Hasta La Gadget!

Disney acquired Lucasfilm back in October last year. Today it announced that it is pulling the plug on LucasArts, which was the game development arm of Lucasfilm. The studio says that it has decided to shift LucasArts from a development model to a licensing model. This ensures that the risk in brought down to a minimum, while licensing entails a broader portfolio of Star Wars titles from various developers it will be licensed to. What this basically means is that LucasArts will no longer be developing games internally. This move has resulted in an unspecified number of layoffs across the organization.

Disney also confirms that development of Star Wars 1313 is no longer under LucasArts, the future of this title is not certain at this point in time. LucasArts has been responsible for Star Wars titles as well as other video games such as Grim Fandango and The Secret of Monkey Island. Not known right now are the developers to which the Star Wars games will be licensed too. The last game that was released by LucasArts was a Kinect Star Wars title.

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There’s been a lot of talk lately about Star Wars: Episode 7 now that we know all of the original Star Wars actors were accidentally confirmed by George Lucas himself. With that bit of news, Star Wars fans have immediately become extremely excited about the next film and just what kind of role each of the previous film’s stars will have in the new film.

Illustrator Adam Schickling created a conceptual Star Wars: Episode 7 movie poster that not only has Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford prominently displayed, with wrinkles and all, but also Lando Calrissian himself Billy Dee Williams. Schickling also threw Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 in there for good measure. (more…)

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While viewers enjoy promotions like free Star Trek and Kurosawa, Hulu’s owners are once again considering selling the video streaming site. The last bit of news was that News Corp and Disney were considering buying one another out, but according to Reuters, anonymous sources confirm that the board is reaching out to several potential buyers while it considers its options. Another possibility from Variety suggests that the two would remain as part owners, and welcome another party to join, perhaps CBS. This wouldn’t be the first time Hulu’s owners tried to sell the site however, as it went through the whole process — without changing hands — back in 2011. Perhaps this time, with a new CEO in place, all the companies involved can figure out what they want Hulu to be going forward.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: Reuters, Variety

As a video game fanatic, I really loved the movie Wreck-it-Ralph. While there were some actual arcade games in the movie, the machines at the center of the story were all imaginary. Perhaps the most iconic game in the movie is Fix It Felix Jr., and pretty soon you’ll be able to actually play the game.

What you’re looking at here is a Fix it Felix Jr. machine, made by Rick Uhlenhopp at Arcade Skin. It looks like a spot-on recreation of the machine from the movie, and even plays a PC version of the game (not Disney’s Flash version). As you can see from the video below, the machine started off as an original Nintendo cabinet, and much of the magic is done with custom made vinyl skins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O3USX–42U

Here it is playing a version of the game written by SJAAK, but there’s another version by Rick’s buddy BadBoyBills which is going to be installed on the machine before it’s complete.

While you won’t be able to find this machine in an arcade, you’ll be able to see it in person at the Midwest Gaming Classic this weekend. The show runs from tomorrow (3/23) through Sunday (3/24) at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel in Brookfield, WI. I’ll be there, so I can’t wait to check it out up close and personal.

You can check out more details on the build over on the Hyperspin forums.

Now all we need is working versions of Sugar Rush and Hero’s Duty to go alongside it.

[via MGC Facebook page]

According to unidentified sources speaking with The New York Times‘ media desk, ABC is currently working on a mobile application to bring its broadcast programming to mobiles and tablets. Unlike CBS’ offering, which offers a select choice of programs 24 hours after airing on broadcast TV via its mobile app, ABC’s is said to sync up with existing cable and satellite providers to provide live TV on-the-go — a first in the television industry. Beyond just offering cable and satellite customers a way to extend their viewing options, the app is said to potentially extend the reach of ABC’s ad network at a crucial moment when traditional broadcast network ad revenues are being threatened by other mediums taking a piece of the pie.

It seems that ABC’s parent, the Walt Disney Company, is looking to forge its own digital path when it comes to TV, rather than waiting for its multi-company partnership with Hulu to right itself. Disney and its several partners are said to be in talks to buy each other out; meanwhile, Hulu is left without captain at the helm.

Filed under: Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Household, Tablets, HD

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Source: The New York Times