wars

HD DVD players hit $99 at Wal-Mart, Best Buy

Earlier this week it was big news that HD DVD broke the $200 price barrier. Well, in the same week it looks like HD DVD has broken the $100 price barrier as well. As previously reported, Wal-Mart is running a "Secret In-Store Specials" sale this Friday and one of the heavily discounted items is the Toshiba HD-A2 selling for $98.87. Of course, this isn't a true price drop, as the sale is only good as long quantities last and the Toshiba HD-A2 won't be available at all Wal-Mart locations. On the other hand, it is representative of HD DVD's significant advantage in hardware pricing -- the least expensive Blu-ray player is the $400 PlayStation 3, which also hits stores tomorrow.

The $99 price tag is sweet, but the deal is even better than that. Toshiba continues to give away five free movies to anyone that buys an HD DVD player--all you need to do is fill out this form (PDF link) and mail it in. If you're not thrilled about Toshiba's selection of free movies (we're not either), Wal-Mart is also running on a sale on HD DVD movies tomorrow, priced at $14.96 each. That's a pretty significant discount, as most of the HD DVDs we saw at Amazon were priced from $20 to $30. … Read more

Update on Phoenix New Times jailings

It isn't often legal nightmares are resolved quickly. In fact, anything pertaining to the law tends to drag on tirelessly.

But for the two executives at Village Voice Media who spent a night in jail last week, their legal woes were abated before the weekend arrived. On Friday afternoon, I wrote about how Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin were incarcerated after they published details in the Phoenix New Times about a subpoena they received. Hours later, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, dropped all the charges against Lacey, Larkin and the paper.

Dennis Wilenchik, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, was removed from the investigation by Thomas the same day. Wilenchick has denied any wrongdoing, stating that "his investigation was not 'grossly mishandled or mismanaged,'" and he will not stand to have his reputation tarnished.

While it's not entirely clear what prompted the county attorney to drop the charges and remove Wilenchick, The Arizona Republic points out, that "Thomas' announcement came just hours after the State Bar Association confirmed that it had received multiple complaints and had launched an internal investigation into Thomas and special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik for their actions in the New Times case and an unrelated one."

R2-D2 speakers for moderate 'Star Wars' freaks

Sure, we like R2-D2 as much as the next geeks, but only up to a point. A projector that runs $2,500 seems a bit excessive, for instance, and even the $350 Webcam is steep in our book. At the same time, we can do better than just a lame Mimobot.

The perfect compromise may be a pair of R2-D2 computer speakers like the cheeky duo shown in the photos here from Japan's Taito. But did they have to come up with a design that forces their decapitation to reveal the speakers? (We couldn't help but think of … Read more

Episode 584: Pirate like a monkey

Report: Star Wars TV show to follow robots

Star Wars, one of geek realm's most hallowed stories, is giving birth to a TV series, according to published reports.

George Lucas, the Star Wars creator is looking for writers to help pen a live-action series about the lives of robots, according to a story published Wednesday in Los Angeles Times.

Does this mean C-3PO and R2-D2?

Lucas isn't saying yet but the producer/director told the Times that there won't be any Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker.

"The Skywalkers aren't in it, and it's about minor characters," Lucas said in an interview … Read more

Game designer outlines 'Unreal' hardware requirements

We got the official recommended specs for forthcoming DX10 shooter Crysis last week, now the Inquirer has some basic recommendations for two major forthcoming Unreal Engine 3-based games, from the graphics engine's head developer Tim Sweeney. You can always see for yourself via the downloadable Unreal Tournament beta demo that launched last week. If your rig chokes, here's a suggested upgrade path, straight from the source:

"In Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War for PC, there is a significant gain in having 512MB of video memory rather than 256MB. So, first and foremost, get at least … Read more

Dark Side scores again with Vader PSP

It's perhaps telling that, when it comes to Star Wars products, representatives of the Dark Side are often far more popular than their counterparts from the Jedi portions of the galaxy. (All the evidence one needs can be found in the Darth Vader hot-air balloon.) Today will prove no exception when Sony distributes a limited-edition Darth Vader PSP to accompany the release of Renegade Squadron, the new installment of the Star Wars Battlefront series. The specially designed PSP is part of the Battlefront Entertainment Pack, which Wired says will also include a Han Solo case, though only for the … Read more

Empire strikes back with Lego's help

Now this is more like it. Forget about those Lego iPod docks. Toys should be toys--and armed vehicles, of course. The new "Motorized Walking AT-AT" just listed in the Lego catalog fills both requirements, as seen on Boing Boing. (That's "All-Terrain Armored Transport," for the Star Wars-challenged among you.)

This is no ordinary remote-controlled toy, but a multi-jointed beast with a moving head and rotating laser cannons that stands a foot tall. We're particularly fond of the dangling Luke Skywalker that's included, because his precarious position is something we can easily relate to.… Read more

The trees have eyes

Military and spy tech just keeps getting weirder and weirder. According to Scientific American, Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon's top defense contractor, is designing a microcamera based on the maple seed.

Instead of floating and fluttering on the air, this tiny camera will have two tinier jet boosters to help steer it, or at least keep it aloft. Each device will have its own camera and wireless communications for sending telemetry back to its source. Lockheed's plan is to produce many of these little seed-cameras for dispersal over war zones to monitor conditions and, with the help of different … Read more

Bringing a faraway galaxy into the home

It's not hard to imagine that Vic Wertz and Lisa Stevens were the former heads of the Official Star Wars Fan Club--all you need to do is take one look at their home theater.

This is no cheap DIY job, to be sure. The couple hired the lead designer on The Phantom Menace to work on the uber-Star Wars theater, which has three levels of seating and measures 22 feet from the back wall to the screen and its custom stage, according to Electronic House. It puts the recently featured Star Trek version to shame.

The theater is adorned … Read more