Left Overs: On Angry Birds, The Hobbit, and Wii 2

Is it just me or is Rio going to blow up theaters this weekend?


I just get the sense that the genius marketing of this movie has created a throng of children running around begging their parents to see the "Angry Bird" movie.  And judging by the amount of children I see playing Angry Birds on their parents' phone Rio may end up pulling in more than Avatar in the first hour of release.

Speaking of the fuming fowl, did you see that Rovio has committed to backing up your progress online so you can switch phones and even platforms and pick up where you left off?

Also...

Peter Jackson just released the first video diary for the shooting of The Hobbit.  I was caught off guard by the emotion I felt watching it.  I knew I'd be geeked, but to shed a tear because a movie that won't be out for another couple years just started filming, come on man, keep it together.  Watch it at your own risk.

On the tech side of the movie Jackson has been talking about shooting the movie at 48 frames a second, which means there will be more than 50% more visual information packed into each second of this movie.  The result, apparently, is unbelievable clarity, and the result with the 3D should be phenomenal.

And...

I know I'm a privileged son, in that my mom's employment by a certain rodent with a double M monogram means that my family gets a free crack at Disney World every year, but I couldn't be more excited about getting back there for the next trip for one reason.... Star Tours.  The revamped Star Wars ride looks incredible and the fact that you could ride it 57 times and get a different ride each time is a genius move by the Disney imagineers.  You can read C-3PO himself's opinions on the whole deal, and just try not to hear it in his distinctive voice.

Not only that but...

Nintendo is being rumored to announce the next generation of the Wii sometime this summer for a possible December 2012 release (Wow, a new Nintendo system and The Hobbit Part I releasing?  December 2012 is gonna feel like Christmas!)  Aside from obviously making the jump to being HD and being backward compatible the thing Nintendo really needs to nail is the online community system.  The one piece of XBox envy I have is the incredible XBox Live experience.  I would love to be able to have achievements and friends on the Wii in a way that would allow me to keep up and compete with friends.  Strike that, not me, my kids.  Turns out when you turn 35 you actually do stop playing video games.

I feel so old.