YES!  It’s that again, folks!  Time to break out the crystal balls (or was that Crystal Skulls? :D) for yet another round of E3 predictions!

For the most part, my list is wishful thinking at best.

I’d love Nintendo to stop focusing on peripherals, since third parties are getting really good at it (Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Samba De Amigo).  Although a DS peripheral that was like a flashcard would be nice…

I don’t think any of the “hardcore” announcements from Nintendo will be Kid Icarus (much as I’d love to see it) or any of the other rumors floating around.  I think DLC (downloadable content) will be a BIG part of the presentation, or at least the most talked-about thing at the presentation, because if Nintendo doesn’t get off their asses regarding DLC real soon, we’ll all be buying Xbox 360s!  And we MUST have a hard drive, because then I’ll REALLY buy a 360!

Sony: Lower price on PS3, price cut on PSP (it’s time), and SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE!  SOME of us don’t want to buy JUST a $400 Blu-Ray player!

Microsoft (read this Major Nelson!!!!!): Xbox Arcade price drop (please), 20GB hard drive price drop (please, it’s been $100 damn dollars since launch almost 3 YEARS AGO!!!!!), NO gimmicky peripherals, a Blu-Ray Xbox 360 Drive (so some of us, like you, can play Blu-Rays on our PCs or Macs), some “Rare” news (bad pun I know), and some news regarding XBLA and a certain trash-talkin’, babe-savin’ ass kicker.

That’s it!  Questions?

BJ

Hey, I just got an email from Leonard Maltin about Destino, which was to have been in the next wave of the Walt Disney Treasures collector’s tins.  Most of us expressed doubts about it sustaining a 2-disc tin, and he answers that, along with WDT on Blu-Ray and the editing on certain 1940s package features:

Hi…   In brief:  Destino is no longer part of the Treasures series, and will be released as a single disc some time later this year. I have been told that the series will continue but I have no information or knowledge about WDHV’s thoughts on adapting them for BluRay. I’m still hoping to do those educational shorts, but that depends on whether or not they like my “pitch.”

  As for the edited versions of those 1940s features, I share your frustration, but I have no input with the company on that front. I just feel lucky I can present the films uncut on our Treasures series!

  cheers,  Leonard M.

Whew, what a week, and it’s only Wednesday!!  Done with my exam for Summer Session I (which I thought went VERY well, thank you), and now on to Summer II and Philosophy!

First, I wanted to acknowledge the announcement of Diablo 3, and all I have to say is “THANK YOU GOD!!!!”  It looks SO GOOD!!!  And it looks like it’ll be a typical Blizzard game in that the system requirements will be lower than Cain and the graphics look similar to Diablo 2, which is a great thing!  People, don’t say it’s “dated”, you jaded Hellgate spawn.

Second, I’ll be eagerly anticipating E3 in just a week or so!  I’ll try to make sense of all the cool stuff they’ll announce or show at least gameplay movies of (like Kirby Super Star Ultra for DS, can’t effing wait!!).

Third, did anyone watch Celebrity Family Feud last night?  Kathie Lee Gifford was on there, and she’s normally VERY funny (funnier than Kelly Ripa, the dumb, ditzy broad who is Reege’s new co-host on the Live with Regis and… show.  I much prefer Kathie Lee, but at least KL didn’t try to say (*jazz-hands reveal the face*) “Hide the Children!!!!” (I’ve wanted to do that for so long it’s not even funny).  In any event, she had an unintentionally funny event happen to her during the Fast Money portion last night, and I put it up on YouTube for your enjoyment until NBC decides to take it down.  Enjoy!

I’m a big ol’ Parrothead from way back, ever since I was 5 months old.

But this is very cool!  Being a Parrothead never got this kind of lyric variation in “Volcano” before Rock Band, EA’s rhythm action game that has all sorts of DLC.

Okay guys, I’ve been thinking about my direction recently.  This new focus will be on many blogs that focus on a variety of topics.  This will be my last post, until that time comes when I have a post that will NOT fit within one of those topics.

BJ

Hey guys, file this one under the “pure speculation” file at the moment, but I heard some pretty apocryphal information from Desiree Goyette-Bogas about Flashbeagle possibly either being released onto DVD, or having just been released onto DVD.  Until I get comfirmation from either Lee Mendelson, the producer of most of the Peanuts specials, or George Feltenstein at Warner Home Video, please don’t get too terribly excited.

Hello to all of you.  Here’s a new post!

Today, an Apple clone is running free.  The demand is there for cheaper Macintoshes.

Today, cheap “iPod killers” are their own sub-market of the MP3 player industry.  The demand is there for Apple to crush their competition and offer their iPods for much, MUCH cheaper.

Today, bootleg DVDs of TV shows and movies that aren’t on DVD in the States are floating around the Internet because the movie and television studios are stupid enough to continue to think that the Internet is just a piracy box.  In all fairness, they’ve let the terrorists win.

Once again, the demand is there for these items, if there are bootleg DVDs, or iPod clones, or even Macintosh clones, so fulfill the demand.  If you’re going to be pro-consumer, it’s only the right thing to do.

Here’s the problem with this viewpoint: People have misunderstood what I’m trying to do, criticizing the movie and television companies as I have.  So I am going to say, right here and right now, my reasoning, loud and clear, so that there is no room for interpretation.

I am only doing this because I care.  I am only doing this because I want to buy this stuff legitimately.  But the bullcrap excuses I hear from these studios about how they “desire” piracy prevention measures, and yet they overlook the one basic rule that they should follow in order to prevent piracy from ever happening.

Seriously, content is king.  I cannot emphasize that enough, so allow me to give you a recent story that shows just how the Internet can be.  I’ve gotten hooked on a TV show recently on Fox, the new legal drama Canterbury’s Law.  But I didn’t discover the show (OR watch it) on the tube.  I’m in a Fox market that has the most clueless management around, and their marketing department sucks donkeys.  

I discovered Canterbury’s Law on the iTunes Music Store with a free download of the pilot.  I am now buying individual episodes of Canterbury’s Law after broadcast on iTunes, and I’m in for BUYING the season set when it comes out on DVD.  You get people hooked on the content, you get legitimate purchases.  The “content is king” model is going to win every time.  Stop “playing it safe” for “the good of the people”.  In all fairness, you’ve already lost.

I would never have found Canterbury’s Law in the old model, and THAT’S what these guys don’t get.  The Internet is a fantastic marketing tool, and it is in the best interests of the TV studios and film companies to use it wisely.

If you make this content available, your “piracy problem” will shrivel up and die.  If you don’t make this available, and you STILL resort to the “movie vault”, then your “piracy problem” will only get worse.

I’m a pretty large Trekkie, guys.  That’s just one of my weird idiosyncrasies, so deal with it!  I have also become a huge fan of the man who played Dr. McCoy, DeForest Kelley, not just because of his work on the original Star Trek, not only because he was a truly genuine individual, but also because he did a lot for animal rescue.  So, in this vein, I recommend the wonderful blog by Kristine M. Smith, the author of DeForest Kelley: A Harvest of Memories - My Life and Times With A Remarkable Gentleman Actor and the upcoming The Enduring Legacy of DeForest Kelley: Actor, Healer, Friend, which will be released in 2009, at http://almostfamousbydesfault.blogspot.com!  TTFN, Ta Ta for Now!  –BJ 

First, it was Marvel Comics doing their new digital comics initiative.  Now, it seems that Warp Graphics, the makers of ElfQuest, are doing the same.  

This really, REALLY bodes well for comic books in the future.  However, I think that Warp Graphics can succeed where Marvel has bitterly failed: In the delivery of true digital comics in PDF format, or something similar.I hope Wendy & Richard Pini the very best in their new digital comics initiative.  In a world where everything goes paperless eventually, this is a good move for a medium that has long been steeped in paper (i.e. comic books).  Hopefully more comics makers follow this lead, and we can expect digital comics online before long from all the comic book companies, including Dark Horse, Disney/Gemstone, and DC Comics.

Everyone is talking about the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth, the release date of Devil May Care, the next James Bond novel.  But a very select few are talking about another centenary: Today, 100 years ago, in Taylor, Texas, one Fred “Tex” Avery was born.  Now, some may know Tex Avery because of his wildly controversial cartoon, “Red Hot Riding Hood”.  Others may know Tex Avery as the creator of Droopy Dog, the depressive bloodhound.  Still others may know about Tex Avery’s wacko takes on fairy tales.  All of these and many more, that was the genius of Tex Avery.  

Today marks the 100th birthday of one of animation’s finest pioneers.  Yet, he’s unfortunately ignored by the powers-that-be, and the only Tex Avery animation releases are the recent Droopy boxset, several laserdiscs, and several VHS tapes.  Is this the best way to treat an animation legend?  Disney treats their legends of animation with the utmost of respect!  The rest of the animation industry should do the same, because without Tex Avery, there’d BE no Family Guy, or South Park, or Looney Tunes, even!  So be grateful that you have those funny cartoons this day, and let’s hear it for Tex Avery!