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'Asteroids' heading towards the big screen?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Universal has won an all-out "bidding war" over the film rights to Atari's classic Asteroids video game. We're not entirely sure who all was involved in this "war," but the conflict couldn't possibly be prompted over the universal themes tackled by the story of the plucky little triangular spaceship and the asteroid field it inhabits. As the Reporter, um, reports: "As opposed to today's games, there is no story line or fancy world-building mythology." Michael Bay is rumored to be very interested in directing.[Via George Ruiz]
Blockbuster announcing streaming set-top box this month?
The Hollywood Reporter is stating in no uncertain terms that Blockbuster is developing a set-top box to stream video into the home. Now the real bombshell: it should be announced "sometime this month." The device is expected to make the most of Blockbuster's access to Movielink's 6,000 strong Movie catalog just as soon as the content is migrated to Blockbuster.com (sometime before June). While delivering movies into the home electronically certainly challenges Blockbuster's brick and mortar business, really, what choice do they have in the relentless face of progress.
Rumor: Xbox 360 gets $50 price cut in August
The Hollywood Reporter, er, reports that Microsoft will cut the price of the Xbox 360 by $50 in early August. THR says their source believes the price cut is because August is traditionally one of the slowest times of the year. That may be true, but our magical source from the nether dimension says it's probably got just as much to do with the megaton called Halo 3 dropping in Sept. 25.The report really has no new information to bring to the "When's Microsoft finally going to drop the price?" game. The best they've got is an unnamed source. Please, if we trotted out every tip we've gotten on an Xbox 360 price drop we could probably do a Best in Show presentation based on grammar, probability of validity, and firmness in belief. Is the price drop rumor true? Well, we think it's got to happen sometime soon ... right?[Thanks Joel]
Are we all just here to grind?
I don't often look to the Hollywood Reporter for, well, anything. So when I read an article talking about MMOs, I was a little skeptical. But as it turns out they have some interesting things to say about WoW and the MMO market. Most of the article is a large advertisement for Mesa Studios' latest endeavor, Stargate Worlds, but being that WoW is the top dog in MMOs today, they spend a lot of time talking about what makes WoW successful. They say that the grinding element is, in part, one of the reasons that players keep playing World of Warcraft. Now, Mr. Ybarra, the gentleman from Stargate Worlds sounds as if he doesn't have much experience with WoW as an actual game when he says this: The paradigm for customer retention at 'WoW' and most of the other MMOGs is to build a game that takes the player 2,000 hours to reach Level 500...
Superman Returns director talks HD DVD extras
Bryan Singer, director of the new movie Superman Returns did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter recently and talked a lot about the special effects technology that went into the movie, plus the inclusion of blogging for fans during the moviemaking process. Despite the fact that the movie hasn't even been released in theaters yet, he's already giving details on the DVD versions. He mentions specifically Warner's In Movie Experience (IME) technology, using the interactive technology of HD DVD (and potentially Blu-ray also) to show behind the scenes looks as well as cast interviews while the movie continues playing. He sounds pretty excited, and the feeling is catching.This is good not just for HDTV owners to hear such things are coming down the pipe, this kind of exposure about the additional features for the new formats will be very key in them being accepted by mainstream consumers. Can we expect a day-and-date HD DVD/Blu-ray release for Superman Returns?[Via MovieWeb]
