Game Fan Films

I have recently adopted a Playstation 3.  It is awesome.  Since I'm coming into the whole PS3 thing pretty late into the game, I've been playing a bunch of the early PS3 games since they are fairly inexpensive now.  The first two I picked up were 'Metal Gear Solid 4' and 'Resistance: Fall of Man'.  Both of which have turned out to be great games.  I completed my first play through of Metal Gear 4 last night.  Still working through Resistance though.

Metal Gear 4 was an outstanding game.  I haven't played a Metal Gear title since Metal Gear Solid 2 came out on the PS2 years ago.  I have completely missed out on the Metal Gear for PSP titles, and Snake Eater.  Metal Gear has always been about story.  It's plot is heavy with conspiracy and twists and turns.  I remember back with Metal Gear Solid 2 people where complaining about the cut-scenes.  It seemed almost like you were playing a little and watching a lot.  This is no different with Metal Gear Solid 4.  However, I knew this would be the case going into the game.  If you like story and narrative, this is a must play.

After playing through last night, I'm looking forward to going back to the Playstation Store and buying the original Metal Gear Solid for PSX.  Yes, the graphics are very dated...But c'mon, it's classic gaming at it's best.  Since I've been down memory lane a little with Metal Gear.  I stumbled upon a fan film the other day.  It's entitled: 'Metal Gear Solid Philanthropy'.  I know a lot of fan films get the stigma that they suck because they are a fan film.  But often, fan films showcase a lot of talent that isn't able to be backed up by big funding.

It is free for streaming or downloading (admittedly I haven't watched it yet due to time constraints).  But it has a great looking trailer.  I'm trying to make time this weekend to view it.  If you watch it, why not drop by and leave a comment on how you liked it.  Their site is:
http://www.mgs-philanthropy.net/

And one of the trailers:



Enjoy!

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Busy Busy Year So Far!

A little on the late side, but welcome to 2011 everybody.  So far it's been a crazy start to the new year for me.  So it's time to try and get back into the routine.  January has been filled with all kinds of wild news and rumors from the tech world.

Starting off with the recent rumor that Zuckerberg would be shutting down Facebook (which was of course, false).  Nintendo teasing the world with it's revolutionary 3DS (3D graphics can pop out of the screen much like the 3D movies do, but without the need for the player to wear special glasses).  Recently, there has been some buzz about the PSP2 (Playstation Portable 2).

The big news for me this week was the reveal of the official 'Duke Nukem Forever'.  See below for the trailer.  Please keep in mind the source material, it is Duke Nukem.  The trailer is censored, but is definitely a little beyond NSFW.  Looks like we are looking at May 3rd for Duke's return.  (Hopefully that won't change, we need the Duke back in present day gaming!  lol
Check it out:




So with that said and done.  I have to roll.  Check back soon for more updates!

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Happy New Years!!

I just wanted to get a jump start on wishing everyone a Happy and Safe New Years!  See you all next year!

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Last Tech News of The Year! Kinect & WoW, Bad Frogger, OGA, and Duke Nukem!!

This will be the last tech news for 2010.  It seems like we just rang in 2010.  Now it's time to bid it farewell.  And with it, we have a great list of topics for this weeks news.
-Kinect Meet World of Warcraft...
-Playing Real World Frogger can be hazardous to one's life expectancy.
-Linux News on the Front Page of Google's Tech News today!
-Bye-Bye Office Genuine Advantage...Says Microsoft.
-Duke Nukem Fan-Film...And yes, it's awesome!

-First up is what will sure to be a warm meeting indeed amongst WoW players who own/want a Kinect.  If you have been living under a rock for the last couple of months, the Kinect is the new motion control camera available for the Xbox 360.  Yes, it looks sweet.  Even more interesting are the advancements being made in the PC communities about integrating Kinect with personal computers.  This particular implementation actually sets up a form of emulation that allows you to map movement to keyboard shortcuts.  See for yourself:


Personally, it looks awesome.  Would I want to run around an open world MMO like WoW while moving around my room.  Probably not, on the other hand it would cut down on the time a person would spend in the game before becoming to tired to play.  As always, it's fun watching the different ways Kinect is being utilized in the PC communities.


Secondly, on Monday December 27, 2010, a South Carolina man and some of his buddies decided to try and play 'Frogger'.  However, instead of breaking out the game console or iPhone.  The decided to play using real world traffic and a road.  I'm sure this sounded much more fun than it actually turned out to be.  He was struck by a Lexus SUV and is in stable condition.  Word of advice, for the younger generation of gamers...This guy is 23 years old and should no better.  Under NO circumstances whatsoever should a person ever attempt anything in the real world, that they can do in the video game world.  Whether it is play 'Frogger', attempt Mortal Kombat fatalities on a younger brother, emulate anything in a GTA style game, etc. This will always end up in a 'poor-life-decision'.  Play smart, and use your brains.


Third in the news is a surprise...I was doing my typical news checking routine this afternoon when I surfed past the Tech News frontpage on Google.  And to my surprise there was a Linux headling about halfway down the list of recent articles.  It read: "How You Know When It's Time to Switch to Linux".  This is a great basic Linux article that lists 10 reasons you know it's time to switch to Linux.  If you have ever been curious as to what advantages you have by switching, do yourself a favor and read this article.  Check it out at:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/214929/how_you_know_when_its_time_to_switch_to_linux.html


In other recent news is the revelation that Microsoft has discontinues the Office Genuine Advantage antipiracy tool.  Good riddance.  I have bumped into more than one issue with the OGA tool saying that a user was using a copyright version of Office.  When in fact they weren't.  Looks like Microsoft has decided to halt that practice.  Windows still has the WGA check to make sure you're using a legit version of Windows, but as far as Office goes, you'll just need to activation key now.  Should you decide to skip the activation process the software will still function but somewhat of a limited capacity.  As always, there's nothing better than the real deal so use legit software.  If you feel you need free software checkout open-source.  There are great, free alternatives which takes us back to the "How You Know When It's Time to Switch to Linux" article above.  For more info checkout:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-20026196-75.html


Lastly, in the news is somewhat of a light hearted topic.  On Christmas Day a gift was given to the world from from Finnish Film producers New Dawn.  They released their fan-film teaser for 'Duke Nukem: Fate of Humanity'.  Okay, so what's in the film?  Aliens, action, violence, etc.?  Nope.  Not an alien to be found.  Just the lone Duke, sitting in a strip club.  When a loud crash and earth shaking rumble occurs.  We see Duke grab his pistol and slow-mo run out of the club.  Despite the fact that no pig cops are shown.  we get to see a pretty convincing take on Duke.

Check it out, but keep in mind this is probably borderline NSFW and shouldn't be viewed by children.



Okay folks, that's it.  I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year and let's make 2011 the best, geekiest year ever!  Happy surfing!

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Merry Christmas!

On behalf of TechieSmarts, we'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Take this time to enjoy your friends and family and remember the reason for the season!

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Marvel's Thor: The Trailer

Okay, back in July I saw saw a few teaser shots Marvel had released from it's upcomming 'Thor' feature length film.  Admittedly, I was probably a little rough; if not judgmental about it's release.  The teaser shots did not give it justice (based on the scenes from the trailer).  However, I am still undecided about this movie.  I will end up seeing this film due to it being inline with the buildup to the 'Avengers' film.  I like how they are piecing the movies together (like the Cap. America shield in the first Iron Man, and Thor's Hammer at the end of Iron Man 2).  It will be neat to see what they throw into Thor.

And by the way, this week it was announces that Jon Favreau won't be directing 'Iron Man 3'.  According to several articles I have read, it doesn't sound like there is any bad blood between Mr. Favreau and Marvel.  For the details checkout this article:
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/16/jon-favreau-on-why-he-wont-direct-iron-man-3/

And in the meantime, checkout the trailer for 'Thor'.

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Tron Guy!

With the flare of the release of the new 'Tron: Legacy', I stumbled onto this guy.  He has been around the net for a while.  Seriously, this guy is my hero.  With that being said, I'll do the world a favor and not show up in my own Tron suit.  So, with this being the case.  Sit back and enjoy...

The Tron Guy!

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