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Making your own functioning R2-D2 is a labor of love
Last year at CES, I remember seeing a life-size, fully functioning R2-D2 unit (minus the Leia hologram, sadly). I assumed it was hired out from a professional movie props unit or something similar; now I'm not so sure. Walking around SX Create -- the maker faire section at SXSW -- I bumped into not one, but two equally well-made replicas only to find they were handmade. In fact, there's an entire club -- funnily enough, called R2-D2 Builders -- dedicated to making them. What's more, the models I saw were built using a veritable menagerie of weird and wonderful items, including a good old lazy susan. But that doesn't mean building your own R2 comes cheap, or is a project for the faint-hearted.
A 'Star Wars' VR experiment is coming soon to HTC Vive
Last year Industrial Light & Magic teased an HTC Vive VR tie-in experience (the old teaser clip is embedded after the break) to go along with The Force Awakens and to celebrate the launch of its ILM Experience Lab. Apparently its release was delayed along with the headset, but with the Vive due April 5th, it could be arrive at or near launch. Earlier this evening a short YouTube teaser for Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine appeared on the ILMVisualFX YouTube channel before going private, and it showed something that goes well beyond the Jakku Spy experience we saw last year for Google Cardboard. Update: The full trailer has been revealed at GDC, check it out here.
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' arrives on Blu-ray and DVD April 5th
After raking in over $2 billion in box offices around the world, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to take over your living room. The J.J. Abrams-directed film will be available as a digital HD purchase from the likes of iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and more on April 1st. If you'd rather secure a physical copy the movie will be available via a Blu-ray combo pack and DVD April 5th. As you might expect, there's a load of behind-the-scenes content (sadly, digital extras "may vary by retailer"), including the making of the film, building BB-8, creating creatures and the music of John Williams. In fact, there's a full-length documentary with footage and interviews on how The Force Awakens was made.
Play as two new heroes in the next 'Battlefront' DLC
DICE has announced the next map and character DLC pack for its wildly popular Star Wars: Battlefront game. The new pack, dubbed Outer Rim, will feature two new maps including a close-range field within Jabba the Hutt's palace and garage complex as well as a second map for Sullust (which already has one in-game), a lava-laden industrial planet.
Finn from 'Star Wars' wants a story mode for 'Battlefront'
Electronic Arts and DICE have gone on record saying that the "Battle of Jakku" map is the closest we're going to get to any content in Star Wars: Battlefront that wasn't in the classic trilogy. But does that edict mean the development teams will ignore the request of one of The Force Awakens' breakout stars, John Boyega (disgraced stormtrooper Finn), for a "full on offline" story mode? Time will tell. "It's more of an enjoyable way to learn controls," he tweeted. He isn't wrong, either: Trying to learn any game's intricacies while also dodging incoming fire from folks online is a pain.
Meet the Oscar-nominated sound designers behind Kylo's lightsaber
Skywalker Sound is home to Star Wars. The award-winning sound designers and mixers who inhabit the red-bricked walls of George Lucas' audio post-production facility have shaped the soundscapes for the saga so far. From the first movie in 1977 to The Force Awakens in 2015, the team of sound wizards has converted fictional ideas into believable sounds and indelible memories. Instead of pulling from a ready-made digital library, they tend to rely on organic sounds. Mundane objects and creatures are carefully manipulated into powerful spaceships and energized lightsabers. try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-554275").style.display="none";}catch(e){}
'Star Wars' helmets translate your words to droidspeak
Canadian electronics designer AE Innovations has created a helmet that makes it sound like you're talking in "droidspeak." Yes, that's R2D2's and BB8's beeping, whirring droid language. The helmet doesn't actually "translate" anything: its throat mic merely detects when you're speaking and prompts the device to emit a series of beeps and clicks that sound like they came straight out of the movies.
'Star Wars Battlefront' adds a retro film grain option
Are you the sort of Star Wars fan who seeks out "de-specialized" versions of the original movies, and knows that Han shot first? If so, you're going to have a field day with the latest update for Star Wars Battlefront. The release adds a film grain option that lets you dial in as much of that classic look as you like, giving the game more of the late '70s/early '80s vibe from the early flicks. That's not the only upgrade, either.
A look at Disney's 'Star Wars Experience' concepts
While we've known for a while that Disney intends to build big new Star Wars-themed areas inside its parks, concrete details of its plans have yet to materialize. That hasn't exactly changed after last night's ABC Disneyland 60 special, but we at least now have some idea of what some the attractions might look like.
Make your own 'Star Wars' short for fun and profit
Watch The Force Awakens or maybe a fan restoration of A New Hope recently and want to leave your own mark on the galaxy far, far away? Well good, because the Star Wars Fan Film Awards are back. The contest is open through April 24th, and should you win, there's one of seven $250 Star Wars prize packs up for grabs and your short film will be posted online for the world to see.
Watch the version of 'Star Wars' that George Lucas hates
If you want to watch the original, unaltered version of Star Wars from 1977 legally your options are essentially nonexistent. George Lucas has infamously disowned the original theatrical releases, standing by his CGI-filled Special Editions from the late '90s. If you're willing to bend the law a little bit, though, a fan-restored 35mm print of the original has been floating around the web and garnered a solid amount of interest recently. And until there's an official release of the unaltered trilogy on Blu-ray (keep the hope alive!), it's probably the best way to watch Han shoot first.
ICYMI: Feedback flex screen, cyborg Olympics and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-580621{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-580621, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-580621{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-580621").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers built a prototype flexible display smart device with tactile feedback to actually use the bendable display for control within apps. Actev Motors has a new $600 go-cart for kids that has smart sensors that keeps it from crashing into things, and a parental control app that sets miles per hour limits. And to a person, we are so excited for the upcoming Zurich Cybathalon event next fall. In it, people with physical handicaps can compete in Olympic-like events designed for electric wheelchairs, exoskeleton suits and the like. We are also tickled by this video of a Star Wars droid translation helmet, so hopefully you enjoy it as well. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
Spin Master's life-size BB-8 is too cute and too real
We all fell in love with Sphero's tiny BB-8 droid when it launched last year. But, after you finally saw The Force Awakens, maybe you found yourself wishing for something a bit... bigger? Spin Master has answered that desire at this year's Toy Fair with the introduction of a life-size BB-8 droid. It might not be controlled with an app, but it makes up for it with voice control.
Fan mashup of 'Mario Kart' and 'Star Wars' is a gaming dream
If you're like me, you spent your youth imagining what it'd be like if your favorite fictional universes got together -- heck, Aliens vs. Predator and Kingdom Hearts are practically kids' dreams made real. Well, some fans weren't willing to keep their fantasy locked in their heads. YouTube team Dark Pixel made Star Kart, a video mashup of Mario Kart and Star Wars that's pretty much the blend you'd hope it would be. The project (which took a year to produce) has Mario, Yoshi and crew racing Star Wars ships across a galaxy far, far away, complete with cute touches: shells replace laser cannons, getting knocked out means leaving hyperspace... and of course there's a Death Star trench race. Frankly, we wish Disney and Nintendo would find a way to make this a proper game, even if it's just a Mario Kart 8 add-on.
Software maps the 'Star Wars' universe
You may have a good feel for the scope of the Star Wars universe, but Swiss researchers just took things to another level. They've created maps of the space fantasy series' expanded universe that visualize the connections between 20,000 characters, spanning a period of 36,000 years. The results are surprisingly pretty (you're only seeing a fraction of it above) and help fill in gaps for characters that aren't fully fleshed out, such as where they sit in the timeline. They also turn up facts that might not be readily apparent, even if you're well-versed on the likes of the Old Republic or Grand Admiral Thrawn. For example, just shy of 80 percent of characters are human -- clearly, writers aren't going out of their way to include more Sullustans and Wookiees in their stories.
'Star Wars' is getting an official electronic music album
There are plenty of Star Wars-inspired songs and remixes (such as Meco's disco adaptations), but the legendary space fantasy series is finally getting something official... and you might want to give it a listen. The upcoming Star Wars Headspace will include electronic tunes that are either influenced by or reworks of the movies, most of them from artists you'll know if you're big on digital beats. The whole thing is produced by Rick Rubin, and there are tracks from Bonobo, Claude VonStroke, Flying Lotus, Kaskade and Röyksopp, among others.
'Star Wars' VFX Oscar nominees on making 'The Force Awakens'
If there's one thing you can be certain to find in a Star Wars movie, it's glorious special effects. So after The Force Awakens opened last year, an Academy Award nomination for the film's VFX leads seemed inevitable. Roger Guyett and Patrick Tubach will be going up against visual effects teams behind other big-budget sci-fi films, including Mad Max: Fury Road and The Martian, as well as a rare indie nominee, Ex Machina. We sat down with Guyett and Tubach ahead of the Oscars on February 28th to explore how they went about bringing Star Wars back to life. (Warning: This interview is naturally full of spoilers.)
'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' is getting a LEGO video game
Frustrated that The Force Awakens won't feature in any Star Wars: Battlefront DLC? No matter. While the graphics won't be quite the same, LEGO and developer TT Games will soon have you covered with a button-mashing adventure inspired by Episode VII. The upcoming title was spotted on the Xbox Games Store and through a trailer leaked on YouTube, revealing yet another brawler-platformer that's chock-full of gags and family-friendly fun. Whether it's Poe Dameron using a windscreen wiper on his X-Wing, or Rey driving a speeder with a "BB on Board" sticker, there should be plenty to keep both children and adults chuckling.
'Star Wars' and the coming holographic cinema revolution
"AR is going to hit us like a big bang," says ILMxLab creative director John Gaeta when I ask him whether augmented reality, as that holographic technology is known, has been undervalued by the public and press. "We're just trying to point out right from the beginning that there will be a form of AR that will be as hi-fidelity as the cinema that you see at some point. I can't say what year that'll be. But at some point, we'll have intimate holo-experiences with performance and things like that."
Han Solo will preview Disney's 'Star Wars' park areas on TV
Before you swear off going to Disney parks for shoving everything Frozen down your throats, you may want to see how the new Star Wars-themed attractions are doing first. Han Solo a.k.a. Harrison Ford is giving us "an exclusive preview" of the Star Wars Lands currently under construction in both Disneyland and Disney World. It's unclear if the actor who played the franchise's iconic intergalactic smuggler will show us the state of the actual attractions, but he will share new details on ABC TV's special The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60.