The Daily ‘Shroom – 9/19/07
InFormers: Robots in the News
- Fans, get ready to hate Michael Bay again.
So now that we know that the IMAX version of TransFormers: The Movie will contain added footage, Mr. “Bad Boys Rock Armageddon” himself has said the following:
“I added two minutes of stuff for IMAX that will never make into any DVD’s. There will never be an extended edition.”
Talk about pissing in your Cheerios. Of course, Mr. Bay has been known to be wrong/lie/change his mind before, and so there’s always a chance that this could make it onto DVD… only, it’d probably be later. Let’s hear it for double-dipping.
So now we not only have to decide just which special bonus we want when it hits DVD, but we have to decide if we want to get that DVD at all, or if discretion will be the optimal route to take and wait for a later cash-in that includes the new footage.
And then, there’s the question of if the footage is even worth it. The biggest gripe people have had about the movie is how it didn’t star the TransFormers, but it was simply about them; the humans were the stars.
As it turns out, scenes from early trailers, scripts, and so forth were cut from the movie, but have been collected as still images. Will these be the added footage for the IMAX release? No one really knows, yet. But if they are, then you have to wonder if it’s worth waiting for a possible, indefinite, unannounced DVD to come out to get them.
Especially if what you wanted from IMAX was more giant robots.
Assorted Mushrooms
- VIZ Pictures has some good news for fans of Death Note, via their press release yesterday:
VIZ PICTURES LICENSES THEATRICAL AND DVD RIGHTS TO LIVE ACTION DEATH NOTE FILMS
DEATH NOTE AND DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME Based On Popular Anime And Manga Series That Have Taken Japan And North America By Storm
San Francisco, CA, September 18, 2007 VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has announced that it has licensed from Nippon Television (NTV) the North American theatrical and DVD distribution rights to the live-action feature film DEATH NOTE and its sequel, DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME, based on the DEATH NOTE anime and manga series which have gained massive followings in Japan and North America. VIZ Media is the exclusive North American publisher and distributor of the DEATH NOTE anime and manga series.
VIZ Pictures will open DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME in a series of special screenings at Austin?’s Fantastic Fest 2007, September 20-27, and at the 2007 Vancouver Asian Film Festival, November 1-4. Theater information follows at the end of this release and future screenings will continue throughout 2008. VIZ Pictures also plans to release DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME on DVD in the summer of 2008.
“We are extremely proud to announce the license of DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME,” says Seiji Horibuchi President and CEO of VIZ Pictures. “Both films were smash hits in Japan upon their initial release and the established popularity of the manga in the United States, combined with the highly anticipated debut of the anime series, will prime audiences for the excitement and tension that the live feature films bring to the story.”
DEATH NOTE is based on the hit supernatural action mystery manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The live-action film, directed by Shusuke Kaneko, known as a director of popular monster film “Gamera”? series, was released in 2006 and mirrors the manga’s story of Light Yagami, an ace student with great prospects who is bored out of his mind. All of that changes when he finds the Death Note, a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god named Ryuk. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies, and now Light has vowed to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil. But when criminals mysteriously begin dropping dead, the authorities send the legendary detective L to investigate, and he is soon hot on the trail of Light, who must now reevaluate his one noble goal. Both Light and L believe themselves to be on the side of justice, and the two match wits trying to show exactly which of them is “good” and which of them is “evil.”
The film’s sequel, DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME, was a hit in Japan, staying #1 for four straight weeks. While it closely followed major plot elements from the original manga series, several new key story differences were also introduced. Both films star Takeshi Kaga, who is widely known by North American audiences as the flamboyant host of TV’s Iron Chef.
DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE: THE LAST NAME will screen at:
Sept. 20-27: Austin, TX, Fantastic Fest 2007
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
1120 South Lamar, Austin, TX
For show times and tickets, go to http://www.fantasticfest.com*DEATH NOTE will screen at:
Nov. 1-4: Vancouver, BC, Vancouver Asian Film Festival
For show times and tickets, go to http://www.vaff.org/
*Note this will only be a screening of DEATH NOTE - Four new Family Guy figures are on the way, at least in the UK: Secret Agent Astronaut Millionaire Cowboy Peter, newsanchor Diane Simmons, Chris on a treadmill, and Quagmire sporting something a little more… comfortable. OH! Giggity-giggity-giggity-goo!
Video Power
- A few months ago, there was quite a bit of buzz that Nintendo Power was going to be published by another company. Now, it seems that the possible truth of the matter has come to light, revealing Future US to be the license holder for Nintendo’s official magazine in the US.
For those who don’t know, Future publishes PC Gamer, the Next Generation website, Games Radar, Gloob, and perhaps most ironically of all, Official XBox Magazine.
Me, I am nothing short of torn on this. Besides always having wanted to work for Nintendo Power, I really, really like what the magazine has become over the past two years since its revision. On the other hand, I do rather enjoy the product that Future delivers, and believe it would be in good hands. My hope is that things don’t change drastically, if at all, in this new venture. There’s a saying, “change is good,” though I also consider another saying, “don’t fix what isn’t broken.” And right now, Nintendo Power is as un-broken as it’s been in quite some time.
On a related note, I wonder what this could do to subscription rates and the player’s guides.
- I’ve nothing to say about this, so I’ll just let it speak for itself.
- Maybe it’s the people I hang around, but the expression “Unleash the Force” just sounds wrong.
But the idea of Wii remote-controlled lightsabers in said title? That sounds cool.
- I dig Dragon Ball. It’s always been a pretty steady interest of mine, never quite becoming something I spend every waking hour thinking about, but something I do enjoy whenever I usually come into contact with it.
That said, I haven’t really had much contact with it lately, much less with any video games. Thanks to this trailer, however, I’m thinking it might be a good idea to become reacquainted.
- Absent yesterday from GameTrailers was a video for the new Virtual Console release Yoshi’s Story. This has since been rectified.
- Today’s Smash Bros. DOJO!! update reveals to us our foes from Subspace, the Subspace Army!
I guess if these are who we face in Adventure Mode, there won’t be many Goombas and Octoroks around…
- By now, I can’t even remember if Project H.A.M.M.E.R. has been officially killed. But I guess this is one step closer, at any rate.
- If you’re interested in getting The Simpsons game, then preordering may not be such a bad idea, as now there appear to be several incentives across different retailers, featuring different posters that hold codes to unlock characters, as well as Homerballs!
- Toys R Us has a new video game sale: buy two, get the third free.
Offer probably void in Canada.
- I’ll admit it: I laughed at Take Two’s latest stunt.
- Looks like Radio Shack is getting into the retail gaming business.
Huh, around here, they already were.
For that matter, I didn’t know Radio Shack was still around; here, they were all converted to “The Source by Circuit City.” Glad to know that one staple still remains…
- 1up’s Jeremy Parish goes hands-on with Konami’s upcoming PSP sure-to-be-a-hit Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles.
Sadly, for some reason, the video of Maria as a playable character in the included version of Symphony of the Night just refuses to play, and that makes me sad.
–LBD “Nytetrayn”