Monday, July 19, 2010

Alein Swarm on Steam! Updated and Free!

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Hey everybody,
If you love games than guess what...Steam is doing it again!  That's right, they are giving away another game.  Much like Portal was given as a free download a few months ago when they released their Mac client.  Except this time, Alien Swarm is up for grabs. 



Alien Swarm was originally from the mod community.  And it was designed by a group of folks who were hired out of the modding community.  Alien Swarm has been updated to the Source Engines, and is freely available via Steam.  It also comes with all of the bells and whistles: single-player, mulitplayer, co-op, Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud features, States, VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat'), and includes the SDK.  Looks like they are really promoting the SDK.  Could this be due to Valve secretly wanting us to develop mods for this title as well.  It'll be fun to see where this title goes from here.

Be sure to log on to Steam and get your hands on Alien Swarm.  It will be unlocked within the next hour or so for downloading.  Have fun!

Check out the Alien Swarm page on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/630/

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Another 'Thor' Picture Has Hit!

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Ok, as an avid fan of Marvel Comics for my entire childhood and a big part of my adult life.  I am for the first time fearful for my favorite comic publisher.  The 'Thor' movie can easily go one of two ways:
  1. Fans will come out and love it, and it will be creative enough to suck in people who are unfamiliar with the character and Thor's story.
  2. This can go south...and I mean way south for Marvel if they don't pull this off.
My hope, is that Marvel can make a great movie based on Thor.  Will it be on par with Iron Man and Iron Man 2?  Probably not is my guess, different director with a different take.  The Iron Man character has a lot in common with everyday news, being a deterrent to war in the middle east.  And as worded by Tony Stark in 'Iron Man 2': 'I have managed to single handedly privatize world peace.'  Whereas a character like Thor is based in a largely fantasy world from legends that are ages old.  In the case: from Asgard to Earth.  Hopefully, the public will be open minded.

The cast definitely looks promising as well with big names attached:
  • Anthony Hopkins
  • Natalie Portman
  • Ray Stevenson
  • Renee Russo and Chris Hemsworth to name a few.


Will it be something worthwhile to hold us over until 'The Avengers'?  I sincerely hope so.  Let's not even begin on the possibility of seeing the effects Disney has on Marvel since their acquisition (last thing we need is Mickey Mouse hidden in scenes).  In the event that this movie doesn't do so hot, how will that affect Thor's role in 'The Avengers'.

Now with those opinions off of my chest, here is the newest 'Thor' pic to hit the web.

This shot shows three of the main players in the 'Thor' mythos: Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

And for those who may have missed out on the first Thor pic to go live:

Best of luck Marvel!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tech News for the Week!

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Well, after a much needed vacation, I'm back.  So here we go.  This weeks tech news!

-A remote stealth combat plane has been unvelied.
-Google invests in Zynga.
-Who's Your Daddy Facebook!

First up this week is more of a future/tech story.  BAE Systems has been developing an unmanned stealth combat plane.  My first question: didn't they see that movie 'Stealth'?  Anyways, the prototype plane is expected to make test flights sometime next year.  Check out this link for a short video clip on the Taranis: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lancashire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8811000/8811475.stm

Second in the news this week, will Google invest money into Zynga?  It seems as though there are rumors!  Google has managed to do an outstanding job building up it's offerings.  From back in 1998 as just a search engine, to building it's own email service, acquiring other services like Youtube, and numerous other projects.  Now it seems as though if they were to invest anything into Zynga, Zynga would be set.  What we know: some leaked reports show Google to have investes $100-200 million in Zynga so far.  We also know that Zynga isn't exactly hurting thanks to it's Mafia Wars and Farmville titles (both games on the popular social network Facebook, in case you didn't know); their estimated revenue is somewhere around $350 million for the first half of 2010.  That's crazy!  Lastly there seems to be a job listing for Google looking for a Project Manager for Games.  Does this mean we will see 'Google Games' or 'Games by Google' sometime in the near future?  I would dare to say that with this partnership the future looks bright for Zynga, and it's one more step to conquering the web world for Google.

Last in the news this week, a New York man (Paul D. Ceglia) has filed a lawsuit claiming that he actually owns some of Facebook.  About 84% to be exact.  Looks like in 2003, Mr. Ceglia and Mr. Zuckerberg (Facebook) struck a contract to make a social network website.  The terms: $1,000 fee and 50% stake in the end product.  Zuckerberg also agreed to an additional 1% stake in the site everyday until it was done.  Equaling his 84%.  Oops, Mr. Zuckerberg.

Facebook is commenting that they will fight the claim and that it is 'frivolous'.  What does it sound like to you?  Is this guy just out to get some cash, or did Zuckerberg make a bad deal?  Time will tell.  Check out the article and a copy of the claim here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20010349-93.html