Hitman Absolution: Run For Your Life Playthrough

Thanks to Machinima, we now have actual gameplay footage of the upcoming Hitman: Absolution, and damn does it look promising. The playthrough begins with Agent 47 in Chicago's main library when a fleet of cops charge in. As soon as the short cutscene ends, you gain control of Agent 47. He is maneuvered through the library, taking out a few cops, until he decides to take one hostage in order to escape. We get our first glimpses at the new cover system, and motion is fluid when moving from cover to cover.

Of course, being surrounded by cops is a hairy situation, so Agent 47 snaps the neck of his hostage and begins to "run for his life", hence the name of the playthrough. Agent 47 evades the cops, and even a helicopter, as he eventually takes out a cop sent to look for him. This is where we begin to see more of the mechanics from previous Hitman games. Agent 47 disguises himself as the cop he just took out, and manages to walk nonchalantly under the glaring helicopter light.

We then see him sneak past a few people who are getting high, or are already high. Then, police bust through the door with a search warrant, and Agent 47 makes quick work of the two. After handling the two cops, Agent 47 nonchalantly walks by several cops before taking the elevator to the lobby. Still in police uniform, Agent 47 walks by a treasure trove of cops, hiding his face every once in a while in order to not be identified. Finally, Agent 47, still in disguise, simply walks out the main lobby entrance, and blends in the crowd.

From this playthrough, Hitman: Absolution is shaping up to be a quality title, though the linearity of the entire playthrough was somewhat glaring. During the entire playthrough, I could not see different ways to approach the same situation, something that set previous Hitman titles from the rest. However, one thing is for certain: stealth is king, but when it comes to action, Hitman: Absolution can definitely deliver. The music matched the tone of the situation perfectly, lighting was amazing, and not even the A.I. expressed robotic motion. It was as if you were watching an organic world. Look for Hitman: Absolution to land some time in 2012.

iMovie '11 Trailer Creation

One of the new features on iMovie '11 is the ability to create a professional looking movie trailer within minutes. You can choose from 15 different templates and have the London Symphony Orchestra backing your trailer. As I mentioned before it takes literally minutes to create a stunning trailer.

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My Latest Video and Using Green Screen

Last night I finished filming, editing, and exporting my latest YouTube video and got it uploaded. It is the first I've done in quite a while, but I think it turned out good nevertheless. You can check it out below:

But besides sharing the video with you, I would also like to write a little blog post about how it was made. Of course, you can immediately tell that I relied solely on a green screen for the background. You can see my setup in the pictures below. It actually took me about five different failed setups until I tried out this one; it has worked perfectly, and I love it.

When you're working on a green screen, I think it's always best to act as if the thing you're editing in later is actually behind you. You'll notice that a few times throughout the video I actually turn around and watch or gesture to what is happening behind me. This gives the viewer the sense that I really am in front of a huge screen, and usually makes the video more enjoyable.

This was the first video that I relied on for only Final Cut Express to do all the editing. I'm still a total amateur when it comes to that program, but I'm learning very quickly and actually learned quite a few things while in the process of editing this one. I think (and know) that I will be able to do some really amazing work now that I'm working with Final Cut. It is, for the most part, very professional and has more features than I'll ever use.

On the same note of editing, it took me at least four hours to edit this video. We can then add in the time for filming (probably an hour) and the time spent sitting around watching Desperate Housewives while waiting for it to export and upload to YouTube. I believe this is the best video I've done to date, and I'm extremely proud of it.

I hope you guys enjoyed it!