Pretty cool, InXile's good and ChopLifter's a true classic, it's cool to see it return. All of the old Choplifter games, including the original, the Sega ones (the SMS one is fantastic), and Choplifter III, were very good, fun games, so hopefully this new one lives up to the franchise's past. It's been way too long, it's great to see this series return... I'm not sure exactly which versions I played while the series was current, but I definitely remember liking whichever Choplifter games I did play.
For anyone who doesn't know, Choplifter is a classic game where you control a helicopter, rescuing people. You win (or beat a level) by saving all, or at least the required number of, POWs. You rescue them by picking them up (you'll often have to destroy buildings to release them) and then getting back to base safely. Enemy tanks, infantry, planes, choppers, etc. try to stop you, and if you get shot down with POWs on board die and you lose a life. In the original mid '80s Apple II game apparently there was only one level, but it was good enough that it was popular anyway. Sega made arcade and SMS versions which greatly expanded on the concept; the SMS one had a sequel which didn't use the license anymore. Then came (from a different developer obviously) GB and SNES Choplifter III games in the early '90s, which are solid, challenging fun, and then that was it from the franchise until now...
Well, with one exception, one of the Super Army War games or something (I think it was on the DS) was partially Choplifter-inspired. But nothing actually used the name.
I've been playing a lot of this game over the weeks since I got it , and it's a great game. I beat the final boss of Normal mode several days ago, but there's more game after you beat DK "for good" than there is before it, so I'm stilly playing. I have gotten everything in Normal mode now, but most of Plus mode remains, and it's harder. Apparently it's very, very similar to the other two DS MvDK games, but I haven't played them so I wasn't certain what to expect from this game. I was kind of thinking it'd be more like DK'94 than it is, but once I got used to it I have come to really like the game.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: March of the Minis is a quite good puzzle game for the Nintendo DS. While the presentation is clearly "inspired" by Donkey Kong '94 for the GB, the gameplay is not; instead of being a puzzle-platformer, this is a pure puzzle game, in the vein of Lemmings crossed with Donkey Kong '94 and with some unique elements, I guess. The goal is to get all the minis to the goal door without allowing any of them to die. There are enemies, obstacles, and traps in the way, but you can't control the minis; instead they move on their own. All you can do is place environmental objects, which you have limited numbers of, in specific, pre-selected spots. Objects include ladders, platforms, spring blocks, and more. There is a trophy and a medal to get in each stage, and to get both you will have to figure out how to collect the items and get all minis to the exit in as fast a time as possible.
The game starts out very easy. In fact, through most of Normal mode the game isn't much of a challenge. It spikes up in a few stages here and there, but I got through a lot of the main game quickly without much trouble. This concerned me somewhat, but the game made up for it later, with some tricky unlockable bonus stages, and with the harder Plus Mode you unlock after beating the game which requires you to get all minis to the goal in a specific order. This makes some stages much harder, and really becomes quite a challenge, particularly if you want to get the trophies... good luck getting all of them to the goal quickly in the right order! Still though, that you do have to get quite far into the game before it becomes a challenge is an issue with the game, and it would be my main complaint I think. That the game makes up for it later one helps a lot, though.
In addition to the main single player game, the game also has level creation, where you make your own levels. It doesn't just let you make levels though, it also lets you download maps other players made over the internet. This is a pretty cool feature to have; MvDK 4 here has no multiplayer, but even above the map editor, online map sharing is a fantastic feature that really adds a lot to the game.
Oh, the graphics, which are entirely 2d (prerendered characters, drawn backgrounds), are simple, but look good enough. Similarly the music is solid but not exceptional. The game looks solid, though not anything special. It's really the gameplay that carries the game, and not the graphics. Fortunately for it, the gameplay's more than good enough to keep me playing for quite a while.
Anyone getting one anytime soon? While I'd like to, I won't be soon because the thing is on the expensive side, and there aren't many games for it yet...
A dutch movie about an evil German scientist who staples two hot American girls on to a Japanese guy who take turns shitting in eachother's mouths. This is the best version of Independence Day I have ever seen. But if the fecal erotica doesn't turn you on there are hilarious moments where the scientist recollects his beloved 3dog. How does this shit get made when I'm trying to raise money for my short film projects and I might as well be choking myself on penis every night and end up making more money and probably feeling more accomplished-yunno what? The lazyfatbum escort service is open for business. This movie destroyed my sense of existence.
Good points: boobs.
Bad points: the scenes without boobs.
Thankskilling was a retarded movie that understood it was retarded and that's why its awesome. Human centipede wants to be a serious film, a serious horror movie. You want serious horror? The original Holloween. The original The Fog. Fucking Night of the Lepus is a better horror movie than Human Centipede.
Human Centipede lifts from the Saw films and translates them in to a hypothetical universe where doctors do things for free. You will be more entertained watching ANY of the Saw films while your hands are being lightly coated in boiling oil for 7 hours. Hell watch the new remake of Nightmare on Elm Street while trying to swallow a pine cone, still less painful than watching Human Centipede.
I laughed during scenes that were supposed to be frightening, I cringed during scenes that were supposed to be heart-felt. At the end (spoiler) when one of the hot chicks started to die I couldn't tell what was happening because it looked like the hot chick in front of her was poopin in her mouth. I only knew she was dying after she died but my chubby cheeks laughed anyway at the thought of these people on set trying to stay dramatic and emote while taped together mouth to anus.
Excellent film if you are German. The rest of us need to find more compelling films to waste our time with. Like Thankskilling. Or Monsturd.
So awhile back ago I created a small addin for Blender 2.5.. The addin automatically calculates and creates common lighting setups in 3D scenes.. Eliminating tedious fiddling with lights to get that perfect 3D render. The setups where researched from masters of 3D lighting..
Well.. This little addon is up to 5,015 views, 3 people are now actively contributing code.. And now has been included in official builds of Blender!!!
It's amazing how a simple idea can blossom into something huge!
For those of you interested Here is the thread.. I would welcome some of you all dropping by the thread and saying hello.
While I was knife throwing on st Party's day at someone's house on something street I saw a crip named soldierboy and I told him I'm lazyfatbum and he showed me his *gun tattoo* then a psychic appeared and told me my birthday, favorite composer, what Instruments I play, that I was born in LA and that "someone I miss dearly had looked for me". Then he told me he rolls his own sushi and goes sledding - even visited Africa and Nanten or something ...Malaysian sounding. He owns a bulldog and collects furniture, he thinks I'm a pisces cusp that only happens once every THOUSAND YEARS. I was drunk and I have no proof that this happened.
Neat, and best of all, it's easily scalable so we could actually see these new batteries pretty soon.
On the small scale, this means that my mom's strange inability to keep any phone in her house charged won't be nearly as big a deal since any dead phones will be up and running quick enough to call someone back in good time.
On the large scale, this is one of the big problems with battery powered cars, but as the article notes dumping much larger amounts of current really fast into a car battery would probably take more than a standard wall outlet. I'd imagine a special outlet with it's own circuit in the garage designed to discharge massive amounts, similar to the special outlets for washers and dryers.
Now there's the issue of battery wear and tear to solve. No one's going to want to replace a battery as expensive as a car powering battery is likely to be very often. The last issue is the eternal one, capacity.
