Hasta La Gadget!

People have been working on video and explorable environments for the Oculus Rift, but Condition One, the immersive videography group, is upping the ante with a complete 20-30 minute movie all in 3D.

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According to the infamous “people with knowledge of its plans,” cable TV giant Comcast will move from renting video on-demand movies to selling them, in rumors reported by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. Hollywood studios love pushing the digital sales of movies and have recently expanded efforts to release flicks early for purchase on internet services, weeks before they come out on disc. Any offering by Comcast will probably be similar to what’s already out there from stores like iTunes, Walmart’s Vudu and even Target, except that instead of just digital access through the Xfinity website and apps, viewers could watch movies right on their cable boxes as well.

According to the WSJ, the offering will not be tied to other stores using Ultraviolet authentication, at least at first, so any digital collections will have to start fresh — something that may not appeal to end users who could find access restricted if they switch service or move to a non-Comcast neighborhood. Verizon FiOS TV already sells movies to end users through Flex View, while Dish Network is mentioned as considering a similar move. One thing that could make Comcast’s dive into movie sales more interesting however, is if it follows up on a 2011 patent dug up by Fierce Cable, describing a Groupon-style method of adjustable prices that lower if more people rent or purchase first-run movies while they’re still in theaters. Unfortunately, what we’ll probably see is just another video store indifferent clothing, but we’ll know more once it’s officially announced.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Reuters, Wall Street Journal

Star Wars: Episode VII will hit theaters on December 18th, 2015, LucasFilm has announced, the contentious new part of the iconic series, to be directed by J.J. Abrams. “We’re very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII,” Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said today, “where it will not […]

One of my all-time favorite films is The Princess Bride. I once got into a fist fight with a kid back in the day who said it was a girls’ movie. I’ve watched the movie more times than I can count and my eight-year-old daughter likes it so much she named her chihuahua Buttercup. If you’re a fan of the movie too, you’ll love this Kickstarter project that is already met its funding goal with 29 days to go.

The project is seeking to make a deck of The Princess Bride playing cards. The people behind the project are keeping most of the artwork for the deck of cards to themselves. The cards we have seen have Wesley as the King. The designers promise every card will be based on the movie.

The deck will also have custom jokers and a special magic finish that allows the cards to handle smoothly and last longer than cheaper cards. The deck will also include a unique gaff card designed to be used for card tricks. The project is seeking $10,000 and has raised over $34,000 so far with 29 days to go. A pledge of $15 or more will get you a single deck of cards with delivery estimated for July 2014.

Having grown up in the 80s and being a huge fan of the Transformers toys I can admit to wanting to punch Michael Bay in the face over the horrible Transformers films. Bay and his crew were on the set of the latest installment in the franchise and were filming in the streets of Hong Kong, when Bay and his crew were attacked by four “drugged up punks.”

Bay said of the attack, “The story… being passed around is not all true! Yes, some drugged up guys were being belligerent a—- to my crew for hours in the morning of our first shoot day in Hong Kong. One guy rolled metal carts into some of my actors trying to shake us down for thousands of dollars to not play his loud music or hit us with bricks.”

Apparently, the four assailants were demanding a payment of $12,900 for the “inconvenience” caused by Bay and his crew as they filmed Transformers: Age of Extinction on the streets of Hong Kong. Bay said when he and the crew refused to be extorted the assailants became violent and the police ultimately came in arrested the men.

Bay said, “Every vendor where we shot got paid a fair price for our inconvenience, but he wanted four times that amount. I personally told this man and his friends to forget it we were not going to let him extort us. He didn’t like that answer. So an hour later he came by my crew as we were shooting, carrying a long air conditioner unit. He walked right up to me and tried to smack my face, but I ducked (and) threw the air unit on the floor and pushed him away. That’s when the security jumped on him.”

What’s more interesting to me than a group of people wanting to smash Michael Bay in the face is that vendors in the area where they were shooting made somewhere in the area of $3000 for the inconvenience of the movie filming in the streets outside.

Bay continued, “It took seven big guys to subdue him… He actually bit into one of the guard’s Nike shoes – insane. Thank god it was an Air Max, the bubble (at the front of the shoe) popped, but the toe was saved.”

[via Toronto Sun]