But who owns the rights to Hard Boiled? A neutral company or a BD-only company?

The Weinstein's Dragon Dynasty label currently has the US distribution rights. They licensed it to the video game studio for this special promo.

Has anyone confirmed that the copy of the movie on the disc will actually be in High Definition format? Why do I have a sinking feeling that it'll be a standard DVD quality rip?

And they currently aren't either neutral or BD only, but rather HD-DVD only, which makes this more interesting.

I was half thinking that possibility too. That would be completely lame, so I hope they wouldn't try something stupid like that. But then again, it does seem odd that Weinstein Co. would allow another company to scoop them on an HD version of one of their films.

I have ben thinking the same thing since I have seen this announcement. No where have I seen that this is an HD movie just that it is on a Blu-ray with a game.....My guess is that this is an SD movie put on a BR disc which would fit into the Weinstein plan just fine (since technically its really not a true Blu-ray movie)

Well, FWIW the 1st post of this thread says

There are sticking to their plan since, technically, they aren't releasing it.

http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2007/5/17-38

Midway Games Inc., a leading interactive entertainment publisher and developer, and Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) today announced an exclusive PLAYSTATION 3 (PS3) collector's edition for the highly anticipated Stranglehold. This limited edition will feature the game and a full-length version of John Woo's critically acclaimed action film "Hard Boiled" both on the same high-capacity PlayStation 3 Blu-ray disc -- a feat not possible on any other gaming system other than PS3. The collector's edition will be available in limited quantity at select retailers for a suggested retail price in the U.S. of $69.95.

Stranglehold allows gamers to play a John Woo-directed action blockbuster movie, complete with two-fisted, stunt-laden gunplay and massive environmental destruction. Stranglehold is a collaboration with world renowned action film director John Woo's Tiger Hill Entertainment and the collector's edition is scheduled for a summer 2007 release exclusively on PS3. Stranglehold continues the story of Inspector Tequila, played by Chow Yun-Fat that started in 1992 with John Woo's action masterpiece "Hard Boiled". "Hard Boiled" appears courtesy of The Weinstein Company and Genius Products who are scheduled to release a 15th anniversary Two-Disc Ultimate Edition of the classic film via their Dragon Dynasty DVD label on July 24, 2007.

"We are very excited to be offering PS3 owners this exclusive collector's edition of Stranglehold, complete with John Woo's classic film 'Hard Boiled'," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "Thanks to SCEA, the Blu-ray Disc Association and The Weinstein Company, fans will now be able to fully experience the world of John Woo in one complete and special package."

"The exclusive collector's edition of Stranglehold demonstrates the power of PlayStation 3 Blu-ray disc and the total entertainment experience that can only be found on PlayStation 3," said Riley Russell, senior vice president Third Party Relations and general counsel, SCEA. "The 50GB capacity of Blu-ray disc allows PS3 content publishers to do things simply not possible on our competitor's 9GB DVD-based systems. Thanks to the advanced technology found in PS3, developers like Midway can truly realize their visions, bringing consumers even closer to the game."

More information about Stranglehold can be found online at www.strangleholdgame.com

So why couldn't the Xbox 360 version be a flipper?

Or have a second disc -- on HD-DVD?

Not going to lie -- the PS3 bundled version of Talledega Nights looked like shit on my friend's 52" DLP 1080p television I watched it on (hooked up via HDMI) and that was an MPEG-2 file encoded on a 25GB Blu-ray disc. I just don't see how they're going to take a 25GB disc (which I assume it is) and encode a video game on it on top of a high definition version of Hard Boiled. Is it 1080p or something lower (ex: 1080i or 720p)? Is it using Sony's mostly MPEG-2 standard for compression or some other compression to have it on a smaller size (such as AVC -- we all know there's not a chance in hell a PS3 title will have a video file with VC-1 compression). Also, have the Weinsteins struck an HD print of Hard Boiled? I know they've owned the film for years now, but there still hasn't even been a DVD announced yet...

I'm just saying I'm curious of the whole thing.

Blame Microsoft when they made the HD DVD drive optional. Developers can't assume that you'll have the addon drive, just like they can't assume you'll have a hard drive.

Read the press release right above. It mentions the new Hard Boiled 2-DVD set coming out, and the PS3 version being a 50 GB disk

Why should they need to assume that? If the disc is a combo with the game on one side and an HD DVD on the other, XBox360 owners would still be able to play the game just fine even if they don't have the HD DVD drive. Or (even more likely) they can just buy the standard edition of the game rather than the Collector's Edition.

The 360 CE should have a second disc with Hard Boiled in HD. As much as I like my Criterion Version, it's anamorphic and it hurts to watch it.

Can't argue with TALLEDEGA NIGHTS, but this new disc is supposed to be a BD50, so that will help at least. Who knows what compression the film will have. Not necessarily MPEG-2, AVC seems to be more common for BDs recently, and I believe there has been a VC-1 BD or two. Regarding if a HD master of HARD BOILED has been made, that's a good question, I'm curious about that too. I just would love to see a great looking version of this film, I'm a big fan of it.

Talledega Nights is also a shit transfer on the uncut version and I think that is a BD50. It is just a bad transfer and not a knock on the format.

I highly doubt they will release a non HD version for two reasons: 1) They are going to be releasing a remastered version of the movie on DVD, which is highly likely an HD remaster and 2) The game probably won't take up more than 15GB which leaves more than enough for the movie.

What's really interesting is that Weinstein allowed this to happen which could mean that they might be jumping ship or going neutral. I think that this could be their first BD that they want to release. That's my guess.

This could be the first defection so far in the format war. I am curious if this is going to be an overall policy change or something just for this release. It really does not make much sense to make this a one time release. It will be interesting to see if anything further comes of this.









(Edited to fit this thread... sorry about the repost!)

As has been covered 4000 times already on AVS, Weinstein has nothing to do with the distribution of the game or the packed-in movie. Midway paid Weinstein in order to license the movie for this release. There is no defection.

I don't think it's really fair to criticize someone for not being aware of something posted on another forum.

I merged BColon's post from a newly created thread, so he missed the posts from the past couple of days about the differences between Weinstein, Genius, and Midway.

I find it pretty interesting that this press release from Midway doesn't mention anywhere if Hard Boiled will be in HD or not. Of course the "brief" written by Gaming Age says that it will be in HD and remastered, but Midway doesn't once mention that. You would think they would make a big deal about this if it was true.

http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2007/5/17-38

I predict that Weinstein will release an HD DVD version on the same day as the 2-disc DVD (or a week or two later), OR...
Midway will include a coupon with the Xbox 360 version for a free download of Hard Boiled.

I feel sorry for Blu Ray consumers who DON'T own the PS3, 'cause they're getting nothing.

Well it says it is being released on Blu Ray and Blu Ray is HD, sooo....

So what is preventing a consumer from buying the package? They won't be able to play the game, but they will still get Hard Boiled on Blu Ray.

What are you talking about? Blu-ray is a disc format, nothing more. By your logic, there would be no non-HD content on Blu-ray, which isn't true. There are plenty of extra's that aren't in HD but they are on Blu-ray discs. The games are mandatory that they are pressed on Blu-ray discs, so of course if they were going to put the movie on the disc, it would HAVE to be on a BD.

This is most likely not true. While it has not been announced, nobody knows exactly how the movie will be accessed. It is quite probable that the only way to access Hard Boiled is through an extra features menu in the actual PS3 game.