battlestargalactica
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Universal HD claims there's more than the Olympics going on in August
Universal HD hopes to pump up its lineup around the Beijing Olympics, featuring Olympic Trials highlights in "Olympic Athlete Weekend" on August 2 and 3. Beyond just the coverage around the events in China there will also be plenty of extreme sports and boxing coverage all month. The news that season 4 Battlestar Galactica premieres on the station next month would be more exciting if this were last year and the Sci Fi HD simulcast hadn't launched already, but in case you didn't/don't have the station yet, there you go. Hopefully when the offices are moved from LA to New York -- along with Sleuth and Chiller -- NBC Universal will find some more compelling original content to fill the time after the Olympics are over.Read - Universal HD presents an Olympic themed August in honor of the Beijing OlympicsRead - Emerging nets moving to New York
Battlestar Galactica Cylon Toaster produces fanboy-approved bread
Think you're the nerdiest BSG nerd on the face of this particular planet? Oh, yeah? Then bust out your Mr. Wizard plastic wallet and head on down to the read link, because any true fan simply will not be able to eat breakfast again without the Battlestar Galactica Cylon Toaster. Supposedly the device is limited in quantity, as only one batch is being created specifically for Comic-Con. Those who'd rather get in line now instead of paying 4x more on eBay in a month can plunk down $65 and wait for shipments to begin on July 29th. Mmm, Cylon toast.[Via Register Hardware]
Battlestar Galactica XBLA price frak-ed on Saturday
This Friday marks the debut of the final season of Battlestar Galactica, and while we have no delusions that the 60 minutes of commercial interrupted TV will leave us any more stupefied than we were at the end of last season wondering what in the frak is going on, we nonetheless cannot wait to pick our jaws up off the floor. To celebrate the premiere, Sierra has chopped the price of its casual BSG-themed XBLA shooter in half to 400 points, and while playing the game still just serves as a painful reminder that we still lack a real Battlestar Galactica game, the new price is nonetheless a welcome treat. But get it while it's hot; the toasters are going to jack the price back up to 800 points 24 hours later. So say we all! Gallery: Battlestar Galactica (XBLA, PC) [Via Press Release]
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 HD DVD arriving sans quality?
It's not like we haven't seen a high-profile HD title released without the expected level of quality, but it seems the QA lapse is bugging the HD DVD camp this go 'round. Apparently, hordes of angry Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 HD DVD buyers are flocking to message boards to grumble about the shoddy packaging, scratched up discs and other picture / audio niggles that certainly should not be appearing on a $70 (or more) box set. As the above image illustrates, it seems that some buyers are receiving the set only to find a plethora of unwanted scratches (presumably due to misaligned packaging), and if the stuttering playback wasn't bad enough, some customers are also finding image quality / audio sync issues with the included mini series. So, dear readers, have any of you experienced similar headaches? And if so, what's your plan of action?[Image courtesy of Amazon / J. Ryder, thanks Robert P.]
The writers strike is in full effect
In case you haven't noticed, most of the best HD shows are in reruns. December is usually a month of reruns, but we've already seen an alternative season finale to Heroes, and in January when we'd normally expect to see our favorite shows come back, you can expect to see more reruns and more reality TV. There are some of our favorites that have some episodes left, like eight episodes of Lost, nine episodes of Medium, ten episodes of Battlestar Galatica, and seven episodes of Jerico. But others like the Office, Heroes, and Big Bang Theory are already out. Hopefully, the writers will get compensation for downloads before the remaining shows run out, and if not at least we'll have more time to watch all those HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.[Via ZatzNotFunny]
The writers' strike effect on HD programming
The ability for a group to go on strike is a fundamental right in American, and while we don't really understand what the problem is -- we'd assume the writers want more money -- we do know we're going to miss out on some HD programming. The first shows to feel the pinch are the live shows like Leno and SNL, next up is the scripted shows which mostly seem to have about 9 episodes under their belt. Luckily some HD programming is resilient like sports and reality TV -- not that there's much HD. At this point it's hard to know how long the strike will last, but if it lasts more than a few months, at least we'll finally be able to catch up on all those HD movies we've been meaning to watch. Here's a short list of our favorite shows that will go into reruns if this thing doesn't end before too long.Heroes - Seasons will end early on Dec 3rd Lost - Expected to have eight out of 16 episodes ready. Medium - Will have 9 of 22 episodes completed. Battlestar Galactica - Has 10 hours of episodes, plus a two hour movie to air this Fall.
Battlestar Galactica escapes to PC and XBLA next week
Next week Battlestar Galactica, a "3D space shooter played on a 2D plane," makes its way onto PC and Xbox Live Arcade. Based on the popular television show, the game didn't really wow us when we played it back in July, but that's OK because it's meant as a felgercarb "mass appeal" cash-in on BSG fans who've been waiting forever for the final frakin' season to start in January. Thankfully the two-hour BSG special Razor premieres Nov. 24.The Battlestar Galactica game has 10 single-player missions based on battles from the show. There is also a multiplayer component supporting eight players on XBLA and 16 on PC. Players can choose from four different types of ships on the Cylon or Human sides. The game will cost 800 MS points ($10) on XBLA and $20 on PC, available off XBLA on Oct. 24 and PCs Oct. 23. Now can we please get a real Battlestar Galactica game?[Via Press Release]%Gallery-4928%
WoW Moviewatch: Battlestar Gnomeregan
Well, actually the title of this little video is "Battlestar Galactica opening, World of Warcraft style," but to me it suggests a whole realm of possibilities that could actually fit within the WoW lore. We know already, for example, that a certain gnome in Stormwind has created a Spybot which can take on the appearance of a human girl, well enough to fool a high ranking Defias leader into coming out and meeting his doom. What if some group of evil gnomes or goblins took it upon themselves to create the equivalent of cylons for the Warcraft universe? They could be called "Spylons!" Well whatever you think of that idea, it would be a cute little easter egg quest to fight against the spylon menace for a little while, at the very least.Thanks to our very own Barb Dybwad, via her blog, Geeked.orgPreviously, on WoW Moviewatch...
Battlestar Galactica: Season 1 coming to HD DVD
If you were amped up to find that Star Trek: The Original Series was headed to HD DVD, this tidbit could result in copious amounts of celebrating. Universal Studios has just announced that it will be bringing the complete first season of Battlestar Galactica to HD DVD this winter "in one elaborate box set." Reportedly, the set will be "presented in 1.78:1 widescreen anamorphic video and include a pair of audio options: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1." Additionally, the package will be brimming with extras including a "picture-in-picture video commentary on the entire mini-series, more than a half-dozen featurettes, multiple deleted scenes," and the tantalizing "Encyclopedia Galactica." Mark your calendars, folks, as the set is slated to land on December 4th for $99.98.[Via HighDefDigest]
Joystiq hands-on: Battlestar Galactica
Don't expect deep gameplay with this title based on the popular science fiction series. Battlestar Galactica, for Xbox Live Arcade and PC, is 3D space shooter played on a 2D plane. The controls are quick to grasp -- turning, shooting, activating shields and locking on for missiles -- although we had a bit of trouble initially with chasing enemies.We only had a chance to try out a couple of levels. There are four ships to choose from each side, humans and Cylons, each with various offensive, defensive and speed ratings. Death triggers a respawn, and the only penalty is lost time (beating levels is generally dependent upon time). There are 10 single-player missions based on battles from the show. Multiplayer has its own set of ten maps and two gameplay types: deathmatch and domination, where you capture turrets that destroy the opponent's base ship.According to producer Connie Brammeier, the game is intended for mass appeal. We get the feeling that hardcore Battlestar Galactica fans are going to be disappointed by the lack of depth in the title. The game is expected out in the third quarter of this year.%Gallery-4928%
Switchball, Commanders: Attack! & more XBLA bound
TeamXbox pulled some strings and got the pre-E3 dish on three new XBLA offerings from Sierra Online. Over on their site they posted a dump truck sized load of screenshots, game details and videos for Sierra Online's three Arcade games including Switchball, Commanders: Attack!, and Battlestar Galactica. No word yet on the games' release dates or how much they'll cost, but we're sure more info will trickle in when the games get officially announced at E3. Fanboys: Attack!
Battlestar Galactica open source project is frackin' sweet
Listen up, nuggets. You're in a Colonial Viper. You've got no wingman, three inbound Cylon Heavy Raiders, and you just spotted a Basestar several klicks away. What do you do? Choose your own adventure: Whiz your flight suit. Call for backup and fire up your FTL drive Hammer down the trigger and go for the gold Now you can actually make the call yourself. The open source Beyond the Red Line project based on Battlestar Galactica has finally released demos of the game for the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. We downloaded it and took it for a spin. While there's a fairly steep learning curve (much easier to deal with if you've played Freespace 2 a lot), the space combat and in-game elements are slick. The game is powered by the new and improved Freespace 2 engine, although it's entirely standalone so you don't need Freespace to play it. They've put together their own audio for the entire demo, which includes original characters, voice acting, and soundtrack pieces from Bear McCreary and Richard Gibbs (composers for the show), online multiplayer that actually works, and it's own storyline. In fact, if you haven't seen season two, you'll want to avoid the game for the spoilers.While there aren't any Six models in here, we like what they've put together so far. Plus our favorite word "free" is sandwiched in there too. It'll give you something to do until the next season starts ... in 2008.
Battlestar Galactica game bound for XBLA, PC
The Hollywood Reporter, uh, reports that a new partnership between NBC Universal and Vivendi's Sierra Online division will yield a digitally distributed Battlestar Galactica game. The space shooter (you know, a shooter ... but in space) is expected to be completed this fall, after which it will be promptly shot in the head to initiate the download onto your PC or your Xbox 360. Australia-based Auran Games has been named as the developer, though its history of railroad simulations makes it hard to gauge whether it'll be able to do the modern television series justice. Can anyone? "We wanted to bring a more intense combat experience to gamers," explains NBC Universal's Bill Kispert. "From a story standpoint, fans will be able to relive key battles from the first two seasons of the show, and then we'll add new content and missions outside of that." The overarching plan is to continuously inject new challenges into the game, much in line with the episodic nature of the show itself. Kispert (who sounds more like a snack than a Cylon) also notes that Sierra Online has paid a visit to the show's sets and hopes to incorporate everything from sound effects to pilot chatter.Given the fracking hole currently residing in the spot where the space sim genre used to be, we're eminently open to the idea of piloting Vipers and Cylon Raiders in an all-out, Xbox Live dogfight. Let's just hope nobody at Sierra Online makes the obvious, in-game advertising connection. "Thanks for saving my six, Starbucks! I can always count on your finely roasted skills." (We spent nine hours developing that joke. FACT.)[Via CVG]
It's the Great Robotic Overlords, Charlie Brown: make a Cylon jack-o-lantern
Charlie would be better off trying to kick that football than tracking down this jack-o-lantern. The guys at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories put their l33t stenciling, carving and LED wiring skills into this Cylon Centurion née pumpkin, and naturally posted all the info necessary to create your own. This stacks up pretty well against the pumpkin PC and even the Engadget pumpkin. But for truly evil and mad status, we'd prefer a fruit-based rendering of Number Six, destined to be destroyed October 31st by Starbuck Power Mac -- only to download, re-emerge next Halloween and continue its plan of human genocide through sweet, pie-based deliciousness. Frak. [Via Make]
Battlestar Galactica moving to network television? NBC says no
The rumor going around has been that NBC is considering moving Sci-Fi network smash hit Battlestar Galactica to the big leagues. A lot of us here like the series and would love to be able to watch the episodes in HD when they originally air...instead of much later in reruns on Universal HD as is currently the case. Why great high definition programming is left to sit around when there's a huge audience for it is a mystery to us. Unfortunately, NBC told TV Squad there's no merit to the BSG rumors, but we can still hope, right?[Via TV Squad]
The case of the missing shows in the iTunes Store
If you think that Mac geeks are a a vocal group, you haven't met any SciFi geeks (a group of which I easily fall into). This Friday was the highly anticipated season premiere of Battlestar Galactica's 3rd season. As you know, BSG is available on the iTunes Store, however, 3 days after the premier there is no sign of the 3rd season opener on iTunes.This isn't the first we have heard of major lag time between a show airing on TV and then becoming available on the iTunes Store. Apple, if you want people to buy these shows you really need to post them in a timely fashion (a few hours after the show is on TV would be great, immediately after the airing would be even better though harder to do thanks to time zones).Anyone else noticing that their favorite shows are taking awhile to become available for download?Oh, and the BSG episode in question was awesome.Thanks, Quix.
Bringing It Home content, 9/25
Well folks, TGS is over, finished, kaput. As such, it seem only fitting that today's content is more oriented towards western audiences -- note also that there is no Japan exclusive content today. Here's the sweet sweet candy: Battlestations Midway trailer Eragon trailer Import Tuner Challenge trailer Need for Speed Carbon trailer The Darkness trailer Mass Effect Picture Pack (free!) Battlestar Galactica (United States) TGS Showfloor video 3 video F.E.A.R. demo We discussed the F.E.A.R. demo earlier: if you played the OXM demo, there's nothing new. With all this content, it may be time to start clearing out some of that old E3 stuff. Meanwhile, X06 inches ever closer. So, everybody make some room, download each and every one of these trailers, watch them, and then come back here and discuss them. Discuss them, I say!
Battlestar Galactica on Xbox Live: Not HD, not widescreen, not at all satisfying
The recap episode of Battlestar Galactica was posted on Xbox Live Marketplace yesterday and we regret to inform you it was not high definition. We're not entirely surprised at the resolution, a 720p-encoded file would have been a long download, not to mention the Xbox 360's smallish 20GB hard drive. Unfortunately it gets worse, the presentation was in widescreen, but with included bars at the top and bottom as though it were intended only for 4x3 SDTVs. Why they opted for a version that looks like it was taped off of Sci-fi network onto someone's VHS we will never know, but with the artifacting and low quality of the file we cannot recommend this to anyone in good faith. Hopefully they will do better when the episode is aired on Universal HD in September and it will be presented natively in widescreen. Oddly, despite the low quality of this file, you can download two HD clips of upcoming kids show Viva Piñata that look fantastic; hopefully future downloads will follow their lead instead of the quick and dirty approach apparently used on BSG.[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Play catch up with Battlestar Galactica on the 360
As we reported earlier this month, the Sci-Fi Channel offering Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far is now up for download -- for free -- on Xbox Live Marketplace. The good news? It comes to us a lot earlier then what was anticipated.The bad news? Well, according to some commenters on Major Nelson's blog, the download is only available to fans who reside in the United States. The other bad news? It's in standard definition. We say boo to you Microsoft. While the idea of a downloadable TV feature such as this is a giant leap in a positive direction, we high-def cronies demand that our content always be available in HD quality. Oh well, at least it's free.
Battlestar Galactica recap episode coming to UHD, Xbox Live Marketplace
BSG fans get ready, before the third season of Sci-Fi's series kicks off this fall, they will be following the trend of cable shows airing on network television as a recap episode The Story So Far will air on NBC's West Coast affiliates and Universal HD later this month and throughout September. The episode, covering the key events of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, will also be distributed on a bonus DVD at Best Buy, and via iTunes and Xbox Live. It has been confirmed that the Xbox Live download will come in mid-september, free of charge, however they haven't commented on the size or whether it will be available in HD resolution. Either way, it looks like we'll be clearing some space off the 20GB hard drive and getting on the digital distribution bandwagon shortly.[via Joystiq]
