Fujisoft’s Minna no Theater Wii (Everybody’s Theater Wii), essentially a video rental service, will launch on January 27 in Japan, after slipping from its original December release date. We already knew that purchasing the video viewer cost 500 Wii Points, but now we have concrete prices for renting content:
A single title for two days: 300 Wii Points
Two titles for three days: 600 Wii Points
Three titles for five days: 800 Wii Points
When it launches next month, 3,000 pieces of video content will be available. These span 150 franchises, including Astro Boy, Transformers, Hajime no Ippo, and Dogtanian. Anime currently dominates the line-up, though movies, drama, and educational shows will also be present, if a bit scarcer.
A further 50 pieces of content will be released every month following the launch, and Fujisoft claims its content comes “close” to delivering DVD quality. It’s just a shame we’ll probably never see this here to test that statement.
This is an exclusive sneak peek at a Sci-Fi Channel documentary about the new Xbox 360-exclusive game Mass Effect that was released worldwide last week.
The program features interviews with the developers at BioWare, game-industry insiders, science & technology experts, and a mix of celebrities, actors & athletes who all have a lot to say about how science & technology meet art & fiction in this epic new story.
The complete 30-minute documentary has already aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, so hopefully it will be made available as a free download on Xbox Live Marketplace in the near future. — Thanks to Joe for sending this in.
The Discovery Channel has announced that it will air a five hour mini-series documentary Rise of the Videogame as it looks at the history of the industry with tons of interviews with various game developers and industry insiders.
The documentary will begin with its first episode on Wednesday, November 21st at 8PM. Every Wednesday night after that new episodes will air. — Via Firingsquad
Microsoft, Yahoo! and SCI FI Channel celebrate the upcoming release of the Xbox 360-exclusive action role-playing game Mass Effect, with two weeks of exclusive special programming and events. As the November 20 launch date for Mass Effect for Xbox 360 draws nigh, the threat of an alien rogue force looms ever closer. To help unlock some of the secrets and mysteries of the vast universe in the highly-anticipated action RPG.
Yahoo started out by airing this new “distress call” trailer showing the game’s depth of choice with quotes as “Many decisions lie ahead… none of them easy.”
On Tuesday, November 20, the SCI FI Channel will celebrate the launch of “Mass Effect” with the debut of a 30-minute special entitled “Sci vs. Fi: Mass Effect.” Scheduled to air at 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, the special will feature more in-depth information about the game, exclusive interviews and exciting behind-the scenes footage.
Also fueling anticipation for the game is the new Mass Effect micro-site on Xbox.com, which launched today. The micro-site offers a wealth of “Mass Effect” content in one convenient portal, including the latest news and events on the game, as well as screenshots and special promotional items that no space traveling enthusiast should be without. Music fans will also find the “Mass Effect” Original Game Soundtrack, now available for presale and at retailers on November 20. (more…)
Japanese games developer Cyber Connect has announced they are working on a Naruto PS3 Project action-adventure game based on the popular anime series. The game’s release date is set for sometime in 2008.
Barely a week after the launch of the Xbox 360-exclusive Naruto: Rise of a Ninja, there’s now a PlayStation 3-exclusive Naruto game, good times for fans of the manga/anime show/games.
While the screenshots on the official site are new, it turns out the game was on display at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 on September 20th. Take a look at the video:
Comedy Central just put up a teaser picture for the next episode of South Park this Wednesday evening, where you can see the gang take on the popular music-rhythm game Guitar Hero!
The episode is titled “Guitar Queer-o” and will air in America on Wednesday, November 7th, 10PM Eastern time. The synopsis reads: “Stan and Kyle are hooked on Guitar Hero. But will Stan’s superior five-star skills on the video game hurt his friendship with Kyle? Obsessed with the Guitar Hero video game, Stan and Kyle make a great team and score record points when they play in the local arcade. Stan realizes he has the potential for enormous success if he plays with another partner (Thad, shown in the picture above). He and Kyle break up but, without his friend, Stan quickly folds under the pressure of being a rockstar.”
NBC just put up a teaser picture for the next episode of The Office tonight, where you can see paper-pusher Dwight Kurt Schrute III sitting behind his desk… playing the online multiplayer game Second Life!
The episode is titled “Local Ad” and will air in America on Thursday, October 25th, 9PM. The synopsis reads: “When the Scranton branch is asked to participate in a Dunder Mifflin ad, Michael seizes his chance to exhibit his creativity. Meanwhile, Dwight explores the online world of Second Life.”
CBS just put up a teaser trailer on Youtube for the next episode of CSI: New York, where you can see Detective Mac Taylor dress up in drag… virtually for the the online multiplayer game Second Life!
The next episode is titled “Down the Rabbit Hole” and will air in America on Wednesday, October 24th, 10PM et/pt. The synopsis reads: “A woman’s murder sends Mac into “Second Life,” the internet-based virtual world to track down the killer in both the real and cyber world.”
But it doesn’t end there, the show invites you to jump in and become a crime scene investigator yourself after joining Second Life by: A) Letting you walk around virtual New York buildings and visit a CSI lab and play forensic games. B) Play a game called “Murder by Zuiker,” a unique murder plot which can be solved by users finding clues. Use your field kit and tools, and interview suspects to solve the murder in the actual CSI:NY episode. The 100 people who come closest to solving the murder will also win virtual gifts. Why is this important? Because the episode itself will apparently end in a cliff-hanger with the solution not revealed until February 2008.
Please enjoy this sneak peek at the Second Life-themed CSI:NY episode featuring such excellent dramatic quotes as “Log off… Log off! Now!”
A report from Techcrunch suggests that Second Life could see one million new user signups following the CSI:NY episode’s airing. — Official site is Second Life and you’ll get all the instructions you need on Wednesday via CBS.
In an effort to catch up with Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Xbox Live Marketplace game/video download service, Sony is working on plans of their own to distribute video (like films and television episodes) and music via their own download service PlayStation Network. And there are also plans to transform the PlayStation 3 games console into a multimedia device capable of networking with other Sony hardware.
Sir Howard Stringer, Sony chief executive, said so during an interview in Moscow: “We are building a software infrastructure to distribute video and music, more particularly video, through the PlayStation Network. That is a Japanese and American combined effort to build a platform around a common software architecture to distribute video via the PlayStation network into the [PSP handhelds] and beyond. We are trying to get our devices to talk to each other efficiently. PlayStation Network should migrate from gadget to gadget. But initially it starts with PlayStation devices and then to TV and beyond. That’s the goal.”
He gave no timescale for the service, but the Financial Times quoted him as saying: “We won’t know how effective [the effort] is until early next year.” So the wait is on for 2008. Meanwhile, just go buy Blu-Ray films like the Spider-Man HD Trilogy or something!
We all know Nintendo wasn't going for high-end, photo-realistic graphics with the Wii, meaning that just about any television can serve your gaming needs with the console well. Still, some of you probably have high-end TVs because you wanted a big TV, have other gaming consoles that can take advantage of its capabilities (GASP!), or enjoy HDTV from your television provider. Or, maybe you game on something like this.
