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Vegas Movie Studio – How to make HD video for YouTube and Vimeo

Yes, i know i’ve become a bit addicted to video tutorials and reviews, it’s a phase i’m going through and it’s really exciting learning these new applications and sharing my knowledge back is the least i can do.

This is a short no fluff tutorial on how to export and render video for YouTube or Vimeo or any other service which provides HD streaming capabilities.

This tutorial is in Sony Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 – Click Here To View This Video In Multiple HD Formats

Sniper: Ghost Warrior – Review & Some Basic Gameplay!

Another video game review for you guys. This time it’s Sniper: Ghost Warrior and i’ve personally given it a rating of 5/10, not that my rating means a damn thing or anything. Anyways it turns out all other magazines / video game coverage websites are all rating it below 6.

Hope you enjoy the review and I’m terribly sorry about the thumping sounds within the video, couldn’t be bothered getting back to the beginning and editing it all over again.

This video has a prettier intro than my previous one due to the fact that i got the hell away from Adobe Premier CS5 and decided to use Sony Vegas which out-performed Adobe Premier CS5 in every way possible. I’d recommend anyone who is thinking about getting into some serious crash and hassle free video editing to use Sony Vegas.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior is a first-person shooter for the Xbox 360 and PC. It was released on June 29, 2010 for the Xbox 360 with the PC version released on June 24, 2010 via Steam. The game is based around the role of the military sniper, which the developer has noted that the public interest of which has increased thanks in large parts to shows on channels like the History Channel or the Military Channel. The game’s objective is to insert players into the role of an elite sniper team set into a hostile area in an attempt to help the rebels of Isla Trueno, a fictitious Latin American country, fight against the force who has toppled their government in a coup d’état. Reception so far has been mixed to negative. Petter Hegevall, reviewer for GameReactor Sweden, awarded the game 5/10.

References

External links

• Official Website
• Release Announcement
• Sniper: Ghost Warrior on Steam

Video Review

Singularity Video Review & Gameplay Footage!

Something a little different for you guys today, and that something different would be a video game review.

Premise

The game takes place on a mysterious island known as “Katorga-12″ where Russian experiments involving “E99” took place during the height of the Cold War era. Sometime during 1950, a terrible catastrophe known as the “Singularity” occurred on the island, causing the island’s very existence to be covered up by the Russian government. The player controls Nate Renko, a Black Ops soldier who is sent to investigate bizarre radiation emissions coming from the island, only to crash land there. After regaining consciousness, Nate finds the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) and discovers that the island is constantly shifting between the time periods of 1955 and 2010. He also encounters Victor Barisov, the scientist in charge of the Katorga-12 experiments who reveals that a man named Nikolai Demichev is on the island to try to restart them on a much larger scale, which could cause an unthinkable disaster. During the quest to stop Demichev, the player will have to deal with hostile Russian forces in both time periods, and the hideously mutated flora, fauna and former residents of the island, some of which have developed time manipulation power of their own.

Gameplay

Singularity’s main gameplay device is an artifact known in the game as the TMD (Time Manipulation Device), which includes five different functions, each allowing the player to achieve a different effect.

• Age Revert: This allows the player to move an object or human backwards and forwards in time. It can be used for instance, to repair broken walkways, by sending them back in time to a point before it was broken, revert an empty oil barrel into a full one, turn a crate that a group of enemies are using for cover into rotted wood, or turn an iron fence blocking your path into a pile of rust. Using it on humans transforms them to a primal state, causing them to turn against friend and foe alike or ages them into a pile of bones and dust.
• Deadlock: an ability that allows the player to create a sphere of temporal energy that slows down or stops everything in it. It could be used by throwing it at a group of enemies, resulting in all of them stopping. Then the player can enter the sphere and shoot all the enemies until they die. After the player removes the sphere, all the enemies will die at the same time. It can also be used as a shield to stop or slow bullets or other projectiles.
• Impulse: The Impulse function sends out pulses of energy, which cause targets to be thrown backwards and instantly kills small enemies. It can also turn intangible enemies tangible again.
• Gravity: When targeted at an object, Gravity will attract the object and hold it while freezing it in time. This may be used, for example, to grab a live grenade and be able to hold it indefinitely without it exploding.
• Chronolight: a “time-invariant flashlight” that allows the player to view things as they were in other time periods in certain areas. Combined with Gravity, the player can pull an object out of a time period to use in the present and solve a puzzle or open a locked door. The Chronolight isn’t attached to the TMD from the start of the game and is later given to the player by one of the Russian scientists on the island.

The TMD can also be used in conjunction with special power stations scattered across the island that greatly amplify its power. In some instances, the player can use this to restore entire ruined buildings or wrecked ships to their pristine state in order to progress. However, these major alterations are highly unstable and will begin to revert almost immediately, forcing the player to dash through the restored structures as they start to decay and collapse around him.

The developers also announced in an interview with GameInformer that the player will not have regenerating health such as personal shielding, and will instead have a traditional life bar. Raven believes that this will force the player to slow down, and explore the game, ensuring that the experience is not rushed.

Video Review

WeLoveIt.com – An awesome review!

Well, it’s been about three days since my last post and to be honest i feel terrible about not brightening up your days with either a boring or half interesting post!

So i’ve stumbled across  a website dedicated for the sharing and indexing of peoples treasured photos & artworks. The twist on the site is the fact that the community can actually vote and comment on certain pictures allowing certain pictures to raise up above the others.

It’s very similar to news aggregation sites which allow it’s content to be manipulated and handled by the user, instead of having some sort of moderation or middle man policy. Below i’ll include some pictures and some information provided in the about us section on the website.

Read more…

Runes of Magic Review – Free To Play MMORPG – World Of Warcraft Alternative

Runes of Magic, a free-to-play medieval fantasy MMO, wears its inspiration on its sleeve: its developers are obvious fans of World of WarCraft. Then, as you cautiously tinker with its all-toofamiliar systems and settings, little improvements and tweaks start to win your approval.

A Mage with an axe is a Mage perfected.

Starting as a Human or an Elf (more races are promised), and picking one of eight classes such as Mage, Knight, Priest and Rogue, you’ll receive a ‘gift bag’. Inside it are a bunch of potions, a mount and another bag that you can’t open until level two. Inside that is more of the same, as well as a third gift bag. New spells and abilities just seem to pop into your head as you meet the level requirement. Runes of Magic keeps up a lively torrent of items and cash, and quests and abilities.

When you’re ready for a break, you should visit the House Fairy – she’ll set you up with your own house and sell you some furniture, which you can position freely inside (no feng shui here). My room just has a bed, a stool and a functional chest, but I’m saving up for a nice rug that’ll really tie the place together. And that’s all fine, but for any really useful furniture, you need to get out your credit card and buy some diamonds.

Kobolds just don’t have much luck in these games.

Potions R Us

The Cash Shop also stocks potions that boost your experience gain, resurrect you and increase the chances of rare items dropping. It’s easy to see how those things would give you an advantage over free users. That Phoenix potion you bought might let you best a more skilled opponent in an otherwise fair fight – returning you to full health when you’re about to die, finish them off or let you snag a random selection of their gear and inventory.

There’s something a little too streamlined about Runes of Magic. There are innovations here, but they’re meek little things that make grinding easier. The dual-class system is just an alternative to the extensive talent builds you’ll find in other such games, as individual classes come pre-specialised. It’s as if Runewaker are scared to make their game too unique just in case they lose that inevitable section of players who look upon it as a free World of Warcraft.

Killed enemies leave behind attribute cards.

It’s just not good enough. If Runewaker had focused on their unique ideas, such as the planned guild versus guild ‘castle siege’ mode, maybe I’d be buying some diamonds. They could have been radical, chopped off the first 30 levels and let you get into the good stuff right away. As it is, it just feels like an insulting exercise in pandering to demographics; female characters are crudely over-sexualised – spilling out of their blouses, wearing metal thongs and garter belts.

The whole enterprise is a little too eager. Play! Spend! If it brings anything new, it’s hidden it under a banquet of familiar favourites, and it’ll spoil your appetite.

iPhone 4 Review – The best review available!

The iPhone 4 is here.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800×420.

You’ve already seen it of course. Both before and while Steve decided to show it off. You’ve seen the box (although Apple.com had that up there since they launched the iPhone 4 on their site – who knows why that’s so exciting, ha). You’ve had iOS4 in your hands for days or weeks. And I’m going to show it all to you again. Because now it’s in our hands.

The Packaging

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800×512.

(you can click any of the photos in this article for larger versions)

The box is smaller than the previous iPhones. It comes much the same as the other iPhones have – cardboard box, wrapped in clearwrap. Also, the box is white, even though the iPhone is black.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 500×366.

Once opened, the iPhone 4 is immediately viewable on top of the box, with the same protective clearwrap as previous models. Also the same is the USB cable, earphones, and USB to AC adapter as well. The USB to AC adapter is considerably smaller than the past iPhone models were. Two Apple decals are in the box as well.

Read more…

Need For Speed: World – BETA KEYS – GET THEM FREE INSTANTLY!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need_for_Speed:_World

Beta starts on the 28th

Keys here:

http://www2.razerzone.com/nfswo/index.php

Do you know what driving online is like? Driving online is like taking your awesome, putting it on a counter, tapping the buddy on your left and telling him, “Did you see my awesome? Take a look at it.” Then, once he looks at your awesome, you turn your awesome into a hammer and beat the crap out of him with it.

Or, at least, that’s what we were told driving online is like. Your actual online experience may vary, but we can guarantee you one thing: you’ll be driving fast.

But you can’t drive without a beta key! It’s really hard to play Need For Speed World without one of those things. Lucky for you that our good friends at Electronic Arts hooked us up with 15,000 Need for Speed World keys, so we don’t think you’ll be missing out on this event!

Looking for a key, or want to see the awesome trailer for Need for Speed World? Look no further than after the break.

What’s this online racing thing all about?

Need For Speed World, for those of you who didn’t see our E3 coverage, is an MMO racing game where you get to drive through the best of the Need For Speed franchise. From Hot Pursuit to classic racing, you’ll be in a giant city with thousands of other racers.

As you race, you’ll rise through the driving ranks, earning access to more vehicles, tracks, and game types. You’ll also earn yourself more driver skills at higher levels and more customization options for your car, so you’ll look sweet while leaving everyone in the dust.

If this sounds like something you want to do, then grab a key below and visit the key redemption page over at Need For Speed World. The beta doesn’t start until the 28th, so you’ll have some time to get your racing skills prepared. Vroom vroom!

VeriSign Puts Increase on .com & .net Domain Name Prices

Every domain registrar will now up their prices. NameCheap, GoDaddy and all the rest have publicly announced they are changing their prices to go hand in hand with Verisigns new change. This doesn’t mean much to people who buy a random domain name every now and then, but this means a whole lot to people who buy in bulk. Below I’ve included the original press release located on the Verisign website.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — (Marketwire) — December 17, 2009 — VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world, today announced, effective July 1, 2010, an increase in registry domain name fees for .com and .net, per its agreements with ICANN.

VeriSign announced that as of July 1, 2010, the registry fee for .com domain names will increase from $6.86 to $7.34 and that the registry fee for .net domain names will increase, from $4.23 to $4.65.

As the economy and society becomes increasingly dependent on digital technology, it is imperative that investment in the underlying infrastructure, including .com and .net, continue to keep pace with the robust growth of the Internet and ensure its continued security and reliability. Over the last decade, the volume of Internet traffic and domain name system (DNS) queries on VeriSign’s global infrastructure has increased from an average of approximately 2 billion queries per day in the year 2000 to more than 50 billion queries per day today while maintaining 100 percent operational accuracy and stability for the last eleven years.

Over the next decade, VeriSign will continue investment to build out the .com and .net infrastructures to manage the increasing demands on the infrastructure brought on by the proliferation of Internet-enabled phones and devices and the emergence of DNS-centric technologies and services. VeriSign also continues to scale and fortify the .com and .net infrastructures globally to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks.

Australia's first female Prime Minister

JULIA Gillard is “honoured” to become Australia’s first female prime minister as Kevin Rudd struggles to keep his composure during his last speech as leader.

Ms Gillard is expected to make a full statement shortly and will be sworn in as prime minister by Governor-General Quentin Bryce at 12.30pm (AEST)

Mr Rudd was close to tears and his voice wavered as he listed his achievements in office during a press conference.

He repeatedly said he  was “proud” of abolishing WorkChoices and his record on health, education and at shielding Australia from the worst of the global financial crisis.

“I did my best to give Australia a fair go,” he said.

Mr Rudd will be dedicating his efforts towards Labor remaining in power at the coming federal election.

“I will serve the Govenrment in any manner I can, and I will be recontesting the next election in the seat of Griffith,” he said.
In a historic decision, Labor MPs decided to oust Mr Rudd who will go down in history as the first Prime Minister ever to be turfed out by his party within his first term of winning power.

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