Gaming Today

No One Will Ever Make a Better Halo Fan Film Than the One In this Post
OnLive Offering Unlimited Subscription
GameFront 2010: The Year in Live-Action Game Ads
Xbox-Modding Trial Abruptly Dismissed After Presiding Judge Eviscerates Prosecution
GameFront 2010: Best Mods Of 2010

No One Will Ever Make a Better Halo Fan Film Than the One In this Post

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 01:07 AM PST

I’m a cool person now, but I used to be a real nerd. I was such a nerd that I attended Star Wars conventions and watched thousands of Star Wars fan films trying to find that one awesome lightsaber duel. I never found it, but my quest did lead me to this, so it was ultimately worth it. Anyway, what I’m saying is most fan films aren’t worth a damn, especially the ones about Batman fighting Aliens (suck my [censored] [censored], Batman [censored] Dead End). There are exceptions.

But this one, in which some guys filmed themselves in front of greenscreen and then digitally inserted themselves into the Halo: Reach engine, is pretty hysterical from the beginning just for the novelty of what you’re seeing. It’s like watching old FMV cutscenes from the 90s, and it specifically reminds me most of Dark Forces II. No telling if it’s still funny the second or third time around, but I had a good enough time with it the first time that I thought I’d share it with you folks. It’s called You’ll Never get the Power Core.

You Will Never Get the Power Core from Chalan Marsalus on Vimeo.

via Kotaku

OnLive Offering Unlimited Subscription

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 12:35 AM PST

I like the idea of OnLive, I really do. It works extremely well (at PAX I even played it over the expo’s wifi, and it was very stable), and they’ve got this new thing you can plug up to your TV so you can play that way, which is cool, but they’ve been missing two things: a good selection of games and a goddamn monthly subscription plan that lets you play all the games you want.

Well, we’re still waiting on the good selection, but the other missing thing has arrived. OnLive revealed to its PlayPack plan, which lets you pay $9.99 a month to play as many games as you want in a new, separate archive of games. Any brand-new games OnLive gets won’t be playable in the PlayPack, but that’s probably OK since the subscription price on this thing is absurdly low. Obviously, you’ll still be able to buy normal passes for new releases in addition to your PlayPack plan.

The PlayPack goes live on January 15, but as of right now it’s in beta. There’s only way to get into the beta is to buy an OnLive system for your telly, which’ll run you $99, but you’ll also get a free full game out of it if you do so. Just so we’re clear, you will not have to have one of these systems to use PlayPack.

What I find most intriguing about this announcement though, is that it says the PlayPack will have 40 titles available at launch. By my count, all of OnLive only has 34 titles available total right now (the most recent retail release they’ve got being Shaun White Skateboarding, which hit about five weeks ago), which means they’ve got to have some pretty big developments in the works. OnLive just might grow into something very worthwhile after all. I’m looking forward to it.

GameFront 2010: The Year in Live-Action Game Ads

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 07:32 PM PST

Live-action games ads are the best ads because they’re amazingly evasive. They sorta tell you about the game without really telling you about the game. They’re like those movie teasers that just has dramatic music and a person talking over a black screen before a logo slowly creates itself or rolls onto the screen. There’s no content there, but it’s f**king cool. Anyway, since it’s December, and this is the time in which we look back on year before forgetting about it forever in a few weeks, here are the highlights of The Year in Live-Action Game Advertising.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

This one works because it’s all grey and s**t, which means it looks less cheesy than it would otherwise. It also works because the Future Ghosts do cool things. That’s why we’re so obsessed with the future, right? We wanna do cool things, and this gameplay- and story-free trailer gives you a taste of what the game is going for.

Tony Hawk Shred

Yeah, the game was complete s**t, but this ad sure isn’t. While it may sound like faint praise to say watching this video is far more fun than playing the game is, it really is not. I love this ad because it makes fake skateboarding feel like a joyous and exciting endeavor, and also because it’s about pushing your house down a hill, something I never really imagined before but which I really, really wanna do now.

Metroid: The Other M

I like this one because it has a sexy lady in it. I also like it because the team behind it did a solid job of blending said sexy lady and other real people in with some fake things. That’s always important to ads for outlandishly sci-fi games like this one, at least if you’re that determined to betray to the public how nerdy your game is.

Resistance 3

This is exactly what the Metroid ad is not because it definitely hides its (sparse anyway) nerdiness. Yeah, it’s about people fighting aliens in the 50s, but you don’t really think of, say, AMC’s The Walking Dead being nerdy, right? Now that sci-fi is a mainstream genre, restrained nerdiness is the name of the game, and that’s what this ad is. It also seemingly perfectly captures the feel of post-Chimaera USA (I say “seemingly” because I don’t know what it feels like to live in a place occupied by evil foreign forces), and it makes you feel a little more invested in the setting and plot than you otherwise might be. That’s the hallmark of the Halo live-action ads, and Insomniac does it pretty well here. Speaking of Halo…

Halo: Reach

Nothing really happens in this trailer; it’s just people talking, and none of them really know what’s about to happen. It sets the stage for what is to come exceedingly well.

DJ Hero 2

We arrive again at an ad I have viewed hundreds of times. Now that I’m bringing it up again, I’ll probably watch it a couple hundred more times tonight. I should probably do some work instead, but that’s just how it is. This ad’s got everything: attractive people dancing, cool visual tricks, racial harmony* and a really hot mix playing above it all. It’s the feel-good video game ad of the year, for sure.

Xbox-Modding Trial Abruptly Dismissed After Presiding Judge Eviscerates Prosecution

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 04:42 PM PST

In a stunning, and hilarious development, barely a day after Federal Prescutors were treated to a vicious verbal curb-stomping at the hands of presiding Judge Philip Gutierrez, the charges against Matthew Crippen over the legality of his alleged Xbox modding business have been abruptly dismissed.

The chain of events leading to this unexpected outcome began yesterday, when Judge Gutierrez, visibly exasperated by what appears to be a total lack of credibility by the Prosecution’s, blasted them for numerous problems in their case, including the possbility that they were relying on evidence gathered illegally, and that at least one of their witnesses was himself guilty of the “crime” for which Matthew Crippen faced 10 years in prison:

“Among the judge's host of complaints against the government was his alarm that prosecutors would put on two witnesses who may have broken the law.

One is Entertainment Software Association investigator Tony Rosario, who secretly video-recorded defendant Matthew Crippen allegedly performing the Xbox mod in Crippen's Los Angeles suburban house. The defense argues that making the recording violates California privacy law. The other witness is Microsoft security employee Ken McGrail, who analyzed the two consoles Crippen allegedly altered. McGrail admitted that he himself had modded Xboxes in college.”

"Maybe two of the four government witnesses committed crimes," the judge said from the bench. "I think it is relevant and the jury is going to hear about it –- both crimes."

The government had fought to keep the witness conduct a secret from the jury.

It’s troubling enough that Microsoft’s main witness is someone who himself has violated their bizarre conception of what constitues private property, (even if it’s not clear that being a blatant hypocrite is a violation of judicial ethics). But, as those of you who live in California might not know, by state law, unless you are a valid law enforcement officer operating under a warrant, you can only video or audio tape someone with their consent. Unless the Entertainment Software Association has been nationalized, the video Mr. Rosario recorded would have been inadmissable. It’s astonishing that Federal Prosecutors tried slipping it in anyway, and then sought to conceal their complicity in this crime.

But it gets ~~worse~~ better. At the heart of Prosecutor Allen Chiu's proposed jury instructions was a flagrant attempt to violate both the letter and spirit of the law:

“[the instructions] included the assertion that the government need not prove that Crippen "willfully" breached the law, in what is known as "mens rea" in legal parlance. The judge noted that the government's own intellectual property crimes manual concerning the 1998 DMCA says the defendant has to have some knowledge that he was breaking the law.”

Fair enough. Except, the Prosecution’s attempt to meet this requirement practically begged a FAIL tag:

“… during his testimony, Rosario also said Crippen inserted a pirated video game into the console to verify that the hack worked. That was a new detail that helped the government meet an obligation imposed by the judge that very morning, when Gutierrez ruled that the government had to prove Crippen knew he was breaking the law by modding Xboxes.

But nowhere in Rosario's reports or sworn declarations was it mentioned that Crippen put a pirated game into the console. During the opening statements shortly before Rosario's testimony, defense attorney Koren Bell told jurors that there would be no evidence of that kind.”

Put simply: The prosecution, faced with a restriction that strengthened the defense’s case, lied, and clumsily, in order to undermine it. And Judge Gutierrez called them out for it. In fact, he so thoroughly humiliated the prosecution that Chiu was reduced to a meek apology for his team’s misconduct. The case was then placed on hold until prosecutors could get their legal act together. And that’s where things stood yesterday. Today, "based on fairness and justice", the prosecution has dropped all charges.

While this is excellent news for the defendent, and a moral victory for those of us who support the idea that when you buy something, you actually, you know, own it, the question of the legality of console modding remains disturbingly open. During the trial, Judge Gutierrez made the point that the recent exceptions granted to phone owners w/r/t jailbreaking their phones wasn’t extended to game consoles, and that remains true regardless of how Mr. Crippen spends the next ten years. And though it remains to be seen how Microsoft will proceed the next time they catch someone making aftermarket modifications to their precious machines, they will almost certainly pursue the case in a jurisidiction less friendly to the rights of the accused than can be found in California.

Here’s hoping, then, that the Library of Congress comes through before that has to happen.

GameFront 2010: Best Mods Of 2010

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 01:03 PM PST

Oh, 2010, such a year you’ve been. You reduced the Corey and Golden Girls population by 50%, but you made up for it by being an extremely proliffic year for gaming. And if you’ve been paying attention, you know that the hardest working developers of all have been the modders toiling away for free (or next to nothing), delivering some of the best games you’ll ever play. In many cases, these under-rewarded geniuses even managed to outshine the game they’ve modded.

So you’re looking for an excuse to invest in a gaming computer? We’ll give you one. Here’s GameFront’s staff picks for the best mods of 2010.

Shawn Sines

* Company of Heroes: Eastern Front (For Company of Heroes)

Release Trailer video – Company of Heroes: Eastern Front Mod for Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts – Mod DB

Built like a full on expansion from Relic, this fan made expansion exhibits polish you don’t usually see in a public project. Eastern Front, released in January, added the entire Soviet campaign to the already excellent real-time strategy title. The initial lack of engineer units and limited resources turn standard CoH tactics on their ear.

Get it here. (Official site.)

* Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge (A Full Conversion for Oblivion)

Videos & Audio – Nehrim: At Fate’s Edge Mod for Oblivion – Mod DB

Oblivion may have lately been surpassed by its siblings in the Fallout universe, but if you’re looking for a fantasy game with the Elder Scrolls feel that is different from the usual Tamriel add-on city or town, Nehrim offers a completely new world unaffiliated with Bethesda’s setting. Featuring an entire continent of adventures with a more Gothic visual style and a completely encapsulated story, you won’t find a better reason to reinstall Oblivion anywhere.

Get it here. (Official site.)

* Baldur’s Gate II Redux: Irenicus’ Dungeon (For Dragon Age: Origins)

The first module in a very long process, this mod recreates the opening section of the classic Baldur’s Gate II using the Dragon Age toolkit. For those who can’t stomach the older vissuals or D&D system, this add on is a small taste of what made Baldur’s Gate II such a great game.

Get it here. (Official site.)

Ross Lincoln

* Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Zombies (For Left 4 Dead 2)

We’ve covered this one more than once, and for good reason. Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Zombies is the kind of thing that justifies every mod in existence, period. It is an accurate, real-time and totally faithful recreation of the Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye ride at Disneyland. If you’ve ever been to the DL, you know this is one of the only rides that successfully makes the long-as-hell wait almost as much fun as the ride itself, and this mod wisely includes that in its entirety, even the the John Rhys-Davies parts!

Best of all, you can play the campaign normally, battling zombies through the entirety of the classic ride, or simply remove the zombies and ride it like any normal Disneyland patron.

Get it here. (Official page.)

* Fallout Who? (For Fallout 3)

I‘ve been freaking out over this one for months. Fallout Who? inserts the universe of the current Doctor Who series and its spinoff, Torchwood, into the already massive world of Fallout 3. If you need any more convincing then you need to hand in your nerd card immediately.

Currently, there are three different packs (and more to come!): The Last Child of Gallifrey; Captain jack Harkess; and Ghost in the Machine. (Official site.)

* Civil Defense Radio (For Fallout: New Vegas)

A trifle, but one of the most investive mods we saw this year. Civil Defense Radio adds a CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic [or Electronic] Radiation) style emergency broadcasting station to New Vegas. It plays 55 music tracks from the early Cold War era, and includes 29 authentic public service announcements from Civil Defense Washington.

Yes it is brilliant and yes it is available from the official page.

* Alley of Murders (for Dragon Age: Origins)

Alley of Murders is first runner up for our favorite mod of 2010, and it is guaranteed to blow your mind. For lack of a better way to put it, Alley of Murders inserts a James Ellroy-esque murder investigation into the middle of your Dragon Age: Origins campaign. You’ll investigate a series of murders occuring in seedy medieval slums, and bring the killer to justice. Think L.A. Noire in Middle English. It’s a welcome change of pace from the constant spellcasting/darkspawn battling/court intrigue of the main game and most definitely worth your time.

Get it from the official page.

* C&C The Forgotten (For Command & Conquer 3)

We can’t say anything about this completely brilliant combination of modding and fan fiction, so we’ll simply paraphrase our original post on this amazing gam. Command And Conquer 3: The Forgotten, is a project that spanned the globe, taking 38 people nearly 3 years to complete. This huge C&C3 mod might also just be the most epic fan fiction ever attempted.

It focuses on the Forgotten, the loosely confederated group of heavily mutated humans first seen in Tiberian Sun, later revealed in Firestorm to be fully allied with the Global Defense Initiative. This faction has been heavily downplayed and all but written out of subsequent C&C games, so the makers of The Forgotten set about recitifying this error. The result is a truly epic mixture of gameplay and original storytelling that probably deserves to have a new modding + Fanfic genre created in its honor. The Forgotten takes what previously existed as a minor plot point and turns them into a major C&C faction. It boasts original units and structures, a "return to classic RTS gameplay", the return of classic units like the Tick Tank and Hunter-Seeker Drone and yes, originally produced, cheesy live action cut scenes.

Get it here. (Official site.)