February 2016 | Otaku No Culture

IMAX Reveals Gods of Egypt and Divergent Prints

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By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

IMAX continues their love to reward fans going to their broad box format films with both a release of two 13.5 x 19″ posters for the upcoming movies, Gods of Egypt and the finale to the Divergent series, Allegiant, on opening night. Of the two, both are nicely created pieces of art.

No credit is offered on the official site mentioning who crafted these two images, and of the two, the former hails to a classic Raiders of the Lost Ark style of print with a dose of Mummy Returns mixed in. The latter screams of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, albeit using more of an optical illusion to create the sensation more so than being James Bond-like. The latter release is perfect for those Divergent collectors wondering if a final poster will be offered. With this movie guaranteed a box screen release, its availability will be far and wide.

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Sadly, with some cities having a limited number of IMAX screens, the Gods of Egypt print will not be available everywhere.

Perhaps the studios decided to produce this print last-minute to draw in viewers on opening night, Feb 26th. Although projections for this movie is not good, that will not stop people looking for simple, turn off your brain, popcorn entertainment. This movie may well be the Michael Bay version of Stargate meets Dune. The print alone makes going to see this film opening weekend worth it. Poster collectors will be present hording up this print, which may be exclusive to Regal than AMC. Sadly, not all cities are created equally — this print may be limited to metroplexes willing to give up an IMAX screen to a lesser film when Deadpool still reigns.

Please check local listings for which films are playing where.

PS4 Transformers: Devastation Bundle To be Released in China

TransformersDevastation According to multiple media sites, Mainland China will see the release of a Transformers: Devastation PS4 bundle. There will be two versions of the bundle available representing the Transformer factions. The Decepticon bundle will come in black while the Autbots will be available white. Boxart for the bundles will reflect their respective factions. The game of Devastation will come packaged in a steelbook and will be in Simplified Chinese, localized by PlatinumGames.

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Going Surround With Dolby DTS:X, Into VR and Beyond …

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

ef511dd311d205a6bce54596fcd8b2c6_XL Dolby Audio Technologies has two surround sound formats which can improve the movie-going experience if the studios and theatre chains embrace it. Most auditoriums are configured with either DTS or ATMOS sound; to fully appreciate the soundscape, people have to be sitting at the sweet spot. This technology was introduced in 2012 and it provides a nice sweeping experience assuming the movie is encoded in this format and the stadium’s speaker setup is configured to the right sound levels. New to the scene is DTS X (for any sound system) and Headphone X (for mobiles and tablets). In both formats, this psychoacoustic sound reproduction algorithm simulates surround sound from 11 different sources, including height, from a simple group of speakers or a pair of headphones. The former was introduced in 2015 with technology finally appearing this year (a full sound system upgrade is still required to get the most out of the specification), and the latter was first demonstrated in 2013 at E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Nearly three years later, this technology is not widely known by the mainstream public and it is still not recognized as an alternative means to enjoy surround sound as of 2016. Demos of this product only began appearing late 2015.

When considering this year is flagged as the time virtual reality can potentially take off, to provide a truly immersive experience requires the right sound system to match. Nearly everyone is excited for the Oculus Rift. This company partnered with RealSpace3D instead of Dolby and both use headphones to create a 3D auditory world. They both sound spectacular, recreating proximity to sound sources with ease in the demo videos offered, but mastering height is tricky. Not everyone hears the same way. People with hearing loss may not perceive noises from a heightened distance as easily. Both companies want to make inroads to the (home) theatre market but until movies get mixed into one of these auditory formats so it can be experienced, all anyone is going to get is a basic surround mix over an all-encompassing format.

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Boston Dynamics and Latest Robot Design Brings Us One Step Closer To the Question

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

In the latest video by Boston Dynamics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google Inc., the company demonstrates their latest version of Atlas, a anthropomorphic robot that is able to navigate terrain both indoors and out. The Atlas balances itself by using sensors located in its body and legs and through use of LIDAR (light and radar) and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles. Like its previous design, it uses body and arms in a swinging motion to help it stay upright.

The next generation of Atlas however is more compact. At 5’9″ and 180 lbs it’s at its most compact compared to the 6’2″, 330 lbs frame from two years ago. The new Atlas doesn’t need to rely on the cables and tubes that feed it power, fluid and data either, it’s more autonomous. The next generation of Atlas.

Atlas from 2013.

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Wind up Geek’s Cool Japan: Weird Commercials – Godzilla Karaoke

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

HitachiVHS When it comes to the stomping and smashing of Tokyo that Godzilla is so good at (or perhaps he works at Toho and those are just models) at the end of the day he is just an everyday Japanese worker who has a family to support.

This commercial that clocks in at 30 seconds is advertising Hitachi‘s VT-JF25 Video Recorder-Karaoke player which retailed at ¥90,000 (roughly $800 US on today’s market). I consider this commercial to be one of the most memorable not just because of its humor but because it humanizes Japan’s most iconic Kaijū.

Source(s): Jason Hershey, Neil O’Brien, and the We Love Collecting Movies Facebook group.

Video Source(s): jrco1010.

Wind up Geek’s Cool Japan: Gundam Snowboarding

Team GP Logo 1 The island of Japan was hit with heavy snowfall this year and that would normally have downsides. But if you’re either a member of Team GP (Gundam Performance) or a fan of their group, heavy snowfall isn’t all bad. Team GP is a group of Gundam cosplayers who take their cosplaying to new heights. And when I mean heights, I mean carried away from the convention floor and dropped somewhere above sea level on the snow-covered slopes.

Their specialty is snowboarding and one can say they’re a little more adept at it than some people. Team GP not only has a following they have their own stickers, armbands and revolving character key chains too.