The Ultimate Game of "What if?"

What if ...

The reign of the Nazis spread across Europe, unchallenged, until 1950?

What if ...

The Nazis decided they wanted a piece of the U.S. next?

What if ...

In a horrific example of deja vu to the nth degree, they sent their air forces into New York
City, toppling skyscrapers into rubble amid clouds of dust and debris?


And What if ...

You were Dan Carson, 1950's New York City construction worker and just this regular guy, y'know what I mean, buddy?

Well, that wouldn't stop you from taking on the Nazis single-handedly in Codemaster's Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, a grippingly realistic alternate-reality post-WWII game set for release January '08.

This is one of those slap-your-forehead why-didn't-I-think-of-this brilliant concepts that seems destined for success.

Ya got yer bad guys, ya got yer good guy, and ya got yer stunning cinematics to bring the whole shebang together into one amazing killfest, amirite?

And, at preview, it seems that the game will live up to the hype.

The only (small) criticisms we have for the game here at Fuel the Rebellion are the rollback of the release date from the primo Holiday November 07 season to sometime-in-Januaryish and the over-the-top way a 'regular joe' like the protagonist Dan Carson takes out Nazis.

Really, the man gleefully chews through skilled enemy combatants like a rat through swiss cheese (and leaves them just as full of holes). He even throws in the occasional martial-arts kick (because all construction workers in 1950 are skilled in karate, natch).

Still, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty looks like a winner. We'll keep you posted.

Halo 3 2-CD Soundtrack Announced!

Sumthing Else Music Works, Inc., has just announced that The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack featuring the game’s original music score and much, much more is scheduled for release on November 20th. We've been waiting for this one. If the past Halo soundtracks are anything to go on, the Halo 3 edition is going right into our Ipod playlists. Looks like the team over at Sumthing Else Music Works (www.sumthing.com) thought of that too, because on November 20th The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack will also be available via digital download at www.sumthingdigital.com.

The 2 CD set features new symphonic compositions by the award-winning composers behind the best-selling Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 Volume One and Halo 2 Volume Two soundtracks, Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori. The Halo 3 Original Soundtrack is packed full of musical goodness, with new original tracks written for the Halo 3 video game as well as new arrangements of the game’s musical themes recorded with a full live orchestra and chorus by Martin O’Donnell, Bungie’s audio director and composer. The 2-CD set amounts to two hours of original music from Halo 3 !

Hello-o-o, Mistress Chief!

Look what's up for auction over at ebay.

That's right, that's not exactly the Master Chief. No, it's Master Chief's girl, and this sexy clay figurine is up for grabs to the highest bidder.

And the best part? The money goes to the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer awareness (you DID know that October was Breast Cancer Awareness month, right?).

So, head on over and bid. 'Cause, you know, it's for charity.

Yeah, right.

What if WWII was an MMORPG?

4 Guys From Viewpoint came up with the concept, and it's simply brilliant. Here's an excerpt:

Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0J0: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]: sure whatever
Stalin: cool

Check it out here: If WWII was an MMORPG

This concept, of course, fits in nicely with Godwin's Law (wikipedia explanation below):

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

Prizes are Sexy

The Geeks Are Sexy (GAS) blog is giving away a ton of prizes for the technophile, and the contest runs all through this month. Winners will be announced the first week of November; the prizes are incredible (see below). If you have a blog, you'll especially like this: all you have to do to enter is write a "how to" post about something suitably geeky--gaming, hacking (of course we don't want you to do anything illegal! That would be wrong. So very, very wrong), solving quadratic equations, running away from girls, etc.

Here's the awesome prizes we're drooling over here at Fuel the Rebellion:

First-place prize:

• $271.82 from Chitika, a leading merchandising network for bloggers
• $250.00 from GFI Software
• $70.00 from [GAS] Technology News
• One 1GB Mimobot USB key of your choice from Mimoco ($59.95 value)
• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Second-place prize:

• $150 Amazon.com gift certificate from [GAS] Technology News
• A six-month sponsorship of a BlogCatalog category ($60-$90 value) from BlogCatalog
• One 1GB Mimobot USB key of your choice from Mimoco ($59.95 value)
• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Third-place prize:

• $50 via PayPal from [GAS] Technology News
• One 1GB Mimobot USB key of your choice from Mimoco ($59.95 value)
• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Fourth- and fifth-place prizes:

• One-year subscription to the PMetrics stats engine from Performancing.com ($49.99 value)

Additional prize:

• $50 via PayPal to a randomly selected blogger who posts about the contest on their site.

So, head on over to Geeks Are Sexy and check it out. We'll be here when you come back, working on our own "How To" post. ; )

Do I look....Different?!

Anyone else notice these similarities between Halo 3 and other recent popular video games?

Resistance Fall of Man for PS: I know some of you are diehard Xbox 360 fans, while others wouldn't even look at an Xbox while PS 3 is available, but the new Bubble Shield in H3 more than just resembles the Backlash Grenades in RFOM.

Gears of War: The new Laser in H3 has the same basic premise as The Hammer of Dawn, sans sunlight.

Bioshock 3: The fantastic water effects we first saw in Bioshock rule, but the world as seen through the Bubble shield has the same familiar distortion. Who know why the H3 team chose not to make your character see so well underwater when you accidentally fall in (yeah, like you haven't done it).

Halo 3 Tips, Tricks, etc.

So, what do YOU think of the new Hammer?! Rocks, doesn't it?

We also like the new ATVs, and the ability to move bases via the huge, slow-as-molasses Elephants.

And how about the moonwalking, ass-kicking jumping ability of H3's Master Chief? Fly lately?

Try this:

Ride an ATV through a teleporter! Ideally, ramp to the teleporter first to get up speed. You'll find some great maps allow you to do this.

Tips:

Learn the new icons for pick-ups like the shield regenerator, flare, etc. Last thing you want to do is blind yourself when you think you are creating a bubble shield, and the difference is as simple as recognizing the difference between a blue daisy or a blue cross.

Beware. Winning an Energy Sword duel isn't as simple as lunging any more. It takes several serious swipes to beat down your enemy.

Friendly icons, along with the traditional "double kill!" add some fun to the game. End a friend's killing spree to pick up "killjoy" and you'll see what we mean.