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Sunday, September 16, 2001 |  |
Re-encoded movie much smaller now
Okay, the saga of the Interview movie goes on. Bravehamster has re-encoded it from his original source, using DivX. On a PC, with WMP, the sound is there, the video is there... and the filesize has been reduced to 21.6 megs. (Woohoo!) On the mac side, I was able to watch it perfectly with the DivX Player... but BH's link to an official DivX codec for macs didn't let QuickTime 5 render this movie. (There's no sound when using the DivX player... but there wasn't any sound on the original 80 meg version on the mac, either.) For PCs without the DivX codec yet, grab it here. (Requires WMP 6.4 or better) The new file is now available either via http from BH's site, or via http from Psyrixx's site. (The original uncompressed .avi movie is no longer available in either location.) Again, mirrors are strongly encouraged. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 21:10:55 UTC) (permalink)
Movie update
Thanks to Psyrixx, who generously offered to mirror Bravehamster's .avi movie - you can snag it here. No clue how the site will hold up... so if you're getting horribly slow downloading times, maybe try and hold off for a bit. Again: this movie is 81 megs, in .avi format. On a PC, WMP plays it flawlessly (no drops), a major advantage over the .WMP file. QuickTime (on a PC) can't play it at all. On a Mac, WMP can't touch it (go figure), but QT5 plays the video perfectly - and hoses the sound. On the advice of BikeMike, I tried downloading the RAD Video Tools and re-encoding the movie using the DivX codec - it reduced the total filesize by 20 megs (to 60 megs or so), but totally removed sound. Ouch! The original streamed .wmv is still available at Microsoft, and the downloadable .wmv's are still up at Battleground: Halo, for those who can't handle the .avi. (Louis Wu 18:12:17 UTC) (permalink)
More screen caps for the masses
Thanks wholly to Bravehamster =PN='s conversion of the .wmv to .avi, I was able to use QuickTime (with its much more flexible manipulation tools) to grab a few more screen captures from the interview/discussion movie. There are 18 new shots on this page. Enjoy! (Louis Wu 17:06:39 UTC) (permalink)
DIY Hovercraft
Man, you gotta love fans. Johann, unhappy that the boat we saw only once, as concept art, might not be in the game any more, modeled his own. You'll find the wireframe in our Miscellaneous Art section. (Louis Wu 15:30:14 UTC) (permalink)
Interview now 81 MB .AVI
Bravehamster =PN= writes to say that he's re-encoded the interview (sorry, Harry - the discussion video) in .avi format - it's a whopping 81 MB now, but WMP plays it without stuttering. (QuickTime, for some reason, still can't play it.) He's kindly made it available via HTTP and FTP... but bandwidth is limited; mirrors are encouraged and appreciated. (Send us word of any mirrors - we'll let folks know.) (Louis Wu 05:01:59 UTC) (permalink)
Flat-shaded polys STILL look good
It's the night for Bungie explanations! Chris Butcher steps into a conversation about the quality of the latest movie... and explains that
if you look at all of the scenes outside in the snow, in the angular interiors and out on the bridge, you'll see that the environment polygons are flat-shaded and all the characters have full brightness. that's why you could be forgiven for thinking it looks very jet grind radio. :)
Wow - for two days, folks have been looking at this movie, and nobody noticed that? A tribute to the beauty of the material! Thanks, Chris. (Louis Wu 04:55:13 UTC) (permalink)
Joe goes to sleep
Joe Staten jumped into a discussion of 'the Schwartzenegger shot' to expound on Matt's 'cinematics are done' comment in this week's update, and to suggest that
Hopefully we'll be able to give you an abbreviated taste of what's in store (i.e. a new trailer) sometime soon. Certainly before Halo is on the shelves, a date that really isn't that far off.
(He also took the opportunity to put me in my place, movie-history-wise.) We're looking forward to the new footage! (Hopefully in a more universally-accessible format...) (Louis Wu 04:51:44 UTC) (permalink)
Rendered Wallpaper
Mr. Bill. Jr. V© sends along a homemade (with Bryce and Photoshop) desktop - inexplicably, it's 500x375 pixels. I've taken the liberty of scaling it up to a more standard desktop size, but the original is still available in our Wallpaper section, if you'd rather start from scratch. (Louis Wu 04:41:37 UTC) (permalink)
Attract Mode, defined
Thanks to both Darwin Campa and Tim Wilson, who both filled me in on the meaning of 'attract mode'... apparently, it's a term from arcade games - it's the footage that plays when there are no quarters in. Canned gameplay, in other words... can you say 'films'? (hopehopehope) Tim adds:
A standout "Attract Mode" from the early 80s was Bezerk. The machine would say: "Quarter Detected in pocket! Play Bezerk!"
Good to know... and glad Bungie is collecting footage for this! (Louis Wu 00:24:42 UTC) (permalink)
BGH cuts 30 MB from your DL
Coolness. Bounty, of Battleground: Halo, has compressed down the 44-meg .wmv to a 10 meg .wmv - quality is quite good for the size. For folks who can't handle a 44 meg download... check out the low-res version. (It's the same screensize as the original, just higher compression.) Note: in BGH's description of the downloads, these are listed as .MPG files... they're not. Both are still .WMV files, and you'll still need Windows Media Player to watch 'em. Update: MPG designations removed - apparently, Bounty was doing his best to re-encode them, but without success. Thanks for trying! (Louis Wu 00:09:22 UTC) (permalink)
Saturday's news in brief:
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Wallpaper for the slow Downloadable Interview at BGH More backstory from Microsoft Some day... Screens snagged from MS Flash site Marty's done Screen captures from the interview |
Friday's news in brief:
