[Around the Web] Happy 14th, Google!

Yes, how time sure flies. Never realized that today marks the 14th anniversary of Google, which is now the leading search engine among others. I can't enumerate all of the other search engines, so you'll just have to look for them yourself.

So to Google, for becoming the default search engine of the Web, becoming a verb, a boon for most of us (except to those die-hard fans of older search engines), cheers and all that!

[Live by the Creed] Parkour or Free-running, anyone?

There's been much hype these days on Assassin's Creed, rightfully so as the release of its latest installment, Assassin's Creed III, is about a month away now. And we all know the staples in an AC game: the hidden blade, the protagonist with a (most of the time white) beaked hood, and the awesome acrobatics like we've never seen. Well, not 'never', if you've played Prince of Persia before, but that's another story.

So is this about another AC trailer or something? Well, no. Thanks to the powers of Google, Youtube and Facebook 'liked' pages, I've come across something that fans will like:

Meet Ronnie Shalvis,  professional free runner, traceur (parkour practioner), acrobat, and stunt man. He's done much of this 'street exhibitions' before, but heck, this Assassin's Creed meets parkour is outrageous. The costume is much inspired from Altair's era, though some of his moves might be called 'too fancy' and such. But hey, I'm sure you all agree of his nimble footwork.

And yeah, as with all Assassins, using the stairs is too mainstream.

[Diablo III] Red alert! SHIELDS UP!!!

"I find your lack of faith.....disturbing."

Heads up Diablo III addicts and farmers players, Blizzard techs and securities has posted that they have noticed that their B.net servers have been accessed by unauthorized and illegal means. So far the extent of damage has not been publicly announced, but it is to be lauded that they admit that hacking has taken place, and countermeasures and additional securities are implemented.

But for us players, let us do our part as well. Not by complaining and trolling the official Blizzard forums that "ur securitez suxxors" or "lol bnet haxxed by nooblars" and such. Remember, hackers hack indiscriminately, so it could be that rich guy up north, the do-gooder in one place, or maybe that vagrant player just around the corner cafe. Creepy, yes.

So do change passwords, and use passwords that are strong enough to repel 'tard hackers.

Source: [Official Blizzard announcement]

[Anime] Celebrating 30 Years of Singing Love Songs in Space

Yep, thirty years. 30. Three-zero. Lots of good memories about it.

[Live by the Creed] Michael Fassbender to take lead role in planned Assassin's Creed movie

Go, Clean Cut!!!!

It would seem that the plans for a movie adaptation of Assassin's Creed is in full gear. Ubisoft Motion Pictures head Jean Juliet Baronnet announces that Michael Fassbender is their actor of choice to wear the beaked hood of the Assassin Order.

Fassbender, much known to some people as the young Magneto in the 2011 hit mutant movie X-Men: First Class, was also one of the Spartans in Frank Miller's 300 movie adaptation (namely, Stelios).

Not much information has been released, as to what era or which Assassin this movie will follow. Hopefully, it lives up to the video game.


sources: [Latest News Explorer]
             [IMDb on Michael Fassbender]
             [Michael Fassbender personal website]

[Around the Web] Dead or Alive 5 E3 2012 vignette

Nice tagline.

Fighting games are a bit of a diverse lot: there's the realistic UFC or WWE titles, the fantasy-complicated controls-realistically-looking Tekken, the sports type like Fight Night (everybody wants to be Manny Pacquiao these days), then there's the semi-realistic-looking-martial-arts game, the Dead or Alive series.

Dead or Alive back then marketed on two things: more women in their fighting game titles, hence, bitchfights (no, I don't use the term 'catfights' when two women are slugging at each other), and their ladies are well-endowed up front. So much as the game engine had to be tuned to use "breast physics" for unrealistic jiggle eye-candy. Sometimes it's a good thing, but other times it can be .....let's just say not-safe-for-under-eighteen.

Ah yes. Always the beach.

Now don't get me wrong, I like the Dead or Alive series, and I even own one for the 3DS. And yes, I like the game because of obvious reasons (not to mention Kasumi is such a hot beautiful kunoichi), but I'm more of a Tekken fan then. But then again the King of Iron Fist Tournament is becoming more and more...sophisticated that I don't know the controls of some characters I used before. Either it's been revamped or changed altogether.

And yeah, I have a personal disdain for the XBox 360. Personal, so I won't say it here. As to why the creator wanted his "masterpiece" be Xbox-exclusive, I don't know why. Megalomaniacal pervert.


Ahem.

The 5th installment of DOA is set to be released for both PS3 and 360 platforms. Not to mention a revamp of graphics and yes, they've toned down the boob-bounce and cup size quite a bit.

Left: the previous title (gorgeous up front), right: revamped "realistic" look (still gorgeous).

Characters are slowly being revealed with two special guest fighters from another fighting game (and progenitor title to 3D fighting), Virtua Fighter.

As shown in the E3 2012 vignette, Akira Yuki is the first guest fighter shown for DOA 5. I'll let you guess the other one.

Dead or Alive 5 is slated on September 2012. Gods this year wallets are going to be slaughtered.

[Around the Web] Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Duty, Honor, Country....oh wait, that's the ROTC motto. Who dares, wins?

FPS fans, this one's for you: if you're not much of a fan of the Call of Duty games, Rainbow Six, or even Ghost Recon series, EA is giving us a more "realistic" scenario game. Yep, the rebooted Medal of Honor that was released last 2010 is getting a sequel, and is packing more firepower than ever.

Dubbed Medal of Honor: Warfighter, the campaign follows of the actual footsteps (I guess based from declassified information that can be freely accessed) of Tier 1, US SOCOM's most elite special forces operations group. The missions take place around the globe, and in the trailer below, a particular mission in Basilan, Philippines; supposedly 'hideout' for the Abu Sayyaf extremist group. 

Also featured in Warfighter is the multiplayer mode, where you can choose from any special forces group of a country:

• Russia - Alfa Group Spetsnaz
• Poland - GROM
• Canada - JTF2
• United Kingdom - SAS
• United States - SEALs, SFOD-D, OGA
• and others

Medal of Honor: Warfighter comes out 23 October 2012. And a week later, Assassin's Creed III. Ouch, this is going to hurt wallets.