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Movies theaters to become arcades of the future?
Spain's Yelmo Cineplex company recently splurged on a "Cinegames" setup, converting one of its small theaters into a sizable LAN arena. Inside, some 50 17-inch LCD screens have been bolted to armrests, a gamepad dangling below each one. Once the fog and low smoke start to roll in, the black light and flashing green lasers get going, and the seats start vibrating, one gets a sense of why this innovative concept could reinvigorate the movie theatre business -- and resurrect the arcade. Developed by Enrique Martinez (pictured), Cinegames is slowly drawing crowds to an otherwise unprofitable small-screen theater at the Yelmo multiplex in Madrid. Aside from tourneys featuring chart-toppers like Pro Evolution Soccer (published by Konami -- not EA!), Martinez hopes Cinegames will appeal to educational institutions that could use the space for learning and testing; he's even marketing to corporate and senior citizen groups. If the concept takes off, Martinez plans to expand Cinegames throughout Europe, eventually hopping the Atlantic to target North American audiences. So how 'bout it? Would you desert your cushy spot on the couch and lose the Xbox Live headset to brush shoulders with your competitive peers? Tickets are only $4.[Via The Last Boss]
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 3
PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com.Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to MP_ROOT/101ANV01/. Requires firmware 2.00 or above. Do NOT place in "VIDEO" folder. Firmware 2.80 or above do not need to download thumbnails. Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesDownload MP4 (7.86MB) | Download THM The following videos are featured after the break: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, 300, Fred Claus, Chili Con Carnage (PSP).
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 2
PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com.Instructions: Save all movie and thumbnail files to MP_ROOT/101ANV01/. Requires firmware 2.00 or above. Do NOT place in "VIDEO" folder. Hannibal RisingDownload MP4 (10.5MB) | Download THM The following videos are featured after the break: HOT FUZZ, Transformers, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters (PSP) and Bladestorm (PS3).
TI pushing to get DLP in your cellphone, local cinema
It's not terribly uncommon to see a manufacturer try to push a product (or platform) into every crevice of your life, and it seems that Texas Instruments is diverting quite sharply from its calculatorish ways of old and making an aggressive push to get that DLP logo slapped on everything you own. While we've seen (literally) the diminutive Microvision display do its thang here at CES, TI is hoping to steal that thunder away by talking up its forthcoming palm-sized DLP projectors. The "fully featured" Pocket Projectors, which are co-developed by OMAP, would weigh "less than one pound," use the .55 DLP chip, and could purportedly connect to handsets or PDAs to beam up that big(ger) screen imagery for a crowd to see. Unfortunately for TI, these devices are not (at least initially) supposed to be integrated units, which could easily get overlooked if those built-in alternatives can muster acceptable quality. Additionally, TI is hoping to get that DLP logo stamped on your brain even when you visit the cinema, as the company now has its technology in 3,000 theaters worldwide and is frequently throwing logo-clad splash screens onto the canvas during pre-show advertisements. So if you wonder why you're strangely drawn to the DLP sets during your next HDTV shopping trip, trust us, it's not the mirrors, it's the marketing.[Via AboutProjectors]
Gamer Generation on Discovery HD
There's a couple showings left of Discovery HD's Gamer Generation special coming up, so set your TiVo Series 3 and your generic DVRs to record, and see what insight this latest documentary has to offer about gamers that hasn't already been said.Depending on where you live, and if your satellite/cable provider carries the Discovery HD Theater channel, there are two more showings today, and again on Saturday, January 13th. TV listings are showing it as "Part One," so hopefully this will be an ongoing series or special, but right now information about this, and a frustrating amount of HD programming, is hard to come by.Let us know if you happened to catch it, and what you thought about it. That is, if you are able to find it ... just like The A-Team.
PSP Fanboy Theatre: Volume 1
PSP Fanboy offers the latest and greatest movie and game trailers, formatted for the PSP in this new weekly feature. Check it out every Saturday. PSP owners can download files wirelessly via m.pspfanboy.com. Instructions: Save all movie files to MP_ROOT/101ANV01/. Requires firmware 2.00 or above. Shrek the Third Download MP4 (9.71MB) | Download THM The following videos are featured after the break: Reno 911, MotorStorm (PS3), MACH (PSP) and Final Fantasy Tactics (PSP)
Wii rocks an empty movie theater, we become jealous
What do you do when you need more screen size than available (or perhaps destroyed your TV)? Well, you can do like these guys do and head on down to an empty theater and hook your Wii up there! Look at the size of those Miis, they're huge!As always, video is embedded into the post past the jump.
Wii in a theater: we don't need no stinkin' pixels
This latest Wii vid, which we've decided in a completely non-mathematical way stretches those 480p pixels to about one square foot of screen per, just goes to prove what all those Wii fanboys have been politely discussing with the Sony and Microsoft camps all along: pixels don't necessarily equal fun. In fact, we'd like to present another theorem of Wii fun: any game that makes your friends look like total fools -- sort of like they look when they're actually bowling, golfing, boxing or saving princesses -- is a total keeper, and if you can do it while being immersed in a totally sick 344-inch theater screen, with a digital theater projector and homemade sensor bar backing you up, then it's all the merrier. Keep reading for a video of this ultimate in Wii setups, or peep that read link for detailed instructions in building your own sensor bar (a variation on the original DoctaBu design).
London theatergoers: "Jam our phones"
Losing reception can be a downright nerve-wracking experience for some of us, but if there's one place no one wants to hear a ring -- much less take a call -- we have to believe it's in live theater. It really comes as no surprise then that a recent poll conducted among theatergoers in London suggests that a full 72 percent would like to see jamming equipment installed to prevent calls from interrupting performances (if anything, we're surprised it's not higher). For the record, said equipment is currently illegal in the UK, but support is growing to legalize it for these kinds of environments. If it can all go down without jeopardizing legit signals, we suspect they'd find support for similar measures virtually everywhere in the world.[Via Techdirt]
Sony's 18,000 lumen SXRD 4K prototype projector
So you've got a fancy home theatre system do ya? Oh, and you like to boast a bit about the 3000 lumens your 1080p DLP kicks? Well check that ego son, 'cause Sony just unveiled their newest SXRD (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) 4K projection technology which slams your home kit with a blinding 18,000 lumens (nearly twice the brightness of their top-o-the-line SRC-R110, pictured to right) and a 4096 x 2160 resolution. As you may have guessed, these are designed and priced for commercial movie theatres. Still, if you've got a couple hundie grand to drop, we're sure Sony might grant an exception to you and your fifty-foot screen.
Don't have a DLP at home? Go to a DLP equiped theater then
It would be nice if everyone that wanted a DLP projector could get one. But sometimes other things have priority over another and we move on. But there is still a good chance that you can watch a new movie on one of these beautiful DLP projectors. DLP.com has a Theater Search that queries local cinemas equipped with a DLP projector. You have to be carefully however 'cause not every movie playing is going to be on one of these. Many theaters only have one or two of these projectors which will normally run the big blockbuster of the weekend. Best option is to call ahead to find out what movie is being shown.
Pac-Man: The Movie, not coming to any theaters near you
In my opinion, the concept behind this home-made trailer for a fictional Pac-Man movie surpasses that of any other full length movie based on a game. Not that it's got much competition. Choice quote: "It looked like some kind of man, some kind of... Pac-man."[Thanks, Justin]
Home theater vs. movie theater
First M Night Shyamalan, and now this guy. Going on and on about "the theater experience" and what viewing movies at home can't hope to match. There's always somebody who (to me at least) feels their theater going way of life is threatened by HDTV, home theaters and the like. As a result, there is a list of reasons why movie theaters rock. I was quite unsatisfied with his list so of course, I made my own.Why home theaters rock: The little screen: No bad seats in the house. Last time I went to see a movie on opening night, I showed up late and ended up in the first row needing a neck brace. No such thing here, my favorite seat is always available and perfectly positioned the way I want it. Someday all theaters will have digital projectors for a consistently high quality show, but not yet. If you need something larger, grab a projector and find the largest wall you have, problem solved. No interruptions (unless I want there to be):: If a cellphone goes off during a movie at home, I don't have to wonder what idiot forgot to turn his phone off, I know who it was and I can answer it if I want, the movie goes on pause and waits dutifully for my return. Try getting the projector operator to back up a few minutes because your mom wanted to know how you're doing and why you never call. Big sound: I've got big speakers and a little apartment. Only the best theater systems rumble the seats in a similar fashion (with bonus banging from my downstairs neighbors). Ok seriously, this is at best a push, movie theaters may have better sound systems, but mine is personally calibrated to my liking and I can usually get a DVD commentary or two.
GUN PLAY: theater about video games
Opening this Thursday at the Chocolate Factory in Queens, a theater group is going to "[blur] the line between real and imagined violence" with their performance piece, GUN PLAY. The New York Times reports the "the cast and crew spent hours playing Xbox titles, [as] part of their research into how to move like futuristic fighters or California carjackers." They practiced the unnatural and affected way video game characters behaved, including walking, standing, stomping, shooting, and dying. Most interesting (and eerie) was their research to act out dying realistically: they watched security camera footage from video games' greatest albatross around its neck, the Columbine High School shootings. The NYT writes, "When a person is shot at close range... his body simply collapses: 'What's really chilling about it is how it's visually not interesting.'"
Paramount announces Blu-ray, HD-DVD titles
Well, CES is here and that means plenty of Blu-ray and HD-DVD announcements, even if we still don't know exactly when we will have players for either format yet. Paramount has announced mirrored launch lineups for their "Paramount High Definition" series. It will be interesting to see how available selection plays into the format battle brewing for 2006."The titles scheduled for launch include recent hits such as "Four Brothers" and "Sahara," sci-fi thrillers "Aeon Flux" and "Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow," action-adventures "The Italian Job" and "Tomb Raider," the renowned music documentary "U2: Rattle and Hum" and Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow." Rounding out the debut slate are "We Were Soldiers" and "Manchurian Candidate" starring Academy Award(R) winners Mel Gibson and Denzel Washington, respectively.The 2006 line-up continues with the debut of a "Mission Impossible" trilogy for HD DVD which includes the new "Mission Impossible 3," "Mission Impossible" and "Mission Impossible 2," scheduled for later in the year."The only one of these movies I'm looking forward to is "The Italian Job", love that Marky Mark guy.
Disney helps take another step bringing the theater/home theater experience closer
But not from the side you may think. On Thursday the mouse & Co. put its money up, along with Christie Digital Systems (cameras) & Access Integrated Technologies (software) to not only distribute it's movies digitally, but to put up 150 new digital screens by the end of the year, and up to 4000 more by 2007. Theater operators have the same thing to gain by going to digital that we did coming from tapes, no more reels breaking or wearing out as they are repeatedly showing, plus it will lower costs of getting the movies to the theaters. As many other large media companies continue to hem and haw on standards for digitally showing their films, it's good to see Disney take this step, although they really need to upgrade their facilities.They also haven't answered the most important question of all in getting me back to the movie theater, when am I going to be able to get a two tickets, two sodas and tub of popcorn for less than $25? If it happens, you won't need to check HD Beat, just look outside for the pigs flying.
