After months of searching for a video converting app that would let me choose audio and subtitle tracks contained in the ubiquitous MKV format (which is very common for anime) and re-export it to an iPhone or PS3-ready video with or without burned in subtitles, I gave up. There simply wasn’t an app that would let me do it without undertaking at least 10 manual steps with dubious command-line software and a lot of script rummaging.

Then I found MKVTools. It’s not just super-fast (my previous alternative was Perian+Quicktime, which made gorgeous subtitles, but exporting literally took hours), but it also lets me pick audio/video/subtitle tracks, and 1-click convert it to something my iPhone can play. It’s free, to boot (a few advanced features like queuing are unlocked for a tiny 5 dollars).

The UI and the icon of the app are not that great, unfortunately. I can’t do much about the UI, but here are two nice icons so you can keep it in your dock without flinching. As a bonus, there is an alternative to the modern aluminium replacement icon in ‘toolbox red metallic’ included.

MKVTools replacement icons – 1.8 MB

MKVTools can be downloaded here. Icons are for personal usage only.

Since the last gaming article on Flower, one might expect a post on a relaxing and casual game, but I want to talk about Armored Core for Answer instead; the latest game in the line of the Armored Core series is everything but casual.

I hadn’t played an Armored Core game before, but as a vocal mecha lover, I wanted to give it a shot after I had jumped through a bazillion hoops to make a Japanese Playstation Network account and downloaded the (also entirely Japanese) demo. I started up the game, enjoyed the horribly designed menu – a real stalwart quality of Japanese games in general – and went straight into the first mission.

I lasted about 30 seconds. I was literally blown away, mentally and ingame, by a 3000-feet (about a kilometer) high walking fortress with six long-range cannons firing projectiles the size of a bulky SUV. At that moment I realized that this was a game that was practically tailor-made for me.
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As I promised for my birthday, here’s a nice wallpaper goodie. I lost my files for it in a hard drive crash, but I must say the redesign looks a lot better than the original. Those familiar with the series may recognize it as the tunnel of light that ships enter when traveling at faster-than-light speeds.

I’ve expressed my love for the new Macross series before, and I’ve uploaded some pictures of nice new Macross Frontier toys on my Flickr stream, so the last thing that was missing was a nice wallpaper to go with it!

Space Fold Wallpaper – 1.4 MB

This wallpaper is intended for personal usage and desktop customization only. Macross Frontier is © 2008-2009, Bandai and the Macross F Production Committee.