Dreamworks goes GBA not UMD, Shrek featured

[Gamereviewgod]

http://www.homemediaretailing.com/index.cfm?sec_id=2&newsid=7632

Yay! Overly compressed Shrek 1 and 2!

[Jagasian]

You'd be surprised how well modern compression algorithms work. I can watch ripped DVD movies on my N-Gage by compressing them using Xvid and scaling the resolution down to the N-Gage's native resolution. A typical 1.5 hour movie is 80MB in size! Since Shrek is computer animated, it might be easier to compress the video even more, without noticable artifacting.

[Gamereviewgod]

All I know is that I watched some of those GBA Video cartoon, and while watchable, it wasn't pretty.

Besides, UMDs are horribly overpriced. I can't wait to see what this is going to cost.

[Humanoid]

It's a logical choice, their target audience is much more likely to own a GBa rather than a PSP.

[Super Mario Fan]

It's a logical choice, their target audience is much more likely to own a GBa rather than a PSP.

Exactly. The only reason thy wouldn't bring this to te PSP, is because the kids that are going to have their parents buy it for them, aren't going to have a PSP, due to its price point.

[mikeetler]

I've known about this since January from contacts at Majesco, though Shark Tale wasn't mentioned at the time. It's using a much better compression routine then the first gen GBAVideos and the cart size is double (64Mbit) the current GBAVideo size (32 Mbit). Personally, I was hoping they would attempt DSVideo for the movies, but I don't think the penetration is large enough.

-Mike

[Ed Oscuro]

A typical 1.5 hour movie is 80MB in size!
*starts squirming in his chair*


Since Shrek is computer animated, it might be easier to compress the video even more, without noticable artifacting.
Well, I'll let the tech wizards answer with their work, but gentle gradations between shades in CGI can look worse in compression than the natural contrast on real scenery, which is better suited to dithering (if nothing else). But we'll see.