So here we have an entertaining little short film about the perils of space travel, and it just happens to be probably technically set on New Year's Eve.
(It might be a little easier to watch on its proper page rather than embedded, because this is rather smaller than its intended viewing size.)
Of course, there's one thing about this that's incredibly unrealistic: Spaceships don't do that "sinking/drifting" thing.
(What, you think that the coffee machine was unrealistic? I found it perfectly plausible.)
See you next year.
-Signing off.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
Never Seen Those Make Music Before
The song is a rendition of the Power Rangers theme.
The instrument is a set of eight coordinated floppy drive motors.
Yes, really. It's pretty cool.
-Signing off.
The instrument is a set of eight coordinated floppy drive motors.
Yes, really. It's pretty cool.
-Signing off.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Game Reviews: Super Mega Ultra Battle Robot
Super Mega Ultra Battle Robot is an odd little duck of a game.
Gameplay is a little bit like the Atlantis game I reviewed some time ago, with a robot's movement controlled by arrow keys while its aim is controlled with the mouse. Your weapons are pretty generic, and while you get new weapons and can swap some around, most of the first few you get are pretty much the best.
You also have a gigantic "battle blade" which you activate by pressing the space bar, and this causes your robot to draw a sword at least twice its own length, clumsily swing it forward, and then crash to the ground, damaging all enemies nearby for a large amount and destroying all enemy projectiles that it hits. It's really kind of hilarious to watch, but you need to use it judiciously because its recharge time is really, really long.
Fortunately, that's not all you have. You've also got a "time bubble" that slows down projectiles that enter it, to the point where they're nearly not moving at all. (It's the rather big green circle.) This makes the early levels where enemies are few and far between and only have slow-firing weapons a cakewalk, because you need to reach "bullet hell" levels of enemy fire before there's any chance that stuff will actually hit you, and even then, most of the time your only challenges will be the bosses. (Heck, while I was taking the screenshot, I saw a projectile head for the robot, and then I went and did other stuff for about three minutes before I checked back in... and when I came back, if I'd been just a tiny bit faster than I had been, I'd have been able to keep the robot from getting hit.)
The first time I played the game, this was comically exaggerated, because for some reason the game was slowed to a crawl (and it's not really that fast to begin with) and I didn't even have to pay attention to play it effectively... though the bosses are still difficult because of the sheer coverage of their firing patterns.
Therein lies the game's problem: It's... kinda boring. While there's good enemy variety and whatnot, most of the weapons are fairly boring, even the sword once the humor value has worn off, and there's little incentive to choose weapons in an effort to optimize for specific situations as the game seems to want you to. The gameplay is slow and fairly easy much of the time, with many basic enemies presenting no threat but still taking a long time to kill, and fast and hard every now and again. It just... never really clicks, is all.
It's got some interesting ideas, the main one being the time bubble. While it's probably a bit too powerful in this game, it does lead to some fun and interesting gameplay, and I'd like to see it used in a game that's a little better thought out than this one.
So... Yeah, try this game out to see the silly sword and the time bubble, but don't count on it holding your attention.
-Signing off.
Gameplay is a little bit like the Atlantis game I reviewed some time ago, with a robot's movement controlled by arrow keys while its aim is controlled with the mouse. Your weapons are pretty generic, and while you get new weapons and can swap some around, most of the first few you get are pretty much the best.
You also have a gigantic "battle blade" which you activate by pressing the space bar, and this causes your robot to draw a sword at least twice its own length, clumsily swing it forward, and then crash to the ground, damaging all enemies nearby for a large amount and destroying all enemy projectiles that it hits. It's really kind of hilarious to watch, but you need to use it judiciously because its recharge time is really, really long.
Fortunately, that's not all you have. You've also got a "time bubble" that slows down projectiles that enter it, to the point where they're nearly not moving at all. (It's the rather big green circle.) This makes the early levels where enemies are few and far between and only have slow-firing weapons a cakewalk, because you need to reach "bullet hell" levels of enemy fire before there's any chance that stuff will actually hit you, and even then, most of the time your only challenges will be the bosses. (Heck, while I was taking the screenshot, I saw a projectile head for the robot, and then I went and did other stuff for about three minutes before I checked back in... and when I came back, if I'd been just a tiny bit faster than I had been, I'd have been able to keep the robot from getting hit.)
The first time I played the game, this was comically exaggerated, because for some reason the game was slowed to a crawl (and it's not really that fast to begin with) and I didn't even have to pay attention to play it effectively... though the bosses are still difficult because of the sheer coverage of their firing patterns.
Therein lies the game's problem: It's... kinda boring. While there's good enemy variety and whatnot, most of the weapons are fairly boring, even the sword once the humor value has worn off, and there's little incentive to choose weapons in an effort to optimize for specific situations as the game seems to want you to. The gameplay is slow and fairly easy much of the time, with many basic enemies presenting no threat but still taking a long time to kill, and fast and hard every now and again. It just... never really clicks, is all.
It's got some interesting ideas, the main one being the time bubble. While it's probably a bit too powerful in this game, it does lead to some fun and interesting gameplay, and I'd like to see it used in a game that's a little better thought out than this one.
So... Yeah, try this game out to see the silly sword and the time bubble, but don't count on it holding your attention.
-Signing off.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Belated Christmas Greetings (...Wait, Didn't I Actually Mention Christmas Yesterday?))
I'm in the middle of a blizzard and battening down the proverbial hatches, and the power has been blinking on and off today-never quite long enough to shut off the computer, but enough to make me concerned about working on a long post.
So here's a quick YouTube embed of the apparently now annual David Kaye Christmas greeting, now with two hundred percent more vocal variation!
Voice actors who can do that are awesome.
-Signing off.
So here's a quick YouTube embed of the apparently now annual David Kaye Christmas greeting, now with two hundred percent more vocal variation!
Voice actors who can do that are awesome.
-Signing off.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Invid's Guide to the Star Wars Universe: Alien Species (#73)
(Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and whatever else blah blah fishcakes.)
721. Morlings. Morlings are ambiguously canonical ugly dog people. They apparently have adapted well to using technology after joining galactic society, but don't understand it and think it's magic. Many of them are pirates by trade. They're also really ugly.
Rating: 2/5. Have I mentioned they're ugly? I rather like the idea that there's a group who's perfectly good at using technology, but just handwave it as magic-after all, there are plenty of people in our society who don't have the faintest notion of how a radio, or an internal combustion engine, or a telephone works, yet use these things all the time without thinking about it. (Oscillations, if you don't know and you're wondering. Yes, that applies to all of them, even if it's not very informative.)
722. Morodins. Morodins are rather huge (~30-60 feet long) eight-limbed creatures, with six legs and a pair of rather stubby arms. They look quite a bit like a collection of hodgepodge dinosaur parts, and not in a bad way-the overall effect is quite charming and rather cool, though a tad unbalanced-looking.
As huge herbivorous beings, the Morodins are easily mistaken for unintelligent beasts, and while they seem to have a propensity for slow-wittedness (not connecting a group of farmers they were helping with a group of poachers who were killing them, despite the two groups being made up entirely of the same people-in their defense, I could imagine their eyesight being rather insufficient), they're actually descended from a starfaring civilization that used some form of organic starships, and retain a great deal of knowledge from that society. Those aforementioned farmers? They were up to various illicit activities, and unbeknownst to the Morodins, the "farmers" had discovered that the Morodin help they'd received for their crops had turned the plants into a source of blaster gas (for reference, the enormous floating city on Bespin from The Empire Strikes Back was a blaster gas mining operation, so obviously it was a pretty lucrative trade).
Eventually, a good-hearted crime boss helped put a stop to that, as is often the case in the Star Wars galaxy.
Rating: 5/5. They're pretty great.
723. Morses. Morses are long-lived "humanoids" (we don't know what that means in this context) who don't necessarily have any place in canon, as they're from the same almost-official source that gives us the Morlings and various other ambiguously canonical stuff. They have blue antennae that give them some kind of excellent "sense of perception," and can live for two hundred and fifty to three hundred years. Apparently, their hair goes through many different colors as they age, settling on purple in old age.
Rating: 2/5. That rainbow of aging sounds like an interesting detail, although there's not really anything other than the most boringly mundane stuff otherwise.
724. Morseerians. Morseerians are one of the various races described as "methane breathers." This is silly, because in order to get use out of methane, you'd need something to burn it with (i.e. oxygen). Now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose a "methane breather" could have a metabolism based on using oxygen stored in its food to burn its air as fuel, but that's needlessly complex and silly.
Ahem. The Morseerians.
They've got four arms, and allied to some degree to the fellow "methane breather" race, the Drackmarians. They didn't like the Empire, and a lot of them helped the Rebellion, though there were some who served the Imperials as informants.
Apparently, they were cautious and careful enough that the Empire never actually found their homeworld, which strikes me as improbable.
Rating: 2/5. Their status as non-oxygen-breathing four-armed aliens is a mild point of interest.
725. Mosciive. They look pretty human, but with red eyes.
Rating: 1/5. They do have an interesting name, I suppose.
726. Mostlaa. Okay, you see this elegant, slightly odd species name? The sole named member of the species is known as Jimmer.
Jimmer.
They're rather short and described as weaselly, although the picture of Jimmer that exists looks too... pudgy and beefy, I think... to really be "weaselly."
Jimmer.
Rating: 2/5. They're saved by the hilarity of "Mostlaa" versus "Jimmer." Jimmer, you guys. Just... Jimmer.
727. Mrissi. Mrissi (the singular form is "Mriss") are owl people with separate arms and hilarious little wings. The pictured one looks rather like he belongs on Middle Earth or something, wearing a hooded robe and carrying a walking stick and a scroll as he is. The wings are explicitly vestigial-and thank goodness, because the thought of one flying is almost too funny to bear. Oh, gosh, now I'm thinking of it. Heh.
Heh heh heh.
Okay, I'll stop.
They're apparently prone to being outspoken and politically unconventional scholars.
They also are highly sensitive to pollution and thus prone to illness on industrialized and similar worlds such as Coruscant.
Their strangest and most improbable feature is that they never developed sculpture on their own, and this fact informed Grand Admiral Thrawn's analysis of their psychology and helped him manipulate them in his seizing their planet.
Rating: 3/5. They're interestingly detailed, and they're good for a giggle.
728. Mrlssi or Mrlssti (which is also the name of their homeworld). Like the Mrissi, they're bird people, although they're a fair bit more alien and distinctly separate from any specific real world animals. Like the Mrissi, they're also scholarly, although it seems they believe much more in applied sciences. Like the Mrissi, they were attacked and trounced by Grand Admiral Thrawn (begging the question of whether there were typos involved somewhere). And also like the Mrissi, they've got a name with "Mr~ssi" in it.
Rating: 3/5. They're kind of interesting looking, and I do rather wonder at that odd little single letter of separation between the two.
729. Mudgubs. The sole known Mudgub was a Mudgub princess who tried to court a big froggish creature called a Gorph. She was a little salamander creature, and she wore lipstick.
She also had what looks like frizzy hair, which I'll be generous and say could be interpreted as external gills such as one might see on certain salamanders (mostly larval ones, and theaxlotlaxolotl.
Rating: 3/5, because as with the Gorphs, I'm somewhat interested in a less cartoony interpretation of the design.
730. Mugaari. The Mugaari have an interesting name, because it's only two letters off from the name of the Vagaari, a group of piratical butchers who ran around enslaving and slaughtering other species and stealing their accomplishments. The Mugaari are also known for being pirates, though considerably less notable ones.
They apparently have heavy brows and lantern jaws, which makes them not that much different from most heavily built comic book characters (and thus their defining physical feature is largely meaningless). If there was any indication that they had the slightest relation to the Vagaari, they'd be at least marginally interesting, but as they are... Meh.
Rating: 1/5... because they made me think of a more interesting group. That's terrible.
-Signing off.
721. Morlings. Morlings are ambiguously canonical ugly dog people. They apparently have adapted well to using technology after joining galactic society, but don't understand it and think it's magic. Many of them are pirates by trade. They're also really ugly.
Rating: 2/5. Have I mentioned they're ugly? I rather like the idea that there's a group who's perfectly good at using technology, but just handwave it as magic-after all, there are plenty of people in our society who don't have the faintest notion of how a radio, or an internal combustion engine, or a telephone works, yet use these things all the time without thinking about it. (Oscillations, if you don't know and you're wondering. Yes, that applies to all of them, even if it's not very informative.)
722. Morodins. Morodins are rather huge (~30-60 feet long) eight-limbed creatures, with six legs and a pair of rather stubby arms. They look quite a bit like a collection of hodgepodge dinosaur parts, and not in a bad way-the overall effect is quite charming and rather cool, though a tad unbalanced-looking.
As huge herbivorous beings, the Morodins are easily mistaken for unintelligent beasts, and while they seem to have a propensity for slow-wittedness (not connecting a group of farmers they were helping with a group of poachers who were killing them, despite the two groups being made up entirely of the same people-in their defense, I could imagine their eyesight being rather insufficient), they're actually descended from a starfaring civilization that used some form of organic starships, and retain a great deal of knowledge from that society. Those aforementioned farmers? They were up to various illicit activities, and unbeknownst to the Morodins, the "farmers" had discovered that the Morodin help they'd received for their crops had turned the plants into a source of blaster gas (for reference, the enormous floating city on Bespin from The Empire Strikes Back was a blaster gas mining operation, so obviously it was a pretty lucrative trade).
Eventually, a good-hearted crime boss helped put a stop to that, as is often the case in the Star Wars galaxy.
Rating: 5/5. They're pretty great.
723. Morses. Morses are long-lived "humanoids" (we don't know what that means in this context) who don't necessarily have any place in canon, as they're from the same almost-official source that gives us the Morlings and various other ambiguously canonical stuff. They have blue antennae that give them some kind of excellent "sense of perception," and can live for two hundred and fifty to three hundred years. Apparently, their hair goes through many different colors as they age, settling on purple in old age.
Rating: 2/5. That rainbow of aging sounds like an interesting detail, although there's not really anything other than the most boringly mundane stuff otherwise.
724. Morseerians. Morseerians are one of the various races described as "methane breathers." This is silly, because in order to get use out of methane, you'd need something to burn it with (i.e. oxygen). Now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose a "methane breather" could have a metabolism based on using oxygen stored in its food to burn its air as fuel, but that's needlessly complex and silly.
Ahem. The Morseerians.
They've got four arms, and allied to some degree to the fellow "methane breather" race, the Drackmarians. They didn't like the Empire, and a lot of them helped the Rebellion, though there were some who served the Imperials as informants.
Apparently, they were cautious and careful enough that the Empire never actually found their homeworld, which strikes me as improbable.
Rating: 2/5. Their status as non-oxygen-breathing four-armed aliens is a mild point of interest.
725. Mosciive. They look pretty human, but with red eyes.
Rating: 1/5. They do have an interesting name, I suppose.
726. Mostlaa. Okay, you see this elegant, slightly odd species name? The sole named member of the species is known as Jimmer.
Jimmer.
They're rather short and described as weaselly, although the picture of Jimmer that exists looks too... pudgy and beefy, I think... to really be "weaselly."
Jimmer.
Rating: 2/5. They're saved by the hilarity of "Mostlaa" versus "Jimmer." Jimmer, you guys. Just... Jimmer.
727. Mrissi. Mrissi (the singular form is "Mriss") are owl people with separate arms and hilarious little wings. The pictured one looks rather like he belongs on Middle Earth or something, wearing a hooded robe and carrying a walking stick and a scroll as he is. The wings are explicitly vestigial-and thank goodness, because the thought of one flying is almost too funny to bear. Oh, gosh, now I'm thinking of it. Heh.
Heh heh heh.
Okay, I'll stop.
They're apparently prone to being outspoken and politically unconventional scholars.
They also are highly sensitive to pollution and thus prone to illness on industrialized and similar worlds such as Coruscant.
Their strangest and most improbable feature is that they never developed sculpture on their own, and this fact informed Grand Admiral Thrawn's analysis of their psychology and helped him manipulate them in his seizing their planet.
Rating: 3/5. They're interestingly detailed, and they're good for a giggle.
728. Mrlssi or Mrlssti (which is also the name of their homeworld). Like the Mrissi, they're bird people, although they're a fair bit more alien and distinctly separate from any specific real world animals. Like the Mrissi, they're also scholarly, although it seems they believe much more in applied sciences. Like the Mrissi, they were attacked and trounced by Grand Admiral Thrawn (begging the question of whether there were typos involved somewhere). And also like the Mrissi, they've got a name with "Mr~ssi" in it.
Rating: 3/5. They're kind of interesting looking, and I do rather wonder at that odd little single letter of separation between the two.
729. Mudgubs. The sole known Mudgub was a Mudgub princess who tried to court a big froggish creature called a Gorph. She was a little salamander creature, and she wore lipstick.
She also had what looks like frizzy hair, which I'll be generous and say could be interpreted as external gills such as one might see on certain salamanders (mostly larval ones, and the
Rating: 3/5, because as with the Gorphs, I'm somewhat interested in a less cartoony interpretation of the design.
730. Mugaari. The Mugaari have an interesting name, because it's only two letters off from the name of the Vagaari, a group of piratical butchers who ran around enslaving and slaughtering other species and stealing their accomplishments. The Mugaari are also known for being pirates, though considerably less notable ones.
They apparently have heavy brows and lantern jaws, which makes them not that much different from most heavily built comic book characters (and thus their defining physical feature is largely meaningless). If there was any indication that they had the slightest relation to the Vagaari, they'd be at least marginally interesting, but as they are... Meh.
Rating: 1/5... because they made me think of a more interesting group. That's terrible.
-Signing off.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Excessive Success (And A Side Note)
(Okay, I just read this incredible summary of a Power Rangers season that could have been. If you're a long-time Power Rangers fan, you pretty much need to read it. If it had been made, it would have been one of only two seasons that were actually made that could compete with RPM as the best Power Rangers season of all time, the other being Power Rangers in Space. Oh, that a modern season with similar themes [the upcoming Megaforce] could be half as awesome.)
So I predicted that Gangnam Style would break a billion views by the end of the year, and it did last Friday.
A little earlier than I expected, really. Also, I didn't anticipate that it would apparently get its own special icon. (If you visit the page proper, there's a little dancing gif or something next to the view count.)
-Signing off.
So I predicted that Gangnam Style would break a billion views by the end of the year, and it did last Friday.
A little earlier than I expected, really. Also, I didn't anticipate that it would apparently get its own special icon. (If you visit the page proper, there's a little dancing gif or something next to the view count.)
-Signing off.
Friday, December 21, 2012
It Was A Brandon Sanderson-Related Wiki
I don't really have much today, as I've burned the day diving into a wiki I recently discovered and driving around in a snowstorm (which is pretty stressful), as well as not getting as much computer access as I might have.
I'll provide a link, though, to this website: The SCP Foundation. It's a site that documents fictitious anomalous... things. A grim sense of humor is rather required.
If you're not interested in that, here's the Pacific Rim trailer again.
Because it's cool, that's why.
-Signing off.
I'll provide a link, though, to this website: The SCP Foundation. It's a site that documents fictitious anomalous... things. A grim sense of humor is rather required.
If you're not interested in that, here's the Pacific Rim trailer again.
Because it's cool, that's why.
-Signing off.
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