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Disney to (finally) launch Disney Mobile MVNO
We're not sure how many people wished upon a star for this one, but Disney is finally taking the wraps off of the company's long-planned second MVNO (after Mobile ESPN), some two years after first announcing it. As expected, the service will target parents and teens, and will provide controls to allow parents to limit their kids' phone usage. (Which means, of course, that the service will bomb with teens -- who don't exactly dig Disney to begin with -- and will end up being the service of choice for grade-schoolers who want a Pooh or Stitch-emblazoned phone and can live with the parental controls.) The service, due to launch in June, will include web-based tools for parents, along with GPS tracking technology, to allow them to keep an eye on the young 'uns. The initial phones will be LG models, with service provided by Sprint. Pricing has yet to be announced, though Disney said it wold be "competitive" with other family plans offered by leading service providers.
Apple adds several new TV shows to iTunes
Attention, Law and Order fans: Special Victims Unit [iTunes link] and Criminal Intent [iTunes link] have just received season passes. New to the iTMS today are several Jetix shows [iTunes link], including Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers: Mystic Force and Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go (there's a sentence I couldn't have made up if I tried). There's also a free episode of the Andy Milonakis Show [iTunes link] as well as Little Einsteins for the kiddies [iTunes link].
Metareview - Kingdom Hearts II
A Final Fantasy and Disney Kingdom RPG mash-up? The idea sounded wack at first, but when the original Kingdom Hearts debuted back in 2002, it worked, proving once again that Square Enix could do no wrong (at least, in the RPG realm). Now, the motley crew is back and being heralded by critics — well, most of them... Gaming Age (100/100) - "Kingdom Hearts 2 is a shining example of the "fix what's broken and improve what isn't" mindset. And though the game still has its flaws, they're relatively minor by comparison, a drastic improvement upon its predecessor in all regards." Game Informer (90/100) - "Kingdom Hearts II is a remarkable journey and another Square-Enix masterpiece" [April 2006, p.120]. IGN (76/100) - "Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful title with a great story and fantastic presentation, but because of its major combat flaws (and that fact that it turns its back on exploration and most RPG elements), it does the game a great disservice."
New video content in iTunes
Plug in your iPods, folks, there's new content in the iTunes Music Store. Comedy Central has added David Spade's The Showbiz Show [iTunes Link] and Disney has added Hannah Montana (which is up to 143 reviews already. Wow.), which features one episode and one music video [iTunes link]. New episodes of That's So Raven have also made their way into the store [iTunes link], and rumor has it that the current season of South Park, season 10, will be made available soon.Update: Even more changes! A free episode of Sci Fi's Ghost Hunters is available [iTunes link], as are video highlights from NYC's fashion week [iTunes link]. Plus, season passes are now available for Desperate Housewives and Lost.
Desperate Housewives to despair on PCs
If all goes according to plan, fans of the desperate housewives on Wisteria Lane will be able to live out their soap opera dreams on their PCs before the TV show's canceled.Disney (which owns the ABC television network that distributes Desperate Housewives in the States) has set its Buena Vista Games division to publish a PC-based adaptation of the sudsy Sunday-night staple this fall.While negotiations are underway to secure additional cast members to represent themselves in-game (they've only gotten the deceased housewife narrator on-board so far), we hope this license works out better than the recent video game adaptations such as 24: The Game, Alias, and Dark Angel (where the DA game actually came out after the show was canceled). The screenshots revealed seem to display more suburban architecture than gameplay, but the game will involve taking on the role of a new neighboring housewife. It has not been disclosed, however, whether you can take prisoners in your basement as of yet.[Thanks, riffgod, bandersnatch, Nick, & GunForHire; via Yahoo! & the BBC]See also: Mark Green discusses 24: The Game Metacritic metascore for 24: The Game (on the PS2): 61 out of 100 Metacritic metascore for Alias (on the PC): 55 out of 100 Metacritic metascore for Dark Angel (on the PS2): 48 out of 100
Inside the world of Tron
Tom's Hardware Guide has gone behind the scenes of one of the first video game movies ever made, Disney's 1982 classic Tron. Those of us too young to have seen it first time round can now begin to appreciate the real vision behind the movie, and quite how advanced for its time it was.It seems that the special effects--and, in fact, the amount of technology in the film's plot--were just too far ahead to succeed back in the Eighties. You needed to be young and hip to appreciate them, playing video games "for hours on end" according to visual effects artist Harrison Ellenshaw. Tron's box office failure (and later cult success) may be a harbinger of things to come--recent video game movies haven't done so well either, so maybe we'll see them remembered fondly in twenty years' time. On the other hand...
Switched On: When you wish upon a star
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a weekly column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: To: All Disney staffFrom: Executive CommitteeRe: Organizational ChangesAs many of you are aware, Disney recently acquired Pixar, which has resulted in changes to our corporate governance. After extensive consultations with our revised Board of Directors, we would like to share the following announcements, starting with changes to our trademark animated characters:Mickey Mouse has long been Disney's most recognizable ambassador. However, our Board now feels that the two suspender buttons on his shorts are too confusing; Mickey will henceforth be a one-button mouse. Mickey's mouth will also be enhanced with a blue tooth and rolling your finger across his spherical nose will enable 360-degree scrolling freedom. Pulling on Mickey's tail will no longer hurt him; it will gracefully detach using patented magnetic connector technology.Mickey's companion Minnie Mouse has also been incredibly popular, and today we're announcing that she will be replaced by a new model, nano Mouse. Nano Mouse is a half the size of Minnie Mouse, thin enough to be on the cover of Vogue, can use many of Minnie's accessories and – please note, animators – will not be permitted to skip.Each year, millions of families come to our renowned theme parks to interact with our beloved costumed characters. However, our Board feels that the haphazard way in which they circulate the grounds is inefficient. Now children will be free to visit one of their animated pals at the snow-white Goofy Bar, where they will be able to receive attention in real time. Goofy's face has also been redesigned in a way that, our attorneys advise us, bears only coincidental resemblance to our former CEO Michael Eisner.
Speculation: Will Steve take out Disney?
We've just gotten used to the news of Disney's agreement to acquire Pixar. That deal makes Steve the largest Disney shareholder, with ownership of 7% of Disney's stock. Now Barron's is speculating that Apple may turn the tables and make a bid to acquire Disney. Barron's floated the idea of an Apple bid for Disney this weekend, quoting analyst Christopher Whalen saying: "I think he [Jobs] has an open option. Disney is badly undervalued right now. Jobs may get an opportunity to take it out." Whalen supports this idea by pointing out Steve's "familiarity with both the content and technology side of Hollywood" and the notion that Disney shareholders "would welcome a merger led by their apparent savior, Steve Jobs." What's the likelihood this scenario will play out? Blogger Louis Gray thinks it can only happen in "a business reporter's dream." He argues that the financials don't add up and worries that taking over Disney would quash the possibility of Apple offering shows from competitors like NBC or Viacom/MTV on iTunes. Now I don't pretend to be a financial analyst, so I'm just taking it all in. An Apple acquisition of Disney does sound wild; but honestly, at this point nothing Steve does would be a surprise.
Disney's MovieBeam first look - Designtechnica
We talk about the Disney MovieBeam in our HDBeat podcast and Designtechnica posted their first look as well. Spec-wise, the unit has a 160GB hard drive and 200 Mhz processor, which we generally knew. There's a complete list of the 29 cities where the service is available, but remember that roughly 10 of the movie choices are in high-def, plus each one costs an additional $1 over the standard $3.99 new release VOD charge: same content but a different resolution still commands a premium. One thought we have that nobody seems to have questioned: how long will it take to actually download an HD movie over the datacasting service? It might not be an issue, since the box is always updating, but we're curious. I'd ask for a demo, but neither of my two older HDTVs have HDMI with HDCP support, so I'm SOL and we're betting some of you are too.
Disney to release HD MovieBeam STB
It's a good thing we all have our OTA antennas ready because we're going to need them to enjoy the latest in HD entertainment: MovieBeam. Disney started testing this back in 2003 and now it looks like it's ready to go and in HD to boot. No firm release date yet It is availabe in some ares now and Cisco's Linksys division is going to make the STB and both Cisco and Intel are helping to foot the bill. If we're lucky there may even be Viiv support. MovieBeam will be available in 23 cities and come preloaded with 100 films from most of the major studios. Considering the price of $200 plus a monthly and per movie fee, I wonder how many people are going to take advantage of this, not to mention how this will effect our OTA HD that we love so much. They are distributing the content with datacasting and I can only imagine where they are getting the wireless bandwidth from. Now we just need one to test in the HDBeat labs. This should be interesting to watch develop.
Steve in the Magic Kingdom
Businessweek has posted a great article detailing the Pixar/Disney deal and what Steve Jobs might mean for Disney. Looking back at his past the article paints a portrait of a perfectionist who isn't afraid to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty. However, at Pixar Steve isn't the notorious micro manager that he's known as in the halls of Cupertino. He has a more hands off approach, letting the creative folks do what they need to do.Which Steve will be sitting on the board of Disney: control freak Steve, or benevolent benefactor Steve? Only time will tell, but Disney could do with a little perfection right about now.
Poll Results: The future of Pixney
Yesterday, we asked for your opinion on the quality of films that will come out of the Pixar/Disney union. In our utterly unscientific poll, your options were: Fantastic news! Disaster! Disney will kill future movies I'll wait and see I have no opinion Of the 2,008 of you who voted, a full 45% selected "I'll wait and see." "Fantastic news" and "Disaster..." were very close at 26% and 24% respectively, and 5% of you really couldn't care less about this.I'm with the skeptics. As long as Disney lets Lasseter and co. do what they do unfettered, we should be all right.
Disney buys Pixar: TV films in 720p until Blu-Ray?
So now Steve Jobs has to wear Mickey Mouse ears since Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion or more depending on who you ask; that'll get you a ton of "Nemo" for your fish tank. Aside from the new head gear for Stevie, does this mean that we'll only see Pixar movies at home in 720p now? Since Disney owns ABC who broadcasts in 720p, that's what we're thinking. It's not a major issue by any means; the Pixar movies previously shown on ABC have looked truly outstanding. Besides, the Pixar films on next gen DVDs (last we heard, the Mouse was in the Blu-Ray camp) should make this a moot point once consumers adopt the new technologies.
Disney buys Pixar: Good or bad?
Yesterday's big news, of course, was Disney's buyout of Pixar. Steve got more money than he could use in 10,000 lifetimes, a seat on Disney's board of directors and boatload of stock. But what does this mean for the films that are yet to be born of this union? I'm hoping that the Disney suits will look at Pixar's track record (every film has earned more than its predecessor) and just leave well enough alone. Of course, they could come in and clean house. So, what's your opinion of "Pixney"? Take the poll and return tomorrow to view the results. Disney buys Pixar: Good or bad? Fantastic news Disaster! Disney will kill future movies I'll wait and see I have no opinion
Select Disney short films now available on iTunes
That certainly didn't take long! The ink is hardly dry on the Disney/Pixar deal and now we see Disney Short films (that's an iTunes link) made available on the iTunes Music Store. That was first rumored to happen a few days ago, and it seems that the rumor was fact.They are all going for $1.99 and amongst the offerings you can find 'The Three Little Pigs,' 'The Ugly Duckling,' and 'Ferdinand the Bull' (of which I have fond, but fuzzy, memories).All told there are currently 10 available on the iTMS (all of which have won or were nominated for an Oscar), but certainly more will follow. Thanks, Greenline.
More on the Pixar buyout
The finance obsessed people at Bloomberg have a very comprehensive article up covering the Disney/Pixar deal (it was as if they were working on it before the deal of finalized. Imagine that!). Disney will pay $59.78 a share for Pixar stock (and since Steve Jobs is the largest stockholder of Pixar he is going to make out like a bandit), though Disney will be paying with Disney stock (helping to diversify his Steveness' stock interests in the process).Disney is hoping that Pixar will transform the company into the animation powerhouse it once was. Disney is taking the right steps by placing Pixar people in key positions, however, something tells me that Disney and Pixar have very different corporate cultures.Only time will tell.
Disney to buy Pixar for 7.4 Billion
CNN is reporting that Disney is buying Pixar for $7.4 billion, confirming lots of speculation as of late. Jobs will join the board of Disney while John Lasseter, the creative spirit behind Pixar, will become chief creative officer for the combined animation studio. I hope this means only good things for Disney, and no bad things for Pixar. Only time will tell.More details as they become clear.
ESPNZone HD
Ok, so you might not be able to get the Super Bowl in HD via your cable provider, but if you live near an ESPNZone you are in luck. The ESPNZone's in New York, Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore are all going to be fully high definition in time for the big game February 5th. Now word on the exact equipment or resolutions, but ESPN is going with Philips LCD's, plasmas and projectors.The upgrade is more than just screens however, as each location is equipped with HD-compatible satellite and cable receivers, not to mention all the cabling and switching equipment that had to be upgraded. Chicago, Anaheim, Atlanta and Denver ESPNZone's won't be ready in time for the Super Bowl, but will be upgraded later this year. I've never been to one of these, but I've driven past the Las Vegas location so many times in PGR3 I feel like I have. Any HDBeat readers planning on getting their 720p fix at ESPNZone?
Disney to Buy Pixar?
When the rumor surfaced last week that Disney might be interested in buying Pixar, I passed it off as just another rumor, along the lines of "Sony to buy Apple" or "Microsoft to buy Fort Knox". But multiple news organizations are reporting today that the all-stock deal may actually be approved and happen as early as tomorrow and that it may be worth as much as $7 billion.As Steve Jobs has a majority share in Pixar, this would be incredibly significant for Mr. Jobs but might also be significant for Mr Jobs' other company, Apple Computer.Could this mean there might be more Apple-Disney partnerships in the future? Disney videos for sale via the iTunes store? Disney-branded iPods? iPod-friendly audio guides at the Disney parks? At the very least, a Disney-Pixar combination should be able to improve the animated offerings coming from Disney, which have been less-than-stellar in the last few years.
Disney in talks to buy Pixar. Again.
The on again off again talks between Disney and Pixar seem to be on again. Bloomsberg is reporting that the two companies are in 'serious talks' about a possible Disney buy out of Pixar. The deal would go down for a little over $6.7 billion, not too bad of a return on Steve's initial $10 million investment (Steve took Pixar off of George Lucas' hands many moons ago and made the little oddity in the most successful computer animation film studio in the world).Don't get your knickers in a twist, though, these negotiations might end up with Disney and Pixar renewing their distribution deal, and nothing more just like they have every other time that this rumor start going around.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
