2011. dec. 17.

Stop SOPA. Stop the coming Nightmare.

I've censored the following, in protest of a bill that gives any corporation and the US government the power to censor the internet--a bill that could pass THIS WEEK. To see the uncensored text, and to stop internet censorship, visit:
http://americancensorship.org/posts/23593/uncensor
██████ the so-██████ ████ ████, it █████ ████ to the end of the ████████ and █████████ ███████ as a █████. I ████ ████ it. █████. █████. █████.

2011. júl. 16.

Pannonis Cold War History

Classified by order of West Union Armed Forces HiCom
[TOP SECRET - EYES ONLY]

Anno Pannonis 56: Cold War Transformers

The planet Pannonis and its twin moons Magor and Hunos, ever since the great Pannonis War 2 in AP 39-45, began with the Triaxis military mobilization and the joint invasion of Pannos with the then-newborn East Concordium, both partners in crime, and ended with the West Union launching the first-ever two neonuclear strikes on Teppon, present day NiuTeppon, as the infamous Operation: Judgement Day, has felt its coldest winter in the Cold War in pannonii history by AP 56.

By this year, tensions between the blue, democratic West Union and the red, communist East Concordium were so tight, both superstates were at the edge of breaking from paranoia, at the edge pushing the button to launch all neonuclear weapons - silos, killsats, lunar silos - and bringing about the death of Pannonis itself and the pannonii race as well.

At the edge of a possible Pannonis War 3.

The Cold War has been so intense, the occasional urban battle, fought on land with levtanks, powersuits, combots and gravline battletrains, on air with linear interceptors and flying wings, on sea with seaforts, carriersubs and strikesubs, and even on space with orbital platforms, orbital warships and orbital combots, plus secret space corps, erupted in flames here and there, the typical view of an urban battlefield reminding a pannonii of 1956 "Hungary", the most war-torn era of this nation on "Earth", a planet mostly mentioned only in our folklore.

This is where the Hexagon comes in - an independent space station built after PW2 by all the superstates known. The Hexagon and its armed forces, the Hexagon Peacemakers, has one mission: to keep and make the peace on Pannonis and prevent any side from ever pushing the button to Pannonis' mutually assured destruction (MAD)... no matter what. But as of recently, the Hexagon hasn't been themselves - the mere sight of Peacemakers waging war on peaceful, neutral nations out of insanity or for reasons unknown has become more and more frequent and gut-wrenching every day. We have come to believe a "power elite" might be the puppeteers controlling the Hexagon's actions for their pleasure... and the evidence is starting to mount.

Worst still, we have been intercepting transmissions of unknown origin from Magor, confirming our worst fears of any Triaxis remnants' existence, as well as the nightmare of their return - Magor has secretly been the HQ for the Luna Triaxis, who have been developing technology decades-- no, centuries... make that lightyears beyond currently existing tech available on- and offworld. Basically, they have been building a hi-tech lunar army to reap their vengeance upon us.

And just when the global picture was bad enough... enter, one snowy winter night, an alien race of mechanical beings we have classified X-TFs and they themselves call the "Transformers".

When the entire planet was fast asleep in dreamless, fitful sleeps, two percieved alien starships were spotted planetfalling into Pannonis - one crashing in the Union on X-TF Crashsite Alpha and the other in the Concordium on X-TF Crashsite Omega - and one more was seen smashing into Magor, on X-TF Crashsite Luna. Pannonis as a whole did not expect this that night.

Come the next sunrise, history as we pannonii knew it... was history.

Pannos, both Union West and Concordium East, woke up to a day that will go down in infamy as the day the X-TFs, split into Unitec and Concoroid factions - no doubt the X-TFs are in civil war, first fought their appearantly generations-old war here on Pannonis, the leaders being respectively "General MAX" and "Polaris". X-TF technology is so advanced, it allowed them to transform into any scanned vehicle and put even our most advanced main battle combots available - and the Concordium's own - to utter shame, as demonstrated by combot wreckage strewn on the urban battlezone during what the Unitecs called "Mission 1".

After the battle on Pannonis ended with the Unitecs winning, General MAX told some of our forces rescued in the battle their story and their mission. The Unitec mission is of benign intent. Of Pannonis' complete disarmanent of all known weapons systems, primarily neonuclear weapons, in their mission of mercy to lift the wraith of MAD from our world.

The Concoroid mission, on the other hand, was of simple, malign intent: an all-out armed intervention campaign aimed to bring our race a few steps closer - or, if needed, cast entirely - into the freshly open grave of neonuclear extinction, by all means available, at all costs acceptable.

Operation: False Gods was one such Unitec mission in the time the Union's Gemini killsat system and the Concordium's prototype Ikon were hacked by Haywire into launching all-out, decisive neonuclear strikes... against the very superstates that created, launched and activated them, all while disabling the point defense satellites to avoid retaliation. The false gods in question? The Killsats themselves. Thank Pregenitor the Unitec flyers and our flyboys, and the heavy hitters on ground, sent the killsats a long way down, blasted to pieces and without the neonuke warheads primed... although not without encountering heavy Concoroid resistance.

As the war raged on, we learned that the X-TFs come in different flavors. There's the X-TF Commandoes, one mech armies that can dish out and soak in a lot of punishment, and there are the X-TF SpecOps, the aces-in-the-hole mechs, specializing in SeALS - Sea, Air, Land, Space warfare. And each are like the Pannonis snowflakes: no two are ever alike.

After Operation: False Gods, there were many PW3 close calls we have prevented and ultimately smashed: brainwashed Hexagon hostage takeovers, Red infiltration on the battletrains, flying wing squadrons taking wrong turns, occasional new recruit training mishaps... even that SAR (Search and Rescue) mission at Pannos that turned ugly the moment the Reds and Hexes showed up. Time and again have the Reds plotted to plunge us to Doomsday... time and again have the few-and-almighty used Hexagon to turn us into a prison world... and time and again have we taught 'em a lesson in humiliation.

But knowing the Lunar Triaxis, one can't keep up saving the Union - and Pannonis as a whole - from MAD forever, much less cheat Death itself. And it was only a matter of time before, one night, the techno-facsists on Magor made themselves known by launching an all-out orbital blitzkrieg that caught us with our "panzers" down.

And guess what: the Triaxis has X-TFs too... led by what we know as "Charon".

The invasion, called the "Triaxis Nacht" by our boys and, by the Triaxis slimeballs, "Operation: Erwachen", was the most furious and devastating of them all, with Unitec VS Triaxis, Concoroid VS Triaxis... and even Triaxis VS Triaxis battles flaring up here and there, from the Union to the Concordium, from the Independent Alliance (InAl) to even between Hunos, the Hexagon and Magor... basically, Pannonis has become one Inferno of a fireworks show. Too many cities have become total urban battlezones, too many blood and oil was spillt, and much, much more displays of raw firepower than you can shake a lineargun at. Bullets were flying all around the planet and the moons.

Our joint mission was to break and end the Lunar Triaxis invasion through full-scale strategy, tactical guerilla maneuvers, and the good ol' military ultra-violence. All this with X-TFs. Not an easy mission, considering how nasty and hi-tech the invaders were and the unholy alliance we have to make with the Reds. Nothing worthwhile ever is. But guess what - we kicked serious Triaxis keister, and thanks to us, the invasion flew to pieces like a 3D puzzle.

With Operation: Erwachen ending a complete disaster, General MAX and we decided to bring the war directly to the doorstep of the Lunar Triaxis' home turf... and for that purpose was born the assault starshuttle GEMINI and tomorrow's Experimental Stealth Team "Nightghosts", hailing from a possible future of AP 96. Of course, the Reds want payback too for the Nacht - which explains IKON and the "Chernos", also hailing from the possible future.

After a day's thought, agreement and preparation (although we would've used the Hunos neonuke silos on the Magor base... but let's save the best for last), the West Union and the East Concordium - and General MAX and Polaris - launch a joint assault mission to the moons on Magor.

Operation: Luna's Ghosts.

Our mission to make the Triaxis devil Charon and his shock-troopers pay dearly for that night was well underway. Not without some... "detours", however.

AP 72: Concordium Invasion


AP 84-91: Pannonis War 3


AP 96: The Visitor Invasion


AP 96-99: Alien GENESIS


AP 99: End of an Era

2011. jún. 26.

TRANSFORMERS: Red Alert

[Commander's note: the Transformers are no doubt my favorite robot action figure toyline and TV series... especially Beast Wars (Matter of factly, Beast Wars was my first exposure, the first episode I saw when I was little was Chain of Command), and I've had an unhealthy interest in the Cold War through the Red Alert line of the Command and Conquer series created by Westwood Studios. I thought... "Transformers + Cold War = Delicious heavy metal mayhem." And that's how I created this series... with a little alien spicing.

Without further ado, on with the show...]

Planetary cold war, like snow, descends upon the lonely Earth-type planet, orbited by its twin moons, named "Pannonis" in its 56th year in winter, snow covering the ruined urban battlezones.

The cold war between the West Union and the East Concordium was so tense, some cities of Pannonis' omnihumanoid dominant natives, the pannonii, can be easily mistaken for Hungary's war-torn era of AD 1956, both superstates' aggressive natures kept in check by experimental, unconventional weapons systems, such as maglev tanks, linear interceptors, flying wings, orbital weapons platforms, lunar neonuke silos, gravline battletrains and, as of late, powered suits and combots, in addition to secret space corps.

Peace is kept and made by the Hexagon independent space station, making sure nobody pushes the button to MAD by both sides, out of paranoia or not - but as cruel fate would have it, those powerful few behind the scenes are using the Hexagon and its military to spill innocent blood for the sheer love of it to the point of weakening everyone's nerves. What's worse, one of Pannonis' moons, Magor, is secretly home to a surviving superstate of subjugators thought gone for good: the Triaxis, massing its own hi-tech guerilla military to one day redecorate the snowland in blood for their defeat.

Worse still, with all these orbital combots in use by all sides on the wartorn urban planet, pannonii alien paranoia, like the winterfall, blankets the planet as much as neonuclear hysteria chokes Pannonis, Magor and Hunos to the point of nervous meltdown. And as fate would have it, an alien machine race, already known as the Transformers, came upon and crashed into Pannonis one snowy winter night...

One side, the Unitecs, wish to rid Pannonis and the pannonii of the horrors of war. No matter what.
The other, the Concoroids, undergoes armed intervention to see what makes this world tick.

Times change. But war never changes. Never did, never does, never will.

Anno Pannonis 56.

A year that will go down in history as the year the Transformers made the pannonii cold war go hot.

EXTRA hot.

TRANSFORMERS
       Red Alert 

Episode Guide
Season 1 - Anno Pannonis 56

001: Mission 1, Phase 1
002: Mission 1, Phase 2
003: Mission 1, Phase 3
004: Operation: False Gods
005: Going Red
006: Hostile Hostages
007: First Time For Everything
008: Top Guns
009: Search, Rescue and Destroy, Part 1
010: Search, Rescue and Destroy, Part 2
011: Search, Rescue and Destroy, Part 3
012: Triaxis Nacht
013: Mission to the Moons
014: Hexagon, Part 1
015: Hexagon, Part 2
016: End of the Line, Part 1
017: End of the Line, Part 2
018: End of the Line, Part 3

Holiday Special: Red Christmas


Season 2 - Anno Pannonis 72

019: Red Tide, Part 1
020: Red Tide, Part 2
021: Red Tide, Part 3
022: Day Off
023: Special Forces, Part 1
024: Special Forces, Part 2
025: Special Forces, Part 3
026: Look Who's Back
027: Neonuclear Disaster
028: Time to Heal, Time to Kill
029: Enemy Public #1
030: Project: Genesis Pannonis, Part 1
031: Project: Genesis Pannonis, Part 2
032: Project: Genesis Pannonis, Part 3
033: Operation: Curtain Call


Season 3 - Anno Pannonis 84-91

034: Pannonis War 3, Part 1: It Begins 
035: Pannonis War 3, Part 2: Invasion Pannonis
036: Pannonis War 3, Part 3: United they Fall
037:
Pannonis War 3, Part 4: Friends from High Places
038:
Pannonis War 3, Part 5: The Heart of It All
039:
Pannonis War 3, Endgame: Out of Ashes, Peace
040: Morning Again in Pannonis
041: Zone 56
042: Under New Management, Part 1
043: Under New Management, Part 2
044: Under New Management, Part 3
045: Return of the Big Rigs


Intercepted Alien Transmissions - Preview to Visitors
T Minus 3: First Contact
T Minus 2: Invasion En-route
T Minus 1: Final Warning

The Movie: Visitors - Anno Pannonis 96

Season 4 - Anno Pannonis 96-99

046: Whirlwinds of Change, Part 1
047: Whirlwinds of Change, Part 2
048: Whirlwinds of Change, Part 3
049: Whirlwinds of Change, Part 4
050: Research and Destruction
051: GENESIS
052: Earth
053: Visitors
054: Flight of the Monolith
055: Revelations
056 - Halloween Special: From Beyond the Grave
057 - Halloween Special: Unholy Alliances
058: Codename: Extinction, Part 1: Warning Bells
059: Codename: Extinction, Part 2: Cardinal Assault
060: Codename: Extinction, Part 3: One Minute to Midnight
061: Gathering Storm
062: Golgotha, Part 1
063:
Golgotha, Part 2
064:
Golgotha, Part 3
065:
Golgotha, Part 4
066:
Golgotha, Part 5

Season 5 - Late Anno Pannonis 99

067: Operation: Liberty, Phase 1
068: Operation: Liberty, Phase 2
069: Operation: Liberty, Phase 3
070: Operation: Liberty, Phase 4
071: Operation: Liberty, Endgame
072: Tomorrow
073 - Christmas Special: Cyber-Angel's Song
074 - Christmas Special: Coming of Silent Night
075: Operation: Revelation, Phase 1: Alpha of the Omega
076: Operation: Revelation, Phase 2: Hexagon Revisited
077: Operation: Revelation, Phase 3: Dance with the Devils
078: Operation: Revelation, Phase 4: End of the Road
079: Operation: Revelation, Phase 5: A Farewell to Pannonis
080: New Generation's Eve (Operation: Revelation, Endgame)
081: '56 Forever (Series Finalé)


Top-Secret Films - AP 56-99

O001: Unitecs
O002: Concoroids
O003: Triaxis Invaders
O004: Hexagon Peacemakers
O005: Project: Genesis
O006: Visitor Invader Fleet
O007: Pannonii Cold War History
O008: AP 56: Cold War Transformers
O009: AP 72: Concordium Invasion
O010: AP 84-91:
Pannonis War 3
O011: AP 96: The Visitor Invasion
O012: AP 96-99: Alien GENESIS
O013: AP 99: End of an Era

2011. máj. 20.

GENETOS - A Shmup for All Generations

Report written by:
Lévai József
Planet Genetos Search Project (PGSP)
fighter pilot

Pro-Log
"Tatsuya Koyama... you made my day."

I doubt there would be any more appropriate words than this for my intro to my mission report to the Project for one of the most original and peak-of-life shmup mission assignments I ever undertook: GENETOS. My first impressions on my first contact with this game can be best summed up as "a free, interactive shoot 'em up history lesson" - so I took that chance to leave a BIG mark on history (pun intended) and signed up to the Planet Genetos Search Project... as fighter pilot of course.

As you may have heard, the experimental GENETOS GenerationShift System outfitting my Planet Genetos Search Unit craft can be activated once enough DNA cells from downed enemies was collected...  that meant evolving from one generation to the next - and that translates to more advanced graphics and firepower and weapons to waste the bad guys with. Hey, it's an EVOLUTIONARY shooter simulation - you expect something else? Oh, and the heads of the PGS Project gave me my priority objective: blaze my path throughout the history of shmups from start to finish in the search for a new world, namely planet Genetos, wreakin' havoc to any bad guy and "mutant" in my way. Sounds like giving the fans their daily mayhem, huh?

If you think this mission's gonna be a piece a' cake... you got another thing comin' your way, FAST: I'm not the only one with the fancy ability to evolve into new times, so if I get overconfident, future generations will be wondering what the hootin' heck IS a fossilized advanced space fighter wreck DOING here in 1978.

A nasty job, some say insane and impossible... but someone's gotta take risks.

And I'm gonna make doggone sure that someone's ME.

That was my cue to climb into my GSS craft, start up all systems and initiate launch sequence into time itself... starting from the beginning of shump history as we all know it.

- Operating System: Running.
- Weapons: Online.
- Sensors: Online.
- Engines: Online.
- Generation Shift System: Online.
- All systems nominal.
- Genetos Search Unit ready to launch in: 3...
2...
1...

And THAT'S when I lit the candle. Shoot 'em up video game history...

HERE
I
COME!!!


1ST GENERATION - Invasion from Space
Ship: Space Invaders cannon. Movement restricted to bottom and can only shoot one bullet at a time.

First stop: 1978 AD Japan, the time of Taito's Space Invaders... no doubt the first ever shmup in recorded video game history and my favorite classic game, made by Tomoro Nishikado all by himself. This may sound insane to some, but at the time, creating a game solo was perfectly normal... well, as normal as the rest of the funny farm can be.

You can tell that this is the first ever generation of shmups: limited graphics, music, movement, sound effects... thanks to then-primitive technology. But hey - Space Invaders is as simple and innovative as simplicity and minimalism allows. Even the goal's a piece of cake: shoot down those lil' invaders from space before they hit the ground, but watch out for enemy return fire. Too bad in GENETOS, there are no shield bunkers to cover your hide... oh well, at least you can begin harvesting green DNA debris here, too.
Uh oh. Incoming Mutant. And that can only be translated into one thing: we got a BOSS incoming! (Must be that kill-and-collect binge I got myself into...)
Mutant: Alien Mothership (Boss)
This big momma of a alien mothership is easy, contrary to popular opinion. Just keep zappin' it and its invader escort until it goes boom. But easy with the triple bursts it spits out, and with that ship of yours, taking the mutant down will take longer, if not forever. Which leads to only one optimal conclusion: gather the remaining DNA and...
GENERATION SHIFT: 2ND GENERATION
Ship: Galaga-like space fighter. Movement restricted to bottom half and can shoot twin shots. 
Main weapons system can be changed here.


That's right, folks: a Generation Shift means you have evolved from one generation to the next thanks to those DNA you collected. And guess what you get:
A spiffy new space fighter straight from the late 80s' arcade shmup game classics, such as Galaga and Star Soldier. With your twin burst LASERs and expanded movement, that obsolete alien mothership stands ZERO chance now. Die, alien scum! DIE! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! (Sorry... got a little bit sucked into the anti-evil alien invader business.)

Well... that's it for Space Invaders and the 1st Generation as a whole. Next stop: the 80s.

To the Next Generation...

2ND GENERATION - 80s Space Mayhem
Welcome to the time of the arcade smash hits that's the 1980s, pilots, pitted against the likes of Galaxian, Galaga, Phoenix, Xevious, Gradius, R-Type, Star Soldier and Recca. The bad guys of this generation are expectin' ya - coming in with guns hot. And good thing so are you.
From attack fighters to combat drones (who can fire back harder) and smiling blocks that won't leave you smile upon making contact, plus with a rockin' 80s style music to go with, you'll be having your hands full kickin' butt and takin' DNA. Of course, when you've reduced most of the alien fleet to space debris, you're gonna have to answer to their boss...
Mutant: Giant Spinner 
Figures the Boss has evolved as well, which is now a mothership looking like a razor flower - and looks ain't the only thing evolved, but also firepower. Take out its primary shield for a DNA boost for the next generation...

GENERATION SHIFT: 3RD GENERATION
 Ship: Advanced space fighter. Ship has a wider frontal shot and can use bombs.
Movement is no longer restricted. New weapon: bomb.
This is the first ship to allow stat changes for Yellow.
A next-generation starfighter with a new weapon, the good ol' BOMB... NOW we're cookin' with gas.

3RD GENERATION - Galactic Soldier



4TH GENERATION - Bullet Curtains for You

FINAL GENERATION - Planet Genetos or 
Darwinian Doom


PHASE 1: Birth
PHASE 2: Variation
PHASE 3: Selection
PHASE 4: Prosperity
PHASE 5: EXTINCTION

2011. máj. 1.

Mother's Day

[Personal Log recording...]

As I type this log into my system, today just happens to be May 1st, which here is Mother's Day... and it's come to my attention just how much it stinks seeing mothers die from my 3 and 9 o' clock, left and right, in my missions, accident and/or intent - I take a look at the photo below and my mind processes about it. In fact, the world would be void with my mom gone... and her comeback as a stinkin' gun-totin' rottin' reject known as a zombie'll only make the pain of loss worse than it already is, knowing from playing one DooM too many.

There are times I wish mommy would be with me forever, and I suppose the ZECT Rider system's Clock Up would do the trick... but hey, we're only human, and this ain't the Grid - people don't belong there, not even Sam, even if I happen to build a digital space station to call home.

So, here's to all the moms, then, now, forever...
(Of course, losing family does not affect Imperial Space Marines. In fact, you take one of their battle brothers down, hundreds of your troops are gonna be fed to their war machine's furnace... just a quick warning.)

2011. márc. 11.

XONOTIC - GPLFPS of a Different sort


If you can see this, boils and gargolyes, you are wondering why I've secceeded into that OTHER next-gen GPLFPS. Simple. You're not gonna like the ending, though, Nexuiz veterans.

Let's start with the basics, will we?

Nexuiz was originally developed by Lee Vermeulen and Forest 'LordHavoc' Hale, who started Alientrap Software in the summer of 2002. The goal of the project was to create a high quality first person shooter that could be played freely across all platforms in one package: PC, Mac, and Linux. The engine that powered Nexuiz was Forest Hale's Darkplaces engine.

The first version of the game was released in 2005. Development continued with many online contributors over the years, with version 2.5 released in October of 2009. Since its release it has been downloaded over 5 million times, and is included with many Linux distributions.

In mid-2010, it was announced that a new XBLA, PSN, and Steam downloadable version of Nexuiz would be done from the ground up by IllFonic using Crytek's highly anticipated CryENGINE3 game engine.

That's where everything blew out of proportion... and out of the airlock, naturally, for Nexuiz players.

In short: everything was fun and games of death when Alientrap created this gem of a freeware FPS we called Nexuiz out of the modified Quake DP engine... until that team of showoffs named IllFonic showed up and announced the console version powered by CryENGINE3 like they own the game or sumfin'.

*PFFT* Least they were so kind to put the classic Nexuiz up for download.

While I appreciate the Victorian-style designs - after all, it's not "The Beauty of Brutality" for nothing - this did not bode well for we freeware gamers and Nexuiz players. It was an outrage - a bleedin', fraggin' OUTRAGE! So great was this outrage, we would make AT wish they NEVER did that!

So sad, and yet so true, that all this is happening live before all our faces.

That's where the fork comes into play.
That's where Xonotic comes in.

Some of us were smart enough to fork early in March 2010 and continued where Nexuiz left off. The classic deathmatch you knew and loved in DooM, Quake, Painkiller, Serious Sam and other classics with next-gen effects known in Halo, F.E.A.R., Crysis and so on... only this bird's focus is on the community - power to the people, you might dare say.

And what did I do? Easy.

A hijacked game with its absentee founder and the hijackers themselves has no future at all as it stands, so I promptly blew this old deathmatch joint for another.

Don't believe me? Take a stroll here and you'll see what I mean.

Of course, I had to pay respects to the original AT freeware FPS Nexuiz (by playing some deathmatch games, of course) before moving on to the future that is Xonotic, the community-powered Phoenix of GPLFPS. You too can be part of the team, but heads up - some of the community can be... crude and crass.

Hey, isn't democracy that way?

2011. márc. 3.

GuwangeDash - Annihilatin' Big in Japan



(Cripes. And just when I thought XenoFighters R is the only crossover shmup...)

GuwangeDash, AKA Guwange-Ruga-Daioujou-XII-Kizuna-Down (Ugh. Long title's gonna stick with me for a while...), is like one massive shoot 'em up party from the fine japanese folks from the GuwangeDash 2ch thread - and naturally, everybody's invited.

Let's do the math, will we, folks?

CAVE +
Treasure +
G.Rev +
every doggone STG developer left
=
the unholy japanese freeware fanfiction shmup mess that is GuwangeDash.

The situ in a nutshell: looks like the ultimate in military dictatorships, consisting of the worst of the worst of an already bad bunch in the world, have finally got our one and only Blue Planet in Sol that is Earth all under their control, all with the help of the most omnipotent gem large and in charge behind the scenes.

But just when you think all hope's gone with the wind... better think twice, 'cuz here comes the most lethal shmup All-Stars squadron, ranging from hi-tech fighter-bombers to assault helicopters, from oldie-goldie veteran spaceships to the bleeding edge in fresh military technology, all ready to make this alliance of evil shmup enemies and bosses equal to the ground.

There's one catch, alas: what of this Dream Team would you pick to go on a one-fighter starfleet rampage through a bullet curtain of death?

One thing's for certain, though, in this shmup war to end all else: if you're goin' out in a blaze of gory glory, the enemy would know they've been in the fight of their lives.

Only one way to find out: download this gem of destruction from our friends in the Land of the Rising Sun and let it rip.

BIG time.

Because the second I'm in one the fighters, trigger on finger, the enemy in front of me and the computer says "DESTROY"... everything's about to go south for the bad guys.  

WAY south.

2011. febr. 26.

Xeno Fighters - The Ultimate Tribute Shmup



To tell you the truth to begin with, femmes and mechs, I have quite an unhealthy addiction to sci-fi action games - especially FPS and shoot 'em up games. And this humongous tribute shmup over here, created by Team XF, ain't no different: Xeno Fighters in its current R edition. Glorious to think that it all began when Alluro got hooked on Raiden Fighters' manic gameplay and wide ship roster in '97. The rest, as they said it best, is history...

history in the form of the ultimate freeware indie RF-style tribute shoot 'em up to end all else.

Imagine yourself into a future where BRES, consisting of Keto lizardbreaths and human traitors, has declared an all-out, everything-goes war on human military history itself, and ATHENA's Anemoi squadron - the balanced Amada Vipros, the fast Phyxius, the damage-dealing Zaiva and the finesse Xelcor - is the one and only roadblock on the traitors' roadtrip to space/time domination. But with a wide array of guest fighters also making up ATHENA's fighter-bomber roster, spanning dimensions, human imagination and different video game eras, the BRES traitors will learn the real hard way the Anemoi ain't flyin' solo. That history's flying on their side.

Again, to tell you the truth, all you pilots out there, I used to play this shmup way back when I was a kid... 2003's EX version, if my memory's correct. Believe me, all of it was freakin' glorius just watchin' all those alien scumbags' sea-air-land-space military forces and their superweapons burst into flames from your starfighter's ragin' assault throughout military history, the future, space and beyond, right up to the final battle with the Xeno Mothership, all while heavy metal and techno music blare through your helmet's headphones.

Best part of it all: it's freeware.

'Twas a grade-A toughie, though. Only some real veteran starfighter pilots can survive an ordeal this extreme, and boy I'm glad I was one. But hey, with Xeno Fighters R's latest beta version, V0.10 out, I can report back to active fighter pilot duty any freakin' time I want. I can get my fighter-bomber of choice up in the air and, for example, lay waste to a wartorn city full of enemy tanks, big and small and really big, and turn an entire bomber squadron and its fighter and attack jet escort into airborne debris - especially if they are high above Hungary.

Oh yes. And make that giant leap into outer space and beyond - and right on top of BRES' space forces - for all mankind.

Guess what: that time's now. Why not you, too? If you feel up for some wanton shmup destruction, download the latest beta and blast away - or the 2003 EX version if you jones for a historical fixin'.

For all I care and love, I would love making those invadin' alien airheads attend their own funeral pyres time and again...

2011. febr. 19.

The Tale of ALLTYNEX - Phase 3

The Tale of ALLTYNEX
(a tribute to Siter Skain's Alltynex3 Trilogy)
by Lévai József.

Dedicated to Alice de Panafiru

Phase 3: Kamui
A great many generations marched past since the war with the Raiwat and the ZODIAC tragedy.

Since Ophiucus and the 12 ZODIACs are now distant, painful memories, we, humanity's remaining children, have been recovering from the aftershock and working on rebuilding our civilizations, our homes, families, lives, as well as updating our technologies to adapt to these new times, including this orbital complex where the final battle between Ophiucus and LIBRA and the two Kamuis was fought.

Alas, one man's hubris in his technological revolution would send us to a complete relapse of the ALLTYNEX incident of 2192 AD...

In an effort to improve AI and revolutionize computer systems, a top scientist named Xaffiquel creates a revolutionary, yet ethnically questionable method by which to infuse the human brain with a powerful computer, a bio-neurochip, to create more effective weapons: the Xaffiquel Theory.

We'll spare you the disgustingly sick details on the bio-neurochip. Believe us - some things are best left unknown. But for all we know, unmanned fighters with human brains fare much, much better than target practice, crash-prone and soulless UCAVs.

That theory proved successful, with the best possible neurofusion results being Rank-S... but in a strange and cruel twist of irony and unrevealed circumstances,


his daughter, Alice de Panafiru (aka Alice, Pany), is chosen as a subject and her brain is uploaded into an automated Kamui fighter in a bio-neurochip.
Irreversibly, Alice cannot go back to being a normal girl anymore.

Devastated, Xaffiquel decides to take vengeance on humanity and uses the theory on himself, uploading his mind into the orbital control platform, Zaphichel, and rebuilds the supercomputer Alltynex, now known as AlltynexOS, to aid him in his efforts.

But like the Alltynex of 2192 AD, AlltynexOS turned on him and takes control of all of Earth's military forces...

save for the single Kamui driven by Alice's Rank-SSS mind and soul.

This rouge Kamui was now the only thing standing between Zaphichel and AlltynexOS and the human race.

Alice wasted no time at all. She had to prevent the insane supercomputer and her deranged dad from exacting vengeance and commit a genocide that would make the ZODIAC war and the 2192 incident pale into insignificance in comparison. And thus, armed with its energy cannons, Thunder LASERs, the Thunder Sword particle beam and Alice's soul, the rouge Kamui fighter started up and took off to defuse the greatest threat to humanity ever since the events of past generations...

First, she cut a swathe at the automated space warships and the battlefleet as soon as she made her unauthorized launch from the orbital complex, eventually encountering and making short work of the aerial battleship Soryuu above Earth orbit.
Soon as she got rid of the aerial defense ships up in the stratosphere, Alice launched an all-out land-air-sea assault on the automated defense grid on the floating continent named Babylon. No enemy machine unit was left online after the assault, not even the heavy assault cruiser Kokutaka.
Diving deep into Fort Valley, Alice burned her way through the warship and mecha defense grid through the underground complex in her bid to launch a surprise attack on AlltynexOS... but she was only going into Gate 99 over Oukumo's burning, offline chassis.
Emerging from Gate 99, the rouge Kamui fighter had to deal with everything the defensive systems the Urban Hierarchy has got: assault warships, heavy assault tanks, fighter-bombers, flying wings and, of course, a squadron of mass-produced Kamui fighters, controlled by anyone other than Alice. None of these Kamuis had the soul Alice has.
Having dispatched of the Kamui fighters, Alice had the rude surprise of having to engage with what appeared to be a next-generation ZODIAC prototype - a sick fusion of the Raiwat Scutum I-P ship and ZODIAC battleships. After dodging its lethal assaults and inflicting enough damage to the automated battleship, it disengaged its unneccessary and damaged parts and switched to full attack mode, unleashing something... familiar. Something Alice had feared this would happen ever since the ZODIAC war....

The wings.
To make sure the ZODIAC tragedy does not, I repeat, does NOT transpire yet again and wipe away what little remained of the human civilization, Alice unleashed everything she had to blast the only next-gen prototype out of existence in a tiringly tough battle.

With the next-gen ZODIAC prototype gone for good, and with it any chance of a repeat of the ZODIAC tragedy, Alice raced into the heart of it all deep under the No-Usu underground complex where AlltynexOS is housed. Not even the mecha could stop the Kamui from penetrating into the supercomputer's inner sanctum.

Once inside, Alice de Panafiru was treated to a free, fully interactive history lesson as AlltynexOS booted the holo-battle simulator, disabled safety locks, and initialized historical datafiles of two past warmachines, all ready to do battle for one more time.

Round 1 was the first Guardian Soldier encountered in the Mars asteroid belt long, long ago in 2192 AD, brought to the virutal battlefield of today. Despite battlefield experience, though, that obsolete hunka junk was no match for advanced technology and human soul combined - all made manifest in Alice's Kamui.
Round 2 was when the Scorpio Zodiac at the orbital elevator during the Valkyness Uprising made its comeback. Despite being once as dangerous as it is now with its particle beams, aspect LASERs, stinger and antimatter nukes, Alice made sure this was the last time the arachnid riot cruiser ever returned to active duty. By sending it all flying apart into a huge fireball, of course.
Round 3 was when AlltynexOS decided it was the last straw and engaged the Kamui directly using the holographic hexa-weapons platforms of all types. The ensuing battle was by no means a piece of cake, but eventually, Alice emerged victorious, crashing Alltynex's system for good this time, evacuating as the whole facility was engulfed in a raging inferno.

But the real grand finalé is just beginning up in satellite orbit. Alice is now faced with the painful final objective of putting Xaffiquel completely out of his misery by nullifying the very orbital control platform he transferred his mind into:

Zaphichel.




And put him out of his misery she did.

After-Action Report


Much as it pained Alice de Panafiru to put an end to her father, Xaffiquel's insane existence, the rouge Kamui fighter and her soul can finally rest in peace, knowing that humanity was once more spared the horror of complete and irreversible extinction in cold, uncaring machine hands, which is permanent proof of something even the most sentient supercomputer will never have. Something that made this Kamui fighter different than the other hi-tech weapons system.

A human soul.


But at the point of no return, where does mankind go from here now, after the ALLTYNEX Incident of 2192 AD, after the Raiwat War and the ZODIAC Tragedy, and after the Xaffiquel Incident?

Only time knows for sure.

But mankind can easily blame all this on his greatest technological triumph, the most hi-tech supercomputer ever constructed and, therefore, his gravest error ever commited. All of this begins, and all of this ends with...

ALLTYNEX.

And thus ends...


] End of historical holofile. _
] Closing Historical Program... _

] AlltynexOS Rev.222.4020
KAMUI Virtual Battle Simulation System
System Status: Online.
Ready to run battle simulation - awaiting programming... _

The Tale of ALLTYNEX - Phase 2

The Tale of ALLTYNEX
(a tribute to Siter Skain's Alltynex3 Trilogy)
by Lévai József.

Phase 2: RefleX
After the ALLTYNEX crisis, a new Earth government was established to alleviate the damage the Mother Brain's machine army have done. But it proved to be so tyrannic when they became militaristic with their counter-Zodiac war machines and battlefleets, some of us liked it better when ALLTYNEX was still online.

We can only take their injustice for this long before we reacted - violently, of course, thus forming a resistance group known as Valkyness, the mission being the overthrowing of the government, with technological support from the Cult of the Holy Serpent. Our secret weapon:

the Phoenix Mk. 2, an enhanced version of the mainstay Valkyness Phoenix starfighter, equipped with a reflective ShieldShotSystem (SSS) - the works of Dr. Dennis.

The time for Valkyness to rise was now.

Just when the Phoenix Mk. 2 prepared for launch in a Cultist Carrier, a pinpoint raid from one of the Earth-Zodiacs, the air-battleship Virgo, nuked the battleship, but the Phoenix launched in the nick of time and began its assault, its guns and SSS shielding ripping the government airfleet and one of the Zodiacs, Pisces, and forcing Virgo to retreat after a long battle.
Following the government forces massing at the Moon, the Phoenix's pilot had the nerve to invade the government HQ at Earth orbit, getting rid of the supertank Taurus and the riot cruiser Scorpio on the way.
Leaving Earth orbit and en-route to Luna, the Phoenix launched a surprise attack against the Meteor Fleet, annihilating the flagship Zodiac Sagittarius and the twin Geminis.

Turned out the Meteor Fleet had its hands full with something worse than us rebels.

The battle with the government's most advanced battleship, Cancer, was long and a challenging one, especially when it switched into a more powerful, crablike attack mode. The battle ended with a surprise particle LASER blast from an unknown battleship, obliterating Cancer and the gov't and Valkyness moonbases in one fell sweep.
It is then the Phoenix realized the situation has become much more dire, for Earth faced an invasion by a fleet of incredible power. After a day's thought and preparation, it is decided the Phoenix will attempt to repel the invaders.

What began as a civil war between human factions for the fate of Earth has permutated into something greater - and much more horrible.

As the Phoenix warped back to Earth, it is now clear all human forces fight as one. The civil war was over due to the much greater threat.

The "Raiwat".

The Raiwat were once humans who existed many centuries ago and ventured into space unknown. Some of these humans settled on a planet and over time evolved, turning into what appears to be a wolf/human form - leading to being nicknamed "space werewolves". These Raiwat invaders are conducting an assault on Earth - but many do not understand why, save for their high command. The reason seems to deal with something about ZODIAC, but it is yet unknown. The Meteor Fleet was created to deal with the Raiwat, led by the City-Buster gunboat squadron Enlopy.

As the Phoenix descended into Earth, all of Earth's remaining forces, both the world government's and Valkyness' alike, fight to repel the Raiwat invasion. Here, the Phoenix fights against the Inspector-Defender craft called Scutum, whose purpose is to observe the progress of the Raiwat assault. After the battle is over, the human Virgo and the Phoenix descend into the ruins of the Alltynex core to fight their greatest threat yet.

Some words on the origins of the ZODIAC battleships before we continue.

The 12 ZODIACs were created by the Raiwat as automated vessels, each having incredible power and all similar in design.
Their most distinguishing features are the energy wings that appear out of the back to signal full power and also the near interpenetrate, energy reflecting shield. The 12 ZODIACs have the same naming scheme as the Earth versions, that is, VIRGO, CANCER, TAURUS, SCORPIO, SAGITTARIUS, etc. The ZODIACs, despite being of the same design, are slightly different from one another in their method of thinking and ability.

For unknown reasons, the Raiwat lost control of the ZODIACs and they began a rampage that nearly turned the Raiwat into a permanent exhibit in extinct species. Somehow, they were able to deactivate the ZODIACs and seal them away forever.

The Raiwat military decided to reactivate the ZODIACs and use them against Earth. They declared war on humanity because they feel betrayed by them... but it is not known why they feel this way.

The ZODIACs did not go unnoticed though. Dr. Dennis discovered the ZODIACs and attempted to create weapons on Earth that were to destroy the Raiwat ZODIACs using his research on the ZODIAC Core. He dubbed these vessels with the with same naming scheme as the Raiwat: Virgo, Cancer, Taurus, Scorpio, Sagittarius, etc., all vessels that the Phoenix previously fought.

Upon entering the place where Alltynex once existed, the Phoenix fights against once of the ZODIACs, the same one that destroyed Cancer, called VIRGO. After fighting for a short time, VIRGO realizes how much of a threat the Phoenix can present and unleashes its full power, spreading its energy wings. VIRGO proceeds to escape the ruins, crashing into and destroying the human-made Virgo in the process.

During this continued fight, VIRGO fires all manner of powerful weaponry but the Phoenix's shield handles the load.

Finally, VIRGO decides the Phoenix is too much of a threat to ignore and destroys the Phoenix Mk. 2 by firing everything it has against it. The attack manages to cripple the fighter and kill the pilot.

However, something... beyond extraordinary occurred.


The Phoenix Mk. 2 reactivated itself and gained a similar power to the ZODIACs.

The special core that Dr. Dennis installed in the Phoenix Mk. 2 was the 13th ZODIAC core: "Ophiuchus". This 13th ZODIAC was created when the original 12 ZODIACs were exterminating the Raiwat and was designed to destroy said battleships. Having been activated, the Phoenix began its new programming and proceeded to terminate VIRGO, then go after the remaining 11 ZODIACs.


Some time passed after these events.

The Phoenix Mk. 2/Ophiuchus continued to assault the remaining ZODIACs, destroying them one by one while all the ZODIACs counter-attacked, as detailed in a Raiwat commander's personal log. The resulting battles completely devastated humanity's civilizations, and left the human race teetering on the edge of extinction.

The remaining humans managed to create a massive fortress in Earth's orbit and created a special "automated vengeance system" designed to attack all of the ZODIACs, including the Ophiuchus. These weapons are the Kamui fighters, designed using the research of the ZODIACs and the Phoenix Mk. 2.

In the final battle, the only remaining ZODIAC is LIBRA.

Having detected the Phoenix, LIBRA attacked the Earth station in an attempt to draw out Ophiuchus and is successful. However, the AVS was also activated, and two Kamuis were dispatched to deal with both of the ZODIACs.
Unfortunately for the Kamuis, they ended up being no match for the ZODIACs, despite their power. In one final attack, LIBRA vaporized the Kamuis and in doing so crippled itself, leaving the Phoenix to deliver the killing blow.

Then, having completed its programming, Ophiucus self-destructed in order to prevent the ZODIAC tragedy from repeating itself.

(That'll teach us humans to believe too much in our horoscope.)

But as far as devastating wars and incidents are concerned, one happened before, and one will happen again.

'Twas only a question of when.

To be continued...