The location for blog posts related to video games, movies and social events.
Mashable brings us this article about the Top 10 Most Watched Web Series in fall, 2009. Give it a look, especially because it contains one of my favorites, Red vs. Blue!
Red vs. Blue, season 1, Episode 1.
Maxim.com dropped this story, 25 Awesome Things Made Out of Beer Cans, on Monday. “Have you ever wondered what happens to all those beer cans after you finish them off? Behold the awesomeness of 25 things fashioned from empty beer cans!” I have included just a few of my favorite ones, but click here to view all 25. Some of them took some time! But, one had to drink along the way to get all those empty cans so it was surley time well spent.
Do you like dogs? What about really big dogs!? This past weekend at Octoberfest in Germantown, TN, I saw a Great Dane that I swear looked like a small horse. But, that dog don’t have anything on this one! From YahooNews, “The dog measures seven feet from nose to tail, stands 36 inches tall at the shoulders, measures 7 feet from nose to tail, and weighs 180 pounds. Weber will send his measurements to Guinness World Records for consideration as the tallest living dog. The previous record holder was a Great Dane that died this summer. He measured just over 42 inches at the shoulders.”
I found the story on YahooNews, if you would like to see the original story, click here.
Toy Story 3 Teaser Trailer has been released. Toy Story 3 Release Date is 18 June, 2010. I’m very excited. Check it out below.
Over the past week since President Obama was announced as the Nobel Peace Price we all have heard more controversy than was probably warranted. Facebook and Twitter lit up like a Christmas tree with comments, many negative. So much has been said that I believe the reasoning for behind why the committee chose him for the price was overlooked. It was a clear message that Shashi Tharoor nails in the Stephen Colbert directed interview, link below. Even with the usual Stephen Colbert commentary, Shashi Tharoor’s message is something we all need to hear.
Shashi Tharoor, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, talks about the Nobel Peace Price award and what it means. Shashi Tharoor comes on at 6:15 in the below video. I think it is worth a watch because he really says what we all need to hear from an outside perspective. Remember, America’s worldwide image has helped been revived, regardless of the turbulent state of affairs in America. If anything, this award says the world appreciates Obama’s attitude and stance on worldwide diplomacy. I agree the Nobel Peace Price Award was given early. But again, Shashi Tharoor responded to this by saying the award was most likely given to help encourage Obama to continue to make good on his initial worldwide dialogue. For instance, his speech in Cairo. (video included below)
In any case I found the interview enlightening and I hope you might too. It was a fresh perspective from Shashi Tharoor.
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=252134
Obama addresses the Muslim world – Part 1 – 04 June 09
First and foremost, I have a soft spot for good old video games, especially racing Simulation games. Over the past 15 years I have played every worthy racing game from start to finish. However, if you own an Xbox 360 like me, your racing titles unfortunately do not feature the awesome Sony only Grand Tourismo line. However, racing fans rejoiced when Forza Motorsport 2 was released for the Xbox 360.
Forza 2 Motorsport featured out of the box 300 cars, over 25 tracks and customization galore. One could change and customize the cars from paint job to any and all engine, drive train, handling and tire replacements. But, in the customization department, Need For Speed Underground Most Wanted for me stood above in the “body” category. In any case, Forza Motorsport 2 was in my opinion a fantastic racing simulation game. Although very hard to learn with the Xbox 360 steering wheel, with the controller one could have some fun and actually win a few races.
Now, after years and years Forza Motorsport 3 is almost here! The Forza Motorsport 3 Demo is available right now on Xbox Live. It is a 1.25+ gig demo featuring 5 cars from Porsche, Mitsubishi (Evo), Ferrari, Audi (R8) and even a Mini Cooper. The demo track is a fictional track in Spain with photo realistic graphics. The new 60 frames-per-second graphic engine just trips with detail and I had absolutely no lag or motion blur on my LG 1080p TV.
First Thoughts on Forza Motorsport 3
The new features most obvious of all is the “in-cockpit” view featured on ALL 400 cars out of the box. The detail is spot on 100% percent accurate with the gauges moving just how the manufacture designed them. Even the turbo and oil gauges react realistically! Next, the graphics and lightning is much improved. On a hi-def 1080 TV the detail is so clear and crisp, just beautiful.
Now, the most important part of any realistic racing game is the racing simulation. I felt the racing simulation is where Forza Motorsport 3 excelled. The designers stated that the tire simulation has be recoded to take into consideration sideway size, rubber compounds, tread design and even weight distribution and speed heading into corners. I have to say, driving the Porsche over 100 into the large open left turn in the demo and instigating a massive drift and holding it was just awesome. Even overtook a few competitors doing it! Thus, I was blow away by the control and feel of the cars. I have yet to try it out with my steering wheel but will this weekend and update the blog.
Another very interesting new feature is the “rewind” ability. Basically, with the touch of the select button on the Xbox 360 controller one can rewind back if they made a mistake heading into or out of a turn, for example. The car actually goes back in time following the exact line you just were on, very cool!
Now here is what we know the official Forza Motorsport 3 game will feature. New modes, including drift and drag racing. Customization galore, including the ability to modify any and all parts of the body and engine. Literally 400 cars out of the box with many more planned for download on Xbox Live. Xbox Live online community with racing and the ability to track and sell cars to any members. Official Leaderboards tracked and ranked on Xbox Live. More tracks (100 to be exact) than Forza 2, from the usual crowd of real-world tracks to fictional tracks from the designers. Improved AI in single player with varying degrees of aggressiveness and easiness depending on difficulty selected. Players on Xbox Live will have the ability to create there own races and own rules, although details are still a bit sketchy.
So now that you are excited, here are the Forza Motorsport 3 official release dates that I have heard.
Forza 3 Motorsport Official Release Dates:
United States: October 27th, 2009
Europe: October 23rd, 2009
Australia: October 23rd, 2009
Japan: October 22nd, 2009
I’m very excited and can’t wait to spend many enjoyable hours mastering this game. Until then!
Best,
Adam “gaminsincebirth” Faragalli
There are so many Web sites out there that feature videos of all types. Then there are the sites out there that feature videos specific for a topic, like Automotive, such as my personal favorite site StreetFire.net. Then there are sites that combine the two where nice categories hold the featured videos. Some sites get it right, many don’t. When I found Videojug.com recently, I thought it was the best of both worlds.
Videojug takes the most relevant videos that are aimed at helping you get better at something. Take for instance, golf, my long-passion and sports hobby. Actually helpful and specific golf self-improvement videos are featured. This is great, because sometimes I just do not care to see your hole-in-one featured on page one. But, a video that helps me get an eagle or two, bring it on! What was even more impressive was that they broke down the videos into even more specific categories, like “putting”, “golf technique” and the “grip”. That surprised me.
I’m also starting a new project soon related to golf, soon to be live. LoveOfGolf.us/info/net/biz are registered under me now. I really want LoveOfGolf.com but the seller requested $4,000+ for it. I declined when I looked at the number of competitive golf-related sites out there that are decent, already established and for sale at a cheaper price. In addition, my goal is to share my passions and knowledge of with the world, not make a profit from it. I just cannot take on that kind of overhead with no intention of getting my return on investment.
To get back on topic, check Videojug out and start learning something new. They feature just about everything from cooking to automotive mechanics. I’m sure that there is a featured video that is sure to help you out.
Best,
Adam Faragalli
Introduction: GH Metallica builds on the same proven Guitar Hero formula. The game features many of the most popular Metallica songs including “Battery”, “One”, “Blood and Thunder,” “Enter Sandman”, “Master of Puppets”, “Fuel”, and “The Memory Remains”. In addition, songs from System of a Down (“Toxicity”), Alice in Chains (“No Excuses”), Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Tuesday’s Gone”), Slayer (“War Ensemble”) and a few select others. The band members of Metallica selected many of these additional songs because of personal preference.
Click here to see the full set song list for Guitar Hero Metallica, from Wikipedia.
The goal still remains the same, get as many points as you can through “star power” and note streaks. Always aim for the 5 star maximum score. Last night, I scored a 97% on expert guitar and only managed to receive a four star. Thus, achieving a five star is not without some added challenge.
“Guitar Hero: Metallica“ is based on the band approach presented in Guitar Hero World Tour. This means this game also features parts for lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. “Lead
developer Alan Flores has stated that the difficulty of the game is much harder than previous games and is designed to challenge the hard-core player,” according to a source from WikiPedia.
Online game play is available for both the Xbox 360 versions and PS3. I have a chance to get on Xbox live last night and Guitar Hero Metallica online play works very well. I even managed to win a few rounds. Although, I discovered many individuals were playing on easy or medium and achieving a higher score through note steaks. I say, go expert or go home!
An interesting development about the Double Kick Pedal from WikiPedia: “During the game’s development, the team encountered problems trying to
create the drum tracks. Flores noted they normally try to map a note for every drum beat but could not easily replicate it for the double bass often used in Metallica’s songs. As a result, they decided to create a splitter for the bass drum pedal and offer a second pedal with the game to allow the double bass kicks to be retained.”
Fun Factor: 8.5 out of 10 I found myself really enjoying Guitar Hero Metallica. The Metallica song list is rather extensive and the additional songs are some of my personal favorites. If you are a fan of Guitar Hero then this addition will provide you with hours of enjoyment. Although, you will have to enjoy Metallica’s music. I will say that this game rates higher (for me) in fun than Guitar Hero Aerosmith.
Graphics: I play on an Xbox 360 with an HDMI cord going to a 40 inch LG 1080p TV. The graphics look great and unlike Guitar Hero Aerosmith, the background band graphics actually resemble the real band. I was really impressed with the facial detail and general movement of each band member. You can tell that Neversoft spent time focusing on the details.
Tweet this from WikiPedia, “Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield and Robert Trujillo performed six songs and band and audience chatter for motion capture for their in-game avatars; the detailed motion capture included the band’s lip syncing to the lyrics and the motion of Trujillo’s hair braids.”
Final Thoughts: I recommend this game to all fans of the GH series and Metallica. The game does a solid job of capturing the essence of Metallica and really provides a nice challenge. I have played every Guitar Hero game from beginning to end, and this ranks as my second favorite addition behind GH 2. So, go rent it and give it a shot.
More Information at Neversoft’s Main Web Page, click here.
You can find me on Xbox live: gaminsincebirth
Best,
Adam “gaminsincebirth” Faragalli
