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AT&T to buy Time Warner for $85.4 billion
After no small amount of anticipation, it's official: AT&T has announced that it's acquiring Time Warner for the equivalent of $85.4 billion in cash and stock. The move gives one of the US' largest telecoms control over some of the biggest names in movies and TV, including HBO, Turner and Warner Bros. That includes rights to broadcast MLB, NBA and NCAA March Madness games, we'd add. If you ask AT&T, this is a "perfect match" that mates top-tier content with a ton of distribution points. It can easily deliver quality shows over the internet (especially on mobile), conventional TV or in theaters. AT&T won't have to jump through hoops to license material for playback on your platform of choice, and it can create original material just for a specific medium -- say, bite-sized videos for your phone.
Twitter's promoted stickers invade UK feeds
Playing its part in the ongoing game of shameless social network feature copying, Twitter launched stickers for all users last month. These let you spice up your pictures with emoji and other cartoony overlays before posting them, and you can also search by sticker to see what others are doing with them. It took all of five minutes for Twitter to suck the fun out of the feature, though, as Pepsi became the first brand to shell out for promoted stickers. And now Brits can feature in quarterly ad revenue statistics, too, with the launch of promoted stickers in the UK.
'Maguss,' the game that definitely isn't 'Harry Potter Go'
It's a little bit complicated," Ondrej Tokar says with a laugh. Tokar is the creator of Maguss, an augmented reality mobile game that transforms players into wizards wandering around a world of spells, potions, duels and fantastical creatures. But let's get one thing absolutely clear: It's not a Harry Potter game. Tokar has to emphasize this fact because his team has already been contacted by someone claiming to represent the Harry Potter brand, asking them to distance Maguss from J. K. Rowling's world, or else. Strangely enough, this is precisely what Tokar wants.
De La Soul's samples are why its classic albums stay offline
Have you wondered why De La Soul is more than happy to offer its newer albums online, but has had so much trouble getting its classics (Stakes Is High and earlier) online that it gave them away at one point? You now have a good, if imperfect, explanation. Their label, Warner Music Group, tells the New York Times that its staff "don't believe it is possible" to clear all the samples in early tracks for digital music services. It doesn't explain why those samples are being held back, but the group's current sample clearance agent suspects that many of those samples may have been cleared improperly, sometimes through informal agreements. It's also possible that many of the sample deals didn't account for non-physical releases, so Warner might have to start from scratch.
Warner Bros. paid YouTubers for positive game reviews
Warner Bros. has settled an FTC complaint accusing the company of paying YouTubers "hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars" to make positive review videos for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. FTC filed the complaint back in 2014, after the studio ran an online marketing campaign for the game. According to the the commission, Warner Bros. required (PDF) the online influencers they hired to make a video that "promote[s] positive sentiment about" Shadow of Mordor. That video should "not show bugs or glitches that may exist" and should "not communicate negative sentiment" about Warner Bros. These influencers also had to promote their videos on Facebook and Twitter. The commission didn't release a list of the YouTubers the studio paid, but it did name PewDiePie as one of them.
Netflix will stream CW shows a week after their season finale
Last month, rumors began circulating that those CW shows that were streaming on Hulu would make it to Netflix a lot faster. Well, those reports were accurate as the streaming service and the CBS and Warner Brothers network made the deal official today. Starting with the upcoming 2016-2017 broadcast season, the decidedly comic-heavy slate of Arrow, The Flash, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and more will debut on Netflix as complete seasons eight days after the show's finale airs. And yes, the just-aired seasons that wrapped up recently will be available as well.
4K copy protection removal shop settles for $5.2 million
Intel and Warner Bros. are still very much embroiled in a war on companies stripping copyright protection from 4K and Blu-ray videos. Hardware seller Ace Deal has agreed to pay the two industry giants $5.2 million to settle a lawsuit over alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Supposedly, Ace Deal knowingly aided in piracy by selling devices that remove HDCP anti-copying measures, making it relatively easy to bootleg the latest 4K movie extravaganza. The shop has already pulled the offending gear from its online store and is barred from selling similar devices in the future, but the small outfit still faces a relatively big, potentially crippling payout.
E3 will hold a public gaming event this year
For years, E3 has largely been limited to game industry tradespeople and the press. That's somewhat necessary (it's difficult to wade through the show as it is), but it also locks out thousands of players dying to get a peek at the future of their favorite hobby. Thankfully, that's about to change: the Entertainment Software Association has announced E3 Live, a free public event that gives you a taste of what you're missing. The ticketed gathering, which runs alongside E3 itself (June 14th through 16th), promises the opportunity to "test-drive" new games, meet developers in person and try new experiences before anyone else.
Return to Arkham with the remastered 'Batman' games
Batman fans, rejoice! Soon, you'll be making another sojourn back into the Batman: Arkham video game franchise with the upcoming Batman: Return to Arkham remaster collection, releasing July 29th for $49.99.
Telltale reveals the first details of its 'Batman' game series
When Telltale Games confirmed late last year that it was working on a Batman game series, it didn't reveal much beyond the game's very existence. At last, though, it's ready to dribble out some details. The series will translate at least some of Telltale's character-driven formula to the Caped Crusader's story when it arrives this summer. Unlike Rocksteady's games, the emphasis is as much on Bruce Wayne as his alter ego: choices you make in Wayne's private life will influence what he faces as Batman (and vice versa), including whether characters will go through "corruption or redemption." You'll even have the option of dealing with certain scenes as Wayne or Batman, no doubt with far-reaching consequences.
Amazon Echo offers a choose-your-own-adventure 'Batman' story
Amazon's Echo speaker can do everything from controlling your home to ordering pizza, but its latest trick is something special... at least, if you're a fan of caped crusaders. As part of a team-up with DC Comics and Warner Bros., Amazon has launched a Choose Your Own Adventure-style interactive Batman story, "The Wayne Investigation." The tale has you telling the Echo where you want to go as you search for clues following the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents. Depending on how well you do, the voice-guided game lasts anywhere between a brief 5 minutes (clearly, not the successful path) to a lengthy 40 minutes -- at that point, it's basically a radio drama for the internet era.
Fandango snaps up Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster
Fandango is growing its cinematic empire by acquiring the movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and its parent company Flixster, Deadline reports. As part of the deal, Flixster owner Warner Bros. will take a minority stake in Fandango. The news comes after Fandango also snapped up the streaming video service M-Go back in January, a move that made it clear it wanted do more than offer showtimes and online ticketing. Now, it's going to be an even more formidable opponent against the likes of Moviefone (which is owned by AOL).
Warner Bros. cancels 'Batman: Arkham Knight' for Mac and Linux
Batman: Arkham Knight was one of the better big-budget games of last year -- but its launch on the PC was an unmitigated disaster. Warner Bros. had to pull the game from Steam and retailers and offer refunds to buyers because it was so hopelessly broken at launch, and even when the game came back it still had some problems. That checkered past makes today's news not entirely shocking: Warner Bros. has decided to cancel Arkham Knight for Mac and Linux gamers.
UHD Alliance reveals its specs for 'premium' 4K TVs
Last year a number of TV manufacturers, Hollywood studios and other content companies got together so they could avoid ruining the home experience of 4K. A battle over competing standards and formats has made a mess of tech like Blu-ray/HD DVD and the rollout of 3D, but this industry consortium is committed to making sure that doesn't happen with Ultra HD. As Fox exec Mike Dunn put it during a panel discussion, "Unless you have a standards group that puts the glue for the industry together, it's not seamless for the consumer." Tonight the group showed off the logo and specs (above) that you should probably look for if you consider buying a high-end Ultra HD television. Update: Samsung says its entire line of 2016 SUHD TVs has been tagged with the UHD Premium certification.
Intel, Warner sue over device that strips 4K copy protection
The media industry was more than a little alarmed when 4K bootlegs of Amazon and Netflix streams showed up this November. Weren't these feeds supposed to be relatively safe from pirates? It's no surprise, then, that they're doing something about it. Intel (through its Digital Content Protection brand) and Warner Bros. are suing LegendSky for offering HDFury, a series of devices designed to strip HDCP copy protection from many sources, including streams. The two plaintiffs claim that HDFury violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention measures, making it all too easy to rip and share 4K video. They also allege that LegendSky is dishonest when it says it meets HDCP's licensing requirements.
'Mad Max: Fury Road' is an Ultra HD Blu-ray launch title
Ultra HD Blu-ray is finally coming in 2016, and while we'll hear more about its 4K movies this week at CES, Warner Bros. is kicking things off by announcing some of the first movies on the way. Right out of the gate, it's offering Mad Max: Fury Road, San Andreas, The Lego Movie and Pan. They're promised for the "initial launch" early this year, although there's no exact date mentioned. More movies will arrive later this year and Warner says it plans to release over 35 in 2016, although only Man of Steel and Pacific Rim have been named.
Vudu movies take advantage of your Dolby Atmos and Vision gear
If you've been itching to put your Dolby Atmos- and Vision-capable home theater gear to work, you'll be glad to know that you now have one more streaming option besides Microsoft and Netflix. Vudu has started streaming Warner Bros. movies (such as Mad Max: Fury Road and The Lego Movie) with full Atmos and Vision support, so you'll get more immersive audio and a high dynamic visual range if you have the right TV and speakers. There's no mention of Vudu offering similarly upgraded titles from Sony or other studios, but don't be surprised if the catalog expands quickly.
Warner Bros. offers refunds for 'Batman: Arkham Knight' on PC
The failure of Batman: Arkham Knight's PC port is finally complete -- after being removed from digital stores for being completely broken at launch, going through a four month overhaul and returning with too many lingering issues to forgive, Warner Bros. has finally thrown in the towel. If you bought the game on PC, you're eligible for a refund between now and the end of the year.
'Batman: Arkham Knight' returns to PC with some lingering issues
Warner Bros. removed Batman: Arkham Knight from Steam in June because that version of the game was essentially too broken to function. Today, it re-launched Arkham Knight on Steam, though some players are still experiencing problems. In an effort to address these issues, Warner Bros. posted an update with a few suggestions for specific problems: Windows 7 players may encounter hard-drive paging issues after "extended gameplay sessions," but "re-launching the game will resolve" that. For Windows 10 players, Warner Bros. says, "having at least 12GB of system RAM on a PC allows the game to operate without paging and provides a smoother gameplay experience." It should be noted that 12GB of RAM would provide a smoother gameplay experience for just about every game in existence. The studio is also looking into stabilizing the experiences on specific graphics cards.
'Batman: Arkham Knight' returns to PC on October 28th
Months after Warner Bros. yanked the PC port of Batman: Arkham Knight to tackle its many launch day glitches, it's ready for take two. The publisher has announced that Rocksteady's game will return to Steam on October 28th at 10AM Pacific, or 1PM Eastern. The re-launch will also include a patch that brings PC players up to speed on features that are available on all console versions (such as Photo Mode and the Arkham Asylum skin), and anyone with a Season Pass will catch up on downloadable content. It's too soon to say if this will be the Batman game you were expecting this spring, but it should be much closer to the intended vision.
