Category: StuffWeLike Related

Bigger is Better

Finally after 10,000 years it’s time to conquer EARTH!

or the internet

whatever.

If you have ever had issues using StuffWeLike’s player, The Pipeline – you’re not alone! One of the biggest complaints we get is:

“Dear Mr. StuffWeLike aka David Rodriguez,

Your player has poor playback speeds. It takes forever to load. I HATE YOU?!

PS – The buttons and text on the player are too small to read.”

Freight no more watchers! The Pipeline now expands the HUD (a term that gamer’s should all know = Heads Up Display). The buttons are now buttonier and the text is now easier on the eyes. If you don’t believe us, test it for yourself by using the player below. Click on the full screen button and then resize your browser to any size you want. The HUD will act accordingly!

Don’t forget to keep the complaints coming!

Add The Pipeline – Video Games to your page

A KotOR-fanboy-ish analysis of the LucasArts-Bioware press release

Cropped version of Knights of the Old Republic cover

Two days ago, LucasArts and Bioware released a press release announcing their newly-forged alliance and made a fancy domain address at www.lucasartsbioware.com as well. This has put all the internets on red alert, especially considering the recent rumour that Bioware’s top-secret MMORPG is based on Knights of the Old Republic. I, being the KotOR fanboy that I am, could not resist it.

Below, we have dissected the press release to try and guess its meaning, and build up some more hype for this unannounced game in hopes of being hired by the LucasArts marketing team. For the full press release in its unadulterated form, use the LA-Bioware link above. Hit the jump to read the analysis in all its glory.

Continue reading “A KotOR-fanboy-ish analysis of the LucasArts-Bioware press release”

The Wii is for Everyone

Manhunt 2

Capcom’s touting that Resident Evil 4 for the Nintendo Wii has surpassed the 1 million unit mark. This milestone is proof that the Wii is a system for all ages. This is the first time in a many years that Nintendo is not having any issues reaching out to gamers and now previously non-gamers.

But there is another issue that Nintendo has been dealing with for along time and it still lingers today: where are the hardcore gamer games? While news about Resident Evil 4 breaking 1 million units is great, the game was released on the Gamecube and PS2 back in 2005. For the hardcore gamers out there, this game has been played and loved to death again and again.

Sure there’s the upcoming Manhunt 2 to look out for, but if reviews have any correlation to revealing the quality of a game – you might want to avoid this title. Not for its violence, but for its bland gameplay.

While Nintendo might say they’ve got hardcore gamers covered with games like Metroid Prime 3 and Super Mario Galaxy, I say we look to third parties to answer our prayers. It’s not like either of these Nintendo games are bad titles, but seriously can you compare either game to the awesome power that you get when you cut off an enemy’s head? You won’t ever see that in a Nintendo game.

Hopefully there will be a positive side effect that today’s news causes. Maybe, just maybe third parties will wake up and make more great hardcore titles for the system. I for one I’m tired of mini-games.

The Unit: Season 2 DVD (Region 2)

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Season two continues where the first season left off, showing the heading for more dangerous missions around the world. In the case that you are unfamiliar with the show, The Unit follows the lives of both in the field and at home of a group of elite US special forces soldiers. Starring Dennis Haysbert (24) as Jonas Blane the team leader, you get to see the not so advertised missions he has to lead his team through for the US government. Also starring in The Unit are Regina Taylor, Abby Brammell, Michael Irby, Scott Foley, Max Martini, Demore Barnes, Audrey Marie Anderson and Robert Patrick (Terminator 2). The first season of the show was very hit and miss as the characters needed to be introduced.

In Season 2, now we know about the characters plus the psychological and financial issues they are facing, so it’s all about their finding solutions. It can be said that The Unit has something for everyone. Although not at the same time. While a male audience will love he heavy action sequences provided by seeing the missions take place, they will find the at home soap opera moments dull. These, however, would be of more interest to the female audience than the mindless action, if you assume the usual stereotypes.

The season includes such great episodes as Extreme Rendition, Sub Conscious and Dark of the Moon. In Extreme Rendition, a former member of the unit is in a Bulgarian prison and Jonas with his team must go and help him escape to get information on an arms dealer. Sub Conscious has the team on a mission to take control of a South Korean submarine to help a North Korean Scientist defect. Dark of the Moon is easily the best episode of the show so far with nothing but 40 minutes of action in Pakistan as the team help defend a US base from attackers wanting to break out a number of recently taken suspected terrorist prisoners. The last episode of the season, Paradise Lost is where The Unit is under investigation by the Government for their past actions and gives a great cliff hanger ending to the season.

In addition to the boxsets, 23 episodes on 6 discs, there are 10 commentary tracks by members of the cast and crew, such as the actors Dennis Haysbert, Demore Barnes, Regina Taylor, Abby Brammell, Scott Foley and Michael Irby. Also included in the commentary tracks are the writers and executive producers, with around 3-4 people per commentary track. The tracks are informative but some are much better than others.

The set also includes a number of making-of documentaries which manage to keep your attention. Paradise Lost: The making of the season 2 finale (32mins 48sec) focuses on the production process from start to finish. Mission: The making of Sub Conscious (11min 31sec) shows the technical aspects of shooting the episode and since shooting fake submarine shots is such a technical and interesting topic, you would hope for it to be longer. Finally, there is Dark of the Moon: Working with Weapons (19min 11sec). If you are looking for something each member of the family will enjoy bits of, then The Unit: Season 2 is worth serious consideration.

Ted Stokes

Rating: +

Unreal Tournament 3 Beta Demo

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The UT3 beta demo is something of a mixed bag. It gives you everything you would expect from the old UT games with the closed in environments and a few larger ones. The game play feels more like UT 1 than the yearly update versions with its quick pace but the demo does feel like its cut in two. The larger maps feel like they have had parts of the HUD taken from other games, messed about with and then ruined. The smaller non vehicle game areas are much better and faster paced giving exactly what you would expect.

The beta demo has a usual file size for this kind of game but the interesting thing is when trying to connect to servers there are a lot of phantom ones listed. This means most likely you will end up playing against the AI and its one of those cases where the AI seems to know exactly where everything is and has a single purpose of targeting just you and ignoring your team mates on the vehicle map.

Is the beta demo worth trying? Yes. If you like the quick Quake style multiplayer then the demo will keep you busy. If you approach your FPS’ more like a strategy player, slow and calculated then this will not be too your liking.

Remember, this should not be considered a review of the full game just an opinion on the PC beta demo.