This embarrassment of riches continued with last year's HD DVD release, which ported over all of the same materials, plus threw in a few exclusive picture-in-picture commentaries. Warner has not given Blu-ray short thrift, for now we have 'The Ultimate Matrix Collection' which again compiles over 35 hours of material in one mammoth seven disc set. A bit more compact than the seven discs found in the HD DVD edition, for Blu-ray Warner spreads out the extras across three BD-50 dual-layer movie discs, another BD-50 for 'The Animatrix,' and two more standard DVD platters with additional extras (one double-sided).
Unfortunately, like the HD DVD, the Blu-ray finds much of this bonus material presented in 480p/i/MPEG-2 only. To the studio's credit, they have headed high-def fan outcry, and this time we get upgraded 1080p/VC-1 video and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround audio (48kHz/16-bit) on 'The Animatrix,' which on the HD DVD was standard-def only. No, this entire box is still not in full HD, but it's still a jump up from the HD DVD.
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The result is largely a success. The nine shorts, collectively, are all over the place, but are often wildly exciting and visually stimulating. 'The Animatrix' was first released as a stand-alone disc in 2001, and that set is repurposed here, though with the shorts themselves at last upgraded to full 1080p/VC-1 video and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround audio (48kHz/16-bit).
So, should you fork over yet more 'Matrix' money for this Blu-ray? If you already own the HD DVD, I'd say not (unless getting 'The Animatrix' in full HD is important to you). But if you didn't take the plunge the last time around -- and can stand the two, inferior sequels -- then by all means, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better high-def deal for the money than 'The Ultimate Matrix Collection.'
Written by James Cameron and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the controversial Strange Days is probably the grittiest sci-fi film of the '90s. The film stars Ralph Fiennes as Lenny Nero, a guy who deals illegally downloaded memories and sells those memories on the black market. At the time, the movie wasn't critically well-received in the mainstream, but nearly all print sci-fi publications (like Starlog and Sci-Fi Universe) knew what was up. Because of its naturalistic approach to memory downloads and trippy questions about the nature of memory, it's pretty clear to see why the Wachowskis dug this film.
As mentioned above, Jenkins devised the term transmedia storytelling in 2003,talking about the flow of a narrative across media. According to Jenkins, atthe base of a good transmedia narrative lies a compelling storyworld: "Agood character can sustain multiple narratives and thus lead to a successfulmovie franchise. A good 'world' can sustain multiple characters(and their stories) and thus successfully launch a transmediafranchise." (Jenkins, 2003, para. 13). In his book Convergence Culture (2006) Jenkins calls The Matrix a prime example of this new practice of transmedia storytelling. In thisbook, Jenkins gives a more elaborate definition of transmedia storytelling:
In 2008 Ubisoft acquired Hybride Technologies, a visual effects studio. In anews statement at the time, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot explained theacquisition saying, "The future of our industry depends on our abilityto create brands that captivate audiences and to extend those brands to otherforms of entertainment" (Ubisoft News US, 2008), to which Montreal CEOYannis Mallat added, "Ubisoft and Hybride share the same vision ofentertainment convergence" (ibid.). Most gamers assumed that Ubisoftwould be branching out into film, but at Ubisoft's 2009 E3 PressConference Guillemot explained that the acquisition was not merely a bid atmedia convergence. Rather, Ubisoft wanted more, they wanted confluence,"our strategy is to put in place bridges between the creative talentsbuilding those [fully interconnected] worlds to enrich each other'sexperience" (Guillemot, 2009). Adding that Ubisoft, "...had alreadyentered the era where movies, games, music and books interact around theconstruction of a single universe experience" (ibid.) What could beachieved using this approach became clear when at the very end of theconference Ubisoft showed their Assassin's Creed II E3launch trailer, which combined the digitally created world of the upcoming Assassin's Creed II game with real-life actors16. Acquiring Hybride Technologies meant that Ubisoft could now share assets,designers, tools and footage, between different media texts. However, when welook at the next set of Assassin's Creed media texts, those with Desmond's ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, itbecomes clear that this part of the franchise is again mostly characterdriven.
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