I've admittedly never played unreal tournament, and I'm not a huge FPS fan in general but I ran across this article yesterday.

The producer of UT3 is practically taunting everybody to mod their game. (and all mods will work on the PS3 version)

I just had this wild and crazy idea of a newgrounds themed mod, but since I don't know any 3d whatsoever and don't own a PC (I'm not sure about the mod tools being on a mac), I can't really do much about it.

It seemed to me that this would be one of the simpler ideas, keeping all the level geometry simple and mildly textured, and you'd only need 1 or 2 simple tankman character models and vehicle models could be relatively simple as well.

Anyways, just throwing that out there. Even with the simplicity of the stuff I'm sure it's still a ton of work but hey I felt like blogging like a queer so just indulge me.

When you hear somebody you know hasn't played a certain game you usually don't bat an eye, but will kindly recommend it if you're a fan of it.

A disturbing trend in the office here is when I hear my cohorts haven't seen a particular movie. It just blows my mind. My first reaction is to shout "HOW COULD YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THAT" before I regain my senses and realize I probably just covered them with spit as I was frothing at the mouth in a complete frenzy.

To back up a bit, I play my fair share of games for fun and would obsessively play some games on the hardest difficulty until I saved the fucking galaxy, but my primary form of entertainment has always been movies. It seems like the list still mostly pre-dates this century. In fact, if you watch my stupid cartoons like Tankmen and have seen a trend of me animating macho tough guys with dry wit and bad attitudes it's all grounded in the movies I was raised on.

Growing up, and god dammit I hope some of you can relate to me here, I gradually collected movies on VHS - not the ones you could buy in-store. Oh no, my collection consisted of shit taped off HBO at my grandparents house (because my family never got cable since we grew up far outside the cable companies boundries). Not even good quality mind you, I was a kid and couldn't be buying all these VHS tapes, so I recorded everything at the lowest quality (SLP) so I could fit 3 movies per tape. I know right, some of you have no idea in sweet hell what I'm talking about.

ANYWAYS, I grew up watching the same movies over and over - since you know, I didn't have cable and I beat Super Mario Bros. for the umpteenth god damn time.

All these movies usually featured cops, marines, space marines, etc. kicking ass and exchanging witty dialogue (mostly).

I'll list off a few that fit this Criteria:

Action Jackson
Beverly Hills Cop
Commando
The Running Man
Conan The Barbarian, Conan The Destroyer
Die Hard
Escape From New York
The Terminator
Highlander
Mad Max, Mad Max: The Road Warrior, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Predator
Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Temple of Doom
Blade Runner
Aliens
Total Recall
Robocop
Big Trouble in Little China
Top Gun

and of course - Point Break - the movie from which my unshakable username spawned.

These movies shaped me into the idiot I am today. I'm deeply disturbed (perhaps wrongly) when I meet people who haven't seem em. If I ever got stuck in a situation with bank robbers, or terrorists, or acid spitting aliens, or a post apocalyptic waste land filled with assholes wearing spiked shoulder pads trying to kill me, WELL I'd be damn sure I'd be trying to belt out memorable and hilarious one liners the entire time.

That's how I view Tankmen, a movie from the 80s that takes place in the desolate future. Speaking of which, I'm working on new episodes and hopefully they make you laugh and not hate my guts for being super lame.

If you got any movies that shaped that fragile young mind into the psychopath you are today, go on and list em if you dare.

I've been playing the ol' PS3 more and more lately. I downloaded the Devil's Weekend add-on races for Motorstorm - a game I still dig - and some of those races are god damn sadistic but I eventually scored all golds and as my prize some mad max looking vehicle I can LOSE with online. Hurray!

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is a great game in my humble opinion. Scratch that - IT IS A GREAT NI*****FIC GAME PERIOD. I'm about half way though thus far. If you're into Gears of War gameplay mechanics you'll be into this. Not to mention it's one of the best looking games I've seen. The videos and demo don't do it justice. Also, it's got it's own 1000 point achievement system with lots of unlockable rewards. This is the kind of system I can get behind - you actually get stuff - not just queer bragging rights that you cheated your way though your halo achievements. (you know who you are)

I'm also really impressed with Mario Galaxy that I've been playing though on the office Wii. The storyline and characters are borderline terrible with sensibilities aimed at 3 year olds and the co-op mode is a sick joke for second players actually looking for some fun. I mean my god, waving a cursor around is only fun for said 3 year olds, no self-esteem/dummy girlfriends hoping to connect with their selfish videogame obsessed boyfriends, and high-as-a-kite teenagers trying to write out their name on the screen with a glowy star. ANYWAYS, every level is completely different in gameplay and visuals and it holds my fickle interests.

And I'm still working though God of War: You're Only Bored Enough To Play When You're On The Bowl Cell Phone Edition. Almost there though.

I bought God of War: Betrayal on my cell and it's not bad. It's like a smalll cup of Cherry Garcia at the local Ben and Jerry's that looks pathetic but is somewhat fulfilling :I

Anyways back to saving Sparta lmao.

Those of us with macs here have been installing Leopard and so far it's "right as rain"..whatever that means.

Honestly, I know apple are trying to swoon over the windows crowd with these whiz-bang effects in the operating system but I find they're usually just ugly, time wasting, or just god damn frustrating all together. If you've tried being productive with the Dock magnification effects you may know what I'm talking about. Anybody that isn't a soccer mom turns that shit off right away.

That brings us to ol' leopard though. I won't spout off my opinion as fact like so many apple bloggers that should be SHOT through their black horn rimmed glasses, but I'll list em off..good and bad.

-The new dock is ugly. A 3d shelf? Really? When it's shrunk down to the size most of my graphics brethren have it, it's REDICULOUSLY ugly. Luckily apple included a much simpler, more tasteful dock. THAT ISN'T EVEN IN THE DOCK OPTIONS - THANKS APPLE. If you're not a fan of the terminal, then download this simple app and you can easily switch between the two. It's identical to the way the dock looks when you stick it on the left or right of your screen. Anyways, much better.

-It's faster

-All the new default folder/system icons are bland as hell. I know, minor complaint since I change em anyways - but I just don't see how some of this stuff comes out of apple like this.

-ichat has a lot of improvements, but since I don't usually do tabbed chatting, online invisiblity, or video chat (with possible R2-D2 star wars effects like a douche?) it's pretty much the same for me.

- I don't like stacks in the dock for several reasons. If you haven't tried leopard I know you have no idea what I'm talking about.

-and Flash still works thank christ.

anyways, if any of you installed it feel free to...say something useful here. OR something.

oh by the way, go look at BOB'S DESKTOP and by all means speak your mind because it's ruining my day.

not many games I look forward to anymore.

also, i will not rest until the entire site is decked out like the staff page with hadokens and everything

hey kids, you want to know a totally idiotic and difficult way to make FINE ART?

If you can get your hands on some thick aluminum metal plates you're half way there. THEN all you gotta go is painstakingly SCRATCH a negative image into the metal - like a caveman making an image on a cave wall or something.

There's also some part about soaking it in acid, but god dammit i can't remember much about that step but but was a huge pain in the ass.

Then wipe it down with ink, wipe the excess off with acetone and the scratched in grooves will hold the rest.
THEN run it through a press. You can only get a few prints out of each run and then you gotta re-ink it.

You do get a unique look to it and every printing run comes out differently because you cant totally control the ink.

HERE'S ANOTHER ONE.

Anyways suffice to say the teacher wasn't a huge fan of my subject matter and he hated me since I never showed up to class. (back in thy year 2000)

the end

more on tankmen2 -

I think ultimately the script was kinda weak...and too random for my tastes. To make a poor analogy (and to shows I'm not comparing myself to) I'd like to have more South Park type jokes as opposed Family Guy type jokes. Both are valid, but what I mean is more humor that comes out of the situation unlike totally random like the cool aid guy busting through your living room wall for no reason whatsoever (even its just for a laugh).. I like the family guy, don't take that the wrong way.

My problem lies with the fact that I can never stick to a script. I write it out..and it mostly makes sense. Then when I'm recording I tend to come up with dialogue on the spot. I end up liking one thing I say even if it doesnt really jive with the rest of the script, then try to force it in and make it work. This is kinda what happened with Part 2.

That kinda thing just ruins my day

I just recorded dialogue for a new episode. It's more focused and if you liked 1.5 you should like this one too. It's not officially Part 3...I'll try my hand at mixing action and dialogue again with that one and hopefully it won't be a total clusterfuck like this last one.

That's all. lmaolol

here's the music so people don't ask:

Sailor - Metal Gear Solid 3 OST
Rock me Baby- Metal Gear Solid 3 OST

Cross the Tracks - Maceo and the Macks

Silent Eyes - Hajime No Ippo Ost

The Power of Love - Huey Lewis

I'm not totally happy with it (plus the audio problems I couldn't fix) but whatever, next project.

also there might be a secret, or maybe not

What the hell happened.

I'm not a huge cartoon buff, but if you want to look to a series that did it right, its Batman: The Animated Series along with Superman the animated series as a close second. I also enjoyed the Batman animated movies. I'm only clumping in batman here because it's all from the same team. I'll also throw in some Batman Beyond and Justice League..although those two are more flawed, but still have their gems.

The two men credited most with these shows success are Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. Ever since Dini left you can clearly see the shows drifting off into an abyss of shit...but always just barely hanging on with the occasional good episodes.

This brings us to Superman Doomsday.

I mentioned in an earlier post, one of the few comics I've read was the Death of Superman along with some of the comics that followed afterwards with the multiple supermen.

SO it was with interest that I heard about this new movie based on that storyline and directed by Bruce Timm....and what a fucking letdown.

I'm tired so I'll just list off what I liked and didn't like.

Disliked:
The story - seriously what a fucking hackjob...I wont ruin it for you but it's worthless and
has almost nothing to do with the death of superman story besides doomsday.
Supermans cheekbones - WHY. WHY RUIN A PERFECTLY GOOD DESIGN.
Lois Lane voiced by Anne Heche - worst acting job in a cartoon I've seen in a LONG TIME
Any other attempts at real character development which is laughable
Superman gets "killed" in 8 minutes flat.
Shoddy animation compared to the rest of the movies

Liked:
The music score is acceptable

So whatever, thanks warner bros animation. You made a movie with the writing and acting of a third rate saturday morning cartoon and a few gratuitous kills to earn you a PG-13 rating.

Speaking of animation, I'm 99% done tankmen 2. I'll be releasing it right after madness day.