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38 Studios, Harry Potter Kinect - Shacknews Daily: May 25, 2012
Minecraft for Xbox 360 dev working on 'Adventure' update
Demon's Souls servers extended again
Resident Evil: Chronicles HD Collection coming in June
Sony patent would interrupt gameplay to display ad
Weekend Confirmed 114 - Diablo 3, Max Payne 3, Lost Planet 3
New Zone of the Enders project underway
Evening Reading: When Will Then Be Now?
by Garnett Lee, Dec 21, 2009 6:00pm PSTOn Sunday I followed the herd to see Avatar. By that time the buzz had run quite a course. The initial rush of ooh's and ahh's gave way to people breaking it down a little more to talk about how impressed they were with the show put on by the tech. Whispers also started to crop up that maybe beyond that things like the story and character development are uneven and lack refinement.
It's funny how much that sounds like a review for a videogame. As gamers we tend to get caught up in the technology of a game, particularly if it boasts any sort of innovation. Much of this response stems from the simple nature of how quickly video gaming rose into the entertainment space. It seems like for the longest time we could easily point to the next innovation before the last had even started to cool. PC gamers know this better than any after watching a video card that cost $500 one day hit the bargain bin six months later.
Filmmaking matured more slowly over a course of decades. The result of this left only a few times when a movie came out that dramatically changed the way things are done. For the most part great movies became about using the tools of the day to capture great stories and performances.
We've started to see some of this in video games, I think, as the technology has reached a point where it's increasingly difficult to put something on the screen that really blows away the best of last year. This next generation of consoles will certainly be hard pressed. It will take a lot more than just a slightly prettier picture to convince people to drop their cash. Could it be then that this would be the last cycle for a long time to come? And would that birth the next video game renaissance as developers didn't have to chase tech for three quarters of project?
You won't have to go on any chases to find our stories of the day:
- Saboteur Beta Patch Fixes ATi Issues
- Divinity 2 Demo Offers First Hours of the Game
- Australia Overturns Aliens vs. Predator Ban
- MAG Gone Gold, Beta Open to All Shortly
- Star Trek Online Video a Captain's Log of First Episode
It probably wouldn't make it on Letterman but this cat riding a roomba and bitch-slapping a pit bull is good for a chuckle.
This might not have been exactly the use Google had in mind but this Year in Review captured on a Google Wave video is really cool.
I finished the main quest in 3 months (~80 hours gametime), sold my copy and bought the GOTY edition. Started with Anchorage, Zeta and just finished Point Lookout (now ~ 125 hours gametime). Still have to play Pitt and Broken Steel.
I don't know why, but my motivation to continue playing is decreasing. I still have to explore 20 % of the locations in the main game (Vault 106 & 108, some military camps and so on).
Any recommendations for other good games (preferring a different genre)? I already played C&C3 and RA3.
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Let me refuel my chainsaw with the random jerry cans laying around please. Thank you.
- Ellis
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aw, duke nukem article from digg frontpage :)
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http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3279
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http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/12/21/must-watch-hit-girl-gets-her-own-red-band-kick-ass-trailer/
Wow.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0
Any old technology you miss?
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So I know that sin^2x-Cos^2x=0 (0,360) because both sin^2x and cos^2x at those are 0/4 and 0/4 but why are they 0/4?
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I have a file server in the house (windows home server), a Win7 gaming PC, and an Xbox360 in the living room. I think it would be great if I could browse my dvd library from the xbox, but I can't. I can take dvdshrink or dvd decryptor and copy the DVD uncompressed to the file server and the Win7 media center will play it fine, but the XBox won't see them :(. Is anyone even getting mkv's to steam to their xbox360 somehow?
Also, the Win7 Media center that sees the 5 or 6 dvd's i ripped has one dvd (Pixar Cars) that it auto filled in all the meta info somehow and I have no idea how or from where the info got there. Is there something like Tag & Rename for dvd collections?
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http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/features/exclusive/
Much better and more awesome
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He should be allowed to think up a movie, then forced to hand the idea over to a hired writer, then be given the script to direct and produce.
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For me, it was Oblivion. It came out at the beginning of this console generation. You stepped out of the dungeon into the open world and saw a massive, spanning landscape. The sweeping music from the soundtrack took it beyond a technical achievement to a truly realized idea.
Runner up: Actraiser's "falling into the map" mode 7 scaling effect that synchronized with the music before a side scrolling level started.
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I was wondering what people are doing for older DSLR cameras (Rebel XT) image download software for Windows 7 64.
I have the original install disc and im running it in compatability mode for XP and it doesnt link up with the camera.
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http://gizmodo.com/5431190/hp-face%20tracking-webcams-dont-recognize-black-people
HP cannot handle the blackness.
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I wanted to know if anyone here has had similar issues and if you've managed to fix them. I've seen no good solutions on the Steam or Runic forums. Thanks.
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http://www.bigempire.com/filthy/avatar.html
Beyond ripping off its plot from a cartoon for little girls, there's a bunch of other shit I thought sucked the cat's tits about Avatar. First is its patronizing vision of the indigenous people. It's like Cameron was channeling some long-haired asshole who sells turquoise roadside near Sedona. The movie treats the natives as simpletons, idiot savants full of pure goodness and new-agey magical powers, the same way guilt-ridden white people of limited intelligence think of American Indians. Cameron gives them the ability to see into the hearts of others. As far as I know, the only people who believe nonsense like that are folks with shit to hide. They're the ones who worry good people can see right through them.
I normally trust his reviews but this one seems overly harsh. Then again, he hated some movies I've loved, so whatever. Interesting take though.
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http://twitpic.com/umgcp
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They're both broad allegories about one highly organised and sophisticated society interacting with and subjugating another, far less sophisticated society. And they're both broadly painted, and they're both genre-sci fi fun. Yet, one is trite and has turned a lot of people off, and the other (at least as far as I'm concerned) worked much better. Why? Well simply because District 9 is leaner and meaner, and therefore a better communicator. The success of that film can easily be reduced to a laundry list of stupid shit it didn't do (spoilerd for mild plot point giveaways):
- Made the subjugated decidedly ignoble and wretched
- Didn't try to create some kind of high drama between the human and alien characters (no idiotic romance etc)
- Made the subjugators decidedly human
- Avoided un-natural expository speeches, taught by showing, generally avoided any kind of un-natural dialogue wherever possible
- Worked through everything very fast, did not test patience at any point, understood that it was a shallow genre film
- Main character learns his Important Lesson the hard way in an ordeal that has permanent consequences
- Main character, as one man, cannot change the world
- Movie's really a tragedy, as any story that honestly seeks to depict unequal social relationships should be
Whereas Avatar pretty much falls for everyone of these.
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The last mission of GTA4 can suck a bag of cocks. I hate it so much. I've probably attempted it 20+ times, each time, some stupid thing kills me and I have to start over, with low ammo and no body armor. God what a horrible piece of shit. I think I'll call it... No more attempts. I can't imagine much else happening plot wise.
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http://www.movieguide.org/box-office/7/10075/avatar
AVATAR is a visually stunning, but shallow and abhorrent, adventure pitting evil human capitalists against heroic, spiritually in-tune alien creatures on the planet Pandora. Its story, dialogue, and characters are weak and shallow.
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