Gaming: Alien vs Predator

STORY TRAILER

This is the latest storyline trailer by Rebellion on Alien vs Predator. Just when you thought the game had no storyline, well, this trailer will put the naysayers to rest. Lance Henrikson continues to spook and whoop us with his fatherly mercenary type voice and I (as a fan) welcome it. Who else is better suited to play the role of Bishop other than the man himself? Oh man, I can't wait for this game to come out. The gaming world needs its AvP goodness back.

Castle Age on Facebook

With a minimum amount of coaxing, my friend managed to get me to play Castle Age and for now, I find the game interesting enough to keep me playing. I just downed my first summoned boss, which yielded a nice finisher story which you can read below. Btw, my character's name is Capricious Bull.

"Gildamesh sweeps his axe in large arcs as he rushes at you and Celesta. Celesta dodges his blows but suddenly falls backward as she trips on the jagged rocks below you. The Orc King grins. Your party is busy fighting his minions. You know this has to end soon. With blinding speed, the Orc King raises his axe and rushes at you again.

You dodge swing after swing until you are cornered. The Orc King raises his axe and brings it down. Suddenly you see Kiana rush up from the side and deflect his blow. Maximilian comes up from behind and bashes his shield on the Orc King. Your friends have defeated his minions! You take the opportunity to attack!

You stun Gildamesh with the blunt side of your weapon and with a quick motion, you bring your weapon down a second time, piercing his armor.

Gildamesh Grunts: You've proved yourself a worthy adversary, Capracious Bull...But we shall meet again!

A burst of intense light blinds you and suddenly, the Orc King is gone.

You have defeated the Orc King and already claimed the Crystal of Fire. Now it is time to journey to the Land of Earth and search for the Crystal of Earth."

Updates

So after a long time of not updating my blog here are some updates:

Modern Warfare 2

Believe it or not I have abstained myself from buying this game simply because of the shoddy response they are giving to PC gamers in regards to their no community dedicated server stance. I heard a lot of good reviews on the game though, which I know is true. Anyway, just putting my foot down on Infinity Ward's stance even though I know it won't matter in the long run.

RIP WIFI Router Modem

My router modem got fried last night when I was surfing the net during a storm which I thought was letting up. Apparently it didn't as it gave a lightning strike near the vicinity of my house, tripping the circuits and my router modem literally popped. Suffice to say, I could only stand half an hour without the net before I went to the nearest mall to get myself a replacement. Phew, all is right with the world when I finally got my net back.

Games I am playing

I gotten back to playing Champions Online after some week of absence. I have stopped playing Dragon Age: Origins because it something I always go through with deep RPGs. I have to stop myself because I tend to always want to restart the game (I want a perfect character, dammit!). So I stopped and played a bit of Torchlight and now I am back on Champions Online.

Gaming: Torchlight review up on Kotaku

So the review for Torchlight is up on Kotaku, which you can check it out. The reason why I specifically point out to Kotaku is because I find their review system refreshing and doesn't force any of their opinions on us, the user. They try to give a neutral review by giving the pros and cons and leave it at that. I think it is quite effective in their attempt to not make biased reviews, which most review sites seemingly do (often as of late).

Personally though, I find the game addictive. At first I tried the demo of the game via STEAM and before you know it, 2 days have passed and I had already made 6 characters. The demo has some restrictions, which are a character level limit and dungeon limit. I proceeded to buy the game so I can continue my excursions. And now, I play that in between my Dragon Age gaming as a temporary break.

What I like about the game is that it has everything that you would want in an action RPG. The graphics are colourful and easy on the eyes, the skill system is complete and allows freedom for a number of builds, and the storyline is simple enough (but engaging) that it doesn't interfere with the real gist of the game: getting better items. More details on the game can be found at the Kotaku review, which I am at an agreement with the points. A good start for Runic Games.

One more thing though, this game allows modding since they released the editor. The modding community is small but already churning out a lot of mods. I believe these mods will increase the lifespan of the game. Already I have used some of those mods, mods that change your pet cat to a tiger, have enemies use random weapons instead of fixed, a respec mod, brighter map mod, etc, etc.

Gaming: Dragon Age Origins Collector's Edition

November 3rd 2009 has arrived (I know that was yesterday but I was lazy) and I manage to snag my copy of Dragon Age: Origins Collector's Edition from The Software Boutique. Got some goodies as a pre-order bonus and I went home contented. Above are the content of the stuff. On the floor are the T-Shirt (large size) and the poster. On top of it are the contents of the boxed retail pack, yes it is wood. In the middle is the cloth map, above it is the plastic sleeve (top left) and on the right of it is the front lid of the retail pack. On the left side of the cloth map is the DVD retail pack and on the right is the back of the wooden retail pack. All in all, pretty sweet.

Unfortunately, my DVD drive can't read the installer DVD. However, it could read the bonus DVD with video content. I proceeded to test the installer DVD on a notebook and lo and behold, it could be read. So I am going to buy a new DVD drive. Hopefully I can play the game by today.

Movies: Michael Jackson's This is it!

“This Is It!” has been out for a while and I decided to watch it during my off time. As a child of the 80s, MJ is considered one of the legends for my generation. No other performer has given a lasting impression on me other than MJ. So, having the opportunity to watch the final moments of his life preparing for his final concert was a given for me.

“This Is It!” is a behind the scenes documentary on what was supposed to be the final MJ concert. It features clips and commentary from the start of the concert rehearsals until the final day where MJ was alive.

Let me tell you this, for someone who is in his 50s, MJ still has his moves. As you watch the movie, you realize how alive and animated he is. Never once in your life did you ever think that this was a man who would be meeting his death some time soon.

It is amazing how much presence he has even though it was on a movie screen. MJ is a down to earth type of guy. However, he is professional and very hands on. I think all of the crew find him to be a very likeable person.

Nostalgia hit me when I saw MJ performing all his greatest songs. I am utterly impressed how MJ continues to improve on his performances as he goes through them during the practice rehearsals. He chooses his words wisely and makes sure that everyone gets what he says. I like the part where he stops and says “I think the VALUE would be greater if you held that part longer” and he was right.

If you were a fan or you’d just want an insight on how one of the best performers of the world prepares for a concert, this is the movie to watch. MJ is undoubtedly the King of Pop. I suggest you sit down, get relaxed and let the music wash over you.

Blurbs: Assassin's Creed Short Movie

Most game to movie adaptations suck. Apparently the one that I am about to show you, doesn't. It is profesional and awesome. This is the first in a series of short movies that are being developed by Hybride Technologies, the visual effects studio behind 300 and Sin City, which Ubisoft bought last year for just this sort of project. I can't wait for the 2nd episode. News courtesy of Kotaku.

Blurbs: Dragon Age Penny Arcade Comic

The folks of Penny Arcade has finally completed the 8 page comic for Dragon Age, which you can view >HERE<. The art is beatiful and it makes me want to play the game right now. I believe the comic was successful in giving out the gray area moral ambiguity that will be prevalent in the game. As it is, there has been quite an entertaining debate in the official forums regarding the comic and the subject matter: tempars. Which, you can browse and read >HERE<. If you haven't read the comic, I strongly advise that you do so.

Gaming: Leaked L4D2 Trailer

Apparently there is a leaked L4D2 trailer that has made its rounds in the net. It's still hot since the news was from yesterday. I am not sure if it is really leaked or one of Valve's insidious plans ... Anyway, enjoy the vid.

Blurbs: Lone Wolf!

When I was a kid I had fun reading this so called adventure books. Basically you are reading a character and you control what path s/he takes by flipping to the appropriate page. It was awesome and the best I have read so far was the adventures of Lone Wolf.

I have found a website of the author and he has made all his books available online to be read! Check it out >HERE<.

Gaming: Aliens vs Predator

I have always liked the Aliens and Predator franchises. The original movies for both rocked and made their own niches in the market. Unfortunately the recent movie attempts are something less to be desired. However, fret not, the game is coming soon and it looks awesome. Rebellion have released the latest Alien trailer for their AvP game and it showcases some alien gameplay. Watch and don't pee in your pants ...

Video Games | Aliens vs Predator | Alien Terror Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Blurbs: D&D

Dungeons & Dragons is such an old IP and almost every old (relatively) gamer I have met have actually played this pen and paper marvel. When the 4th edition came out last year, a group of my friends and I decided to give it a try. We only went as far as two sessions. I blame this on the "real life" monster invoking itself into our DnD scheduling. We might try again this year ... or maybe not seeing that this year is about to end in two (or three, depending how you count it) more months.

Penny Arcade has started putting up their DnD exploits and I find the read interesting. Not to mention the podcast of their adventures that is hosted by Wizards of the Coast, which are the makers of DnD. Penny Arcade has posted up some articles on their DnD adventures alot of times already but this one is interesting to see. The way he sets up the board is awesome! Check it out >HERE<. You may need to scroll downward since it's the second article.

Penny Arcade has been spending alot of money to get the appropriate minis and boards for their DnD game. So I am not surprised if they are thinking of getting the Microsoft surface for their DnD gaming. Currently it is a work in progress but the vid shows that it is functional. Catch it here in Kotaku. Looks awesome.

Gaming: Mass Effect 2 dated

One of the most anticipated PC games of next year has finally been dated by Bioware. Mass Effect 2 will be coming out in North America on the 26th of January 2010. Europe will be getting it 3 days later (29th). Hopefully, it reaches the shores of my country somewhere in between that. I can't wait to play Mass Effect 2, continuing the adventures of Shepard from Mass Effect 1. Hopefully, Dragon Age will keep me entertained until then.

Gaming: Dragon Age Character Creator tool

The interface

And so I installed and played around in it. There's not much you can do. You can muck about some graphical options but that's about it. Other than seeing what the character creator can do, there's nothing else. So I don't have much to comment about. The interface looks straightforward and after you have chosen your gender, race, class and background, you can only change the facial appearance of your character. There are sliders but it is quite simplistic. Just another tease before the full game comes out.

The main menu

A cute female dwarf

Blurb: Mass Effect: Redemption comic by Dark Horse

So apparently as part of their marketing for their next installment into the Mass Effect Universe, Dark Horse is making a comic to prepare players for Mass Effect 2. So they have a preview up, which you can check it out >HERE<.

I read the seven page preview and it looks nice. I think the art goes well with the sci fi type of visuals that is needed from the Mass Effect universe. Question is, will I buy it? The game, a definite yes but the comic ... I'll think about it.

Gaming: Dragon Age character creator is out!

Just when you can't get enough of Dragon Age: Origins, there is more! Bioware just released the character creation tool to the masses! Presumably, you can download, install and create your characters as if you owned the game. The only downside off course, is that you can't play the game yet since it is only the character creator. Fortunately, at this point, any freebies by Bioware on their game is a warm welcome. I am downloading it as I type this so I will update this post when I have installed it and tried it.

Rants: Last minute work load

Don't you hate it when you get a lot of work piled onto your desk at the last possible minute? Even worse, getting the same job even though you have already said that you are not available for that same job and to relegate it to someone else, then have it dumped on you at the last second anyway?

I feel so pissed right now. And you know what they say: When it rains, it pours. Suddenly I get a phone call reminding me about some stuff that is about to happen at the same time and now I'm just crazily angry. I don't feel panicky but instead I feel pissed off. These things I can handle but the way it came and how it came about really bothers me.

Oh well I'll get over it I guess. But sometimes ... work really kicks you in the groin. Anyway, just needed to get it off my chest. I can't shout in anger where I'm at, which is still in the office.

Gaming: Champions Online

My characters, L-R: Pendekar Keramat, Durjana, Penjejak Neraka (Main), Flame Lord, Kesatria Angkasa.

My latest MMO foray has been Champions Online. As one of my articles from before, I was testing City of Heroes and I found that although the character creation was fun, the game itself was slow (IMO). So when Champions Online decided to come out to Open Beta phase, I was compelled to test the game. Suffice to say I was happy with the game and was planning to subscribe after a the first month of the game going live has passed.

Why not immediately? As any MMO gamer know, the first month of any MMO is usually frought with constant bug fixes and rebalancing. So I do not want to experience that. Not to mention there will probably be a lot of server down time as they apply new patches. That was my original plan anyway. However, my friends bought the game for me when my birthday came. So, being impatient, decided to subscribe even though my original intent was just to test to see if the cd-key was valid or not. Not that I don't trust my friends but more to make sure that the product works.

The game is now into its second month and it is still undergoing massive patches and fixes. However, the frequency is starting to slow down as they manage to fix the majority of the game breaking bugs. Unfortunately though, I seem to be experiencing a very weird network problem with the game. I am fine when I play the game alone but when I team, I get bad rubber banding which makes it unplayable. This situation is worsened since my main character has reached level 27 and most of the missions from that point requires teaming. In light of this, I decided to level up my ALTs to 20 so that I can decide whether to keep or scrap those characters.

Cryptic is trying to fix the network issues some users are having. I hope they fix it soon. In the meantime though, I am still having fun with the game. It is amazing how different the game can feel by what travel power you chose!

Gaming: Dragon Age Origins - A Living World trailer

Dragon Age: Origins is coming in next month and I can't wait! The only downside is that the game will reach my side of the world a week later than the release date which is 3rd of November 2009. In the meanwhile, just to whet our appetites, Blur studios have released a new cinematic trailer for the game and it is looking sweet. I think it is safe to say that the star of the trailer is the spider lady!

Something to think about: Self help courses

Self help courses are a dime a dozen nowadays. And why is that? Is it because the world today is very different? Is it because people today suffer from depression, tiredness and emotional stress more?

Then again, how do self help courses operate? What kind of regulations do they have to adhere to? How do we, the public, know that the self help courses actually help instead of making matters worse? This are interesting things to think about. Especially when you read this article: Self help course may have led to her suicide.

Gaming: The Road Rash that never was

So EA is saying that they are reviving some of their old games and most of us were thinking of their golden era greats. One of them was Road Rash! Man that game rocked when it was on the Sega Genesis (Megadrive for the Japanese version). It was the ultimate beat-em-up motorcycle game. I still remember playing that game for hours on end, hitting the nitro and see all the other bikes pass by ... only to hit a cow crossing the road and fly over a few kilometres only to hit the hard ground a few seconds later. Man, that was awesome. Anyway, a vid was leaked on the Road Rash that was presumably on production but halted.



News source: Kotaku

Blog: Header pic updated

So I decided to keep the current colour scheme of the blog and just change the header graphics. I think its nice and simple. Before any Japanese assassins come and get me though, let me just say that my game handle/ nick is Koross. Which is why the katanas up there ...

And hopefully now I can start posting up stuff.

My thoughts on Subject categories

So after a little bit of thinking. Here are the categories:

- Random Thoughts: It could be literally anything and most probably would be short articles.
- Blurbs: This is a shoutout to cool things that I have encoutered either in real life or in the internet.
- Something to think about: This will be heavy stuff.
- Gaming: Things about gaming.

I guess these are it although there might be changes and some additions but we shall see. Anyway this is to make it easier to organize my thoughts.

Time to resurrect this blog

I think its time to resurrect this blog. It would be a good idea for me to have an objective on what I want this blog to be. So here is the plan:

1) Change the blog graphics abit.
2) Come up with categories of topics so I can post appropriately.
3) Actually post.
4) And post some more.

There you go. Hopefully, this happens.

City of Heroes trial

I had been playing Warhammer Online for some time and after all that, I have reached the point where it is starting to feel more like work rather than entertainment. So I decided to stop and try something else. I had heard about City of Heroes for a long time and decided to give it a try by grabbing the trial. First off, after the installer have downloaded the necessary files, it was only 2.7 gb. A far cry to the sizes of most MMOs of today. In logging in, I was very impressed with the character creation and in fact, spent most of my time trying out making different characters. I hope this customizability stays with their next hero MMO foray called Champions Online. Sometimes, the fun is in the making of your character rather than playing your character. The pic above is what I settled for as my first character in the game and dubbed him Penjejak Neraka aka Hell Walker. I decided to create an East meets West type, hence the cowboy look and katana weapons.
The gameplay is quite slow, compared to Warhammer Online. There are no auto attacks and you have to constantly press your skill buttons to attack. Nevertheless the game has its own charm but the trial version does limit your character somewhat. Firstly, you can't whisper other players, which makes any attempt at finding a party somewhat difficult but not impossible. Saying that, I haven't tried looking for a team since I am after all, only level 4. Anyway, my trial lasts until May 18th and so we shall see what conclusion will I come up with the game.

This was the shoutcaster from Gamestah.com whom was invited for Cyber Fusion. He speaks like a motor boat and he knows his stuff! He primarily shoutcasts for DotA but the way he does it makes anyone just passing by want to look at the screen. If you want to view more vids from the Cyber Fusion event, just click on the vid and it should take you to the youtube page with more Cyber Fusion vids.

Guinness World Record Broken - I was there to witness it

April 10th to 12th would be a historical date for all Malaysian, especially Malaysian gamers as the Guinness World Record for the longest and largest LAN party ever held was finally broken! The new record, which is with a total of 257 participants in a LAN party held on for 40 hours of non-stop gaming and fun! At the end of the day, some of them were literally zombies and there were a few that felt asleep in the middle of scooping their breakfast into their mouths! I had a great laugh on that one.

However, there were a lot of technical problems but were solved on the fly by ingenuity. I had a lot of headaches on that day. But it was all worth it since we managed to break the record. Btw, I was there not as a participant but my company was one of the main sponsors of the event and I was there to help out. When nightfall came, the other company booths were empty but only ours were lit up and buzzing with activity as people tried out our games. In addition, we helped the LAN party run their mini tournaments and technical problems (with our games).

Above is me fooling around while we set up our booth on the 9th of April. Oh yeah btw, I finally managed to play Street Fighter IV (SFIV)! It was cool. Unfortunately it was on the PS3. I say unfortunately because I hate the joypad. It was hard to do moves properly since I am not used to the joypad layout. However, of all the characters I tried, for some reason Abel was the easiest to pull off combos. On my first try on that character, I managed to do a 4 string combo followed by an ULTRA which ended the match. It was awesome! Can't wait for this game to come out for the PC and I will get myself an arcade stick.

Premiere Movie: Fast & Furious

I was delivering some marketing materials after work and the person whom I was meeting with pointed me towards Cineleisure Damansara and I proceeded there. I was grumbling at this point, primarily because I was feeling lazy and this was after office hours. When I got there, I couldn't find him and I had to call him two to three times to finally get him.

Apparently his company was taking care of the premiere on that night and he surprised me by saying if I wanted to watch Fast & Furious. I heard about the movie but I didn't know it was being released on the next day. I was looking forward to the movie anyway because it marked the return of Vin Diesel to reprise his role. So, I was still thinking if he was serious or not (It was April 1st btw) when he just ushered me in and pushed me into one of his subordinates and they proceeded to find me a cinema.

Not bad for what started as a grunt delivery job. Anyway, we managed to get me some good seats, the back row sofa seats and I just enjoyed the movie. The downside was that apparently I missed 15 to 30 minutes of the start.

The movie itself was typical Fast & Furious affair. Non stop muscle cars, chics, awesome driving and action sequences. However, I felt the movie lacked something. It felt as if the movie had less budget than the previous ones. The CGI effects were less and there were no crazy camera into the hood, exiting through the exhaust sequences (except for one time). In addition to that, Paul Walker is still in it. I hate that guy, he acts the same for all his movies. Anyway, you can read about the reviews and info on the movie on this IMDB link >HERE<.

I'm wondering if my luck in getting free movie tickets will continue. We shall see ...

Video of the week: EVO 04

Video of the week is of the Street Fighter 3 (SF3) semi final match between Daigo and Justin. Definitely the best video of all time on the awesomeness of what you can achieve in a simple 2D fighting game like SF3. The fact that everyone went ape shit at the end of the vid speaks volumes of what Daigo achieved on that day. He will forever be remembered for this vid.

Street Fighter IV is out and it is revolutionary. Haven't tried it yet though because I am waiting for the PC version. I can't freaking wait. In the mean time, I have been watching non-stop SFIV vids in youtube to quench my hunger. It seems Daigo is the number one SFIV player in Japan at this moment of writing. There are rumours that Momochi might climb up to that position soon (or has he?).

First time Movie Premiere!

Holy shit I haven't updated this blog for almost forever (internet time). However, this time I gotta update it because I have participated in my first ever movie premiere!

My friend hooked me up with some free tickets for the movie Knowing for a first of many marketing events his company is planning to do. They are making a social networking website, something akin to Friendster but with more features and at this moment, more localised. So, check out ruumz and see if you feel like joining. If you are interested to join, click >HERE<. :)

Anyway, the first thing I asked him about the movie premiere was what kind of clothing can I wear. For some reason I was imagining those big gala movie premieres and was thinking that this was the same thing. Fortunately, it was relatively similar to a normal movie night out, except that we get to watch this movie before it was released on the next day. However, he told me to not wear singlets, shorts and slippers. :P

About the movie? The movie was good in the special effects department and in some ways managed to capture what it was going for. However, I dislike movies like this because it touched alot on religious issues and interpreting it into their own explanations. Without delving too much into it, I suggest everyone read the imdb link I posted above to know what is the movie about and see the movie critics review on it.

So, laters. Hopefully I update more.