Dragon's Lair on Blu-Ray!

Wonder_Hippie

No. Fucking. Way.

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=4606

I didn't see another thread about this, but it is definitely worthy. Thoughts?

RapscallionJones

I briefly owned Dragon's Lair on DVD, played through it, felt briefly nostalgic and then traded it for something else.

If you never got a chance to the play the coin-op or never played it, it's novel for about five minutes, but it wears thin quickly and you realize just how much of a quarter eater it was back then.

Duchess Prozac

Do they really need a BD to store a game that originally released on laser disc? seems a bit overkill to me

Nickle

Pfft. I'll pop out my CD-i and play Dragon's Lair like a man!

a sad man, who has made poorly informed choices.

Also, Space Ace!

Wonder_Hippie

Still worth it. Who knows, maybe they'll make use of a substantial chunk of the disc for something. I welcome anything that continues this game's legacy, I loved it. I suppose that's just me though.






I smell killer app.

GSM

Only if the seek speeds make the reactions faster.

Also, I have DL, DL2:TW, and SA in a DVD box set. And it's awesome to play on a PS2 with an arcade stick.

Sacred Cow

will the high definition help me not suck at this game?

seriously, i've never beat it.

brynstar

Yeah so...I'm a little sad, in that I love Dragon's Lair to death. I've bought it seriously like 11 times, and last night I ordered the Blu-Ray version. I was just sitting here and then suddenly I got excited and was like whoa, this is shipping now! And then I bought it. I have several copies of all three games in various formats sitting on the shelf next to me. I play all three Don Bluth games fairly regularly, cause you can get through each one in under 30 minutes. Dragon's Lair 2 introduced me to the weird world of FMV games, and I've loved them ever since.

I realize that they're not for everyone, and that they aren't really that great as "Games" per se, but as a student of film I've always loved this quirky concept of the interactive movie. It really is a unique experience, even if it's not the "Best."

Plus, I think it's crazy that they even went to the trouble of making an HD version of the game. I love Digital Leisure...they've been preserving all the FMV games I loved as a kid for years now, and I keep buying them. Nostalgia on!

Squirminator2k

I played the Amiga floppy disk version.

That made me a sad panda.

brynstar

Yup I played the PC floppy disk version...you can imagine how that was. To make it fit on floppies they just redrew a few frames of animation and used highly down-sampled versions of the backgrounds. It was crazy.

I also played the NES version, which was a ridiculously hard platformer. The Gameboy Color(!) version was surprisingly faithful.

Wow, I think I have a problem...

Squirminator2k

I had DL2 and SA as well, and the SNES platformer version of DL was one of the first SNES games I owned.

cj iwakura

Brain Dead 13 was the best.

brynstar

Oooh SNES Dragon's Lair had this silly world map where your character was Dirk's head with feet attached to it, like something out of Super Dave. There was also a Space Ace on SNES which had actual video footage from the laserdisc game.

I have Brain Dead 13 on PS1, it was made by Readysoft, the guys who were the main keepers of the Dragon's Lair games before Digital Leisure. I agree, it was awesome, it had a much less linear feel than most FMV games. In fact, I'm fairly certain that the copy of BD 13 I have has never worked right, since it's an old beat up copy I bought off of a video store. Hmm. Maybe I should remedy that someday?

Crashmo

I wish I still had a ps3.

cj iwakura

I have BD13 for Saturn, which is fine by me.

BigDes

Dragon's Lair 3d was a surprisngly good game.



Original Dragon's Lair wasn't, nor was the one set in space. They were shit.

Recoil42

I hear this doesn't work on a lot of players, due to its use of BD-java, so... buyer beware?

GSM

The Amiga 4-floppy (maybe 5-floppy?) version of Space Ace simply did not work. And I don't think it even recognized the second drive for some reason.

Sir Carcass

Man, I still remember the first time I saw DL. I was probably about 5 or 6 and was on some sponsored trip to a Putt Putt, I believe, where I was browsing the arcade. It blew me away, seeing this cartoon you can play. I went and begged the teacher or whoever for a quarter, finally got one, put it in, and promptly had it spit back out. The damn thing was broken. Like my little heart.

I never saw it in an arcade again after that.

loflo

Nickle wrote: »

Pfft. I'll pop out my CD-i and play Dragon's Lair like a man!

a sad man, who has made poorly informed choices.

Pfffttt x 2... I'll stick to:

Game Boy Color! Alriiiiight!

edit: Ah. Already been mentioned I see.

brynstar

Yeah, that Gameboy Color version was amazing. Well, I was amazed by it at the time. It really looks fairly close to the original, and the sound isn't too shabby either. I was impressed especially given the limited color palette of the GBC.

Davoid

this has always been one of those games that I've been looking around for forever. Never played it. TRied out the gameboy version, but it's not the same as the lavishly animated full version.

Aroduc

Please. Let me know when they put Cliff on a blu-ray.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=776shC9pi1M

slurpeepoop

I doubt Digital Leisure is going to spend the money and go through the trouble of remastering Dragon's Lair to actually use the space on a Blu-ray. I'd hope that they'd add the documentaries, extra stuff, and commentary to the disc, at least.

Even the super cool-guy "collector limited edition" DVD versions are still grainy. Straight laserdisc transfers FTL (I'm looking right at you too, George Lucas, you cheap dick).

brynstar

slurpeepoop wrote: »

I doubt Digital Leisure is going to spend the money and go through the trouble of remastering Dragon's Lair to actually use the space on a Blu-ray. I'd hope that they'd add the documentaries, extra stuff, and commentary to the disc, at least.

Even the super cool-guy "collector limited edition" DVD versions are still grainy. Straight laserdisc transfers FTL (I'm looking right at you too, George Lucas, you cheap dick).

They actually did go to the trouble of extensively re-mastering Dragon's Lair

See: http://www.gamingbits.com/content/view/1915/2/

Basically, to summarize, they had the guys at Technicolor create a new HD transfer of the original film, then they spent many months hand restoring the color and removing grain and hair. The Blu-Ray version looks glorious.

They also did new interviews with Don Bluth, Rick Dyer, and Gary Goldman, and a video commentary, and it's all on the disc. Along with another feature that details the restoration.

They also created a new 5.1 sound mix from the original mono master.

I'm ridiculously excited. I should have it in my hands by the end of next week if anyone is interested in impressions.

slurpeepoop

Holy shit!

From that link:

The Blu-ray release has been directly transferred, and remastered, from the original film to 1080p and 5.1 surround sound. Extras on the disc, also in 1080p, include an interview with the original Dragon's Lair creators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Rick Dyer. Another cool feature of the Blu-Ray is the side by side comparison between the Amiga, Deluxe Pack PC, 20th Anniversary, Laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray releases of Dragon's Lair. With the Blu-Ray release, fans of Dragon's Lair will finally get the "ultimate" release available of the title.

I am suprised and very impressed.

EDIT: The FAQ at the Digital Leisure site got me even more excited.....and then I went to preorder it.

FIDDY AMERICAN DOLLARS!!! So is the HDDVD version!

EDIT 2: Holy shit again, go to the DIgital Leisure shop. Their prices are a tad (read as ass-rapingly) expensive, but they have Who Shot Johnny Rock, Mad Dog McCree, and the Sega Time Traveller hologram game!!!!!!!

http://www.digitalleisure.com/cgi-bin/online/storepro.php

Those fuckers are gonna get me for at least $100.

EDIT 3: Needs more exclamation points.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cj iwakura

That is impressive, but couldn't they use all that space to make a Dragon's Lair Anthology, and include the sequel, Space Ace, and maybe even Brain Dead 13?

slurpeepoop

cj iwakura wrote: »

That is impressive, but couldn't they use all that space to make a Dragon's Lair Anthology, and include the sequel, Space Ace, and maybe even Brain Dead 13?

They have an interview on the site, and the Digital Leisure guy said that the new & improved HD Dragon's Lair takes up 15-20 gigs (you can also download a trailer and a promo for it. It looks shit-hot), and they have DL2 and Space Ace listed as "coming soon".

For what they're charging for 15-25 year old games, I'm not surprised they're releasing all the HD versions seperately.

brynstar

You can get the games a little cheaper if you shop around, but yeah I'm addicted to Digital Leisure as well. They're like my secret favorite game producer or something. I've bought many of their titles...

Cause really, FMV is pretty awesome.

No...I'm not kidding.

EDIT: That pre-order thing isn't actually a pre-order anymore, least not for the Blu-Ray version. It just started shipping not a couple of days ago, they just haven't updated the site yet.

Wonder_Hippie

slurpeepoop wrote: »

Holy shit!

From that link:

The Blu-ray release has been directly transferred, and remastered, from the original film to 1080p and 5.1 surround sound. Extras on the disc, also in 1080p, include an interview with the original Dragon's Lair creators Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth Don Bluth.

Seriously, that's all I could see after that.

Fucking mine.

Threepio

I had Dragon's Lair and Space Ace back when I was a kid on the old PC - I can't recall when precisely.

I didn't really "get" them at the time. Methinks it might be worth a pickup now. What woudl be a better choice - playing with the SIXAXISOFEVIL or the BD remote?

Variable

I never played it but... this seems kind of awesome to me. don't know why. I like it.

cj iwakura

brynstar wrote: »

You can get the games a little cheaper if you shop around, but yeah I'm addicted to Digital Leisure as well. They're like my secret favorite game producer or something. I've bought many of their titles...

Cause really, FMV is pretty awesome.

No...I'm not kidding.

Considering I own DL's releases of Crime Patrol, Mad Dog, The Last Bounty Hunter(BEST. AMERICAN LASER GAME. EVER.), and Who Shot Johnny Rock?, I'd have to agree.

The DVD point'n'click system is lame, but it's worth it just to have those games.

brynstar

The Last Bounty Hunter is the best ALG Game ever, you're right on. It's a shame they quit doing them shortly after that, cause with that game they got pretty much everything right and made something not-so-linear and incredibly fun to play.

"We don't need you around here bounty hunter.
*Shotinthechestohcrap*
Of course, I could be wrong...."

brynstar

Okay, so I'm double posting, but yesterday I got Dragon's Lair on Blu-Ray and I thought I'd post some impressions.

I'm playing on a PS3, and it works fairly well. The only annoying thing is the little play button symbol that comes up in the lower left hand corner of the screen. (Anyone know how to turn this off?) Other than that, it's arcade perfect, beeps and all. I did need to set the system to Linear PCM sound output mode instead of Bitstream in order to hear the beeps.

The new transfer is amazing. It still has some grain to it, which is to be expected given the age of the film, but the colors and detail are so crisp it's breathtaking. The special feature that compares the different versions of the game is really cool and shows that this is the best Dragon's Lair has ever looked.

The other new special features, the interviews and the commentary, all are new and definitely worth watching. In short, I'm completely satisfied by my purchase. If anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them.

Long live FMV!

Saddler

slurpeepoop wrote: »

Holy shit!

Holy shit again, go to the DIgital Leisure shop. they have the Sega Time Traveller hologram game!!!!!!!

http://www.digitalleisure.com/cgi-bin/online/storepro.php

How interesting. Definitely something for Sega completists, though I have to wonder how much Sega actually had to do with the thing.