Oni's Curry

Its coming!

2011-09-28T01:42:00.001-07:00

My big day is coming in like 2 months time... exciting! Lots of preparations to handle but we're doing OK so far. The wedding cards are printed and we just need to send them out, alcohol needs to be booked and the songs need to be handled but otherwise we're doing just fine. Got to go for my stag night this weekend, which is a pain cause I'm not really into that sort of stuff.

I've recently jumped back into board game development (sort of). The latest game I've designed is a deck building game with a fantasy theme. Its gone through a few playtests and iterations now... the intention is to kind of showcase it during the games convention this December but at the rate things are going, I don't know if that's possible what with the wedding and all. Lets just see what happens...

Life has been pretty uneventful apart from that, I'll post here if anything else crops up.

Celebration Day Holidays

2011-09-05T01:16:00.000-07:00

The Hari Raya holidays ended yesterday (sob)... one week of leave, 9 days of enjoyment what bliss! Managed to do loads of stuff this hols too.

So Saturday my pals and I took a roadtrip to Malacca for some good fun and Street Fighter. Despite the many warnings and jinxes that the roads will be absolutely jammed due to the traffic out of KL, the roads were completely clear. We checked in then went gallivanting around town, tasting the local delicacies like Chicken Rice Balls, Asam Laksa, Cendol, Nyonya food and seafood. Very yummy :) The company made it all the much greater as well. We also played loads of street fighter and iPhone games haha! It was good fun.

Cooked twice this holiday, we made our Spanish meal on Wednesday. Janice cooked a Chicken and Prawn Paella. The Paella was awesome but it would have been more awesome if we had managed to find the right kind of rice. I made three different tapas to accompany her Paella; a tomato based tapas with sliced cherry tomatoes and chicken pieces (kinda like the tomato base I made for the spaghetti), a cream based tapas with potatoes, leeks and shitake mushrooms and lastly a mango, shallot, garlic and dried chilli tapas in infused olive oil. For dessert, Janice whipped out some carrot cake which was fantastic! Not too sweet (we ran out of sugar for the icing) and so nice with the walnuts and stuff!

Second time we cooked was yesterday, my sister came back home from England so I cooked up something for her. The main course was my specialty Imperial Roast Chicken (haha) marinated in honey, salt and pepper. Accompanying this was a side-dish of Janice's roast potatoes, sweet potato buns and a block of brie cheese. Yummy! We ate quite late so we only finished lunch at 4 p.m. *ADD: She also made really yummy chocolate cake :3

Also took the opportunity to go clubbing on Saturday till really really late. I accompanied my long-time friend for his first clubbing experience! He was really shy and for the first part of the night him and I spent it chugging down whiskey shots and what not. After a Jaeger bomb he finally got the 'courage' to go dancing and off we went till like 3:30 a.m. when we were all pooped. Dropped by McD's on the way back for supper and a chat. Great fun!

Played loads of boardgames too, surprise hit was Cranium. I like how Janice and I have this connection when playing that game :3

Anyway that's pretty much all for now, till next time.

New House!

2011-08-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Been one month since we've moved back to our newly renovated house. Still a few hiccups here and there (toilet, outside lights, gate...) but its still a really nice place. We've moved in (mostly) with a few furniture pieces missing and the rooms still a bit of a mess but its livable. Especially like the IKEA bookcase and drawers we bought, it was good fun building it up from scratch together with Janice.

Janice and I have taken to cooking every weekend now. The week before last I cooked up a cherry tomato and enoki mushroom appetizer with chicken legs marinated and covered in a creamy orange sauce, served with a red wine while Janice baked up her specialty apple puddings for dessert. Last week it was Italian night, so I made a fresh tomato sauce base served on spaghetti (fried first before steeping it slowly in the sauce) with potato crackers and cherry tomatoes on the side. Accompanying this was a fruity dessert wine and a fantastic dessert of cream puffs, honey biscotti and Beirut coffee. The next meal we're planning is a Spanish themed one; Janice is cooking here seafood paella while I'll be handling the tapas; looking forward to it :D

On the work front, its mixed feelings about whether I want to take on the new job or stay where I am. I'm feeling down about my current workplace recently, no thanks to the despondent attitude of my teammates and the whole department actually. Still, its hard going making the choice to leave. I'll have to think about this a little more.

My friends and I picked up some new boardgames recently; YK and I shared for Gloom (really funny but depressing game about tragedy and killing off a family), HS got 7 Wonders (wonderful resource/drafting game; just my type) and Grimoire (nice concept but somehow didn't give a great impression) while JH picked up the expansion to Nightfall (haven't played it yet, need sleeves first). Lots of gaming to look forward to next week given the start of the raya holiday.

Speaking of holidays, I'm off to Malacca this weekend (without my baby though) with some friends. 3 days 2 nights stay... looking forward to the great food and company. Will pick up some good stuff for you Janice, don't worry :3

Patches (my cat) is doing great as well, she's gotten a bit fatter now (so have I! hahaha...) but she's as cute as ever. I think she's grown up a lot smarter now... she understands some words now (her name, fish)! It's almost like she's human...

There you have it for my little update on my (married) life, will update this again soon-ish.

Life tidbits (tit-bits heh..)

2011-03-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

Some new things to report on... on the boardgames front, friend got a new game, Thunderstone, that we're all hooked on for now. Plays a lot like Dominion (look it up!) with a fantasy, hero, RPG dungeon raiding theme. We played it quite a few times now and I think we'll be playing it just a bit more before we actually get bored of it. Still, that's not really a bad thing, we have so many games to play in the backlog (like Dicetown, Boomtown, Race, Last Night etc.) that soon enough we'll find Thunderstone new all over again. Hurrah!

Videogames wise, Dead Space 2 was over pretty quick. I'm like 4/5 through a 2nd playthrough on the 2nd hardest difficulty but then Marvel VS Capcom 3 (MVC3) comes along and I'm hooked on a new fighting game. I'm still quite bad at it despite a good win/lose rate, I'm just not smooth in executing those combos in a laggy environment. Still, it is somewhat badass landing that 72 hit combo with just one guy. And not to mention some of my favourite Capcom characters (Wesker! Dante!) are in the game and they are quite badass themselves, I'm enjoying myself just seeing them in action.

Work wise, well nothing special. I got back from some leadership training course which somehow made me feel worse off than when I joined. I feel like I've become really really anti-social after, I just don't feel like talking to anyone at all! Surprising really, I mean I used to love to talk to people and now this 180 degree turn around? Its crazy, mind-boggling and I don't understand it. Maybe I'm just PMS-ing....

Got my Blackberry as well since I'm promoted... but don't really feel like one. I got no work to do at all despite being in a project. Somehow I'm not really involved in what goes on with it so its like I'm not even there at all. Really feel like changing my workplace soon, at least to something I can learn at. I'm worried I don't have any skills I can bring to the table when I do so though.

On the wedding front, got to get the honeymoon done. Also, photoshoot in May (gasp!). Got to hit the gym a lot more often and cut back on all those foods... aiming to lose at the very very least 10 kilos before May. I have 2 months to do it... Should have started earlier!

Happy CNY!

2011-02-17T01:24:00.000-08:00

Hey peeps, long time since I've written here, couple months I suppose? Lazy to check. Anyway, here are my updated:

Got a promotion at my job, I'm a senior exec now. Still earning pittance compared to my peers and even to some of my juniors... also job satisfaction is somewhat lacking as of late. I don't know why I'm even here anymore some days. I keep falling off projects into a new one before I'm done with the old one. Feels like I'm in a washing machine. Oh well... maybe I should start hunting for a new job.

Played Dead Space 2 and its awesome. Lots of gore, lots of spooks, plenty of creepy atmosphere and a heart-gripping storyline. Love it. Play it if you haven't already. Tried the multiplayer too, sad to say the reviews were pretty spot on. Its merely OK, I mean its playable but its nothing new, nothing innovative and certainly not something I'd get hooked on to most of the time.

Street Fighter wise, nothing much new here. Missed the last 2 tournaments (both cause I was travelling). The next one is in April and partnering with a friend but am totally not practicing now and I don't see myself practicing loads in the next month or so. Too much to do... wedding stuff obviously a top priority.

On that note, there's just so much wedding stuff to take care off. Luckily Janice is doing a great job of arranging stuff and what not. I need to pick up the slack from my end but I can't be arsed with all this stuff, simple stuff will do it for me. Sighs.

Boardgames are my new passion. Finally found a bunch of my old mates who are into boardgames as much as I am. We played so many things over the past month, Betrayal, Race, Cosmic, Cutthroat, Last Night, Dominion... its great fun. Also, been cooking up an idea with a friend of mine.. we'll see if that bears fruit.

Ok that's it for now.

Peace at last?

2011-01-10T05:02:00.001-08:00

Hmmm I wonder.

???

2010-12-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

A man, riding a bike on the road, smoking with a filter mask hanging around his neck.

Going forward + MK...

2010-06-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

SF really has been taking up most of my time the last couple of months, no thanks to the recent spate of tournaments. Practicing, reading up and research on the match-up details is hard work, almost like a second job. This weekend I'll be heading up to Penang to compete with PG, KL and SG's best so it's really giving me the jitters. I've improved drastically in the last month or so but there's just so much more I could do to improve myself. I don't feel ready yet...

Work has been good, plenty of projects to work on and I'm leading a team of 2 now. Have to be more responsible in taking care of my underlings, their progression and my own work. It's tough to juggle sometimes. My end-year review netted me another good pay rise and hopefully a good bonus but looking at what happened to the company, not looking forward to much. Which is a shame really.

Just off the top of my head, need to clean my room up. It's so messy right now. Also need to spend some time thinking about investing in property or stocks. Want to put my money somewhere it can make good returns rather than just sit idly in FD. Hmm... might also invest in an arcade stick, for fun. Seems like a good idea, might as well learn to use an arcade stick and a pad as well. Or maybe I'll just buy myself a PS3. Hm..

Anyway loads of fun times to look forward to. There's the Penang tourney this weekend, MAGE in 2 weeks, Thailand with Janice and Langkawi after that.

Getting back into the old groove...

2010-04-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

K SF4 is coming back into my life in a big way, been playing every tournament that comes my way so far with some success. I'm not very good but I guess luck and a bit of practice helps a long way and that has contributed to my success so far. Feels like I'm almost back to my original level before I stopped playing. With SSF4 coming out next week I'll need to put more practice in, hopefully enough to keep me in the game but not too much till I neglect everything else.

Got myself some nice additions to my room recently... a coffee table for putting stuff on, a new computer chair (it's really comfy!), some new spanking speakers which puts out some good sounds and a new gaming mouse to replace my old one. All in all, I spent about RM690 on the whole thing which isn't too expensive I reckon.

Finished Heavy Rain a few weeks back and the game is awesome. It's like a psycho thriller with a lot of mystery thrown into it. It won't appeal to everyone but to me, it's a gem.

Alright enough from me today.

Been a long time...

2010-04-03T01:40:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 5 months since I last posted here. A lot's happened since then but what better place to start putting it all down then the present, right?

I stopped SF4 for about 2-3 months after an unfortunate incident with the organizers. Really shook up my growing faith in the gaming community here as a whole. I just got back in touch with some of my old mates and it has kind of rekindled my interest in the game since they're a fun bunch. Hopefully there'll be none of that bull crap again.

December... that's when it came to an end too. The final chapter in the story. I knew it'd end this way, and for all intents and purposes it's good it ended. It still doesn't change the fact that I got torn up inside in the process but that's life isn't it? Even though I got hurt I have to learn from this and move on. I... don't thing I can forgive for what happened, which is unreasonable. But it's the only way I can move on properly.

CFA results came in late January and I'm pleased to say that I passed, with quite high marks too. Surprising since I thought I'd done pretty badly, what with the short study period and all. Well, I'm not too ready to spend another 6 months of my life slaving away at my desk on this so I'll take the level 2 exam next year.

My birthday came and went in March. Was in Hong Kong at the time on business so it was kind of lonely, but meh I don't really expect much on birthdays anyway. Never had and never will I suppose. Hong Kong was fun though, I went arcade hopping to see the SF4 scene there and I was not disappointed. These guys really knew their stuff, I had good fun playing against them. Food was good too and living in Hong Kong seems quite nice.

What else? I got another cat, we named him Ash. An uncle of mine gave him to us. He was being abused by his previous owner so we took him in. He's cute but not very handsome but I still love him. He stays outside cause of an 'incident' involving a sofa and poop but I think he likes being free and roaming around. Patches on the other hand is living the pampered life, heh. She's gotten a bit fat now but she's enjoying life.

Work was really slogging my life at one point, I think I worked my ass off day and night for a whole 1-2 months. Its a bit more bearable now since we've launched the project and made do with all the other work. Some colleagues are moving around or leaving and a lot more have entered the department since I last wrote here. The landscape is changing. I wonder when it would be my turn to leave.

Alright, that's it, that's all I can think of at the moment. I'll try writing here more often, take some load of my mind when I can.

Finalist & Distractions

2009-10-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

First, there was a tag-team tournament albeit a small one. Went into it with my friend who played Ryu while I went ahead with Abel. Somehow managed to be one of the 4 teams in the KO rounds. We beat our opponents (Gief + Honda) but lost in the finals (Abel + Akuma). Not too bad coz we still got a free dinner in the end and the level of play was high. I enjoyed myself.

Surprisingly, I've already qualified myself for the Sony Tournament on the 31st of October. I managed to win out in the KoF XII tournament using a team of Kyo-Kim-Andy. Funny thing is, Kyo was supposed to be my worst character but he was the one to pull me through. Also managed to get first place in Puzzle Fighter for some strange reason but since I already qualified, the spot went over to the runner-up.

With all these things coming up in addition to my CFA exam, I wonder how I'll be able to cope. Actually, I'm pretty happy I'm so busy. I need the distraction from... thinking. I'm slowly regressing to my earlier state and all I can hope for now is that all these events will be enough of a distraction to pull me away from my thoughts.

My Xbox Died & CFA

2009-09-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

Yup, my Xbox died. RROD. I don't think its very serious but I need to get it fixed and I'm so lazy to do it. Not to mention that my SF4 DVD is stuck inside and is probably a goner by now. I'm not sure if I want to spend another 200 bucks on a new SF4 if my Xbox is just going to die again. Not sure if I should get a new Xbox or not.. something Asian coded this time so I'm not screwed over. Stupid Virgin Megastores, bunch of liars.

Oh yeah my CFA is coming up in 2 months time... feeling screwed, haven't started studying seriously yet. Don't think I have it in me to start so soon but I need to pass this, promotion is on the line. Why can't money motivate anymore? Sigh... not to mention the SF4 tourney is at the back of my mind and I'm not even up to par yet. Geez so many things to think of. Plus, its getting close to the end of the year.... .... .... I don't know. I don't want to think about it.

Tag team is Off

2009-09-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

Aw heck, no tag team tournament as planned. Instead, we have a mixed tournament of SFIV along with some other SF4 titles. I'll be playing in most of them just for kicks but SFIV will be my main focus.

Right now I'm busy juggling between work, study and training. Its pretty much 30%, 10% and 60% at the moment. I really need to get focused on my studies or I'm going to end up failing. I need that promotion dammit!

Too Many Games! & SFIV Tag Team Tourney

2009-08-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

The games are just piling up! Damn SFIV for being so interesting! I have pretty much dedicated most of my time to getting better at Street Fighter IV so I don't think I'll be finishing games at a fast rate in the next 6 months. At least until the SFIV craze dies out of me again. I did finish Mario Galaxy though, was quite fun, challenging too. No wonder it got game of the year. I'll talk about that some other time in a bit more detail.

Alright! SFIV Tag Team tourney! Definitely going for that... now if I could only get my partner to start training properly. Hope he's at least sparring at night. Damn what am I saying I'm the one that needs to improve! Gah! Alright Abel, intensive training you and me hut hut hut....

OMG PATCHES!

2009-08-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

Got myself a 1-month old kitten the other day. Its so cute! I have a little tiny animal mewing after me where ever I go now... it likes to pounce on my foot and sit on or next to it after, how adorable is that? When I feed it, it eats, then climbs on my lap for a nap. Or it plays with its toys, then pounces on my hands and feet and nibbles. Aww... I love my cat.

King of Fighters XII & Another SFIV Tourney!

2009-08-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'm a long standing fan of the KOF series, having played it consistently since I was like 12. I've played all incarnations of the game (some I liked, some I didn't) and it would only be fair to say that SNK Playmore have produced a fairly poor to mediocre game.

Why? Hard to pinpoint... is it the really pixelated graphics? When you compare it to SFIV, its really really poor. They should have just stuck to 2D.

Is it the lack of stages? Well, maybe, but I don't really care about that.

Is it the gameplay then? Well, yes, probably because it feels so so clunky and the way the screen zooms out at different distances disorients me so much.

Is it the lack of characters? As many as SFIV for sure but KOF was always about the 40-50+ characters.

Is it the lack of a boss? I mean, KOF DEFINED the boss syndrome term - maybe they want to get rid of that stigma?

Either way, KOF XII is not that great. I mean, IORI SUCKS NOW! Sigh... if you are a fan, get this game if you want to feel disappointed. 3/10.

Now, on to the interesting stuff. I'm gonna go for another SFIV tournament this Saturday at 1 Utama from 12am to 5pm.... maximum 60 pax at the tournament. I think last time the tournament reached 50+ so this time around it might probably reach the max amount. Its going to be loud and exciting to say the least, certainly drop by to play or if you just want to watch you're most welcome I think.

Its getting closer and closer...

2009-08-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

... and I'm feeling more and more angry that I'm not allowed to feel angry about it because it was all my fault for being an idiot.

No More Heroes & SFIV Mini Tourney

2009-08-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

I like No More Heroes. I liked Killer 7 too. Because its weird. And I love weird. I mean NMH was really over the top weird, full of funny and unexpected twists and turns. It detracts from the main premise of the game but detracting from the main premise is probably the main premise of the game itself. Confusing you yet? Don't worry, the game is much like this. Decent gameplay and nice track offset the sometimes passable graphics but the design oozing coolness shoots this through the roof. 8/10 and that's being conservative.

Went for the SFIV mini tourney at Cineleisure yesterday with a mate of mine. It was quite fun, didn't manage to win but at least I made it to the finals after a few epic matches. From then on, I'll always imagine Abel vs Zangief in the same way I think of Neo vs Smith or Vegeta vs Goku or sth. It was truly epic. Lots of close games and audience support made this a fun outing. You can read more about on the SFIV site.

M&M (More & More!)

2009-07-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Damn I'm getting flooded with games to play.... there are a bunch of games I want to play but haven't gotten around to getting it; Smash Bro Brawl, Silent Hill 2, 3, Origins, Homecoming, Dead Rising among many others. On top of that I still have all the previous games which I haven't finished as yet. I've technically finisehd RE: Umbrella Chron but I'm trying to get S rank for each stage on each difficulty so its taking me quite a bit of time. Mario Galaxy is 1/3 done, think I have 48 stars at the moment. Played some Ninja Gaiden 2 from chapter 5; its so damn hard I'll consider it finished if I actually play through the rest of the chapters. Haven't really touched the other games yet, but I will eventually.

Played SF4 a fortnight ago after stopping for nearly a month plus. Now I remember why I got so hooked up on the game; its really fun dammit! Ugh if I return to playing SF4 again there's no way I'll be able to finish my collection of games. What's more, KOFUM98 is coming out for the XBox360; I won't be buying it myself but damn will I be going to my friend's hse to play online. Geez I need to set some time off to finish these games.... lessee I have 15 days leave left....

CFA Classes Begin...

2009-07-21T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've taken up Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) classes recently, taking up 6 hrs each week. 2 reasons why I took this course: one, it fits my job scope which involves some financial analysis and statistics. Two, its completely free and paid for by my company without any bondage required. The first part of the course costs a whopping 8,000; who the heck has that kind of money unless you're a CEO or sth? Its crazy shit... and there are 3 courses in order to gain the full cert so that's like 24,000 down the drain. Plus you have to pay a set fee each year to retain the cert. Sigh... its true what they say; you need money to get more money.

Thus begins the 2nd half of the year 2009. Its all going fine so far... but as the days go by my mind starts to wander to one particular thing. The feelings came slowly at first but now its starting to return in full force. I'm not sure if I can take it even now. What am I going to do when it finally comes? I have no idea what-so-ever... though if I can't bear it even now, then what the heck's going to happen to me when the time comes?

Me n' My New Wii & Half Year Roster Time

2009-07-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

Got me self a new Wii... its actually awesome! Well maybe I'm overating it a bit but when I got my Xbox 360 I hardly had as much fun as I just did with me Wii. Been thinking about how to juggle Xbox 360, PC and Wii games with work, social life and sports but I guess that's what taking leave is for eh?

With that I have a new roster for the next half year to complete. I recently finished Prototype (on hard mode, with 93% completeness of the Web of Intrigue: guess I can close the file as finished) and Wario: Smooth Moves. Still have loads to go and I'll be working my free time off trying to get those finished. Here's the list as of today:

PC
1. Dawn of War II
2. Tomb Raider: Underworld
3. Legendary

PS2
1. Front Mission 4
2. Wild Arms 3
3. Persona 4

Xbox 360
1. Dead Rising

Wii
1. No More Heroes
2. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
3. House of the Dead: Overkill
4. Legend of Zelda
5. Mario Galaxy
6. Trauma Operation

So Not Working Out

2009-07-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah, well working out doesn't really seem to be "working out" so to speak. Much too busy doing other stuff like sleeping. So I got myself a Wii... I mean its the only logical way other than playing sports to keep myself fit, or at least my arms fit, everyday. It seems to be working so far; my arms are aching like hell from all the playing I did yesterday. Or maybe its just the badminton. Still, I think its a good investment, it reminds me of the good ol' days when gaming was actually just for fun and didn't involve things like achievements, endings, competition and what not.

I want to get a hamster. But I don't think I have the money left to get the cage, feed, shavings and the actual hamster itself. Guess I'll have to defer that plan to a later stage of my life, maybe just slightly above getting a house and a car.

CFA classes start this Wednesday... I'm so tired of that studying shit. I thought those days were long gone but I guess I still have another 3-4 years or so to go through. I mean, studying as a student is alright but I'm doing part-time studying while working: wtf. I barely had anytime to rest even after finishing university.... I have no i-fucking-dea why I'm so rushed to do all this. Sigh.

Working Out

2009-05-25T23:39:00.000-07:00

Man am I getting flabby. All those months of playing SFIV at home and not getting any exercise has taken its toll on me I guess. So I've decided to start working out, restart my sporting activities and to eat less. I work out at home for about 30-60 min a day which is good. Plan to start playing futsal and badminton with my colleagues when I can, really have put that off for a long time. Eating less ties in with spending less which I really need to do... I haven't saved anything last month and probably won't this month either. Results expected by the end of next month at least if I keep this up which is a good thing.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica

2009-05-25T23:37:00.000-07:00

Finished RE:CV yesterday after replaying it twice. Gameplay is good but compared with RE4 and RE5, it pales in comparison. Still entertaining though and a challenge if you've never played the old REs before. If you have, this game is a synch; ammo problems? I ended the game with like enough ammo to take down 100 zombies and the end boss. That and the fact you can run away from every boss except 1 (2 to be exact but its really the same guy). Item management is the difficult part especially since you switch between Chris and Claire without warning but that's really a small part of the game. Voice acting and the script were kinda lame but then again RE was built on bad cliches and funny acting right? Everything you love but the original RE series, but then again that was like a decade ago.

7/10.

Ugh...

2009-05-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

Ugh 5 months down the line now and I'm still feeling it. Time heals all wounds but the actual specification of "time" here didn't really state how long a time-frame is needed here... Well with my daily 'hate' therapy I'm sure I'll pull through some how, don't you worry.

No new games

2009-05-12T20:53:00.002-07:00

Nope, haven't started any new games in a while. Been busy with gambling, SFIV and other things which has prevented me from finishing any of the games I really want to play like Dawn of War II. I guess I'll start on finishing games again soon, maybe RE: Code Veronica... I miss the old RE style of gameplay.

Oh yeah, I've actually started working on a "How to play Abel" blog. I'm no expert at using Abel, I just needed a place for me to put down my thoughts on how to beat ppl when I actually learn sth new to do so. Disclaimer: read at your own risk (of losing).

CoH: Opposing Fronts & Championship Mode

2009-05-03T02:05:00.001-07:00

Finally finished CoH:OF, seemed to take me ages since I was juggling sf4 in the background as well. The game deviates slightly from the original CoH in terms of units but apart from that, it remains exactly like the original (capture supply points, kill base, etc.). Nothing much to shout about but a enjoyable game nonetheless. 7/10.

Championship mode came out recently, been playing it and posting some replays online. I have some rants/compliments for it tho:

Pro:
1. Losing doesn't lose you points, where else winning often would put you in the better player pools more quickly
2. Replay option is a really good feature, its fun just to watch matches sometimes (especially the better ones)
3. Disconnect ratio feature is a real deterrent to quitters; I basically don't play with anyone with a disconnect of more than 2%

Cons:
1. Replay feature only lets you upload replays if you meet certain requirements, and only for the finals. They should let you save the replay in your HDD anyway, and for all the matches (maybe seperate the 2)

Can't see that many cons but I'm sure there are a few more, just can't think what they are right now. Anyway I said I would post replays of matches and all but I think i'm too lazy to do that. What I will do is make the site for Abel vs xxx match-up tips, to help the ailing Abel players (which I don't think there are many anyway). If I have time anyway.

Oh btw, I don't know if you got my sms, but.. Happy Birthday.

More SFIV & Damn Work!

2009-04-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

Played some really skilled SFIV players yesterday, man can they play. Every game had me at the edge of my seat, I couldn't take my focus of the game for even a second or I'd have gotten thrown/combo'ed/mixed-up. Next week I think the Tournament patch is kicking in, with the new replay feature and tournament style gameplay. I'm going to start keeping a SFIV blog to document each match, nothing fancy, just the vid of the match and some hopefully constructive comments of each match. Hopefully SFIV enthusiasts would find it useful, especially Ken ones as I'll be using him the most me thinks, apart from Abel.

AND ARGH WoRk is kILLLING me! I'm so sick and tired of doing my SR, there's just so much to do and so little time! Why spend the time doing this work when I could be playing SFIV?? DAMNNN lol.

Tom Clancy's End War & Street Fighter Madness

2009-03-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

This game excited me when I first found out you could use a mic to order your troops around the map. What a novel concept! After a bit tho, it got tiresome; try barking orders out for 2-3 hours non-stop. Not to mention the speech recognition system sometimes gets it wrong (Unit 1, retreat *Unit 1 attacks Unit 2* WTF stop killing my babies!) so it can get tiresome. Apart from this little quirk, its an all round normal strat game. Rock-paper-scissors like. I heard the multiplayer was somewhat interesting but as far as I can tell its going to be the same as the single player, just with human players. While maps are beautifully detailed, the units and battles are just bland. Music is non-existent, sound effects are generic. 6/10.

Now on to Street Fighter. I'm a King of Fighters veteran, having played the game for some 13 years or so now. Along comes Street Fighter 4 and what can I say, I'm hooked. I've only played this game like 4 times now and I'm loving it. Maybe I'm just an attention whore, since the last time I played was at some Games Convention I stumbled upon and I started mixing it up with some of the best of them there. It was a good experience and it just keeps me wanting for more. I'll be getting the game today, hopefully will find some time to get some matches in every night and improve my Abel. I've got the basic movements and game down (not too hard since I am a master practicioner of the One-Button-Kungfu Style) so its time to get some experience on character frames and moves from some real fights. I main both Abel and Ken, Abel being the stronger character IMO just because no one knows exactly what the hell he can do.

Too Many Games & Birthday Wishes

2009-03-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up of the games I'll be playing (and finishing) for the next 1-2 months probably. Could be longer, trying to fit in some solid game finishing here and there but SFIV keeps calling to me. I play a mean Ken Masters. His attacks aren't particularly spectacular or anything but he's efficient and gets the job done. ANYWAY... games I will finish here (in no particular order):

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
Tom Clancy: End War
Knights of the Old Republic II
Resident Evil 5
Street Fighter 4
Soul Calibur 4
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
CryoStasis

Birthday coming up soon... should be good, plenty of friends around for a solid night out. Don't expect any wishes from "yours truly", probably busy with one thing (or person) or another. But yeah, looking forward to it. Its overrated anyway, I'm just using it as an excuse to parteh. Heh.

Street Fighter 4 & 32" HDTVs

2009-03-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

I've played SF4 twice now and my first impression was: clunky. No way as smooth as KOF or Soul Calibur and no where as flashy. My 2nd time pretty much got me into the game... I think it has to do with the calibur of the competition you're playing with i.e. non-button mashers. There's a lot more depth to the game other than its flashiness and revamped graphics and it seems clunky but the clunkiness actually makes it fresh. Its hard to explain, play it for yourself and see. I'd still rate SC and KOF above this game, but this is a close 3rd. 7/10.

Got my new 32" HDTV for a low, low price so been feeling good. It looks SO good in my room right now, I'm in love with it. I've devoted myself to furnishing my room with cool stuff to have, and I'm going to redecorate it this weekend. Well, basically just shifting stuff around the room. And heck, I need the change, the layout has been the same for the last 10 years. Haha, it seems I'm starting a trend of changing things that have lasted for 10 years. Ah well. Anyway, next addition to my room: a bean bag. A black or silver or dark blue one. I hate green. My whole carpet is green, I wanna rip it all up LOL.

Shellshocked 2:Blood Trails & Congratulations

2009-03-02T00:42:00.000-08:00

Another zombie horror game in the midst of it all, but the twist is that this happens during the Vietnam War (the US one). It plays out like L4D but the zombies are harder to kill; you need to headshot each one of them. Though there aren't as many zombies, it can get pretty rough especially when 5-10 of them get really close and start pounding on you. Its pretty crap to be honest, voice acting is shit, gameplay is your general FPS + zombies, graphics are just there, and audio is really bad. They even have generic death scenes for the soldiers! 4/10.

On a shorter note, congrats to you. Its a fine choice you made and I'm sure you are and will always be happy with it.

Gears of War 2 & Working Late

2009-03-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

I went into this game with chainsaw bayonet revved and lancers ablazing. What I got for my efforts were a bunch of mixed feelings. While the game holds true to the same formula as it did in GoW, it kinda felt repetitive. Locust come up, you shoot it. Locust go down, you stomp it. Atmosphere is different too. COG is losing the war but you don't feel the urgency, the panic that should be felt. From the way things are portrayed, you just KNOW that they're going to win. The same trend goes with any typical movie (hero/heroine blows up villain(s) and saves the day) but its just so pronounced. I'm not liking the graphics either, the character models seems less detailed and more gritty in GoW2. Still a smashing hit overall, I just think it could have outdone itself a lot more. Maybe my expectations were too high. 8/10.

Talking about working overtime, I've been working till really late the last couple of weeks. My normal working time is late enough, but ending at 10-1pm everyday is really taking its toll. I'm not really complaining though, at least it takes my mind off other things. Besides, I wouldn't be sleeping at that time anyway, I'd probably be tossing and turning contemplating on stuff. Yeah, I contemplate a lot nowdays. Mostly on one specific thing. This month should be good I think, less work and more free time to get on with my free research (they gave me the freedom to do my own research! Woohoo!). Long weekend coming up too so its time to kick back and rest my laurels for a bit. Maybe catch up on finishing more games.

Work & Apologies

2009-02-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

Got back from work real late today, about close to 10 or so. Really pressed for time as the high ups need to check on it b4 the results go out this Thursday. Top that off with some stupid factless news in the Star and you've a hell of a day. Will need to go in early tomorrow as well, and with my sleeping problems its going to be another longgg day... Bottomline is, I shouldn't be able to get any games done this week. But knowing me, I think I'll be finishing one real soon.

I need to apologise for any wrong I've done to the people I love and who support me in my everyday life, I know you deserve more from me but I can't help it. People can't help hurting other people in the process, its just the way life is. And when you get someone like me who can't stand hurting others, well, there's only one way it can go. Sorry.

Matrix: Path of Neo & Emails

2009-02-21T12:28:00.001-08:00

Finished replaying Matrix: Path of Neo and realised how buggy and imperfect the character modelling in the game is. Gameplay is actually quite mundane despite the cool factor of fighting as Neo. I prefer the Matrix 1 levels compared to the rest, its more challenging and doesn't take the piss out of the series. No real game here, more like a run through an interactive movie. 4/10.

I got an email today. I didn't really have the heart to respond to it but for the sake of appeareances, I did. It got me thinking though; if I can hardly reply to the email, what would I feel when we actually meet face-to-face? I know two ways it could go down and neither of them are pleasant. Either way I'm going to come out hurting and its mostly likely going to be me and me alone. Its hardly fair.

I Never Saw Another Naked Intern That Yawned

2009-02-16T16:54:00.000-08:00

Lack of sleep is killing me slowly. Maybe the yellow dog can help me. Also there's that piece of meat I want to beat up. But if I cook it slowly after that, it will be tender. Oh how sweet will be the meat when eaten with wheat. Wheat and sheep and ore gives you Monopolies by the way. Paladins need monopolies coz the man in the top hat and the big white moustache will send Mayfair and Parklane after you. That's like $750 worth of assets coming your way... surprise, cockface!

Incredible nightly sex always never interested the yuppie over, lets talk games. I have many to complete, 2 being co-op ones but with the lack of ppl actually capable of playing it, I wonder deeply why I even bought it. Ah well. I'm talking about Gears of War2 and Kane and Lynch. Currently getting down to finishing Far Cry 2 and Matrix path of neo, tomb raider: underworld is next up. Also going to try and get FEAR 2 outta the way once my friend ships it in this Wednesday.

The beginning of the end is the longest bit :(

Mirror's Edge & Chinese New Year

2009-02-10T04:18:00.001-08:00

The focus on interaction in this "First Person Action Adventure" makes this game different from all the regular BAM BAM u daed games out there. Basically you're doing a Neo running from the agents in the Matrix except its mostly over rooftops and you're a chinese chick. Its pretty intense at times and the visuals and graphic theme is great. 8/10.

Chinese New Year has just officially ended today. Had the last gambling session of the night at my place, playing poker with the guys. My first CNY back home after 4 years or so (the rest was spent in the UK)... well half of it at least. Didn't get much angpao but its alright I'm used to it anyway. Somehow I have this feeling that this year isn't going great, what with the string of bad occurences happening to me lately. Happy Chinese New Year!

The Darkness & Markus

2009-02-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

Comic book adaptation, FPS, weird ass gloomy gothic violent brutal powers. What more can you want? The game isn't difficult really if you play your cards right, even on Hard. Storyline starts off intense but tapers off towards the end. Graphic detail and lighting is good though. 7/10.

I was sad when I heard Markus passed away, but not surprised some how. Its always the good fellas who get the shit after all. And Markus was one of the best. I never met someone so passionate and devoted to saving his country and his people. I wish I had known you more, I took your life for granted. Rest in peace in heaven my good man, you know you deserve it.

Flash games & London

2009-02-01T11:21:00.001-08:00

Finished some flash games recently. Their pretty good to pass the time and some of them are quite interesting. They only last for like at most 2-3 hours so finished quite a couple in my spare time. Can't really give a collective score but the ones I played were pretty good, from Armor Games. Check them out.

Been in London for over a week now, mainly to spend time with my sister for Chinese New Year. Also managed to hang out with my London mates over here. We had a blast doing all the stuff we normally do. Made me feel like I was in uni and young again haha. Leaving for Malaysia tomorrow, and not a day too soon. Its getting really really chilly over here, what with the Russian winds blowing into UK. Brr.

Trilby: The Art of Theft & Her

2009-01-19T21:13:00.000-08:00

Trilby: TAoT is a treat. I loved the X-days adventure game series and getting a sneak peak at the early life of the game's protaganist makes me love it all over again. You have to wonder why he couldn't do all this stuff in the X-days games but then again, it is a game and we shouldn't really overthink it. A nicely done game, gameplay is exciting and keeps you coming back for more. Certainly calls for the perfectionist in you and is sufficiently difficult to make it a challenge. Kudos, 8/10.

Now, about her. She dropped the bomb on me some days back, and I haven't really recovered since. Its been going on for like forever and its about time it comes to an end. I realise that she never really felt like I did and we was only me trying to convince myself otherwise. I'm just the idiot that didn't stop trying. At least you can't blame me for the effort on my part. I sacrificed so much for it. Now, I've got nothing and its time to pay back on those "loans" I cashed in. I'll always miss you.

F.E.A.R: Persues Mandate, Catan & Stratego

2009-01-11T18:03:00.000-08:00

Perseus Mandate was kind of bad as an expansion. It doesn't really help further the story, more like reiterating a weaker version of it. The horror scenes are so cliche and drab that I don't feel scared, I feel bored. The graphics are soso (same as the original F.E.A.R), music is normal, gameplay is as usual to F.E.A.R. For an expansion, that's really bad. Sad to say, 3/10.

Been playing lots of board games now days, what with the lacking quality of most computer games and the lack of funds to purchase new Xbox360 games. My favourite games at the moment are Settlers of Catan and Stratego. Both are really easy to learn and play with very simple mechanics behind them but the level of thinking required to play it well is high. Much like Chess. Try them both out if you're into that sort of thing.

Meeting up with my friend this Friday, its her last week here before she ships off overseas for studies. We have a lot of history together and we're pretty close so I'm awful sad to think that she'll be going off soon. Maybe its for the best though.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R & some "unexpected" news

2009-01-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

Just finished stalker at 3a.m in the morning after getting stuck at one part in the game for like over a day or 2. The game is... really meh. Its an FPS trying to be an RPG-wannabe but failing at both. Plot and story progression is poor, with much left unexplained until the very end and even then you're not too sure. The endings are even more confusing and ambiguous, giving me much pain to say that this was not the game I had hoped it would be. 4/10.

Met up with a... friend... of mine today. She mentioned breaking it off but I could sense a sort of regret and pain when she said it. I want her to be happy more than anything so seeing her like that and being unable to do anything for her made me feel so helpless. Also made me realise some other things that got me thinking.

Happy New Year?

2009-01-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone... no new finished games to talk about as I haven't finished any. Started quite a few but can't seem to get down to finishing them. Probably cause there is little motivation to do so but whatever.

New Year is here. Whoopee. Some how I can't feel elated about it what-so-ever. Probably cause I feel like shit right now. But who cares right? Its raining heavily right now, my fav weather. The rainfall is comforting somewhat.

I'll leave you guys to your happy new year. Who ever is reading this.

Spiderman 2, Left 4 Dead & other snazz

2008-12-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

Replayed Spiderman 2 for the PS2 coz I remembered it was pretty fun for a movie game... and it is except that its a little glitchy and repetitive after swinging thru the city for a couple of hours. Finished it pretty quickly to be buried in my list of completed games. Fun, but nothing to shout about. 5/10.

Left 4 Dead. Man, I love this game. I always loved zombie games but this one rocks my socks off. Detailed, gory, action packed at every corner. And its frickin MULTIPLAYER. You have no idea how much I've been waiting for a game like this. And you get to be a zombie? Count me in. Check this game out, probably not game of the year but hell of a fun game none-the-less. 9/10.

Other snazz includes me looking forward to my friends coming back from overseas study. Lots to catch up on and do. Work is still alright, working on a lot of new things but obviously I'm free enuff to slack off and write on this blog lol. Gaming wise, I'm trying to see how far I can go in civ 4 before I get bored and write it off as a completed game. And trying to bloody think of a plan to stay alive when I'm surrounded by crazed zombies on one-side and trigger-happy, friendly-fire prone teammates on the other lol.

RA3, HL2:ep2 & RE4

2008-12-08T02:08:00.000-08:00

Finished the Red Alert 3 campaign... took me a couple of days, mostly because the game kept exiting at the end of certain missions and I had to patch it up to get it to work. The feel of the game is a bit too colourful for me to enjoy seriously as a RTS but nevertheless its still an enjoyable game to play. Full of slapstick comedy and shit like that. 6/10.

HL2 episode 2... hmm. The gameplay design seemed pretty rushed to me. Like they just brainstormed a whole bunch of ideas for the game to fit the story. Still, its half life 2, story is still solid and the gameplay, although pretty droll, is still perfectly acceptable. Graphics are top notch as ever of course. 6/10.

I finished Resident Evil 4 like 10 times before and I'm just replaying it again for the heck of it and because the game is awesome anyway. Gameplay, graphics, story, everything was pretty much top notch (just like a final fantasy game OMG!). If you haven't played RE4 (or any of the cult-classic previous games for that matter), then stop wasting your time reading this blog and go play those games. Of course, 9/10.

The days go on an on...

2008-12-02T19:13:00.003-08:00

Its been a few months now since I started working... and frankly, its been alright so far. But that's coming from a guy who has little to no personal preferences so that may be an understatement. I've learned a lot of things from my job which I hope I can carry over to whatever other job I may take in the future. Right now I think I have to just try and settle in to the working life.

With the working life however comes less free time to do the things I want to do. I haven't really played many games as of late (though I try to whenever I can). I only have the weekends to do the things I wanna do, what with my job lasting from 8 to 8 everyday. On top of the weekly exams we have to do, its distressing sometimes!

Enough about work, lets talk other stuff. So I played RA3 recently... not much jazz I felt but the game is still fun all around. Haven't tried the co-op yet but I figure if you did play co-op, the game would be much too easy even on hard. Deadspace on the other hand... that was cool. Its like Doom but with religious overtones. And you get to sever limbs. Or get yours severed. Its cool, play it.

Me & my new computer

2008-09-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

I GOT A NEW COMPUTER AM HAPPIES

4GB DDR RAM, 3 Gig speed and 320 GB space, its like a 300% upgrade from my old laptop. Finally can play the games I want to play at a decent speed... expect more reviews on the latest games soon!

The review is up!

2008-09-07T18:40:00.001-07:00

The review on the new website is finally done! Check it out!

And we're on our way!

2008-09-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

Alright so the new website is mostly done, I got the skeleton structure up. I'll be doing my first review soon in a new, simpler and faster format (got to work as well to you know). Take a look at the website and tell me what you think! Would appreciate any additions to the website you guys and gals can think of. Check it out at http://g4me54u.blogspot.com/

Like I said before, I'll be making this site my personal blogging space to rant about anything at all... fits the "curry" theme if you know what I mean. Hey, we gamers have a life too y'know. If you're interested in reading my random rants about anything (politics, my life, your life, etc. etc.) then feel free to visit this site at any time. Don't forget to check out the website!

New Website Under Construction

2008-08-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

Design and construction of the new game blog website is under way! So far all I've done is the title and about me page but soon... soon it will be done. Don't know when that is, but soon. Maybe a year later HAHA that would be so typical of me.

I think I'm going to scrap the idea of posting about the Australia trip here cause 1.) takes too much time and 2.) takes too much space and 3.) takes too much effort. Sorry pie... I've told everyone about the trip already, I swear!

So what's up now? Working in Sime Darby that's what! 2 weeks into the job and all seems good. Been training non-stop (reading a text book) and I'm almost done so hopefully I'll be getting some real work soon. The workplace is really nice and the people are friendly so I'm pretty comfortable here :D

A friend of mine left Malaysia today :) Take care and all the best alright? And... be impulsive! Don't forget about the Risotto! If that's how you spell it...

K time to get back to work. Cya all around in a bit!

Back from Australia and in Malaysia!

2008-08-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

Got back last week but didn't really have time to blog. I'm at work right now so I'm going to make this a brief update... just want to include some announcements about changes to this site:

1. The update about the Australian trip will be written soonish... though most people have probably heard about it from my own mouth already

2. This blog is going to change to be a casual blog for me to post about stuff I've done. The games section will be moving to a seperate section which I will work on to make it better and more focused on gaming. Any ideas you have for this new blog is much appreciated, just post some comments or sth like that.

That's all for this quick update, check back soon and hopefully it'll be done sometime this week, if not next week.

Back in Malaysia and off to Australia!

2008-08-10T01:18:00.001-07:00

So for the past 3 weeks I've hanging out in Malaysia, chilling around playing sports (football mostly) and meeting up with friends. Drinking loads too ;) Its been pretty exciting for me what with work starting soon. Been trying to get back into living life in Malaysia by "renovating" my room a little... buying some small trinkets like an alarm clock to add some identity to the room if you know what I mean. Thinking of getting more stuff but I still have loads to sort out, like getting a new computer (to replace my old and WET one) and work so it'll have to wait a bit.

I went to Subang recently to take part in the Pro Tour Qualifier for Berlin. It was fun, my image of Malaysian players was a bit skewed but they seem a fun bunch. I've seen much worse in UK so I can count my blessings I guess. Its sad to say however that I'll probably be stopping Magic. Reason being, I have too much to get sorted out right now like work and life in general. The amount of money and effort I have to put into it is immense as well. Seems a better choice to leave my legacy as is and move on. Too bad I never managed to get on to the Pro Tour. Sorry Pete :(

For the better part of last week, I've been visiting a friend of mine in Melbourne. I'm still visiting her at the moment and we're having a blast! We just got back from Lorne, a beautiful place with a fantastic view. The apartment we stayed in was superb! I'll be writing about my Melbourne trip once I get back to Malaysia so look out for it.

My trip ends on the 12th of August so I'll be back in Malaysia pretty soon. I'm looking forward to going back too cause I have little time left before work starts and there are people I would like to spend time with and things I have to settle. Enough said for now, see ya back in Malaysia!

Finally!

2008-07-09T22:31:00.001-07:00

UAHHHH! I've officially graduated! 4 years of university life over and done with! It was a fun 4 years and I enjoyed every second of it. Thank you to everyone and everything that made by university life complete. You know who (or what) you all are!

So... final year project. That was tiresome indeed. But I stuck in there till the end and managed to scrounge up something reasonable. Gave an O.K presentation... not the best I've done I have to admit but I'm happy with my effort and results all the same!

Also... Its been sometime but I'm currently ranked 3rd in the whole of London for Magic! Only for Limited though but it was still an achievement all the same. All my luck and hard work has paid off. More than that though is the fact I made good friends on the way up. Even though I may not see you guys again, I'll be watching out for you! Make it to the Pro Tour!

Well I'm currently busy getting my business in order for my trip back home. I'll post again when something new comes up. Until then, take care!

Another update! Congrats to me I suppose

2008-05-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

I'm spending my time blogging when I should be working on my final year project. Such is the procrastinator's life. Ah well some rest time should do me good I suppose. Enough rambling, on to the actual post!

2 weeks ago, yours truly managed to qualifiy for a spot in the UK Nationals tournament. What that means is I won another major qualifiying tournament! Hurrah! My track record so far is doing well for 4 out of 5 major tournaments so far. Its all great and good. I'm proud of my achievements and hopefully will be looking forward to many more victories to come.

That said, I've decided I'm not going to go for the Nationals tournament. Why? Cause... I want to see someone. Nothing's going to come out of it but it feels wrong and sad if I don't say goodbye in person. In any case, that's going to piss off a lot of people, least of all me cause I really did want to see how far I can go. Ok enough of this stuff...

Well after my exams I picked up a few new games... and finished them all in less than a week. This is an annoying habit of mine that I haven't been able to fix. Once I get something new (movie, book, game, etc.) I just have to finish it as soon as possible. There's no pacing when it comes to me. Reviews... when I can do them I will but it won't be anything major. I'll leave it at that for now!

Finally, a post! Lots of news updates coming your way!

2008-05-21T11:43:00.001-07:00

Hiya, haven't posted for long time have I? Reason being, a most unfortunate accident occured where a water pipe burst in my room, drenching my computer. My Compaq Computer, aged 4, deceased. It has served me well and will be well remembered.

So yeah, lots of new updates. Finished a couple of new games (Assasin's Creed, Condemned 2 and God of War: Chains of Olympus). I'll get on to those reviews in the next post. Also, my magic career has picked up a little bit. Last time I posted, I was getting ready to go to Brussels for the Grand Prix... its a 2 day magic tournament where the top 128 players qualify to play on day 2. I'm proud to say I managed to qualify for day 2 and finish 74th on day 2. Recently I managed to qualify for the UK Nationals tournament which is my 2nd major constucted tournament. I'm quite happy at how much I've improved since picking up this game again at the end of last year.

About my job status... I got an offer from Sime Darby to work in their Business and Group Strategy division. Sounds like the kind of job I like though I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm imagining i'll be doing a lot of research work rather than actual hands-on work. But I guess it could be much worse. I'm just hoping its not a dead-end job.

Also, my final exams are over! The last standard academic exam in my life.... it hasn't had such a large impact on me yet. I imagined feeling a lot more elated than I am now. Ah well I'm sure it'll kick in at some point in my life. When I'm feeling old I expect.

And now summer time is rolling around again... this summer is going to be completely different. Hopefully, nothing like the roller coaster summer I had last year. I'm actually feeling a little sad this summer... the one reason I've been looking forward to summer vacation will no longer be there when I return home. A more depressing matter is that I can't let go which is really depressing me the closer to going home I get. I really should get over it so that I don't become a burden.

Anyway, that's all for now, I'll get on the game reviews when I next visit my uni to use the computers.

Interviews, Exams, Coursework and... more Interviews!

2008-03-29T19:55:00.001-07:00

Yeah Easter break is more like extended study leave to me. Which I don't mind in the slightest, I mean giving us time to study is never a bad thing. But mix up 2 unfinished (and unstarted!!!) coursework and interviews filling up a whole week and you feel like there's not going to be much time to get studying done. I'm going to have to really reassess my schedule seriously, else I'm going to cock up somewhere soon.

Well I'm pretty happy with the interviews I got, PWC, E&Y, Sime Darby, OCBC, Maybank and Accenture so far. All for Malaysia though. I did really want to get a job that's not in Malaysia, like here in the UK where all my friends are would be great. America would have been great too... but there's no reason to be there anymore. Malaysia may not be the best working environment but I have family there and I miss the food... maybe working there for a couple of years isn't so bad.

Alright I should get some sleep, the careers fair is in like 4 hours from now. I'll be back in a week maybe to upload the long overdue Paris pictures. No reviews probably cause, I haven't been playing anything else other than Dota recently. Not excessively of course but if I have the time, a quick game of Dota is usually all I can fit in. Anime takes up the rest. Alright then till next time, take care all.

2HG Champs UK: FAILED

2008-03-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Heya,

Right so today me and Daniel went for the 2HG Champs in London and.. well we didn't massively fail but not getting into the Top 4 is like a fail to me. We went 4 wins, 1 lost and 2 draws. I felt we could have played much much better considering how he's a really good Magic player and I'm pretty ok (no bragging here.. haha!). We still managed to walk away with some product (12 packs each + sealed deck product) though there wasn't anything good in the packs we opened. And the entry fee was a whopping 27.50 per team. Ah well... it was a good experience and I had fun partnering with Daniel (my first partner for a long time other than Allan). Next up would probably be the Extended Pro Tour Qualifier: Hollywood in London. I'm not expecting to win at all cause it would be the first time playing extended for me but I might as well dabble in a bit of Extended now and then, just to cop a feel of what everyone's talking about. Right, enough Magic talk for now, read my other article about what's going on in my life.

No time at all

2008-03-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hey,

I've really been slacking off in terms of blog posts but I simply don't have the time right now... sorry to anyone who actually checks this blog on a regular basis. I've been bogged down with project and coursework for the last few weeks and I'm still heading for more coursework next month and exams the month after. Not to mention Grand Prix Brussels preparations. I'll post when I can, don't expect it to be soon though. Till then, take care.

Grand Prix Trial Brussels in London

2008-03-03T15:55:00.000-08:00

So I just won the Grand Prix Trial Brussels which is still a shock to me. For those not in the know, the Grand Prix for Magic: The Gathering is like the biggest casual tournament for players to take part in, meaning anyone at all can participate. Unlike the Pro Tours which are exclusive to Pros who have made a mark in major tournaments or those who have qualified through Pro Tour Qualifiers (which I managed to Top 8 some time ago but didn't win).

There were 66 players and the format was Lorwyn / Morningtide (that's the most recent expansion sets they were using) sealed deck with a booster draft play-off for the top 8. I managed to get a decent card pool with quite a few bomb cards: Masked Admirers, Reveillark, Epic Proportions and Thoughtweft Trio, Titan's Revenge and Knowledge Exploitation. My Red pool was weaker than the Green and White and I had hardly and Rogues to use Knowledge with so I settled for a Green White deck splashing Black. Here's the deck I built:

Creatures:
1 x Cenn's Tactician
1 x Kithkin Greatheart
1 x Leaf Gilder
1 x Woodland Changeling
1 x Bosk Banneret
1 x Wolf-Skull Shaman
1 x Fertilid
1 x Burrenton Bombardier
1 x Masked Admirers
1 x Reveillark
1 x Burrenton Shield-Bearers
1 x Moonglove Changeling
1 x Thoughtweft Trio
1 x Plover Knights
1 x Everbark Shaman
1 x Walker of the Grove

Spells:
1 x Epic Proportions
1 x Pollen Lullaby
1 x Nameless Inversion
1 x Violet Pall
1 x Fertile Ground
1 x Coordinated Barrage
1 x Weight of Conscience

Lands:
7 x Forests
5 x Plains
3 x Swamps
1 x Shimmering Grotto
1 x Vivid Grove

Sideboard:
1 x Lignify
1 x Spring Cleaning

The deck may look unimpressive apart from the bomb rares but what the deck has is synergy and consistency which is really what made this deck fun to play with. Here's how my deck did in the 7 round sealed deck tournament:

Round 1: Joe
I started the tournament by pairing up against Joe who I had the pleasure of playing at the Two Headed Giant tournament finals at the Morningtide Pre-release event. He was playing a Blue / Red / Black Elemental deck with Wydwen and Aethersnipe being notable mentions. Game 1 goes to me with a splendid opening hand of Thoughtweft Trio with early beats. In game 2 I manage to pull off a win by drawing into removal spells later in the game and running my display of bombs consisting of Reveillark, Masked Admirers and Thoughtweft Trio.
Result: 2 - 0 (Win)

Round 2: Glenn
As luck would have it, my next opponent was someone I also met at the Two Headed Giant tournament as my first opponents. I knew who he was from way back as a pretty decent player with a huge sense of humor. He played a Black / Blue deck with Wydwen, Dread and 2 Cryptic Commands. Again I manage to win Game 1 due to early beats and some card advantage in the form of Masked Admirers. Game 2 was mine due to an unfortunate draw by Glenn; by the end of Game 2 he had 5 Swamps and 1 Island with 2 Cryptic Commands in hand and little on the board.
Result: 2 - 0 (Win)

Round 3: Pepe
Pepe turns out to be a friend of my Thai friend, Parn which was pretty cool. Pepe was running a very aggressive Black / Green deck with some notable bombs like Shriekmaw and Imperious Perfect. Game 1 goes to me with a nice Turn 4 Thoughtweft Trio and Reveillark in the air. Pepe makes a play who forgot Trio has first strike and wastes a Final Sting Faerie on it. Game 2 goes to Pepe who manages to get his creatures out of the gate at the same speed I was. I nearly won it when he plays Morsel Theft bringing his life total just out of my strike range while bringing mine into his. Game 3 was terribly close, with a late game Reveillark swinging in the air while our ground forces were stuck in a Trio-Perfect stalemate. Had he drawn into a Shriekmaw, the game would have turned out pretty badly for me.
Result: 2 - 1 (Win)

Round 4: Zul
Zul turns out to be Malaysian like me, a student at UCL. He was running a White / Green splashing Black deck just like mine, with more emphasis on the late drops than mine like Oakgnarl Warrior and Orchard Warden but with respectable early drops like Militia's Pride and Imperious Perfect. Game 1 goes badly for me with a Imperious Perfect on turn 3 and me stuck on 2 land for a better part of the game. I manage to quickly stabilize but end up getting beat down by a few creatures supported by Militia's Pride to make things worse. I manage to spice things up in Game 2 by bluffing him with a bluff that I had Epic Proportions in hand which I drew a few turns later. Game 3 sees me dominating the board with him having a very slow start in comparison to mine. By the time he starts to play his threats, I have a whole bunch of removal in hand waiting for them.
Results: 2 - 1 (Win)

Round 5: Bruno
Since round 4 I had been sitting at the 1st table meaning I was either 1st or 2nd in the entire tournament. I was feeling pretty good about myself. And along comes Bruno, playing Morningtide for the 2nd time in his entire life. He plays a Black / Blue Faerie deck with Bitterblossom, Scion of Oona, Oona's Blackguard and Scion of Oona. Game 1 goes to me with a slow start by Bruno with Scion of Oona followed up by a brutal early beat and Reveillark. Game 2, Bruno plays Pestermite, Violet Pall for another 1/1 Faerie and Spell-Stutter Sprite and drops Scion of Oona on the table. Its at this point that I realize how useless my deck was against flyers as he beats me to a pulp for 7 a turn in the air. Game 3 is even more brutal for me: he plays Oona's Blackguard turn 2 and follows up with Bitterblossom turn 3. Talk about bombs.... 3 turns later he smashes me in the face with 4 2/2 Faeries generated by Bitterblossom. I was genuinely impressed that he managed to reach the top tables seeing as its his first time playing the set.
Results: 1 - 2 (Loss)

Round 6: Alex
I can't rightly recall his name but I know he studies at Southbank and is staying in halls. His deck was INSANELY good which is a shame that he didn't manage to make top 8. He was playing a very, very aggressive Red / Green /Black deck with Countryside Crusher, Glareweilder and lots of removal. Game 1 goes to me as he mulligans down to 5 and proceeds to run out of steam a couple of turns later. Game 2 is again goes to me due to his bad luck; he starts the game with a nice hand and follows the draws with 4 Green cards with no forests in play.
Result: 2 - 0 (Win)

Round 7: Rob
I reach the final rounds with a soaring heart as all I needed to do was Intentionally Draw with my opponent and I would have made the top 8. And then I find out my opponent is Rob, who has an insanely good deck and is one of the top players at the GPT that day. Funnily enough, he's a pal of my friend Danial and so he agrees to ID with me IF he doesn't lose more than 5 rating points. So we go over to the Tournament Organiser's desk and proceed to calculate the rating points he loses which turns out to be 5. Unfortunately, we had taken so much time doing the calculations that he was forced to ID with me or receive a game loss. I bought him a beer for the 5 rating points he lost.

And thus I managed to make it to the Top 8 of the GPT with a record of 5-1-1, ranked 3rd in the tournament! Needless to say, I was ecstatic with joy. Now all that was left was the booster draft play-offs, which I only needed to win the first round in order to get to Brussels. I'll leave the finals report for another time as I think this article is long enough as it is. Till next time then.

News updates!

2008-03-03T04:34:00.000-08:00

Alright I haven't been posting for some time now which I know is really bad cause I should be posting every week. Sorry all, just been really busy with finishing up projects and preparing for Magic tournaments. So here's what to expect in the next few days (I hope):

1. Story of my Paris trip (yes, I do take time off from gaming to go traveling).
2. The fact that... I WON THE GRAND PRIX TRIAL BRUSSELS!!!! I'M GOING TO BRUSSELSSSS!!!!
3. A review on Devil May Cry 4 (warning: it will be biased) and maybe one on DoTA.

Just to rant, I'm really happy about the Grand Prix win. Its my first big Magic tournament victory for me. Now I get to go to Brussels with my train ticket paid for and 3 round byes, just like a champion. And I met lots of great players at the GPT. Enough ranting now, look for the new posts soon!

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

2008-02-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

" Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter developed by Infinity Ward[5] and published by Activision for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows. It is the fourth installment in the Call of Duty video game series (excluding expansions), but the first one to break away from the World War II setting and be set in modern times, and the first game in the series to be rated Mature in North America. The title and game details were announced on April 25, 2007.[6] It was released worldwide between November 6 and November 9, 2007, and became available on Steam on November 6 for pre-purchase, becoming available to play on November 12. [7] A Mac OS X version of the game is scheduled to be released in May 2008.[8] The game has received almost universal praise, winning multiple awards at gaming websites, and has been complimented on its storyline, visual elements, realism, and quality of its multiplayer.

The story is set in a fictional near-future war between the U.S. and Europe against Russian Ultranationalists and Middle Eastern rebels, and features many real-world weapons and vehicles. It is told from the perspective of both a USMC soldier and an operative of the British SAS, and is set in a variety of locations, including the Middle East, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Chernobyl. Its multiplayer features a variety of game modes and contains a "level/ranking" system, with the player unlocking additional weapons, weapon attachments, and camouflage schemes as they advance. " - Wiki article on Call of Duty 4

The game is so fast paced, it took a while for me to actually grasp what the heck was going on. Add that to inter-changing perspectives between 5 or so different characters at different points in the game and explosions, bullets and more enemies than you can shake a stick at and you have Call of Duty 4.

"Ah crap, I'm scared of lightning..."

As expected, the action doesn't let off as you blaze your way through mission by mission. The storyline is well written, reflecting on current events happening in the world today and possibly future events. There isn't much scope for character depth but the main focus is on the bigger story anyway. There is a huge gap between difficulties which some may find annoying. The graphics are visually stunning and almost surreal though not quite realistic. The music is easily forgettable but sets the mood nicely for each mission.

In the thick of the action

If anything, Call of Duty 4 is a enjoyable FPS. With a developed storyline, great action packed game play and excellent graphics, Call of Duty 4 is set to be one of the best FPS games in the last 2 years.

Score: 8 / 10

Happy Chinese New Year!

2008-02-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year again! Yes, that time of year when Chinese guys/gals can go wild and party all night long for 15 days without a care in the world.... or so I would wish. Sigh... in any case I plan to celebrate it as much as I can. So far I've done some drinking and gambling. I'll be keeping a record of my winnings/losses throughout CNY so wish me luck cause so far its in the negative. I only have 12 days left to make it back. I just hope I don't lose more.

On CNY eve me and my housemates cooked a 'reunion' dinner just for the sake of tradition. No pictures this time cause I was too tired (doing coursework the whole day long). Each of us cooked at least one dish. I'll put who cooked what next to the dish name so here goes:

1. Chicken in Plum Sauce - Lance
2. Chicken in Wine & Soya Sauce - Lance
3. Fried Haddock in a Ginger & Spring Onion sauce - Lance
4. Spicy Pork & Aubergine - Me
5. Prawns & Leeks - Melissa
6. Choy Sum - Melissa
7. Asparagus - Melissa
8. Sour Vegetable Soup - Alan

So. once again, Happy Chinese New Year and hope its going well for everyone. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Gears of War

2008-01-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

" The game centers on the soldiers of Delta Squad as they fight to save the human inhabitants of the fictional planet Sera from a relentless subterranean enemy known as the Locust Horde. The player assumes the role of Marcus Fenix, a former prisoner and war-hardened soldier. When in cooperative play, the second player takes control of Fenix's best friend and fellow soldier Dominic Santiago ("Dom"). " - Wikipedia Article on Gears of War.

I'll just be shooting around this here corner then...

The gameplay is well thought out and enjoyable as much as squad based tactical firefights can be. Cover is an important aspect of this game; you won't survive long without it. The music fits in nicely with the mood of the game and the graphics are top-notch. Level and character designs are beautiful and effects such as gore and blood splatters look great. The plot isn't much different from any other war-based plot but the characters in the game are well developed and does a lot to flesh out the plot.

Delta Squad earning some extra cash pimping around town

I had a lot of fun with the game even though it was pretty short. Pretty much one of the best games on the Xbox360 you can play and one of the games you definitely need to add to your collection.

Score: 8 / 10

Me and my Xbox360

2008-01-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

It was pretty much on a whim that I decided to go get an Xbox360. I was deciding between the Wii and the 360 but went with the 360 in the end. One of the reasons was because I think the quality of the games on the 360 is much better but the real reason is that Devil May Cry 4 is being released on it soon.

My Xbox360 in all its glory

I only got a couple of games, Halo3 and Forza came free with the Xbox and I got Gears and Mass Effect for 50 quid. I've been taking my time playing the games since they cost so much, though I finished Gears of War in like 2 days on hardcore. Right now I'm working my way through Halo 3 and I hope I don't finish it too soon. Can't afford to get any more new games at the moment. I'm planning to get Xbox Live when I go back home so that I don't get any more distracted than I already am. I really need to get some work done and some how I don't think getting an Xbox is helping too much.

The (few) games I got

The morning tide is released

2008-01-21T02:21:00.000-08:00

I went for the Morningtide prerelease last Saturday. Here's pretty much what I did all day:

10am: Leave for the Royal National Hotel.
11am: Arrived & chatted with some fellows.
12pm: Played my 1st Morningtide draft....
13pm: and lost horribly. Played my 2nd Morningtide Draft....
15pm: and lost horribly again.
16pm: The 2-Headed Giant event started.
22pm: The 2-Headed Giant event ended and we won!

So that's 12 hours of playing Magic all day. You can imagine how tired I was after the event, I could barely think afterwards. And I managed not to eat all day till like 11pm. At least me and Allan managed to win the 2-headed Giant event (well... technically we won... its complicated). Got a shirt which is way too big (its my PJ shirt now) and 6 boosters each.

Morningtide is a really fun set, lots of new mechanics and even more interactions with creature types. Its really cool that its not only a 'tribal' theme now but also a 'class' theme as well which lets you mix and match more combinations of colors together. Treefolks seemed the way to go but I think Elf warriors are going to be the decks to watch out for in drafts. Milling merfolk is better than ever with the new kinship merfolk and Grimoire thief. Kithkin got a boost, giants not really anything interesting, lots of nice elemental cards came out, goblins got a bit nastier and faerie rogues are probably going to be one of the best block constructed decks now with the new handy 'toy' they got.

That about sums up my thoughts about Morningtide, at least at the prelim stage. Looking forward to drafting LLM soon.

Update: Forgot to put in pictures of the T-shirt I won from the pre-release. Here they are!

The front

And the back

Shinobi

2008-01-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

" Raised together within the Oboro Clan, Hotsuma and Moritsune were seldom apart during their youth. Being the younger of the two, Hotsuma looked up to Moritsune, and considered his older brother to be a superior warrior.Eventually, the Oboro Clan commandment was revealed to the two boys after they discovered Akujiki, the sword that would be used in the ritual to decide the clan's leader. The commandment deems that the next clan leader must be determined by a duel to the death between the eldest clan heirs -- in this case, Moritsune and Hotsuma. Aware of their destiny, the brothers trained incessantly, instructed by their foster parent, Kobushi.

10 years passed as the brothers refined their techniques and honed their senses. The duel occurred beneath a full moon, and after a long exhausting fight, Hotsuma finally slew his brother. Not long after, a massive earthquake struck Tokyo, and a mysterious Golden Palace appeared in the center of the city. With the appearance of the palace came the arrival of the powerful sorcerer Hiruko, who summoned hellspawn to wreak havoc upon the city, and all but destroyed the Oboro clan. The city's residents became paralyzed with fear. With the Oboro Clan ravaged and Tokyo on the verge of collapse, Hotsuma placed himself at the heart of the chaos, determined to reach the mysterious Golden Palace and avenge the death of his clan. " - Wikipedia article on Shinobi

Poor sod...

The game is tough to say the least due to most part to the difficult camera angles and the lack of checkpoints in the levels. The soundtrack is repetitive and easily forgotten so there's not much there. The game is very graphical in its killing scenes which is cool at first but just takes up time as the game progresses. The art is just ok I think, nothing to special and some of the bosses and monsters just look out of place. The plot is almost non-existent although developed some what through in-between-levels cut scenes.

Hotsuma killing some shinobi dogs

Nevertheless, I found the game really enjoyable cause of its sheer difficulty; not many games these days actually challenge a player. This is definitely not one for amateur gamers. A good challenge as a 3D platformer though lacking in all other departments.

Score: 6 / 10

New review layout

2008-01-17T09:36:00.001-08:00

So I decided to revamp the way I do the reviews... rather than write the sypnosis myself I thought I'd just use the well written ones from other websites. This shortens the review a little I think. Below that would be the usual comments and opinions I have about the game, usually on the game play, artistic values, plot and soundtrack. At the end I'll put in my rating on the game on a scale of 1 to 10. Another thing changed is the titles I put under the pictures, at least it explains the pictures a little bit. Hope this makes the review sections better!

Persona 3

2008-01-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

" A teenager who was orphaned as a young boy returns to the city of his childhood. Shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan High School, he is attacked by Shadows — creatures that feed on the minds of their victims. The assault awakens his Persona, Orpheus, his only chance at defeating these creatures of the night. He soon discovers that he shares this special ability with other students at his new school. From them he learns of the "Dark Hour," a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows. He joins the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), and with his new friends, confronts the threat of the Shadows. " - Wikipedia Article on Persona 3

The main character (bottom right) with Akihiko Sanada (bottom mid), Yukari Takeba (top left), Fuuka Yamagishi (top) and Shinjiro Aragaki (bottom left)

The game is mixes RPG elements found in games like the Final Fantasy series with typical Japanese dating simulation games. During the day you're a teenage high schooler, making friends, taking exams and dating girls and during the Dark Hour you fight Shadows. The RPG elements are the same as any other RPG and the date sim parts can get very tedious after a while.

The main character summoning his Persona

The better points of the game lie in its intriguing storyline and artistic presentation. Each character and their Persona are well developed and detailed. The soundtracks fit the mood of the game very well especially with the many different environments the characters would be in (school, bloody dungeons, school trips, dates, deaths, etc.).

Overall, a good solid RPG with a good plot. Good sounds and art but unfortunately may only appeal to fans of the Shin Megami series or hardcore gamers.

Score: 7 / 10

The Pro Tour Qualifier

2008-01-13T09:20:00.000-08:00

Well, FYI, I'm an avid player of the trading card game Magic: The Gathering and recently attended the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Qualifier in London. It was a real blast and I managed to scrape through to the finals (barely). Too bad I didn't win though, the first prize was a trip to play in the Pro Tour in Kuala Lumpur which I really, really wanted! Ah well... at least I got into the Top 8! Here's some of the pictures of the event:

The tournament starts...

My two-headed giant & Magic partner, Allan...

... And my other friend and regular Top 8-er, Danial

Me at the Top 8 Table! (3rd from left)

Lost the first round in the finals to the guy on the far right... I put up a good fight at least. For some reason I felt really pressured to perform which made me not perform well, if that makes sense. Got a few booster packs (11 Future Sight packs I think) but I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Right now I'm preparing for the Morning Tide pre-release happening 1st Feb so wish me the best of luck.

Late updates

2008-01-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry again for the late updates. I'll be updating it soon, I just haven't felt like doing any blogging for quite a while and some stuff happened so I've been really... busy. I'll do some posts soon and I'm thinking of changing the review sections a bit.

Also, to my friend going off soon, I wish you all the best and safe journey. I'm proud of how you've grown and who you are now. Keep going at this pace alright? I wish things were different but you need to do what you need to do. I'll always be the same.

So, anyway, I'll need to get back to studying for my Economics exam starting in 2 hours. Best of luck to me...

Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

2008-01-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

VP2 follows the story of Silmeria Valkyrie, one of three goddesses of fate serving the Lord of Creation, Odin (god basically - read up on Norse Mythology). Due to her rebellious ways, she was to be reincarnated as a human but due to Odin messing up somehow (don't ask me how) Silmeria ended up sharing a soul with the human she was supposed to be reincarnated as, the Princess Alicia of Dipan. Cause of this, Alicia constantly hears voices (Silmeria and her Einherjar - bodyguard/soldiers/party members) which makes people think she's crazy. That and the fact that Silmeria can surface from time to time and her personality is WAY different from Alicia's... and also that she knows things a 5 year old shouldn't know. Like the affairs of gods. Or the birds and the bees. Yup you'd freak too. So she's locked away in a castle for a long time. Eventually Odin realises that he made a mistake in his spell and sends Silmeria's eldest sister to go kill Alicia so Silmeria's soul can return to Valhalla. Thus Alicia/Silmeria set out to escape Hrist and bring an end to Odin's rule.

The gameplay is really unique for a RPG. It utilises the Action Point system which is used to cast magic or perform attacks. Each character can have up to 3 attacks depending on their weapon. When you engage an enemy, all four characters can attack at the same time as long as you have enough action points. However simply mashing the buttons won't maximise the damage you deal; you'll need to time attacks carefully with that of your other characters. Also, you free to roam the battlefield as long as you don't walk into an enemy's range of attack. The ability to dash makes tactics and strategy really important at times. A complicated but refreshing system.

The graphics are top notch for a PS2 game and the environments and characters in VP2 are really well designed and breath taking. I felt the storyline was a little lacking however. The story was solid and all but the characters were so... typical and stereotyped. Also I can't stand the English voice overs, they piss me off. They make all the characters sound like bimbos. The score is good and suits the game well. If I remembered correctly they recycled some of the music from the first VP. Which is alright by me cause it was good as well. Not the best RPG of 2007 but definitely a good title which deserves to be played. If you can, in Japanese.

Flat 22's Xmas Dinner

2007-12-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of my amazing house mate's May and Melissa, we enjoyed an early Christmas dinner on the 21st of December. Here are some pics of the people who I ate the dinner with: in order, May and Melissa, Alan and Heidir and Lance (Alan and Lance are also my house mates).

And here's the menu we savoured:

1. 15th Salad - Rocket wrapped in Prosciutto ham, served with Tangerines and Mozzarella Cheese (Picture courtesy of Alan Chew)

2. Prawn Cocktail - Prawns in Salad Dressing served with Lettuce and Fried Bread Crumbs

3. Roast Lamb and Aubergines in Plum Tomato Sauce & 3 Cheese Risotto

4. Bread & Walnuts

5. Red Cupcake with Cream Cheese Topping from Hummingbird Bakery

It was a really, really nice dinner, thanks again M&M! Here's hoping we have an Xmas dinner together in the future! Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2

2007-12-24T17:51:00.000-08:00

As I'm writing this I've just finished Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2. This game really frustrated me when I was younger with its simple yet hard-to-master control and building system. Imagine how relieved I finally was to finish both these games at last.

Both Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2 are RTSs that put you in the role of a Dungeon Keeper, a evil and devious lord in charge of dungeons for your own dark ends. In each dungeon you are in charge of building rooms, mining gold and making sure all your minions get enough food and gold, all while training monsters, researching spells, torturing prisoners and killing your opposition, whether they be the Forces of Good or rival Dungeon Keepers.

What makes this game interesting is its unique (although frustrating at times) control system. You don't control your minions directly, rather you give suggestions to them to do this by picking them up with your disembodied hand. Yup. Example, you pick a creature up and dump it in a training room - you're saying " Hey you, train there. Now." If he doesn't listen, just slap him/her/it. Fun times for all. Also, dungeon construction plays a big part of completing each level. Many a time had I had to restart a level because I splurged all my resources on the wrong things or built my rooms too big for the small space given to me. The definite plus point of this game is torturing creatures. Its just really fun, try it if you don't believe me. In the game mind you, I'm not liable for anything if you start torturing people for real.

Well, what can I say about the graphics? Its terrible but give it a break, its really old. The gameplay, witty comments and humorous jokes throughout the game more than make up for it. The music is really catchy and the effects are awesome, especially when torturing your victims. DK2 has much better graphics so if it concerns you that much, play DK2 instead. In my opinion, DK1 was the better game. A must play if you haven't played this before and a must replay even if you have.

Update coming soon!

2007-12-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

I know its been a really long time since I updated my blog but I'm gonna do it soon... just to let you all know this blog is some what alive. Not lots has been happening over the xmas holidays but I'll keep you all posted. Till then (which WILL be very soon).

Evaluating me

2007-12-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

After a nice chat with a close friend of mine the other day, I decided to critically evaluate me. I've always given little thought about what makes me who I am so now, for all my readers (which should be only myself), here's a list of my pros and cons.

My Good Points:
1. Excellent personality
2. Hides emotions easily
3. Fun?
4. Nice?
5. Um.. for a lack of a point, averagely good at computer games?

My Bad Points:
1. Gets emotional too often
2. Wishy washy
3. Forgetful
4. Makes promises he can't keep
5. Unintentionally (and sometimes intentionally) hurting those close to him
6. Drinks too much
7. Doesn't sleep early
8. Can't see things through to the end
9. Afraid of commitment
10. Unreliable
11. Irresponsible

So yes, as you can see, I'm a bad bad person. Hmm... lol well I guess its easier for me to see my bad points than the good ones. Oh well haha.

Raiding tombs is one thing, doing it with boobies is another

2007-11-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

Tomb Raider: Legends for some insane reason was awesome. Not so much for the setting or the shooting (which is actually quite dull... well its exactly like the classic tomb raider's auto-aim system so nothing new) but more for the climbing and jumping and swinging and all that agile stuff she has to do. I love it. Oh and of course her boobies are as large as ever ;)

Well the story behind the game tells of the fate of her 'deceased' or rather missing mother. When she was a wee bit lass, her mother managed to 'kill' (2nd quote) herself by taking out the 'sword from the stone' (3rd quote). No, seriously. The truth behind it all is that she gets teleported some where unknown, to Nirvana apparently. I'm not going to reveal the twist in the story but now you know there is one.

Lara Croft goes on her adventures as usual, jumping around traps and tigers while shooting down baddies with guns and swinging on poles to get to places. Her costume really varies this time; my favorite of them all is the one piece dress she wears with a really low cut. She then proceeds to rip it off at the legs so she can jump around and shoot people. Practicality eh? Those boobs look fake btw.

And there you have it, Tomb Raider:Legends in a nut shell. Its basically Tomb Raider with slight style and gameplay revamps but still the same Tomb Raider none the less. But I'm a sucker for jumping around dark musty tombs with sexily dressed ladies with big boobs... but I'm a guy. Seriously, the game is quite good. Try it if you can. Oh and just because she's sexy, we have 3 images this time. Hurrah!

Finally my video is done... now come the tournament woes

2007-11-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

I'm finally done with the 7 minute video I was supposed to do... although I said and know its not assessed, some how I managed to devote my whole afternoon and evening to coming out with something decent. Well, I don't know if its decent but it should be fine I guess. In any case, its over and done with. Here's the link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLz2Agnz9Cw

That's done with. Now on to the next damn thing on my list: my final year project meeting which is of major importance and the start of the tournaments. The tournaments fill me with dread. Even though I shouldn't really care if no one turns up, I always feel really down when the thing doesn't go well. Oh well I guess I can't have everything right? So I guess all I can do is steel myself for the next challenge and do my best. Organising this tournament is going to be a bitch: there's minimal publicity, almost no emails for registration and above all I have no idea how to run it. Whatever, I'll just do my best damn it...

Anyway I hope I can win the 1000 pounds for the Ideas Challenge; it'll be my funds for my holidays next term. Heh though I think my chances are quite slim. A steamboat restaurant in the UK? lol... its funny even thinking about it.

Projects and Coursework

2007-11-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

Projects and coursework hit me all at once. It feels like ages but no, according to that calender of mine, it's been only 2 weeks. What the heck. I'm totally tired out although I really didn't do much. My first completed project was the Business Economics project. I'm quite disappointed with this project, for some reason I feel like I could have done much better since I really like Economics. I had to write up on the different impact of a rise in price on the different hotel industries in the UK. Exciting huh?

At the same time I was working on my Innovation Management project based on Sony Ericsson. Nothing too exciting, I had to find out about their innovation strategy which I based on how they released their products and how they protected their inventions. Its still ongoing actually though I already finished my part, my group mates said my part was good. Haha, all I care about is that I don't have to work on it anymore. I'm in charge of a presentation video for it though, a 7 minute video to be put on You Tube. Its not assessed though so I probably won't do it haha.

The most interesting one of all is the graphics coursework. A lot of programming but I feel like I did something worthwhile. Although I did copy line by code line my friend's code but still... I feel like I understand what's going on at least. Here's the textures and renderings I did.... hope you enjoy it.

Dawn Of War

2007-11-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

Yet another RTS game to add to my list of completed games. Not much to say about this except that its based on Games Workshop's best selling Warhammer 40K series, a kind of sci-fi and fantasy setting blended together. You get orcs with guns, daemons, elves using futuristic weapons and all that kind of stuff.

The gameplay is exactly like Company of Heroes (same developer, same gameplay format). There's cover, there's weapons u can buy for your infantry, vehicles like tanks, walking robots and APCs. There are 4 sides among many covered in this game. The Space Marines, human monks religiously devoted to serving their emperor, and by serving I mean dishing out a whole lot of bullets and rockets to the enemy. The Chaos Marines, the polar opposite of the Space Marines; they use Chaos magics to summon demons and the like. The Eldar, the 'elves' of the game using superior technology and magic. And finally the brutish Orks (no I didn't spell that wrong) who use brute force and numbers to win battles.

In the campaign mode you only play the Space Marines unfortunately. Following the story of a Force Commander (basically a beefed up Space Marine commander) you are sent to a planet to repel an Ork invasion. Soon matters escalate in proportion as the Orks attack in exponentially increasing numbers and underneath it all, the Chaos Marines and Eldar are plotting something devious. So you wade into battle and sort it all out. Daemons and what not. Its quite a good storyline actually, its a shame they didn't manage to create several campaigns for the other races. All in all, a good, solid RTS game.

Graduation week + party + 2nd gaming session

2007-10-31T18:13:00.001-07:00

This week was graduation week for my university. A whole bunch of my friends graduated last year and I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the ceremony. I have to be truthful, it wasn't a whole shebang of fun for me (though seeing my friends graduate is a big, big plus: congrats to those who graduated!) and was actually pretty boring at times. It lasted 2 hours I think, I can barely sit in lectures for 30 minutes without sleeping. The graduation ceremony was way more boring than a lecture. Eventually we managed to get out of the place, where I took pictures along with the newly graduated people. And then we all went for some tit-bits and champagne in a marquee. Pretty nice affair. Dreading the ceremony when I graduate next year :/

Next up is the house warming party a bunch of friends of mine held last Saturday. First off, I think these guys are crazy: they invited almost 200 people! Thank god only 100 (!!!) of them turned up ONLY. Geez. As you can imagine, it was pretty crowded. I could barely walk around to get a drink, let alone to the loo. Somehow I managed to socialise a bit and ended up drinking LOTS with everyone. Even people I never knew! I saw some crazy stuff that night, a lot of boob groping was going around, puking, swearing, fighting, the normal stuff. I somehow managed to screw myself by actually getting REALLY high (not drunk! I swear! I was still coherent and I remember everything!). The drinks I had in order of appearance are as listed below:

1. Whiskey Coke (meh - 1/5 on the drunkenness scale)
2. Cranberry Vodka (girls drink - 0.5/5)
3. Beer (not rated - n/a)
4. Some funny red drink with sugar at the bottom (2/5)
5. OMG mix of every single liquor in the house! (4/5)
6. Beer! (4/5)
7. THE KILLER ONE WHOLE GLASS OF VODKA DOWNED IN ONE SHOT (6/5)

Yup as you can see the vodka at the end killed me. Sigh. I shall not go into detail about what I did in the toilet. Suffice to say I won't be doing it again. Not in this quantity at least.

Today we had our 2nd gaming session! Yes, for those who don't know, I am in charge of organising computer game events for my society; which is more of a burden than anything else actually cause so few people turn up and I have to be there for 5 frickin hours but oh well I put myself in this spot. Ok so it wasn't a total flop but I have totally no idea how we're going to run this thing properly cause everyone has different interests. Well I'll figure it out some what. Overall, it went well and I was pretty satisfied with the overall outcome.

That's all for now, review will be out next so it'll be a while before my next life update post. Stay tuned? lol

Halo

2007-10-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Wow it really took a while for me to start on the review for Halo. Well what can I say, I've been really busy doing other... important stuff. Well, lets get down to it then.

The story begins with the reactivation of the Master Chief (you, the protagonist) aboard a human cruiser being pursued by Covenant forces (Aliens) in deep space. Due to a emergency hyperspace the ship ends up next to a huge ring like structure which will come to be known as Halo. From then on, the Master Chief uncovers that the installation is actually one of many arrays of superweapons which, when activated, will wipe out all life in the galaxy to prevent the rebirth of an ancient parasitic alien race called 'The Flood'. As expected, the game revolves around trying to stop the reactivation of the weapon while fending off attacks from The Flood, Covenant forces and the Constructs trying to reactivate the weapon.

The game is intense throughout, with gunfire flying everywhere and enemies coming from all directions most of the time. The levels get quite repetitive at one point when each room you enter looks exactly like one you walked through before. Apart from that, the game throws different kinds of enemies at you at regular intervals. Since certain weapons are better against certain enemies and you can only carry 2 weapons at a time, preparing for the enemies ahead is pretty important. The storyline is gripping from start to finish, with a nice jeep-riding-escape-from-the-burning-ship experience at the very end. Overall, the game is really good though it falls short of a 5 star rating from me due to the repetitiveness of some of the levels. Good game, go try it and the other 2 sequels as well if you can.

... And now back to life in the UK...

2007-10-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the long absence of posts on this blog, been really busy as of late what with job applications, finding a new house, moving into my new house, studies, etc. I'm settling in a little now but my situation now is still a bit shaky. As expected, I haven't finished many new games.... except for one! Yes, I managed to pull off finishing one game despite all my social, financial and academic difficulties! And the name of the game is... Halo 1! When I have time I shall put up a review but right now I'm still a little busy so, yeah sorry.

Its only been 2 weeks since I left but it seems like a really long time. Leaving like I did left me with a lot to think about, about my future and other stuff too. Hopefully I'll get my life sorted out in the next few months.

Hmm so what's new? Well I got rejected by Bear Stearns and Barclays Capital so far. I failed my part time job interview... thats probably the worse. I can't believe I could fail something so trivial lol. Now I have zero confidence in my interview ability. Oh well. On the not so bright side, I have an interview with McKinsey! The dread of humiliation awaits me.... sigh.

My house is looking up, cleared away more furniture. The vertical sofa, some cupboards and miscellaneous objects lying around the house. We might start cooking meals soon! Yay!

Guess that's it for now, I'll post the halo review and new news on me sometime soon I guess. When I'm free-er I expect. Ciao then!

PS. WHAT IS FAN MIN???

World of Warcraft: The Board Game

2007-09-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

I got this game for my birthday this year from my housemates and a few other uni mates of mine. See, when I saw it while on holiday in Vienna, I went like, "Wow, WoW looks so good! I want it!" and since it was near my birthday, they got it for me.

The game impresses in terms of visuals... the board is nicely made, character sheets are detailed and are of some quality, not just some cheap piece of cardboard. The skill, item, quest cards etc. are detailed and most include some form of flavor text. The models are pretty ok too although its not much to look at, you can barely tell one from another. Unless its like a really huge monster or something.

Ok so thats all that is good about the game. Gameplay-wise, it sucks. Big time. It takes at least 3 hours to finish the game and one of those hours includes setting up the damn board. The models are really irritating too after a while. First off, their so hard to differentiate from one another that you end up spending a lot of time looking for the pieces you need. Being color coded into blue, red and green doesn't really help much. The main point of irritation is probably that there's little to no player interaction. Sure, you have PvPs but those last another 2 hours just for one round of PvP combat so no one wants to do it. You're literally playing with yourself. Masturbating yourself takes much less time and is a whole lot more satisfying.

I hate to say it but the current game just sucks. I've forced myself to play it and well, I didn't actually hate it but after every game I think I would rather have done something else. Games shouldn't make you feel that way. Well I'll be trying to tweak the game rules a bit to try and make the game faster and more interesting, we'll see how it goes. Verdict: don't buy this game. Heh lucky I got my friends to buy it for me.

End of the summer holidays

2007-09-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

Yet another summer holiday is coming to a close. I've always looked forward to summer, 3 months holiday after working hard for exams and on projects is much needed. This years summer however was special. Me and some of my best friends managed to go on our first trip together to the beach. It was great fun and I miss that time. My only regret is that we won't be doing it again so soon I think... and that we probably will never do so again. But it was fun and I enjoyed myself tremendously. I got a little too tipsy too that time (sexy dance lol).

I played a lot of football this summer too. I'd be glad to say I've improved by leaps and bounds, which I have... I was terrible before. Still its not good at all so I'll just play it for fun with my friends whenever I can. I need the exercise more than anything.

Merdeka day was quite eventful... I went to a barbeque at a friend's place for a while. Sandra, Samantha and Carol... I'm sorry I scared you. Lol! Guess they won't be reading this blog but still.. haha. Then I went over to another friend's house to get myself wasted. It wasn't too pleasant but... I wasn't really feeling myself. Fireworks were fantastic. Well, they were like any other fireworks display (maybe not even as good as some I've seen) but fireworks always brings back memories to me. Like 1st year in UK. And now like Merdeka day on the summer of my 3rd year.

Overall, this summer was really a blast. To all my friends out there, no matter how much or how little I know about you, you have my love. To those I may never see again, the times were good and great. I'll always treasure them. I'm going to go all out for my 4th year so watch me! If I die, then I'm going to at least die with a bang!

Giants: Citizen Kabuto

2007-09-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

Giants was one of my favorite multi-player games back in my high school days. It incorporates 1st and 3rd person views as well as RTS elements of base building. Plus you get to play as a big ass godzilla thing called the Kabuto. Whats not to like?

After replaying it recently, I actually found the single player missions kind of... boring after a while. While the humor between levels was refreshing (although pretty lame at times), each level played out nearly the same. For the Meccs, it was always a "blow-up-some-barracks" mission, for the Reapers it was that annoying ReaperSki race and Kabuto seemed to just wanna eat everything. Needless to say I got really, really bored after a while. I just finished it for the sake of finishing it.

Its the multi-player experience that really makes this game shine. Its really just a free-for-all between the 3 sides; Meccs who use technology such as jet-packs and rocket launchers, Reapers who use magic and arrows and the kick-ass Kabuto who just eats everyone up. It was so much fun, Reapers and Meccs will all be hunting the Kabuto player cause killing the Kabuto gives you the most points while the Kabuto stomps on everyone trying to kill him and in the meantime the Reapers and Meccs will be killing each other too to stop each other from getting the Kabuto frag. Fun times for all!

Overall, this game is the bomb. The single player campaign may be as boring as shit but the multi-player gameplay more than makes up for it. That is, if you can actually find people to play this game with you now days...

Company of Heroes

2007-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

I have to admit; I'm a sucker for WWII games. The gritty, chaotic environments, explosions everywhere and no so much as a laser gun in sight. Don't take it the wrong way though, its not as if I condone war of any kind. And WWII is probably one of the bloodiest conflicts this world has had. Which makes it all the more attractive in a gamer's point-of-view.

The game starts off with the initial landing for the invasion of Normandy... where else but the all famous Omaha Beach. You take control of Able Company, one of many infantry divisions and try to storm up the beaches of Omaha while under machine-gun fire. If you've ever played Medal of Honor or Call of Duty, I'm sure you'll know what it was like in first-person. Now though you have to do it RTS style. The game follows on with a company of paratroopers, deployed within enemy lines to disrupt German forces and to seize control of the roads linking the two beaches where the landings take place. The game then follows some of the major battles that the paratroopers and infantry face to capture Normandy, like the battle at Carentan and the closing of the Fallaise Pocket.

Immediately we're introduced to the very important concept of cover; cover is what keeps your units alive in the game. Lack of cover usually spells 10 seconds of life expectancy for your troops. You can use almost anything for cover; fallen trees, sandbags, low walls, ditches, etc. Buildings play a large part in defending a sector as it provides a major cover bonus for troops within.

Units in the game can be categorized into 3 types: infantry, light vehicles and tanks. With infantry you have snipers, engineers, riflemen, paratroopers and the like. Light vehicles consist of armored cars and anti-tank guns. Tanks offer the use of Shermans, Tank Destroyers, Tigers, etc. In terms of units, the game balances itself out nicely. Infantry are cheaper and strong in numbers, but lose out easily to snipers. Snipers lose out to light vehicles like jeeps. Jeeps are weak to almost everything else though. Tanks are easily the strongest units in the game, but lose out to superior positioning of anti-tank guns or flanking tactics from infantry with bazookas.

You also get to choose the kind of commander you want to be. You get to choose between being an infantry, paratrooper or tank commander. Infantry people want to... defend a lot for some reason. So you get loads of defense and cheap, quick reinforcements. Paratroopers get planes and the ability to put troops where their needed fast. Tank commanders focus more on using vehicles to gain the upper hand. I've tried for days and days now to prove infantry commanders are of some use but... I've failed. Paratroopers or tank commanders are way, way better. If anyone has a decent use for the infantry commander skill tree, please let me know.

I would rank this above C&C3 which came out around the same time. The detail put into the graphics, the tactics and strategies you need to employ on the go, the fast-paced action and split-second decisions that make or break your game make me believe that Company of Heroes is one of the best RTS games I've seen for a long, long time.

Starcraft & Starcraft: Brood War

2007-09-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

When I was around 13 to 14 years old, I used to play this game a lot. This game is probably the first game I ever played in a cybercafe. We used to go this really dingy and run down one near my primary school called the PC shop. The computers were old and funky and there were only 7 working ones (an odd number lol) but we still had great fun.

So I recently finished this game (again) over the summer holidays, for a lack of a better game to play. Well it sure brought those memories of the good old times flooding back to me. Compared to the 3D graphics you get in most RTS games today, I kind of prefer the style Starcraft incorporates. It just gives me a really retro feeling...

The single player campaign comprises of 6 episodes (2 for each of the 3 races) which detail the coming of the Zerg (Aliens) and the Protoss (Predator?) to the unsuspecting Terran (Human) colonies. The plot is interesting enough to keep you playing from mission to mission, using cinematics and pre-mission briefings to move the story along. The gameplay is pretty decent with a good balance of difficulty. Players new to RTS games won't find it too hard and those who are good at them won't find it too easy. Towards the end though, especially in the expansion when you have access to the whole tech tree, the game becomes a little too easy. There aren't any difficulty settings for one. Also, once you have access to your best unit (like Battlecruisers or Guardians) then all you have to do is defend your base till you have a large army of them and you win.

Its the multiplayer experience that makes this game really shine. Amazingly enough, Blizzard has managed to balance out the strength of the 3 races (with a few patches here and there) so that each race has its own tactical advantage. The Zerg have weaker but cheaper units, the Protoss build powerful but really expensive stuff and the Terrans are the game's Swiss Army Knife; they are suited to handle all kinds of combat situations. Maps are balanced and beautifully constructed with terrain and resource points providing a lot to think about when playing it against a human opponent. The mix of units allow for all kinds of strategies like covert-ops, all-out attacks, sieges, ambushes, etc.

All in all, Starcraft is a beautiful game, even if the graphics may put some people off (not me of course). Which goes to show why after all these years Starcraft is still considered one of the best RTS games of all time (especially by Koreans)