Did you like “Beyond Black Mesa“, the eleven minute Half-Life short film made on a budget of $1,200 by some dedicated fans? If you said “no” do you also dislike puppies, cotton candy, and Free BJ and Roast Beef Sandwich Tuesdays? (Yesterday was awesome.)

Director Brian Curtin returns with “Half-Life: Origins“, a partially live-action, partially CG re-creation of the opening scene from Half-Life, in which you board the Black Mesa Transit System as Dr. Gordon Freeman. It may be a little heavy on the lens flare, and the actor sitting at the reception desk needs to take a lesson in not indicating, but overall they made a good, modernized re-creation with some humor at the end. Cuddle up to your favorite head-crab and watch it after the break:

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It’s that time of the week where we post a mixed bag of intriguing costumes we spotted recently. Some of it’s new; some of it isn’t; all of it is worth highlighting.

Are you a cosplayer or cosplay photographer who would like to be featured on Gamma Squad? Upload your photos to our Flickr group to be considered.

Onward to the gallery:

(Click pictures to enlarge.)

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Finally, a cause I can fully get behind!  Punching Nazi dinosaurs in the face!  Yes!  Let’s do this.

Dino D-Day started as a Half Life 2 mod (trailer here) which tells the fascinating true story about that time Nazis resurrected dinosaurs and you have to fight them as an Allied soldier in WWII.  Now it’s been adapted as a full-length multiplayer game (trailer and synopsis here) which will release on April 8th.  It just became available for pre-order on Steam at a 10% discount.

You can still punch dinosaurs in the face as in all my daydreams the Half Life 2 version, but the full version adds the option to play as six different Allied soldiers, three different Axis soldiers, or three Nazi dinosaurs, one of whom is a Desmatosuchus with a 20mm cannon strapped to its back.  It is super effective.

Hit the jump for screencaps from the game (via Steam) and propaganda posters (via Destructoid, who have additional posters in their gallery).

(Click pictures for full size)

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Usually when I hear the words “fan film” I start breaking out in dry sweats throw up blood and usually piddle a little bit, but things were significantly different today after watching this Half-Life inspired fan film, Beyond Black Mesa.

Filming with a Canon HV20, director Brian Curtin shot the entire 12-minute short with just seven of his friends and a budget of only $1,200.

This film is not HL,HL2 or Opposing Forces. It’s a short fan film that takes place in the Half-Life world. Also, as a completely independent film, we wanted to have a creative voice in the movie and make it a movie that we would enjoy shooting. We took artistic freedoms and liberties, unfortunately most of those decisions were determined by our limited resources. [source]

The fan film follows resistance fighter Adrian Shephard and a band of his cohorts, all fighting to help spread word of the invasion that is coming. The post effects are actually really effective and enjoyable to watch. Sure it’s still a short film based on a video game, but it’s clear that the production crew at least gave a damn about what they were doing. Hard to complain when there’s cool stylized visual effects and gore to be had by all. Now you stay right there, I’m going to go slip into something a little more comfortable…
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Last year we posted a trailer for the awesome Half Life 2 mod, “Dino D-Day”, in which you play an Allied soldier fighting against dinosaurs resurrected and trained by Nazis. 100% historically accurate. Now here’s the fantastic news: there’s going to be a full, multi-player Dino D-Day game, releasing March 1st, 2011 (trailer below).  Not only can you punch dinos in the face as in the Half Life 2 mod, but you can also play as a dinosaur, including a Desmatosuchus with a 20mm cannon strapped to its back. As you do.

Punch my dinosaur in the face with an official synopsis, dinodday:

The Allied side includes six playable characters each with unique weapons and abilities to use in combat. Gun down a Dilophosaur with your trusty M1 Garand, blast a kamikaze pterosaur out of the sky with your Thompson sub-machine gun, toss out a dead jack rabbit to lure a raptor into a trap. As an Axis player you will have your choice of three human classes and three dinosaur classes. Ambush your enemy with speed and stealth as the Raptor, mercilessly pound the enemy with the Desmatosuchus’ heavy 20mm gun, rampage through enemy groups as the Dilophosaur, pick up a body and throw it at an enemy for a double kill! The German soldier classes are the perfect complement to their dinosaur comrades.
You’ve played World War II games before…but have you played a World War II game with dinosaurs?

More important question: have you ever played a World War II game with dinosaurs on weed?  Find the answer to this and other similar questions in my new book, The Bigass Book of Movie References From 1998.

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We’ve been following Daniel Mellinger and Vijay Kumar’s work at UPenn’s GRASP Lab for awhile, mostly so we can be cursed to know the exact nature of our death, like a cyclops.  They’ve taught their “quadrotor helicopter” (fancy term for a manhack) some new assassination methods.  It’s ability to perform “precise aggressive maneuvers” wasn’t enough, and neither was giving them claws so they can work together to lift larger objects.  Now they can also recover from being violently thrown, determine the best path around several obstacles at once, and pass through a moving hoop without hitting the sides.  I want to smash one with a crowbar so much.

It’s right behind me, isn’t it?

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