Kung Fury: Street Rage [2015, Windows / iOS / Android] Review - It's a Pixel THING - Ep.#53

Ten days after its worldwide released on youtube, Kung Fury has already more than thirteen million views!

Crowd funded through kickstarter, the movie tells, in 30 minutes, the story of a renegade cop who travels back in time to kill, no more nor less, Hitler! So, expect a lot of Nazis, Vikings and… wait for it… Dinosaurs!!!

Backed by more than seventeen thousand fans, this kickstarter campaign was launched in December of 2013 and gathered more than six hundred and thirty thousand dollars, three times more than its initial goal! An HD download and physical copy on blu-ray and DVD was shipped to backers of the project in November of 2014 and, now, 6 months later, everyone have the possibility to watch this amazing, hilarious and cheesy movie from writer, director and actor David Sandberg. Yes, David is the main star of this freaking cool movie!

Right after the movie’s première in Cannes and on youtube, was also made available on Steam the PC adaptation of the film, just like it would happen in late eighties and early nineties, except there was no steam or other type of online store back then!

Developed by Hello There, Kung Fury: Street Rage is a beat-em-up video game that features superb stereo music, amazing true color graphics and hordes of Nazis to beat!

That’s all we have to do, beat the crap out of all enemies that appear on screen by pressing the left and right buttons, or arrows on the keyboard, and try to get the highest score possible!

The best of all is that, visually, it’s simply amazing and gorgeous to look at! It feels like we’ve just travelled back in time and in an arcade saloon trying out this new game that has just arrived! Awesome stuff!

With tons of beat-em-up video game references “a la” Streets of Rage and even to the He-Man animated series, it features, also, a digital presence of the rock’n’roll “king” of the eighties David Hasselhoff with a Knight Rider twist. So, both movie and video game should be experienced by all nostalgic fan of this type of thing. Better saying, Kung Fury should be seen and played by everyone! This is what kickstarter is all about, funding projects that people really want to see, play, feel and touch! Not some pointless stuff that only guys with a tie around their necks think that will bring big money to their mighty corporations, deviate some to their own pockets and later be arrested for doing so!

Please, tell all your friends about this epic eighties adventure. Let’s make Kung Fury the video with more visualizations on youtube surpassing PSY with its Gangnam Style! The links to both movie and game are below.

And there are even iOS and Android versions of the game that plays, looks and sounds exactly the same as the one shown in this episode! And those portable versions are completely free!!

Do yourselves a favor and grab the game and the soundtrack! It’s really amazing and takes you right back to the eighties!

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Watch the movie here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg

- Get the amazing soundtrack from: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/kung-fury-original-motion/id999155960

Get the video game from:
- Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/373180/
- iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kung-fury-game/id987523910?mt=8
- Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=se.hellothere.kungfurygame

This video also features music from:
Andrea Milana - The First Samurai - Echoes RMX (Commodore Amiga)

15 Video Games for Valentine's Day - It's a Pixel THING - Ep.#38

First of all, there’s some rules that we need to, somewhat, respect:

1 – Buy a game with your significant other and avoid sequels;

2 – Prepare some snacks and other surprises;

3 – Be patient with your explanation of the controls and gameplay;

4 – Take lots of breaks to avoid getting too tired;

5 – Lose on purpose from time to time;

6 – If your loved one isn’t enjoying it, you need to stop immediately;

7 – If you lose because of your partner, don’t be mad! Just laugh it out loud!

So, here’s my list, without any specific order, of awesome games for Valentine’s day!

Starting with LEGO series of games: 

All of us have grown up playing with those LEGO blocks that have that amazing feeling of transporting our mind to this alternative reality.

Boys and girls, we all are familiar with those cute little characters that are around since 1949. I used to play with these way before I placed my hands on my first video game.

LEGO games are available for a handful of platforms: PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, Vita, Xbox, XBOX360, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo DS, 3DS, Game Boy Advance, Game Cube, Wii, Wii U, and this is one awesome way to spend Valentine’s day!

Next up: SONIC & ALL-STARS RACING TRANSFORMED 

This is a funny mascot-based racing game in which players race against each other using characters from various Sega franchises. There’s also several varieties of weapons to pick up and use against your opponents, just like in the beloved ReVolt, from 1999.

Sonic is such a cute video game character that will certainly be recognized right away and even bring back some good old memories of playing the very first Sonic game on the Master System or Megadrive/Genesis!

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is available for PS3, PS Vita, Xbox360, Wii U, DS, PC and Android and iOS portable devices.

And, what about a good old arcade game from 1982?

Here’s: Ms PAC MAN 

If you have an arcade cabinet in your home, this is one good way to spend some time with your loved one! There’s hundreds of co-op games that you could play with your soul mate. Imagine how hard it is to choose just one.

Because of that, I’ve chosen Ms Pac Man. That way, you’ll be letting your significant other play and you’ll just stay there, watching and be thrilled for getting in return some smiles and laughter.

PLANTS VS ZOMBIES is one of those original ideas that turns certain games into great classics. 

Just imagine having a variety of different plants protecting your brain from getting eaten by zombies! Well, that’s what this game is all about!

Originally available for PC and Mac and, later, for portable systems, XboX live and PlayStation Network, this is a highly addictive and funny game to play alone or in co-op mode.

FEZ is such a beautiful indie puzzle platform game that utilizes pixelated art style with plenty of references to other classics of video gaming like, for instance, The Legend of Zelda, Tetris and Super Mario Brothers.

Available for download since 2012 for Xbox360, PC, Mac, Linux, PS3, PS4 and Vita, this kind of unique two-dimensional puzzle platform game set in a three-dimensional world is so amazingly beautiful that you and your partner will find yourselves stopping to smell the roses for countless times!

Set in a beautiful and challenging world, Rayman Origins  is one of those games that you can’t miss when trying to get someone into gaming.

Released for the PC, Mac, PS3, Xbox360, Wii, 3DS and PS Vita in 2011, this amazingly colorful side-scrolling platformer is playable with up to four local players, but, for valentine’s day, 2 players is enough, don’t you agree with me?..

ROCK BAND series 

is another great opportunity to bring people together. Just form a band with you loved one and choose which instruments both will be using and free yourselves playing and singing some of the most charismatic, influential and brilliant songs ever made!

Grab a PS3 or Xbox360 and start making some noise!

In the end, you’ll be hugging and kissing!! That’s guaranteed.. or your money back!

Another cute and awesome little puzzle game ideal to play with friends and, above all, super special friends, is Critter Crunch, released for PS3, PC, Mac and all iOS devices between 2008 and 2012.

The concept is quite simple, control this furry creature named Biggs and, with his long tongue, we must clear each screen launching smaller critters into the mouths of larger ones filling them up. By doing this, you’ll be helping the continuous flow of the food chain.

Ahhhh.. such a cute game, with regurgitation scenes and all…

Castle Crasher, 

with its unique cartoon art style, is a side-scrolling beat-em-up, with some RPG elements thrown in, that’s so amazingly fun and addictive set in a medieval scenario where a dark wizard has stolen a mystical gem and captured four princesses. Stories like these, of knights in shining armors and damsels in distress, are always welcome in such an important date as valentine’s day. You and your partner will be, for hours, fighting these hordes of funny looking enemies just to breach the castle and save the day!

It’s available for Xbox360, PS3, PC and Mac.

Diner Dash: 

In this strategy and time management type of game we’ll find ourselves working hard on a diner, seating and serving people. You just drag and drop customers on any available table, serve their meal and, when they finish, take the correspondent check. At this time, customers leave you a tip and all the dishes on the table for us to clear so other customers can use that particular table.

This is an ideal type of game to get someone into gaming and it is available for PC, Mac, Wii, DS, PSP, PS3, Xbox360, Android and iOS devices, and it spawned numerous sequels.

  

I couldn’t end this video without pointing a Mario game. So, my favorite is the New Super Mario Bros. for Wii.  It’s a highly addictive super colorful game that needs absolutely no introduction.

This little gem sold over 10 million copies and was considered the fastest selling single-system game ever made! That’s one hell of an accomplishment! Just fantastic.

And this game is enjoyed by all genders, from youngsters to senior folks! So, once again, you won’t miss with this one! Your soul mate will certainly fall into your harms just begging for one more go.

Is this what you really want to do on valentine´s day?...



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Top 6 Mountain Bike Games Ever - It's a Pixel THING

Besides playing games, real Mountain Biking is an hobby of mine. The freedom and the sensation of almost being part of nature is something that inspires me and keeps me motivated. 

NUMBER 6

MOUNTAINBIKE CHALLENGE 2010 (PC) 

Developed by GreenTube, Mountainbike Challenge 2010 is a freeware title financed by in-game advertising.

Graphics are great, the controls are simple, but the music is a bit repetitive.

It still has a huge online community and thousands of people still play it online.

There’s only 5 tracks available, but, in a free game, what else could you ask? It’s freaking fun!

Go play it!

NUMBER 5

No Fear Downhill Mountain Bike Racing (1999 – PS ONE) 

Developed by Unique Development Studios and released by Codemasters in 1999 for the PS ONE, No Fear Downhill Mountain Bike Racing features 8 international tracks and 8 riders to choose from.

The tracks are long and based on real locations and you can customize your bike on almost every detail.

To win you need to conserve your energy, so try to maintain your speed at all time.

Reviews were really bad but, who cares? It’s made for people that love riding bicycles and not play freaking football!

Later, in 2001, was also available for the Game Boy Color. A planed Dreamcast version was canceled.

NUMBER 4

Mountain Bike Adrenaline (PS2 - 2007) 

Mountain Bike Adrenaline isn’t as bad as most people praise. It tries to be a real mountain bike simulator and, when you get used to the controls, its great fun.

Developed by Fresh 3D and released in 2008 by Nobilis, it has a sense of freedom that no other mountain bike game has to offer. And I love that feeling!

You control separately the front and the rear brakes and use automatic or manual shifting. 

Unfortunately, the physics engine is a piece of crap. The budget that the developers had for this title was really low compared to other games made for the PS2 at the time. So, they couldn’t use the Havok physics engine in this game. It was too expensive.

Those who are actual mountain bikers are the only ones that will probably enjoy this game’s open tracks.

It was ported, in 2008, for the PC.

NUMBER 3

Bike Mayhem Mountain Racing (Android - 2014) 

Horizontal scroolers is what android and iOS games are all about! Simple and fun! And the graphics in this game are simply beautiful!

You compete in timed races or freestyle trick events on 19 different mountains and over 100 trails inspired by real world locations. 

You unlock better bikes and gear and try to be the King of the Mountain!
Physics are somewhat realistic and the ragdoll effect of the rider is awesome. 

When you crash, use your finger to pick up the rider and throw him even further watching him tumbling down the trail! So freaking hilarious!

Developed by BestFreeGames Inc. and released in May 2014, Bike Mayhem Mountain Racing is a great piece of software that should always be in your pocket.

 

NUMBER 2

Mountain Bike Simulator or Mountain Bike 500 (ZX Spectrum – 1991) 

Published by Codemasters in 1991, Mountain Bike Simulator (aka Mountain Bike 500) was my first experience on a virtual mountain bike scenario.

It’s an horizontal scroller, just like actual Android and iOs games, that glued me to the ZX Spectrum for hours.

In a time that BMX bikes ruled, mountain bike started to gain followers spite the prohibitive price tag of the machines.

Obviously that this game fails to replicate the actual feel of riding a bike over rough terrain, but that would be a tad difficult to do on a Spectrum anyway.

You have to navigate through small and large bumps, jump over ditches and pools of water or oil. You only need to control the speed of the bike and whether you want to jump or wheelie or both.

There’s six levels of increased difficulty and it’s really hard to win in all of them, but the smoothness of the scrolling is what makes this game a winner.

The game received shitty reviews mainly because the sport was a novelty and, back then, either you buy a ZX Spectrum or a brand new mountain bike. You just couldn’t have them both. You’ll be bankrupt, that’s for sure!

NUMBER 1

Downhill Domination (PS2 – 2004) 

Donwhill Domination is simply my favorite mountain bike game of all time.

The action, the soundtrack, the graphics, the speed! Oh, man! Everything is amazing and super fun!

It’s totally an hidden gem and reviews were, as always in this sport, total crap. Guys that sit all days on their asses playing games and making reviews for websites and magazines should go out to the mountains more often!

Exclusive to the PlayStation 2, Downhill Domination was developed by Incognito Entertainment and released by Codemasters in 2004 in Europe and a year earlier in the US by Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

It’s based on fictional locations and riders, but you can unlock 5 professional racers, such as Brian Lopes and Eric Carter.

Due to the incline of the tracks, you’re always riding downhill and there’s 27 of them to conquer. You travel around the world from the Grand Canyon to Japan and there’s a bunch of different styles of riding from which to choose, including Freeride, Mountain Cross and Technical Downhill.

There’s some impressive and huge courses to play with an amazing level of detail and the environment changes often. In a minute you’re on the top of this mountain covered with snow and seconds later you’ll find yourself on a stony section or blasting your way through a mine shaft that leads to a completely different section again. There’s even polar bears, deers, vehicles and hikers that you can hit or be hit by.

This game was designed to be played fast and do stuff that you’ll normally won’t do in real life.

I simply enjoy exploring the wilderness and everything offroad related. Mountain biking is a thing that I really love to do ever since I learned to ride a bicycle.

Forever I’ve been on a lookout for mtb games that could keep me occupied in those cold winter Saturday mornings. 

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My Home-Theater: Parte 2

Passados dois anos após o início do meu projeto Home-Theater, alguns aspetos foram alterados para que a experiência do cinema em casa se tornasse ainda mais gratificante.


O media center
Possuo uma coleção de mais de 1500 DVD (99% são filmes). Era uma missão quase impossível quando chegava a altura de selecionar um filme para a sessão da noite. Preciosos minutos eram desperdiçados em busca de um determinado título perdido algures pelas várias estantes repletas de lombadas. Por mais que eu tentasse organizar a coleção, esta nunca ficava totalmente ordenada.
Assim, e uma vez que possuía um computador extra ao qual não se dava uso absolutamente algum, coloquei mãos à obra e transformei-o num PC media center.
Por ter já alguns anos, determinados componentes necessitaram de ser atualizados. Desta forma, a configuração atual é a seguinte:

• motherboard Asus P5Q-SE2
• processador Intel Dual Core E6400
• 2 GB RAM DDR2
• HDD: 1 TB + 2 TB Seagate
• gráfica nVidia Asus EN210 Silent 1GB DDR3 com ligação HDMI

Como o PC é baseado no Windows 7, dei, inicialmente, uma hipótese ao programa que está incluído com este sistema operativo. Pouco tempo depois, este mostrou-se bastante básico e sem vida.
Parti, então, em busca de alternativas e deparei-me com o XBMC, um dos mais apreciados programas para media centers, e totalmente gratuito, desenvolvido a partir do software incluído na Xbox original. Após algumas configurações e aplicada uma skin mais atrativa, o programa é de simples utilização - wife-friendly - e de excelente qualidade sonora e visual mesmo em projeções HD com quase 270 centímetros de diagonal (106 polegadas).
Bastante útil é, também, a aplicação XBMC disponibilizada para smartphones Android e iPhone. Através desta aplicação e da ligação WiFi disponível, posso controlar todo o conteúdo multimédia disponível no media center como se de um controlo remoto se tratasse. No ecrã do próprio telefone são visualizadas as bibliotecas de áudio e de vídeo existentes podendo criar listas de reprodução ou simplesmente controlar o que está a ser visionado no momento. Se, porventura, receber uma chamada telefónica, a reprodução é colocada automaticamente em pausa e retomada assim que a ligação for terminada. Muito útil!

Em baixo uma pequena demonstração do media center XBMC com a skin Aeon MQ3:






O recetor AV
Claro está que com um projetor HD e um media center em que o áudio e o vídeo podem ser transportados via HDMI através da gráfica, estava na altura de atualizar, também, o recetor AV.





A escolha recaiu para o Pioneer VSX-521K cujo preço é bastante atrativo e a sua qualidade geral bastante acima da média. Para além de uma parafernália de conexões A/V, possui quatro entradas e uma saída HDMI 3D Ready, ou seja, versão 1.4.

Muito importante também é a descodificação dos formatos de som surround de alta definição Dolby True HD, DTS-ES, DTS-HD, entre outros.



Além do recetor AV necessitei também de substituir o subwoofer. Sempre a pensar num sistema "low budget" acabei por adquirir um Pioneer S-21W que se mostra suficiente e competente para o espaço que disponho.







O espaço
Como habito numa zona bastante húmida, coloquei recentemente mãos à obra e dei azo à minha veia de pintor.
Este foi o resultado final:

A zona que envolve o "ecrã" é cinza zinco mate o que, para além de dar a real sensação de estarmos numa verdadeira sala de cinema, provoca uma assombrosa melhoria na qualidade de imagem aumentando drasticamente o contraste.

Incluo, de seguida, algumas imagens captadas com um smartphone Samsung Galaxy S após a pintura da parede:

E, também, um pequeno excerto da cena introdutória do filme "Star Wars: Episódio III - A Vingança dos Sith" (desculpem pelo volume mínimo sonoro):


Este projeto ainda está longe da sua conclusão. Há posters por emoldurar, colunas frontais, central e de surround por substituir.. enfim, é algo que me dá gozo de fazer e desfrutar.

Estejam à vontade para criticar, questionar e opinar.
Até breve!

Usar o Smartphone Android ou iPhone como um Controlador de Jogos para Windows e Mac

Todos nós gostamos de jogos casuais. Verdade? Decerto que, hoje em dia, qualquer um de nós possui um Smartphone Android ou iPhone. Correto?..
Que tal esquecermos o teclado e o rato e usar o nosso telefone para controlar os jogos no computador?

Se tudo isto soa bem demais para ser verdade, vale a pena espreitar o Wanderplayer. Com este programa (ainda em beta), poderemos jogar mais de 30 jogos diferentes diretamente no computador (Windows ou Mac) enquanto utilizamos o Smartphone como controlador, prevenindo a má posição que muitas vezes o teclado e rato nos proporciona. Wanderplayer é muito fácil de instalar e em menos de 5 minutos estamos prontos para começar a jogar.


Preparando o Wanderplayer.
Clicar em www.wanderplayer.com para fazer download da aplicação para o computador em questão. O programa ocupa apenas 1MB no disco rígido e consome somente cerca de 4MB de memória RAM quando está em execução (no Windows 7).

De seguida necessitamos de obter a aplicação para o Smartphone Android ou iPhone.

Após o programa instalado no computador, basta iniciar a aplicação no telefone e observar como ambos se conetam entre si. Quando isto acontecer, o ícone Wanderplayer no desktop (no Windows, no canto inferior direito) passa para amarelo e uma mensagem aparecerá. Claro está que, para tudo isto acontecer, ambos os equipamentos (telefone e computador) deverão estar na mesma rede WiFi. Visto que o Wanderplayer foi criado para uso doméstico, não haverá qualquer problema.
E, assim, estamos prontos para começar a jogar!


Como foi mencionado em cima, o programa ainda se encontra em fase beta, logo poderão ocorrer alguns bugs.