CUBE Let’s Play- Part One of the Other-World Trilogy

I’ll be posting some of my gaming vids from time to time.

Today I’m going to post the first vid from my Let’s Play CUBE.

CUBE is a Modification of Half-Life 2 Episode 2 set in an Alternate Universe that nevertheless crosses over into the Half-Life/Portal Universes we know and love. It is abundantly clear that a huge amount of effort has been taken to produce a game play experience that rivals the A-List titles is is a modification of- it is excellent, flat out excellent!

It is also one of THREE modifications based in this OTHER LIFE universe. The other two are OTHER LIFE which they’re just getting going on and HATCH 18 (Which they’ve released a Demo for already.)

These can be found by searching at Moddb.com.

Hatch 18 Demo Only
Other-LifeEarly Development
CUBE ModPlay it NOW!

This series is truly going to be something special. I implore you not to play the Hatch 18 demo before finishing CUBE- because CUBE sets up the world and Hatch 18 continues it.

Happy Gaming!

Ross Out

Pilot order for Bob From Corporate

This just in and hot of the presses SyFy is in the process of developing a pilot for a new sci-fi series currently titled Bob from Corporate.

James Middleton, who worked on the axed way too soon Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and Jamie Paglia are on as Executive Producers. Currently not much is know about the show other than the following:

Corporate is a secret government organization that investigates strange scientific incidents and goings on. The groups leader is a strong personality whose stance on morality could be considered to be detrimental. And he likes to blow stuff up (so we’d get along swimmingly).

Sounds like fun they’ll be more news as it’s available.

Ross Out.

Black Mesa is About to DROP!

Oh my goodness!

Image via Wikipedia

Talk about exciting news ripping a hole through the Half-Life Universe just today the news has Broken that Black Mesa formerly known as Black Mesa Source is very close to release! Black Mesa all out, megasized, Source powered and designed, fan made, super high quality remake of VALVe Software’s Half-Life released way back in November of 1998.

A Little History

The folks behind Black Mesa have been working long and hard on this project. Work began on the project in 2004 and has continued non-stop since then- this is all the more impressive when you consider the huge undertaking that remaking an entire game is. Those behind Black Mesa are from around the world and are doing this on a voluntary basis- they did announce one release date back in 2009. However when that didn’t end up being the case they adopted the traditional “When it’s done” release date.

They’ve kept eager fans satiated by posting on their messageboards, and releasing media updates but those have been fewer and further between recently. Why was that? We now have our answer.

The Date is Soon

Today the webmaster at the Black Mesa website posted the following message in the forums:

 It was said that once the soundtrack is released, one could expect the launch of black mesa two weeks after. I can now say that a new website will be launched with the soundtrack in preparation for the mod. **** if we care about the current website. Just take a good look at it because it will be gone soon enough.

That alone speaks volumes and there a couple of other people who have been working on the project who have also made similar statements.

Did I mention that not only will this file be huge…but it will also be FREE!

I’ll be keeping you guys up to date, but it’s great to say to all Half-Life fans that the release of the ultimate user made project is on the doorstep of completion!

Here’s the Official Trailer:

Ross Out.

Here’s Part One of my Let’s Play of LIMBO

Hey guys!

Not much time to say hey and that’s why I’m not updating nearly as often…very BUSY. However I’ll try and get back in the flow.

That said…here’s the first part to my Let’s Play through the game of LIMBO!

I’ll Be Back!

Ross Out

PENTATONIX WINS The Sing-Off Season 3!

The Moment

This post is late because I couldn’t write it before actually watching The Moment from last night- heck the whole episode- I have no t.v. so I watched the entire season on my laptop. And let me tell you watching the live blog of the finale of The Sing-Off on ACapellaBlog was not for the faint hearted. It took FOREVER last night, and about a million page refreshes to see the words PENTATONIX WINS- and did they ever! I am so ecstatic for the Futuristic Five of Pentatonix!

From their first phenomenal performance they had me falling in love with music by artists I generally would never in a million years listen to- and then they did the unthinkable- they improved each and every week! I don’t know what the judges were talking about but their performance of Love Lockdown by Kanye West was freaking awesome! Each performance opened a window into the creative minds of the Futuristic Five and once they got going the only thing that could stop them was themselves.

And yet they excelled in music styles that on paper, and probably at first glance, would seem impossible for a five person group to even accomplish. I trembled at the idea of Rock…and they blew the doors off Born to Be Wild! Country, we’ll just be as simple as we’ve ever been, cool, fun and awesome! Kirstie, you made me smile too!

I could wax on about all of you other performances too however I will simply say this The Dog Days are Over!

Here are their performances from last nights LIVE finale for your enjoyment.

Once again my heartfelt congratulations to all of the Futuristic Five that make up the awe inspiring  PENTATONIX!

Ross Out!

Musings on The Sing-Off: A Capella and the Future

So those of us who’ve watched every episode of this extended season of the Sing-Off saw 16 teams grace the stage and now we’re down to the final three. Voting is closed and someone, somewhere, knows who the winner is- and it will be revealed live tomorrow night. I’ve called in my votes and sent them all to the team I was fascinated in from the beginning- the futuristic a capella force that is Pentatonix (PTX).

I chose PTX because simply they promised amazing things and the delivered them with EVERY performance. They are a young group with plenty of possibility for growth, and as I’ve seen in other pieces (and I wholeheartedly agree) PTX has a more than legitimate chance of breaking into the charts. They are fresh, incredibly powerful, full of vocal tricks, and sound like a 18-20 person group- this with three singers- an absurd beatboxer- and a surreal bassist. I can’t say it enough, they CONSISTENTLY delivered. Therefore based on this argument PTX should- and probably will be revealed to be the winner.

But what if Urban Method (UM) or the Dartmouth Aires (DA) end up winning?

UM has a legit new style of A cappella all their own, a fusion of Rap and A Capella. They have been fun to watch, quite exciting, ingenious. Yet as much as I was on board with them at the beginning I began to tire of the Rap in every song, I began to tire of the dramatics, and I was glad when they were shaken up and relegated to the bottom two on one occasion. That drove them to have a rebirth of sorts, the judges called them out and they delivered, the women of the group were awesome- knocking the vocals out. Their performances last week were fantastic- arguably their best yet. They certainly could win, but do they deserve to, I’d argue that they do not.

The Sing Off: Our Turn Now! Get the Vote Out!

Alright, we have a final three to choose from on the Sing Off and they are ( in my order of appreciation based on watching the entire season):

PENTATONIX

Voting information: Online at NBC.com/singoff 10 votes per person per e-mail address. Via Phone 10 votes per number:  Call 1-877-674-6401 or text 1 97979.

They had me from the very beginning and have consistently performed fantastic arrangements of a vast plethora of songs. Bringing a huge stage presence, distinct future-pella style, and a refreshing Christian team stance on foul lyrics they have been by far the most impressive and cutting edge of the season. Not only that but this is a group of  five that sounds as big as my number two choice after the break, Scott, Mitch, and Kirstie (the original Trio) between the Meat and Potatoes (Kevin and Avi respectively) have to be honest simply blown the competition away all season.

The last two performances are below:

After the Break the other two finalists and a performance from Fourth Place finisher AFRO-BLUE!

Zack Stentz Writes NoFateCon into His Calendar!

My writers sense is tingling!

Image via Wikipedia

Man I am so damned excited now if all things work out I’ll finally get to meet ZACK STENTZ!

Heck maybe…nah…well maybe…there I go thinking out loud again.

Zack wrote imho some of the very best episodes of T:SCC and he’s still writing for television and movies with writing partner ASHLEY MILLER.

Perhaps you saw a tiny movie called THOR or another little flick called X-Men First Class?

Yeah…that’s my dudes right there.

Don’t forget to check out The NoFateCon Website where you can find out more about this excellent event!

Go team SCC!

Ross Out

The Sing Off: Pentatonix introduction and E.T.

Well tonight’s the night @ 8 P.M. on NBC’s The Sing Off the final Four will give the most important performances of their lives as they try to make it to the finals.  Tonight each group will be performing mashups of two songs into one…and in the second hour they’ll be performing judges choices- we can expect an insane night of awesome A Capella.

Last time I posted about Pentatonix (PTX) I ended with a vid of their most recent performance Let’s Get It On..tonight I just thought I’d share their first performance and group introduction from their very first spot on The Sing Off.

So here are PTX Performing E.T. by Katy Perry.

GO PTX!

Ross Out

This is PENTATONIX!

This is PENTATONIX!

I honestly don’t think I’ve enjoyed another season of The Sing Off as much as I have Season 3. However I had some issues because I fell in LOVE with PENTATONIX for the first four weeks every other one was AWESOME!

Please don’t get me wrong, I love A Capella music there truly is nothing like it. All of the groups that appeared on S3 were excellent in their own way, from MESSIAH’S MEN to VOCAL POINT to my second fave group THE DARTMOUTH AIRES this season has been filled to bursting with awesome A Capella. Why oh why did NORTH SHORE get the boot as early as they did?

However no one has come close to PENTATONIX, from the very start they set the bar exceedingly high for themselves and IMHO they have met or stunningly BLOWN AWAY that bar and everyone’e expectations. Case in point the very latest episode they closed it out with the SICKEST cover of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On I have ever heard! Watch it after the break!