Caption This - Samuel L. Shepard
Written by Tyler Miller   
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 03:03
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/tylermiller808/originalcopy.jpg

OR

I'm Tired Of These motherfuckin' collectors on this motherfuckin' Reaper!

OR

What role won't this guy do take for a paycheck?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But enough pithy comments from me. What are some of your subtitles?
 
Comic Review: Black Summer
Comics
Written by Russ Crandall   
Monday, 08 February 2010 00:00


At the time of this writing, I've read about 25% of Warren Ellis' written works, and Black Summer is probably my favorite. This seven-issue series, first published in 2007, tells an intricate tale of a disbanded group of superheroes. In the opening moments of the story, the most powerful of the heroes assassinates the US President and most of his cabinet, and then immediately goes on camera (still wearing the President's blood) and tells America what he's done, why he's done it, and what he hopes America will do about it.

It's a startling and exciting start to a series that never lets up on the action. In seven short issues we're given the entire backstory of these former heroes (echoing Watchmen while still remaining fresh) and it kept me interested all the way to the end. I love the idea of diving into a superhero story and not needing to know any of their backstories beforehand - this is one of the reasons I tend to stay away from the typical DC/Marvel superhero comics, they're too entrenched in a history I only vaguely know. Black Summer succeeds in keeping us all up to speed at the same time, and keeping the story contained in one thought-provoking series. Although it won't go down in history as a great work of art (or a deep social commentary), it's still a must-read.
 
Separated At Birth?
Games
Written by Steven McKay   
Sunday, 07 February 2010 15:10
alt

Just before Mass Effect 2 released, Bioware released pictures of one of the new species of alien races featured in the game, The Collectors. When I first saw them, I couldn't help but notice that they bore a striking resemblance to the Chigs from 90's Sci-fi TV show, Space: Above & Beyond.

Submitted for the approval of the midnight society theeasymode.com viewers, I give you: separated at birth: Collectors Vs Chigs edition.
Agree? Disagree? Just want to sound off about which one would win in a fight? Drop us a comment and let us know what you think.
 
I Just Want Them To Bring Back the Bud Bowl
Gaming News
Written by Mark Hill   
Sunday, 07 February 2010 14:01
alt
Everybody knows that half the reason to watch the Superbowl is for the commercials, even though they've generally sucked in recent years. But because ad time during the game is so expensive, it's usually only heavy hitters like Budweiser, Coke/Pepsi, Doritos, Fed-Ex, GoDaddy.com, and a few other are prepared to shell out that kind if skrill, today's game will feature something for us gamers to watch, and then shrug off and forget - a Dante's Inferno ad.

Due to the family friendly nature of the game, CBS wants to keep things clean (they caused a contrevery by not allowing this awesome commercial to air this year). So in order to air the spot, they forced EA to change the tagline from "Go To Hell," to "Hell Awaits." But for the price of over $2.5 million to show this 30 second commercial, I'll tell you what awaits - nothing, really. The game is kind of lame.
 
The End Of A Short Lived Era
Games
Written by Mark Hill   
Sunday, 07 February 2010 13:17
alt
Today is an emotional day for me as I've officially cut the Modern Warfare 2 umbilical cord that's wrapped around my neck, preventing me from doing things like playing any other game, doing work around the house, or mainting a minimally acceptable level of hygeine, as I've sold the game on Half.com for $40.00.

I was shocked when I heard that Tyler had sold his copy a few weeks ago, but I understood his reasoning - there are just too many other games that need to be played. I feel the same way, especially since my game time is dwnindling, and now I'll be able to concetrate on games like Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, God of War III, and when I need my online shooter fix, I'll have Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to play.

Therefore I'll say "So long," to Captain Price, Soap, Ghost, my trusty M4, Prestiges, pot leaf emblems, "Go Shit, Man," campers, n00b tubers, and all the other crap that kept me from getting on with my life. I'll see you in two years.
 
Weekend Entertainment: iPad Music Video
Weekend Entertainment
Written by Russ Crandall   
Sunday, 07 February 2010 00:00


Our second Weekend Entertainment segment of the weekend is something that actually looks at the iPad in a positive light. I think.
 
Weekend Entertainment: Sea Chicken Star Wars
Weekend Entertainment
Written by Russ Crandall   
Saturday, 06 February 2010 00:00


This weekend's entertainment comes courtesy of Japan and Star Wars....and tuna.
 
My Faves: The Best (and Free) Mac OSX Zip and Unzip Apps
Software
Written by Russ Crandall   
Friday, 05 February 2010 13:21
alt

As a Mac owner for over three years now (my how the time flew by), I was never happy with my unzipping and zipping. For the longest time I simply used the default unzipping app for OSX, Archive Utility, or the Mac-approved StuffIt Expander. Problem is, I've found both apps to be buggy, and many times I would have to unzip a folder with the one app simply because it wouldn't work in the other. After getting frustrated enough with this two-punch combo, I decided to seek out something else, and I then found Unarchiver.

Unarchiver has two features that make it my favorite unzipper. First of all, it's free and unzips everything under the sun. Secondly, you can set it to send the zipped folder into the trash after you unzip it. Doesn't sound like much, but this one little feature has saved me all sorts of clicks and drags to the trashcan.

alt

On the zipping side of the house, I use YemuZip. It's a barebones app that works just like you want it to - you drag a file, group of files, or a folder into the app, tell it what you want to call the zipped folder, and bam. There's not much else to it, but do you really need anything more than that?
 
You only got two months left to play Teh Haloez 2 online
Gaming News
Written by Russ Crandall   
Friday, 05 February 2010 07:32


My former best friend in the whole wide world, Major Nelson, just announced that they're discontinuing OG Xbox Live support on April 15th. I'm not terribly conerned about this, considering the fact that I haven't played any old Xbox games online since, well, Halo 3 came out, but I'm sure there are still some people out there that would like to continue to play Halo 2, Counter-strike, and Star Wars: Battlefront II a little more.

What's interesting is Microsoft's reasoning:

"While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community."

What exactly does that mean? That the old Xbox was holding us back? Unlikely.
 
Demotopia! - Aliens Versus Predator
Demotopia!
Written by Tyler Miller   
Thursday, 04 February 2010 15:04
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc120/tylermiller808/avpee.jpg

If you are reading this before playing the demo for Alien Vs. Predator, then consider yourself lucky. You get in on Tyler's Pro-Tip of the week. So here it is.

IN AVP - DO NOT PLAY AS THE COLONIAL MARINES

You're gonna get gutted if you do; with your puny load out of an assault rifle, motion detector and pistol (awesome, thanks). Meanwhile, your enemies are aliens that can turn invisible, see every spectrum of color and light, crawl on the ceiling at 50 mph, eat brains for health and spill acid blood upon death. It seems like they bought in to the Halo style of not aiming down the sights (admittedly, you might want to stick with the ol' spray and pray method of compbat in this game, though) and keeping the wepons spread out around the map from the begining of the match-- as opposed to letting you pick your loadout. Not exctly my favorite type of FPS.

My biggest problem with the demo is that it's only free-for-all deathmatch where as a team-based game-type feels like it would have been better at instilling in players the species dependency that I thought was the a big part of the game's essence. One thing you realize soon in the demo is that you will need to stick together, and that it will take exactly one match playing as a lone Marine in multiplayer to make you drop the class and switch to Aliens or Predators forever.

The controls function surprisingly well, I'm surprised to say (aside from the fact that you still can't customize button layout). The only real problem that I faced was getting in to these strafe-offs while playing as the Alien trying to spear an enemy (that class is all melee). You can circle around each other trying to deliver the killing blow only to be shanked to death by a Predator idly watching from the rafters. Getting to hard-to-reach places is pretty easy for the Predator now that he moves though the levels with a pretty snappy pace using the targeted jumps.

Oh, and it looks amazing! I mean, it's artisticly pitch-perfect for the Aliens/Predator movies we all know and love (I'm only talking about the movies made prior to 1988. You know, the good ones). The architecture and atmosphere are sooo creepy and errie, it makes you feel uncomfortable to be in the environment. Again, I just feel sorry for the Marines who can't make use of the ledges, catwalks and skylights that are perfect vantage points for the other species.

In the end though, I think I'm a little more excited about playing this game in either team deathmatch or the single player mode (unless there's a co-op?). Whatever happens, the game is on the right track. I can't wait to see what they do with it.

Oh, and what the hell does focus mode do? And what is shriek used for?!
 
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The Easy Mode Podcast #2:
This week is all about gambling, Borderlands, CODMW2, Eufloria, Machinarium, Fable 2, Orphan and Mass Effect.

Russ Crandall
Senior Editor
Mark Hill
Associate Editor, Podcast Host
Tyler Miller
Associate Editor, Artistic Director
Steve McKay
Contributor, United Kingdom
Giang Cao
Contributor, Australia



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