Technabob » half-life

Beyond Black Mesa: The Ultimate Half-Life Fan Film Finally Released

Technabob — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 03:12:27 +0000

If you’re a fan of the Half-Life games, you owe it to yourself to take the next 11 minutes and 51 seconds of your life to watch Beyond Black Mesa, an incredible fan-made film made as a tribute to the series.

The brainchild of director Brian Curtin, the video was shot over the course of 2 years by a small team of friends, and was clearly a labor of love for the team. The short film centers around a band of resistance fighters led by Adrian Shephard and their fight to warn civilization about the invasion that awaits them. But enough of my yakkin’. Sit back, dim the lights, dial up the video to HD, go full screen, and watch.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Wow. Wasn’t that great? Even the VALVE guys favorited it on YouTube.

Now the best part. The whole thing was created with a budget of just $1200 bucks, and was shot on a Canon HV20 camera, which costs about the same amount. If only Hollywood could pull off this kind of entertainment on that sort of a shoestring budget. Give these guys a couple of million bucks and see what they could do if given the means.

Concrete Hustle: a Star Wars Fan Film That Doesn’T Suck

Range — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:00:54 +0000

This cool video was released almost two years ago, and I think that it still looks good. Actually, it looks pretty awesome! It features a bunch of guys having a lightsaber duel.

This lightsaber duel was made by Brian Curtin, Mat Powell, and Matt Hall. It’s good enough to make your forget the two pudgy dudes in it. Some of the action is really good. Granted, it’s not as fast as it should be, but hey, this was made for not a lot of money using DIY green screens in some parking lot. Heck, the lightsaber hilts were made from sink faucets!

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And if you’re not into Star Wars, their latest project is called Beyond Black Mesa and is based in the Half-Life universe. I just watched it and it looks a lot better than the Star Wars duel! Check it out below.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Ufunk]

Gordon Freeman + Headcrab = Best Papercraft Yet

Technabob — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:55:57 +0000

This little instructional illustration says it all.

If you’re into little papercraft characters, you must head on over to Cubeecraft and grab these two cut-out kits of Half-Life’s Gordon Freeman, and his perfectly fitted headcrab accessory.

(Note: Cubeecraft appears to have temporarily succumbed to a bad case of headcrabs itself, and is currently down Be sure to bookmark the links above if you want to print out these cool models later. For now check out low-res screens of the templates at DeviantArt here and here.)

[via Paperkraft.net]

Half-Life Cookies Put Candy Canes to Shame

Alisha K. — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:35:20 +0000

A regular person might look at candy cane cookie cutters and think holiday treats. A Half-Life fan, on the other hand, knows there’s a better use for that red icing: Gordon Freeman’s crowbar.

A simple snip in the curl of the cane turns peppermint innocence into tools of edible destruction. Shape the the bottom of the crowbar into a lovely curve of sharpness and bake. It’s that simple–provided you can do simple things like make (or, let’s be real, buy and spread out) dough.

They look pretty tasty even without the icing… just less action-ready.

[via Snack or Die]