As an occasional Machinima maker and enthusiast, the possibilities for Halo 3 are really interesting to me and I intend to explore them fully.
The recorded games feature is, frankly, breath taking. Every game you play is recorded- not as a video file, but rather a data file. What's the difference? If it's data, it means you can place yourself anywhere in the action. Anywhere at any time. Freeze the game, move, hit play again. Incredible.
Below are some screen shots I took on my first day of a sniper shot I fired that I though was a head shot- turns out it was a shoulder hit.
Bobby takes it in the shoulder.
Actually it's more like the armpit.
Thomasr firing from the Book Depository.
Another view of the shot that disappointed a nation.
aDre's view of the shot that may have saved his life. Note the bullet trail is unique to the sniper rifle in Halo1/2/3. regular bullets have no such trail.
Thomasr firing again.
Unbeknown to me at the time was that if I hit the yellow button, it allows the camera to "roam free" and float in space. It is absolutely amazing. The possibilities are almost unlimited. Add in the yet-to-be-explored-by-me Forge feature that allows you to build maps and frankly you could shoot a film in a manner that will leave people scratching their heads. Factor in 1080 high def and wow, there's a whole action movie making device in your Xbox 360.
I am going to have to make a short film using this technology. It's just awesome.
Machinima Makers - Read This Okay, so I've got good news and bad news for you, if you make Halo machinima, and you want to know how to put your weapon down. The good news is, we've got that info for you, thanks to madmax. The bad news? It only works locally or in system link - it will NOT work over Live. Sorry. So: here's the trick (and it really is a trick, you need a lot of fingers): hold down both bumpers, both sticks, A and DPad-Down for 3 seconds. (Three fingers per hand should do it.) To bring the gun back up, just pull a trigger. And oh, yeah - this works in both Multiplayer... AND Campaign. Update: Chris Burke, from This Spartan Life, sent in a correction - you don't actually need to hold down the right stick. The other 5 buttons do the trick. (Louis Wu 19:41:03 UTC)
When I have kids, they get to sit in one of these!:
Good looks apart, BMW's child seat comes with a height-adjustable backrest including a belt carrier and side support as well as a headrest for extra safety. What’s cool though is the fact that the backrest and side support interact with one another, automatically adjusting the seat width as a function of seat height. As a result, the seat literally "grows" with the child sitting in the seat, the correct position being shown by a centimeter scale on the backrest indicating the body height currently set on the seat.
Oh Spring- how lovely thou art! Now while the single horsepower spring racing carnival is looking shaky, the machine based high horsepower racing season is looking more exciting than ever. Alonso vs Hamilton: too close to call! V8s- Bathurst looking as exciting as all get out.
To top it all off, we are perhaps a week or so away from having Casey Stoner crowned MotoGP world champion: our first in the four stroke era and our first since Mighty Mick Doohan. While the GP corporation would ideally have this Championship decided at Phillip Island (and so would the fans no doubt) it looks more likely that the Japanese round at Motegi on the weekend of 22/23 September looks the likely round (trust me, we've sat down and done the points scenarios!).
To celebrate 3AW has organised to have the Station Hotel in Greville st Prahran booked out for MotoGP fans to watch the race on the Sunday 23rd. Being in Japan, the race is one hour earlier- so no late Sunday night! From midday, join Australian Superbike Champion and 3AW commentator Adam Fergusson (and other guests) and me as we preview the race, review the season and watch the race on the multiple projectors and plasma screens at the Station hotel. Numbers will be limited, so get along early!
My Xbox 360 has just returned after what I'm sure was a lovely holiday in NSW having his innards sucked out through a USB opening and then repaired and reinserted via the DVD tray. Ahem.
Anyhoos, I've no idea what precipated this cataclismic event, though I gather these suckers get good n warm.
So to prevent a repeat I bought an "Intercooler" a three-fan cooler that goes over the back of the 360, taking its power from the existing power supply (and moving the actual plug in point back a litte as illustrated).
Upside: no heating issues (hopefully) Dowside: Sounds like jet engine in the living room.
It's not just that the decision to invade Iraq was an ill considered, under planned clusterfuck, it's the post invasion craptacular planning and appalling contractor behaviour and costs that have undermined and made hollow George W's "mission accomplished" speech.
The below-linked article in Rolling Stone is a fantastic piece; not just because it outlines a number of cases of corrupt idiocy, but also the fact that it is really rather gonzo and therefore in the tradition of Hunter S- and "balance" be damned. These idiots are so corrupt they don't deserve the "objectivity" of a counter point.
"Operation Iraqi Freedom, it turns out, was never a war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It was an invasion of the federal budget, and no occupying force in history has ever been this efficient. George W. Bush's war in the Mesopotamian desert was an experiment of sorts, a crude first take at his vision of a fully privatized American government. In Iraq the lines between essential government services and for-profit enterprises have been blurred to the point of absurdity -- to the point where wounded soldiers have to pay retail prices for fresh underwear, where modern-day chattel are imported from the Third World at slave wages to peel the potatoes we once assigned to grunts in KP, where private companies are guaranteed huge profits no matter how badly they fuck things up."
My new GPS data logger (more on this little marvel later) can track every movement you make and is super accurate, plotting information every second and accurate to within centimetres. It is fully compatible with Google Earth and fly-overs of your track are possible.
So accurate is it, I decided to try a little experiment: I walked about in our park on the way home from work (the second track at bottom is from GOING to work) and got the following screen grab from Google earth.: So cool- like the full stop?
"THIS is one of the hardest columns I will write. John Howard has been the finest prime minister Australia has had.
He has overseen extraordinary economic success, created the conditions for a whole new class of aspirational Australians to prosper from the inevitable forces of globalisation, confronted the scourge of terrorism and has fundamentally realigned the political landscape in this country on so many fronts. Under Howard it became cool to be a conservative. He rebuilt a political philosophy of individual responsibility for a new generation. His legacy is profound. From workplace reform to welfare to indigenous politics, to our sense of national identity, Howard has changed the nation in a way very few leaders ever do. Each step rankled his opponents as they clung to old orthodoxies. Yet Howard, through sheer dint of character and intellectual fortitude, prevailed."
wait.... I was going to write a long break down of why a columnist this biased is a waste of space, but on re-reading her comments I vomited a little into my mouth and now need to go and spit this out and rinse my mouth with plutonium.
I am taking the Ms Fits option; do not engage an enemy that is so stupid and beneath you.
Actually it's more like the armpit.
Thomasr firing from the Book Depository.
Another view of the shot that disappointed a nation.
aDre's view of the shot that may have saved his life. Note the bullet trail is unique to the sniper rifle in Halo1/2/3. regular bullets have no such trail.
Thomasr firing again.
Actually it's more like the armpit.
Thomasr firing from the Book Depository.
Another view of the shot that disappointed a nation.
aDre's view of the shot that may have saved his life. Note the bullet trail is unique to the sniper rifle in Halo1/2/3. regular bullets have no such trail.
Thomasr firing again.
