The Download Munkey : Tracking the Treasure Down …

I’m such a fan of the Predator character that I watched Predator and Predator 2 on TV everytime they re-broadcasted it in SG (twice or thrice each I think). Kenny @ The Mediation Chamber has a short review for Predator for those interested in this cool 1987 movie. (What, you mean you haven’t watched Predator??)

The official site for the Collector’s Edition of Predator has four wallpapers for the movie, with two featuring the enigmatic alien hunter from outer space.

© 20th Century Fox

The one above is my favourite. It’s locked by default which means you have to find the triangular Predator Vision icons on the official site before you can access the download. I’m sure you know how to download it by clicking on the first wallpaper and then changing the address of the page that popups later, right?

© 20th Century Fox

Compare the design to the one for 2004′s Alien vs Predator (AvP) above (taken from Cinematic Wallpapers. I think the original design is much better as the AvP predator seems to have went for a haircut recently . The official wallpapers are over here.

I think after finding the wallpapers for the original Predator movie, I have finally downloaded / collected wallpapers for all the movies (Predator, Predator 2, Aliens vs Predator) and most of the more recent games featuring the Predator.

© GameWallpapapers.com

One from Monolith’s shooter Aliens vs Predator 2. (Download wallpapers from GameWallpapers.com)

Another two from the less well-known console strategy game Aliens vs Predator: Extinction from EA. Damn, I wished this game was brought to PC.

© GameWallpapapers.com

My personal favourite from the Xbox / PS2 game : Predator: Concrete Jungle. There’s some nice sketches in the concept art section of the official site (Download the above from Gamewallpapers)

Now if only Dark Horse Comics would release wallpapers for their Aliens vs Predator wallpapers, my collection would be complete

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Alien Loves Predator Webcomic

Last month was a pretty busy month for me and I haven’t been able to achieve my personal target of 50 posts per month

Anyway, I present the ten most popular posts on The Download Munkey last month (clobbered from the motley collection of statistics from Feedburner).

The following three posts constituted the majority of page views last month.

• Desktop Wallpapers and Artwork by Martin Abel – Illustrator – Pretty comic-style girls from this Australian illustrator

• Download Cool Spiky Baby & Mask Hoody Paper Toys by Shin Tanaka – Marvellous little DIY toys from an incredible Japanese paper toy designer.
• Hed Kandi CD Artwork & Wallpapers

The other seven posts (mainly artwork and wallpapers) in random order.

• eeshaun & Other Asian Artists @ Tiger Translate 2007 – Do check this one out if you’re interested in illustrations created for Tiger Beer’s Tiger Translate art exhibitions by talented artists around Asia

• CellFactor : Revolution – Downloads, Artwork & Wallpaper
• Cute Wallpapers from Hey Hey Creative
• Who’s That On Star Wars Tales #17 Cover? – If you fancy yourself a Star Wars fan, please check out this post and help identify this Dark Jedi/Sith Lord on the cover artwork. Thanks!
• Korean MMORPG Wallpapers (VIII) – Ran Online (乱 Online)
• Fighting Fantasy Wallpapers
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Shadows over Chernoybl Wallpapers

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY
Most Popular Posts for April 2007
Most Popular Posts for March 2007
Most Popular Posts for February 2007

I love this trailer for Tom Clancy’s EndWar from the recently concluded Ubidays 2007 (May 22 – 23). Games from the Tom Clancy brand are always showcasing the latest in military hardware (both in-service and prototypical weaponry) in superb detail – take Ghost Recon : Advanced Warfighter for example, which boasts some of the most detailed rifle models I have ever seen.

This upcoming game from Ubisoft seems to be a action/strategy hybrid judging from the camera view in the trailer. By the way, this trailer is a pre-rendered video so the actual in-game graphics may vary.

Set in the near future with some recognizable weaponry like the XM8 (cancelled), Comanche (also cancelled), V-22 Osprey (under development) as well as some hypothetical military hardware like personal Miniguns (remember Fallout / Predator) and massive Russian tanks. I always wonder why the Russians have the biggest tanks in most games

Some captures from the trailer.

© Ubisoft

In the grim darkness of the (far?) future there is only war. Oh, wait, that’s Warhammer 40,000

© Ubisoft

Finally, technology is so advanced that we have handheld Miniguns

© Ubisoft

However, technology is still not that advanced to produce the massive quantity of APCs needed so soldiers still have to walk. Damn! Actually, they dismounted from their APCs earlier in the video :p

© Ubisoft

In War 2.0, the call for air support feature has been drastically improved

© Ubisoft

So has the enemy air defense systems (in the form of a massive fleet of drones)

© Ubisoft

The commander display is updated in real-time. Here, an incoming enemy drone (red) prepares to take down an Osprey

© Ubisoft

It’s the end of the road for the American general …

© Ubisoft

But not before he calls for a missile barrage on his own position from the satellites above…

Download the trailer (also available in HD) from GameTrailers (19 MB, 60+ MB for HD version) . For the truly obsessive like me, register with UbiSoft to download the 149 MB 1200×720 HD version at the Ubidays 2007 site.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare Trailer
World in Conflict Trailers
Possible Influences for Weapons in Frontlines : Fuel of War

Something interesting that I found when searching for the M16 rifle.

The M14 was a 7.62mm semi-automatic rifle designed by Springfield Armory and used in the Vietnam War until it was replaced by the M16 from 1966 to 1968. Ironically, it’s now being used as in Iraq by designated marksmen for the longer range and heavier punch afforded by the 7.62mm round (see Murdoc Online).

Below is a replica of the original rifle by Fulton Armory.

© Fulton Armory

The rifle below is the M14 Mark 14 Mod 0 SOCOM also by Fulton Armory – Same internals but modern external parts like collapsible stock, pistol grip, new hand guards and Picatinny rails. Looks very different from the original service rifle save the rear sight and magazine position. More information on Fulton Armory’s M14s at www.fultonarmory.com.

© Fulton Armory

Another modernized M14 by Smith Enterprise Inc – Mk 14 SEI with a Leupold scope and sound supressor. It looks even more modern than the M16!

© Smith Enterprise Inc.

Yet another more radically modernized version by Sage International – Enhanced Battle Rifle.

© Sage International Ltd

The above image was taken from an old EBR brochure at sageinternationlltd.com.

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Counterstrike Weapons (IV) – Colt M4A1
Modern Firearms – Max R. Popenker

The previous post was for downloading trailers from Yahoo! Movies. This one is for Apple’s Movie Trailers

I’m using the Transformers trailers @ Apple’s Movie Trailers as an example here. Below is a brief step-by-step guide on saving the trailer to your harddisk for offline viewing

1. Go to the trailer page for your favourite movie

2. View the source in your browser of choice and search for .mov. Sometimes there may be more than one match – ignore the ones with words like btn which are the animated movie clips and not the metadata for the actual trailers (usually with words and numbers like e.g 480p, 640, tlr, etc)

   If you see something like QT_WriteOBJECT_XHTML when searching for .mov, you should be able to download the trailer

3. Copy the URL which should look like http://images.apple.com/movies/dreamworks/transformers/transformers-tsr1_h.640.mov and paste into your download manager or browser.
4. Save the above file and open in a text editor like Notepad.
5. Search for .mov again. You should see something like transformers-tsr1_h640w.mov which is the actual video filename. (See image below)
6. Join the URL (sans filename) in 3. and 5. to get http://images.apple.com/movies/dreamworks/transformers/transformers-tsr1_h640w.mov which is the actual trailer URL for download.

NOTE: Not all HD trailers cannot be downloaded by the above method I will write more on that soon after I figure out how to download the HD version of that bloody exclusive featurette for Pirates of the Caribbean 3

UPDATE:For exceptions like for the Pirates of the Caribbean 3 featurette, you need to look into the associated Javascript files in the source first (in this case it’s js/hd.js, infer the link to the Quicktime metadata file (hint: ….piratesofthecaribbean3-fte_720p.mov) and follow the steps above starting from step 3 to get your 120+ MB featurette.

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How to download Transformers Exclusive Trailer from Yahoo! Movies