Home Theater Week in Review, March 31-April 4, 2008

by Oliver Amnuayphol

Coming soon to a living room stadium near you: MTV Games, Harmonix, and EA Games have recently announced that the world's #1 selling game, Rock Band, will be available for the Nintendo Wii starting June 22 in the US and Canada. The game will be available for purchase as a complete, special edition package for $169.99, or as separate items for those who would rather rock out one step at a time. You can read the official press release here.

Can't decide between Sirius and XM satellite radio? Well you might not have to: The Department of Justice recently approved the merger between the two satellite radio providers, and all that's left is FCC approval. Whether this will be of benefit to the end user is anyone's guess; but praise be the satellite gods if there comes a day when you can get both Oprah (XM) and Martha (Sirius) without having to pay for two service providers. Learn how to make the perfect lace doilies and talk about it afterwards? Count me in!

It's finally here: Sony's 2.20 firmware update for the PS3 is now online, and it's a doozy! PS3 owner's can now enjoy BD-Live, which will allow users to connect to the internets while playing BD-Live enabled discs for additional features and content. Other notable features of firmware update v2.20 include using your PSP as a remote control for playback of music files and a Resume Play feature. Need more deets? You can find them here.

Movie Releases for This Week.

DVD: Sweenie Todd--The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Alvin and the Chipmunks; Artie Lange's Beer League; The Good Night; Andre Rieu in Wonderland; The Curse of King Tut's Tomb: The Complete Miniseries.

Blu-ray: Unbreakable; Alvin and the Chipmunks; Hidalgo; Artie Lange's Beer League; Coyote Ugly; The Curse of King Tut's Tomb: The Complete Miniseries; Blackbeard.

HD DVD: Appleseed Ex Machina; August Rush; Rachmaninov Piano Concertos Nos. 2&3--Acoustic Reality Experience.

Movie Releases for Next Week.

DVD: There Will Be Blood; Lions for Lambs; Reservation Road; The Water Horse--Legend of the Deep; Music Within.   

Blu-ray: Walk Hard--The Dewey Cox Story; The Water Horse--Legend of the Deep; The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; The 6th Day; Sharkwater; Space Ace. 

HD DVD: I Am Legend; Fighter Pilot--Operation Red Flag; The Alps; Mystery of the NIle.