Mitch’s Mods: Star Wars For Sins of a Solar EmpirePosted by Mitch on August 20th, 2010

I don’t know how many of you played Empire at War, the most recent of the Star Wars brands’ long line of mediocre Real Time Strategy titles, but I sank a fair few hours into that game. It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it was nothing worth writing home about, either. While the ground combat was severely lacking (you couldn’t build base structures where you wanted them), the space battles were great fun. Taking control of either the Rebellion, the Empire or Tyber Zann’s Consortium, you could duke it out with anything from X-Wings to Super Star Destroyers. As fun as it was, it was fairly limited in scope, and the Galactic Conquest mode made the space battles more of a stepping stone than a main attraction. I’ve longed for the day that I can control the Empire on a mission to take over the galaxy, and it may have finally arrived with this fan made mod for Sins of a Solar Empire.

Sins is a game that focuses on managing a huge empire, so the large scale of its maps (which can range from one solar system to several) is a perfect fit for the Star Wars aesthetics. The mod is fairly easy to install, too, since all of Gas Powered Games’ titles are DRM free and open to modding. As soon as you boot the program up, you’re instantly treated to Duel of the Fates, the song that plays when Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Gin are dueling Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace. The whole mod is fantastic, and all of the Star Wars ships look exactly like you would imagine them to. Even ships that are only present in the expanded universe, such as Lancer assault frigates, are represented in game. The models for the ships are really well detailed, and the sound effects are very true to the movies; they even replaced the phase jump sound effect with the noise of a ship jumping to hyperspace. The mod does rip quite a few sound files from Empire at War, so they loose a few points for that. Over all, this is a really high quality mod, and it got me excited enough to install Sins on my machine again. If you’ve got the game and are inclined towards Star Wars, pick up this mod. Heck, even if you’re just interested in high quality homebrew expansions, grab it as well. Hit the jump for a video of a space battle in progress: More »

Bungie Introduces Forge World for Halo: ReachPosted by Eddy on July 22nd, 2010

If you listened to the totally sweet new podcast, then you’ll know that we geeked out for awhile about mods and how awesome the gaming community is at creating cool new content for our most beloved games. While this mostly happens on PC, one of the primary examples of this done well on a console is the variety of custom content produced by Halo 3′s avid Forge community. Even years later, they are still pumping out cool new game types that are totally worth playing.

Which is why Bungie has kicked it up a notch for Halo: Reach with the introduction of Forge World. There’s not really a whole lot I can say about this other than implore you to watch. Because seriously, wow… I am so excited about the possibilities that the team at Bungie is creating for this. The fact that they are even shipping some maps built in Forge World to show what all it can do is sure to inspire.

Who else just got even more excited for Halo: Reach because of this video?

Fake Dragon Age DLC Trailer is HilariousPosted by Eddy on January 19th, 2010

One thing that makes PC gaming great: the ability to infuse new life into a gaming via the modding community. In what I hope to be the first of many Dragon Age: Origins releases, a new DLC trailer is available that showcases some hilarious tweaks made to the game and how it’s played.

Not only is this a look into what is available to modders, it also showcases some of the machinima tools available to users. I really can’t wait to see more of what people come up with. I’d have to say my favorite portion is the Morrigan slapping, as well as mastering “the taint”. Do watch this. Now.

DeLorean in Crysis = AwesomePosted by Mitch on November 23rd, 2009

Crysis was an underappreciated gem, in my opinion, and one of the most endearing facets of this game was that it was fairly easy to mod. During my time with Crytek’s military sci-fi shooter, I saw some pretty neat stuff, but nothing that could combine my love of video gaming with one of my favorite movies. Today, I finally get my wish. Check out the following video which features a DeLorean in Crysis. Does it travel through time? Maybe. You’ll have to find out.

1.21 Gigawatts?!

Awesome Mod Brings Call of Duty to Star WarsPosted by Mitch on September 8th, 2009

If there’s two things I love, it’s Star Wars and shooting people in the face. Thankfully, a nice group of modders calling themselves blackMonkeys shares my love of sci-fi warfare and are hard at work on a total conversion kit for Call of Duty 4 called “Galactic Warfare”, which takes the silky smooth game-play of CoD and fits it in with classic Star Wars imagery.

The trailer for the mod showcases Stormtroopers and Rebel fighters battling it out in Mos Eisely, and it looks like everything that I hoped Battlefront II would be. With the future of the Battlefront series in limbo, I’m looking forward to trying this out when the mod is complete. Check out the video:

Someone Should Make This TF2 RPGPosted by Eddy on April 23rd, 2009

I’ve seen a lot of mash ups in my life, and they don’t always work. However, when they’re solid, they’re freaking rock solid, and this is no exception. Over on the Team Fortress 2 Maps forums, user goldenhearted has thrown together a wicked concept: a Team Fortress 2 RPG, complete with a party of the Heavy and the Medic, on a mission to locate the Scout.

The really cool part about all of it is the menus and the user interface that he’s put together, complete with the classic and colorful Team Fortress 2 look. He’s posed a few cut scenes together with GMod, and even has some loading screen mock ups. All of it is really slick and just screams to be made into an actual game. So, modders, if you’re reading this, get to it!

To check out the awesome gallery of photos, head over to TF2Maps. Thanks to Lord Ned for the heads up.

Tornado Chasing Comes to GModPosted by Eddy on January 30th, 2009

I’m sure that many of you are familiar with the Facepunch forums, especially those of you that are HL2 fanatics of different shapes and sizes. Like most forums, it’s full of its own amount of useless drivel, but occasionally, you’ll find a truly precious gem in its hallowed annals.

This particular gem is gm_tornadochase, a new GMod map being built by user monkeyjoe_, who has had real life experience chasing tornadoes. Yes, the premise is exactly what it sounds like. There is a big freaking tornado on the map, complete with realistic physics and swirling debris, and your job is survive by building structures. Also, you can release research probes up into the vortex to gather data for the stormchaser team.

To me, this is one of the most creative things I’ve ever seen out of a gaming community, and I wanted to share it here. It’s not quite finished, but apparently it’s getting there. There are lots of pictures and even some video demonstrations available in the thread. What do you guys think? Is this bad ass or what?

Source- Facepunch

Dude Creates Team Fortress 2 DispenserPosted by Eddy on January 8th, 2009

I am maybe the least handy person in a world. I can’t build anything for crap. You should have seen my lame shop class creations. So that’s why I’m always absurdly impressed by the things that gamers come up with given the time, determination and the resources.

Take this guy, for instance, who built himself a real-life Team Fortress 2 dispenser. No he’s not a TF2 engineer, and no, it doesn’t give out ammo and health, but it does hold beer as well as all of his network equipment, such as his router and DSL Modem. It’s also got his phone and answering machine. Go figure.

So who wants one? Sign me up. If you’re interested in how he built the thing, check it out here, and if you’d like to see more pictures, check those out here.

Source- Steam Forums

Boomer In A Thong Makes Left 4 Dead SexyPosted by Eddy on January 3rd, 2009

Being out of the PC gaming scene for awhile now (not by choice, it’s just that updating rigs is expensive), I sometimes miss out on one of the coolest aspects of it- community content. The mods, the skins, the updates, it’s all totally worth it to buy a game because over the course of a couple of years, you get what you paid for from what people add on.

It seems this is already the case with Left 4 Dead, as there are already mods and such for the zombie shoot-em-up. This one, however, just about made me pee my pants in laughter. The boomer in a thong. That’s right. He’s big. He’s burpy. He’s thongy. And he’s sexy as hell.

You should definitely check out the screenshots for a good laugh. Heck, download it yourself and get in on the sexy action. Anybody else seen some good L4D mods/skins?

Source- FPS Banana. Also, Slowa found this at Left4Dead411, as well.

It’s My 360 in a BoxPosted by Eddy on December 24th, 2008

A you want to call a suitcase a box, then yes. Modder Ben Heck has put together yet another really ridiculously cool contraption: an XBox 360 in a briefcase. What will he think of next? What, I ask?!