Last week, a very slick-looking trailer for a Left 4 Dead fan flick appeared online. It set a very sombre, serious tone.
Over the weekend, the actual short film was released. It is not what you'll have been expecting.
If you're at all interested in seeing how it was made, you can check out a behind-the-scenes clip here.
Last week, a very slick-looking trailer for a Left 4 Dead fan flick appeared online. It set a very sombre, serious tone.
Over the weekend, the actual short film was released. It is not what you'll have been expecting.
If you're at all interested in seeing how it was made, you can check out a behind-the-scenes clip here.
Done with that Zynga story? Thought that was all the economics you were getting today? Nope. While he's not recommending investor action, writer Paul Manwaring did some number crunching and conservatively valued Team Fortress 2's unique items economy at, oh, about $50 million.
Now, that's not $50 million in real money that Valve has either made, or has been invested by gamers into a system and is floating around loose somewhere. Hats and unique items are found by unlocking crates, crates are unlocked with keys, and keys can be acquired for free, basically at the equivalence of 18 dropped weapons to one key. (They may also be bought for actual money, too.) This is a valuation, nothing more.
Manwaring examined the statistics kept (and made public) for TF2 and, long story short, finds that a community of 30,000 concurrent players each day in TF2 on Steam is injecting $1.54 million worth of "refined metal" into this virtual economy each week. Refined metal is what creates a key. Since the hat economy began in May 2009, Manwaring estimates that "we can be confident in a minimum figure of $52.7 million," as its valuation, "without even taking into account weapons bought in the store, promotional items and more. The true figure is probably double this."
I highly recommend you read Manwaring's entire post. Again, it's not money in Valve's bank account. But it is another way to characterize the enthusiasm and time investment Team Fortress 2's dedicated players sink into the game.
The $50 Million Virtual Millinery [Paul Manwaring, for The Online Society]
Last week, I was so happy to publish a feature about the incredible screenshots of DeadEndThrills, a.k.a. Duncan Harris. Duncan is regularly cranking out so many terrific shots over on his site that I thought it would be fun to share some highlights from each week, as well as a few classics from his many collections.
This week, he's been posting some crazy-pants screens from up-res'd versions of Wii games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy, and appears to have just gotten his hands on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, god help us all.
The gallery can be clicked through above (I recommend expanding the images or viewing them in a separate window to get the full, HD effect). As always, you're encouraged to go peruse his site, which contains many more great shots.
At top, we've got "Starman," which is the first of several shots from Super Mario Galaxy. Duncan is using a technique that Luke detailed for you last week to rip the (already owned) game onto a PC and run it in HD. The results are ridiculous looking, and have shattered my notions of how the great art direction of Nintendo's Wii games makes up for the system's lack of hardware prowess. Yes, Super Mario Galaxy and Skyward Sword still look lovely, but goddam would they look better in HD.
Duncan's notes:
Tools and tricks: Dolphin emulator (OpenGL), 2160p rendering, antialiasing (4xMSAA), textures patched (HUD, pause screen), free camera, bilinear downsampling.
This shot is one of 50 included in a "DeadEndThrills Presents" collection of shots from Portal 2. They're all outstanding, given that that game and its engine are (in my opinion) utterly beautiful. And even better in motion, I think. This one might be my favorite, in that it captures the arachnoid grace of GlaDOS's character design.
Duncan's Notes:
About the screenshots. They weren't really possible until Valve finally patched in custom FOV to coincide with its release of the Portal 2 SDK. I'd tried this thing with combining timescale modification with the game's zoom function (an FOV slide, effectively) but it was a pain in the butt. There's also a quirk in recent versions of Source that makes 2160p unavailable when using triple buffering, and let me tell you it took ages to figure that one out. Finally, there are the extraordinary gymnastics required to get Chell in shot through the thirdperson camera.
A great shot from one of Modern Warfare 2's most memorable bits—this is a great example of how a free camera can give a perspective on a scene that was unattainable while playing. I was personally way too concerned with not falling off the mountain to notice how gorgeous everything was.
Duncan's Notes:
Tools and tricks: game client 1.0 (boxed version), MW2 Unleashed command console patch, high quality ambient occlusion, custom LOD bias, 2160p rendering, antialiasing (FXAA), no-HUD, timestop, free camera, custom FOV.
Another outstanding shot from Super Mario Galaxy. Some of these are almost unsettling, given how unused I am to seeing Nintendo's characters rendered with such clarity.
Duncan's notes:
Tools and tricks: Dolphin emulator (OpenGL), 2160p rendering, antialiasing (4xMSAA), textures patched (HUD, pause screen), free camera, bilinear downsampling.
Another amazing one, of one of Portal 2's most striking bits of level design. Same notes apply as the last one.
The last of the Super Mario Galaxy shots, and my favorite. Lookit that junk! Could you imagine if this game was playable in HD? I am much more excited about the WiiU than I have been previously.
Duncan's Notes:
Tools and tricks: Dolphin emulator (OpenGL), 2160p rendering, antialiasing (4xMSAA), textures patched (HUD, pause screen), free camera, bilinear downsampling.
The first of what I hope will be many shots from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. (God, do I really have to do the periods thing every time I write that game title?) This shot manages to evoke what makes that game so great—the openness, the bleak beauty, etc. I hope he tackles Far Cry 2 at some point.
Duncan's notes:
Tools and tricks: 2160 rendering, antialiasing (SMAA), free camera, time demo recorder, no-HUD, STALKER Complete 2009 mod, STALKER FOV Switcher 1.7.
Terrific shot from Super Smash Bros Brawl - it almost doesn't look like a game. In fact, I'll say that this image is a touch disconcerting… which I like.
Duncan's notes:
Tools and tricks: Dolphin emulator (OpenGL), 2160p rendering, antialiasing (4xMSAA), in-game Photo Mode, free camera, bilinear downsampling.
It woudn't be DeadEndThrills without an epic Skyrim shot, so here is one of the most epic he's done. Fuck yeah. In Duncan's words: "Like much in Skyrim, this falls somewhere between being a massive anticlimax and the best thing ever." Notes on how he accomplished the look are here.
Valve action figures. Based on Half-life, Team Fortress, Portal and Left 4 Dead. It was amazing news back in June, but since then, all we've seen is teases. Nothing final. That changes today.
Figure maker NECA took the wraps off the first Left 4 Dead action figure, the Boomer, which isn't due until well into 2012. NECA's figures can be pretty hit-and-miss when it comes to things like proportions and joints, so it's good to see him looking spot-on.
In addition to the Boomer shots, NECA also showed off a prototype image of a Smoker zombie, which is looking just as good.
Valve's Left 4 Dead Boomer – 1st Full-Color Pic Out! [NECA, thanks John!]
Kotaku's "Best Game Music of 2011" is a multi-part series in which we'll be discussing the best video game soundtracks of the year. Today, we'll be looking at and listening to the interactive robo-crunch beats of Portal 2.
Portal 2 comes in near the top of a lot of critics' "Best of 2011" lists—it was a joyously brainy, well-written and brilliantly designed puzzle game. I have a soft spot for it partly because it inspired me to break out my dominoes and write the most fun game review I've ever written. But I also love how musical Portal 2 is—beats, tones, and rhythms run through its very core. In fact, I think that the game's rich musicality is one of the things that sets it apart from its hard-to-follow predecessor.
The score, composed by guitarist and electronic musician Mike Morasky, directly challenges the idea of a "score" when it comes to a video game. There are plenty of great musical tracks, all of which can be downloaded for free from Valve's site. But the magic of the game is how the designers at Valve incorporated the same musical elements from the soundtrack into their gameworld. There is a lovely and rare revolving-door relationship between the tones on the Songs to Test By album and the actual game Portal 2.
Rather than pick three favorite "Songs," I thought I'd just break it down by three great musical experiences found in the game.
Thanks to YouTube user llSoulfirell for posting this clip—this segment, taken from one of Portal 2's early testchambers, was the moment that I truly fell in love with the game. It's a tricky three-part laser activation puzzle, requiring careful placement of the reflector boxes to proceed.
Once a laser touches its designated receptacle, something very cool starts to happen—music starts to play. The first receiver triggers a rough, shifting synth that moves between a low E, F#, G# and D. Trigger a second receiver and you'll hear an A#, a G# and an F#, which combine with the first four notes to imply a tonality known as Lydian (technically lydian dominant, but we'll get into that in a second). Lydian is what's called a mode, a way of dividing up a scale to get a certain sound. It's the brightest sound you can derive from the major scale (better known as the scale sung in "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music). Its most distinctive aspect is that raised fourth note, which is what makes it sound like a major chord with a little window opened right in the middle, the better to let in some more light.
…Erm, okay, music nerdiness has gotten away from me. It happens. Anyhow, hitting the third and final laser receptacle triggers more variations of the notes we already are hearing— a second D combined with that lower D brings out a dominant tonality, making the whole thing a loose lydian dominant chord (or an E7#4).
Theory aside, the upshot is that one moment you're solving a puzzle, the next you're listening to a bright, mystical lydian soundscape. And of course, as soon as you hear it, that means you've solved the puzzle and will be moving on. The story continues, GlaDOS goes back to taunting you…but if you're anything like me, you're also just a little bit more in love with this game.
Portal 2's "Faith Plates" (which are really just ironically named catapults) are another splendid use of dynamic music, made cooler by how they interact with and riff on the harpsichord music that plays in the background. This video gives a great example of that, with the two faith plates doing a harmonic and then rhythmic variation on the harmonies set forth in the canned classical music. (I can't for the life of me figure out what the piece is; hey man, classical music ain't my forté (see what I did there)).
(But of course, it is Bach. Thanks to the esteemed Matt Burns for the heads-up.)
I really enjoyed this video as well, which uses a user-generated level to make the faith plates interact more directly with the harpsichord. Music! Games! Science!
So obviously this video is of the ending of the game, so if you haven't finished it, don't watch it. Also, if you haven't finished it… go finish it! What are you doing?
I was gobsmacked by Portal 2's entire ending sequence—it was entirely unexpected and truly inspired, easily one of my top gaming moments of 2011. The whole sequence is paced so effectively—players are in shock after the whole mind-blowing "Shoot the Moon" bit, and suddenly find themselves on an elevator being serenaded by four turret-bots. It's charming and funny, but soon fades… until we are carried up to a cavernous chamber that is filled with bots of all shapes and sizes (even the animal king!), who proceed to let loose an auto-tuned aria that still gives me goosebumps.
Kick through that and up to Jonathan Coulton's funny closing song (which I must admit I didn't dig nearly as much as "Still Alive" from Portal), and you've got my favorite finale sequence of 2011. I sense I am not alone in this.
Hit that video and watch it again; it never gets old.
So there it is, one of the most adventurous mainstream gaming soundtracks of 2011. You'll notice I said "One Of," because… hmm… could it be that there were soundtracks that were even more adventurous? Only one way to find out. Our series will continue tomorrow with yet another of the best video game soundtracks of 2011.
An article on Hungary's MSN portal about teen sexuality uses an interesting image to illustrate its point. And by interesting I mean amazing.
For those who can't instantly see the disaster zone, it's a Holy Trinity of PhotoShop disasters. For starters, either the main is playing on a cardboard box, or the screenshot overlay was so poorly implemented that it looks like he's playing on a microwave door.
Next, that's a Nintendo Entertainment System. Of which Counter-Strike, pictured, missed by over a decade. And finally, it's a Counter-Strike screenshot of two dudes humping.
See? Amazing.
Kamaszok szexuális élménybeszámolói a neten [MSN, via Reddit]
I celebrate Australian Christmas with cold beer and barbecued meat. Valve, well, Valve celebrate it a little differently. In 2010 they took Team Fortress 2 all medieval, and in 2011, they're sending it into space.
Continuing a partnership began earlier this year, the first items coming as part of the festive update are from WETA's Dr. Grordbort, giving the Engineer some new weapons and tools and the Pyro just some new weapons. All of which look amazing.
There are the customary comics as well, the Pyro's prominence thus far giving fans hope that this Christmas, finally, may be the time we get to Meet the Pyro. And get some questions answered.
[Team Fortress 2]
In Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood sits Alamo, a giant cube sculpture by Tony Rosenthal which dates back to 1967. The artwork, a.ka. the Cube, lives not far from New York University, The New School, and few other landmarks. It's been in music videos by Cypress Hill and other groups and has been the subject of a few pranks, including one that turned it into a giant Rubik's Cube.
This morning, the latest stunt involving Alamo turned it into the Weighted Companion Cube from Valve's popular Portal games. Oversized swaths of fabric covered one of the city's most famous sculptures in the beloved inanimate object's signature hearts-and-squares. A note from the Caltech Prank Club claims responsibility in the distinctive language of Portal's Aperture Science corporation. Sadly, there wasn't any cake to celebrate the occasion.
The Cube has a sweater been turned into a Weighted Companion Cube* this morning [Welcome to the Funhouse]
Left 4 Dead isn't exactly the most romantic game. It's not romantic at all. But that doesn't mean it isn't a wonderful place to ask for a lady's hand in marriage.
That's exactly what one gamer did. In the above video, things start out normal enough, then the level is ripped apart, and then things get sweet.
The mod was created by RT Frisk for the young man who asked for Jessica's hand. And according to him, she did say "yes"—only after asking him if he was kidding.
Left 4 Dead 2 Proposal [YouTube via Dtoid]