arne360

Word came out that the Sundance Film Festival 2008 is doing something really cool and right up my alley — they are making the short films from their festival available digitally. Some will be free to watch on the Sundance Film Festival web site and you can download up to forty-five of them via Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, iTunes or Netflix. In short, this is simply amazing to me, especially when there are films by directors such as Leighton Pierce (Number One) — one of many favorites from my limited classes in art school — among the films to be released. I can’t wait to purchase some when they finally make their digital debut on Video Marketplace (since I don’t have a fancy new Apple TV HD).

I hope some other festivals pick up on this idea, as it makes sense — I don’t expect the Chicago Underground Film Festival to have that kind of budget or pull with the digital distribution services, but I can dream can’t I?

There’s one glaring omission in Rock Band, which is otherwise a solidly conceived and executed game. I’m almost surprised it isn’t in the game, although I can’t honestly imagine what increase in time and resources it would have required. That feature is photomode.

Yes, photomode.

I think between the super detailed “rocker creator” — which lets you tattoo your alter-ego with decals… in multiple layers… almost a la the livery editor in Forza Motorsport 2. Why shouldn’t you want to show your work off and not just by playing online games? On top of that, the game already has some great post-processing effects built into the stage show when you’re playing — film grain, contrast effects and the band intro portrait montage, just to name a few. All that work to put a tattoo/decal editor to that level of detail along with some killer “you feel like you’re watching a concert” post-processing and I can’t do anything but stare at it on my TV leaves me pretty frustrated.

I’m actually dying to be able to setup my own concert shots and fiddle with the different post processing effects and save the photo and then upload it to the site so I can download it and post it wherever. Make sure to include this next time Harmonix!

Back in early December, the Xbox 360 dashboard update brought with it some extra things to flesh out your Gamercard — the ability to enter your name, location and a short bio — as part of an enhanced online profile. So I figured I’d make the most of it, only to find out that my current city of residence contains “a word or phrase that isn’t allowed.” Perplexing as I don’t exactly live in a disputed territory in the Sea of Japan.

So, fellow Santa Monica residents, perhaps Microsoft knows something we don’t: Los Angeles is set to annex a neighboring city yet again. Of course, I’m kidding, and this is just a minor, yet amusing, situation — I’m going to guess that “Santa” is the likely culprit here for the many holiday and religious uses it could have.

As a result, I settled on a slightly more accurate location to reside: in ur xboxs, steelin ur gamerscores