Yoostar--See Yourself Starring in Your Favorite Movie

Have you ever wanted to see yourself in a professional movie--not just a homemade amateur movie? Well, now you can with Yoostar, a video-based interactive entertainment gaming system developed by Yoostar Entertainment Group that allows users to insert themselves into movie or television scenes to perform with the films' original actors. The resulting video can then be posted on the Yoostar web site, as well as in third-party social environments like Facebook and Myspace.

According to Gamestop.com the next release of Yoostar will be March 8, 2011. Preordering guarantees a low price.

YooStar Entertainment's first product - YooStar1, for PC and Mac - was initially released in an exclusive marketing partnership with the Bloomingdale's department store chain on August 26, 2009, and on Amazon.com and in select Best Buy stores on October 23, 2009[3]. The product became available in Best Buy locations throughout the United States on November 8, 2009.

To populate the Yoostar clip library, in-house artists digitally erase actors or other key figures in a licensed movie or television clip. The company has patented this technique as its proprietary Active Immersion Technology.

The user films him- or herself saying either the original lines from the clip using the software's teleprompter, or ad-libbing their own version. A chalk outline is overlaid on the scene to help position the user in scale with the other actors. The user is allowed as many takes as needed to get a satisfactory result.

The software then composites the user's filmed content with the original clip in the same fashion Hollywood actors are filmed against green screens on set and inserted into digitally created backgrounds. The final product is then labeled and stored on the user's local machine, with the option to upload to Yoostar's website. The site provides the ability to embed content in any flash-supporting HTML environment using raw code, or in blogging platforms and social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Digg through widget technology. Yoostar site users can rate, comment, and share content with the public or a group of "Friends," depending on each clip's settings.

At launch, the retail unit consists of a video camera with stereo microphone, six foot by six foot green screen, quad-pod screen support, remote control, 14 scenes, and bundled software. Yoostar has licensing deals in place with major motion picture studios including Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, MGM Studios, Warner Bros., Lions Gate Films, as well as the National Basketball Association and Sesame Workshop's "Sesame Street" franchise.

Yoostar periodically holds contests that reward users who upload the most creative videos. Cash prizes are generally awarded to the top videos, with multiple runners-up receiving free Yoostar systems. Contests have been held for scariest video (during Halloween 2009), best Valentine's Day video, and funniest video. To date, Jerry Sandhu, known by Yoostar user ID "lakrzfan," is the only user to have received a prize in every contest

On Tuesday June 15, 2010, to coincide with the beginning of the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Yoostar announced a second version of the game and launched a new website called Yoostar2.

Yoostar2 will be playable via the Xbox 360 (Kinect required) and Playstation 3 (Playstation Eye required, Playstation Move optional) video game consoles.

This will be so users that do not want to use a computer or do not have access or do not have one may be ably to use this software. Yoostar2 will include 60 movie scenes from major Hollywood studios, with hundreds of additional scenes available for download. Users will be able to upload and share videos with friends and post their performances on Facebook.

Users can also rate and review other performances and give and receive awards. Points are earned for social activity.[9]Yoostar's principal investors are Emigrant Capital Corporation. The company is led by Greg Fischbach, CEO and Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne, Chairman.

Sources:

GAME STOP

Wikipedia, Yoostar