Krunk4Ever!

I ordered some Xbox 360 green replacement cases off eBay, because some of mine were damaged and I’d like to keep the same green look in my library collection. I received my package today and I was surprised to find out that in every single case, there was a DVD movie. The first thing that popped into my head was seller mistake? Then I thought maybe that’s why green dvd cases are more expensive than regular dvd case, they’re code for bootlegs!

At first I didn’t realize these were fake as they looked quite real. The DVD cover art was nice and the back of the DVD was silver. However upon further inspection, you can tell that the cover art is actually a DVD sticker label.

Not only were these not bootlegs, these were not even real DVDs. I tried placing a couple into my DVD-ROM drive and none of them were readable. Looking closer at the back of the DVD, they did look funky:

Anyway, I’m not sure why these were included with my shipment. Maybe they were there in case you weren’t sure how to use a DVD case. I just know I now have a stack of coasters.

Got this via the Xbox.com Marketplace RSS feed: Celebrate Bungie Day!

Grab this new multiplayer map free.

Cold Storage Map

Once, the Cold Storage facility was a vibrant, active research center on Installation 05. An accidental contamination resulted in an unforeseen outbreak, which compromised the Forerunner center. Now, emptied and silent, watched only by a local caretaker, the abandoned structure serves as a reminder of how something as powerful as science is ultimately beholden to nature. This new map is available free starting on 7/7.

Downloaded it a few days ago. Haven’t got a chance to try it out yet.

Time to jam.

Just got alerted that there was a new free track for Guitar Hero III: Guitar Hero III July Song Track Releases:

Top Gun Anthem Single Track (available July 3)
Price: Free
Songs: “Top Gun Anthem” written by Harold Faltermeyer as featured in the famous movie starring Tom Cruise.

I guess it’s a freebie to celebrate the 4th of July. You can listen to the music on YouTube: TOP GUN ANTHEM

Since I was on Xbox Live downloading this free track, I decided to see what other DLC (Downloadable Content) was available for games that I own. Apparently they released new costumes for Ninja Gaiden 2 for 200pts each. I really have no need to pay $2.50 to get a new costume for Ryu Hayabusa.

Anyway, it turns out that Rock Band is also release a new free track. According to *** DLC Week of July 1st - Crüefest Pack plus free song!:

Hey everybody, next week for DLC we have the Crüefest Pack for $.99 per track (80 Microsoft Points) and a track from the movie “The Rocker” by Vesuvius absolutely free! Also check back on Monday and I may have some other news-type-stuff for you.

[...]

“Promised Land” - Vesuvius
(All tracks utilize the original master recordings)

[...]

“Promised Land” – Free!

You can go listen to Promised Land and watch someone play on YouTube: Promised Land- Vesuvius Rock Band Guitar Expert. Sounds like another song celebrating July 4th, Independence Day.

So I finally logged into Xbox Live today to accept Xyon’s friend invitation (apparently he’s now addicted to Rock Band and went out to purchase an Xbox 360 and the Rock Band Special Edition).

Anyway, while I was browsing through the Inside Xbox videos and noticed that there was a new free track for Guitar Hero III: I Am Murloc

From OXM’s World of Warcraft meets Guitar Hero:

Thursday 26-Jun-2008 9:52 AM “I Am Murloc” available to download for GH3, which is great if you actually know what it is.

Fans of Guitar Hero III and free stuff can download “I Am Murloc” today, a World of Warcraft song by Blizzard’s in-house band, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain.

This promotional exercise is supposed to build hype for a big announcement ahead of the Activision and Blizzard merger finally taking place. It could be an announcement that World of Warcraft is heading to consoles (which makes sense given the console DLC and merging) but it’s more likely to be something in the vein of Diablo 3 being announced.

As for the song itself, here it is. Erm… what?

Looking up on YouTube, I found the song and music video: I AM MURLOC - L70ETC.

Enjoy!

Along the same lines as the previous post, thanks to Mike C for pointing out the fact there the McDonald’s/Rock Band promotion that went on last month that dropped several songs to 80pts ($1) was still in effect.

According to Shacknews:

Marking the third promotional campaign to feature Rock Band downloadable content this week, developer Harmonix and fast-food eatery McDonald’s have teamed up to offer cheaper downloads of select songs across the next month.

Beginning today, the cost of two individual Rock Band tracks will be temporarily lowered to 80 Microsoft Points ($1), down from the average asking price of 160 Microsoft Points ($2). The promotion will run for a total of four weeks, with the discounted songs changing every week.

Meant to promote the McDonald’s Dollar Menu, the cheaper downloads are available for both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of the multi-instrument music title.

The discount schedule and specific per-week songs are:

5/6/08 - 5/12/08 :

• Paramore - “Crushcrushcrush”
• Boston - “Rock ‘n Roll Band”

5/13/08 - 5/19/08 :

• Black Tide - “Shockwave”
• Grateful Dead - “Sugar Magnolia”

5/20/08 - 5/26/08:

• Faith No More - “We Care A Lot”
• Blink 182 - “All the Small Things”

5/27/08 - 6/2/08:

• Lynyrd Skynyrd - “Gimme Three Steps”
• All-American Rejects - “Dirty Little Secret”

The promotion was supposed to end on 6/2 and only 2 songs were supposed to be discounted each week, but it appears even though the promotion is over, all 8 songs are being discounted. Not sure if this is a permanent discount, or if it’s a glitch, but if any of those songs interest you above, you should get them soon. The only 2 songs I really know from that list are: Blink 182 - “All the Small Things” and All-American Rejects - “Dirty Little Secret”.

Got this deal from FromHyd on SD. According to the thread, you can get 2 free tracks by Disturbed (which is released on June 3rd, 2008).

1. Go to Disturbed / Xbox / Rock Band
2. Enter the following code: 1lfa89
3. Click Submit
4. Enter download code you receive on your Xbox Live Account

To redeem your token code, go to the Xbox 360® Dashboard and enter Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. Select the Redeem Code option to enter your code to begin downloading your content.

When I tried redeeming the code in Firefox, I got the error:　You have already redeemed your code!, but it worked fine in IE7.

According to Xbox 360 Fanboy, the following 3 tracks by Disturbed are scheduled to be released on 6/3:

• Indestructible
• Inside the Fire
• Perfect Insanity

So it’s probably going to be 2 out of those 3.

You’re probably wondering what exactly is this deal? And what does it mean by Best Buy pre order code? I actually have no idea and the thread doesn’t really go into specifics. Someone did mention:

Code works. Disturbed Pre-Order Pack downloaded. OP repped!

So maybe pre order refers to the name of the download: Disturbed Pre-Order Pack which Best Buy was distributing. Or it could be you had to pre-order something at Best Buy to qualify for this code. Either way, I’m not sure what it means, but if you’re questioning the ethicality (is that even a word?) of this deal, I would suggest you probably skip it until more details are revealed.

Update: Apparently today is June 3rd.

Update #2: According to Mike C, Indestructable and Inside The Fire are the 2 free tracks in this pack.

Update #3: Looks like all the download codes have been redeemed.

Why is it so freaking hot?!?! Last week we were still in the high 60s low 70s. Last night I went to bed at 6:30am and guess what, I woke up at 11am because I was sweating. I guess I can’t really complain:

krunk4ever: it’s so freaking hot
ungsunghero: )(#*%()#*$()*!(#@$*())(!$*!)(!*!!!
ungsunghero: DIE
ungsunghero: NOW
krunk4ever: haha
ungsunghero: it is ONE HUNDRED AND THREE FREAKING DEGREES HERE
krunk4ever: good thing i didnt tell you our temp
ungsunghero: let me guess
ungsunghero: 83?
krunk4ever: close, 82
ungsunghero: DIE
ungsunghero: you are banned from IMing me
krunk4ever: haha
ungsunghero: for the next three minutes

I did my biweekly (that’s every 2 weeks) Costco run today and there was a section where there were fans and air conditioners and that area was crazy! I swear practically every 1 in 3 shopping carts had either a fan or a/c unit. The drink area was crazy too. I guess if Costco had anticipated this heat wave, they wouldn’t have discounted their Snapple and Gatorade. I also picked up so Lipton iced tea and Sobe Orange Carrot Elixir (both were 10 for $10 at QFC). I also picked up some Dibs ice cream since my sister recommended it to me. It wasn’t on sale, but I needed ice cream and those darn bite-size ice cream is awesome!

So back to the main to topic. Valerie had invited us to a potluck dinner party over at her place and I was contemplating to go or not since I had to put a couple more hours at work this weekend. I decided since I had to do my Costco run and do my laundry this weekend, I would try to complete the work on Sunday.

On my way over there, the 520 floating bridge came to a complete halt. Apparently there was some motorcycle accident in front and given that the bridge doesn’t really have shoulder space, a lady came and told use to move as close edge as possible so emergency vehicles can get through. We literally sat around for 15 minutes enjoying the beautiful setting sun and lake. People were taking pictures so I thought why not:

When I passed the accident, both parties seem to be okay. The guy in the leather suit (I assume is the motorcyclist) was standing there was some young Caucasian guy, which looked very scared (presumably he was the one who crashed into the motorcycle).

I finally get there and there’s tons of delicious stuff! I also met some new friends. Monique made these fried yucca and fried bananas and they were delicious. Valerie also baked some bread which was yummy. There was awesome fried battered corn which was actually really good. Now I have new ideas to try with my deep fryer. I discussed this over with Ungsunghero and here’s a set of new things I might try:

• yucca
• banana/plantain
• taro
• chicken wings, drumsticks, thighs

After dinner, Stanman got around teaching some people how to play BANG, a card game which is similar to Mafia in some way, but not really. We played several rounds of it and I was surprised how sneaky Anja was on her initial game. I was completely stumped.

Afterwards, Sathana insisted on playing this drinking game called Bitches Bitches (which appears to be a combination of Tap Tap and The F*ck Game). The rhythm was tap tap clap clap. While you’re tapping, you say your assigned name (which could be Bitches Bitches, Fuck Me Fuck Me, On The Table, Doggy Style, etc.), basically a naughty 4 syllable phrase. When you’re clapping, you say anyone else’s name and they have to continue. Whoever breaks the flow or screws up has to drink. It was rather hilarious to watch. I declined to play since I had to drive home and don’t exactly like to drink, but they said I could play with ice tea, but I felt a drinking game isn’t really fun unless you’re drinking (sort of like playing poker for “fun”).

And therefore my night ended there.

Here are some pictures from the photo album:

So there was a sale on guitar stands last week and I contemplated on getting one for my Rock Band/Guitar Hero III guitars. People on the thread were saying the guitar stands work fine for Rock Band guitars. I told Ungsunghero about my plan and he said he would start calling me “Rock Band Nerd Dork“.

The double guitar stand they were selling ($14 shipped) was out of stock, so I contemplated about getting 2 of the single guitar stands (also $14 shipped). However I thought too long and those sold out before I could purchase them. The only thing left was the triple guitar stand ($20 shipped), so I decided since I do technically have 3 guitars, that’ll work out. I originally had 1 Guitar Hero III wireless guitar and 1 Rock Band wired guitar, but Ungsunghero had gifted me an additional wireless guitar since I had told him I was thinking of getting another wireless one.

I got the stands on Saturday morning and putting them together was rather simple. It was a bit flimsy, but seems to do fine. For $20, I can’t really complain.

(from Rock Band album)

I haven’t figured where exactly I want to put it, but I’m planning or changing the layout of my living room anyway.

UPDATE: Ungsunghero corrected me and said it should’ve been Rock Band Dork and not Rock Band Nerd.

So I saw this on Digg yesterday and wanted to post it, but decided I’d watch an extra episode Shakugan no Shana of instead. But here it is: The Device Has Been Modified (stream video). If you want to download the 100MB HD version of this, you should be able to find the torrent in the upper left hand corner.

This is actually a cross of a fan-made Portal Song and World of Warcraft video footage. I wasn’t too impressed by the the video footage (unless someone actually did the animation themselves), but the song was super catchy. To describe just how awesome the song is, I’ve accumulated over 8 hours for the past 2 days listening to this song at work and at home. It’s just been playing on repeat. As RayAlome says:

Ray AlOm3: lol
Ray AlOm3: you and ur quasi-portal music
Ray AlOm3: yea i was thinking you might like it
Ray AlOm3: it had that dramatic film quality

And I agree. The music has that sort of grandeur soundtrack feeling to it and I guess that’s what makes it so awesome. I don’t think the robotic voice really did much for me, but I guess if it wasn’t portal related, I wouldn’t have found it.

The best thing, the mp3 is available for download for FREE: Victims of Science - The Device Has Been Modified

Apparently the lyrics were taken from the Portal game itself and mixed with a dance song:

Hello,
Hello, and welcome to the enrichment centre
Hello, and welcome to the enrichment centre
Hello, your specimen has been processed
Hello, your specimen has been processed
Hello, your specimen has been processed
Hello, we are now ready to begin the test proper
Hello
Hello

The device has been modified
The device has been modified

Hello, there you are friend
Hey hey, hey hey hey, put me down
I don’t hate you,

Well you found me
Congratulations
Was it worth it

The only thing you managed to break so far
Is my heart
This isn’t brave
It’s murder
What did I ever do to you
You don’t even care, do you

Please proceed into android hell
Android hell,

Weighted storage cube, destroyed
Weighted storage cube destroyed
Weighted storage cube destroyed

Thank you for participating in this aperture science computer aided enrichment activitiy
goodbye
goodbye

Are you still there

Okay, I just watched the 720p HD version and I understand the scenes a lot better now. Hehe. As noted above, you can download the HD version by locating the torrent link in the upper left hand corner.

Thanks to StanMan for forwarding me this link: Still Alive for Rock Band Free Tommorrow

ROCK BAND Media Alert

ROCK BAND™ TO FEATURE FREE DOWNLOAD OF “STILL ALIVE” FROM VALVE’S PORTAL™

This is a triumph … Harmonix Music Systems and MTV Games have teamed up with Valve to bring the song “Still Alive”, released as part of The Orange Box collection of games on PC, 360 and Playstation 3, into the Rock Band library. And, as icing on the cake, the track will be available as a FREE download on April 1 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and April 17 for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

Written by Jonathan Coulton and originally performed over the end credits of Portal, the experimental single-player game in The Orange Box, “Still Alive” found its way into the heads and hearts of gamers and quickly became a cult classic.

“While the cake may be a lie, the free download of “Still Alive” is confirmed truth,” said Greg LoPiccolo, VP of product development at Harmonix. “‘Still Alive’ is an awesome song that brings together great gaming and great music. We’ve teamed up with Valve to deliver a free download of “Still Alive” as a “thank you” to our fans for their incredible support.”

“Rock Band has lit the industry on fire by opening a new market for cooperative musical gaming,” said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. “We’re delighted Harmonix has selected the track for inclusion in the growing library of tracks available for this phenomenal title.”

With the addition of “Still Alive” to the Rock Band library, there are now more than 70 tracks available for download in addition to the 58 tracks in the original game. To date, gamers have purchased more than 6 million downloadable songs for Rock Band since its launch on November 20, 2007.

Downloadable content for the Xbox 360 will be available via Xbox LIVE® Marketplace using Microsoft Points and is downloaded directly to the Xbox 360 hard drive. Downloadable content for the PLAYSTATION 3 system’s version of Rock Band will be available on the PLAYSTATION®Store through the free PLAYSTATION®Network and is downloaded directly to PLAYSTATION 3 system’s built in hard drive.

Rock Band is rated “T” for Teen (lyrics, mild suggestive themes) by the ESRB.

I found this on Rock Band’s forums: DLC April 1st! Huge success!

Hey everybody!

This week we have a special present for you in celebration of April Fool’s Day. For $0 (0 Microsoft Points) you can download-

“Still Alive” by GlaD0s and Jonathan Coulton (master)

Due to work Sony is doing on their store they won’t be adding new material for a couple weeks so this won’t release on PlayStation Store this week. When they go back up with new material in a few weeks, though, it will be there lovingly waiting for you. For free. I’ll post something up here when it is available on that platform.

It will be available on Xbox360 on April 1st.

Also special thanks to Valve and to Jonathan Coulton for helping to make this happen. You rule.

If you don’t know what Still Alive is, you’ve been missing out. It’s the ending song for Portal (part of The Orange Box).

Unfortunately when I went to go download it right now, I was unable to connect to Xbox Live. That’s when I found this article: Reminder: Xbox Live Maintenance on Tuesday April 1:

On Tuesday April 1st from 0200-0500 PT Xbox Live will be offline for maintenance. As a result, the ‘My Xbox’ section of Xbox.com will be unavailable, and the Xbox forums will be in read only mode (you won’t be able to post.) The remainder of Xbox.com will be available.

Find out what time the maintenance will begin in your time zone

This is for maintenance, there are no new features on your that will appear on your Xbox 360 console or Xbox.com when the service comes back online. This is server maintenance only.

Those bastards! *shakes fist* Guess I’ll just have to wait till tomorrow. The freebie appears to be available for the whole week, unless you own a PS3, which then you’ll have to wait till Sony fixes their marketplace.

Update:

Here’s Xbox.com’s official story on it: Rock Band April Song Track Releases

Harmonix and MTV Games have announced the release schedule of individual song tracks and song packs for the game Rock Band™ for the month of April 2008. Fans will be able to purchase songs for 160 Microsoft Points per track (unless otherwise stated) and entire packs of songs are available at a discount.

Tracks marked with an asterisk (*) are cover songs as made famous by the listed artist. Tracks without an asterisk are original master recordings.

Week of April 1, 2008

• Individual tracks released (this is a FREE download starting April 1):
  • “Still Alive” by GLaDOS and Jonathan Coulton (from the game Portal)

Rock Band downloadable content is playable and integrated into setlists in all game modes including Solo Tour, Band World Tour, head-to-head competition either locally or online, and from any Quickplay mode. Start flexing your fingers and mark your calendar for these exciting song tracks, available through Xbox LIVE® Marketplace.