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Digital
Media FX News Archives
Thursday
- May 17, 2001
- Xbox Coming in November -
GameCube Too!
- Shrek to Air Digitally
on 11 Screens
- Shrek Video Game on Xbox
in November
- News Link of the Day
- Working Ogre-Time
Xbox Coming
in November - GameCube Too!
 (by
digitalmediafx.com) Microsoft announced yesterday that its new
Xbox video game console will begin shipping in the U.S. on November
8, 2001 at a price of $299. This is Microsoft's premiere attempt
at penetrating the multi-billion dollar gaming industry with its
own system.
According
to Microsoft, 600,000 - 8,000 Xbox units will be on store shelves
on November 8, 2001. In addition, there will be 15-20 Xbox games
for sale on November 8.
Microsoft
is backing up the launch of Xbox with a $500 million marketing
campaign budget, the highest for a product in Microsoft's history.
The Xbox unit
will ship with a 10GB hard drive and will contain the ability
for online competitors to talk with each other via a special microphone/headset.
Microsoft
won't make a profit on the $299 Xbox sales. It is estimated that
the company will lose $125 per unit. Console makers often take
losses on hardware (to sell more units), which is made back in
game sales.
In other gaming
news, Nintendo will go head-to-head with Microsoft by releasing
its new GameCube system on November 5, 2001 - three days before
Xbox. Nintendo has not yet released the price for its unit.
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Shrek to
Air Digitally on 11 Screens
(by digitalmediafx.com) When Shrek opens tomorrow, it will
be showing on more than 3,000 movie screens with 11 of those screens
projecting the movie digitally. This is the first time that DreamWorks
has shown one of its movies digitally.
"Shrek
represents the state-of-the-art in computer animation, so it is
only fitting that it be the first DreamWorks film to be seen in
this state-of-the-art format," says Jim Tharp, DreamWorks
head of distribution. "Furthermore, a computer animated film
lends itself more perfectly to digital projection than any live
action feature, as it requires no conversion from the computer
to film or vice-versa; it is a digital presentation of a digital
product."
The 11 locations
slated to show Shrek digitally are:
- Loews E-Walk
in New York, New York;
- AMC Van Ness 14 in San Francisco, California;
- Edwards Spectrum 21 in Irvine, California;
- AMC Media Center North in Burbank, California;
- Harkins Arrowhead Fountains 18 in Peoria, Arizona;
- Cinemark 24 in Valley View, Ohio;
- AMC S. Barrington 30 in South Barrington, Illinois;
- AMC Pleasure Island 24 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida;
- Cinemark Legacy 24 in Plano, Texas;
- Famous Players Paramount 13 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada;
- Famous Players Silver City 18 in Riverport, British Columbia,
Canada.
Only one screen
in each of the above theaters will be showing Shrek digitally,
so be sure to call the theater in advance to find out the time
of the digital showings.
Visit the
dFX Shrek Site by clicking
here.
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Shrek on
Xbox in November
(by digitalmediafx.com) A new Shrek video game will be available
on the Xbox in time for the console's launch on November 8, 2001.
The game is being released by TDK Mediactive, Inc. which claims
that the game's release coincides with the time period of Shrek
being released on video.
The Shrek
Xbox video game will take on a new story as the fairy tale creatures
featured in Shrek come to him with a new problem. To solve the
problem, Shrek will have to embark upon dozens of missions and
explore four new worlds not seen in the movie.
Here's an
abbreviated list of features:
- Game's
high poly count takes full advantage of the Xbox graphics capabilities.
- Four worlds, 12 levels, and 36 missions provide over 80 hours
of game play.
- Real-time rendered cut scenes open each mission.
- Edgy and sarcastic humor similar to the film featured throughout
the game.
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News Link
of the Day - Working Ogre-Time
According to the Edmonton Journal:
"They're
seminal images -- the Seven Dwarfs, the Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio
and his long nose -- but in Dreamworks' latest computer-animated
movie they're not quite what we remember from childhood.
Instead, these
images which have shaped our sensibilities are repeatedly lampooned
in Shrek, a film that might best be described as an act of friendly
anarchy by Dreamworks and its producing partner, Pacific Data
Images…"
Click
here for the full story.
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