Return of the King

Took my daughter to see the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Ubermovie, 'nuff said.

As Mike points out, people go to movies for the social experience, despite in this case the movie being available online.

What's different about the LOTR series for us is the accompanying games on the Playstation2, which we started playing before seeing II and III which is rich in cinematic clips, but doesn't spoil it. Playing the game after seeing the movies is just the kind of social fix you are after when you can't get middle earth out of your head.

PCs stink at having shared social experiences with people in the same room. That's a big part of why people still watch TV, go to Movies or play games. If there is a PC in your living room, its probably there to cue up other media.

Beginning with Playstation, gaming consoles have reached a point of immersive richness on par with video. Games modelled after movies are ideal for the storytelling genre. But its also interesting to note that because games are on par, their design goals are set to match other media. Take the sports genre, of which EA is the clear leader. Madden and other games seek to emulate the experience of controlling TV, not actually gameplay, which is great except for sports that you play in real life. Now, of course, the Playstation is for the kids ;-).