be skewered repeatedly in a joyless animation showcase, it may as well be in true HD.
Dragon's Lair remastered into high-def
Anyone around the early laserdisc scene has to remember Dragon's Lair. The game shipped with the Pioneer LD-V1000 and became an instant classic. The game wasn't as immersive as many people wanted and only offered the player a few options on how to control Dirk the Daring but even still, it was the first game to offer live motion graphics way back in '83. Well, the game is getting remastered to high-def by Digital Leisure and will be re-released on PC DVD complete with 5.1 surround sound. The game should be ready by the holiday season.You might want to check out the trailer too.
