Hi Guys,

Check out my must see movies list for the year 2011

http://www.imdb.com/list/rFG7K0Z1cvs/

I am feeling so sad. :cry:. Just today morning I was driving a car, when 2 crows fell onto the road fighting each other. And it happened so quickly, that I didn't get time to react. And unfortunately enough both of them came right under my wheels. All that was left of them was a mangled mess of black and red.

I have always admired these creatures. In spite of the fact that they generally turn my Wine Red Car to White, they do have the aviation expertise to do so on a car moving at 60 mph on a freeway.Everytime I see them do that, I simply wonder at the precision of calculation they have, to land it right on the windshield of the car.

It seems such a loss of talent, I have no words to explain my grief

In loving memory of a late ace airman

Wishing all you guys out there a happy 4th of July, from halfway around the world. Have a happy day ahead

Well, up until now, I had been playing games in 2D. But recently I "discovered" that my graphics card can support 3D gaming. All you need is an NVidia GeForce 8 or 9 series, or the GTX series. If you are an avid gamer, I expect you to have this already. The rest is pretty simple. All you need is a piece of cardboard, the ones you can get from cereal boxes.

Now you need to cut out from it a spectacle frame, that fits your size. Take the necessary measurements, of the distance between your eyes, the height of your nose bridge, and cut out the piece accordingly.

Now we need to reinforce this spectacle, as it should be pretty weak. Mix equal amounts of PVA glue (should be available at any stationary shop. In India, the most popular is called Fevicol) with water. Also keep a lots of torn tissue paper pieces. Now use a paint brush, that you are intending to throw away. Apply a coat of the solution, followed by a layer of the torn tissue bits, and put a final coat of the solution. Do this till the entire spectacle is covered. Leave it to dry.

N.B.: Do take care so that the handles of the spectacle can be folded properly, or else it will become difficult to use the spectacles. Also before proceeding any further, check whether the spectacle fits you or not.

Now you need a red and a blue cellophane paper. Cut out the small rectangular pieces of the cellophane papers, that should be larger than the aperture in your spectacle. Now go to the site -http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_Discover_Main.html. There you should find a slideshow of hazy pictures. These are color anaglyph pictures. Now close your right eye, and take up a piece of red cellophane that you cut. I presume, you'll be able to see a red picture, but you'll also see a ghost image of the blue image. If you now see the image through 2 layers of red you'll see the ghost image to diminish. Your objective will be to find the optimal no of layers such that the blue ghost image is not at all visible. Do so with your other eye, only this time with the blue cellophane. For me I had to use 3 layers of red and 2 layers of blue, but it all depends on the quality of the cellophane. Now if you look at the images with the red layers over your left eye and the blue layers over your right eye, you'll be able to see the 3 images.

All that is left to do is to tape them to the glasses. Do this carefully so that the cellophane "lenses" do not crumple or get torn. Take help from someone else if you need it so. The spectacle should be completely white, so if you wish to color it, do so before you stick the lenses.

Now comes the other important part. Go to the Nvidia control panel. There should be an option for "Stereoscopic 3D". If you don't have it, it means you need to update your drivers (If you are running Windows 7 and have not updated the drivers after Windows installed it, you are definitely not going to get the 3D). The latest version for GTX 480 and GTX 470 is 197.75, while that for the other GTX products, the GT products and GeForce products is 197.45. Download the driver as and if required. Now that you have got the Stereoscopic 3D option, it is time to set it up. Click on set up stereoscopic 3D. A wizard should open. If not, click on "Enable stereoscopic 3D" checkbox, and from the drop down box below, select "Run Setup Wizard".

The first screen should show you 2 Nvidia products - 3D Vision and 3D Vision Discover. Select 3D Vision discover. Click on next. It will now test your glasses, and if they are correctly configured. Take the test. After this you'll be asked to give the medical test. It check s whether you can use the glasses without any adverse effects. This is important, as if you fail the test, you should not at all try stereoscopic glasses - it may cause you intense headaches. But if you do pass it, then you have absolutely no worries at all. Following this you'll be shown a slideshow of 3D images. Check them out, they are really cool.

Now whenever you run a game, all you have to do is press Ctrl+T to enable 3D Vision. One piece of warning - Don't look at the screen through the glasses, when the 3D Vision is not running. I don't about others, but it made me feel woozy. You can however view the screen with naked eyes, irrespective of whether 3D Vision is enabled or not, but looking at the screen with the glasses when 3D Vision is not running is sure not advisable (I dunno whether it will be the same with you or not, but why take the risk).

You should also take a look at the Game Compatibility list. It is under the Stereoscopic 3D option in the Nvidia Control panel. That way you'll have an idea about the issues people face with 3D Vision. Also, if you were playing the games at high settings, bring them down to medium, because enabling 3D Vision, will drastically cut down your fps. Be warned, but I believe that tinkering around with the options, you'll soon get around the problems.

Next up: How to capture 3D Videos and view them. Also how to convert a 2D movie into 3D.

Well I am pretty sorry for my prolonged absence from GS. Unfortunately enough I got involved in a pretty heavy duty project that I have been working on lately. It is known as PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization). To all those who know what I am talking about, they will understand my reason for the absence. For those who don't, I'll take you on a quick tour of the process.

Basically, you'll need a bit of a math's graph theory basics to understand what are NP-Complete Problems, but in simplest terms, they are certain problems whose solution cannot be found out. Mathematically, given a solution you can find out how close it is to the probable solution, but you cannot create a solution from out of thin air. Basically start with a guess and better your guess to bring it close to the solution. A very good example is the Travelling Salesman Problem. These problems can only have an optimal solution, that is we can approximate a solution to best fit the problem, but we can never find out a solution. Now one of the best methods of doing it is the PSO. The PSO states that we should have an array of randomly guessed solutions; if you have guessed it using some logic, it is appreciable, but a random guess will do as well. Now we calculate, using some characteristics of the probable solution, how close each solution is to the probable solution. This calculation is done using a mathematical automata or a computer program and we call it the fitness function. Now comes the tougher part, we now need each of the solutions to "understand"who among all of the solutions (we tend to consider each solution to be living, so the who instead of which; you'll see why shortly enough) is the closest to the probable solution (from now on i'll refer to the probable solution as just the solution). Now the toughest part. The solutions then need to communicate with each other and inform each other as to who has the best fitness(i.e. who is closest to the solution). Based on that, the other solutions need to "adapt" themselves and "swarm"closer to the solution who has the best fitness. Now they "venture" a bit randomly in other directions, and again check their fitness. They again swarm towards the one with the most fitness. In this way the solutions, automatically find the most optimal solution.

This is one of the many optimization techniques used in practice. Many people may have heard about optimization principles used in transportation systems, known as VAM(Vogel's Approximation Method). However they deal with a single solution with a certain set of algorithms being applied on them. Those methods provide an optimization of around 75%(my rough estimate - no official figures). However PSO and certain other techniques like ACO (Ant Colony Optimization)and GA (Genetic Algorithm)can give a higher optimization percentage. My rough estimate would be 99.99% optimized solution. PSO, ACO, GA amd certain other optimization techniques, all form part of a larger group of algorithms that are modeled on Swarm Intelligence(SI). SI actually shows us how individual objects that are self-organized and decentralized can be used to collectively obtain a solution for a problem that could not have been solved individually. It is more commonly referred to as Hive Mind.

Those of you who have seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skullsmay remember the aliens at the end of the movie. They were infact a hive mind, where all the separate aliens could think collectively and share knowledge and decisions. Infact they were one mind and twelve bodies. Star Trek fans would of course remember the Borg Queen. She was a hive mind too. Now blogging in GS and not speaking about games. Not Possible. Halo 2also featured a hive mind. You just know it as GraveMind. The blob who controlled the entire flood race, was infact the collective consciousness of the entire race. StarCraft's beloved-ly hated species - the Zergs were actually controlled by a similar thing. The Overmind.

The Swarm Intelligence is a very important concept in the field of Artificial Intelligence. It allows small pieces of data that have acquired by different objects(let's say certain droids) over a varied span of time to accumulated in a knowledge - an information that may allow an Artificial Intelligence in refining his/her decision. Please do post a comment if you liked my post. You may all send me a message regarding any additional information that you may be interested in.

Sorry guys for my prolonged absence, but I have just recovered from a near fatal accident. I generally wear spectacles, which, pretty unfortunately, broke and went into my eyes. I had to get them treated properly and am currently at home with 16 stitches on my eyes. Anyways I'm back with one eye and ready to roll as soon as possible.

Well I emphasize once more that this is my personal top 10. Keeping that in mind, I believe there is no reason why we shouldn't start.

10. The Punisher

As a kid, he watched his parents die at the hands of the mob. Now he is back with a vengeance that will strike fear into every mobster on the streets of New York. The punisher's attitude and the method of his warfare against the evil scum of New York is obviously noteworthy. Even more worth mentioning is the courage and bravado in spite of the fact that he is just an average guy. I give him the 10th spot.

9. Hulk

"Hulk getting very angry. Hulk not happy at all. Hulk go boom...boom." LOL. Well Hulk really looks like a green stone age man. As a young scientist, Bruce Banner saves a teenager from a gamma radiation blast and instead gets hit by it. Thus turning into the hot-headed green hulk. And from that point on, any emotional turmoil, lets loose the hulk. I find the story lame, but just look at that body. I better give him the 9th spot or "hulk really not being happy".

8. TinTin

Well I really like this guy. TinTin is a Belgian reporter who always finds himself in the thick of adventure. His ever-faithful dog Snowy, the dipsomaniac Captain Archibald Haddock and the hard-of-hearing Professor Cuthbert Calculus. An adventure comics that has enthralled readers for over a century. I really cant think why I shouldn't give it the 8th spot.

7. Gambit

Reme LeBeau popularly known as the mutant Gambit has the unique ability of infusing any object with Kinetic Powers. He is also skilled in Card Throwing, Hand-to-hand combat and wielding a staff. 7th spot for you Reme.

6. Ghost Rider

Well, yes. I know that there are 3 Ghost Riders, but I am talking about the one and only Johnny Blaze (Just for the info, the other 2 are Carter Slade - he came before Johnny and would ride a horse. The other is Daniel Ketch. Ketch came after Blaze and also used a motorcycle). A spirit of vengeance, Blaze had sold his soul to Mephisto (a.k.a. Satan) to save the life of his mentor. However, Mephisto bound his soul to the demon Zarathos, and whenever Blaze would use the powers of Zarathos, his body would be engulfed in flames. One of his most powerful techniques is the penance stare. A blazing skull gets him the 6th spot.

5. Iron Man

Tony Stark is the most suave and stylish superhero of all the ones existing. He is genius engineering and a playboy millionaire as well as the owner of Stark Enterprises. He was injured when he was kidnapped and has a serious heart injury. He was asked to build a destructive weapon. Instead he built a suit like none other. His assistant YinSen helped him understand the value of life, and with his sacrifice, Stark was reborn with a mission to protect the innocent.

4. Wolverine

James Howlett or Logan or Wolverine (choose the name that best suits you) is a mutant born with keen animal sense, retractable bone claws and a enormous capacity for healing. This healing capacity has allowed him to remain young for an indefinite period of time (so his actual age is pretty disputed). It is this healing capability that allowed him to be a part of the Weapon-X program that bonded the indestructible metal adamantium to his bones without killing him. After that Wolverine became practically immortal. His only weakness remained from Psychics who could blow his brain. Other than that nothing can kill wolverine (Oh Yes!I almost forgot. Because of the adamantium he can sink to the bottom of the ocean pretty fast and die). After the Weapon-X program, he was given false memory implants, but soon he breaks free and escapes to the X-Men team.

3.Rorschach

No hero can be as raw as he is and he doesn't even care. He can smash the head of a city punk with no remorse at all. The worst fears of anyone who walks down dark alleys, Rorschach has sure made an impression no hero could ever have. His action are best explained by his friend Dan or the Nite Owl II, when he tells that when one of their fan had come to them and asked them to beat him up as an autograph, everyone but Rorschach refused to do so. Rorschach took the fan and threw him down and elevator shaft. Now that's called cold (oops! ... I mean cool). His motto is that no criminal should be allowed to go to prison. Instead, they should be killed with immediate effect. With such a penchant, the cold hearted murdering superhero gets the 3rd spot.

Now I really couldn't decide between the top 2, so I decided to flip a coin. By me both should have the same rank, but the coin says otherwise. Anyways, let continue.

2. Batman

Bruce Wayne - billionaire's son witnesses the death of his parent at the hands of a street hooligan. Following that he trains himself physically and mentally to avenge the death of his parents. I prefer him over other heroes is because he lacks super powers and unlike the Iron Man, doesn't use an iron suit to protect him. He simply fights like another normal person, yet strikes fear of an unimaginable level. The character of vigilante of Gotham City, created by Bob Kane is unique and I doubt anyone won't like him.

1. Spiderman

Peter Parker was bit by a spider, and he mutated to evolve the ability of crawling on walls like a spider (He however can't produce web as has been shown in the movie. He requires cartridges to do so). A genius student, he developed the web cartridges to help him swing effortlessly from building tops. However, he is my favorite superhero, not because of his powers, but because he can use the environment so lucidly, like no other can. He is generally funny and humorous when fighting his foes. However, when he lands a punch you better watch out.

Now an anecdote. I would like to repeat here that these are my personal favorites, and before you yell out - "Where's Superman", I would like to tell you what I think of him. He is one of the lamest superheroes ever to be printed on paper. I find that no other hero has such an ugly costume. Look at batman - he wears his inners on the outside too. But he has made a good choice of color. A red underwear on a blue pyjamas - ughh!. Even Spiderman wears red and blue, but he doesn't look so ugly. Moreover, he is an alien, with an inhuman amount of strength (accepted) and can fly into space (whoa! from which book did you read physics Mr. Siegel). However his enormous powers come to a full zero in front of rocks from his home planet Krypton (how did people live there then, if all their powers were zapped by their own planets rocks). It seems that Jerry Siegel tried to make him a god but utterly failed and turned him into a piece of junk.

As for the fantastic four, they are okay, but I found my top 10 to be better than them. Silver Surfer is too fantastic to be put into the list. As for the rest of the heroes, I really don't think I remember at this moment. Anyways, other than superman, if you think that I have missed out someone or have not done justice to someone, feel free to leave a comment.

Cheerio.

Well here I am with my (and I emphasize - my personal choice) top 10 games which have a good load of aliens in them. And not wasting any more of your time, here is the list

10. Lost Planet - Extreme Condition

Well the game was pretty decent. You, the protagonist gets stranded in some distant planet and you must fight your way throught the hordes of aliens blocking your only way to survival. Anyways, the graphics of the game were pretty awesome, so it got the 10th spot inspite of the lame aliens.

9. Dead Space

Er, well Dead Space was a difficult choice. The baddies there or the necromorphs are, well aliens-cum-zombies. The humans get infected with some alien organisms and turn into necromorphs. So well, at a first thought they are zombies, but hey they got infected by ALIENS. So I decided to give it a go in the category. Astounding graphics got a 9th spot for this game with such a confusing genre.

8. Star Wars Jedi Knights 3 - Jedi Academy

This game according to me is the best game in the Jedi Knights series. You start of as a student of the famous maverick Jedi - Kyle Katarn. This game chronicles your growth in the force and your competitors as well as the clash between the jedi and the followers of the order of Rathma. As is expected from a Jedi Knigts game, you'll find loads of aliens in here. You yourself might turn out to be one. Just swing your light sabre into this game.

7. Star Wars - Republic Commando

The clone wars from the perspective of a clone trooper. This was the innovative idea that made this game an instant smash hit. Right from droids to trandoshians to geonosians to wookies, this game successfully implemented every aspect of the Star Wars universe. An awesome gameplay got it a better position than Jedi Knights 3.

6. Crysis

Well this game doesn't contain much of any aliens except at the very end. However the super realistic graphics of the game actually compelled me to include this game. As for the story you needn't worry much when playing this game.

5. Enemy Territory - Quake Wars

This game is about an invading alien force called Strogg race that wants to procure the raw resources of Earth to creeate their fuel. You can play as Humans or Strogg. The graphics and generous sprinkling of aliens pushed this game to spot no. 5

4. Gears of War

This game has it all. Aliens (and loads of them), gun battles, blood and gore - you name it it's got it. The game chronicles the fight between the humans stranded on a distant planet and the local aliens calle locust. This game is simply fantastic. No reason why I shouldn't give it No. 4

3. StarCraft, BroodWar and StarCraft II

There is no prize for guessing why this game came to spot #3. StarCraft, inspite of being RTS games, took the plot of an alien invasion to a whole new level. With 3 races - Terrans, Zerg, Protoss, the game chronicles the war ensuing between them. One thing about this game worth mentioning is that, nothing beats the plot of this game.

2. Aliens vs. Predator 2

2 Alien races fighting each other and the humans getting crushed in the middle. If you've seen the movie you'd know better. The movie is about aliens fighting predators on our lands, and that is exactly what the game captures, thought our land her becomes a planet we colonized. An excellent game which puts you in the shoes of the hunter, the hunted and the collateral damage.

1. Halo

Halo had to make it to the top position and that goes without a saying. The enormous game franchise that had set a new record in sales was undeniably the best in the alien genre. The titanic clash between the UNSC and the religiously frenzied covenants was a smash hit. More importantly, no one had ever given a thought of introducing the concept of religious jihad in the aliens. To cover it all I can say, I don't think anyone will disagree with my contender #1.

Well, here's a list of the top 10 games that should h=be made into films. It also contains those games that were made into films but deserve to be made into better ones.

10. Fable - The Lost Chapters

Well coming in at number 10 is the Microsoft distributed, Lionhead game Fable - The Lost Chapters. The story is of a boy who has lost his family and is trained in the guild of heroes. He must then choose between the path of light and darkness as he draws closer to capturing the one responsible for his family's death. I liked the story and the the settings were pretty decent. A good story based on the incidents in the game can make it a box office hit.

9. Max Payne

Yeah I know that Max got a film to his name but I would think that he deserved something better. I don't think that there is anyone whom I need to tell the story. And for those who really have no clue, read my reviews on Max Payne and Max Payne 2. The settings appealed me as this film noir was meant for the big screen. Truly speaking the movie didn't do justice to Max. He really deserves better and definitely a better Mona.

8. BioShock

A good story with a decent central character and loads of mindless action. Mix it with one of the most amazing settings of the underwater city of Rapture - you get a masterpiece. BioShock has arguably the best setting in any game. A decent mix of some haunting bacground score with a decent starcast should do the trick.

7. Hitman

Yes, I did see the movie and it was OK, but not great. For starters Timothy Olyphant was good but I think he was better as Thomas Gabriel in Die Hard 4.0. Olga was good, but (similarly) was better in Quantum of Solace. I personally think that Jason Statham is a better Hitman that the rest. Anyway the story of Silent Assassin is perfect and I don't think that any further chages need be made to the plot. And I think that all of you will agree that Agent 47 deserved better than this.

6. Prince of Persia

Come on, don't tell me you didn't see this coming. Prince of Perisa has got everything you need to make it into a blockbuster. The depth of each character, the adrenaline, the baddies and the action are stupendously marvellous. The picturesque settings are exquisite. And the story (of course I am talking of the Sands of Time series - Sands of Time, Warrior Within, Two Thrones) is mind-blowing. If you still don't get it, take a look at the prince. Ain't he looking cool standing in the burning fire.

Now we move on to the top 5 - the best of the best. The games that beat even the prince. Lets all take a look.

5. Halo

When Halo:Comabt Evolved released, the entire world was caught in the frenzy of the three way war between UNSC (United Nations Space Corp.), the Covenants and the Flood. Halo has got the sheer charisma which may turn it into a runaway hit. The powerful story and intense action of a universal scale is just what the film needs. The film may be spanned over a few films(like Star Wars) or volumes(like Kill Bill). But you must agree that the film sure has got something that made Peter Jackson eager to direct it.

4. WarCraft

Blizzard scores with a masterful plot of 2 races - Humans and Orcs locked in combat with each other before they discover that an undead army called the Scourge is devastating everything in their path for global domination. They are soon eliminated as the Scourge calls forth their masters the Demon Army called the Legion. The Humans and Orcs must seek shelter from the distanced and secretive civilizations of the Night Elves who had fought with the Legion aeons ago. Now the 3 battered civilizations must forge and alliance and hold out against the massive army of the Legion as the last defence of all llife. A superb plot, a fantastic setting (with an inclination towards the lighter side) and massive developed and mature character. I would like to mention the character of Arthus. Those who have played the game will easily understand why I mentioned him and just for the spoiler - THE PROTAGONIST OF THE GAME IS THE ANTAGONIST. In other words, the central charcter is the Bad Guy - Arthus. This movie definitely needs to be made into a movie.

NOW FOR THE TOP 3 --- (APPLAUDE)

And the number 3 position goes to

3. StarCraft

A game based on the near future, like Halo, but with a far more sinister plot than the former, StarCraft dwells mostly on the settings and the plot and not so much on the character strengths. However certain charactres like Jim Raynor, Kerrigan, Tassador and Zeratul have a character strength that grows throughout the game. The plot is unlike any I have ever seen, with a bold display of greedy politics and a mind-boggling number of crossings and double-crossings. I recommend you to play the game, or take a look at my review of StarCraft and BroodWar. You will youself understand why I chose to keep this game at the 3rd position.

And the runner-up is another masterpiece from Blizzard -

2. Diablo

Blizzard takes all top positions save the numero uno position. A dark and gritty tale of a hellic battle that has been brought to the realms of man, Diablo scores as numero uno in all fields - the settings are as dark as the hellish creatures and minions of Diablo, the background score is simply perfect whether it be a game or it be a movie. The strengths and weaknesses of the characters in the story make the plot more life-like. The time expanse of the plot is also massive. In all aspects Diablo is a clear winner. This game is the best choice for being adapted into a movie. To know more about the true stroy behind Diablo read my review on Diablo, Diablo 2 and Lord of Destruction

Diablo was a clear winner in all fields save one - CONCEPT. This is where our top contender one. So we all welcome

1. Red Alert

Albert Einstein goes back in time using the time machine he created to stop WW2 and in an effort kills Hitler Doing so he is trapped in a paradox as WW2 never happened. As a result a new power grew in the East - The Soviets. Unhindered they grew massive WMDs as the US allied forces started basing their research on Einstein's works. The WW2 takes on a totally different pathfrom these events. As a result of the ensuing war which the US wins, Russia falls back on it's demented scientist Yuri who tries to create a Phsycic dominator. However Yuri's madness starts costing the USSR who then decides to dispose of him. So finally Yuri is sent back through a time machine tha Einstein recreates to the age of the dinos. However the Soviets are not happy with the way things went and so travels back in time and kills Einstein. With Einstein dead, the Soviets no longer possess the WMDs and neither do the US possess proper researched weapons. At this time news comes that unhindered by the absence of Einstein, Japan has grown to become a power far more greater than the US and the USSR and are calling themselves - Empire of the Rising Sun. Now no one can beat a WW2 movie and specially when it adds such a perfect twist. To say it in one word the game is perfect from every aspect and the movie that could be made from the game is also perfect.

If you do not agree with my top 10 then you may post it as a reply. All replies are welcome.

Yay! I got a new PC.

You got to check out my specs.

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750+

Graphics Card - MSI n9800 - T2D1G - OC (NVidia 9800 GT, 1 GB GDDR3, 256 bit)

HDD - 500 GB SATA

DRAM - 2 GB DDR2, 800 MHz

Monitor - SAMSUNG SyncMaster 20"

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