las vegas
Latest
Bally bringing Pong to casino floors
We know, you've got a zillion ways to get your Pong on whilst lounging around in your geeked-out crib, but how in the world will you deal with the withdrawals on this year's trip to Vegas? Thanks to Bally, you may not have to suffer at all, as Nevada gambling regulators recently approved the concept behind Bally Pong, a "slot machine that would for the first time allow hand-eye coordination to affect payout." Put simply, the machine would enter a 45-second round of Pong if three bonus icons line up on the five-reel video slot machine, and regardless of one's skill, a minimum award would be doled out simply for reaching the bonus. Oh, it gets better -- Bally also said that this was just "the first in a series of skill games (including Breakout!) it had planned," so those looking to see a hint of vintage when they hit the casino floor should be very pleased if everything goes as planned over the next few months.[Via The Raw Feed]
Hiwire boasts about Vegas trial's 24 channels
It's been a few months since we've heard anything about these guys, but it seems that Hiwire is still going full throttle in its efforts to compete with Modeo and the MediaFLO juggernaut to win the hearts and minds of American mobile TV watchers-to-be. Following a joint trial with T-Mobile late last year, Hiwire's back for more action in Sin City (sans carrier this time, it seems) rocking a full 24-channel lineup on its swath of 700MHz bandwidth, besting Verizon's MediaFLO-based offering by a healthy sixteen. There's still no word on when -- if ever -- Hiwire's going to go commercial with this thing, but it's good to hear they're still kicking around nonetheless.
Michael Jackson may erect 50-foot 'Jackobot' in Vegas desert
We almost wouldn't believe it were it not in an esteemed publication like the New York Daily News, but the hard-hitting investigative journalists of Page Six are reporting that the one and only King of Pop, Michael Jackson himself, may attempt to erect a 50-foot, robotic likeness of himself in the Las Vegas desert in full view of incoming planes. According to entertainment company consultant Mike Luckman, his business partner Andre Van Pier has already designed what we'll refer to as the massive Jackobot, complete with -- and we'll stifle the urge to break out that tired old cliché -- laser beams shooting up into the sky. The plan will only go into motion if Jackson decides to launch a show in Sin City, for which Van Pier has also contributed sketches of a "stage set of a giant audience-interactive video game with human cyborgs controlled by the audience," whatever the hell that means. Perhaps aware that a Jackobot fiasco could be the straw that breaks the camel's back and forces Jackson to finally sell him that tasty share of the Beatles catalog, Sir Paul McCartney is said to be interested in investing in what we can only imagine will be a gaudy spectacle even for Vegas standards. We'll also forgo the slew of robot Jacko jokes we could close with and instead implore you all to please, oh please, help us find some pics / drawings of this alleged monstrosity...[Via Gearlog]
Las Vegas and Midway may tussle over similar catchphrase
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, owners of the trademarked phrase "Only Vegas," are looking to tussle with Midway games over their attempts to trademark "Only in Vegas." We can't imagine why the LVCVA would think that Midway is dangerously close to infringing on their trademark -- everyone knows that prepositions make everything different.Surreal Games, a division of Midway, is trying to trademark "Only in Vegas" for an upcoming game where "Las Vegas is in the cross hairs of a powerful corporate boss who wants to turn Sin City into a family-themed destination." There's a lot of chest-beating and posturing around this trademark issue currently. Why doesn't Surreal Games just come up with something more original that doesn't come close to violating a trademark? How about, "What happens on the strip, stays on the strip!" Now that's far more original than "Only in Vegas."[Via GamePolitics]
NBA to go all-out with HD at tonight's All Star game
We're sure you've been taking in the Las Vegas festivities this weekend on TNT-HD, but we've actually got something a bit more exciting that Boston's Gerald Green finally giving the Celtics something to cheer about. Similar to other sporting events that have been upping the ante on their HD arsenal, the NBA will be using a whopping 30 camera crews and 10 high-definition cameras to capture the 2007 All Star matchup. Moreover, we expect TNT's indoor broadcast to look slightly better than the rainout we all had to endure when watching the Super Bowl, but be sure to catch the game tonight at 9:00PM EST and then drop a comment as to how glorious (or not) you thought the broadcast actually was.
NBA's 2007 All-Star Game in HDTV... and 3D
If you can't afford a courtside seat at this weekend's NBA All-Star Game festivities, the league is testing a new way to "change the way we see the game" -- sans the chance of rubbing elbows with various celebrities. Guests in Las Vegas, will go to the Mandalay Bay hotel instead of the Thomas and Mack Center where the game is being played, and don special glasses to view view a 3D high definition version of TNT's broadcast of Saturday and Sunday night's activities. Five 3D camera systems have been installed around the arena by Pace, and according to the NBA's VP of operations and technology, the HDTV widescreen broadcast will allow them to avoid many cuts and camera movements, hopefully minimizing any shaky cam effect some complained about during the special SkyCam broadcast last year. If you can't make it to Vegas to check things out, you can still see this technology at work this season, as a similar broadcast during the NBA Finals is already planned. No word on plans for a "belligerent drunk" simulator, so either way we still have a long way to go towards simulating the real game experience in a theater and someday in the future, at home.Read - Variety Read - Broadcasting & Cable
HDTV Listings for October 27, 2006
What we're watching: The World Series could be all wrapped up tonight, as the Tigers and Cardinals play Game 5 in St. Louis. Surprisingly, we've got not one but two HD season premieres tonight. Las Vegas on NBC finally returns, and on Showtime Masters of Horror kicks off its second season.Our traditional high definition listings continue below.
DirecTV adds HD locals in Austin, Cincinnati and Las Vegas
Sure bandwidth issues are forcing DirecTV to play musical chairs with its HD channel lineup, that hasn't stopped it from adding local stations in several areas recently. Austin, Cincinnati and Las Vegas are all among the cities to get MPEG-4 local broadcasts. As with the others, to get the new stations you'll need a new dish and receiver. According to the press release, this brings the count of cities with local HD via satellite to 42, covering 62 percent of US households, and contiuing on track to provide 150 national HD stations plus 1,500 local in 2007. The new stations are: Austin, Texas KEYE/CBS, KVUE/ABC and KTBC/FOX Cincinnati, Ohio WKRC/CBS, WCPO/ABC, WXIX/FOX and WLWT/NBC Las Vegas, Nevada KTNV/ABC and KVVU/FOX
Samsung's handsets at CTIA
So we're here in Vegas for the opening ceremonies of CTIA, which officially opens its doors tomorrow. We checked out Samsung tonight at the Official CTIA Press Rception; they didn't have a whole lot of anything to play around with that we haven't already seen before (the D807 and T719 were present), but we also caught a quick glance of the A930 from the last time we were in Vegas: CES. More hands on pics after the break, but unfortunately we couldn't snag the new T509 and there just wasn't a whole lot new to show you from Sammy (at least not right now, anyway).
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?
(not CES) Because we all know what really pushes new tech, adult entertainment looks at HD
It's well known that the porn industry had spurred adoption of technologies like VHS and DVD, so it's no surprise that this week at Las Vegas' "other" conference, high definition was also a big topic. Adult entertainment companies and their customers usually are well ahead of the curve, and are already set to roll out trailers and content not only in high definition, but also formatted for the PSP and iPod.It's definitely possible that their choice between HD-DVD and Blu-ray could be a deciding force in which format is dominant.
