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The world of 'Toy Story' is coming to 'Kingdom Hearts 3'
Kingdom Hearts 3 has been slow in coming, but you'll at least get a reward for your patience. Square Enix took to Disney's D23 stage to announce that the action role-playing game will have our heroes visit the world of Pixar's Toy Story -- yes, you'll be helping Buzz Lightyear and Woody clear the neighborhood of villainous toys. There's even a bit of Titanfall-style action as you jump into plastic robots to do battle. Oh, and did we mention that KH3's release has finally been narrowed down, to 2018? That could still put a release well into the future, but it's a relatively short wait given that fans of the Disney/Square crossover series have already gone more than a decade without a sequel.
ICYMI: Robots so advanced, they cool themselves with sweat
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers from the University of Tokyo devised a better air cooling system for robots that is modeled on their as-yet-overlords, sweaty humans. The 3D-printed bones have spaces for tiny pores, allowing Kengoro to do pushups for 11 minutes without overheating. Next up, world domination.
VUDU, Walmart and Disney join forces, add a free streaming copy to Toy Story 3 Blu-ray discs
Walmart is showing how it might make use of VUDU after purchasing the 1080p movie streaming house earlier this year, now that the two have teamed up with Disney to throw in a free digital copy of Toy Story 3 with each one purchased at the store on DVD or Blu-ray. When the movie goes on sale today, customers will receive a download code they can use on their nearest VUDU player (now including Boxee on the Box, PC or Mac) to stream some Buzz and Woody at any time without a disc involved. Walmart and VUDU are quick to describe this mix of physical and digital access as the future of content, and we're thinking this type of promotion is about to become much more widespread since Amazon's already offered a similar deal with Disc+, and Best Buy purchased CinemaNow specifically for this type of offer. The only question now is if customers will start asking "which streaming service does this connect to?" before they run out to buy a new Blu-ray instead of simply looking for the lowest price or other promotional tie-in.
Toy Story 3 Blu-ray listed on Amazon for December 10, could it be 3D?
If you're hoping to see more domestically released Blu-ray 3D titles this year you may want to raise your alert level as Blu-ray.com reports, among other retailer information, on a mysterious listing for Toy Story 3 on December 10. The regular release has already been listed for November 2, in both two disc Blu-ray set, three disc BD/DVD/digital copy combo pack and 10-disc trilogy form, but since it's not among the exclusives announced earlier this week from Disney, seeing the top grossing flick of 2010 at home in 3D this year seems like a real possibility.
Toy Story 10-disc box set pops up for preorder on Amazon
If you were worried that the upcoming four disc Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy release of Toy Story 3 (the highest grossing animated film of all time, btw) on November 2 just didn't have enough discs, a 10-disc set with all three Toy Story movies on Blu-ray, plus digital copies and DVD versions of all of them has appeared on Amazon. TheHDRoom pointed out the listing and that there's no official info, but right now $70 brings home the aforementioned discs plus one more that likely holds bonus features. We've gone back and forth on the value of these extra disc sets for various reasons, but this may just be pushing it too far.
Toy Story 3 in 4K 3D: does higher-res equal higher enjoyment?
We'll be straight with you, the Engadget staff is somewhat ambivalent about 3D: some of us believe it to be a gimmick, while others see it as a legitimate advance in film technology that takes our movie enjoyment up to its next logical station. What you won't find us disagreeing on, however, is that everything looks better when it's taken to a 4K resolution. Sony has been busy rolling out its new 4K projectors across the US and Europe, and invited us yesterday to see Toy Story 3 in some ultra-advanced 4K 3D. Because of it having four times the resolution of the more conventional 2K stuff -- which Avatar, the big 3D (and 4D) flagship, was delivered in -- Sony's projector is able to deliver both the left- and right-eye frame on the screen at the same time, rather than having to alternate them in hummingbird fashion. That should ideally provide a more pleasurable overall experience for the viewer and ultimately pay off for the company in more people ponying up more cash for the extra goodness. So, we moseyed along to an Apollo Cinema in central London -- the chain has already installed Sony's hero 4K projectors in 11 of its venues -- and all you'll need to do is click past the break to see what we thought.
RealD's smaller 3D glasses ensure your kids look a little less goofy in theaters
Some things work when it comes to "one size fits all," but other things don't. Hats? Maybe. 3D glasses? Not so much. Thankfully, then, RealD is introducing sets of specs for theater goers aged eight and below -- or really anyone with a kid-sized head. Like the other glasses handed out at theaters these are individually packaged to ensure they're "clean and fresh for every moviegoer." Because, you know, nobody likes a skanky pair of peepers. These little-sized glasses will be available for your little ones at showings of Toy Story 3 starting this weekend.
Blu-ray releases for March 23rd 2010
Another week in March of new releases means another Academy Award Winning performances as Sandra Bullock took home the big price for her work in The Blind Side. Great news for those who like to buy, not so much for the renters out there as this is the first big title to be subjective to Warner's 30 day rental embargo. Disney also continues to lay on the goods this month as it brings two of Pixar's bests with Toy Story and Toy Story 2 -- no mention of a 3D release though. The Blind Side (Warner) Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove (Warner) Toy Story (Walt Disney) Toy Story 2 (Walt Disney) The African Queen (Paramount) Brothers (Lionsgate) Mad Men: Season Three (Lionsgate) Days of Heaven (Criterion) Bigger Than Life (Criterion) Yojimbo (Criterion) Sanjuro (Criterion) Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox) The Men Who Stare at Goats (Anchor) Phantom Punch (Screen Media) Red Cliff (Magnolia) Spring 1941 (Well Go USA)
Pixar talks about what it took to upgrade Toy Story to 3D
And some people didn't know it is possible to make an old movie look good in HD, and here Pixar is going back and making 15 year old movies 3D. Evidently Pixar has always thought about how its movies would look in 3D and decided to go back and make it happen with the first two Toy Story movies. The timing is due to the fact that Toy Story 3 is right around the corner, but while fans wait to see it, they can go to the theater and relive the first two like never before. What's interesting is that the original data took about 4 months to convert just to make it compatible with Pixar's current technology, and after that was done, it took another 6 months to convert each movie to 3D. The other interesting nuget is about how the distance between the two cameras help determine how "3D" an image will look -- an interesting read even if you're not interested in 3D.[Via TVSnob.com]
3D glasses included in two new Disney games for Xbox 360, PS3 & Wii
While you'll probably have to wait for James Cameron's Avatar for a proper stereoscopic 3D experience on consoles, Disney is readying two games this summer that will not only support anaglyph 3D (good news, it will work on any TV, bad news, it's the same low quality red/blue style 3D you've seen and ignored before), but come with two pairs of glasses packed in. Just continuing on the 3D hype its been dispensing to the kids with Jonas Bros. and Hannah Montana flicks both on the big screen and at home, highlighted most recently with Up and culminating in the upcoming Toy Story 1 & 2 3D remakes in October, Disney is clearly making an effort to work the technology in on every level with special 3D modes (no cheat codes necessary.) Toy Story Mania is a Wii-exclusive game due this fall based on the ride at its resorts, while G-Force brings spy guinea pigs to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 July 21.[Via Joystiq]
Ultimate Buzz Lightyear robot to the rescue, on video
Step aside, Wall-E: Buzz Lightyear, courtesy of Thinkway Toys, has arrived to claim his rightful place at the top of the robot-based-on-Disney-character heap. Maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but Buzz's facial animation, sexy moves and trademark catch-phrases have all been wrapped up into a nice little bow here to rake in the cash when Toy Story and Toy Story 2 hit theaters this October as a 3D glasses double feature. Buzz responds to a few voice commands, can play a laser tag with the included remote, has a "Puppeteering Programming" mode to pose him for your own animations, and can even suffer an identity crisis when you tell him that he's just a toy. He'll be available this fall for $130-ish, check out a video after the break.
Disney to expand MMORPG line-up
No stranger to the online landscape, Disney's CES presentation included word on their future plans to create massive worlds based on many of their licenses. With Pirates of the Caribbean already well into production (if not due this year), Disney intends to "build more virtual worlds like "Pirates" based on a broad range of our properties." Disney is quick to throw out Toy Story as an example of this, but when they mean broad, think real broad. This may not mean that every game is going to own up to the standard, online RPG format. A "virtual world" can be anything from an online hack-and-slash like Pirates to something of a visual chatroom like MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach.Disney's first foray into the MMORPG format was a kid friendly action game, Toontown, which is still online to this day and at by last account, fairly competent. Should Disney team-up down the line with some designers worth their chops, we may not insist on groaning when we hear word of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Online.