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.

Gamer's Bill of Rights

The boyos at Stardock and Gas Powered Games have proposed that all publishers adhere to their Gamer's Bill of Rights:

1. Gamers shall have the right to return games that don't work with their computers for a full refund.
2. Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
3. Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game's release.
4. Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
5. Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will adequately play on that computer.
6. Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won't install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their express consent.
7. Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
8. Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
9. Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
10. Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Sign me up for full support on this. All publishers must follow this but then again, who are we kidding right?

Source: Click me

Chuck Norris Bring on the Pain

I haven't updated my blog for some time but this warrants updating! Despite having busy days with playing Warhammer Online Public Weekend recently and such but nothing holds the candle to this bit of news.

Chuck Norris Bring on the Pain is a game by Gameloft coming to a handphone near you! It took them long enough but after alot of Chuck Norris facts in the internet showing how badass he is, a game embodying that fact wouldn't be too far coming.

So check out the vid below of the game in action. It has no audio but I trust you will input your own brand of sounds for the bone crunching, punch impacting and round house kicking fun!

My Impressions: Space Siege demo

So I got my hands on the Space Siege demo that was just released yesterday and I have finished playing it. First off, this are by the same people who made Dungeon Siege. So expect similar gameplay elements except that this time, it is scifi instead of medieval fantasy.
First off, the demo weighs around 900++mb. The installation was no problem for me and everything was functioning nicely. So onward to the game. It is a classic isometric view with the ability to pan the camera and zoom in and zoom out of your character. Your character is a soldier in the human vessel that was escaping an alien invasion force. They almost succeeded except that one of the alien boarding ships managed to latch on. So it is your duty to help repel this invaders. The gameplay has your character repelling the first horde of invaders that has just made it to a main corridor. After succeeding in blasting their hides either with a ranged weapon or melee, you will have to proceed to the engine room to synch the engines in order for the ship to utilize its thrusters and escape.
The controls seems to be simple and I got used to it in the first minute of play. The graphics are somewhat acceptable for this age and time. The heavy weight comes from the excellent particle effects and physics that seems to be present in everything in the screen. However, judging from the demo itself, it seems to be an average game. It plays almost the same as Dungeon Siege and from the demo you control one protaganist. As you explore the map you are able to find weapons and also cybernetic enhancements that will replace your limbs if you choose to do so. They bring about good bonuses but will decrease your humanity points. Not to mention some weapons need you to have cybernetic enhancements to be able to use them. What does your humanity points do isn't explained in the demo. There is also a skill screen where you can alotte points into the skills of choice but you won't get to do so in the demo. The demo is fairly short which should take you around 15 minutes of play to complete it. The final leg of the demo is your character defending seemingly endless waves of enemies against the last transport train in your area.
Another thing worth mentioning is that your enemies and some environment items will drop upgrade scraps when they are destroyed. With this upgrade scraps, you can upgrade yourself, your weapons and also make health packs and grenades at work benches which will appear sporadically in the map in Aid rooms. At the same time, you can also replenish your life and energy in the Aid rooms. I am not sure since the demo doesn't have a save feature but it could be surmised that the Aid rooms will also be your save points in the game as well.
Conclusion from the demo is that the game is very average. However, the demo only scratches the surface of the game and doesn't properly showcase the game at all. So, after the final product is out, it might be way better than what the demo shows.

Pen and Paper

I have finally experienced the pen and paper RPG experience! Last weekend, my friends and I decided to play table top RPG using the newest Dnd 4th edition rules. It was a blast and we had alot of laughs. Took almost half a day just to create our characters, even though some of us have already made ours earlier. Anyway, I made a tiefling warlord and it is an awesome class to play. It is generally a melee buffer. It could tank although not as good as a fighter while giving out passive and active buffs to everyone or to the character of my choice whenever is needed. I made a joke that my character is a rapist and it seems to have stuck even though I made sure not to show those kind of tendencies on my character when I was playing him.
I am in the process of writing a journal based on what happened during my play with my character. I am 1/4ths done but I hope I will finish it before this weekend. Things of note was that one of our party members spent most of the time unconscious top side (either from failing a fortitude check after emptying a tankard full of dwarven ale and another from sleeping it off later), another took exclusive care to pick pocket any chance he could get and lastly during our final encounter of the day, two of our team mates actually bolted to get out of harm's way. My character, Pendekar Laut (yes, that's his name) will remember what transpired on that particular encounter. So I can't wait for the next game this coming Sunday.

Mass Effect BDtS is out and Space Siege demo is out!

Mass Effect on PC fans can rejoice because the Bring Down the Sky downloadable content is out with the latest patch. So be sure to log on to the main website >HERE< and get your download on. However, judging from the massE PC forums, there is a particular problem that have cropped up. The lava textures on the planet of Therum seems to be missing and a Bioware spokesperson has replied on a fix. All you have to do is go into the config tool and use the 'repair' section and select the "Delete Local Shader Cache Files". That should fix it automatically.

Space Siege which is the spiritual successor to Dungeon Siege will be released next month and the demo is out! The demo weighs around 900++mb and will give you a taste on what the game is about. You can grab it >HERE<. If you ran into some loopy resolution problem with the demo, inputting this line "fullscreen=false" into one of the ini files (I am assuming) would fix it.

Long time no update so here's the skinny

I haven't updated my blog for some time now. I would lie and say because I was busy but then again I was just lazy :P. Anyway here is the skinny on what have happened since then:

AND THE HEAVENS ... SHALL TREMBLE!

The announcement by Blizzard during the World Wide Invitational (WWI) on Diablo 3 had the gaming world by storm. It was a well kept secret of sorts but everyone knew about it, wished about it, kept wishing about it and finally it was made real by Blizzard! If you were living under a rock the Diablo series was one of the first action RPGs that totally captured the gaming community's attention. It was addictive, simple to get into but needs skill and knowledge to truly master it. In one fell swoop, Blizzard managed to bring heavenly news and made the world whoop in ecstasy for a few seconds. Below is the cinematic trailer to Diablo 3 but you can see other tid bits and info on the game at their official website >HERE<.

WHY SO SERIOUS HMMM? LETS PUT A SMILE ON THAT FACE!

Then the next Batman movie came out and it was awesome! Continuing the series of Batman which is now played by Christian Bale and directed by Christopher Nolan, the bring a more realistic and more grittier approach to the world of Gotham. Continuing from Batman Begins, this time the villain that will grace the silver screen is none other than the great nemesis of Batman himself, the Joker who is played by Heath Ledger. As if the original cast of Batman Begins isn't enough to pull you in, Heath Ledger as Joker brings the movie to new heights of emotion and depth. I won't be lying if I said that Heath Ledger single handedly made The Dark Knight movie a true master piece. He brings the madness, insanity and cruelty of Joker so belieavably into the silver screen that you can almost touch him. Christopher Nolan has topped himself in this sequel by bringing more emotion and depth. I won't go into details but I will assure you that this is a movie that you will not want to miss. Below is the trailer for the movie for your viewing pleasure:

Real Life Facebook

I find Facebook useful as the next person, which is quite darn good. In keeping in touch with your long lost friends, nothing is better. I used Friendster before and it lacked a certain security in terms of making sure the people who are connected to you are only the people you know. In Facebook, I found it more secure but the thought of making another account for this type of websites a bit daunting, especially going through the process of getting your friends. As such, I use such facilities shallowly, only to keep in touch with people I have known. It annoys me to no end when people whom I don't even know wants to facebook me or invite me into the useless apps strewn about the website. So I can really relate this video on what would happen if Facebook was indeed happening in real life.

Battleships Forever's Future

th15 has been silent for some time, especially regarding any further updates on his game Battleships Forever (BSF). I have read an interesting article in this month's local Game Axis magazine with him attending the 10th Annual Independent Games Festival (IGF). He was nominated into the top 10, which was why he was invited. So grab your local copy of Game Axis and check it out. Anyway, the article aside, th15 has broken his silence in the BSF forums by saying this:

"I guess I owe it to you guys. I haven't released anything new for some time because I'm busy with work. However, that work involves remaking Battleships Forever in a better engine. What this means is multi-player, better performance with hundreds (maybe thousands) of sections. Think everything that makes Battleships Forever, Battleships Forever and multiply that by ten. This will take some time. But not an absurd amount of time, Battleships Forever isn't exactly the most complex game ever. I'll confirm features, timeline and other stuff as and when I'm able, for now, just hang in there!

Sean 'th15' Chan 11-05-08"

Source: http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2186

Personally, I can't wait for this to be released. I hope he is not hitting into snags and get a working beta out soon. LoL. Anyway, I wish all the success to th15 for making this a reality.

Force Unleashed won't be coming to PC!

Lucas Arts has finally given up on the PC after announcing that Force Unleashed won't be releasing for the PC! The only thing that comes to my mind with this news is CRAP! And that is being polite. I can't believe this. Lucas Arts has always been a staunch supporter of the PC. Heck, it started off with the PC. And now this. The most coolest Star Wars game is coming out soon and it won't be out for the PC. This just plain sucks. Here is the copy and paste on why they won't be bringing it to the PC:

[If we made the game for high-end PCs], someone with a low-end PC would have a watered down experience, they would have to turn all the settings down and it wouldn't be the same game. On the other hand if we made that game for as many people as possible then it's not taking advantage of what those $4,000 systems can do.

What a load of BS! It's not as if they don't know that you can scale graphics on a PC game. Nice try on the excuse but please try again. Oh well so much for supporting Lucas Arts. Anyway, just to add some salt to the wound, here is a vid on the game below.

Watched Iron Man again!

Yeap, you heard that right. I watched this movie a second time and it still rocks! Can't quite get past the awesomeness when Iron Man makes his first maiden flight. This time, I watched it at TGV and it literally sucks. Not to mention that they don't have THX and somehow the screen had a weird gamma setting. It seemed too dark. At the same time the screen was flickering at odd moments. It detracted the movie somehow but not too much. Iron Man still rocks. Unfortunately, I gotta seriously reconsider watching anything there. GSC is simply better.

Almost watched Forbidden Kingdom though. Unfortunately, didn't as my friend wanted to go home as he had a gaming schedule instead. Gah I really want to watch Forbidden Kingdom and not many (if at all) of my friends want to watch a Chinese movie. The first movie that has Jet Li and Jackie Chan in it and I haven't even watched it, damn! Getting mixed reviews about this movie though, some say it is awesome because of the two and some say it is quite bad because of the American dude in it. Add to the fact that the movie is more of a western production, to cater to the wider demographic. Man, whatever. :P

More Lineage 2

I am playing more Lineage 2 now and there are some funny stuff going on. Like the pic below for instance ...

This is my character after getting buffed by a GM. The GM buffs are pretty powerful and usefull and generally lasts for about an hour. So usually when we find some news about a GMs whereabouts and s/he is buffing people, we'd spread this news to the alliance chat. When people know there are GMs about, people would come immediately for the buffs! The only downside, or upside, depending on where you look at it, you get a bighead for your buffs as well. Just as a sign that you were buffed by a GM. Kinda funny the first time. Although it does go away after some time.

This is my character in dual wield mode. I use this twin swords when the party doesn't need AE. On a single target, it gives me the best DPS. Can't wait to take my secondary class as gladiator as that class specializes in dual wielding. For now, I just use 'em but have no skills to properly master them. However, dual wielding does look cool. ^^

This is my new character, Selucia, a female orc. Finally decided to make a destroyer, which is a double hander single target DPS machine. I made this character to experience something different from my main and so far she is kinda fun, although still low level. Another reason is the female orcs in this game are hot! Quite weird I know but she has a nice muscled athletic build.

Awesome Macross Plus editing

Check this youtube video out! Somehow the person edited clips out of Macross Plus anime and placed in Topgun audio and it is quite interesting. It is awesome how the characters mime the words perfectly!

Another Alien novel

After I watched the movie Iron Man, I headed for MPH to check out the books there. As usual, I usually check out the sci-fi and fantasy sections. Lo and behold! I found a new Aliens novel. I am quite a collector of Aliens novel, since I am a fan of the series. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to find Alien novels at where I am at. So I was particularly happy to see there was a new one out. I have just started reading it and the synopsis is interesting. Apparently this story is before Alien the movie, detailing and explaning on how The Company had information regarding the aliens. Can't wait to read it till the end which I am doing right now juggling between farming my character in Lineage 2 and this book.

Iron Man

Finally, the movie industry has done right in delivering what a comic adaptation should be. You don't need me to tell you that this movie rocks, it is everywhere in the web! My personal opinion, this movie brings justice to Iron man. Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor and it is a shame that not many people know that. He brought Tony Spark with all the swagger that he could muster, befitting the multi million tycoon.

The storyline is a simple one. It tells on how Tony Spark, being confident in the world he created with his products, suddenly gets to experience a different perspective which shatters his perception of the world. He later goes on a journey of self discovery and ultimately, Iron man.

The action in the movie is top notch with spectacular visuals and effects whenever iron man is in the shot. Surprisingly, Jeff Bridges plays a great villain. I hope he plays more villains in the future, his look in this movie is badass! All in all though, the cast in the movie is great and able to portray their characters believably.

But trust me when I say the true star of the show is Iron man himself. Composed entirely in CGI, he looks awesome! So I highly recommend this movie to everyone, especially comic buffs and Iron man fans! Hopefully, any future comic adaptations are as great as this one. Certainly, this sits well with Spiderman the movie as one of the better comic adaptations into the silver screen.

Good enough to eat!

Human and Dwarf

There are a few playable races in Lineage 2 and they are humans, dwarves, orcs, light elves, dark elves and kamaels. Here is a picture of my character beside a cute female dwarf. You might recognize the tree behind us. Anyway, just wanted to show how cute some of the characters can be, despite the limitation on the game.