November 2007 – Page 2

Open Web Awards – Nominations Now Open

Open Web Awards

All this week long StuffWeLike is one of 24 blogs participating in the Open Web Awards! We want you to nominate your favorite web products before Tuesday December 4, 2007. The top nominations will go on to another round where you can vote on your favorite choices. The winners will be announced at the Open Web Awards in San Francisco.

To nominate a web product simply write a comment listing the product in one of the appropriate categories:

Applications and Widgets
Social News and Social Bookmarking
Photo Sharing
Video Sharing
Music
Mobile
Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks

Deus Ex 3 announced, teaser revealed, pants wetted

I’ve always maintained that Deus Ex is the greatest game ever made by man, and with good reason. It was thought-provoking, immersive, intelligent and its unique game mechanics were plain perfect. While its sequel never lived up to its predecessor’s timeless glory, I still liked it for just being. I’m in need of underwear right now, because Eidos has just announced Deus Ex 3. That’s right, folks – Deus Ex is back with a vengeance!

Of course, Ion Storm saddeningly dissolved a long time ago, so this is Eidos’ Montreal studio’s first game, and that’s a blazing inauguration. Gamasutra reports the company’s structure, their goals and other details not concerning Deus Ex. What I found to be interesting was that Eidos mentions that the new studio will have tightly-knit, multi-discipline groups (at the most 80 people) working on a single project. Also, their development cycles will reportedly last 24 months, as opposed to the much lesser numbers of their competitors.

Eidos also released the teaser for Deus Ex 3, which you can find below. It’s as ambiguous as you’d expect from a teaser, and depicts a bio-augmented foetus, along with some mysterious words from a narrator. There are also a series of pictures that run damn fast. There’s a list of what they are at Wikipedia, if you’re that interested. (UPDATE: We have just learned that the guys at Shacknews have spent a good portion of their lives taking screenshots from the series of images. They have 20 images here right now, and I have no idea if those are all the images or not.)

While this is all excellent news, I have a strange fear in the back of my mind that this may get “consolized” as well, just like (*shudder*) Invisible War. Also, the fact that Montreal is facing a development cycle, no matter how long, hints at the same. Deus Ex, the beautiful game, in its unadulterated form is one that can only be reasonably played on the PC in its entirety. I hope that Montreal tries to recreate that, rather than tossing this legendary franchise into the unwashed masses of multi-console video games.

Blog Nothing Day

If you run a blog be aware that Blog Nothing Day is tomorrow November 26th! This isn’t necessarily an official blogger holiday. The “founder” wants to show his support for the writers in Hollywood by not blogging on his blog and he asks that other bloggers follow pursuit.

Will StuffWeLike follow the crowd? No, not intentionally. We’ve practically already taken a vacation from blogging over the Thanksgiving break and now things are finally getting back to normal.

CSI New York Season 3 Part 2 (Region 2 DVD) Review

CSI New York 3.2

As the newest CSI New York half season set, 3.2 provides some longer storylines to keep things fresh. While CSI is famed for closed in single episode storylines, the second half of the third season provides some interesting story arcs. You have a few nods to previous episodes such as Gary Sinise’s character, Detective Mack “Mac” Taylor, after arresting a dirty cop before. This story continues as he is investigated for being suspected to push a suspect off a rooftop in handcuffs off a roof even though he insists the man jumped. Plus there are a few other long storylines to give more depth to supporting characters.

The best episodes of the set are “Sleight Out of Hand”, about a magician performing tricks over three nights and people dying the same way as the trick. Plus the season finale where a group of men break into the lab for a heist. This gives Gary Sinise a good excuse to do a thinking man’s Bruce Willis in a Die Hard impersonation. Out of the 3 discs in the set, there is only one episode which isn’t really worth watching, which isn’t bad by anyone’s standards. In terms of the DVD set, only one extra is included. It is a visit by one of the cast members to a real training facility where members of law enforcement see faked crime scenes and dead bodies. It lasts for quite a while in running time but is really a one or two watch maximum. Overall, CSI New York 3.2 is a great set. While the extras are not great in number it is is a very entertaining set and easily worth a place in anyone’s DVD collection even if not a normal CSI fan, or trying to recover from CSI overload.

Verdict: +

CSI Miami Season 4 Part 2 (Region 2 DVD) Review

CSI Miami 4.2

The arrival of the second half (3 Discs) of season 4 of CSI Miami is very welcome indeed. For those not in the know, Crime Scene Investigation: Miami follows Lieutenant Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his team of investigators The end of season four provides an ending to a number of story arcs that have been going on for quite a while and present a few new ones. The good thing about these half season sets is that they present questions and then answer them right away.

Season four’s second half has a few must see episodes like Horatio’s vendetta against a drug cartel and the lengths both sides go to get the other. There are a good number of interesting stand alone episodes too, and a story to complete the season where the FBI come in and take over the lab after money goes missing. DVD extras are non-existent and that’s a real shame. You would hope for at least something on a modern season boxset but not this time. Overall 4.2 is a must own for the episodes, but its makers should be ashamed for the lack of extras.

Verdict: +