A Short Love Story in Stop Motion

/Film's VOTD is a short stop motion video by Carlos Lascano that is actually really good. The production quality is simply awesome, but don't take my word for it - here it is:


A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

See what I mean? Brilliant. On his blog he has loads of production details about making it.

Star Wars - TIE Fighter attack renenacted in office

LOL! Brilliant.

Lightning strikes!

Whoah, that's close! Think the guy recording it about dropped the camera.

Drobo keeps your files safe

The Time Machine from Apple was a good idea, but in practice wasn't very good. Not only did they use hard drives more commonly known as "Death Stars" due to their high failure rate and the closeness of their real name to it (Deskstar) but when actually using them at work we had nothing but trouble with them and eventually sent them back for a refund. This alternative backup drive from Data Robotics seems much better and it allows them to be stacked, and can be connected to your network via an addon.

The safe, expandable Drobo storage solution protects your data against a hard drive crash, yet can expand dynamically at any time in just seconds. With nothing to configure or manage, Drobo is now the ideal solution for primary storage as well as backup.

Sounds pretty cool.

The Force.... Unleashed!

So, The Force Unleashed demo will be unleashed onto XBox Marketplace on Thursday which probably means there's going to be an awful lot of people downloading it that day - myself included. From watching the exclusive gameplay videos that GameTrailers.com have I did wonder if it's the sort of game that's going to be repetitive and whether it's going to be boring. But who am I kidding? It's Star Wars! With really cool Force powers! I MUST PLAY IT!

Far Cry 2 trailer

O..M...G that actually looks good. I had my doubts about another Far Cry as beyond the graphics in the first one, there wasn't much to it - but this looks good.

How-to: Subversion

Over on my web development blog, New Earth Online, I've published a new article on using Subversion for managing your code versions so that you don't lose anything you're working on.

Keeping code safe is important for any project whether it's big or small, and it can sometimes be important to revert changes - this is where version control comes in. Subversion is one of the most popular version control systems available and this article shows you how to use it in *nix or Windows.

Hopefully it should be nice and easy to follow and you'll be using SVN in no time.

Read "Subversion - Managing your code repository"

Review: Lost Odyssey

I didn't pick up Lost Odyssey immediately when it was released - I waited for a while due to the sheer number of XBox 360 titles that had been released around the same sort of time. Eventually I got round to starting, and finally I've completed it.

Lost Odyssey is an RPG with turn-based combat by the creators of the award-winning Final Fantasy series. Unfortunately I've never had the opportunity to play any of that series so did not know what to expect, or have anything with the same style to compare it to. I've played almost every RPG that Bioware have made to date, and really enjoyed Baldur's Gate and Mass Effect - so expected to compare it to those and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I was wrong - it's not really anything like those games, this one stands alone (well not including the FF series anyway).

So, starting the game you get introduced to a "boss" battle immediately, but it's one where you can't actually lose so it gives you chance to get used to the turn-based style of combat. As the story unfolds it soon becomes clear that you're one of a few immortals, and one of two who survived the battle at the start of the game. The story unfolds as you're sent on a fact finding mission to see if the Grand Staff construction is to blame along with Seth (the other immortal), and Jensen.

To familiarise myself with how this compares to Final Fantasy, I decided to watch the Final Fantasy Retrospective on GameTrailers.com which explained nicely the history of the series, and the differences between each game in the series. By the time the developers got round to Lost Odyssey they've refined the combat system further. Originally in Final Fantasy, skills were learnt through objects rather than the character levelling up in the traditional sense. What happens here is that as characters win battles they gain experience and eventually level up - when this happens they gain more health and mana, but do not gain skills. Skill slots can be increased through items found in the game, and new skills are learnt by using items such as "Treasure Goggles" in battle. In addition to this, immortal's can learn their skills using the new "Skill Link" - which lets them learn skills from mortals that they are in formation with during combat. To increase attack damage there is a variety of weapons available, and a ring system that allows you to build rings to cause more damage with your weapon. For example, with enough magma in your inventory you can construct a Fire ring, and when equipped it will cause slight fire damage from a good or perfect hit.

The later Final Fantasy games had their mini-games such as cards that were either part of the storyline that had to be completed, or were optional elements that could be played as a distraction. In Lost Odyssey there are memories that you can remember through various points in the game and these form the "Thousand years of Dreams" which is a written story. Some of these stories are a little boring and I got fed up with reading them after a while, so decided to skip through most of them and read them after completing the game. Another feature followed from Final Fantasy to this one is the concept of having a ship that eventually gets converted so you go under water and through the sky in it - although you don't gain access this to much later in the game.


The story of the game is also very well written by award-winning Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigematsu. As you play through the game you gradually get to learn more about Kaim's past as he does and by the end of the fourth disc you care about the character's fate. In fact, you'll feel kind of sorry for him by the end of the first disc - but I won't go in to any detail there.

In addition to the great story is a great soundtrack done by Nobuo Uematsu. It was so good in fact that I've now ordered the two disc soundtrack so I can listen to it whenever I want (definitely will be putting it on my iPod too).

The visuals of the game, especially the cut scenes are very well put together with every last detail being carefully planned out which really does put the Unreal Engine 3 to good use. It's not all special effects though, I know it sounds cheesy but I think in the case of Lost Odyssey they really do help the storyline especially during the cinematic moments.

Okay now onto the gameplay - there are several points which are quite slow such as when you're wandering around Numara. After a while the random encounters in the field get annoying when they start happening every few steps, and a few of the earlier bosses feel a little too hard for your character's level at that time - but persistence and luck gets you through it.

Rating: 4/5

Tomb Raider: Underworld trailer

Saw this video on /gamer, thought it was worth sharing!

Imperial Fleet in San Francisco (Star Wars)

Potter delayed until 2009

Warner Bros has just announced that they are moving Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from November 21st 2008, back to July 17th 2009. The reasons given are that the summer season is a more ideal window for for a family tent pole release, and that the writers strike left a big gap in the Summer calendar.

Well that's not good, so now we have to wait an extra 8 months to see it! I can't see the point really - there may be other good films out around that time but I can't see them putting much of a dent in the box office takings for Potter.

Highlander: The Search for Vengeance

When the original Highlander film was released the combination of the sword fighting and the Queen soundtrack quickly made it a hit at the box office. To this day the original film remains a cult classic, and remains a favourite among many fans. Four sequels and three television series later the franchise was becoming stale, and the last film offering was decisively unfaithful to the series roots as Duncan Macleod is one of the survivors in a world gone crazy as he searches for the "Source". I won't spoil the ending for you, but it is a really bad film with an even worse ending. Now Highlander: Search for Vengeance is something new - it is an Anime take on the series and is set in a similar time to the animated series that revolved around Quentin Macleod.

The start sets the scene and introduces us to a post-apocalyptic world full of warriors and mutants, where it's every city for itself. It is the tale of Colin Macleod and his ever lasting search for vengeance - hence the title. The animation style, and the artwork are really well done. Within the first few minutes we see our first animated sword fight, and a quickening to go with it - one that is a little more dramatic than we’re used to from previous films and episodes but of course it being animated the explosions can be bigger without the cost skyrocketing.

Another welcome change in this animated feature compared to the last couple of movies is that instead of the metal soundtrack it's gone back to it's roots of being rock although there is very little of it - most the music now is just ambient.

We learn that in this Highlander meets Mad Max world, things have gotten the way they are due to a terrorist attacks, and then eventually a virus that has started decimating the worlds' population. We also, in traditional Highlander flashbacks, learn that in 125BC in Scotland, Colin was to lead an army of Scots against Marcus Octavius who intends on enslaving them. Colin's love, Moya, is certain of their doom and poisons Colin to stop him leading them to war, and then gets into the Roman army's camp and "kills" Marcus Octavius (who is an immortal) who in turn wipes out Colin's army and kills Moya. It is this that causes Colin to spend the next few thousand years seeking vengeance against Marcus.

When we switch back to the "present" day, we find that the city Colin in is happens to be run by the immortal Marcus. Marcus also has his own flashbacks (unusual for us to see a villain's flashbacks) to 16th century feudal Japan where he gains the eternal gratitude of a female Japanese samurai. Shortly after Colin learns it is Marcus who is running the city and goes after him in the city's tower where he's hiding. This immediately rolls into another flashback to where Colin first goes after Marcus, but he is captured and then fights in single combat. Here he sustains an brutal slash across his face that leaves him dead for many days - but is not beheaded by Marcus due to Colin falling onto holy ground (which happens to be a stone circle, presumably Stonehenge). It is here that Colin comes across a druid and learns he is immortal and there are others like him. Just in case you're wondering why holy ground is so important, it's because it is a rule amongst immortals that they cannot fight on holy ground – the only place an immortal can be safe.

We're then treated to a thousand years of flashbacks as Colin chases after Marcus through the ages taking part in many a well-known conflict, but always failing to kill him. Then eventually they meet in battle, as is expected. The short fight scene is brilliant - I don't think I've ever seen a sword fight take place whilst the combatants are sliding down the face of a building and eventually to his "death".

I was dead, but it's not the first time.

-- Colin Macleod

He then explains to Dahlia, the girl he went to the tower with that he's an immortal seeking revenge for 2000 years because of the death of his wife. In a "dream", the druid then explains that throughout time the women that have been falling for him have all been Moya, but reincarnated. When he awakes he's back at the rebel's base and is treated as a hero who everyone knows is immortal.

The ending is way better than Highlander:The Source as well which is a definate bonus, and in this final battle Colin has something to fight for this time other than vengeance; the lives of every man and woman in New York. So of course as expected he wins, and the quickening has the unexpected effect of destroying the virus.

One thing to remember is that this is by the director of the Animatrix, and again he's produced something that is well worth watching. If you're a fan of the original Highlander movie, it's very likely you'll like this.

"The Thing" re-enacted using G.I.Joe

Boba Fet does Flashdance

Fresh Prince of Gotham