Awesome Sci-fi

Painstakingly created by Visual Effects student Patrick De Leon, this five minute Buck Rogers short film is a campy mix of real actors and rayguns, robots and futuristic cityscapes.

It’s not yet finished or stable, but Project Cloudwitch is a promising indie effort by C2 Estudio; there’s nothing like Robotech-style combat to get our heartrate up. Note: requires Unity Player.

With Djimon Hounsou and Fantastic Four’s Chris Evans, Push is like the cinematic version of Heroes; it focuses on government-hired psychics divided into 10 types of powers.

It may be kid-oriented, but CJ7 is a must-see for fans of Hong Kong-style slapstick comedy; it’s coming to the US 3/14/08 and is directed by Stephen Chow of Kung Fu Hustle fame.

While it’s not exactly the kind of freebie we like to feature, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa will be free to play until the end of February when the sci-fi MMO gets shuttered.

Sure, Race To Witch Mountain may be targeted for kids and filled with cringe-tastically predictable lines, but we’ll see it for the telekinetic aliens, Matrix-like effects and The Rock.

Generic name notwithstanding, Space War Commander is a slightly more involved version of StarBaron; it’s basically an RTS with overtones of Master of Orion. Demo here.

While we’re sad that SG-1 is no longer with us (at least in episodic form), this 1:129 scale F-302 replica keeps our Goa’uld butt-kicking memories alive; it measures 8″ by 4.5″.

We doubt the Mac vs. PC debate will ever be put to rest, but this Transformers themed short by Nick Greenlee easily puts those endless Get a Mac / I’m A PC commercials to shame.

Fast-paced, mech-on-mech combat, what’s not to like? Robokill is a top-down shooter filled with upgrades and spiffy graphics; the full version gets you over 460 rooms and 10 levels.

From the creators of Star Wreck, Iron Sky (currently in pre-production) has a deliciously b-movie style plot: Space Nazis from the far side of the moon invade the Earth in the year 2018.

No, not that Terminator; this dark and foreboding trailer, revealed at last night’s Spike VGA Awards, gives us hope that this videogame adaptation of the upcoming movie won’t suck.

Anyone who uses a cellphone owes something to late author Arthur C. Clarke; we think this student film for his epic Rama series is a fitting ode to an all-around amazing gentleman.

Let freedom ring with Red Faction: Guerilla’s latest trailer; the rebels use everything from giant hammers and mining equipment to mechs to hit back at their EDF oppressors.

Just in time for Half-Life’s 10th anniversary, this trailer for Black Mesa shows off both the devotion and the incredible quality of work coming out of this fan-made Half Life 2 mod.

Binary Bonsai’s Michael Heilemann has uploaded a tibanna mine of 500 behind the scenes Star Wars photos; they include on-set shots, matte paintings, starship models and costumes.

As if Defense Grid wasn’t enough, Savage Moon is another Tower Defense-type game. It’s coming soon to PSN with equally amazing graphics and is $10 cheaper than the former.

Fox NFL Sunday might want to rethink Cleatus’ contract; he meets The Day the Earth Stood Still’s supersized Gort with predictably explosive results in this short but satisfying trailer.

We rely on the Terminator series of films to get our post-apocalyptic fix, so this animated poster just makes us giddy: the transition from downtown LA to a T-101 is brilliant.

We have to wonder how palatable Wookie Cookies are, but these two Star Wars Cookbooks with 50 recipes are going for only $15: perfect if you’re going to the Jedi culinary academy.

A big hat tip to Eddie Lebron, whose low-budget adaptation of Mega Man shows the little guy can make movies worth watching; everything from the acting to the teleporting is dead on.

Neo-Aztecs, floating cities and space zombies are either a recipe for total disaster or pure genius; fortunately, we think Tobias Buckell’s Sly Mongoose is space opera at its finest.

It was only a matter of time before Minority Report’s gesture tech became a reality; made in part by a science advisor for the movie, Oblong’s g-Speak is a “spatial operating environment.”