Enhanced
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FandangoNow streams IMAX Enhanced 'Spider-Man' on Sony 4K TVs
We heard back in January that streaming platform FandangoNow was going to get some IMAX Enhanced content -- now it's arrived. Just a week after the streaming service made its catalog available on Oculus Go and Quest headsets, it's continuing its push to get crystal-clear movies right in your face with the launch of IMAX Enhanced on select Sony 4K Android TVs in the US.
Illustrated 'Harry Potter' novels come to iBooks
Apple fans are used to getting the latest and greatest before others, from apps all the way through to, uh, U2's latest album. But, they've also had to learn how to be patient, for instance, when it took several years before the Beatles released their back-catalog onto iTunes. That's why it's a red letter day for Harry Potter fans, since Apple has signed an "exclusive" detail with JK Rowling's people. For the first time, the digitally-enhanced versions of the world-famous novels are available on iBooks complete with high-quality illustrations and animations. The texts are still on sale at the official Pottermore website, but should you want to read them on your iPhone or iPad, you can grab each one for $9.99 a pop.
PSA: Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition now on Steam
The long-awaited Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, which our deja reviewer called "a love letter to its source," has finally arrived for purchase on Steam. This version of the game originally appeared on Beamdog's website, and then showed up on the iPad. You can now add it to your Steam collection for $19.99.Beamdog has said it is gauging sales reception of the "enhanced" re-release to decide on the fate of a potential Icewind Dale remake and a continuation of the Baldur's Gate series.
Baldur's Gate Enhanced for iPad is now available
After months of waiting, (we first heard about this one back in March), the Enhanced Edition of Bioware's classic D&D RPG Baldur's Gate has arrived on the iPad. This is the full version of the old party-based game, with more than 80 hours of story-driven gameplay to go through, tons of characters and settings, plus some new characters and content. The entire PC game has been adapted for the touchscreen, and while the graphics are still very old school (2D! Isometric!), the game's just how you'll remember it. I think Baldur's Gate is a great game, but there are definitely better-looking titles on the App Store these days, and more user-friendly RPGs. That said, however, this is a classic, and if you've never played through it, now's your chance. The game is available for US$9.99 in iTunes.
Kinect used to make teleconferencing actually kind of cool (video)
No matter how hard Skype and others try to convince us otherwise, we still do most of our web communications via text or, if entirely unavoidable, by voice. Maybe we're luddites or maybe video calling has yet to prove its value. Hoping to reverse such archaic views, researchers at the MIT Media Lab have harnessed a Kinect's powers of depth and human perception to provide some newfangled videoconferencing functionality. First up, you can blur out everything on screen but the speaker to keep focus where it needs to be. Then, if you want to get fancier, you can freeze a frame of yourself in the still-moving video feed for when you need to do something off-camera, and to finish things off, you can even drop some 3D-aware augmented reality on your viewers. It's all a little unrefined at the moment, but the ideas are there and well worth seeing. Jump past the break to do just that.
Motorola Charm coming to T-Mobile with 'enhanced' Android 2.1 Motoblur? Update promised for CLIQ and CLIQ XT?
Usual rules apply -- we can't independently confirm this at the moment -- but a tipster has sent us what appears to be T-Mobile training materials for an upcoming Motoblur-infused candybar smartphone, the Motorola Charm. Only this Motoblur is allegedly powered by Android 2.1 and boasts the same scalable widgets as we saw on Droid X, in addition to improved Facebook / Twitter integration (hello, Like and Retweet) and the usual Eclair refinements.As far as the hardware is concerned, there isn't much to glean from it at this point, aside from a textured QWERTY keyboard reminiscent of the CLIQ and a "camera" button denoting some form of memory-capturing capabilities. Speaking of which, the materials mention that the enhanced Motoblur is heading to CLIQ and CLIQ XT. Let us bookend this entire post with another reminder that none of this is confirmed, but we do know more than a few T-Mobile users who would love to get their mitts on a candybar Android. %Gallery-96395% [Thanks, Anonymous]
CD Projekt going seriously overboard on The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
Judging from this screenshot, you can see where some of the *ahem* enhancements are going. CD Projekt is pouring a lot of time and effort into The Witcher, which came out almost a year ago. They're adding new animations, new NPC models, fixing all of the dialogue translation problems, squashing bugs, and "increasing load times by 80%." The question is, will people pay attention to a game that came out last year? GameCyte has a full interview with project lead Maciej Szczesnik who talks about the changes they've made. They caught a lot of flak over the poor translation of the game from the original Polish into English, and now they've re-recorded over 5,000 lines of dialogue along with all of the other upgrades and fixes. You can hear the difference between the old audio and the new audio pretty clearly by clicking on those links, but frankly... they just sound like different readings/voices to us. How does the plot change by hearing someone shout "Quick! To the laboratory!" any differently? The new edition, which comes out September 16th, includes two audio CDs, a making-of DVD, an official game guide, a short story from the author of the book that the game is based on, and a map, and it retails for $49.99. However, if you're previously purchased the game, it's a free download. Hey, we're all for free stuff.
The Witcher gets 'completely finished' version in May
The Witcher, Atari and CD Projekt's love letter to traditional (read: click happy) PC role-playing, is getting an upgrade this May in the form of The Witcher Enhanced Edition, which project manager Maciej Szcze?nik thankfully describes as "a completely finished project." Szcze?nik openly admits that while it would have been great if the original game was not riddled with issues, the team has apparently subscribed to the old adage of the second time's the charm. The tune-up will include a number of enhancements over the original release, from load times that are 80% faster to fixes to other stability and gamplay issues. The game's English version is also getting a major overhaul, with text that is said to have been "completely re-done," while all versions will get an additional 50 new supporting character models -- no doubt helpful in keeping the game world from feeling like it's populated by Sludge Vohaul's community of clones. No price has been announced for the new version, though the developer has said that it's packing in content such as the D'jinii Mod Editor, soundtrack, 112-page guide, two new adventures and more to help make being asked to buy the game a second time around easier to swallow. [Update: The publisher has confirmed that those who have purchased The Witcher will get access to the new content and improvements via a downloadable update.]
Peep Double Dragon's XBLA makeover
According to the Netherlands' Xboxworld (via NeoGAF), Double Dragon is headed to Xbox Live Arcade in March, for 400 MS points. Like other aging classics before them, the Lee brothers and foes look to be receiving a visual touch-up. But as is often the case with real-life makeovers (and we're talkin' the scalpels, staples, and tubes kinda makeovers), the "enhanced" look just seems to always miss the mark. Never mind how jarringly flat the characters appear, just look at that "English Tear" sign, it's pristine! This is no longer a rumble through the ghetto, it's a prance around some sterilized ghost town infested with botox mutants. Can we get an "A-men!"?We'd much prefer the time and resources be spent on tuning the online co-op, which continues to be a frustrating ordeal with each XBLA release.
DVD-enhanced Wii hits Japan "latter half of 2007"
A couple weeks back, the UK's Edge Magazine revealed the Wii would be getting a DVD-enhanced variant in Japan, sometime in 2007. Today, Gamasutra reports "California technology company Sonic Solutions have announced that Nintendo has chosen to use the company's software to allow a 'future version' of the Wii console to play DVD movies."Interesting. With a DVD drive already built into every Wii, it seemed logical that a software solution was all that was needed to implement DVD playback on the Wii. Ostensibly, the reason for Nintendo's decision to not include DVD playback was the format's onerous licensing fees relative to the already high market penetration DVD players currently enjoy. Instead of releasing a "future version" of the console to the Japanese market exclusively, why not sell the DVD playback software via the console's online store to recoup the licensing fees?
TUAW Podcast the 8th
It's that time again! We've put together our eighth podcast, and in this edition Jan Kabili, Damien Barrett and Dave Caolo bring you some of our best posts from last week, in-depth details on Apple Computer vs. Apple Corps, a couple April fools jokes, new Apple stores and some interesting iPod accessories. It's all hosted by me, David Chartier, and is available in a variety of formats and channels: enhanced AAC MP3 our iTMS podcast and vidcast link our own RSS feed of podcasts Please let us know what you think of the new format in the comments.Enjoy!
