Galaga Legions DX (Namco Bandai)

Galaga Legions is a classic shoot 'em up and was developed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series.

Galaga Legions returns with greater features! Three years after the release of the sensational remake Galaga Legions. This year marks the 30th Anniversary of Galaga, a sequel to a classic title! Like the previous sequel, the world renowned Pac-man CEDX development team has worked on the title! With more intuitive and smoother controls, experience the great gameplay of famous battles with immense swarms! Compete with your friends for high scores! Once you start playing, you won't be able to stop! Why don't you give it a try?

Xbox Live Trial Gameplay

Click here to view the embedded video.

Half-Minute Hero - 勇者30 (Marvelous Entertainment)

Half Minute Hero is a remake of the 2009 PlayStation Portable game. It is a mixture of RTS and RPG.

The world is at its end, and you have 30 seconds to save it. Welcome to HALF-MINUTE HERO -Super Mega Neo Climax-! A complete hypersonic RPG adventure: start your quest, meet people who need your help, fight through dark dungeons, earn money, upgrade equipment, level up, level up, level up, and take down the final boss...all in just half a minute! There are 62 entire RPGs in HALF-MINUTE HERO, each with its own leaderboard to earn medals and compete with friends. You've never played an RPG like this before!

Xbox Live Trial Gameplay Part 1

Click here to view the embedded video.

Xbox Live Trial Gameplay Part 2

Click here to view the embedded video.

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And because we had so much fun with the game we made a walk-through , which you can watch over at our channel on YouTube. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Five years have passed since the dramatic events in Antaloor brought the whole world to the edge of the abyss and the hero's strength is finally exhausted. He is a prisoner in the dark dungeons of Gandohar's castle and any hopes he has of saving his sister seem to have vanished along with his freedom. In spite of a self-sacrificing battle against evil, the twins were separated and Kyra is now under the influence of a powerful magic spell from which there is no escape. Evil influences are attempting to awake the slumbering powers of an old generation in order to dominate all of Antaloor, and the hero is powerless to do anything about it...

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Cheers!

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long time no read. I know, I know, but I'm still very swamped with work and I hope to start posting again very, very soon.

That being said, recently a very dear friend o' mine started recording and editing gameplay footages from pc games and uploading them on YouTube, check it out: McAkomx's Channel ! And no he ain't no hollywood wunderkind if y'all are wondering, so cut McAkomx some slack, will ya?

So long fellas,

The Don

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I've played mostly Red Faction: Guerrilla. This game is simply awesome. The fact that you can destroy pretty much anything in the environments invites some serious tactics. For example planting remote-exploded bombs under a bridge and killing passing enemies by blowing said bridge at the right moment.

Or blowing up huge smokestacks at the right moment only to watch said smokestack fall on a patrolling enemy car, following by exploding said car, throwing exploding car into the next enemy crowd. Resident Evil 5, however awesome this game is and Batman's super-awesome free flow combat system simply can't beat this for me!

That being said, Resident Evil 5 and Batman: Arkham Asylum are both awesome games! Batman even more so if you have a Nvidia GPU allowing you to play with PhysX enabled. Gives an even more eerie feeling when traveling in damp, dark corridors!

As for Resident Evil 5:

I recorded all 53 in-game cut-scene cinematics from Resident Evil 5. During the recording I switched the costumes (Chris: Warrior, Safari. Sheva: Clubbin', Business) and filters (default, retro, classic horror).

Sadly only 3 gameplay videos! Maybe I'll record a few more, when and if I play Resident Evil 5. The game is great, don't get me wrong. But it has very little replay-value for me. Since I played the game through I can replay all chapters. If you want me to replay a specific chapter, throw me a mail, tweet, dent, or leave a comment!

Batman: Arkham Asylum - Gameplay
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Screenshots

Red Faction: Guerrilla - Gameplay
Red Faction: Guerrilla - Cinematics
Red Faction: Guerrilla - Screenshots

Resident Evil 5 - Gameplay
Resident Evil 5 - All 53 cut-scenes
Resident Evil 5 - Screenshots

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The biggest problem most of us face while recording gameplay clips with Fraps is its disk space usage. Fraps records everything uncompressed, continuously (free version is limited to 30 sec.) and sequential. Meaning from start till stop the "whole" clip is split into single 4GB files (For FAT32 filesystem user convenience).

The length of a single 4 GB clip depends on the resolution and the in-game scene you record it in. For example, for me a 4 GB clip has about 90 sec. worth of gameplay in 1920x1200 resolution.

Because of this uncompressed real-time recording your frame-rates drops significantly while playing. There is NO way to keep up 40+fps with Fraps running unless you have one hell of a monster system.

Imagine what happens when you want to capture a 30+ min gameplay clip. Either you buy yourself a Terabyte HDD or you use a very simple trick: recording in half-size, upscaling and sharpening. Read the How-To guide!

This guide is intended for 16:10 and 16:9 resolutions. It should not be used for 4:3 resolutions. One cannot upscale a 4:3 resolution into a 16:9, i.e. true 720p or 1080p, without the end result either having black bars left and right or being over-stretched/-squeezed.

Recording in Half-screen/size

Before we start with VirtualDub transcoding, upscaling and sharpening, we first have to record our gameplay. We do not record our gameplay in full-screen/size mode, as usual, but in half-screen/size:

This means if you have a game running at 1920x1200 resolution, Fraps will record it at 960x600, or if you run it at 1280x1024, Fraps will record 640x512, etc. Which in turn translates into much more gameplay time in each 4 GB file.

Another example: While recording in 1920x1200, I only got about 90 sec. (1:30 min) per 4 GB file, recording in half the resolution (i.e. 960x600) resulted in about 360 sec. (6 min) per 4 GB file. Whole 270 sec. more!

Upscaling and Sharpening

We want HD Quality, so we're going to upscale and sharpen our recorded clip. Start up VirtualDub, open the uncompressed file, change in "Video" -> "Full Processing Mode" and "Audio" -> "Full Processing Mode", then set your VirtualDub according to this screenshot:

Save your settings via "File" -> "Save processing settings" or Ctrl+S, so you can simply load them in the future. Saves a lot of time!

Addendum: Regarding "Threads"; QuadCores = 6, DualCores = 3.

You'll need VirtualDub and the H.264 codec, which you can get here. Get the VFW-version, and pay attention if you're downloading x86(32bit) or x86_64(64bit).

The settings in the screenshot are the same ones like in "VirtualDub 720p HD settings for YouTube! [Good quality, small file size]", what differs, however, is that we are also going to use the "sharpen" filter. If you want a very detailed explanation what each option in the x264 codec does, check this out!

We call the method to resize a lower resolution (960x600) to a higher resolution (1280x720, in this case), UPSCALING (sometimes also refereed to as up-converting). For your information, 1280x720 is the Standard HD (720p) resolution. The other is Ultra-HD or Full-HD (1080p, 1920x1080).

However due the upscaling method we lose quality, which is where the filter "sharpen" comes in. Upscaling from lower to higher resolutions causes the image to "blur" (A more detailed explanation).  Sharpen counteract this.

You'll have to experiment with the slider in preview mode around a bit, until you find the result best to your liking. I found myself settling down between 23-30, depending on each clip.

When everything is set, start transcoding via "File" -> "Save as AVI".

Now on the other hand, if you UPSCALE from a lower resolution to HD resolution the video is not really HD material anymore, because you lose quality during upscaling. Just saying. It's at best pseudo HD.

Two important VirtualDub settings you should not forget:

"Options" -> "Preferences" -> "Threading": Set the "Video Compression Threads" to 1. This is important if you have a multi-core CPU to make use of the multiple cores and in turn speed up the transcoding process.

Since VirtualDub Version 1.9.4 there's an option to use your GPU as part of the transcoding process. Make use of it to additionally speed up your transcoding process. "Options" -> "Preferences" -> "3D accel", hack in the box.

Addendum 16.05.2010:
I've been getting mixed messages. Apparently using "3d accel" causes it to render slower than usual on some systems. I can confirm that. With 3d accel turned on, a 10min video takes about 1 hour 10-20 minutes, while turned off it takes about 1 hour max. You'll have to experiment on your system!

Addendum 23.10.2009:
There’s currently a problem causing VirtualDub 1.9.4 - 1.9.9, crashing under Windows 7. The culprit is 3D accel! Turn it off under “Preferences” -> “3D accel” and enjoy VirtualDub once again!

Update 27.01.2011:
Updated Setting screenshot

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As you can probably imagine I'm currently playing the 3rd new DLC, "Point Lookout". It's Bethesda's 4th one and many more may come (I guess I was wrong, 5 is enough!).

Point Lookout takes you to an isolated island, it is Fallout 3's equivalent of Point Lookout State Park. An amusement park, with a huge carousel surrounded by a damp swamp and an old lighthouse overlooking it. It gives off an eerie feeling.

And the bonus: remember the Pint-Sized Slasher? Perhaps Point Lookout, Maryland is where the Slasher originated.

The whole DLC is somewhat horror / thriller themed. The nuclear bombs did not fall on Point Lookout, but the island was simply forgotten and left to its own resources.

New monsters are present, the Swampfolk, inbreed hillbillies with hostile attitude toward the player, such as Trackers, Creepers/Scrappers and Brawlers/Bruisers. Even a swamp variant of ghouls and mirelurks. Oh, and a new set of humans too, the Tribals.

Of course new quest-able perks are added, although nothing huge, still funny to have and weapons such as double barrel shotguns, axes and shovels.

Because so many Confederates died during the American Civil War on Point Lookout, you'll find Confederate Hats by the thousands.

All in all, I can only recommend this DLC! The 5th DLC "Mothership Zeta" is coming in July August, and will supposedly involve the crashed alien ship and not so friendly extraterrestrials.

Gameplay clips:
The Local Flavor (Calvert's Mansion): Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Exploding Calvert Mansion

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I say this, because I play this game, and boy, is the violence excessive. Only game that beats X-Men Origins: Wolverine 'uncaged edition' in terms of violence, blood, guts and gore is Ninja Gaiden.

Game's an action-adventure. You get to play Wolverine and relieve his past, especially his Origins in Weapon X. According to Wikipedia roughly 90% of the same-titled movie storyline is in the game as well.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine 'uncaged edition' is about fast paced action with a sheer amount of chainable combos where guts drop, heads roll and limbs fly with jaw dropping fatalities as an icing on the cake!

Oh, and you get to watch Wolverine losing flesh 'n bones and regenerate them slowly back.

At some point, if you are careless enough you can see Wolverine almost striped naked to his adamantium skeleton. An awesome sight.

But it ain't everything gold everything that shines. The whole game is too easy. No matter what difficulty level you choose you'll blaze through the game in your sleep. And those minibosses, man I tells ya, they be teh suck! Repetetive...almost always the same ones and the first tactic that worked before still works on the 12385th one.

Music...bah, where be da coolz music? Very boring music, I had hoped for a more noticable music during the game play, but nada, zip! And most importantly, there's no friggin' multiplayer mode.

I mean are you friggin' kidding me? I can no has smash me friends? I's sad panda! Co-op would indeed be very nice to have, but that would make no sense in a game about Wolverine.

Perhaps some deathmatches in some sort of Arena? Now that would be cool. The sheer amount of combos and fatalities would indeed give a great replay value, if only there was a multiplayer mode...

Clearly the 'uncaged edition' was meant for the mature Wolverine fans while the "light" versions for Wii and PSP are acessible to our young'uns. All in all a must have for the Marvel fans; a should-have for the fast-paced melee-combat loving fans!

Links to various YouTube gameplay clips, cinematics, cut-scenes and In-Game screenshots after the break!

Screenshots:
http://www.the-screenshots.com/v/xmenoriginswolverine

Cinematics:
Game Intro
Adamantium Process
Wolverine Quits

Cut-scenes:
Wolverine vs. Creed in Tavern

Gameplay:
First Level, African Jungle: Part 1/3, Part 2/3, Part 3/3
Costume Challenges: Legendary brown-tan, Classic blue-yellow, X-Force black
Easter Eggs: World of Warcraft's Frostmourne , Surprise Cake
Wolverine vs. Sabretooth
Wolverine vs. Sentinel: Part 1/2, Part 2/2
Wolverine vs. The Blob

Walkthroughs:
Chapter 2, Mission "Team X", 3 Platform Puzzle

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Just thought I'd share great indie game with you. Braid is the name, a lovely jump 'n' run puzzle adventure. This game was released in August 2006 on XBox Live Arcade, but just recently, on April 10th 2009, came to the PC platform.

It's played by solving physical puzzles in a platform game environment much similar to that of Super Mario Bros. . Tim the Protagonist runs, jumps and climbs across the game's level while avoid being touched by plants, enemies and whatnot. Just like in Super Mario Bros. .

One of the unique game feature is the unlimited ability to control and manipulate time. Tim can reverse time and in essence go back where he just was moments ago. A great feature if you just got killed by an enemy; simply reverse the time and continue from there on again.

The game world is divided into 7 smaller worlds with an extra, what you may call, overworld in form of Tim's house. The various worlds are entered through doors from Tim's house.

What's much more fascinating are the graphics. Although it's only 2D, the graphics are simply amazing. And the music, don't get me started on it. Perfect composition between graphics, music and levels. Which is why Braid got such high review scores!

The PC version of Braid comes with another great extra: an Editor! Players can create whole custom worlds for others to play in.

It truly is a great game for the occasional play session. Give it a try!

I made a short gameplay clip from World 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFKMCEBXYzY

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