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Red vs. Blue

Interestingly enough, the RvB Public Service Announcement #6 on this page is rather fitting for this article.

:-)

Red vs. Blue

Interestingly enough, the RvB Public Service Announcement #6 on this page is rather fitting for this article.

:-)

Better toys? Toys like games?

Hahahahahha

He was making a Red vs Blue reference. here

Its at Red vs Blue's site.

I have no idea if this is feasable or even relevant, but I'll suggest it anyway. Something that watches the user's actions for repetitions or a pattern. Then, offer to create a script/macro for them to use, or modify settings. Examples: User consistently opens browser, then go to a specific URL. Program sees this and offers to set it as the homepage. This would be immediate (within a half-minute or so) in case the user just browses their home page, then goes elsewhere. On certain days, user consistently goes to certain sites (ie checking web comics or Slashdot :). The program would perhaps offer to create a set of daily bookmark sets that can be used. Example: Sites visted on Mondays would be in a folder marked "Monday". When I download an episode from Red vs Blue, I put it in a folder marked "Red vs Blue". The program would recognize that the file path is consistent for that URL, and change settings so that any download from that site is directed to the "Red vs Blue" folder. A web page consists of several subsequent download links, and the user is downloading them all one after the other. The program would offer to create a script to do the task for the user, and let them define folder settings and file names. Like I said, I don't know if this can be done or if its what you're looking for, but its an idea.

Ironically, there are at least two legal solutions. First, if your Mac came with Graphic Converter it can play full screen - at least it does in Slide Show mode; not sure how to do it otherwise.

More importantly, MPlayerOSX is an OS X wrapper for MPlayer that handles full screen, plus the bonus of WMV files. My only gripe with it is that though it has a playlist it won't play through them. (At least 6.5 doesn't; I hadn't realized there was a 7.0 until researching this link.) Makes queuing up Red vs. Blue a pain.

Sweet! Now we have something to play besides warcraft 3, breakout, super breakout, and photoshop!

linky for the humor impaired

MAC GAMING? Am I the only one that simply can't relate these two words with each other?

Nope

and nobody mentions the Mac Gamer video from Red vs. Blue? O.o

Thanks to 1UP/Ogamo for its feature discussing the early importance of the Apple Macintosh as a videogaming platform.

Whatever its contribution in the past, Apple is a gaming platform no more. As a Mac user and a semi-avid gamer, I really miss one aspect of my old PC - the über availability of games.

Anyone seen this parody? It's right on the money.

"The PC is so... so confusing! You go the store and there are like.... racks and racks of games. But on the Mac, there are just six!"

--J

"...And then I want you to collect a bunch of free give-away crap like pens and mousepads and those little squish ball things. I love those little ball things! I had one once, can't remember where I got it. It hardly seems important at this stage.................I shore do like poofy things!"

----Taken from PSA #4 titled "Hey, Time Out"

You are thinking of Red vs. Blue's Apple Switch parody.

As a matter of fact, on the RvB Forums, we decided quite some time ago to meet at a local bar, and we've done it weekly ever since.

Why have you ignored the 240, and 242? You also seem to have ignored Newegg, and you have gone with some stupidly high case and power supply combo when you can get a top end case with the same power supply for not much more than $100. $192 for the 240, and 242 for $223. Newegg has free Fedex 3 day shipping. You can easily knock that price down several hundred dollars.

You see with Apple you get one once choice a year, with the PC you get as many choices as you please. Not only that you get Cool and Quiet, virus protection, 64 bit now, and thousands of more applications. With the Apple however you do get to keep your elitist qualities like you are in Hollywood or something. Long live the elites! And then if you are a gamer, forget about it.

My machine was not purchaced "only" for games, however with that said, I use it for them and bring it to LAN parties (http://www.maxfrag.com). I paid just over 3300 for the Box, plus another 2K just for the 23" screen.

BTW> it's a Mac Dual 2Gig processor G5, 3.5 gigs ram, 250gig SATA drive, with a 23" High Definition LCD display. It plays every game that has made for or been ported to the Mac platform faster and better looking than any of the PCs it has been side by side with, and that includes some of the Ultra high end Alienware stuff...

You bring a Mac to a LAN party?

Go check out www.redvsblue.com The funniest Halo stuff you'll see outside a warthog jumping contest.

I agree with you that accessible CGI will make it possible for unknowns to generate very interesting movies.

I suspect that it's going to take more than just raw processing power + rendering software. Along with that is the overhead of artists, story crafters, animation experts, etc. To help destroy all these hurdles, though, could be an engine. Something like a cross between Machina and the Sims.. If an engine could be created like a 3-d shooter, but with more flexibility in the character models' movements (not just standing, crouching, or backflipping) and facial expression extensibility, then this could really take off. Artists could turn out all kinds of different 3-D characters and objects for other people to use in their movies.

Imagine Red v. Blue, but where people could really create short films with all kinds of settings, props, scenery, etc. Now that would be cool as hell.

And for further laughs: Apple Switch-Gamer

The Onion has essentially been doing the same joke for years now. They're certainly one of the funnier sites on the Web these days, but I for one found both Modern Humorist and Red vs. Blue more funny and innovative. I can see it winning People's Voice, but I'm surprised that the Webby awarders didn't spice things up a little.

Realtor: Speaking of which, remember. This guy's a little strange. He doesn't like lumberjacks. Whatever you do, don't let on the fact that you're lumberjacks.
Lenny: We're carrying axes though.
Larry: Well, we got them at Taco Bell. They give them away free with every new taco.
Lenny: Mmm, tacos.

Too bad they only offer it as a Quicktime now. The best way to watch any machinima is through a demo file with the custom models, sounds, and maps using the actual game if it's possible. You might be able to get it through machinima.com if you get under their bandwidth limit. The most famous machinima out there right now would be Red vs. Blue. It's nice that the concept it getting a higher profile.

My strategy: Buy nothing.

This may be helpful.

I also drink No Tea(tm). And occasionally the blood of my enemies, which although not technically free, is subsidised by Microsoft as well as the US government (who also help out by continually telling me who my enemies should be).

I don't know if this counts as "art" in video games, but it beats the hell out of turning on "paintball" mode and trying to paint the walls green.

or is this a lovely little piece of misinformation?

Speaking of misinformation... the article states that "Episode 33 debuted this week.". Is there a different redvsblue site that they're looking at, because on the redvsblue site that I'm seeing, it looks like there's only 30 episodes available... :)

From the redvsblue faq:
F.A.Q.
Q: How do you make the videos?
A: This is by far the number one question asked in e-mail. We use a video capture suite by a fantastic company, Canopus. The card we use is a Canopus DV Rex M1. We also use a variety of software, including Adobe Premiere and a great (and cheap!)sound editing tool called Cool Edit 2000 (now know as Adobe Audition)...

So now you know - and knowing is half the battle..

O.K. But what if we compare it everyone's favorite FPS movie serial?

Oh, wait. That doesn't compare well either. Never mind.

or they could just get these guys to do it.

For all those who have no idea what he's talking about, the Puma reference is from an episode of Red Versus Blue.

Actually, I've been using DVD to PocketPC to rip DVD's down to .wmv files and they look really good for such a small size (128MB or 256MB). It does take a long time to convert (about the realtime length of the movie), but framerate and audio sync are perfect on my Axim X3i. My friends are impressed when I show them a full movie on my PDA. Nothing like having 2 full movies on a 256MB card for when things get dull.

Not only that, since DVD to PocketPC uses Windows Media encoder to do the conversion, it turned me onto the usefulness of that software. I converted all my Red vs. Blue episodes to play well on my PDA and I could carry about 30 at a time on a 256MB card. The predefined PocketPC conversion setting does a great job.

Red vs. Blue... it's actually really funny.

Link.

Jerry Doyle, the actor who played Security Chief Michael Garibaldi on Babylon 5, said that the first season was filmed for about $950,000 an episode -- he figured it was about $19 million for the whole season.

With B5 doing extremely well in DVD boxset form (Doyle commented that 350,000 boxsets at about $80 apiece would bring in $21 million) he remarked that they could effectively film a season and throw it in a box set and it'll eventually make money.

Obviously, that has some pitfalls -- I'm not going to shell out $75 to $100 for a season of a show I haven't watched any of -- but it does lend credence to what you're saying.

Another example would be Red Vs. Blue. Sure, the episodes are free for download in a low-res form; if you donate money, you can get access to high-res versions of the episodes; at the end of the season, they sell a whole season on DVD, and the best part is, if you basically donate the amount the DVD costs over the course of the season, you get it for free!

Leaving aside the fact that Paramount would bury them in lawyers for basically doing fanfic episodes in the vein of Star Trek: the Original Series, Starship Exeter would be another good example of something that might be entertaining, at $8 - $10 a DVD for two episodes, to pick up once in a while. (I'm not sure how they're making money doing basically fanfic episodes in the vein of Star Trek: the Original Series; I assume it's simply for the fun of it.)

I haven't had cable for over 4 years, and it hasn't hampered my ability to socialize with the world; I get my news from Google News and the local paper; friends will record stuff and loan it to me once in a while (I watched Battlestar Galactica and the SciFi Dune miniseries this way) and if you're good at listening, you can get people to tell you what happened on that show you used to watch. (Oral storytelling takes on a new life...?) I'm thinking of signing up for NetFlix and watching TV shows on DVD that way, at least enough to know whether or not I want to buy the box set.

If the MPAA or the networks or whoever want to try to force me to watch shows their way, on their schedule, they will fail. In fact, I'd say they've already failed, not just with me, but with the demographic that's typically the most lucrative for them as well.

Jay (=

Dont foget to ask for "Elbow Grease" and "head lamp fluid". http://www.redvsblue.com

The reason that the X-Box was so easy to develop was because it was basically a PC in a box - Celery 733, Nvidia chipset, standard logic.

But with this approach, developers won't be porting PC games to the console, they'll be written by stratch. Gaming on a Mac

This article is typical of the /. crowd. Do you see a posting for every M$ patch? Nope. And before anyone else posts it, yeah yeah, we'd clog the server with all the articles. Ha ha. But seriously, the only time a M$ patch is brought up is when it is: A)full of holes, B)breaks something, or C)easily ridiculed. Apple post a security patch? Well then /. to the rescue to be as helpful as we can. Hell the Mac zealots here may even DL & install it for ya. I bet you aren't even gonna hear anyone trash Mac for it's security faults because it's probably Microsoft's fault.
Oh and this will probably be modded as flamebait or a troll by these same Mac zealots. So just to take a poke at Mac, you should view this Mac switch ad. C'mon! IT'S FUNNY!!

I thought it was Red vs. Blue

oops
http://files.redvsblue.com/2xPSA6/RvB_PSA6_LoRes.a vi

Even Red vs Blue was affected by the cancelation. Joel, the voice of Caboose, is now looking again for a "permenant" job.

Agreed. Even with Bittorrent this film isn't worth the time it takes to download. It has bad timing, bad acting, bad special effects, and bad jokes. Go watch Red vs. Blue instead.

They also did a mac gamer parody which I am sure will offend a few of you.

They also did a mac gamer parody which I am sure will offend a few of you.

Stupid me! Here's

Because it doesn't play Half-Life?

Gaming Laptop ...

Gaming on a Mac

For those who missed the reference: Red vs. Blue's Apple Switch ad.

What the hell are they gonna do? Take samples of each other?

Sudden, horrible flashback involving the latest Red vs Blue Public Service Announcement... Donut's arse! Sample thereof! By a NASA rover! Eww!

1) Time-shifting rented DVD's is nice (I don't always watch them right away).

2) Time-shifting TV is the ONLY way to go.

3) Music ripper/jukebox with fancy visuals is nice.

4) Mplayer compatible video player works out great for viewing new episodes of Red vs. Blue.

5) Web browsing.

6) DVD burning.

7) Expandable.

8) Upgradeable.

9) Skinnable.

There are certainly a couple of trade-offs, like those times you realize xmltv needs to be upgraded AFTER you've missed recording your favorite program. But if your a Slashdot geek these problems should be right up your alley. Anyone belly aching about the cost or convenience of a HTPC is probably not up for it. But for those of us who are, the additional features and flexibility will trump any store bought PVR any day (and if it doesn't, well just write the extra software!).

Note to potential HTPC do-it-yourself article writers: Use either Mandrake, Gentoo or Debian (if your new to Linux or don't like configuring things yourself: Mandrake). You'll save a lot of time because you can install all the neccisary packages to run MythTV from a single command (ie 'urpmi MythTV' if you've set up PLF or Thacs rpm archive). Its REALLY not that difficult, but if you don't enjoy this sort of project (challenge?) why waste your time. Btw, Hauppauge's WinTV-250 is the way to go (at least for the MythTV project).

Halo portrays those things. Well, they haven't really talked about eating much. But they do spend an awful long time waiting.

Running games? You must be this guy.

Well, I don't switch because I don't consider Photoshop a game. No matter how much you mac-heads believe it. ;)

Ok, so here's the skinny.

Red vs. Blue is based on Halo, and in fact, the videos are created by a group of guys choreographing the movements of a multiplayer Halo game to follow their story.

The story is a relatively simple one. Between the Covenant invasion (Halo) and the invasion of Earth (Halo 2), a brutal civil war broke out between the human marines (the reds versus the blues). While in most places, the fight is ugly and bloody, the boys in Blood Gulch Canyon can't seem to figure out why the hell they are where they are, seeing as though their location holds no strategic value.

Throw in lines like "Women are like Voltron. The more you can hook up, the better it gets," an overbearing sergeant, and a retard of a blue recruit, and hillarity ensues.

I hope this helps.

Blue: I don't know what the technical military term is, but we're pretty fucked up down here! We need men!
Guy in ship: .....Dude, how long have you been down there?
Blue: Huh?... No, not like that!

gotta love red vs blue. Season two's finally started.