Update: I have confirmed a full announcement will be made Friday morning.
The upcoming Blu-ray Disc and DVD of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is boldly going where no home video title has gone before.
Per a report at Variety, Paramount will release the hugely successful Star Trek reboot film in a three-disc Blu-ray edition and two separate DVD editions on November 17.
The packaging has been designed with a new interactive feature called “augmented reality.” In layman terms, a hologram is embedded on the cover that when held up to a standard or PS3 Eye web cam will grant access to five U.S.S. Enterprise cabins and the ability to shoot at invaders along the way.
“If you took the visual cue in the package and turned your hand, then you’re turning the ship,” Paramount home video senior VP of brand marketing Bob Buchi offered to explain the technology. No word yet on whether the technology will be available to demo at Comic-Con next week.
Paramount has tested this feature before on the international theatrical release of Star Trek earlier this year. You can toy around with the early version sans packaging by visiting experience-the-enterprise.com.
Also included on the Blu-ray and DVD collector’s edition sets is a 360-degree ship inspector, and previously hinted at deleted scenes featuring Baby Spock, a (much needed) deeper back story for Nero, and a first look at J.J. Abrams’ Klingon alien design.
Exclusive to Blu-ray is a BD-Live feature that streams live updates from NASA straight onto your screen. No word yet on what these updates might include but it sounds like a neat introduction to NASA for owners who never bothered visiting NASA’s website.
Paramount is expected to make a formal Star Trek announcement as early as tomorrow and I’ll be sure to pass along additional details as soon as they are in hand. I’ll also be hunting down what this holographic cover art looks like to share so stay tuned.
