To use it, download a playlist from Playlist.com.
You do this by clicking the “Export Playlist To Windows Media Player” link on the right side of the site. If it doesn’t prompt you to download a file, right click the link and select Save As.

Then upload the asx.wvx file here: samutz.com/playlist
The script will generate links from the playlist. You can then download them individually or use something like DownThemAll to get them all at once.

Source and more technical info after the jump.

Asx.wvx is basically just an xml file that Windows Media Player can read to play the songs in the playlist.

You can load it in to PHP with SimpleXML.

Here’s the source code for the page I made at samutz.com/playlist

<form action="index.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="1048576" />
<input type="file" name="file" />
<input type="submit" value="Upload" />
</form>

<?php
if (isset($_FILES['file']) && $_FILES['file']['error']==0) {
	$xml = simplexml_load_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name']);
	foreach ($xml->entry as $entry) {
		$attr = $entry->ref->attributes();
		echo '<a href="'.$attr['href'].'">'.$entry->title.' by '.$entry->author.'</a><br/>';
	}
} else {
	echo 'Upload asx.wvx above.';
}
?>

The game is running great for me on Windows 7 via Steam.

You can find it here: http://www.samutz.com/blargh/articles/borderlands-custom-starter-saves/

I’ll contact each site owner/manager individually before I move their site to make sure I move them at a time that’s most convenient for them.

Custom Playlist Controls on Flowplayer with jQuery

Playlist Demo

This article details how to create a custom playlist system for Flowplayer using jQuery and Flowplayer’s javascript API. This system will allow you to manipulate playlist items without interrupting current playback and adds several functions not available in the Flowplayer JS API.

Read more: Custom Playlist Controls on Flowplayer with jQuery

Today I’ve finally put that idea in to action and created a user called AltNationFan that gets automatically updated with whatever songs AltNation has been playing recently using the Last.fm API.

As far as I can tell (I’m still relatively new to Last.fm), you can only listen to the station via the Last.fm client by adding AltNationFan to your friends list. If that’s the case, I’ll keep an eye on the account and accept any new friend requests that come in.

(I couldn’t really decide what do use for the little girl as there are no girls in TF2.)

Last year I ranted about games I didn’t really care for, so this time I’ll focus on what I’m looking forward too.

Assassin’s Creed 2

I loved the first game despite it’s repetitive gameplay (climb a town, save a citizen, save a citizen, repeat). I even tried to get 100% completion, but I seem to be having difficulty locating one Templar. The story was intriguing, the graphics were beautiful, and assassinating your targets undetected was so satisfying.
The sequel looks just as beautiful and provides new assassination techniques, such as a double kill using a blade in each hand. The repetitiveness has been addressed by adding 16 different mission ‘types’ and including missions that have a mix of several types. The world that the game takes place in is supposed to be much larger. One of the developers said there were 5 cities, each containing 5 districts. That’s over double the world space of the first game.

I’ll definitely be getting this for the 360.

Brutal Legend

When I first heard about this on blogs, such as Kotaku, I didn’t pay much attention to it, but after seeing it at E3, I’m wanting to try it out. Jack Black voices the main character, and it takes place in a ‘metal-fantasy world’ based on the various heavy metal album covers featuring skulls, and demons, and snakes, and things of the sort that usually associated with heavy metal and rock. It also features various heavy metal icons, such as Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford. Unfortunately Activision, the title’s previous publisher, is now suing Double Fine, the developers, which maybe delay the games release.

Assuming Activision doesn’t completely block it’s release, I’ll pick this up on the 360 if it gets good reviews. Being that it’s a new IP, it’s not one that I want to bet on just yet.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Castlevania has yet to have great success in the 3D world, but this game is looking good. It looks alot like God of War, with the protagonist’s whip acting much like Kratos’ chained blades, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s also being developed by Kojima Productions and Kojima himself, which is a very good thing. If they can keep some of the original elements that make the 2D games great, such as an open world and Metroid-like progression (eg. you need a certain power/item to reach new areas), and combine that with Kojima’s writing and storry telling, this could shape up to be the first great 3D Castlevania.

Again, I’ll wait for the reviews before I decide to grab this one.

Crackdown 2

Not much has been revealed about this sequel yet, but I loved the first one and will most likely be getting the sequel.

Dragon Age Origins

Bioware makes the best W-RPGs in my opinion, from Knights of the Old Republic to Mass Effect. I would buy just about anything they release.

Final Fantasy XIII

I don’t think I’ll ever stop being a fan of the core Final Fantasy series. I don’t care for Tactics, Crystal Chronicles, or FFXI (I don’t count this as being a core game due to it being an MMO), but I will always love the traditional games.

Last year Square Enix announced at the Microsoft conference that FFXIII would be coming to the 360. That was one of those great “OH SHIT” moments for me. Another reason to avoid the PS3. I was disappointed to hear that they weren’t going to really start working on the 360 version until after PS3 development was near completion. However, this year they’ve revealed that both versions are shooting for a Spring 2010 release.

God of War 3

For fucks sake Sony! PS3 PRICE CUT! NOW!

I want this so badly, but I am not paying $400 for a PS3.

Golden Sun DS

The first 2 Golden Sun games for the GBA were fantastic RPGs. And the DS is perfect for the Psy powers used by the heroes of those games. Fans have been begging for a 3rd game for years, and it’s finally on it’s way.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

The idea behind it seems dumber than ever, but I’m still a sucker for the Zelda series.

Little Big Planet (PSP)

As I don’t own a PS3, I’ve been missing out on LBP. Hopefully the PSP version will be just as worthy of all the hype as the PS3 version.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

I loved the first Mario & Luigi rpg on the GBA. Partners in Time, however, frustrated me. Rather than controlling just Mario and Luigi, you also had to control the baby versions of the brothers, which I found to be tedious as I’d forget which button controls which brother and would have to be constantly switching between all four of them in some areas. This newest game looks like it goes back to only the two adult brothers, which is perfect to me.

Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect is still currently my favorite game on the 360. The RPG mechanics of the game are what drew me to Bioware’s epic sci-fi masterpeice. However, various gaming blogs who have gotten to try the ME2 demo have reported that the game is more shooter than RPG now, which has me worried that the game is becoming Gears of War in space. And if you’ve read my E3 opinions from last year, you’d know that Gears of War falls in to the military-like shooter genre that I despise on consoles. Hopefully the game will kick major ass all over the face of the galaxy.

Metroid Other M

A Metroid game being developed by Team Ninja, the team that brought us the bloody and brutal Ninja Gaiden and Dead of Alive games? Hell-Yes.

The game looks to bring a mix of the 3D shooter action of the Prime trilogy and the side scrolling action of the traditional 2D games. It’s also supposed to reveal more about Samus’s past and tie up loose ends from Super Metroid’s story. We even get to see Samus as a new recruit/cadet in the Federation army it seems.

Dear Team Ninja, Do not fuck this up. Thanks.

Mod Nation Racers

Basically a Mario-kart style racer with the customization of Little Big Planet. You create your own characters, cars, and tracks (maybe more, but that’s all that’s been announced). They showed off creating a track, which looked pretty basic (dirt road, paved road, some trees, grass, hills), but promise that it’s only a tiny percentage of what the game has to offer. Unfortunatelly, this is for the PS3.

New Super Mario Bros Wii

New Super Mario Bros on thee DS was awesome. Good old classic side-scrolling action. This new game is that plus the added bonus of 4-player drop-in/out co-op. I don’t see why they couldn’t do it on the DS though.

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle

I just finished playing the first game and loved it. I’m hoping they fix some of the problems plaguing the first game though, such as shitty bike handling. For a game about being an assassin, I did have to spend a lot of time driving around town trying to get the cash to proceed to the next assassination. And oh yea, Travis has been spotted dual wielding beam katanas. Awesome.

Red Steel 2

I had little interest in the first game, but this one looks way better.  The graphics have been changed to a nice cel-shaded, graphic novel style. And the game takes advantage of the new Wii Motion Plus for accurate swordplay.

Shadow Complex

A side-scrolling XBLA title coming from Epic and Cliff Blezinski. Cliffy B pretty much admitted right off the bat that the game idea is copied from the classic Metroid games. I admire devs who openly admit they’re copying another game, even if they’re better known for overrated crap (read: Gears of War).

Splinter Cell: Conviction

I never had any interest in the original Splinter Cell series. Game play looked too slow and I wasn’t in to stealth games much at the time. However, this time around Sam Fisher no longer works for whatever government agency he worked for before and is now out to find the person responsible for his daughter’s death. He’s faster and more brutal than in his secret agent days. Think Jason Borne.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Bioware’s 3rd game at E3, The Old Republic is in some ways a sequel to the excellent KOTOR series, but this time it’s an MMO. If I’m playing WoW again when this comes out, I will drop WoW in a heartbeat.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Not much to say about it. It’s a sequel to one the best 3D Mario games ever made. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.

The Saboteur

Looks like EA’s answer to Assassin’s Creed. You play as a saboteur (French one, I think) sometime during World War II, sneaking arouund, taking out Nazis and things of the sort.

Some of the games are coming out this year, and some have been announced for Spring 2010 releases. Either way, it looks like we have another great year of gaming ahead of us.

Go to netflix.com/tellafriend

Use one of these codes:
M360065894295
M330045894955
M380045894205
M350015894215

Expires June 15, 2009