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The '08 Olympics coming to Shanghai in a BIG way
We're having a tough time visualizing this: a giant ball-shaped LCD screen. Whatever it ends up looking like - we're thinking like the hologram of the Death Star from A New Hope - it's going to broadcast the '08 Beijing Olympics on the Metro Tower in Shanghai. The LCD ball (or is it ball LCD - who knows) is going to be 3,000 square meters when it's completed. This monster screen is going to cost a monster amount of cash too - $23.3 million but we can't think of a better way to watch the Olympics. We can only hope that the image is in HD.
Readers pick best webcomic: old rivalries
Mario and Sonic team up, so it's time to draw some old blood. For predicting future issues of Sonic and Mario Olympics -- specifically for the final scene in the comic, as cited by many readers -- Fanboys Online earns the rather dubious honor of webcomic of the week.Second place goes to Penny Arcade's look into the shady underbelly of GameStop and third place was nabbed by the recently-returned Press Start to Play. Thanks to everyone who voted and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!
Nintendo and Sega execs talk about Sonic and Mario at the Olympics
In the spirit of Sonic and Mario uniting for a friendly sporting exhibition, N'Gai Croal brought Nintendo of America Vice President Perrin Kaplan and Sega of America President Simon Jeffery together, ushering in a new age of Sega and Nintendo Doing Stuff Together. In addition to the quite promising info that Shigeru Miyamoto is involved in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games "more ... than sort of the average game," there are some hilarious quotes from Kaplan, who seems to be euphoric in the extreme over the Sega-Nintendo collaboration. On why Mario gets top billing in the title: "He's Italian, he's really sexy, and he can get more women than Sonic." Depressingly, we have evidence to the contrary of that last point (said evidence is a Sonic 360/PS3 spoiler, so be warned ... in fact, be warned in general).
Sonic & Mario finally team up for a game
Once embittered rivals, Mario and Sonic were at each others' necks during the 16-bit console wars, both of them vying for the Top Mascot prize that awaited the victor at the end of the battle. Tensions eventually eased between the two combatants and their respective companies, and after years of respectful neutrality, Nintendo and Sega are making their friendship official with a game that joins both franchises.Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will be released during the holiday season this year for the Nintendo DS and the Wii. Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Tails, and the rest of the extended casts will be competing in events set in arenas modeled after the venues of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.Hisao Oguchi, Sega Corp.'s President and CEO, had nothing but praise for the project: "For the first time, two of the world's greatest games' characters come together to compete in the world's greatest sporting event and we couldn't be more excited." While we can't imagine anyone from the Mario troupe besting Sonic at the 100m run, the blue hedgehog might have trouble with swimming competitions if he has to stop and replenish his air supply with bubbles too much.This might not receive the same fanfare as a Sonic appearance on Super Smash Bros. Brawl would, but maybe this is just a hint of what's to come from Nintendo and Sega? There's not much at the video game's official site yet, but head over there to check out forum discussions and sign up for email updates.
Sonic and Mario team up for the Olympics
Bitter competitors since the 16-bit era, Mario and Sonic are finally burying the hatchet and starring in a game together: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Characters from both franchises battle it out in Olympic-style games such as swimming, the 100 meter dash, and table tennis. The worldwide launch is this holiday season, so prepare to finally discover who's faster -- Mario or Sonic.If this were 1992, we'd think it was an early April Fools prank.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
The RB2000 gymnastbot: next step to real robot olympics?
If robots are going to take over the earth, they're obviously going to want to be active about it, even if it's only so they can stop us humans from pulling the plug. Taking a very tiny step towards such a fit robotic uprising is the RB2000, a 12-inch tall programmable gymnasticbot from JR Robotics in collaboration with Vstone. The RB2000's most innovative feature is that it's capable of performing complex swinging maneuvers on a crossbar, as the little fella does pull-ups and 360 degree swings with quite some competance. Seeing as this model is physically stuck on the bar (the bar slots in between openings in the robot's arms) we're not quite worried about robots hidden in the rafters just yet, but as always, we wouldn't say no to a quick update of that handy robot ethics guide. Death by swinging robot kick just ain't humanity's style, y'know?[Via Primidi]
15th Asian Games prep for HDTV broadcast
While the Olympics and World Cup have done the HD broadcast thing, in a couple months the 15th Asian Games from Doha, Qatar will be the first ones broadcast in HDTV. According to the host broadcaster they expect to have high definition coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics, swimming and gymnastics. No word on what channel (if any) will carry the games in the US beginning December 1; but with South Africa preparing for the World Cup and China continuing to roll out HD in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics we don't have to worry about high-def being an afterthought anymore.
Lenovo releases Coke-themed F20 laptop in China
Even though the U.S. government may want nothing to do with its computers, Lenovo's still got so much love for the red, white, and blue that it's releasing a special-edition notebook branded with one of the most recognizable American icons: everyone's favorite tooth-decaying soft drink. Oddly enough, the company's Coca Cola-red, Pentium M-powered F20 was designed in honor of the 2008 Olympic Games -- which are not only two years away, but taking place in China, and not the U.S. (where was this lappy in 1996 when the Games were held in Coke's hometown of Atlanta?). Anyway, besides the snazzy paint job and stick-on Olympic rings, this version of the F20 is pretty much your run-of-the-mill 12.1-inch laptop, sporting an ULV 1.66GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, integrated graphics, an 80GB hard drive, and all the ports, wireless radios, and card readers you've come to expect from notebooks these days. Obviously priced in yuan, this model is going for the equivalent of $1,575, but since Lenovo knows that you can't possibly resist drinking a Coke while you're using this machine, they're throwing in some of that high-tech Batmobile-style armor plating on the house.[Via I4U]
City Council unanimously approves Philly WiFi
Following unanimous approval by city council, the only remaining impediment between the City of Brotherly Love and ubiquitous wireless Internet access is a signature from Mayor John Street that, given his stance on the project, seems to be just a formality. Once Street gives the go-ahead, Earthlink will begin deploying its 15-square-mile test network in parts of North and South Philly, after which point the company will have the option of backing out should they be unhappy with the results of the trial. Assuming that all goes well, the city's entire 135-square-miles should be covered by glorious, data-rich signal sometime in the third quarter of 2007, which is when Earthlink and other ISPs will begin offering $20-a-month access with 50% discounts for low-income households. Besides creating a more attractive destination for businesses and tourists, the citywide network may also help convince U.S. Olympic Committee officials to choose Philadelphia as the country's representative to battle it out with other international cities seeking to host the 2016 Games.[Via The Wireless Report]
WoW Olympics?
Aggro Me suggests a list of MMOlympic events that players could compete for -- ranging from a camping competition to a tricky roleplay race. Some more WoW-specific events that we're all longing to see: Chest Competition -- Juggle bag space and run speed as you try to collect all the treasure chests in a zone; no dwarves allowed! Auction House Wheeler Dealing -- Pit your salesmanship skills as you compete to sell AH items in the Trade channel for a profit Hunt the Ninja -- Run instances with PuGs; try to be the first to find a ninja-free group Survivability -- Level 1 characters race from their starting area to the furthest capital city via high-level zones; first through the gates alive wins! I've heard of the last event taking place under several themes -- the Running of the Bulls sees baby Tauren characters sprint for survival, and gnome footraces have also been run on a few servers. While some of these events exemplify the bad side of behaviour ingame, others are just plain fun.[via Wonderland]
This may be the best HDTV Sports Sunday yet
2006 really is the year high definition is taking over, and today's sports lineup proves it. Say what you will about NBC's HD Olympics coverage, the Daytona 500 is just kicking off and it may not even be the biggest event today. With speedskating and bobsled finals tonight, plus the always exciting ice dancing, the Olympics have a lot to offer, as well as some little thing called the NBA All-Star Game.Sure the Super Bowl got all the attention, but any of these events by themselves would be great, and to have all three on one day is mind boggling, luckily the 500 is so early, or I'd have some difficult choices to make with my DVR. Too bad the weather isn't better at Daytona as it's more impressive when it's not so overcast, hopefully it will clear up as the day goes on. Still, those wall mounted-cameras are for my money the most exciting shot in sports.But it has been a great weekend, because we've already had ongoing Olympics coverage, yesterdays Busch series race (was that in HD? I missed it) and the NBA All-Star Friday and Saturday night activities. Speaking of, did anybody else check out the Slam Dunk competition last night? I love Nate Robinson but Iguodala got robbed, his from-behind-the-backboard dunk was one of my favorite ever, plus JR Smith already did the behind the back dunk last year.
NBC Olympics HD coverage from an insider
The "HD Engineer," as he's known, has just fired up a blog providing behind the scenes info and pics at the Torino Olympics. HD Engineer is a broadcast engineer working with NBC on the high-def coverage and has some tidbits o' info on what's really happening with the coverage. There's not much content on the blog yet (so we'll be watching), and we mostly knew this anyway: TOBO is the host broadcaster providing coverage to other venues without any commentary. Filming is mostly in HD, but some is in 16:9 digital SD. The uncompressed coverage is 1.5 Gbps. Different distribution methods are clearly varying the content quality. Check out the blog for some pics you wouldn't normally get a chance to see, such as the Master Control room and a map of the International Broadcast Center.
The best thing about NBC's Olympic coverage
I have to admit that I have watched a good amount of the Olympics so far. Once you get past the O.K. picture quality, it's not that bad. The one thing that I love is NBC's new take on the classic "ticker." They threw out the standard idea of what it is supposed to be (side-scrolling text) and updated it. NBC removed the classic scrolling text for "vertically stepping" text. That is, text that rises up and stays stationary just long enough for you to glance at it, then moves up as another one takes its place. Plus, with the added high-def eye candy, it works and looks great.NBC has a lot of video up on Google video and this clip has the ticker in reference at the bottom of the screen. Sure, the clip isn't in HD, but you can still clearly make it out. Here's hoping that other networks make use of the widescreen picture that high definition offers.
Poll: over 50% are watching more Olympics due to HD
We kicked off our poll earlier in the week and we'll run it through the weekend, but it's interesting how many of you are watching more Olympic programming than planned due to the high-def coverage. Granted, this site focuses on HD and you all have an interest in HD, but that's why we didn't ask the basic "will you be watching the Olympics in HD?" question. There's still plenty of time to vote, so go ahead and click the button!
HDBeat Poll on Olympic Games viewing
With hours and hours of high-def Olympic coverage, we were wondering if the HD aspect has influenced your planned viewing habits. Some folks are likely watching a little more than planned due to some of the vivid imagery; on the other hand, some folks are probably fed up with some of the HD feed issues and are watching less than they planned. How about you? HDTV affecting your Olympic viewing? Is the HD Olympic coverage changing your viewing habits? No, I planned to watch as much of the games as possible No, I'm not watching any more or less because of the HD coverage Yes, I'm watching more than I planned Yes, I'm watching less because of the HD feed issues view results
NBC's less than perfect Olympic coverage
Not being a big fan of the Olympics, I watch solely to judge its production quality. So far I am disappointed and I wish I could say I was surprised. I was prepared to cast the blame on my local affiliate for dropping the ball on their Olympic coverage, but then I read an article from Swanni complaining about certain aspects of NBC's Olympic coverage. I know it's hard to produce HDTV, especially when it takes place half-way around the world, but I can't help to think that other networks would do a better job. My main complaint is the macroblocking, which I assume is caused from my local affliate multicasting. The other thing that is annoying me is the number of SD shots during the luge and the cross-country sking. I guess it could be worse and the HD coverage could be dealyed a full day with only one annoying Sony commercial played ad nauseam.
NBA & NFL are playing games with(out) my HDTV
It's another Sunday, I'm relaxing with a cold Dos Equis trying to watch more sports in high definition and again my HDTV is left wanting. Yeah theres the Olympics on NBC but seriously, there is no need to show an entire cross country ski race, even in 1080i. They don't show a whole marathon do they?Much like two weeks ago, ABC played hot potato with their HD, the first game between the Spurs and Pacers was not in high definition, although the second game with Detroit at Miami was (btw Dwyane Wade is incredible). Both games came down to the wire, but the first could have been so much better.And now, I'm (trying) to watch the Pro Bowl on ESPN, and it's SD? What a joke. ESPN has two high definition channels going to waste if you're not going to broadcast the all star game properly, and in beautiful Hawaii. Must I remind people where one of the best HD shows (Lost) is filmed? At least the NBA will have that right, not only will they have the All-Star game in high definition on TNT, they'll even broadcast the practices (Saturday February 18 at noon) so crisply it'll feel like the coach is yelling at you.Are they scared by NBC's glitchy Olympics coverage? I just don't get it. Somebody wake me when Grey's Anatomy starts.
HDTV Listings for February 11, 2006
What we're watching: We're increasing our listings a smidge beyond primetime for the Winter Olympic games over the next two weeks. There's just so much HD Olympic Coverage on NBC that we don't want you to miss a thing, especially the new "Synchronized Curling" events. The highlighted events of Skiing, Speedskating and Figure Skating all kick off at 8 p.m. tonight. If warm-weather sports are more your climate, you can join me in celebrating the return of NASCAR. I know it's silly because the cars go in a circle, which is "no where" and the first car to go "no where" effectively wins, but I'm a sucker for the driver drama. Tonight is a non-points event starting at 8:30 p.m. on TNT-HD. And according to them, they know drama.
HDTV Listings for February 10, 2006
What we're watching: The Winter Olympic games are here! Well, not exactly here; they're in Turin, Italy but you catch our drift. The Opening Ceremonies are typically filled with vibrant color and vivid sounds, just perfect for high-definition television. Tonight, you can join the games at 8 p.m. on NBC in 1080i. Kick your ski-boots off tonight and catch the beginning of the games, would ya? Oh and just to squash the rumors before the games even begin, there is absolutely no truth to the story that Howie Mandel will be hosting the game show "Medal or No Medal" during the games.
U getting Universal HD?
HDBeat reader Chris wrote in this morning to tell us they're getting Universal HD on Time Warner in the Los Angeles area now; I also saw it on my channel lineup last night on Comcast here in Michigan, but we knew that was coming.Oddly, I'm much less excited about watching the Winter Olympics than I am about seeing The Equalizer in high definition. Does anyone know how the show was originally recorded? Apparently all content on Universal is 1080i and not upconverted, but I wouldn't have expected that show to be shot on film.
