In this article, I'll show you how to create a simplistic AES python based text encryptor. You'll need python 2.7 and PyCrypto (found here). The code is fairly simple, a user enters an encryption key (which basically tells the program how to scramble the text, using an algorithm), then the text to be encrypted. The program takes the key and text and inputs it into the "cryptograph" or code-based algorithm from PyCrypto. PyCrypto can use 16, 24, or 36 character encryption keys, but for the sak...
Scrabble Bingo of the Day: * CAGANER [n] A caganer is a small figurine of a person defecating in place, pants humorously around the character's ankles. It's a traditional Christmas decoration in Catalonia, Spain and in neighboring areas, where it's placed within the nativity scene.
Gem from Tron Legacy wears a lot of makeup, making her character a perfect candidate for a cool Halloween costume. If you want to look like Gem, take a look at this Halloween costume guide to learn how to apply makeup that makes you look like her.
If you have a ballet outfit around, all you need is this makeup tutorial to create a Black Swan costume for Halloween this year. The guide will show you how to apply makeup just like Natalie Portman's star character from the movie Black Swan.
Dungeon Defenders is the most exciting craft game on the Fall 2011 release schedule. I got a chance to play it at PAX in August and interviewed developers Trendy Entertainment last month. After more than a year of publishing difficulty and delay, the game finally came out on PSN, XBLA and Steam. I put about 20 hours into the XBLA version over the past weekend, beating all the campaign maps and racking up a huge pile of in-game money. It is not a perfect game. But it is a huge, challenging, an...
I've been unreasonably excited about Dungeon Defenders (NOT DUNGEON DEFENDER!) for almost a year. Playing it at PAX did nothing to damper that enthusiasm. I had a chance this week to speak with co-founder/development director Jeremy Stieglitz and marketing diretor Philip Asher from Gainesville, Florida based developer Trendy Entertainment to find out a little more about the game, and how it came together.
Many gamers see the film industry as the premier model that video games should follow, and it's no surprise. Movies are seen as the most legitimate and profitable of all artistic visual mediums, which is certainly qualities practitioners of any new medium would desire. Big budget games like Heavy Rain and L.A. Noire strive for the same level as film by aping its techniques, focusing on storytelling in a cinematic fashion, rather than creating compelling gameplay experiences.
In the world of developers, a "sandbox game" is video game where players are free to "roam a virtual world and change any factor at will"; these types of games demand creativity on the player's part, with no linear/"correct" way to play.
There’s no point to playing all of the different tower defense games available today. Most adhere to the original formula, so playing 2 or 3 really good ones (like those mentioned in my previous post) would be more efficient.
Great controls are the most important and difficult part of game design. Games with vector graphics and non-existent stories are classics because their creators managed to create a system where using buttons to control a shape on a screen was intuitive and fun. This is the tradition that Pac-Man has left us with, a gaming world in which controlling the character onscreen in an engaging way is the crux of the game's enjoyment.
While Rajo can certainly relate to Bradley Cooper's uninspired/unmotivated character in Limitless, he thinks that we can do better with our weekend viewing...
What if James Franco was Wile E Coyote and he got his hand caught by a boulder.
BEST PICTURE, ACTRESS, DIRECTOR, FILM EDITING, CINEMATOGRAPHY: I would go to the ballet all the time if it was this cool!
hmm.. Maybe not a real game. But he's officially in Madden '11 (skip to the 2nd minute): You can model your Mass Effect character after Obama (Nobel Prize not included):
Learn how to draw a headshot of Ichigo, the main character, from the anime and manga Bleach in 13 steps. Work at your own pace. Draw Ichigo in 13 steps.
This video shows you how to create bulleted and numbered lists in InDesign. You learn how to customize bullets, save bullet formatting as a character style, and control bullet and number position. You also learn how to create and format sublists, create a numbered list as a paragraph style, and number items sequentially across text frames or multiple documents in a book. Create bullets and numbering in InDesign CS3.
This video shows you how to control character and paragraph formatting using the Control panel in InDesign. You learn how to save specific formatting as a style, set optical margin alignment, and create even spacing throughout a paragraph. David Blatner talks pretty fast so be ready to pay attention. Format text with InDesign CS3.
How did it happen? How did your ultra-secure WPA password on your wireless network get broken into? Well, you might have just found yourself at the mercy of a cracker.
It’s been a pretty big week for Google, and Google+ itself. There were a number of articles proclaiming the end of Google+, because allegedly traffic dropped over 60% after it opened to the public. Then +Steve Yegge accidentally posted a long rant on Google+ itself, which was originally meant only for Google employees and colleagues to see. Interestingly enough, the most inflammatory content wasn’t actually about Google itself, but about the horrible work environment at Amazon. The accidental...
Do you have an awesome rig that is able to run anything you throw at it at 60 fps with maximum settings? Prepare to be humbled. The Witcher 2 is the first game in quite some time to tax your system the same way Crysis did when it first came out.
When you grab a video game off the shelves, finding love is probably not your end goal. Most games focus on letting the player shoot guys, order other guys to shoot guys, or build houses. Mass Effect 2 comes closer than most titles to offering virtual romance, but the relationships are shallow and strictly heterosexual. I found whoring my way around the Normandy much more satisfying as a gameplay option than developing an emotional connection to another character.
Defined by Urban Dictionary, Nerdtastic: Something generally not cool, but to a nerd it's freakin' fantastic. Below, a collection of WonderHowTo's top 10 favorite, utterly nerdtastic Halloween costume tutorials. The clock's ticking, so if you don't have your costume yet, peruse below and get started!
This book surprised me. I read it for 2 reasons. 1) It seemed like one of those decently famous books that I should probably have read.
Back in the days of NES and 8-bit gaming, I used to be a huge Castlevania fan. And it looks like I wasn't the only one. However, unlike me, gamer Nick "Nario" Hagman just couldn't let go of his Simon Belmont fascination that easy. Nario recently spent over 100 hours in Minecraft over 37 consecutive days recreating the original Castlevania game—in its entirety!
The art of disguise is a very important skill to master, no matter if you're a hounded celebrity trying to ditch the paparazzi or just someone who'd like to step out of the house without being recognized. If you think simply throwing on sunglasses and a hat is a good disguise, you are so wrong.
This is the beginning to one of my favorite Minecraft series, Shipwrecked. Three guys (Brent, Eric & Wes) film themselves as they go through an Adventure Map called Shipwrecked. Brent, Eric and Wes really get into character and make this series a must-see! It's hilarious and so much fun to just watch them as they go through the quest lines.
Victor Zsasz is one seriously messed up dude. Since I don't read too many Batman comics, I'm not that familiar with the character. But after experiencing him in Batman: Arkham City, I'm ready to read up more about him.
Once you've obtained a 90 skill ranking in any school of magic in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, you're able to go questing for the master level spells. What are these? Why, some of the best spells in the game! Now, you won't get any achievements for these, but you will have some of the best spells ever.
The Standing Stones in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are wonderful little additions to the game. Basically, they give your character modified attributes, or special abilities to give you the upper hand in the game. For example, if you activate The Mage Stone, you'll learn all of your magicka skills 20% faster. Long story short, they're awesome and you should find as many as possible.
To be honest, I haven't played an Assassin's Creed game since the first one way back in 2007. So, the fact that there is a character named Duccio kind of makes me want to play the new one, Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Add to that, the fact you can get 20G if you're playing on Xbox 360, or a bronze trophy on PlayStation 3 if you beat the tar out of him...well, color me interested!
So, there you are, walking along a mountain range in the beautiful game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, when all of a sudden a vampire attacks you. Oh no! Now you've caught Sanguinare Vampiris, otherwise known as the vampire disease. That's horrible for your goody-two-shoes character, since feasting on the blood of innocents isn't really your bag. That's where Achievement Hunters comes to your rescue! In this tutorial, Fragger and Jack show you how to initiate and complete the quest to become mo...
OOPHYTE 65 points (15 points without the bingo) Definition: a stage of development in certain plants [n]
Grand Theft Auto 3 was the biggest video game of the last decade, by far, introducing open-world adventure games to consoles, a genre that now rivals shooters and sports games for market dominance. A huge map, decentralized narrative, and myriad of interlocking quests and objectives that happen in a flexible order all became hallmarks of the "new" genre, along with the ability to shape the morality and reputation of your character. And most importantly, all of the quests and stories are compl...
Shadows of the Dammed (360/PS3) is a polarizing game. It's not shy of being crass and crude. Go ahead and judge the game by the following examples (click to enlarge):
If you've ever used a font editing program to create a font, you know that one generally shapes the various forms by arranging points on a screen with a mouse. But what if those points were controlled by something other than fine motor skills? Andy Clymer of high profile type foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones was interested in exploring alternative methods for how a typeface is developed; hence, "font-face" was born. Font-face employs facial recognition to control the design parameters of a font....
So much goes into making a film. Take a look at just the conceptual art that was created for the new Johnny Depp movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 4. These characters are going to be awesome to see on the big screen.
Who is Lara Croft? Video game character. Comic strip hero. Action figure. Actress Angelina Jolie. All wonderful, yet all fictional. If you're looking for a flesh-and-blood archetype, try XtremeJenn, a Lara Croft cosplayer who's linked her real life "hobbies" to the world's beloved Tomb Raider. Found on Unreality Mag, this picture is the real thing. No green screen, no staging. XtremeJenn does everything a badass Tomb Raider should do: skydiving, base jumping, and some serious rock climbing.
Here are the movie trailers and tv spots for the Feature Film "True Grit" Here are a few movie clips from the feature film "True Grit" True Grit is an upcoming 2010 Western film, written and directed by the Coen brothers and starring Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin and Matt Damon. The film is an adaptation of the 1968 novel by Charles Portis which was previously adapted for film in 1969. Filming began on March 2010 with an anticipated release date of December 25, 2010. Bridges will play U.S. Marsha...
Celestia is HERE! On Wednesday, October 27, 2010, Celestia joined alongside the other worlds in the Spiral. WIzards that are level 48 or higher and have completed the "Final Countdown" quest to defeat Malistaire can now go to Celestia!
Daniel Larsson and Tomas Redigh are the Swedish band Rymdreglage, otherwise known as two "retard ninjas". Their music video 8-Bit Trip pays ultimate nerd tribute to both LEGOs and old 8-bit video games (and ninjas).
