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This weeks notable DVD releases include Elektra. 
Almost universally, and in my opinion unfairly panned by critics, Elektra makes for a quality Kung-Fu flick with great action sequences, special effects and entertaining story. Being a fan of the comics, and Elektra in particular (I even learned how to use the Sais after reading possibly too many comics staring the red clad assassin), I am familiar with the back-story, much of which is only touched upon inadequately in this film.
Jennifer Garner is terrific as Elektra, the assassin for hire with an obsessive compulsive problem and a tormented past. As a fan dating back to Frank Miller’s first Daredevil comics, I am very happy with Garner’s Elektra. She’s a proven acting talent with a distinct athletic presence that could have carried the film if she had to. The rest of the cast is first rate; Terrance Stamp is Stick, a general issue old Kung-Fu master with the power to bring Elektra back from near death. Goran Visnijic (a talented Croat actor seen in ER) and Kirsten Prout are a father and daughter who cause Elektra to rethink her career as an assassin. Will Yun Lee is a martial artist turned actor who can literally burst onto the screen flashing his dual samurai swords. The special effects in the movie are original while not subjecting us to the obligatory Matrix sequences that are now common in movies of this ilk. The “teleportation” effect is particularly stunning on a well tuned 5.1 system and I found it equally impressive in both DTS and Dolby Digital. The opening sequence where Elektra whispers into her victim’s ear hits the mark with a haunting tone leaving us wondering what this “assassin” is really capable of.
Like the comics, Elektra is a spin-off from the Daredevil movie. In this film it’s clear she’s evolved far beyond practicing martial arts with sandbags in her apartment (I’d like to see a rematch between her and Colin Farrell’s Bullseye). Therein lies what is probably the source of some of the criticisms. At worst, some of the unexplored ideas in the film may seem half baked. For instance; who are The Hand and what is their motivation besides making Elektra’s life miserable? The villains were colorful and interesting on screen and I was especially happy to see Typhoid Mary. But, I would have liked to see them explored a little more, perhaps we could trade more time exploring the villain’s motivations for a little less time establishing Elektra’s inner torment. I really liked the fight scene with the “flying sheets” although some might see it as a contrived device; I thought it added an artistic element. I would have liked the fight scenes to be a bit longer and show more of the hand-to-hand brutality Elektra demonstrated with a couple of memorable punches. I appreciate that it didn’t employ the gravity defying wire work that is popular in Eastern films of this sort. And of course I would have liked to see a bit more of Elektra in the classic red outfit.
If you appreciate a Kung-Fu action flick with top notch production values you can’t do much better than Elektra with only a few classic exceptions. If you’re a fan of the comic character this should be in your collection, only the most stuck in the mud comic snob could take exception to Jennifer Garner’s performance as Elektra. As for the DVD technology, the sound and video quality are excellent. Many of the best scenes take place in bright daylight featuring vistas of the American North West that balanced the few indoor and night time fight sequences. Elektra DVD is a well produced audio and visual feast.
Special Features (listed in full below)
Do you hear the crickets chirping? That's all you get when looking for extras on the Elektra DVD.
Jen Garner gives a taped presentation to a comic convention (she was filming at the time so I guess we forgive her for not actually showing up). I liked her enthusiasm for the character, it's brief but it whets the appetite for any Elektra fan to watch. The "making of" like the "first look" features serve as no more than extended adds while the cast and crew take turns stroking each other's ego. I'd love just once on one of these “Making Of“ features to see a director say something like: “We really wanted to get Jude Law but had to settle for Sean Penn.“
There are trailers for Elektra and for other movies that are included as special features. How adds for other films and DVDs become special features I don't fully understand and don't want to. It would have been nice to see some background info on the comics, the character, explain the Hand a bit better, show images of Frank Miller's series (they had to know Miller would be a popular name when the DVD came out).
Most other Marvel movies were set to DVD with exemplary features, Elektra is left wanting.
Director: Rob Bowman
- Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
- Rated:
- Studio: Fox Home Entertainme
- DVD Release Date: April 5, 2005
- Run Time: 104
- DVD Features:
- Available subtitles: English, Spanish
- Available Audio Tracks: English (DTS 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- 3 deleted scenes
- The Making of Elektra, including interviews with Rob Bowman and Jennifer Garner
- Jennifer Garner's Comic-Con Presentation
- Inside the Editing Room featurettes
- Trailer
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Sin City, which opened in theaters Friday, faithfully recreates the comics by Frank Miller and represents an important milestone in digital film. The comics were created as an alternative to the superhero genre and explores life and crimes in Basin City (Sin City) in a gritty hommage to film noir. Sin City the movie gives us a film unlike anything we've seen before, it's not simply a film adaptation of a comic book but instead gives us Frank Miller's style of iconic impressionism in full motion. The result is a film with lofty ambition that hits the mark so well it is certain to be immitated and might just breathe new life into the comic book film.
Director Robert Rodriguez (Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico) provides an important milestone in digital film, he's long been one of few directors to shoot big budget films with HD digital video equipment. Not only was it shot on digital film but the entire film used a “digital backlot” method where actors work in front of a green (or blue) background that is filled in later with CGI. Sin City is the first Hollywood (North American) film to use both the digital backlot and shoot on digit equipment, making it the first fully digital movie with live actors. It’s debatable which is actually the first film ever to exclusively use the digital backdrop technique Immortel, Sky Captain or Casshern.
Rodriguez is a huge fan of Frank Miller’s and brought the artist/writer legend on board as co-director of the film despite the decision forcing him to resign from the Director’s Guild of America for letting Frank Miller appear in the credits as a director (protocol for director's is pretty stiff). Rodriguez is in good company, fellow digital film maven George Lucas once had to pay a fine for trashing protocol by refusing to place credits at the beginning of a film he made called Star Wars. 
Sin City itself stars as the backdrop for three converging plotlines with troubled anti-heroes trying their best to do what they believe is right. A black and white world accentuated with flashes of cold silver and occasional muted colors. The movie captures the look of the graphic novels so well that moving scenes often looked miraculously like one of Frank Miller’s drawings come to life. From the white lenses of Kevin’s glasses contrasting against the shadowy farm, splashes of white “cartoon” blood on Hartigan’s jacket. The film is visually stunning as it alternates from the gritty realism of hard boiled detective movies of the 40s to darkly impressionistic cityscapes eternally mired in twilight, bloodshed and gun toting prostitutes. The artistry and power of this film will seduce you like a polished nickel plated .357 magnum.
The cast is reminiscent of great films of a bygone era with its star power. This could be the Ben Hur of our generation but probably more comparable to Bonnie and Clyde. Notable young talent includes Nick Stahl, Brittney Murphy, Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett and Jessica Alba. Established stars include Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan and the return of Mickey Rourke in the role he was born to play as Marv. Not to forget Rutger Hauer, Powers Boothe, Micheal Madsen, this movie could have become a mess with so many actors vying for attention in a single movie. But it plays well, they never seem to forget the movies' real star is Sin City. Quentin Tarantino even makes a directorial appearance doing the scene in the car with Del Toro and Clive Owen where they have an improbable conversation. The scene bears Tarantino’s thumbprint but thankfully doesn’t scream that you’ve entered the Quentin zone.
Who won’t like this movie? If you don’t appreciate a dark sense of humor or get bent out of shape seeing someone dragged along side a speeding car this might not be the movie for you. It is a violent film with plenty of casual nudity but the gore is muted and far from realistic. There's a lot of voice over narration in the film which might seem like a clunky way to move the story along but if you appreciate Frank Miller’s written word it’s easy to forgive this as just another unconventional feature. I look forward to this film’s release to one of the hi-def optical storage mediums making its way to consumer’s soon, we’ll soon know if these HD digital films make a quality transfer to either HD DVD or Blu-Ray, I’m sure the results will be jaw dropping eye candy.
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According to a recent Arbitron study consumer media habits are tending toward on-demand services, PVR, internet radio and mp3s. The study is backed up by recent growth in all of these areas. A survey estimates some 27 million Americans either subscribe to on-demand style services from their cable provider, use PVRs or a portable mp3 player such as the iPod.
Other important facts from the survey include:
- Twenty-seven percent of 12- to 17- year olds own an iPod or other portable MP3 player.
- An estimated 43 million Americans choose to record TV programming to watch at a different time (using technology such as a VCR or TiVo/DVR).
- Seventy-six percent of consumers own at least one DVD. Thirty-nine percent own 20 or more DVDs in their personal collection.
- Awareness of XM Satellite Radio has tripled since 2002, from 17 percent to 50 percent, while awareness of Sirius Satellite Radio has increased even more significantly, from eight percent to 54 percent.
Expect all of these examples to grow as the 12-17 year old iPod carrying kids grow into PVR and On Demand cable watching adults. This seems to support a case for the entertainment industry adapting to the new consumer paradigm of controlling the media they purchase rather than doggedly providing only one way to buy (or watch) what entertains you. If those corporations who profit from DVDs and CDs could stay ahead of the curve and provide their media as pristine downloadable content perhaps they wouldn’t be so threatened by piracy. The entertainment industry's cries of BitTorrent killing business instead of taking advantage of the new low cost distribution opportunity is a cynical outlook on the markets they serve. Sure, the industry could keep selling the silvery discs with songs and movies pressed onto them at media outlets like they do today, but the cost and overhead associated with distributing disc based media will provide some financial incentive for consumers to just download and burn it themselves if they must have a portable hard copy. It’s human nature to control what you buy, with no limitations. But will people pay for what they can steal? I think the Arbitron study proves it.
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Welcome to a new recurring feature on the HomeTheaterFocus blog, “What sucks about HDTV” is going to try to illuminate common complaints, shortcomings and general misconceptions about HDTV. We all love HDTV but many people have shelled out thousands on an HD monitor expecting to be in total Television/Movie viewing nirvana only to find there are limitations. What sucks about HDTV will have its own category so you can compile a list of; what sucks about HDTV!
One of the most pervasive complaints about HDTV has to do with aspect ratio or the feeling of being imprisoned in black bars. It goes like this: I bought a new widescreen HDTV hoping to escape black bars on the top and bottom of widescreen DVD movies, but many DVDs and even some movies on HDTV channels still have black bars on top and bottom. Why do I have to put up with black bars on the sides when watching regular TV shows, even on HDTV channels? Why can’t there be a universal standard aspect ratio used by film and television?
The quick answer to this problem is; get over it! If the black bars are so bad chances are your TV can stretch the picture in one of several modes to fill your screen, or just hit zoom on your DVD player’s remote control. But that means contorting the images so they’ll either look stretched or cropped at the top and sides. To see a movie as the screenplay demands you have to view in its original aspect ratio, or OAR, this means your 16:9 screen isn’t always going be filled completely.
For a deeper understanding of what aspect ratios are, what they look like and the consequences of pan and scan check out this excellent guide.
There will probably never be a universal aspect ratio no matter what kind of TV you buy. There will always be movies made in a variety of aspect ratios because there will always be a variety of movies, directors and tastes; this is a good thing that should not be seen as a limitation. At the theater you watch movies in different aspect ratios and you’ve probably never noticed black bars on the projector screen.
HDTV programming uses 16:9; all HD programs will fit perfectly into your new widescreen HDTV. The sad truth is that programs produced for HDTV are still a minority even on HD channels where you’re still likely to see a lot of features in the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio. Movies are another matter. Created to drum up business at the local megaplex before DVD, the film industry has every reason to present a unique experience at the theater and therefore aren’t likely to embrace a standard intended for home viewing.
Early TVs were in the 1.33:1 (4:3) aspect ratio, the standard square screen we’ve all known and loved for generations. It was also the same aspect ratio of movies at the theater. The movie industry created wider screen formats in the 1950s to set their product apart from TV. Today movies appear in a variety of widescreen formats 16:9 is a happy medium that fits reasonably well in between most aspect ratios you’re likely to see on TV and film.
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Tivo (as both noun and verb) has long been synonymous with PVR (Personal Video Recorder) it's the kind of brand recognition owned only by the likes of Scotch Tape, Coke and Ski-Do. Tivo has earned it; carving out the digital video recorder niche back in the late 90’s. But despite the revolutionary idea of merging a hard drive with a user friendly programming guide, Tivo's seen some ups and downs. I've taken shots at Tivo in the past as an extra fee for something that comes with many set top boxes for the satellite and cable TV. Tivo is built on sound technology offering subscribers a great product if they use rabbit ears or a rooftop antenna.
Tivo’s biggest growth area has been providing its service to DirecTV subscribers with a version of their set top box dubbed DirecTiVo. But at January’s CES (Consumer Electronics Show) DirecTV announced the deployment of several receiver’s that will take advantage of a competing digital recording format by NDS Group. This significant blow to Tivo is offset by the March 15th announcement of a deal with Comcast Communications to develop a Tivo box for Comcast Cable subscribers. This could be good for Comcast subscribers as Tivo's strength is its intuitive programming guide system with built in search and record features. Cable receiver's programming guide systems are too often a clunky bug ridden experience, offering customers a Tivo option can only be good for consumers. The Comcast announcement came only a week after a shining report that Tivo’s subscriber base has doubled to more than 3 million in the last year. Unfortunately for Tivo some 62% of this subscriber base is from DirecTV, according to Bruce Leichtman of Leichtman Research Group:
"It was a nice chess move for Comcast, and the loser is DirecTV. Murdoch [Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp., which owns DirecTV] could have taken the TiVo brand name as his. Now he has lost that."
Is everything really so rosy at Tivo? Although Comcast subscribers stand to gain, the losers could be Tivo subscribers according to Alex Rowland of Democracy in Media who says:
“…let me explain why this (Comcast) deal will eventually suck for TiVo and its customers… TiVo has had an internal power struggle between two camps for some time. One camp, led by Ramsay, felt that TiVo needed to focus on generating substantial (i.e. profitable) monthly fees on TiVo services, while (most importantly) retaining control over technology direction (i.e. ability to innovate). The second camp has been all about driving consumer growth through carrier channels (as it turns out, at almost any cost.) It appears that this internal struggle has run its course and the latter group has prevailed. I believe that this is a bad thing for TiVo’s customers, and therefore a bad thing for TiVo in the final analysis.”
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This weeks' notable DVD release is the Incredibles. An entertaining superhero story with surprising depth if you read between the lines of the laugh a minute pace. It's the perfect film to watch with the young ones as Pixar animation has mastered the art of placing enough depth and "grown up" humor to entertain adults as well as kids. The Incredibles has the innate ability to charm even the most stodgy audience who would normally never submit to animation or superhero films, it draws you in with warm humor and then holds your attention with a quality story.
The Incredibles starts off with the adventures of Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), one of many superheroes fighting crime in an animated city colorfully styled after a 50's vision of futurist design. Superherodom is forced underground due to a legal precedent that opens the door to litigation of any super being and a turn in popular perception that the Superheroes do more harm than good. Mr Incredible permanently occupies his secret identity as Bob Parr, and marries super heroine Elasti-girl (Holly Hunter). Together they have two children with special gifts of their own and an apparently normal baby. Since the call to action is too much for super men to ignore, Bob and his buddy from the old days, Lucius Best aka Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) who has the ability to freeze water vapors right out of the air, go out at night and commit secretive acts of heroism.
"Saying that everyone is special is just another way of saying nobody is special."
This story is interesting and fresh to film but not necessarily unique to comic fans. The idea of society turning against heroism and greatness in all its varieties for a collective mediocrity is a potent message today when anyone can be "hero". The same ground was brilliantly covered in a comic series called "Watchmen" by legendary comic writer Allan Moore, the film will arrive in 2006. Watchmen (which can be found in graphic novel format at your local comic shop) takes a much darker look at an era that no longer needs heroes as super beings permanently adopt their secret identities to hide in mainstream society. The Incredibles takes subject matter several shades lighter but is not without its own distinct message of the value of the individual and the danger of conformity. After being told by mom (Elasti-girl) that he's not permitted to use his special gifts to "better" anyone in school athletics because everyone is special, "Dash" the super-speedy son of Mr Incredible laments: "Saying that everyone is special is just another way of saying nobody's special."
The sound and video quality for this DVD release it top notch as to be expected by Pixar films. Pixar's animation always seems at home on an HD monitor and will look brilliantly detailed on any ntsc display. The soundtrack is alive with directional use of surround speakers. Fantastic ambience is accomplished in certain scenes where the audio track moves consistently with the characters with acoustic indoor/outdoor effects. For examples, the cave sequence when Dash decides to explore deeper into the cavern and when Mr Incredible explores the many rooms and hallways of a sprawling island complex, lair to the main villain of the film Syndrome voiced by Jason Lee. The soundtrack produces subtle and strangely fitting sound effects for the force field bubble of the Incredible's daughter, Violet and makes quick transitions to awesome subwoofer rattling explosions in a jet sequence. The sound and video quality are truly top notch and makes a quality demo for your Home Theater system, the DVD is easily popped into the machine for guests of all ages. It earned a PG rating for its mild animated violence.
The two disc set is loaded with extra features which I have not reviewed. Here is a rundown of what to expect.
The Incredibles (Widescreen 2-Disc Collector's Edition) (2004)
- Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, See more
- Director: Brad Bird
- Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Format: Animated, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
- Rated:
- Studio: Walt Disney Home Video
- DVD Release Date: March 15, 2005
- DVD Features:
- Available subtitles: English
- Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), French (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX)
- Commentary by writer/director Brad Bird and producer John Walker
- Commentary by the animators
- "Jack-Jack Attack" exclusive all new short film
- "Incredi-Blunders" bloopers and outtakes
- Deleted scenes, including alternate opening
- Making of "The Incredibles" featurette
- Seven additional behind-the-scenes featurettes
- Pixar short film "Boundin'" with optional commentary by director Bud Luckey
- "Who is Bud Luckey?" featurette
- Top secret NSA files on all the Supers
- "Mr. Incredible & Pals" cartoon with optional comtary by Frozone and Mr. Icrediblemen
- "Vowellet" an essay by vocal talent Sarah Vowell (Violet)
- Introductions with Brad Bird
- Number of discs: 2
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After watching three seasons of Fox’s TV show 24 compressed into the last month I find myself answering the phone “Robson” and making mental notes of cars behind me that turn where I do. 24 stars Keifer Sutherland as a government agent bad ass with the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit or CTU. Each episode is a fast paced ride as the whole season takes place inside a 24 hour period, and as Jack Bauer says; “Events take place in real time.”
It’s hardly ideal to watch every episode of 24 or any show in such a rushed fashion. Compressing months of TV into a week seemed to illuminate similarities in the story arcs of each season and by the third I found myself making sport of looking for common elements; the traitor working for the CTU while bleeding intel to the enemy, this season’s trecherous woman in a smart business suit, and “spot the cliffhanger” as the episode approached the 50th minute. But despite its flaws I find myself addicted to the adventures of Jack Bauer like a junkie undercover agent convinced he’s researching some future investigation.
I heard 24 was good but had long missed the boat. Normally I would have moved on with life chalking it up to another TV show I ignored, but urged by co-workers and family I decided to take advantage of the recent phenomena of TV shows on DVD and try to catch up to the fourth season before it filled my PVR.
“Producers could be catching on that TV might not be there to sell you dish detergent as much as to sell you the DVD.”
TV on DVD is has become a recent phonomena whose impact reaches further than just a small group of rabid fans of an obscure title. In 2004 Merrill Lynch reports that consumer spending on TV DVDs will grow from $2.3 billion in 2004 to $3.9 billion in 2008. TV shows on DVD have become a goldmine for producers boosting potential profit margins by as much as 50 percent. This affects advertising revenues and even the lifespan of a TV show as it continues the decline in the relevance of ratings. Consider that today "Desperate Housewives" is considered a hit series attracting 20 million weekly viewers, "The Beverly Hillbillies" in the 1960s attracted 60 million viewers a week. Producers could be catching on that TV might not be there to sell you dish detergent as much as to sell you the DVD.
This years’ TV DVD success story is Fox's "Family Guy." The animated comedy was shown the axe in 2002. But Family Guy is getting another chance on the air because of sales of its DVD collections. Family Guy makes its return to Fox May 1.
Broadcasters are increasingly aware that keeping certain shows on the air despite poor ratings could translate into more DVDs. This is especially true where the show has attracted a dedicated following of fans.
Few TV shows attract fanatics like Star Trek series and UPN announced this year it has cut Star Trek: Enterprise from its lineup. Expect rescue efforts to be intense as organized by websites like SaveEnterprise.com fans have united to save the show with a organized email and letter campaigns and rally’s, with the largest at the UPN headquarters in Los Angeles dubbed the 5,000 Trekkie march.
The success of TV shows on DVD is not without hurdles and largest is the legal muck of music licensing which soils the industry. Many classic TV shows feature recognized popular music of its time, but even a fragment of a song in the background of a scene must be licensed before the DVD can be released. The legal malady of has proven fatal to a DVD release of the hit 70s TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati”. Only some episodes of Ally McBeal’s first season have been released to DVD to a fragmented collection. The only alternative to legal gridlock due to music licensing is to release incomplete sets or edit the episodes themselves as “Married…With Children” has. “Love and Marriage” by Frank Sinatra was used as the show’s theme song on TV and has been replaced on the DVDs third season. DVD collections of Quantum Leap and Northern Exposure are notable examples of popular TV shows that couldn’t overcome music licensing and have been released with replacement music.
TV shows on DVD are making an impact on home entertainment and seem to be influencing the industry in unexpected ways. Of course you don’t have to go on any multi season marathons just because a title you’ve missed is out on DVD, watching too much TV, even on DVD will start affecting your mind after awhile. Now you’ll have to excuse me while I teach my dog to sniff for explosives.
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Microsoft gave attendees of the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) a peek at the specs of its upcoming Xbox replacement code named "Xenon". There are still several unknowns about the upcoming system, including what the system will look like, what it will be called, and exactly when it’s to be released. However, the announcements of specs make the second coming of Xbox look like a sure bet for late this year according industry analysts. Read more about the GDC presentation here.
All specs are subject to change but Microsoft promises further updates in May at the E3 video game convention in Los Angeles. Read more about the Xenon’s specifications Gamespy’s inside review of the Next Box.
Power: Under the hood are three (count ‘em three) IBM PowerPC cores, each rated at 3Ghz and capable of two instruction sets per cycle. Each core also has 64K of L1 cache and share 1M of L2 cache. Add to that 256M of system memory and you have one powerful machine by any standards, or as Xbox chief architect and Microsoft VP J Allard said during a presentation at the conference. "This system is a monster. It's going to deliver over a teraflop of computing power."
It should be noted that ratings of PowerPC cores and system memory are not comparable to anything on the PC market. The strength of console units has always been that games developers can write software intended for the console’s APIs (routines and protocols built into the console’s hardware) compared to the PC which has a whole operating system with a lot of more overhead and compatibility issues with many manufacturer’s APIs.
Video: A specialty ATI 500Mz processor that supports Shader 3.0 currently handles graphics on Xenon’s beta. ATI promises the final processor will be more powerful than anything used in PCs today. By all accounts from the pros in the graphics gaming business this unit is going to present quality graphics beyond anything yet seen on console or PC. Dynamic lighting and anti-aliasing are yesterday’s features; get ready for highly detailed dynamic shading and mind-blowing textures. New post effects on rendered objects will create realistic motion blur and even heat distortion.
Memory Units: Xenon will use memory cards designed for user data available from 64M to 1G.
Optical Drive: Xenon will use optical drive storage from a 12X speed DVD Rom drive like Xbox but games will be written on dual density DVDs. It would have been nice to see Microsoft put its muscle behind either Blu-Ray or HD DVD. But the inclusion of either new optical format at this time would have added too much unnecessary cost.
Camera: A camera will be connected to the Xenon via USB 2.0 capable of 1.2Megapixel still images.
Hard Drive: A hard drive will not be included except as an optional add on. Casual users might not need the drive but for power gamers it will be a must. Available sizes are yet undetermined by Microsoft, but games will use up to 2Gig of the drive for cache and the rest for personal data storage.
Community: All games developed for Xenon will be required to take advantage of multiplayer gaming on the Xbox Live service (Will it still be called Xbox Live?) Microsoft wants to create a whole online marketplace where developers can sell updates and provide content either free or for a small fee.
Good news for Home Theater. Game developers will have several requirements for games made for Xenon. They’ll be required to make games in high definition video, at least 720p or 1280x720 pixels, include anti-aliasing (which smoothes out pixilated diagonal lines) and 16:9 aspect ratios must be enabled. 5.1 Surround soundtracks will be required and the vendor must include the in-game ability to use custom soundtracks (either MP3 or WMA format.) MP3 storage on Xenon is a good reason for the optional hard drive, if you’ve ever played a game with a redundant soundtrack and wanted to add your own MP3s (ahem… Need For Speed Underground2.)
It’s good to see Microsoft take a hard line on video requirements and online gaming. This is part of what J. Allard calls ushering in the “Hi Def Era”. Gamers with HDTV won’t have to look for games that take advantage of their display’s abilities, it furthers the advancement of digital television. For owners of a large HDTV any new game presented in 480P is a disappointment, it’s inexcusable that Xbox’s premier game Halo2 is presented in this low definition format.
DVD Playback: The player will be able to encode your CDs in MP3 or WMA format in up to 320Kbps CBR or VBR stereo on Xenon’s Music Player Service. Xenon Motion Video (XMV) for DVD playback is based on Windows Media Player 9 and uses the codec for HD-DVD aimed at running 720P at 30 frames per second in 5.1 Surround. DVD playback is almost certain to require the use of an option hard drive and probably another extra purchase as well. For home theater gamers waiting to see how the hi-def optical format war pans out, Xenon is a sure bet.
Wayde
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