The Download Munkey

Wallpapers Wednesday : Dissidia : Final Fantasy

Roys — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:09 +0000

Dissidia : Final Fantasy is a long overdue fighting game featuring the heroes and villains from each of the Final Fantasy games from first Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy XI.

Final Fantasy V was the only one that I completed but I can neither recognize Bartz Klauser or Exdeath in both wallpapers – one for the forces of Cosmos and the other for Chaos.

In contrast, Cloud and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII are instantly recognizable despite the fact I never played the game

Download these wallpapers from the official website for Dissidia : Final Fantasy (choose Cosmos or Chaos and then click Multimedia)

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Exit Fate – Excellent Freeware RPG
Warren Louw – Illustrator
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Random Monday : The Macabre World of Parasitoids

Roys — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:00:28 +0000

Came across this interesting article at Neurophilosophy on parasitoids with the capability to “brainwash” or modify the behaviour of their unfortunate hosts. From Wikipedia:

A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life history attached to or within a single host organism which it ultimately kills (and often consumes) in the process. Thus they are similar to typical parasites except in the certain fate of the host.

That said, the behaviour of some of these plants and animals can be a truly engaging read although it’s best to leave this stuff alone until after lunch or dinner. For the same reason, graphic photos are kept to a minimum too

I’ve elected to provide a short summary of the contents of this interesting article instead of simply regurgitating what I read – you can jump to the actual post for the juicy bits

The article introduces the genus of parasitic fungi cordyceps, of which cordyceps sinensis is one of the most well known species for its prized healing properties in traditional Chinese medicine (I’m taking some pills made from it to speed up recuperation after a bad spell of eczema flare-ups, that’s how I found this article ).

At Neurophilosophy, the reader is introduced to another species cordyceps unilateralis which has a startling ability to influence the behaviour of its infected ant host to ensure its spores disperse over a wider area and increase its chances of infecting other ants. There’s more photos of cordyceps fungi and their hosts over at www.fruit.affrc.go.jp and www.utexas.edu if you’re so inclined.

Photo by L.E Gilbert @ The University of Texas

Camponotus ant with Cordyceps lloydii.

And if you thought that these plants were creepy enough, wait until you read about the gordian worm It appears that these two species are just the tip of the iceberg, just browse around in Wikipedia and check out freaky stuff like the suicide-inducing parasitism category, the phoridae family of flies or the Solenopsis daguerrei species of parasitic ants.

Learn more at Neurophilosophy.

Games Thursday : Federation Wrestling

Roys — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:00:04 +0000

Federation Wrestling is just one of Mat Dickie’s many games from a prolific game development career spanning nine years from 2000 to the present day. Essentially an one-man development team, you gotta respect someone like Mat who took it upon himself to code and create the accompanying graphics and sounds to implement his own gameplay ideas into real, playable games.

Mat Dickie, da Man!

Federation Wrestling is a freeware release of one of the older games in Mat Dickie’s portfolio. While the 2D sprites may turn off gamers used to the photorealistic 3D graphics in today’s games, I find these old-skool graphics nostalgic as they remind me of a time when pro-wrestling was more entertainment than bloody violence that the current WWE has become.

While there are no licensed wrestlers in Federation Wrestling, any wrestling aficionado will surely appreciate the sheer customization options offered by this game. It’s pretty obvious at this point that Federation Wrestling was developed by a big wrestling fan

After tweaking your wrestler’s appearance, fighting animations and moves (and even the entry theme music) to your heart’s content, lead him (sorry, there’s no option to create a female wrestler) to fame and glory though a 12 month contract to prove himself as the best in the game. Thankfully, the story in the 48 match Contract mode isn’t half bad either (for a wrestling game, that is )

action

Standard moves like punching, kicking and grappling are available to everyone together with loads of different bodyslams, suplexes and submission holds and other special moves for each wrestler. While climbing up the turnbuckle for more risky aerial moves is possible, there’s unfortunately no way for running clotheslines and the like since the ropes are static (and your wrestler can’t run).

Aku Rinne staring intently at a stick of dynamite as he enters the arena. It’s gonna be one explosive match tonight

As you make your entrance into the ring with your custom theme music blaring in the background, note the bewildering array of handy tools like microphones, baseball bats (and wait, dynamite??) lying around conveniently outside the ring for the dirty players. Some of the largerprops like glass panels and crates are interactive too – try tossing your opponent through the glass and see what happens next

Aku Rinne just busted Benjo onto a long table

Watch out when you use your dirty tricks though since not every match allows the referee to turn a blind eye to your wrestler bonking his opponent over the head repeatedly with a microphone. Different rules, scoring systems and optional gimmicks like steelcage matches will ensure that the matches in Contract mode never end up being overly repetitive.

Download Mat Dickie’s Federation Wrestling (scroll, scroll, scroll).

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Military Tuesday : Supercavitating Torpedoes

Roys — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:00:36 +0000

I recently read about supercavitating torpedoes being used in fictional near future global conflicts in Dragon’s Fury and Shotgun One and thought that it was a too much of a coincidence to be a fictional weapon so I went Googling and well, this stuff really exists!

The white area depicts the gas bubble surrounding the moving black object. Water resistance against the moving object is redirected away by the gas bubble.

Simply put, supercavitating torpedoes are rocket-propelled torpedoes which create a envelope of gas around the body of the torpedo to significantly reduce water resistance and drag, thus enabling incredible speeds of over 200 knots per hour – nearly 5 or 6(!) times faster than most warships, even new ships like the futuristic-looking USS Independence designed by General Dynamics.

There isn’t much information on the Internet about these ingenious weapons though since the only two types of supercavitating torpedoes in active service seem to be the Shkval/Shkval-II (above) developed by the Russians in the 1970s and an alleged Iranian copy of the Shkval-II.

Surprisingly, the Russians did not intend to use these weapons in the anti-ship role as depicted in the abovementioned novels but only as defense against enemy torpedoes instead. The Shkval probably wouldn’t be practical for attacking enemy warships in real life due to the limited maximum range of around 13 km (the American Mark 48 torpedo while slower, has a more useful maximum range of around 50 km) and the significant noise signature created by the ignition of the rocket motor which would have greatly compromised the launching submarine.

More information about the Shkval at Military Periscope, Articles Extra, World Affairs Board and of course Wikipedia. Or read the novels : Dragon’s Fury and Shotgun One

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Art Friday : The Weird and Wonderful World of Afu Chan aka aznmextofu

Roys — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:00:33 +0000

Afu Chan or aznmextofu @ deviantART has a knack for conjuring up some of the most wildly fantastic artwork that I’ve ever laid my eyes on – quite reminds me of several of my dreams in the past, only much weirder, more violent and most definitely much more fascinating and intriguing

One of my favourites is Fishbones Attack – a tie wearing horseman lets loose a blast from his shotgun on the rolling gunmen-infested deck of a ship with giant fish (tuna?) leaping into the air in the background. Also notice the nice little detail where the rear hoof of our horseman’s black charger has stomped on the left hand of one of the fallen gunmen. And that unfortunate guy’s probably isn’t dead yet because his face has just turned very red All very odd which makes Afu’s stuff so interesting.

Something’s about to turn real ugly soon as these two girls stand by patiently with weapons loaded and ready to ROCK!

Street Fight 07 – a martial arts movie-like scene set in the streets with the ragdoll-like agility of Matrix.

A day out in Zombie City

Street Fighter II done in Afu’s distinctive style.

The Lugaidh Brothers and Sisters – a band of unconventional pugilists with totally unkungfu-ish sounding names From left to right : Frank, Stephanie, Cindy, Paul, Monica, David and the guy up front is Lugaidh himself. The word Nepenthes is also the genus name for the carnivorous pitcher plants.

Swordfights in the sky – City of Violence – ever seen a punch so powerful that it breaks a passing airliner into two – Bruce Lee’s famous one inch punch doesn’t even come close

More chaos in Fight Back to School,

… in a forest with Daruma dolls hanging from the trees (Heaven & Earth),

… and in a church with walls pockmarked with bullet holes (Battle Royal 08). The funny thing is no one seems to have managed to hit and shatter any of the stained glass windows yet

Check out more of Afu Chan’s fantastic artwork at deviantART.

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My Favourite Dominance War III Wallpapers

Wallpapers Wednesday : Dominance War IV

Roys — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:00:07 +0000

A small selection of my favourite wallpapers from this year’s Dominance War IV art competition. The general theme for most of the entries takes on a decidedly darker and more morbid feel than previous years’ works with a host of imaginative infernal or mechanical implements of death and destruction being entered for Dominance War IV.

There’s a total of 29 wallpapers in all but I’ll just feature my favourite five – you can check out the rest at the Dominance War website. The selection below also exhibits a personal bias towards 2D concept art – hence the total absence of any of the wallpapers featuring the 3D entries – they’re not bad of course, just that I prefer 2D

I’ve attempted to provide links to the Dominance War IV entry page and personal website for the artist of each of the featured wallpapers below for those interested in exploring further

Tu Bui @ 2buiart.com (DW IV page)

Fedor Losev @ feddark.deviantart.com (DW IV page)

Huang Guang Jian @ hgjart.com (DW IV page)

Chung Yee Ling @ syncmax.deviantart.com (DW IV page)

Simon Dominic @ www.painterly.co.uk (DW IV page)

Download these and other Dominance War IV wallpapers. The champions and other entries for Dominance War IV can also be viewed here.

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Random Monday : Fight or Flight

Roys — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:00:37 +0000

Trailer for an award-winning documentary Fight or Flight tracing Irish filmmaker/producer Peter McCarthy’s journey to learn Muay Thai in the gyms and training camps of Thailand. Made over the period of five years, Fight or Flight is much more than just Muay Thai and the often fascinating Thai culture, it’s also an attempt to try and understand the issue of conflict and violence in the world today .

A flurry of fists and knees – the trailer definitely captures the intensity of Muay Thai action much better than this static shot

Freshmeat!

The collection of snippets from the film includes a particularly memorable scene where Peter passes by some of the queer stuff for sale at the many roadside stalls of Thailand, to glimpses of the Lanna Muay Thai boxing camp in Chiangmai and actual Muay Thai fights (legal of course) in Thai stadiums – one thing I noticed here and in a recent visit to Lumpinee Stadium (some photos at thoo2’s blog) was how quickly the referees in grey-brown uniforms moved in to separate the fighters when required.

KOed.

Punishing knee strikes

Not much to comment about Fight or Flight since I haven’t actually watched the film yet – I’m keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that it will be screened at one of the film festivals here eventually

Check out the trailer at the official site for Fight or Flight. The film is available for sale on DVD from this official site only.

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Games Thursday : Alien Assault

Roys — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:00:52 +0000

Behold Alien Assault, a recently released freeware offering by Swedish development team TearDown, the rules of which will be instantly recognizable to players of Games Workshop’s Space Hulk.

Your team of soldiers in their green S.P.A.R.T.A.N battlesuits will take the fight to vicious aliens lurking behind heavy steel doors and prowling along dark claustrophobic corridors. But not to worry, a very intuitive mouse-driven interface and a comprehensive tutorial campaign makes learning the ropes of Alien Assault a breeze even if you’re no Space Hulk veteran.

Unfortunately, the close quarters combat in Alien Assault is brutally unforgiving and your troops rarely survive once those pesky aliens get to servo-gauntlet’s range to use their sharp claws Positioning your soldiers in areas with clear fields of fire, mutual support between soldiers (the standard issue Thunderbolt assault carbine can be frustratingly inaccurate at times) and the proper use of overwatch mode will hopefully retain enough survivors in your team to enable you to complete the mission objectives.

Uh-oh. Blips = BAD!

Sound effects are suitably atmospheric – from the crunch of your soldiers’ heavy armoured boots to the growl of hungry aliens attempting to tear your team into bite-sized pieces. I haven’t really got much other information to offer about Alien Assault apart from the rather obvious stuff stated above since I’ve been constantly sending soldiers to become alien snacks in Mission 7 : Onslaught

Don’t get too attached to your soldiers – the lifespan of each soldier is violently short

Download Alien Assault.

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Military Tuesday : US Handbook of Artillery : Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Materiel (1920)

Roys — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:00:18 +0000

Fished out this old US handbook on WWI artillery from The Internet Archive while mucking around in the WWI towed artillery category of Wikimedia Commons, particularly on the French C17S howitzer (below). Always thought that Project Gutenberg was the only major source for public domain books but I guess I was wrong there

This book titled Handbook of Artillery : Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Matériel was published by the US Ordnance Department in 1920 and a digital copy scanned for the University of California was graciously uploaded to the Internet Archive in 2007.

The first section presents the workings of the firing and recoil mechanisms of modern artillery pieces as well as brief descriptions of the various vehicles that accompanied the guns in the era of towed artillery from carriage limbers to caissons for ammunition storage and battery, forge and store wagons.

What follows after is a whole load of technical details on the major artillery systems in service with the US armed forces during the Great War and the post-war years, presented with very thorough descriptions and specifications of each gun and their specialized support vehicles with a generous sprinkling of scale diagrams.

A 37mm infantry gun

A 7-inch naval rifle

A Vickers 9.2 inch heavy howitzer

Pieces ranging from the 37mm infantry gun, the 75mm light field gun to heavy artillery like the British 60 pounders and French 155mm howitzers e.g the C17S are covered together with monstrous 7-inch naval rifles and 9.2-inch Vickers heavy howitzers thrown in for good measure.

There’s a short section on anti aircraft guns still in their infancy with an interesting truck-mounted 75mm field gun (above), together with a brief coverage on trench mortars.

But the most interesting bit would be photos of probably the world’s first self propelled artillery, the Mark II (below) in which a 155mm gun was mated to a treaded chassis. Only 8 were delivered which suggested that it was probably constructed for evaluation trials but not adopted for front-line service.

Download the Handbook of Artillery : Including Mobile, Anti-Aircraft and Trench Matériel (that’s the actual title) or browse through other Ordnance Department books and manuals. On a related note, check out www.cannonartillery.com’s Cannon Walk feature for a glimpse at the history of US artillery from past to present.

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Art Friday : Steve Argyle’s Wallpapers Galore!

Roys — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:33 +0000

What better way to introduce a yet unfeatured artist here at The Download Munkey than to overload your senses with lots of delicious eye candy Let’s just say all this is a brillant masterstroke by artist Steve Argyle to win the hearts of new minions (as he affectionately refers to the subscribers of his mailing list like me).

With his recent release of 65 wallpapers featuring 55+ different pieces of Steve’s awesome work for the likes of Legend of the Five Rings, Magic : The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, I’m pretty sure hordes of new minions will be eagerly flocking to his website and mailing list

A preview of some of my favourite wallpapers.

Chuda Ruri of the Snake Clan from the Legend of the Five Rings.

A gigantic samurai gets his moustache cleaned in Return of the Shogun.

The Kaiu Wall which guards the Crab Clan from the beasts beyond.

Nightlife in Scorpion City.

Don’t like samurai? How about some Star Wars instead? Perhaps Darth Vader suits your taste better

There’s more in the Star Wars section including an awesome Rohlan Dyre commissioned for the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, a Star Wars RPG supplement.

Maybe, sci-fi’s not your cup of tea? Good old fantasy should do the trick then, like this lithe Naya Battlemage from the Shards of Alara expansion set for Magic : The Gathering.

Age of Tyranny (above) and Dwarf Barbarian from Dungeons & Dragons.

This small selection of artwork is just the tip of the iceberg – there’s plenty more eye candy at Steve Argyle’s official site. And if 1600×1200 wallpapers are not enough, you always have the option to purchase prints of your favourite artworks

Check out Steve Argyle’s official website or head down right to the wallpaper collection.

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