clash of the titans
Latest
Clash of the Titans sequel will be another 2D-to-3D conversion, and Inception too?
After a poor response to the first Clash of the Titans movie and its substandard 3D effects, courtesy of a rushed conversion process, you'd think they would never try that again, and you'd be wrong. Director Jonathan Liebesman, fresh off of Battle:LA is helming sequel Wrath of the Titans and says was talked into doing the conversion process again (but shooting with that in mind, Piranha 3D-style) on this flick by a series of demos including, Christopher Nolan's Inception. This is notable both because no 3D re-release has been announced for the visually engrossing flick, but also because Nolan himself has suggested 3D would be a bad choice due to the dimming effect of the glasses. Warner Bros. could only manage to tell Cinematical "At this time, the plans for Inception 3D cannot be confirmed," leaving the possibility of a return alongside Star Wars, Titanic and others to twist in the wind for now.
Namco moving development to Japan in light of 'lacking' overseas developer performance
According to a Bloomberg report, Namco Bandai plans to shift the bulk of its game development back to Japan after a rocky year for its titles developed overseas. Company president Shukuo Ishikawa told Bloomberg, "We found the quality and development speed of titles made for us by the overseas studios to be lacking." He added that overseas studios will still be able to "propose and develop games" but that Namco's Japanese operation will "control the process more closely." After letting the likes of Clash of the Titans, Splatterhouse and Dead to Rights: Retribution out the door, we can appreciate Ishikawa's sentiments. That said, the company's sales projections may have been a little ... optimistic in the first place. Our completely unexperienced advice for Namco: Take the money spent on everything other than Enslaved and spend it on marketing Enslaved 2. Also, please make Enslaved 2.
Warner has six Blu-ray 3D discs headed to retail November 16, Sony brings along Open Season
We're not sure if they were just waiting for the PlayStation 3's Blu-ray 3D update to be officially announced, but Warner Bros. has finally responded to our pleas and mentioned a few Blu-ray 3D discs that are headed for retail without any exclusive bundling holding them back. Home Media Magazine reports that among them, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore will be a day-and-date release along with the standard DVD and Blu-ray editions, while the other five are Clash of the Titans, The Polar Express, IMAX Deep Sea 3D, IMAX Under the Sea 3D and IMAX Space Station 3D, all sporting $44.95 MSRPs. According to SVP Dorinda Marticorena, this push "is just the beginning" and timed to capitalize on an increase in sales of Blu-ray 3D hardware during the holidays. No doubt, as Sony Pictures has also apparently dated the release of Open Season in 3D for November 16 as well, the same day A Christmas Carol arrives -- 3D early adopters mark your calendars appropriately.
James Cameron, Piranha 3D actor Eli Roth speak up in support of 3D conversions
After Clash of the Titans and Avatar: The Last Airbender, we're leery of any movies rocking the converted-to-3D tag, but a few directors (not coincidentally, ones with 3D productions in the making they'd likely appreciate us buying tickets to see) claim the process itself isn't the problem. Among other comments (including discussing the upcoming return of Avatar to theaters exclusively in 3D, sequels and a new 3D flick on the way from Guillermo del Toro) with MarketSaw, our friend Jimmy C said "[Titans] showed a fundamental lack of knowledge about stereo space, in addition to the shoddy work that comes from rushing." Of course, we'll have to wait to see what the converted version of Titanic looks like, currently undergoing a process taking between 8-12 months. Eli Roth is in Piranha 3D, which debuts next weekend and is also a film that was filmed in 2D and converted in post, but he claims it's different from M Knight's flick because they planned ahead: "You can shoot digital 3-D and it looks great, or you can shoot film and convert and it looks great - but only if you planned to do it that way from the start...With Piranha 3D, the very title of the film is Piranha 3D," he continues. "It was written that way and photographed to be converted. This means that when you're setting up a shot, next to the camera is a technical adviser from the 3D company who tells you exactly what light won't work for the 3D, how far the subject has to be from the lens if you want it to look good when it pops out of the camera, etc...It's not easy and it's not instant and when it's a last minute rushed decision we can see it immediately. But to associate Piranha 3D, a film which spent years planning this, months shooting it with the technicians on set checking the convertibility of every shot, and so far 8 months working on the conversion, is not fair." Check Bloody-Disgusting for the rest of his comments, and listen to Cameron in his own words on MarketSaw -- we'll see how audiences and critics react over the coming weeks and months.
Swag Saturday: Clash of the Titans (360) [update]
Update: We've closed the comments and will be contacting a winner shortly. Thanks for commenting! Unless you're a big Madden fan, there's still a few weeks before the deluge of holiday releases begins and we're all swept away in its overabundance. It's the perfect time to pick up a title that might fall by the wayside in the next month or so -- say, like this week's Swag Saturday giveaway, Clash of the Titans. Sure, Justin probably wouldn't agree that anyone should spend time with it, but, well, it's free! How can you say no? Drop a comment below with your favorite character from the 1981 film for a chance to win -- and keep an eye on your commenter-tied inbox! You should probably also watch out for the Kraken. He is, after all, right behind you. To enter this giveaway: Leave a comment with your favorite character from the 1981 film. You must be 13 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). Limit 1 entry per person. This entry period ends at 7:01PM ET on Sunday, August 7. At that time, we will randomly select one winner to receive a copy of Clash of the Titans (Xbox 360) (ARV $60). For a list of complete rules, click here. What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.
Review: Clash of the Titans
I played the video game version of Clash of the Titans for around seven hours and, according to the game, have finished 31 percent of it. This would usually be unsatisfactory for a review, but in much the same way you'd only need to poll a small percentage of the population before you could confidently say that no one likes seeing immediate family members hit in the face with a ball-peen hammer, I feel like I've pretty much got the lay of the land here. This is a very bad game. %Gallery-80610%
Blu-ray releases on July 27th 2010
Love it or hate it the top title this week is the modern remake of Clash of the Titans. And if you are worried about more fake 3D, don't, this Blu-ray Discs has lots of features, but one of them isn't 3D. But even if this one isn't for you there are still a few others worth a look like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or maybe enjoy the extended cut of Rambo, with an extra 15 minutes of .50 action. If none of that appeals to you, then maybe you'd like Fanboys? Clash of the Titans (2010) (Warner) Batman: Under the Red Hood (Warner) Battlestar Galactica: Season 3 (Universal) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Sony) Johnny Handsome (Lionsgate) Lock Up (Lionsgate) Repo Men (Universal) Accidents Happen (Image) Steve Byrne: The Byrne Identity (Image) Operation: Endgame (Anchor Bay) Don't Look Up (E1) Fanboys (Weinstein) G.I. Joe: The Movie (Shout! Factory) Home (Kino Video) Ip Man (Well Go USA) Ip Man (Collector's Edition) (Well Go USA) Life After People: The Complete Season 2 (A&E) The Missing Lynx (Phase 4 Films) The Prowler (Blue Underground) Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (Full Moon) The Secret of the Grain (Criterion Collection) SGU: Stargate Universe, Season 1.5 (MGM) Stephen Fry in America (BFS)
Clash of the Titans Blu-ray 3D dated in Japan, packed in with Aquos 3DTVs
Ok, we're not sure that Clash of the Titans is the kind of 3D experience we'd want someone to have on their first time -- in case you've forgotten, a weak movie and a poor 2D to 3D conversion added up to a weak reception in reviews when the movie was in theaters -- but Sharp apparently thinks differently. It's promoting the movie alongside the 3D editions of its Quattron LCD HDTVs and, assuming our understanding of machine translated Japanese is correct, will be tossing in a copy gratis with purchases. At least in Japan, the 2D version of the blu-ray will be released august 25, with the 3D & 2D combo pack arriving October 6, if you've just got to have your Sam Worthington fix before Avatar is rereleased in November.
Namco Bandai predicts sales for Dead to Rights, Splatterhouse
During a recent investor's presentation, Namco Bandai relayed some projections for a few of its top titles -- specifically, recent releases Clash of the Titans and Dead to Rights: Retribution and upcoming Splatterhouse and Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom. The presentation is available here, though due to the fact that it's in some foreign language (what are they speaking, Klingon?), we defer to Siliconera's translation. For Clash and DtR, Namco Bandai isn't expecting either to clear a million units: each is projected to sell around 700,000 copies. That's certainly nothing to scoff at. Namco Bandai has higher hopes for Splatterhouse and Majin, however, predicting sales of one million for each. Really? A million units? Sure, we've heard that "sex sells," but charmingly bumbling monsters and bloody, deformed hockey mask-garbed behemoths? People can't possibly be into either of those things, right? [Via Siliconera]
Clash of the Titans goes from myth to retail July 27
click to enter the titanic gallery If you're still excited about Clash of the Titans this July, three months after the release of the movie (and twenty-nine years after the release of the other movie), then you can channel that potential excitement into a video game purchase. Namco Bandai have announced that Game Republic's adaptation of the film will be available on PS3 and Xbox 360 on July 27. When you go in to buy it, be sure to bellow "Release the Kraken!" and then awkwardly explain to the clerk that you've temporarily nicknamed your wallet "the Kraken" entirely for the purpose of that joke. If you pre-order the game at GameStop, you'll receive two bonuses: a "Bird in Hand" quest pack, containing a quest to defeat the Cockatrice (with a "Wing of Icarus" sub-weapon as a reward) and a "Song of Enchantment" quest pack entailing a fight against a succubus and siren, to earn the Orpheus sub-weapon. %Gallery-80610%
What it takes to properly convert a 2D movie to 3D
3DTVs are useless without content and while to some sports is the killer app for 3D, others prefer movies. When it comes to new movies, there's Avatar and then there's everything else -- most movies are converted to 3D instead of using 3D cameras. The company In-Three originally formed with the intent of converting classics like Star Wars to 3D -- yes Lucas says he wants to do all six -- but with all the money 3D movies are making in theaters today, In-Three is spending their time working with producers on new movies like Alice in Wonderland. Anyone who saw both Alice and Clash of the Titans will tell you that all dimensionalization isn't created equal. While most didn't realize Alice wasn't actually shot in 3D, reviews of Clash were titled like "the first film to actually be made worse by being in 3D." While the dimensionalization of Alice took four to six months, Clash was done in eight to ten weeks -- as well as being converted by different companies. We can't blame 'em for trying though, as In-Three tells 3DCineCast blog it uses four to six hundred people while wearing 3D glasses 50 to 75 percent of the day, and costs about 80 to 100 thousand dollars per minute to do dimensionalization properly. Which is just crazy as well as makes us wonder how that's cheaper than just using 3D cameras. The good part about doing it in post processing though is it gives the creators more artistic control as the dimensionalization is done by hand, frame by frame. Of course the concern is that people will see movies like Clash of the Titans in 3D and write off the dimensionalization process all together, or worse 3D entirely.
Clash of the Titans screens highlight multi-headed beasts
Click image to fetch some more screens If you think our last batch of screens depicted some ugly creatures from Namco Bandai's upcoming Clash of the Titans, then we guess this latest round of shots are par for the course. Featuring several screens of the multi-headed nasty you see above, our gallery below is a veritable playground of potential nightmare inducers. This beast is like a smaller, more nimble version of Cerberus from Devil May Cry 3. Maybe a bit less chilly, too. Anyway, feel free to hit up the gallery below for the new screens. %Gallery-87927%
Shuttle outfits X50 V2 and J series desktops with Clash of the Titans regalia
Are you a fan of epic, multidimensional cinema extravaganzas? Well, Shuttle wants to help you show off your fandom with these here limited edition Clash of the Titans tie-in machines. The new J series entertainment SFF PCs will come with the most appealing package, which includes the colorful front faceplate above, while the Pine Trail-packing X50 V2 will be preloaded with wallpapers and imagery from the forthcoming flick. We like to mock such blatantly commercial efforts, but if you really are into your Greek mythology and want a small computer that can fit Core i7 CPUs and dual-GPU setups (SX58J3), why not? Best of all, you can even win one of these, so after you've read the PR after the break, hit the source link to find out how.
Extremely ugly Clash of the Titans screenshots released
Click to Titan-size Whoa, now. When we say "ugly," we're not talking about the visual fidelity of the aforementioned Clash of the Titans screenshots. Rather, we're talking about the subjects they depict -- horrible, nether-spawned creatures, covered in uninviting tusks, pincers and fangs. Where are all the beautiful, half-clothed goddesses? The scenic Grecian environments? The looming, meticulously built temples? We're not sure -- but we do know they're not in the gallery below. %Gallery-80610%
Namco Bandai announces Clash of the Titans for 2010
First off, welcome to all you Harry Hamlin fans who've been brought to our site by the headline! Unfortunately, we'll have to disappoint you: Namco Bandai's newly announced Clash of the Titans game is based on the upcoming film remake, not the HarHam-starring classic that you've come to love. The Games Republic-developed action game, which should arrive near the new film's spring 2010 opening, features 100 different enemies, and was originally tied to now-defunct movie-to-game factory Brash, but we'll try not to hold that against it. Expect more news and media regarding this title later today.
First Impressions: Mabinogi
Mabinogi is an engaging MMO by Nexon, the makers of Maple Story, Audition, and Kart Rider. The name is derived from the Mabinogion, a collection of old Welsh stories. In that sense, it's well-named; Mabinogi is billed as 'your fantasy life', and much of what happens in the game follows a gentle, pastoral atmosphere -- even the combat, to a certain degree. We had the chance to check this out, now that it's in open beta, and here's what we found. Keep in mind that this is not a guide -- we have no insider knowledge to report. This is merely a record of our opinions and experience playing this game for the first few hours. Excelsior!%Gallery-18335%
God of War's Jaffe inspired by Britney vs. Christina
Sure you knew that God of War was inspired by Clash of the Titans and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but did you know that Christina Aguilera influenced its development as well?In an interview conducted by Lorne Lanning for a session at GDC last week, David Jaffe revealed that thinking of (the workplace tension between him and) his lead programmer during a Christina Aguilera song about Britney Spears helped him get the game to work.So identifying with the arguably lesser end of the Christina-Britney rivalry helped Kratos make it out of development hell? Sounds like a surefire way to create a hit game! We also take it then that the song in question wasn't "Genie in a Bottle," 'cause that would've made for one interesting unlockable costume for our marked man. Cameo in the sequel, perhaps?[Britney 'n' Christina pic found via an old BBC MTV VMA story found here]See also: David Jaffe, blogger extraordinaire, WRU?!? God of War 2 GDC video leaked online Budget power from the Gods, under the hood
