Experience Dirk The Daring, Daphne and Singe the dragon in high definition on your Xbox 360 (or HD DVD player) with the upcoming release of Dragon’s Lair HD DVD. The 80′s coin-op laserdisc classic is in its finest form for the home, thanks to HD.
The Blu-ray edition was released earlier this year in April. The HD DVD version was nearly ready to go at the same time but David Foster, Executive Producer of the Dragon’s Lair Blu-ray release, said they were taking precautions to make sure the HD DVD version would not experience incompatibility issues as the Children of Men HD DVD experienced. Read the full interview here for insight on how Digital Leisure recreated Dragon’s Lair in high definition.
Features included in Dragon’s Lair HD DVD include:
-Spectacular new transfer directly from the original film.
-Digitally remastered in High Definition – Full HD 1080p Video and Extras
-For the first time in dramatic 5.1 surround sound that immerses you in the action
-Authentic scene order and a watch feature to view Don Bluth’s stunning animation
-Frame by frame digital restoration
-Full length commentary from the creators!
-All new interviews with creators: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Rick Dyer
The game can be played with your Xbox 360 remote. If you were too young to have played it in the arcades or never played Dragon’s Lair before, it features simple controls based on hitting directional buttons (up, left, down, right and enter key for slashing) at the correct moment. A small, yellow transparent diamond will appear in the lower right of the screen as a cue for making an input. At that point you have to decide which way to direct Dirk. If you’ve made the wrong choice, the direction you pressed is indicated in red, and you are taken to one of many Dirk death animations. The indicator wasn’t visible on the Blu-ray version I tried out last April on the PS3. It helps that it is visible on the Xbox 360 HD DVD version. Playing on the remote was actually easier for me than on the Xbox 360 controller. This is an HD DVD game, so you will need the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive add-on if you intend to play it on your 360.
The colors and definition look great, appearing just how I remembered it in the coin-op days. I played it once in the arcades, when it was the most expensive games to play at 50 cents for a few lives. It was the quickest money spent. At least you can experience the whole game without having to drop 50 cents each time with the HD DVD! The bonus interviews with the creators are filmed in HD and one of the coolest features on the disc is the progession of Dragon’s Lair on different platforms in the Time Capsule feature.
Dragon’s Lair HD DVD is set to ship starting tomorrow, directly from Digital Leisure. It is currently available for $49.95 as a pre-order at Digital Leisure. It will also be available in stores this fall. A Nintendo DS version of Dragon’s Lair is also in the works.
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