Loads of full length movies on your XBOX 360? Yes please!

I watch a lot of movies. I love movies. But even for me, watching the same movies over and over again gets old quickly. Netflix and Amazon Instant have some decent stuff, but it seems like it is the same decent stuff that they have always had. For years. So I started searching for a new method. And I may have found one.

The XBOX 360 has a handy app feature. I downloaded the Youtube app and the Internet Explorer app when they came out but I rarely used them. You also may remember a post on this site a while ago linking the Reddit page which lists all the full length movies on Youtube. I finally put them together (yeah, it took a while to realize) and decided to figure out how to watch the full length Youtube movies on my XBOX.

First I tried to use the Youtube app. First off, it isn’t very user friendly to begin with but you just need a little patience and some clever searching methods. The movie I wanted to watch was Zombieland. First I searched the title, Zombieland. It gave me a bunch of trailers and other non full movie things. Then my search got a little more creative. The app doesn’t let you use many special characters (such as [ or ]) so I just started typing everything in the title on the Youtube internet page. Low and behold, after a few tries I got what I was looking for. You can also confirm it by the name of the up-loader on Youtube.

You can also use the same method for the Internet Explorer app. I tested this method as well. Using the controller was not the easiest but I was able to find the movie as well. Both apps don’t have the best quality but the Youtube app is significantly better than the IE app.

Give it a try and see how it works for you. Here is the link to the Reddit page which has a continuously updated movie list. Here is the link for the Youtube app for XBOX Live. I believe you will need a XBOX Live Gold subscription for the apps, though I am not entirely sure about that. Good luck and enjoy!

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The basic controls. Swipe to the right to access the standard numerical pad

I’ve been using the HTC One LTE for about three weeks now and felt a bit silly this week when I discovered an new built-in feature (app?) that I had previously ignored.   With so many 3rd party vendors, and working for a phone company myself, I am always cautious about clicking on any pre-loaded apps and inadvertently signing my firstborn over to a hidden subscription. So when I fired up the phone and browsed through the apps, I paid no attention to the “TV” button.

One touch channel and favorite show guide

Little did I know that this harmless button would turn out to be an amazing (and free) built-in feature of the HTC One that would turn out to be quite impressive, Sense TV. An IR controller built into the phone, Sense TV allows  the user to remotely control their television, cable box, and home theater directly from the device. And not only does it allow you to program up to 10 set ups (a set up consisting of a tv, cable box, and theater system), but also provides an on-device programming guide, recommendations, favorites, and show/movie details.   All at the expense of (probably) gathering a bit of info about my viewing patterns.  I rationalize this as being a modern day Nielson family, so I got over the intrusion quickly.

Program the remote to even control your device’s inputs

I don’t yet have a lot of experience about using the embedded program guides or recommendations, but I do enjoy the visual of seeing the TV listing (and show timer progression) and watching the channel switch with one click.  Sense TV is even as much of an “HD Snob” as I am, with a adjustable setting to default to the HD version of a show whenever available.
All and all, I am pretty impressed with the ease of navigation, set up, and customizability hidden behind the innocuous button.  I’ll be sure to let you know if that soon changes.  Until then, just add in some Xbox SmartGlass technology and I’ll be set!

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1. Coffee Machine Accessory

This might not be obvious enough, but I tend to play video games in the morning and I need coffee.  When I’m scoring some headshots in Halo it’s nice to grab a sip of coffee in between spawns.  This way, if the coffee maker was attached or connected to the console, then the coffee would be hot and close and wouldn’t need me to walk to the kitchen.

2. Allow 100+ Player Matches

Gone are the days when you could ONLY play 4 on 4.  Bring on massive Wars where hundreds are fighting with epic vehicle matches and dynamic tactics.  PCs have had the ability to play 64 player matches with Battlefield 4, so why can’t new consoles handle the bandwidth/graphic capability?  It’s supposed to last 8+ years right?

3. Dual or Triple Video Out

A lot of us have roommates and friends that want to play a game with you but some of us have a smaller TV or a limited space in our apartment.  To help with this, allow us to hook up the console to another source or monitor.  That way, we don’t need to have split screen on one TV but on a couple monitors to enjoy.  Another way this could be helpful is when your roommate or significant other wants to use the main TV you can just switch to the smaller monitor and plug in some headphones.  Sounds simple enough right?

4. Transfer Previous Achievements from other consoles

I have played a lot of games and I know there are tons of gamers that have played more than I ever will.  If you create a new console, allow us to transfer those hard-earned achievements and level to its new home.  Even if we played Doritos Crash Course 2, I’m sure Kano996 would love to have that on his played list forever.

5. Mods to all games

This is more of a “Hey it works for Halo” kind of suggestion.  Allow Multiplayer games to create our own worlds or maps to allow endless possibilities playing with friends and sharing with a community of fans.  If consoles have the power and memory available then we can have map and world creators right on our console.  This can even translate into some sort of developer tools that any gamer can use to create a mini game.  Then the console makers can take a portion of the profit along with the developer.  That means more investment into the console, more investment into games by gamers, and more money flowing both ways. WIN WIN

6. Pictionary Tablet Accessory

This may seem obvious, but where is a tablet accessory that allows you to draw and make it show up on the TV?  This is a pictionary gold mine, that I just copywrote.  You could also have games that involve that tablet, drawing or motioning things on the tablet.  Not quite like Wii U but more accessible.

7. No More Power Brick

A giant hot cube of energy sucking could be attached to the console in some way right?  Technology has advanced in someway to provide high power with little real estate these days.

8. No More Social Integration

I don’t need to share on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram anything I do on the games I play.  This may not be true for every gamer, but for me I want to play games with my friends and experience things within the context of the console.  I don’t want to know what a former high school friend that I haven’t spoken to in 15 years got as a score on Pacman.  Keep it a gaming console that also allows streaming content.

9. TV input to allow DVR

This is one that will probably happen if rumors are true but to think that I won’t need 4 remotes anymore would be excellent.  A box that I can play Blu Rays, watch cable TV, possibly record a show, and play games would be incredible.

10. NO MORE LAG/SERVER ERROR!

Nothing makes a gamer more upset than playing a game and all of a sudden their opponent disappears and then reappears behind them scoring an easy kill.  Eliminate the server errors and the lagging of systems.  Ensure the technology is up to speed BEFORE launching a massive game that will no doubt tax the system.

There are other thing’s the consoles will have, like better graphics and hopefully better games.  This list is just a start for sure.  What would you like to see?  Maybe a rating system that you can provide on games you play, like a hint you can place in a game for others?  What say you?

The post New Console Wishlist appeared first on Team Fighting Mongoose.

We all had our suspicions in the Avengers, that Coulson didn’t die. Then came the rumors that he was going to be brought back as the vision, which didn’t pan out either, but we finally know what he’s been doing all this time! He’s been working with ABC to get his own show! Well kinda.. See below!

Something tells me a lot more of the Marvel Universe is going to be exposed here. They will be like the Avengers West Coast, Important, but not as good as the real heroes(Teachers). I know I am going to watch it, are you?

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My last week was spent doing nothing. I mean nothing, I played Defiance, and watched Netflix. I watched a lot of Netflix. It could be sad, but I enjoyed it. I watched a few favorite shows, like The Office and 30 Rock, even a little IT Crowd, but the majority of my time was spent watching cartoons. I had been watching the Justice League show prior to last week, so I finished up on that, and then finished Justice League Unlimited. After that I moved on to G.I. Joe Renegades. Then I downloaded the newest Transformers Prime Beast Hunters episodes, and watched that as well.

It was when I was watching the JLU that I started to think about all the cartoons that I was waiting for, that never came back. Shows that I felt had great promise, but only got 2 seasons or less. I look at the Justice League, where it only got 2 seasons, before they made it the Justice League Unlimited, which was only 2 seasons.. Well kinda, JLU was 1 full 26 episode season, then Season 2 was only 13 episodes. Thundercats is another show that only got 2 seasons on Cartoon network, before it got the boot. Wolverine and the X-Men got 1 Season before it was canceled, Green Lantern, Young Justice, and even Teen Titans only got 2 Seasons before they were canceled. Then they all show up on Netflix for people to watch them, and pine over them. I was originally going to write this article about G.I. Joe Renegades, because I thought it was coming back for another season, but nope, it got the can as well.

A lot of these shows are based off older shows, or comics. G.I. Joe Renegades was almost a retelling of the original series, I mean once you get past the total A-Team aspect of it all, it was an interesting show. Brought new life to the series, and helped explain some of the tech in a modern environment. Thundercats was a full re-origin from the original, making tech scarce, and showing a corrupt hierarchy with the cats, it still kept some aspects of the original show, but this was way more deep than the old school ones we all knew and loved. Same thing with Wolverine and the X-Men, it took from some of the X-Men Comics, and brought in from other ones like X-Force. Then they retold some stories like Days of the Future past, only this time Xavier is the hero. Then they were going into the Age of Apocalypse! I was so excited! Then nothing.. A great popular show canceled again.

So we move on, right? there’s nothing that can be done so we just move on. But it makes me wonder, why these shows don’t get any more episodes. It seems like they have a great cult following, and I know they are targeted towards kids, but don’t we have a say in it as well? Given their ratings aren’t the best at the airtime of the show, so that has to be a factor, but the old school fans like myself, are not home at 3pm on a Wednesday, well the common man isn’t, I sure there are some exceptions. But they keep some of the old school properties for the older fans, they get mad when they aren’t there when they call. Don’t even get me on the episode release schedules! They are worse than FOX and BBC combined. Normally what they will do is air 4 episodes, take it away for 2 weeks, then air 2 more episodes, then hold it another 2, show another 2, 1 week off, then the rest of the season. I don’t know if that is entirely right, but that’s how it feels in my head. So if you want consistent ratings, then have a consistent show! That’s just me, I could be totally off on this, but it seems that it all points to ratings. Maybe Green Lantern, and Thundercats would have gotten better ratings on Cartoon Network, if they didn’t put them on hold to show DreamsWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon: Riders of Berk. That upset a lot of people, so is that our fault that you just took it away? Is it our fault that your ratings were suffering because of it? I like to believe that it’s not, that we are the only thing that likes your show because it’s not constantly flashing or having cute characters. Your characters are ones we love and respect, and they are the ones we grew up with the least you can do is give them a final season. Don’t just end the Series, give it a finale. Sorry I know a lot of random thoughts there, but I guess it’s my cry out to them, the big wigs who run the cartoon networks, the ones who see profit to be greater than viewer loyalty. Just have a clause in the contract that no matter what, a cartoon gets 1 final season. It’s like paying first and last months rent when you move in. It’s that simple! GIVE US CLOSURE!

End Transmission…

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I saw this game was free on XBOX Live so I figured I would download it and play it some. My first thoughts before playing was that it would be a fun group game that with a few adult beverages a bunch of people could have a great time (ie Kinect Adventures).

I was quickly disappointed. This game is a platformer, think Donkey Kong Country on the N64. I knew this part going in, I did look at the images while waiting for the download. Instead of a pre-chosen character you are your XBOX Live Avatar. No complaints here, I know how much they love using avatars for arcade games and at this point we all should be pretty used to it and have full knowledge that the avatar usage is not going away. The point of each level is to beat the three other characters to the finish line. So when you and your three friends play it has the perfect amount of racers for all four controllers. This game would probably be better with three other human people taking the reigns but that isn’t how it happened today. Back to the race, so the race starts and you are off against the others. You run, jump, and sprint your way through the course. Not sure how to get over an obstacle? Don’t worry, there are some very unhelpful directions that pop up as your avatar regularly falls into the water. So you finally make it to the end and wow you just won the first race, barely beat the other guy! Maybe there is hope for this game yet!

Wait, now they want you to buy the next level? Ok phew, I can use those stars that I randomly saw and thought, I should probably get those but they aren’t telling me to. It costs 15 stars to unlock the next level, alright I can afford them from my star collection. Then I wondered, what if I was terrible at this? Ok, cool, there is a place you can get more stars. Oh, with Microsoft Points. Pay real dollars for fake stars for a crappy game. The Doritos part of the name is making more and more sense. So I refuse to pay them any actual money for this so I use my 15 stars and unlock the next level.

I start the level and all that previous hope is gone. The computer controlled “ghosts” of avatars completely wrecked me. Except for that one character they put in that goes so slow that people still feel like they accomplished something by beating them. Bronze medal for me. I still have some banked stars so I go and unlock the next level. Exact same thing happens. Try that level a couple more times and finally get enough stars to unlock the 4th level. In the 4th level they pretty much are trying to force you to spend MS points to buy a speed boost and a power jump just to finish the level. At that point, power button was pushed, XBOX was turned off, dissapointed review was started.

I may give this game a second chance. I usually try to let games grow on me. Honestly, this game has little hope in that. Wish it didn’t give me pity achievements so I could delete it from my games played list.

Images: xbox.com

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• If you’ve never hollowed a book before, it’s not an easy task.  Caught on a Whim gives a great tutorial about how to accomplish this, but she does not give the cold hard facts:  it is tedious, messy, and more challenging than you’d think to keep the hole lined up  (I created a stencil to use and made sure to straighten out the spine each time I dove into a new chunk).
• Fabric Modge Podge works exactly as it is designed to.  I’m a firm believer in Modge-Podge in general, but have limited experience using the different types.  I was worried about the goop seeping between the cover and the fabric or leaving blotches peaking through the cover, but it worked like a charm and left a clean end result
• I am completely impatient.  Well this wasn’t exactly a new lesson for me, but this project was a great reminder.  In addition to the time spent chopping pages (at least I had BSG to keep me occupied), the Modge-Podge took much longer to dry than I am used to.  Most of my decoupaged projects require only a thin coat, but to ensure that the pages stayed put, I had to walk away overnight and patiently wait until morning to check on the progress
• There are many reasons thimbles were invented.  Sewing through 10 pages of glued paper is one of them.

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I’ve played everything from Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City to GTA IV and Red Dead Redemption.  I have not finished any of those games.  I consider myself a ‘completist’ in that I typically don’t give up a worthwhile game until I completely finish the story/main campaign.  There are exceptions, such as a low quality game or a game solely focused on multiplayer.  Otherwise I get in to the story and really want to know the outcome of the protagonist.   But I find it difficult with each of Rockstars games simply because the game itself doesn’t follow the normal conventions a usual game has.  For example, ISAMUDYSON83 brought up the fact that in the GTA games there are sprinklings of Time Trial portions where you have to beat a computer opponent or delver something in an allotted time.  Other sections involve protecting a place or person and others are hunting or tracking down an enemy.

These random mini games go into the entire game not allowing you to get better at one specific aspect.  If it was solely a racing game, you could get the hang of it as you progress through easier matches.  In these games, you track an enemy, herd some cattle, then race to the store with some corn feed.  These random occurrences are meant to bring out true life of semi random things happening but it ups the difficulty in completing the missions in less than a couple attempts.  Other aspects are the expansiveness of the world and the occupants and mini-quests that it literally would take weeks to play the game non-stop and finish all of the challenges and hidden aspects of the entire game.  The expansive terrain is overwhelming at times.  The topic of free will is another interesting division.  Should I be a cabbie more often getting fares for my cousin or should I ignore him as he calls me twice every 5 minutes?  The direction is unclear in an attempt of making the character “your own”.

But the vagueness of what I should actually do is confusing and a bit unclear of what is right and how I can get the most enjoyment out of the game.  With these acknowledgements, the games themselves are still very enjoyable.  The randomness of the world and the main story are entertaining and can be addictive.  Graphics were never a concern with these games as they aren’t meant to wow you on the consoles but more convince you that your time invested will be rewarded.  I just hope that the new GTA will involve a better save system than me trying to find a safe house and a way to keep the story linear and bit more obvious for my aging brain.  So don’t feel bad if you’ve never completed one of their games.  You can always go back and complete it at your leisure  like I currently am with Red Dead Redemption.  And I still get the thrill of riding a horse through the terrain and a bear comes barreling towards me unexpectedly.  They’ve done the Wild West, current year, and Gangster 40’s.  Can they do the future anytime soon?

The post TFM Commentary: Rockstar Games; GTA, Red Dead appeared first on Team Fighting Mongoose.