DVD TV game

Encyclopedia : D : DV : DVD : DVD TV game

Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire, an example DVD TV game

A DVD TV game is a standalone game that can be played on set-top DVD players. The game takes advantage of technology built into the DVD format to create an interactive gaming environment. To function correctly the DVD TV Games require no additional hardware and are compatible with most DVD players, including DVD-ROM. This technology has already been implemented for use in gaming, advertising, music, education, and corporate training.

History

While DVD TV Games first went into development in the year 2000 they did not effectively reach the end consumer until 2002, when Screenlife pioneered and introduced the first ever DVD game with the Scene It? Movie Edition. Since then, Screenlife has sold over 10 million games, has more than 20 titles in its award-winning collection and commands a majority of the entire DVD game marketplace. Today, Scene It? The DVD Game has grown into an international brand with games that include TV, Sports, Music, James Bond, Harry Potter, Disney and more. Other Screenlife DVD games include American Idol-All Star Challenge, DVD Blast!, Banzai, based on Banzai (game show), and Quip It!. Screenlife has secured thousands of partnerships with major Hollywood studios, sports leagues and recording labels. Scene It? and Screenlife branded games are available in five languages and in 14 countries.

A DVD is a simple and linear piece of technology. Yet, the key to the success of the Scene It? game is randomization. Screenlife needed to find a way to ensure that the clips and questions would not repeat over hours and hours of play. The result was Optreve®, a first-of-its-kind, newly patented technology that allows a DVD to randomly access and track large numbers of digital packets of information.

In 2004 Atmosfear was released. Atmosfear was a spin-off of the older VCR-based game and, accordingly, followed the older closely using the DVD element to provide interactivity. The game was success through most retailers worldwide. In Australia alone 60,000 copies were purchased in six months, however, short supply meant that demand could not be met over the Christmas 2004 period and the game’s full potential could not be realised.

English company ZOO Digital Group's software arm ZOOtech has focused its research into the production of its DVD-EXTRA technology, enabling interactive content to be created without needing to use the typically labor intensive conventional DVD authoring software.

Companies producing DVD TV games

Companies that have licensed the use of DVD-EXTRA technology are;

Snap TV
Compedia
Universal Pictures
Ascent Media
Comchoice
OUAT Entertainment
Freestyle New Media Group
Element Interactive
[personalized Tic-Tac-Toe game on DVD by BrickLoop, Inc.]

ZOO Digital Publishing, ZDG's publishing arm, has developed several DVD TV games based on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Guinness Book of Records and several European football trivia games.

Hirameki International have released five anime games on DVD under their AnimePlay label, and have licenses for several more.

Companies Hasbro, Mattel and Imagination have began to explore their own technology to produce interactive DVD content.

Hasbro has already developed and released several DVD TV Games based on Trivial Pursuit including two themed around the Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings movie series’. They have also released a movie trivia game called Shout about movies.

Choose Your Own Adventure is also producing a direct-to-video DVD set to be in limited release on September 30, 2005.

Snap TV has been producing DVD TV Games since 2002, with titles ranging from college sports (NCAA Football Trivia Challenge) to general trivia and children's learning (', ').

Compedia is about to release two children educational titles to teach English (English for Kids 1 and 2)in December 2005.

Smashfusion have released three arcade style games 2006 and are working on other innovative titles.

aMAZEd - A simple childrens maze game
aMAZED 2 - More maze games with fully animated backgrounds and themed sound effects
Spot the Difference - The classic puzzle game now on DVD

DVD Game University is a new site containing detailed tutorials for anyone wishing to learn how to author VD games.

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.