Archive for August, 2008

Art Friday : IconFactory – The Best Icons!

IconFactory has always my first stop for icons because these guys not only create excellent original icon sets but also marvellous sets inspired by popular culture. These aren’t just collectable icons, they’re miniature works of art!

For instance, where else can you find an icon of those grappling hooks that the Fremen use to ride on the Shai-Hulud, massive sandworms of Arrakis made famous by the sci-fi classic Dune?


© The Iconfactory

Other than icons inspired by famous works of fiction, there’s also loads of icons movies from blockbusters and bestsellers to cult classics. Anyone fancy an icon of the Bride’s sword from Kill Bill?


© The Iconfactory

Speaking of swords, there’s even an icon set devoted to the swords of the Chinese comic Feng Yun (later adapted as the movie Storm Riders).


© The Iconfactory

Want more movie-related icons? My choice picks include the icon sets for Star Wars, War of the Worlds, V for Vendetta and even Austin Powers. Groovy, baby :)


© The Iconfactory

There’s also plenty of nostalgic stuff for kids who grew up on a diet of 80s cartoons and TV shows. Remember T-Bob from M.A.S.K? Or the butt ugly monsters of Ultraman? Classic Transformers? Relive those memories at IconFactory!


© The Iconfactory

Quite a few game-inspired icon sets from the classic Archon to relatively new games like Patapon.


© The Iconfactory

For the original designs, I especially like the horror/Halloween-themed ones. Bride of Macabre is one of my favourites, along with Vintage Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos (not technically Halloween, but …)


© The Iconfactory

Download these beautiful icon sets and more from The IconFactory.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Soccer Icons by Mr Wong / Mikio Inose
Official Tuzki (兔斯基) Emoticons
SG-related Pixel Art and More
Cute Dead Things Wallpapers

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Games Thursday : Modern Tactics 3

A tactical turn-based Flash game featuring soldiers armed with modern day infantry weapons such as assault rifles, light machineguns, sniper rifles, combat shotguns and a selection of frag, stun and flash grenades in an small, isometric arena. Think of it as a more lethal form of virtual paintball. Or a turnbased and less reflex-oriented Counterstrike. Picked up this addictive game at Kongregate fan blog COCAK.

You take turns against the computer to outwit, outflank and outfight your opponents in the campaign consisting of 23 missions. As the team leader, you gain experience for killing enemies with the soldiers under your command with this experience translating to rank promotions which in turn unlocks more weapons in the armory and extra stats and abilities for your troopers.

To organize your squad for maximum lethality, it’s essential to set up classes with different loadouts and abilties e.g rifleman, snipers, assault classes and assign the different loadouts to your individual squad members. A cool feature is that different uniforms and helmets can be used to customize and differentiate the various specialists in your squad.

If you find that your squad continually fails to complete a mission in the campaign, try exiting the mission, tweak and re-assign loadouts and retry the mission. I remember getting stuck at Mission 2 for more than five tries before I realized that classes were available at the start of the campaign :(

There’s several types of missions that I have encountered in the campaign. (currently I just completed mission 5)

Destination : Move your soldiers to the designated destination (marked by a blue star). Soldiers will respawn 1 turn after they die.

Search and Destroy : Eliminate all enemy units. Soldiers do not respawn.

Stealth : 2 units vs all enemies in the map. No respawning.

There’s a comprehensive interactive tutorial which takes you through the basics of controlling your soldiers and their weapons.

Some important keys to remember:
0-9 : Select soldier of that number
Cursor keys – Scroll the map
Z – Move
C – Shoot
R – Reload
G – Throw grenade / Use Aid Item
B – Wait (passes control to the next soldier)

Do note that once you select a soldier, you have to issue all the orders before clicking Wait or pressing B since he will not be selectable once control is passed to the next soldier.

Play Modern Tactics 3 on Kongregate or visit the official page at Throw the Project.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Act of War : Direct Action Singleplayer Demo Impressions
Alfa Anti Terror Demo Impressions
C-Dogs SDL – Tactical Action Game
Aliens – The Board Game (Flash Version)

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Wallpapers Wednesday : Dynasty Warriors 6 “Unlockables”

Unlockables galore at the official UK site for Dynasty Warriors 6, the latest installment of the Koei series loosely inspired by the Chinese classic Romance of The Three Kingdoms.


© Koei

Other than the requisite wallpapers and movie clips and the highly essential character database since the comtemporary styling of half of the in-game characters defy the traditional perception of their counterparts from the original epic, there’s 8 unlockables to download by patiently (or fanatically) hunting and clicking on 8 tiny diamonds strewn across the site valued at 150 experience points each.

6 “secret” wallpapers, a not-so-fancy image and a pack of 11 character renders await you at the Site Bonus page in exchange for the experience points that you collect.


© Koei

Bet you can’t identify the two guys in the last wallpaper unless you played one of the games in the series before

Below is a list of the diamond locations and the unlockable goodies. Avert your eyes and scroll straight to the bottom for the link to the official Dynasty Warriors 6 site.

Diamond Locations

  1. Actions Page 3
  2. Battlefield Page 1
  3. Community Page 1
  4. System Page 3
  5. Wei Yan – 3rd character for Shu
  6. Xu Zhu – 1st character for Wei
  7. Cao Pi – 6th chracter for Wei
  8. Taishi Ci – 1st character for Wu


© Koei

A render of Shu general Guan Yu fom the Fan Kit

Goodies Description

  • 50 pts – Zhao Yun ‘Close-Up’ Wallpaper
  • 50 pts – Lu Bu ‘Close Up’ Wallpaper
  • 150 pts – Wu’s Strategists Wallpaper
  • 175 pts – Lu Bu & Diao Chan Wallpaper
  • 100 pts – Xia Hou Dun ‘Close Up’ Wallpaper
  • 125 pts – Sun Shang Xiang ‘Close Up’ Wallpaper
  • 250 pts – Dynasty Warriors Europe Splash Site Background
  • 300 pts – Ultimate Fan Kit (High Res Renders & Packshots – 12.2 MB)

Download these goodies at the official Dynasty Warriors 6 UK site.

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Military Tuesday: US Army Center of Military History Prints

A gallery showcasing a selection of downloadable wallpaper-sized prints and accompanying accounts of battles fought by the US Army since the American Civil War to Operation Desert Storm a decade ago, as presented by the US Army Center of Military History.

Battle of Bud Bagsak (Moro Rebellion, 11 – 15 June 1913)


© US Army Center of Military History

One of the conflicts in the Philippines where fiercely independent Moros revolted against the introduction of American rule in the early 1900s. The Moro Rebellion (otherwise known as the the Philippines-American War) also heralded the introduction of the Colt M1911 .45 pistol as the service pistol of the US armed forces which served until the introduction of the Beretta 92F as the M9 in 1985.

Some additional information on the Battle of Bud Bagsak from www.bakbakan.org.

Siege of Vicksburg (American Civil War, 19 May 1863)


© US Army Center of Military History

The 13th Infantry Regiment led by General William Sherman was the only Union unit to raise its colours over the Confederate lines during the siege at Stockade Redan on 19 May 1863, earning its motto “First at Vicksburg”.

The American M4 medium tank of WWII was named after him as with all other American tanks and major armoured fighting vehicles which came from the British tradition of naming American tanks after famous American generals during WWII starting with M3 medium tank “Lee” (after American General Robert E. Lee).

More information on the Vicksburg campaign on Wikipedia.

Battle of Chipyong-ni (Korean War, February 1951)


© US Army Center of Military History

A breakout by the 23rd Regimental Combat Team (2nd Infantry Division) together with armour reinforcements from the 5th Cavalry Regiment after three days of defense at Chipyong-ni against massive human wave attacks attempted by overwhelming numbers of Chinese communist troops during the Korean War. A first hand recollection of the battle by then Captain Ansil L. Walker of the 23rd Regimental Combat Team can be read at historynet.com.

Battle of San Juan Hill (Spanish-American War, 1 July 1898)


© US Army Center of Military History

Gatling machineguns of Lieutenant John H. Parker’s Gatling Gun Detachment being used on the offensive to support the frontal assault on entrenched Spanish troops on heavily defended San Juan Hill, Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

Lieutenant John H. Parker was in command of the Gatling Gun Detachment composed of men from four different infantry regiments. Parker believed that his guns, which normally played only a defensive role in battle, could be of decisive importance in the attack by giving fire superiority to the infantry just when most needed. Receiving permission to advance the guns, Parker brought his detachment abreast of the Infantry, in fact ahead of some elements of it, and opened fire. This, the United States Army’s first use of close support machine guns in the attack, was decisive in the capture of San Juan Hill. Lieutenant Parker’s initiative developed an important principle of fire and maneuver — the use of close support machine guns in the attack.

Capture of Ludendorff Bridge (World War II, 7 March 1945)


© US Army Center of Military History

The capture of the Ludendorff bridge during Operation Lumberjack by the Combat Command B, 9th Armored Division and 27th Infantry Regiment which paved the way for the Allies to establish a bridgehead at Remagen as a base for attacks into Germany itself, leading to the eventual defeat of Germany and ending the war in Europe.

Battle of Resaca de la Palma (Mexican-American War, 9 May 1846)


© US Army Center of Military History

An account of the battle can be found at Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic site.

Some of the Desert Storm prints.


© US Army Center of Military History

Download the prints or view the US Army in Action gallery or the Desert Storm gallery at US Army Center of Military History.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Armour Photos at Israel’s Yad La’Shiryon Museum
DIA Military Art Collections
David Andro – Military/Police Illustrator (GIGN, GIPN, RAID, etc)
Scenes of War – Concepts from Videogames
War and Game – Military History Blog

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Random Monday : asdfmovie aka Say No to Birthday Cakes!

I learnt a lot from James Cunningham aka PivotRJ’s animated short asdfmovie last weekend, things like:

  • I must not want a birthday cake this year.
  • I must not smell the flowers
  • RPG games make you violent


© James Cunningham (PivotRJ)

Don’t smell the flowers!


© James Cunningham (PivotRJ)

Stay away from RPG gamers!


© James Cunningham (PivotRJ)

Don’t kill him (or her or it)!


© James Cunningham (PivotRJ)

Ties are evil!

Sure, most of the animations are rather frivolous but if just a single one cracks you up, I think it has more than fulfilled its purpose. Besides, laughter is the best antidote for those damn blue Mondays :D .

Did I also mention the excellent mouth-synching of the animation with the voiceovers by Tomska & Bing too?.

Watch asdfmovie on YouTube.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
Tofu The Vegan Zombie : Zombie Dearest
Cheers Beer – Because It’s Friday

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