Put a Bullet in Space Ace and Dirk the Daring

It never fails. Every time a new disc based media arrives, the video disc games that had a 12 minute shelf life IN THEIR HEYDAY get popped onto the new format even though the overkill was dead long after the overkill had overkilled it.

Dragon’s Lair. Space Ace. It’s like some horrible Groundhog Day manned by the Master Control Program, disgruntled Philips CD+I techies, and Don Bluth’s attorneys.

Behold this press release:

Space Ace blasts its way on to Blu-ray Today!

GORMLEY, Ontario , Canada – February 5,
2008 – Ready your laser gun for a cutting-edge high definition gaming experience
when Space Ace arrives on
Blu-ray from Digital Leisure. The follow-up to last year’s release of Dragon’s
Lair, Space Ace has been completely restored and enhanced with an all-new 5.1
surround sound mix.

From legendary animator Don Bluth ( An American Tail, The Land Before Time ),
Space Ace allows you to play the heroic Ace who must stop the evil Commander
Borf from taking over the Earth! Armed with only a laser gun, Ace must find and
destroy the ‘Infanto Ray’, rescue his girlfriend Kimberly and save the Earth.
All in a day’s work for a superhero, right?

Space Ace was authored in the Blu-ray Java environment (BD-J) which will allow
to enjoy a fully arcade-authentic experience.

All of the special features on the disc were shot natively in 1080p including
all-new interviews with creators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Rick Dyer, and for
the first time a full length visual commentary of the game.

The Blu-ray disc includes the following special features:
-Interviews with game creators Don Bluth, Gary Goldman & Rick Dyer
-Picture in Picture video commentary from the creators
-Viewing Mode Option: Widescreen (16:9) or Anamorphic (4:3) video playback
-Watch Mode – Watch Don Bluth’s stunning animation without playing
-Subtitled: English, French, Spanish, Italian and German

Space Ace Blu-ray will be available April 8th at many software and movie
retailers as well as online at www.digitalleisure.com . Digital Leisure plans to
follow up the release of Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace with Dragon’s Lair II: Time
Warp later this year.

Why does it happen to me? These games [Space Ace and Dragon’s Lair] were kind of neat when they came out, eating my quarters at the Circus Playhouse next to Richway at the Roswell Mall back in 1983. Even then, once the initial fun of it had worn off and coupled with the inevitable problems with the controls, even my 11 year old ass lost interest.

All that has changed since then is that games got a hell of a lot more interactive, video gaming became more of an art form, and the talent level of everyone involved skyrocketed. Nothing against Don Bluth, I love the guy’s work, but these are dinosaurs except unlike Galaga and Super Mario Brothers the gameplay isn’t overriden by the gimmick. These games are gimmicks that barely worked in 1983. Today they’re just artifacts. Ones that are just fine on CD-ROM or 3D0 discs.

Blu-Ray is only extreme overkill. The stuff beckoning Dirk the Daring to drink it ain’t poison. It’s Kool-Aid. And people need to stop drinking.

– Nick Nunziata gave Don Bluth a lot of his childhood money but things gotta stop.