Warner Brothers
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Warner's Noonan denies Blu-ray exclusive, which is nice
Freeze gopher! That Warner Brothers rumor which seemingly pre-dates the availability of both Blu-ray and HD DVD gear has returned. A week after Warner was to dirty HD DVDs swimming pool with their exclusive Blu-ray doodie, Jim Noonan (Noonan!), Warner Bros. Senior Vice President and General Manager, returns with this peach of a response, "We have made no decision to change our present policy which is to produce in both HD DVD and Blu-ray." And that's all she wrote.
Warner to finally go Blu-ray-only at CES?
Another day, another format war rumor. Business Week has a lengthy writeup on the possibility of lone dual-format holdout Warner Brothers switching to Blu-ray exclusively, and how it could affect the outcome of the long-running feud between high-definition disc formats HD DVD and Blu-ray. The rumor gets its seed from vice-chairman of Lionsgate Michael Burns, who claims that Warner will be turning blue soon. With Warner on their side, the Blu-ray studios would hold a 70% market share for the DVD market. Of course, if Warner shifts red, then the studio market will again be split into two equal halves, and consumers are left to wait and see if one format can outsell, outspend, or outlast the other until only one format remains. The stakes are so high that top execs from both camps are banging down Warner's door with personal meetings -- and possibly even truckloads of cash -- to get Warner to turn to their side. One thing you can be sure of is that Warner is going to be keeping an extra close eye on the dual-format release of Harry Potter next week for guidance.[Thanks, Michael P.]
Universal, Warner, and EMI to sell music on flash drives
The major record labels' ongoing fixation with physical media continues on, as Universal, EMI, and Warner have each announced plans to sell music preloaded on flash drives. Universal says the move is "aimed at the younger, 12 to 24 year olds, who no longer believe that the CD is as cool as it used to be," but that "people still want to own a physical product." Yeah, too bad that physical product is a DAP. Predictably, the $10 flash drives will cost twice as much as normal CD singles but contain additional content -- just like that ridiculous "ringle" concept we just heard about, only with more plastic and manufacturing involved. There's no word on what format the music will be in or what the DRM will be, but it's not like it really matters, since no one is going to buy these anyway. No word on when we'll see this Stateside, but UK teenagers can expect to be patronized by the record labels sometime in the next few months.[Via Pocket-lint]
Video: new Looney Tunes ACME Arsenal trailer
Revealed at the beginning of the year, a new trailer has surfaced for Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal from Warner Brothers. Thankfully, the game actually looks halfway decent. What we see is essentially standard fare for action platformers, but it looks well done at least. The character models look very nice and the backgrounds are appropriately cartoony (we especially dig Wackyland). There are also plenty of outlandish weapons available (including a massive triple minigun). All in all, it's looking like a faithful rendition of some of our favorite characters. Here's hoping someone has the sense to put a budget price on it.Update: Corrected game title.
Order of the Phoenix looking good
Three new videos of the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix have gone up on IGN. The videos demonstrate a few of Harry's spells and give us a look round Hogwarts. We'll be casting the spells with a flick of the Wiimote, and maybe even incanting them through the mic.Like Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, the Harry Potter games have been a bit of a mixed bag in the past; Goblet of Fire, for instance, was very much a bogey. This one, however, is looking and sounding very promising. If EA can capture the feel of Hogwarts in the game and get that elusive sandbox gameplay working, then this could be a real treat.
Lego Batman coming to 360 in 2008
After witnessing the huge success of the Lego Star Wars games, Warner Bros. is going to work with Lego to make a Lego Batman game. With Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment heading the publisher duties, TT Games is returning to develop the title, which is slated for a 2008 release on new generation consoles. Did you play and enjoy either of the Lego Star Wars games, camera issues aside? Looking past some gameplay issues, we were able to have fun and enjoy The Original Trilogy for what it as. So, do you think "Lego-izing" the Batman universe could see the same success as the Star Wars franchise did? [Via GameStooge]
Order of the Phoenix going next-gen
In what can be called the most unsurprising announcement this week, Warner Bros Interactive and Electronic Arts has announced that it will be making a game adaptation of the film adaptation of the book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Electronic Arts has previously made every single Harry Potter game for every single console in existence.If that wasn't enough for you, the title will launch on or around the release of the film version of Order of the Phoenix, July 2007, just to make sure it can capitalize on the massive success of the film franchise without worrying about pithy things like game quality. With the exception of Chamber of Secrets, which managed a metacritic score of 77, all of the Harry Potter game adaptations have scored in the mid-to-high 60s.The Order of the Phoenix game will come out for three Nintendo systems (DS, GBA, and Wii), three PlayStations (PS 2, 3 and P), and two Microsoft formats (Xbox 360 and Windows PC). Both the GameCube and original Xbox are now officially forgotten.A new 20-second teaser for the film can be found -- for some reason or another -- at the website for Warner Bros.' Happy Feet. [Via 1UP]
Cheaper UMDs skyrocket sales 1000%
In America, poor sales of UMDs have led to retailers simply getting rid of the format altogether, or putting them in bargain bins, never to give them another look ever again. In Japan, however, Warner Bros. is trying a new strategy of trying to sell more UMDs. For the past few months, Warner Bros. has released movies at an official price of 980 yen (about $9 US). Surprise! For some reason, UMDs sold a lot better at that price. In fact, according to Gpara.com, it sold 10 times as more than normally.Haven't we been telling companies for the longest time that if you want us to care about the format, it has to be dirt cheap? Looks like WB finally understood that. But can we hope that the rest of the market stops beating themselves with stupid sticks?[Via PSP-Vault]
Screens for the Man of Steel
The shaky, disease-ridden addicts over at XboxAddict have posted some new screens of Superman Returns. This could turn out to be a great game, but thus far the screenshots have not thrilled me. They lack zing. No verve at all. Hopefully, my fears are completely unfounded and this will be the best Superman since the arcade game, but I'm not holding my super breath.
Warner's first HD-DVD/DVD combo disc, additional titles announced
HD-DVD is moving the movement, with their latest announcement that we will see the first back-and-forwards compatible movie hitting store shelves May 9. Rumor Has It (which I have never heard of) will contain a high definition version on one side and a standard definition DVD on the other. The second piece of good news is that it will premiere on the same day as the standard definition release. The bad news is that this hybrid disc is going to cost you $39.99, a 135% premium over just the standard DVD as eHomeupgrade points out.Also announced today for HD-DVD release are Goodfellas, Swordfish and Training Day, all of which will cost $28.99.Now we'll see if anyone is really interested in future-proofing their DVD library, especially at such a price. Blu-ray also has similar types of discs on the way; with neither format expected to gain that much traction in its first year, getting consumers to build up libraries of content and locked into a format early could be key. That said, content will mark the true victor in the next generation wars, and with the "special features" provided by Eva Mendes and Halle Berry I see where Warner is going early and I kind of like it.
HD-DVD advertising campaign kicks off: "So real you can feel it"
That is the new rallying cry of the HD-DVD camp; will it be enough to move customers into stores to by players before Blu-ray comes out, or enough to make consumers care about high definition DVDs at all? Toshiba and Warner Brothers certainly hope it is. To counter, the Blu-ray supporters were considering launchnig a market campaign around the concept that HD-DVD "came first", leaving HDTV owners unsatisfied. Expect the milder tagline "step into Blu" when their media juggernaut hits the ground.They plan to start the advertising on channels that air high definition content but we haven't seen any yet, although I did catch a nice Mission Impossible trailer in HD during 24 last night. Drop us a line if/when you see the ads.[Via Adjab]
UPN & WB are now "CW Television Network"
So we are losing two high definition broadcasters as they become one. The parent companies of UPN and WB, CBS and Warner Brothers, have announced they will form a new network with programming from both of the old ones, which will cease broadcasting in September of this year. The station will be broadcast on the Tribune's 16 major market television stations, as well as 12 CBS-owned affiliates. If you don't live in the 48% of the US that covers, don't worry, they will select existing UPN or WB affiliates throughout the rest of the country.In the press release for the 10-year agreement, there is no mention of high definition, but since both existing stations currently broadcast some content in high def, it's safe to say the new one will as well.Hopefully now they'll be able to broadcast in 1080i every night, instead of taking nights off as they sometimes have.
