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Godzilla and King Kong will share one cinematic universe
Because everything needs a cinematic universe, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. have announced that Godzilla and King Kong will share one across three movies scheduled to follow the Godzilla flick released in 2014. There will be Kong: Skull Island in 2017, Godzilla 2 in 2018 and finally, Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020, while the press release dangles the possibility of other "famous creatures" joining in. While the idea of giant monsters and robots fighting is hardly new, the prospect of real-life robot combat plus an inevitable slew of spinoff toys, videogames and new effects for these movies has us more than ready. Perhaps it's even time for another Rampage -- does Warner Bros. still own those old Midway trademarks? [Image credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy]
Netflix to launch a King Kong cartoon for kids in 2016
Kids have now two mythical creatures to look forward to on Netflix: after dragons are done invading the streaming service in 2015, a colossal gorilla's slated to follow suit. The company has just announced that it's pairing up with Executive Producer Avi Arad (who also produced the Spider-Man, X-Men and Iron Man movies) to create a King Kong animated series, making the absence of Saturday morning cartoons sting just a bit less. This version's quite different from the Kong movies, as it's set in 2050 and depicts the famous gorilla as humankind's only hope against an army of robot dinosaurs. We'll find out whether Kong will also scale the Empire State Building in this one when Netflix begins airing it in 2016, beginning with a full-length film that's followed by 12 half-hour episodes.
Peter Jackson shooting The Hobbit at 48FPS, should speed up those long walking scenes
Say goodbye to blurry Orcs, because The Hobbit is going 48 frames per second. King of Kong Peter Jackson announced via Facebook that the two-part Lord of the Rings prequel will be shot at an increased frame rate, double the 24FPS that has been the industry standard for the better part of a century. Halo's non-director preemptively addressed critics of the technology, comparing it to the transition from vinyl to CDs -- which, let's face it, some folks still aren't all that psyched about. The technology, when combined with a 48FPS projector, should cut down on blur and strobe. Jackson and Warner Bros. have their fingers crossed that a sufficient number of theaters will be capable of projecting at that speed when the film opens in December 2012. We're eagerly awaiting James Cameron's reaction -- and George Lucas's inevitable Star Wars re-re-re-re-release at the new speed.
Blu-ray releases on January 20th 2009
Many are more excited about the inauguration than this week's Blu-ray releases, but there are a few good movies. The most interesting to us Universal's The Express, but then again we're a sucker for football movies. Next up is Max Payne, which looks fun, but has a really bad IMDB score of 5.6. Just about every studio has at least a few movies this week, but another worth mentioning is a catch-up title for Blu-ray from Universal in the way of King Kong. Next week is about the same with one hot day-and-date like Pride and Glory and a few great catalogues like The Bourne Collection. The Express (Universal) King Kong (Universal) Max Payne (Fox) Antwone Fisher (Fox) UnfaithfuL (Fox) 13 Going on 30 (Sony) The Pink Panther (Sony) Amusement (Warner) Domino (Warner) The Notebook (Warner) Poison Ivy 4: The Secret Society (Warner) Repo! The Genetic Opera (Lionsgate) Saw V (Lionsgate) Election (Paramount) The Deal (Peach Tree Trinity) El Norte (Criterion) Henry Poole Is Here (Starz/Achor Bay) Igor (MGM)
King Kong gets additional features for Blu-ray release January 20
One time Xbox 360 HD DVD player pack-in King Kong is finally making its Blu-ray debut, complete with U-Control interactive features and some additional bits we'd missed the first go round. Apparently Universal has seen fit to replace the previous edition's Dolby Digital+ 5.1 soundtrack with a 5.1 DTS-HD MA version, as well as the Extended Edition footage (on an already 3 hour+ movie?) that was missing from the HD DVD. Making the jump from HDi to BD-Live is online My Scenes sharing, just in case you still needed a reason to pay the $29.98 MSRP for this disc January 20.
Giant Wii remote
This image brings so many things to mind. The first thought that jumped into our head was the ultimate match of Wii Sports ever, where Godzilla takes on King Kong in a match of Tennis that is being projected against the Empire State building. The match ends with Godzilla being the victor, only because on the Game Point he turned to Kong and melted his face off with his laser breath.If you think we're crazy, know that Godzilla's cheating tendencies have been well-documented the world over for many years.
Aussies get 360 HD DVD March 29 for $249 AUD
In a short but sweet news post, Xbox Zone revealed new details on the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive it discovered from Xbox Australia. The most pertinent news is that Oz will get its chance to pick up the add-on peripheral on March 29 for $249 AUD, which translates to approximately the $200 price tag for the US edition.The initial shipments of the drive will come with a Universal Remote Control (we presume he means the official Microsoft one) and a copy of King Kong on HD DVD. We're not going to pretend we can gauge the next-gen format market in Australia right now, so anyone hailing from the Land Down Under is more than welcome to contribute observations.
Xbox 360 ready for homebrew?
One of the best things about the original Microsoft Xbox console wasn't the fact that it ran games. Oh no, for many, the best part was the ease at which that low-cost / high-powered device could be hacked to run all kinds of Homebrew applications including a damn fine media center. Now, in a tantalizing bit of showmanship put on by a cloaked hacker at the 23C3 Hacker Congress in Germany, a modified Xbox 360 (note attached circuit board) is shown loading Ubisoft's King Kong game just before displaying a trio of dancing 360, Tux, and (old) MacOS logos with the words "coming soon." Could this be a true exploit of King Kong's unchecked and unsigned vector shaders? We don't know, but the ability to execute any kind of code is certainly progress. Besides, with the games already loosed, can the mod-chips and homebrew from a highly motivated hacking community be too far behind? See the complete video after the break. [Via Xbox360 Fanboy]
HD-DVD vs DVD: Let's compare Xbox 360 style
Since we're all about supporting HD-DVD here at Fanboy Towers, we've stumbled upon an article that compares the prettiness of HD-DVD to that of DVD. Games Central put up a few comparison shots of the movies King Kong and Batman Begins, focusing on the image quality of HD-DVD and DVD. The actual pictures on their site aren't of the greatest quality, but you can still tell a difference in many shots. Just look at the image above that was taken from the movie King Kong. The HD-DVD side looks much more vivid and pretty, where as the DVD side is more "blah". As we said, the images from the website aren't the greatest, but be rest assured that HD-DVD will look very pretty up close in your living room.[Via Digg]
Universal adds U-control tech to King Kong HD DVD
Looks like Universal heard our plea for a little sweetener in its November 14th HD DVD lineup, announcing that King Kong will feature the same U-control features seen in Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift and Miami Vice. Using HD DVD's HDi interactivity layer, viewers can watch behind the scenes footage and cast interviews while the movie plays in the background, and a "My Scenes" bookmarking feature to easily come back to favorite scenes later. Kong will also be a pack-in with the Xbox 360 HD DVD player, which will be the first place buyers can get a copy. We're still holding out hope for more -- like a TrueHD soundtrack maybe? -- but its obvious that Universal sees it will need more than just excellent 1080p picture quality to convince customers to choose HD DVD this holiday season.
The algebra of wows, inspired by Xbox 360 HD-DVD dancers
Clearly, the parallels to be drawn between high-definition home entertainment and in-your-face dance showdowns are too numerous to list, but Microsoft chooses to highlight some of the more obvious ones in their commercial for the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive (embedded in the post, natch). Depicting a rhythmically isolated DVD guy facing off against six HD-DVD dancers, it's a technology comparison competely devoid of technology and filled to the brim with bodies gyrating in largely unimaginable ways. With the upscaled DVD dancers apparently disqualified from the event, HD-DVD soundly trounces plain 'ole DVD, its vibrant victory converted into a catchy and hilariously non-sensical "six times the resolution, six times the wow." Yes, really. Just how much is that, exactly? The answer is, quite sadly, after the break.[via NeoGAF]
X06 announcements crammed into a single post
Microsoft's X06 event started off in a thunderous explosion of news, with pieces of informative debris raining down upon the unshielded denizens of the internet since yesterday. If you're feeling clueless or overwhelmed, allow us to subject you to a helpful hail of bullet points: Peter Jackson reveals a new partnership with Microsoft Game Studios. The king of the rings and his newly established Wingnut Interactive studio will work on an original property for the Xbox 360, as well as an unnamed Halo title. One can only hope that the crappy-game-based-on-a-movie and the crappy-movie-based-on-a-game curses cancel each other out when it comes time to play Peter Jackson's Halo: The Game of the Movie of the Game. A new RTS, Halo Wars, is unveiled. Set in a time before the first Halo, the real-time strategy game is being developed exclusively for the Xbox 360 by Ensemble Studios. Many confused pundits take the opportunity to point out that the Xbox 360 does not have a keyboard or a mouse. Grand Theft Auto IV will have two "epic" downloadable episodes exclusively on Xbox 360. Rockstar and Take-Two promise that the new episodes will provide "hours" of new gameplay and will be available "just months" after the game's October 2007 release. The vague wording of the announcement fails to rule out the possibility that the PS3 could receive different downloadable episodes of its own. The next Splinter Cell game is console-exclusive to the Xbox 360 -- meaning handhelds and the PC are still fair game. Fewer people are upset by this than those who realize Splinter Cell: Double Agent isn't available on anything yet. Bioshock is exclusive to Xbox 360 and Windows when it releases "next Spring". The wording of the press release says nothing of the game should it release during any other season following Spring. Of course, nobody likes waiting ... Project Gotham Racing 4 is coming. And the surprise hit gamers with all the force of a linen sheet flapping in the wind. Rare is working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game. Presumably, players are still keen on collecting all the coins, apples, music notes, beans, feathers, diamonds, pearls, potions, rings, blocks, wrenches and / or yams mysteriously floating around the finely rendered landscape. Marvel Universe Online is announced for the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista. It's being developed by the folks behind City of Heroes -- perhaps you remember Marvel suing them for creating tools that allowed people to venture online as, err, Marvel characters. Doom and Sensible World of Soccer join the Xbox Live Arcade lineup. The classic first-person shooter was already available yesterday for 800 points ($10). The Amiga footie title has not been given a release date yet, though the press release insists on using the word "soon." The Xbox 360 HD-DVD costs $199.99 in North America and €199.99/£129.99 in the UK, France and Germany. It arrives in mid-November and will include the Xbox 360's Universal Media Remote and the HD-DVD version of Peter Jackson's King Kong. And with that, the circle is complete. Congrats, scavenger hunter, you've found the secret c o d e good for one free copy of B A N K S H O T B I L L I A R D S 2: PRF4Q W798V G7JX9 2RX2W VT94G (Contest ran on 12/30/2006. The code has been redeemed.)
Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh to make new Halo game, original IP
Microsoft has confirmed that the Academy Award-winning duo Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) are set to create two "new interactive series" for Xbox 360 and XBLA. The first is a "collaborative effort with Bungie Studios to co-create the next great chapter in the Halo universe.""It's not Halo 3," said Scott Henson, Director of the Game Development Group at Microsoft. "It's a brand new game based in the Halo IP. In a phone conversation with Joystiq, Henson disclosed that writing credits will be given to Jackson and Walsh. As for how the full-fledged game will fit within the continuity of the Halo universe among three installments, a real-time strategy game, and a film, Henson was tight-lipped. "It's going to remain a mystery," he said.The second title will be an entirely new intellectual property -- "completely from scratch," Henson clarified -- created with the intention of "bringing new audiences into the captivating world of interactive entertainment." The game will be made in conjunction with Wingnut Interactive, a new studio created via a collaboration with Jackson/Walsh and Microsoft Games Studio."Fran is a really big gamer and really excited about telling stories through games," said Henson. "We haven't talked about any details and we will when we're ready." If the focus is mass appeal, then Jackson/Walsh -- who managed to make Hobbits cool -- are the best people to have at the helm.
Top 10 awful achievements
Let's face it, some 360 achievements are pretty difficult to get. Others are pretty easy. However, there are some that are too easy or too hard. And of course there are those that are just stupid (here's looking at you Kong). GamersReports has taken our distaste for crappy achievements and combined them with our love of easily digestible lists of information. The product of this peanut butter/chocolate creation? A top ten list of the worst achievements on the Xbox 360, of course! Even better, Joystiq went to the trouble of recreating this list, which we will delicately lift for our own personal gain. It's the American way. Behold: Mini-Games (Enter the Mini-Games mode); Madden 2007 Pyromaniac (Jack used fire to scare off enemies and get out of harm's way); King Kong The Graduate (Earn the highest score on every drill in Training Mode); Rockstar Table Tennis Tactical Instructor (Top marks in every Story Mode mission); Chromehounds Play Some Online (Compete in each of the online game modes at least once); Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 Food Bank; Feeding Frenzy Game Master (Finish the entire game without continuing while using default settings); Smash TV Complete 99 Stages (standard mode); Bomberman: Act Zero Transmissionary (Answer all calls from Otis); Dead Rising World Champion (Multiplayer: Climb to the top of the universal leaderboard); GRAW Do you agree with this list? Any others you'd care to throw up there?[Via Joystiq]
Hulk, King Kong & Waterworld coming to HD DVD November 14th
Universal is keeping the hits big budget flicks coming to HD DVD. They have announced we can expect Ang Lee's Hulk, Peter Jackson's King Kong and Kevin Costner's Waterworld on HD DVD November 14th. All will feature Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtracks, the extras from the DVD editions and...that's it. Hulk and Waterworld carry a $29.98 SRP while King Kong starts off at $39.98. Excuse us if we're a bit underwhelmed, we're sure they will look and sound great but c'mon Universal, we've got a new standard for blockbuster high-def rollouts. Throw us a bone here, TrueHD soundtrack, IME picture-in-picture extra, Hulk-hands pack-in, something. You can check out these and other dates on our Google HD DVD & Blu-ray release calendars.HD DVD release scheduleBlu-ray release schedule
Joystiq Review: Peter Jackson's King Kong (Xbox 360)
After disappointment with EA’s video game adaptations of his The Lord of the Rings films, director Peter Jackson sought famed game designer Michel Ancel (and his team at Ubisoft’s Montpellier studios) to help him create a game for his latest movie, an adaptation of King Kong. With (the verbosely titled) Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, the two of them have created the rarest of things: an exceptional movie-based game. The finished product is unusually polished; the graphics, voicework, story, and gameplay have all been scripted into an elegant, if notably short, product.
Making Kong: interview with designer Michel Ancel
Peter Jackson's decision to work with the lauded creator of the unsung (and hidden gem #2) Beyond Good and Evil has earned both men much praise. Ancel proved himself to be a strong, artistic collaborator, and Eurogamer's interview reveals an eloquent and articulate designer. On developing Kong: "It would be presumptuous to say that our game is an example of a good adaptation. We took some decisions and some risks and sometimes it could have been dangerous. I think that this is the key to achieve successful adaptations." On a (much requested) sequel to Beyond Good and Evil: "I'd love to, and it's always in my mind. One day maybe!" On next-gen gaming: "To me, the right direction is interface and gameplay innovations. It will bring new players to the world of games, far more than incredible audio and visuals alone." The highlight of the interview is Ancel's ruminations on the artistic merit of game design: "My feeling is that a game creator is building a situation in which the player is experiencing emotions. The creation of this 'emotional situation' is very complex. You know, there is a language in game design and a lot of people who don't know this language don't really understand what makes a good or a bad game." Ancel can talk the talk and walk the walk; hopefully the success of the Kong adaptation will allow him the luxury of pursuing his own interests.
PSP game releases for the week of December 19
If the PSP is a bit lacking in the game release department, it sure makes up for it with UMD movies (if this week is any comparison). The lull before Festivus has granted us a sole new PSP game: Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie With a name that long, you really don't have room for much more on the weekly list. As always, release dates are subject to manufacturer delivery.