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Portables (Games) Media Movies Sony

First UMD Movie/Game Combo 78

Posted by Zonk from the blatant-ripoff dept.
Gamespot is reporting that, for the first time, Sony is selling a combo UMD movie/game disc. For about $40 you get three levels of Wipeout: Pure and the craptacular film "Stealth", which didn't even manage a 30% recoup on the film's budget. From the article: "On November 15, Sony will release the military sci-fi film Stealth, which slipped under most summer moviegoers' radar, on UMD. The portable version of the $130-million-budget, $31-million-grossing film will come with the first three levels of the best-selling PSP racing game Wipeout Pure. It will also feature a "Stealth" track not found in the regular version of the game, which will let players race as the advanced fighter jet from Stealth."
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First UMD Movie/Game Combo More

First UMD Movie/Game Combo

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  • I thought the jet was able to pilot itself. Why would it let a stupid human control it?
    • Im going to assume that in the end, the humans win, with a mixture of 20% luck, 60% killer human instinct and 20% hollywood shit, proving once and for all that planes driven by AI that, apparently, at least from the trailor that was shown before starwars said, was caught in an electrical storm and automagically rewired the plane, making it self aware. Damn those lightening bolts, mischevious things aren't they? Anyway, it proves that all that will never be a match for human ennginuity and bad jokes, all fil

  • Even the trailers looked like shit (Score:3, Funny)

    by general_re ( 8883 ) on Monday September 12, 2005 @08:36PM (#13543078) Homepage
    Pay *me* $40, and I'll think about it...
    • Wipeout Pure isnt all that hot either. While the whole "downloadable content" thing is cool, its repetitive nature and poor control layout dont help.

      At least the tracks in Gran Turismo had substancial differences. The downloadable tracks in Wipeout Pure seem to be mostly the result of changing the color pallete and giving it some inane backstory ("This track accurately recreates the famous 2019 race through a public library" or something like that).
    • ...the military sci-fi film Stealth, which slipped under most summer moviegoers' radar...

      Oh no, it was definitely on my radar. It's just that I'd rather watch paint dry than that movie. Even the trailers made me cringe.

    • Exactly. This movie most definately didn't slip under our radars. It was identified and ignored for the garbage it is.

  • Reminds me of... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Deltaspectre ( 796409 ) on Monday September 12, 2005 @08:48PM (#13543127)
    Van Helsing...

    I popped that movie into my Xbox and up came a screen asking if I wanted to play the game or the movie

  • Only promsing thing to come out of this ... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by PaganRitual ( 551879 ) <splaga&internode,on,net> on Monday September 12, 2005 @08:48PM (#13543129)
    ... is that the introduction of a PSP magazine with a playable demo UMD on the front cover is a possibility. I know I would be keen on paying $8-$10 for the option of trying out half a dozen PSP games just to see if I'm happy with the control scheme or the framerate or simply the game itself.
  • Promote the UMDs that no one wants, or sell a 3 level demo for half what the game would cost... either way, it's a shitty deal.
    • It's gotta be door number one. It's not like a 'special edition' of a piece of shit movie is going to make people want to buy it.

      "Okay so Stealth was a utterly horid movie, BUT I can watch the trailer AND a behind the scenes special, where is my credit card?"
    • err I meant for what the whole game would cost, not half...
    • "Promote the UMDs that no one wants, or sell a 3 level demo for half what the game would cost... either way, it's a shitty deal."

      It really is a bummer that Sony didn't think this through a little more. They've got 1.8 gigs to play with here. They have enough space to encode both a PSP version and a TV version of a movie on any given UMD. They could even swing the extras etc. Then they could have included a video out on the PSP (or maybe a peripheral...) so that UMD movies could be played on it. Then they
      • Yea, they definitely aren't thinking the whole "promote the format" thing through. If they don't think beyond the PSP (which I quite enjoy as a gaming console btw) they will not get the market penetration they need.

        Maybe they think they'll sell the format to TV stations like they did Betamax?

        (for the uninformed, Betamax survives to this day in another form as a Broadcast format (or at least it did last time I set foot in a Television studio, which admittedly was several years ago)
      • A video out would have made it a dream machine. Hell, I rarely ever watch anything on my nice laptop screen, and use the video out whenever I can, and it's a nice 15" Powerbook screen. And really, I mostly use the PSP for Nintendo games, at least until I can get Burnout or GTA on the thing.

        Sony's general closeminded attitude with the PSP firmware and propietary formats baffles me.

      • Then they could have included a video out on the PSP

        So how would they have afforded to license the Macrovision patents for each unit so that people don't run the TV output into a VCR or DVD Video recorder?

        (or maybe a peripheral...)

        How well did the DVD Video peripheral for Xbox sell?

        • I don't have any figures to back it up, but everyone I know with an xbox that hasn't hacked theirs into a media center PC, has a DVD dongle and remote.

          even paying liscensing costs, microsoft probably came out all right on the deal. especially considering that the dongle had almost nothing to it but an IR receiver.

          • especially considering that the dongle had almost nothing to it but an IR receiver.

            "Almost nothing"? The Xbox DVD dongle has a built-in memory card loaded with the DVD Video decoder software, which includes at least an MPEG-2 software decoder (licensed through MPEG LA) and a CSS decoder (licensed through DVD CCA).

            • do you have a source on that? as far as I know, it just contained an IR receiver and a CSS key. the DVD decoder and playback software was on the xbox itself. I could be wrong, but that was my understanding of it.

  • THIS is how you'd get me to buy a UMD Movie (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MBCook ( 132727 ) <foobarsoft@foobarsoft.com> on Monday September 12, 2005 @09:09PM (#13543251) Homepage
    See, now THIS (if done right) would be how you'd get me to buy a UMD movie.

    Note, not THIS movie.

    But if I could buy Spiderman 2 and the Spiderman 2 game on one disc for $50 I would consider it over the $40 game. Or if I could buy a music game (something like Amplitude) and it had the music videos for all the tracks on the disc, I would be willing to pay more for that.

    Now of course, they don't offer that. And licensed games basically are ALWAYS TERRIBLE. There are a handfull of exceptions (Spideman 1/2, for example), but by and large they are terrible. They'd still sell very well (those games always do, especially the ones for little kinds because the parents don't look into if the game is GOOD, it just matters that it has Spongebob).

    The real problem is that the movie content takes up basically all the disc, so you'd need to ship it in a two disc package (one for the movie, and one for the game) which would just be an excuse to hike the price (but we have to make TWO discs!).

    This could work well, especially if they could come up with some more creative uses, but based on this first effort it looks like it will be used to prop up failing movie properties with game demos. Hazaah.

    So as long as you are making a glorified demo disc, how 'bout dropping the cruddy movie and selling a disc of 20 working demos of new games for $5 or $10? I am MUCH more likely to buy a game I've played (thus know the quality of) than one I haven't. Demos have done great things for many computer games (can you say Doom?). Now that we have the technology, I don't know why we don't see this more with video games. The DS and PSP can both do it (including wirelessly), and they game companies say they will do that, but they don't (at least not in the US, I hear the DS can get demos at various shops/kiosks and movies in Japan over wireless). I have broadband. Let me try a game if I want to? How does giving me a chance to get hooked hurt your bottom line?

    Too bad so many of these companies aren't run by games, or anyone with half a clue. Bad movie + game demo = $60. Yeah right. More like this: bad movie + game demo = $5.

  • Some info on the movie (Score:1, Informative)

    by Saiyine ( 689367 )

    Some data on the movie, from imdb [imdb.com]:

    User rating: 4'5 out of 10, with 605 people giving it the lowest score avaliable.

    Budget $130M, gross $31M, confirming the blurb.

    --
    Superb hosting [dreamhost.com] 4800MB Storage, 120GB bandwidth, $7,95.
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    • This is a good thing. It means the mainstream has actually become a tiny bit more intelligent.
      • I think they (the studio) knew it sucked. It was not very promoted for a big budget movie (at least in my area). I saw a very few adds for it and one billboard. I hadn't even heard of it until the month it came out and I watch a lot of TV.

        I guess my point is that we must hold our applause for the public because it probably was truly under the radar of many people.

        Of course I just might not watch the right TV, but I would bet the studio just knew it sucked. It seamed to have less promotion that House of

  • I'm willing to bet (Score:4, Informative)

    by SetupWeasel ( 54062 ) on Monday September 12, 2005 @09:17PM (#13543325) Homepage
    That Sony will burying these UMDs next to those E.T. cartridges and Jar Jar Binks figurines.

    • Re:I'm willing to bet (Score:4, Interesting)

      by superpulpsicle ( 533373 ) on Tuesday September 13, 2005 @12:29AM (#13544542)
      I went into Circuit City just today. They had a giant section at the store front selling just Stealth the DVD. I guess Hollywood is trying hard to make sure they recover the expense. Here comes the funny part.... not one box was missing on the shelf. Not one!

      • Re:I'm willing to bet (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I went into Circuit City just today. They had a giant section at the store front selling just Stealth the DVD. I guess Hollywood is trying hard to make sure they recover the expense. Here comes the funny part.... not one box was missing on the shelf. Not one!

        You're either lying or not telling the whole truth. Stealth has not yet been released on DVD. It will be released on the 15th of November [circuitcity.com] according to Circuit City's website. This is the same date that article text above says the UMD will be released on
  • Why would you want to only have 3 levels of the best racing game for the price of a horrible movie. Wouldn't it just be wiser to purchase the racing game? If they were thinking that maybe someone who kind of wanted to see the movie would then be thrown over the edge with the inclusion of 3 levels of a game, I think they were dead wrong. Most people would just wait for it to get on tv, get a torrent (I mean... legally), or rent it. I don't know about you guys, but it seems to me like they are trying to s
  • Whats the point to this? Take a bomb movie and try something risky with it? I guess they just dont expect anything to happen but i'd be pissed if I was the guy who said "lets make a movie/video game combo!" and hear that the package was "stealth" jeez.
    • Heh, reminds me of the two-disc DVD "special edition" packs you always see in stores of two movies you would never want anyway (and are usually vaguely related at best).

      "Gigli AND Ishtar! For only $25!"
      • The ones I see are usually a movie woth $10 and one worth $0.50 for $15.00. I always figured they were trying to eack $2.00 out of shit.

        usually the decent movie is sold seperatly for $12.99 and the crap one for $8.99, so you may get overwhelmed by the value of an $8.99 movie for $2.00 extra, of coure the value is terrible.
    • Actually, it probably went something like this:

      The UMD team and the producers of Stealth are sitting in an office. There is a stone on the desk.

      Everyone: Why won't this damn stone bleed already!?
  • Not only is it a bad movie, plus an abreviation of a game that's short enough, but it also patches your firmware to v2.0. Like playing your NES and SNES roms on the go? Tough luck; go buy a laptop.

    Sony is desperately trying to get content out for the PSP. I think it's rather telling that the DS has 8 games coming for it this holiday season that I want to buy, while the PSP has only 2 games worth getting (IMO; Lumines and Metal Gear Acid). Otherwise the only reason to have it is for the decent NES emulat
    • Is there some list somewhere that I can tell what may upgrade my firmware? My 1.5 firmware is precious to me. Thank god there are no games out that I want, then I might have to consider an update.

      However, how does this firmware update work? Does it tell you? Does it say it on the box? Is there a list on the net?

      Help! Don't let me lose SCUMMVM!
      • I'd say watch out. AFAIK, newer games are starting to require a firmware update. GTA: Liberty City Stories will be requiring it. I would expect that all the future UMD games will have them built in.

        The Sony updater is designed to update if the version is >= to the current one, so they'd have no problem putting forced updaters on discs and forgetting about it.

        My answer is simple: I do not buy UMD games. I bought my PSP used with a memory card because I wanted to run homebrew on it anyways. The actual
      • I'd wager that all games require the most current firmware at the date of release. IOW, everything since 1.51 was released will probably try to update you.

    • Like playing your NES and SNES roms on the go? Tough luck; go buy a

      ...Nintendo DS. PocketNES for GBA [pocketnes.org] and snesDS [utah.edu] have come along rawther nicely.

      And though Nintendo has released a new firmware in the Chinese "iQue DS" units and in the Japanese "Jump Super Stars Special Edition" units, those are 1. not yet sold in North America, 2. already cracked, and 3. irrelevant for emulators that also work on GBA such as PocketNES.

      • I use it for my DS games, and occasionally GBA games. I prefer my SP for playing GBA games since the DS makes them look washed out (the palette doesn't seem correct).

        To use a NES/SNES emulator on my SP or DS, I'd still need a flash cart and a method for getting roms onto it. For the 190$ CDN I paid for my 1.5 firmware PSP and 512mb MSPDuo, I think I got a good deal. The screen on the PSP alone is a good reason to get playing NES/SNES games on the PSP!

        If it weren't for homebrew, there'd be no reason to ru
        • Where in the world did you find a PSP for $190 CDN?! Everywhere I've looked, they've been at least $299 CDN.
          • I bought it used from someone. Most video game stores don't offer much to people, because they need to protect their margins. For example, EB will give you 175$ for a PSP of store credit; they then sell it for 229$ ish and pocket the 55$ for store profits and in case you trade in garbage.

            I was able to do the same thing with textbooks to avoid having to pay out my ass; I bought a complete set of my chem text, student solutions manual, and study guide for 60$ (MSRP: 200$ new) because I offered a bit more th

        • For the 190$ CDN I paid for my 1.5 firmware PSP

          As the limited quantities of PSP systems with version 1.5 firmware fall into the hands of collectors, wouldn't the price tend to go up over time? Or where can I find an affordable Dreamcast broadband adapter?

  • A Revalation (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Dark_Link2135 ( 812614 )
    I've always thought it interesting that people would pay twice as much for a UMD when they can get it on a DVD for cheaper, and it can be played on a plethora of different devices, not JUST a $300 hand-held toy.

  • crap movie? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lehk228 ( 705449 ) on Tuesday September 13, 2005 @12:10AM (#13544453) Journal
    "slipped under most summer moviegoers' radar," == "such a relentless piece of shit nobody bothered to go see it" ?
    • I thought about going to see it, but I was sick that day.
    • HEHE, that line stopped me dead too. Umm, it didn't slip under anyone's radar (ugh, poor stealth pun) it was pure hollywood CRAP. People stayed away like it was a west nile virus infected mosquito, not because they were not aware of it... but because it was inanely stupid.

      I wish Hollywood and the music industry, and the videogame industry to some extent would implode. If people could get their priorities straight and stop feeding money to these manufactured, shallow, and blatant rip-offs things could get ba

  • Article not quite right... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Knight2K ( 102749 ) on Tuesday September 13, 2005 @12:12AM (#13544463) Homepage
    the military sci-fi film Stealth, which slipped under most summer moviegoers' radar


    No, no, no... It didn't slip under anybody's radar. That movie showed up on theater-goer's scopes like a great big 747 of suck.
  • Okay, if nobody went to see the crappy movie in theaters, why are they going to spend 20 bucks on the crappy UMD? Why not just buy the whole version of wipeout?
    • Simple : Were you dumb enough to buy a PSP? Then you'll LOVE our upcoming lineup!

      - GTA : Another Fucking City + the smash hit "Crossroads" featuring Britney Spears!

      - Lumines bundled with the New Kids on the Block reunion tour DVD!

      - Metal Gear Tactics with cards and "Yu-Gi-Oh : Look, I found this booster pack behind the fridge and it's got a few unco's and rares"!

      - "Gran Turismo : We changed the ads on the cars" plus the limited edition of "Autobahn Raser : Original, Uncut, an
  • Every single odd, nonstandard, wierd, whatever media format that you can't easily write yourself has failed miserably. You'd think sony would have learned with the minidisc fiasco. Yes, I know minidisc is used by pros. Thanks.

    Why the hell would I spend $40 or even $20 or even $15 when I can get the movie in DVD?

    • There's quite a few people who buy UMDs for the portability of it, given they have purchased a PSP and wish to use the UMD movie feature instead of going out and buying a new device (portable dvd player). I've asked a few guys who work at stores that sell the movies, they're definitely not disappointed by the sales of them.
    • Every single odd, nonstandard, wierd, whatever media format that you can't easily write yourself has failed miserably. You'd think sony would have learned with the minidisc fiasco. Yes, I know minidisc is used by pros. Thanks.

      You can easily write to minidisc. It is primarily used for recording live music, or creating personal mix. And I wouldn't call it a fiasco, it was and is still very popular in Japan, and has a following around the world.

      CDs and DVDs were popular long before you could write to them
      • Why would I pay for a movie or TV show on DVD, then pay for it again on UMD?

        It doesn't make any sense to me. But, perhaps I am not the target demographic.
      • > it was and is still very popular in Japan, and has a
        > following around the world.

        Ah, but you forget... to a certain kind of person, the US *IS* the entire world. And everything outside its borders is a savage land shrouded in fog and populated by cannibals; which may as well just be marked "Here be Dragons" on the maps.

        And since the MiniDisc never really caught in here in the US, it's obviously an abject across-the-world failure.

        cya,
        john
  • UMD movies ARE failing, which is why Sony is hoping that by bundling a game demo with them, they might sell better.

    The problem is, without video out capabilities on the PSP, the UMD movie was doomed from the start.

    Honestly, watching any video on a small screen, regardless of whether its the PSP or some other device, especially Cell phones is doomed. Personally I just find that it gives me a head ache after a few minutes. Having to hold a device in your hand for 2 hours and craning your neck to watch the m

  • For an extra $10 (Score:3, Funny)

    by erroneous ( 158367 ) on Tuesday September 13, 2005 @10:15AM (#13547537) Homepage
    For an extra $10 you can get a deluxe edition that *doesn't* come with the movie.
  • Finally the PSP has been given the flexibility it needs to become an all-in-one media device. /sarcasm Anyway, it's great to see Sony trying new things to try and sell games -- package them with a UMD! Then the gamers are forced to buy them, thus pushing up the game sales numbers to better compete with DS. However, I have to object to the strategy of packaging a crappy movie with crappy games (Wipeout exlcuded), with hopes that crap will somehow cancel out crap.
  • Tokyopia [tokyopia.com] gave a review in July of some of the first UMD pr0n coming out from Japan. They also come with an, ahem, game of sorts...

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