Dedicated Fan paints the Master Chief

Today I was looking around on the Internet when on Youtube I saw this video of the Master Chief being painted with an airbrush. This isn't just some slapped together stick figure art either. The attention to detail is simply astounding. It's pretty big too, measuring at 36 inches x 44 inches.

The best part is that very soon it's going up for sale. Instantly images of setting this up on my mantle place come to mind. This is one of many paintings he's made including Darth Vader and Indiana Jones. I highly suggest checking out this up and coming artist.

Here's the video, I wish I could do this.



Go here to see more.

SpiralFrog provides Unlimited Free Music. Is it any good?

There are quite a few music distribution services. First there are the ones like iTunes, charging per track. Next are the steaming music websites. These suck because the music can only be played though your browser and the quality varies based on the speed of your bandwidth. Last are the unlimited download music services that charge a monthly fee.

SpiralFrog.com is a unlimited music distribution service that doesn't have a monthly fee. SpiralFrog makes money off of ads and referrals to Amazon.com, (If an album is not available for download)not for songs. You can download as much as you want for 30 days. The songs are encoded in DRM so they stop working after that (unless you renew). After the month ends, all you have to do to keep going is renew you membership. Just fill out a survey and then you got another month, it's pretty easy! Everything will be extended by 1 month.

Around 800,000 different songs are available in 21 different genres. Including, Rock, R& B, Hip-hop, Classical, and Electronica. A large selection of music videos are also present in those same genres and yes, they have DRM encoding too.

Signing up is easy just provide a E-mail, Password, Nickname, and Zip Code. (I haven't received any junk mail....yet.) From there just install the free software and you're all set. Songs will be downloaded into a directory you specify.

There are some annoying things. For example: Although you can set up a download list, you can't just set it and forget it. You have to click download for EACH SONG. This isn't so bad if your downloading a few songs but, it gets tedious when you trying to grab an entire album. Also if you prefer to take your songs on the go, each track can only be copied to er... two different MP3 devices. CD burning is out as the DRM prevents that, unfortunately.

All in all it's awesome for a free service. Every music fan owes it to themselves to check it out.

New Halo 3 VidDoc: Cinema Paradiso

Bungie Released a new VidDoc today talking about saved films and Forge mode. Forge mode alone looks like it will truly revolutionize Halo forever.

Downloads:
The large version is here the medium size is here and the small is here

They also have a Saved Films Faq Page

Exclusive Halo 3 Crossword Puzzle

To help ease the agony of waiting for Halo 3 to come next week, I made a crossword puzzle! Print it out and enjoy! (Answer page coming soon)

Click for larger version

Update: Here's the answer key:
Update: I Replaced the old ones with more Printer friendly versions

Halo 3 single player complete Tsavo Highway videos leaked

Someone apparently has access to Halo 3 and has posted videos from the single player campaign level Tsavo Highway. 12 days early! It's been split into four parts and I've posted them below:

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

Gametap giving away PSPs for referring five friends

Gametap is giving away a free PSP to anyone who signs up for the 99 cents for the first month deal and then referrers five friends who then buy two months of Gametap gold subscription, the first for 99 cents and the second for $10.

This is pretty good if the stars can align and you can convince five friends to sign up. So really the only way this would work out is if you know 5 people who already want to subscribe. You can learn more here.

New Halo 3 Teaser Trailer: Museum

This is a clip from the full ad coming out on Friday

New Team Fortess 2 Trailer: Meet the Engineer

Breakdown of which Elder Scrolls IV Game of the Year Edtion is the best

When The Elder Scrolls IV came out in March of last year it received multiple Game of the year awards. Then later that year, on PC, Xbox 360 and on PS3, The Nights of the Nine Expansion pack came out. A bunch of smaller content downloads came out about the same time. Included in those are: a pirate ship, a wizards tower, a few extra quests and more. Earlier this year The Shivering Isles was released and added tons of new content; Much more then the previous expansion.

This week (or so) the Game of the Year Edition will be released. This includes the main game, Nights of the Nine, and Shivering Isles. Shivering has to be installed on a Hard Drive (on Xbox and PC at least). I'm not sure exactly how this works or if even it can be installed on more then one Xbox/PC. Not included are the other download-able content, such as horse armor (Not that great) and Mehrunes' Razor (Pretty cool). If you want these you still have to buy them separately.

So this is how the prices for everything break down for an Xbox 360 setup: (Retail prices are from Amazon.com)
Original Elder Scrolls IV (New):$29.99 + Shipping
Nights of the Nine and all the download-able content: 1,930 Microsoft Points (Or about $24.13)
Shivering Isles off of Xbox Live: 2,400 Microsoft Points (Or about $30)
Total: Approximately, $84.13

Elder Scrolls IV: Game of the Year (New): $59.99 + Shipping
The rest of the download-able content: 1,130 Microsoft Points (Or about $14.13)
Total: Approximately, $74.13

So basically if you haven't bought anything, buying the GOTY on the Xbox 360 will save you about ten bucks over buying everything separately on that platform. It's not a bad option if you have an Xbox 360 and haven't bought any version of this game.

The PC version is $50 but doesn't come with the DLC as far as I can tell. So then you have to buy the Nights of the Nine pack that comes with the DLC Plugins. But then it's around 70 bucks total.

All that's added in the $60 PS3 GOTY version is the Shivering Isles (Nights of the Nine came with the PS3 version originally). No DLC here either and I'm not sure if it ever will be supported. This version does have crisper visuals then Xbox, I hear.

None of the different versions are really better then the other. The meat of the game is what's included in every version: the main quest. What it all comes down to is what hardware you have.

Has the Xbox Fall 2007 update Details been Leaked?

I originally saw this here. I not sure if this the real list of changes or even if this lists everything or not. It looks genuine but we can't be sure until Microsoft releases the list.
Here's what is on the list:

• Compatibility with 3rd party wireless controllers
• Compatibility with messenger pad
• Xbox Live Vision firmware upgrade, sharper image filtering
• Many more Vision Cam settings
• New screensaver settings - when away from Xbox 360, screensaver will play for optional time, before screen goes dark
• New Xbox Live Arcade blade - where you can download, play and learn about Xbox Live Arcade
• Brand new “web based adver-games” flash games which aren’t downloaded, but are playable bite sized games, accessed via new Xbox Live Arcade Blade
• New Screensaver option in Themes and Gamer Pics option in Marketplace blade
• New functionality with Messenger, works with chatpad
• New XNA Game Launcher for those that have the program, new options
• New language, time and date settings
• New “advertising opportunities” in gameplay
• Xvid support
• New “favourites” option via Xbox Live Arcade, can rate according to preference
• IPTV Functionality - support for TiVo like PVR options. Will be able to record TV direct. Options include source by channel, director, actor and distributor
• Filter friends list, will be able to filter friends via games
• New clan support - will be able to launch clan games direct from dashboard, can “fold” friends into new clan category in friends list
• Better translations in settings and other options for Japanese, German and Spanish languages
• New quick option to delete via X Button in memory viewer.
• Option for having downloadable In-game content not inform when completed download
• Option for having video content not inform when completed download
• Faster settings for viewing unfinished video content downloads
• New option in Games tab - beta and others, will be launcher for MMO and multiplayer betas
• New option in Marketplace Games tab, search by letter, can be inputted via text pad or console
• Smarter game settings - you can be messaged via publishers about new in-game content for your games
• Picture in picture functionality for DVD Drive and some other updated settings
• Improved USB Keyboard settings
• Improved voice chat settings in game and from dashboard
• Faster response times to Redeem Code settings
• Option to play a Redeemed Code game straight after redeeming code
• Console will now recognise low Hard Drive space, will inform you immediately if can’t download current item, will automatically download next available that is able.
• Increased space size for gamerpics and dashboard themes
• Themes can now be animated
• Themes may now have sound effects
• Better slideshow capabilities, new options added. New sound effects and integration with Hard Drive/ PC music capable.
• New estimated timer for downloads, informing how long download will expect to take
  

I also read that there will also a timer for parents to limit game-play. Read the article here.

If this list is real, it would add some pretty cool features.

Dump your PC and Get a PS3!

Are you still running on a single core Intel with 256 MB of RAM and a nVidia 5200? You may be thinking it's time to upgrade that jalopy setup you have and go to the shiny, candy coated world of Vista. Whoa! Hold yer horses there, cowboy! A better option lies around the corner from a source you may not have expected: Your Playstation. Since late last year, Yellow Dog Linux (Made by Terra Soft Solutions) has been the official secondary operating system for Playstation 3 (GameOS is the default). Other versions of Linux have been confirmed as being compatible, including Ubuntu, Fedoro Core 7, Gentoo, and Debian but, I'm am unaware if they are as easy to install or if they even work as well as Yellow Dog.

For the uninitiated, Linux is an operating system like Windows, except that it has been completely designed from the ground up for free by programmers to run faster and be more stable. Nobody truly owns Linux so it can be distributed for free. It's a Unix-like Operating system. There is also a huge host of free software ranging from word processors to media players to games even.

Linux Games
Linux doesn't really have too many commercial games, although there is quite a few native games for it. A few stand out including X-plane and Darwinia. Some companies have ported games in-house to Linux: Bioware, Epic Games, id Software, and EA to name a few.

Cedega, has been porting PC games for a while now and, for a small monthly fee, provides patches for hundreds of games that will now work under Linux including: World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion, Need for Speed Carbon, and Half Life 2 plus loads more. These work in varying levels from near perfect to needing a little more work. Despite this inconsistency, Cedega updates regularly so if they can find a way to get your favorite game working like new, you be the first to know. Just imaging the speed that six cores (Yellow dog uses six of the eight cores and saves 2 for GameOS) can run my game of Half life 2 at makes me all warm and toasty inside. Especially when my Windows PC freezes after running it for 30 minutes.

Update: Cedega doesn't work on a PS3 because PC games require a Intel x86 architecture. However, bochs, an in development x86 Emulator, is worth a try for emulating windows software on Yellow Dog.

Put a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) on your PS3
Watch a lot of TV when not playing games? Well why not put a PVR on your PS3? With just as many options, and sometimes even more, than as Windows Media Center Edition, Open Source PVRs are a perfect alternative to Microsoft's media software. People have plugged in a USB tuner and run MythTV on it. Check it out here. The menus maybe aren't as pretty to look at and it may take a little more effort to setup but, it's just as good as the competition. The high def capability for the PS3 (Yellow Dog only runs in High-Def) means anything you record will look crystal clear too.

Oh and if we're lucky Sony will release their Official PVR in America.

Hardware
While most PC-Windows setups will run easily $1000 and up the PS3 isn't a dollar over $600 before tax (In America) and it's more than three times faster then most PCs! With one 8 core CPU and the super fast RSX graphics card, you differently won't be hurting for more power. It has Two Terraflops of system floating point performance(Whatever that means), for crying out loud! Yeah, I don't know what a Terraflop is either, but it just sounds cool...and kinda like a painful diving technique. One possible Achilles heel is the paltry 512 MB of ram, but Linux can do far more with that then Windows can. Here's the Full Spec Sheet for PS3.

Because Terrasoft knows that every PS3 will be made the same theres no need to fiddle with every option until it works. There are only a few things that they have had trouble with. One is the built in wi-fi, It doesn't work completely. Another thing is it can't take full advantage of the RSX graphics card yet. (As of version 5.0). But this may all change as time wears on.

Install
Terra oft has instructions for installation of Yellow Dog Linux of PS3 here: (PDF Alert!) Here's the Terra Soft Homepage and Downloads page too.

Setting it up is a snap. Simply backup all the stuff that you wanna keep on a USB hard drive, because ALL MEDIA WILL BE ERASED DURING HARD DRIVE FORMAT so be mindful of that. After that, all it takes is reformatting the Hard Disk to work as if it were two (Repartitioning), installing it and bam! You just kicked it up a notch! And thanks to the USB ports all over your brand new Linux monster using a mouse and keyboard is as easy as plugging it in. The hard drive can even be replaced if you want more then the hardware comes with (As long as it's a serial ATA interface). Here are some pictures from the PS3 manual.

If all this talk about reformatting and installing is giving you heart palpitations, Terrasoft has PS3s with Linux Pre- Installed available here, mice and keyboards too.

Even if you don't use it as your main computer it's worth it to try out Linux on one of the fastest commercial available computers around. Especially if you already have a Playstation 3 or plan to buy one.