The first episode of BWL’s Video update is finished. It did, however, end up longer then I had anticipated originally and was thus divided into two parts.
In this episode we take a look at some project news including Cat-Life and our comics. We also visit the steam chat room briefly with our “From the Chat Room” segments. And our main topic of the day is machinima… what we see in other people’s works and what we hope to do with our three planned shows.
I suggest using the “Full Screen” option for watching this video. You’ll get more out of it I think.
Part 1
Part 2
In the end, this episode was delayed for a few extra weeks due to schedule issues mainly. And, given the subject matter’s resolutions, there is a fluctuation in the size of the letter boxing on most of the machinima topic. Also, there are a few errors that I left in simply because it would have been more trouble then necessary to repair.
This episode ran longer then my intended 15 minute time limit with the “From the Chat Room” features cut down to a few short minutes each. We had already realized that From the Chat Room could be a full audio program of its own and planned to release the full discussion separately. So be sure to check out our full “From the Chat Room” mp3 as hosted by ModDB.
The mp3 has been edited to cut out our long dead air pauses and many “uhms” and “ughs” plus a few other less important or classified bits of the discussion. The full session is around 35 minutes in length.
In future episodes, I plan to focus more on the “From the Chat Room” segment and use that more for our main topic and news sections as it really turned into more interesting discussion.
Thanks again to Syrus Rayne, Radu Iceman, and BiGToM for helping with that. As for why we chose to use steam instead of our Ventrilo server… well… the idea behind “From The Chat Room” is that members of our steam group can join in on the discussion at any time. It’s not meant to be a “podcast” as much as it is a chat room segment for the show.
Of course, that does mean there are some buggy moments with the audio in the full mp3 and a somewhat lower quality to the sound as compared to something like skype or a shout-cast service of some sort.
We have had this site online since 2001 and seen marginal activity at best. I’m tired of this lack of interest. If we can’t be recognized as a classy, quality content site… then fine. I’d rather churn out the “popular” content then continue to put so much effort into projects.
My plan is basically to start putting just a little less effort into projects and get then out sooner. Expect a considerable increase in activity over the next few weeks.
Hopefully, this will attract a little more interest.
And yes, This includes our mod projects. As far as I am concerned the original CL is now finished. We’re going to focus on CLS now and get that done quickly so we can start work on CL2 and the other mods I have planed.
Videos will also be ramped up a bit more quickly. Expect one within the next few days… by the end of the day tomorrow if I can edit it that quickly.
It didn’t really occur to me when I first heard his name. I was at work when the news programs that recycle every hour were playing in the background. They mostly spoke of his time on I Spy with Bill Cosby.
But he played a much more interesting role for gamers, particularly for fans of the Half-Life series.
Robert Culp, the voice of Doctor Breen, passed away yesterday at the age of 79. He apparently fell and struck his head outside his home.
Our best wishes are with his family. He will be missed in the computer game and 3D entertainment world as well as the television and film industry.
Well, I’m pretty much sure all of you know about SEGA’s upcoming Aliens vs Predator game, but in case you don’t, here’s a short review about the progress, the game and the demo release. The game is being made by the Rebellion team. Their first major successes were Alien Vs Predator on the Atari Jaguar in 1995 and Aliens Vs. Predator on PC in 1999, creating game innovations years ahead of their time. And as their name suggests, Rebellion’s approach to game production is focused primarily on cross-platform innovations and product quality.
It is Rebellion’s aim to produce innovative videogame products of the highest quality, to have solid links with comic, book and movie content to ultimately ensure that the final consumer experience is as exciting as possible. The game has been in development for about 2 years, the team concentrating on creating the ultimate AvP experience.
About the story, the action takes place on the planet BG-386, where the humans have established a colony. Apparently, they find an ancient Predator temple which was forgotten by the Predators and that’s what triggers the whole story. The humans find the aliens and capture them for tests, the predators find out about the temple and the marines are sent on the planet to clean up the mess. You can experience a distinctly new and thrilling first person gameplay as you survive, hunt and prey in the deadly jungles and swamps surrounding the damned colony of Freya’s Prospect.
As the Marine, you’ll experience a claustrophobic and terrifying experience where light is your friend, but there’s never enough. However, the United States Marine Corps are humanity’s last line of defense, and as such they are armed to the teeth with the very latest in high explosive and automatic weaponry.
As the Predator, you will stalk from the shadows and from above, passing athletically through the treetops to ambush your victims. Although equipped with an array of powerful, exotic weapons and tracking equipment, honor ultimately dictates that you must get in close and take your trophies face to face.
As the most deadly species in the universe, the Alien offers you the chance to play as the very stuff of nightmares – the monster in the dark swarming forward with countless others, jaws like a steel trap and claws like blades.
Play all sides off against each other in a series of unique 3-way online modes and go tooth-to-claw-to-pulse rifle in the reinvention of one of multiplayer gaming’s defining moments
Last week, on Thursday, February 04, the demo was released for AvP. So far, the demo supports a multiplayer deathmatch mode with 8 players. The code presented in the demo is not the final release and all the DirectX 11 features will be available in the full release.
The first time I launched the demo and already I had problems, but wait! I wasn’t the only one who had them. The full game features the ability to browse for and create games but for the purposes of simplicity the demo was limited to matchmaking, so you had to wait from 5 minutes to even 10 minutes to manage to play online. Shortly after the demo was released Rebellion updated the demo and managed to fix that issue. They even apologized about it “We’re really sorry that this issue tainted a day in which we saw many people get hands on with AvP for the first time and we’re hugely gratified by the positive feedback to the game.”.
Overall, the demo was pretty good. It gives us a great example of every race’s abilities to kill it’s prey. The marine for example, his motion tracker can give the alien’s position very easily making the vicious xenomorph an easy prey. The marine’s weapons are pretty much basic, he can equip himself with a pulse rifle, the smart gun, pistol, sniper rifle or a flame thrower. If you’re impressed by those then wait till you hear the Predator’s arsenal! Trip mines, pulse cannon, spear, “ninja disks”, deadly claws and vicious look; all of those are bound to give you a chill down your spine. But what about the alien? It’s quite simple and deadly, you are the weapon.
While you play as each race you see the game through different perspectives and you also have to come up with a completely new strategy. The Predator is based on stealth, he uses a cloaking device to become invisible which gives him the element of surprise. The marine is like a beeping radar with a gun, while the alien is like a deadly sword waiting in the dark.
The demo really convinced me to buy the game and test all the multiplayer modes and the single player campaign and of course, to try the game with all it’s features which are guaranteed to bring a one of a kind AvP experience!
I also took the liberty to record a multiplayer match. Enjoy!
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