Video Games for 2008 Winter Holiday

Yesterday I got my copy of Peter Molyneux’s latest masterpiece: FABLE 2 for the Xbox 360 and I were stoked to play it right away, but I can’t because I got a party to attend to. So I went to the party, do some eating-while-talking activities, trying to socialize with people; and then got home at around 2000 hours.

I immediately wrap-off the plastic cover of the game, put the disc into the console and played the game until I had a headache that I almost puke at 0330 hour the next morning. Then I went to bed, dreaming about fantasy lands…

It has been a while since I got so hooked onto a videogame, and it is for the proper reason: the game is brilliant.

I loved the first FABLE, and this second installation is far BETTER. I know it is not a perfect game; the combat is fun but kinda clunky, the animation is quite stiff and there were lots of other limitations; but all these negatives were so small compared to how much fun I got from playing it.

You got to utilize swords, guns and magic in combat, engage in quests to further the interesting storylines, own a shop or house to lent to make money, get married and have kids, get a job, be a hero or a jerk to the town and so on.

I’m still far from finishing the main quest, and I intend to fully enjoy the open game world by straying from the guided path by doing random jobs and mini-quests scattered all around across the huge map.

The dog companion was a great addition too! The dog A.I. really makes you feel like you’re adventuring out with the real man’s best friend.

And oh, I forgot to mention that I also got Gears Of War 2 and a Space Invaders T-Shirt along with my Fable 2 order. I need to finish Fable 2 first, and then I’ll take my dirty hands on Gears Of War 2. Those 2 games are basically my “Winter Holiday Games” for the year, and I think I picked a good choice.

What about you? What is your “Winter Holiday Games” this year?

Finished GTA IV !!!

What a satisfyingly long and fun ride! After clocking 32 hours of running around Liberty City doing errands for mafia bosses, russian businessmen and all sort of crooks, while spending some time shooting cops on the face, buying hookers and visiting the local strip club, finally I’ve beaten GTA IV. Well, at least the main story.

After spending some hefty time with the game, I can safely say that this is the best game that I have ever played, ever! GTA IV is the best game of all time and if you haven’t played it yet, do yourself a favour and go play it! It’s simply amazing.

The story, although not the best out there, keeps you interested all the way through and there were some emotional moments that would make you laugh, angry, sad and happy. Each character in the game has their own memorable unique personalities, especially the main character, Niko Bellic. I couldn’t stop mimicking the way he talks and his accents, it’s so cool!

One of the main fun factors of this game is none other the new physics engine. Your environment and surroundings react realistically, the cars are fun to ride, when you bump onto someone, or if you shot someone’s foot with a shotgun, they’ll react like what they’re supposed to in the real world. The developers had created the most realistic representation of our world through the use of their new graphics + physics engine. Nothing is more exciting than driving in a sports car in a high speed police chase, hit-and-running innocent pedestrians while you try to steady the aim of you machine gun to shoot at the coming swat trucks and biker gangs.


The game is chock full of stuff to do. If you don’t want to do the story missions, you could steal any car, find a good spot with a lot of innocent pedestrian, and let loose on a killing spree, shooting at the virtual men and women of Liberty City. Then the cops will come and try to kill you so you must shoot them too. It’s fun.

The amount of effort put into the sound of the game is also amazing. There were lots of radio stations that you could listen in your stolen car. Cars and guns sound real and brutal. You could hear pedestrian talking on their phone. When someone you kill dies a horrible painful death, they will scream a horrible painful death-scream.

This is definitely a very violent game and not suitable at all to kids. If you’re someone who couldn’t take entertainment-violence, this game is not for you. But if you’re like me, who likes some virtual violence in the safety of your own home, a good story, fantastic gameplay, and an overall entertaining time, GO PLAY THIS GAME NOW!

The game fucking ROCKS!

p\s: The game's multiplayer component is wicked fun! You could go online and play with other 15 people and wreck havoc in the Liberty City, playing all-time multiplayer favourites like deathmatch and racing, to unique multiplayer modes like cops and crooks. After finishing the main story, I still am planning to put the disk on my 360 for a long time because whenever I got the time, I'm sure using it to play online multiplayer for some crazy mindless entertainment! Totally worth it!

the grand wait is over

forget about life.

i just got my copy of grand theft auto IV from the mail box.

holy fucking shit, i'm going to forget about living in the real world for a moment.

game on!

29hb 4 2008

it's the 29th of april 2008, marking the launch of one of the most anticipated games of all time; grand theft auto IV. i've never been this excited for a game release since half-life 2!

i pre-ordered the game months before and i just got confirmation that they just shipped it from the store, going right into my mailbox. i just can't wait to get my hands on this game; the wait is simply killing me!

although i've only finished gtaIII, played half through gta vice city and almost completed gta san andreas, i knew that this is going to be the best gta game yet!

new shooting mechanism, new physics engine with the amazing euphoria technology, liberty city setting with more detail and realism, beautiful graphics, awesome character and storylines; the list of good things to come from this game is getting me all worked up to play.

the new multiplayer gameplay looks totally fun too!

come on sweet little game, come to papa! my xbox360 needs some working up to do!

sepuluh hari bulan empat

i do my shopping for new clothes only once or twice a year, and i chose today to buy some new clothes because suddenly i got bored of the adidas jumper that i've been wearing for the past 4 years.

i bought a blue jacket and a long sleeve shirt. i don't really care about fashion, but i believe in dressing decently. i think the shirt matched the jacket well enough. i don't buy any pants because i got more than i needed; plus i bought a new levis jeans last year, and that should last me another 2-4 years.

on the way back, i got stopped by (again!) christian missionaries! and this time, they're americans! they said they're not from the jehovah witness church, but some other church that i don't remember the name. i don't know what is wrong with these christian missionaries; they are very friendly at first but when i said that i'm a muslim, the 'friendly' expression on their faces changed into 'troubled'.

they got nothing to worry about because i forgot to bring my bomb-strapped-jacket along.

but it got me thinking; why are there so many christian missionaries here in akita? when i was in nagano, i never met these people. maybe these missionaries are attracted to the 3 things that are famous in akita: the komachi rice, the komachi sake and the akita bijin (美人-pretty girls). looks like the christian youth, just like the muslim youth, are also horny to fuck?!

hahaha i'm just kidding. being horny to fuck got nothing to do with any religion. it's a natural thing.

maah, forget about that; what is more important is that i got my xbox360 back from the repair shop; and it's all free of charge! fuck yeah! now i can get my game on again! i already ordered condemned: bloodshot; can't wait to play that and be spooked out of my mind!

last week i ate udon. then i took the picture below at a 100yen shop.

lastly, to end this totally random post; a peaceful picture of aragaki yui being trapped inside a shower of artificial rain. she should do more stuff like this. so sweet, so relaxing.

diari hari ini

Tengah hari tadi macam biasa la, pegi marudai cari bento. Mcam ni la kehidupan aku skang, hidup bergantung kepada bento aje, nak masak sendiri malas plak hehe. Masuk2 marudai, terus pegi bento corner, ambik shake (salmon) bento 398 yen, terus gi kaunter nak bayar.

Time tengah beratur tuh, aku tengok sekeliling; mata menjalar kearah kaunter2 lain, kiri kanan. Mak aih, customer lain sumer nya suri rumah tangga, sumer tengah shopping untuk masak malam la kot. Penuh satu shopping basket ngan ikan la, sayur la, buah-buahan la. さすが主婦！

Customer yg kat depan aku nih, punya la stylo berpakaian, ngan low-cut denim + mid-high heels; tapi dondong anak kat belakang mcam pikul beg skolah. Dia beli daging babi brapa pack ah, pastu tisu tandas, kubis pastu apa lagi ah.

Adoih bosan sungguh aku menunggu in-line masa time suri rumah ramai nih. Diaorg nih memang beli banyak gila. Time sampai giliran, aku ternampak plak kat corner depan pintu masuk tuh ada satu corner baru; jual sotong padat! Terus aku kagum: kat jepun pon ada jual gak ke sotong padat nih?! Terus aku keluar line, kaki melangkah laju aje ke corner yg mcam menarik tuh.

100 yen sebijik? Wah lai mahal nya! Tapi kalo tengok rupa, pastu aroma nya, memang sebijik mcam sotong padat kat mesia la. Cuma sotong yg diaorg pakai nih nampak lagi kembung. Ish ni tak leh jadi nih. Kena cuba try makan nih!!!

Dengan perasaan berdebar2 aku check ingredients yg terpampang kat promotion board tuh. Fuhh selamat! Takde pakai bahan2 halal! So apa lagi, terus aku ambik seketul, pastu terus gi beratur balik dalam line. Adoih kena tunggu lagi. Kali nih customer depan aku sorang makcik tua plak.

Tapi nasib baik sebab dia beli sos tiram ngan garam aje. Nampak gaya nya, makcik nih tgh masak kot, pastu baru sedar dia takde sos tiram ngan garam, so terus dia tergesa2 datang tanpa sedar yg dia tak tanggalkan lagi apron.

Urusan dah abis, terus menuju ke basikal. Wooh! Org yg parking beskal dia sebelah beskal aku letak anjing plak dalam raga. Kecik nak mampos anjing tuh, kalo aku sepak ngan kaki kiri pon bole terbang sampai Hulu Langat. Aku tarik basikal aku slow2, tak nak kejutkan anjing yg tengah tido. Geram nak sepak.

Balik2 bilik, terus letak sotong padat yg aku beli tadi atas cutting board. Belah dua. Cium bau. Hmm bau memang sebijik mcam mesia punya. Letak dalam mulut. !!!. Rasa pon sama siot! Cuma dia letak nasi jepun aje. Kalo yg mesia punya, letak pulut. Hmm… aku rasa version mesia lagi sedap kot, sebab rasa pulut tu lagi kuat.

Pastu aku buka monitor computer. Hmm drama LOST episode 7 dah siap download. So aku tgk la episode nih sambil makan bento. Gilak ah best gila episode kali nih! Memang tak sia2 aku download version HD punya. 1GB untuk satu episode tuh. LOST season 4 nih memang best. Aku rasa season yg paling best kot dlam banyak2 season dia selama nih.

Tiba2 dapat email drpd prof research lab. Waah dapat kerja plak! Kena siapkan sebelum 27hb nih. Hari ni 22hb… sempat kot buat. Kerja nya simple aje: Translate thesis yg foreign researcher buat, daripada English ke Japanese. Simple tapi memang memakan masa yg lama sebab nuance bahasa jepun ngan bahasa inggeris nih lain, so kena hati2 time translate. 面倒くせぇ！

Lepas abis tgk LOST, pasang Xbox 360 plak. Nak sambung main The Darkness. Tapi timbul satu masalah besar. Xbox aku kena penyakit The Ring of Death! Pastu freeze. Terus tak leh main !!! Arrghhh !!! Haish, nampak gaya nya… kena la aku beli PS3 hahahaha !!! Nanti beli la PS3 bila Grand Theft Auto 4 kuar. Tak sabar wooh. Xbox aku bole pegi mampos hahaha! Hmm… nanti ah anta kedai servis. Harap2 dia tak kena charge baiki. Siot tul la Microsoft, buat hardware asyik ada fault jeh. Software pon sama.

Sebab takleh main game, aku pasang movie plak. JUMPER. Mcam best aje. Trailer mcam best, so memang aku excited gila. Tapi malang sekali. Movie nih tak best gila. Cerita hancur. Lakonan lagi la teruk. Takde focus atau pon narration yg lurus. Progression diantara scene bercelaru. CGI ngan action scenes pon mediocre aje. Sungguh aku hampa.

Tup tap tup tap, dah pukul 9 malam. Dlm pkl 9:30, dak2 nih kumpul kat kaikan nak bawak kohai (junior) yg baru datang daripada mesia makan kat marumatsu. Kohai belanja, so kena la ikut hehehe. Perut aku masih kenyang lagi drpd makan bento tadi, so aku makan tempura soba aje. Simple. Terima kasih kohai2 yg baru datang; even though aku tak ingat lagi nama korang. Selamat Datang ke Akita.

Balik bilik, check email. Antara kandungan email2 aku yg menarik sket nak citer:

1) Awek Romania nih ejek aku ‘small penis’. Ces. Tapi aku tipu cakap yg aku ni org jepun time aku mula2 start email ngan dia. Memang patut la dia ejek aku mcam tu; org jepun nih besar mana la yeh.... Ntah2 dia pon tipu gak. Ntah2 dia bukan nya awek umur 24 tahun, tapi pakcik European tua kutuk berjanggut suka child pornography.

2) Mamat Nigeria, dia cakap dia umur 25 tahun, tegap, nice body pastu have a nice smile; dia cakap nak kawan. Hahahahahaha gila gay nak mampos! Cuak siot. Terus delete, ban and sayonara forever hahaha!

Abis check email pastu ngarut2 kat social networking sites, rasa nak buat assignment tadi plak. Tapi dah lewat nih. Baik aku tido. Tapi sebelum tido, tulis blog dulu hahaha. Start esok, bangun awal, pastu focus buat assignment. Okeh. Itu mission aku !

Fulamak! Post hari nih dalam bahasa ibunda ku! Feeweett!

don't mess with gamers with l33t h4x0r skillz

see video from this youtube link!

get this. after the obviously biased and blatant lies being hold against the xbox360 game MASS EFFECT by cooper lawrance during this fox news interview, the gaming community fight back by going to online bookstores and rate her books poorly without actually reading them; they even hacked amazon.com and put the wrong pictures describing the books. these hackers works FAST!

cooper lawrance admitted that she have not played the game but bashed the game nevertheless like a true air-head. so to return the favour, gamers gave reviews about her book without reading them first. seems fair to me.

November the 11th

so i have a question: have you ever woke up in the morning, feeling the soft breeze of morning air, while your skin rejoice the warm morning sunlight, and then you said to yourself, " hey ! i wanna be a fucking veggie ! "? that happened to me last saturday ( 11th of november ).

it was like any other ordinary saturday morning, i woke up at about 9 a.m. and found out that i had dry semen in my pajama pants. man these wet dreams are crazy, i can't control them anymore! i used to knew really well how my body works sexually but this is just too much, too messy. i guess i should reduce watching documentaries about monkeys having sex. i also think that by turning into a vegetarian, i'll have more wet dreams without being messy at the end, which is nice; but i'll talk about my wet-dream-on-a-basis topic next time ladies.

so i took a nice warm bath. turned on the tv for some recent news. oh not again ! another japanese kid, this time from saitama, committed suicide because he can't stand being bullied in school. he's just 11 years old. how sad. for those who didn't know, the current ' boom ' in japan right now is helpless elementary/junior high school students committing suicide because they're being bullied at school; but the management people from the school won't acknowledge the fact that bullying did exist in their school, just for the sake of protecting the school's good image.

japan is already famous with it's weird suicidal people but kids being infected by this horrible ' virus ' is very new and worrying because japanese live longer, yet having fewer children resulting a shrinking workforce that could choke even the world's second economy power. japanese people work very hard because they think that by having wealth, they would be happy. but they are not always right. although japan is a very wealthy country, it seems that they're not so happy. social pressure seem to be the biggest problem here because the japanese really care about their image, making them always restraining themself in every action taken in their society. wait a minute, i'm kind of lost here so let's skip this topic hehe.

so noverber the 11th is also the day sony launched it's next generation game console: the ps3 in japan, going head to head with rival company microsoft with their xbox 360 and nintendo with their very different wii. ps3 with the revolutionary CELL; a super microprocessor developed in a joint effort by IBM, Sony and Toshiba ( which is ironic because Sony is in a deathmatch with Toshiba over the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray ); is the giant japanese company's only hope to recover their broken image after some incidents that tarnished it's image ( laptop battery overheat resulting fire, lost in portable music market to Apple, intrusive virus-like cd-copying security etc. ).

the 20gb version of ps3 is sold at a very steep price ( at least for a game console ) at 49850 yen; and don't be surprised when i told you that the production cost of one ps3 is more that the street price, at about 70000 yen !!! although sony lost about 20000 yen every ps3 sold, they are hoping to recover the deficit with it's software sale and licensing. they did the same thing with the ps2, and they have been churning HUGE profits just after 2 years in it's life cycle and have been conquering almost 60% of the game console market. microsoft did the same thing when it launched it's first gaming console, the xbox, so that it's more competitively-priced, but failed to gain any profit and turn a red check into a blue one. but xbox is not a total failure because it has stolen at least 20% of the market share once dominated by nintendo and sony, and that's a success story for a rookie in this competitive business. and microsoft has used that market it gained during the last-gen period to set foot their next and MUCH better game console: xbox360. launching 1 year earlier than sony and nintendo, robust and proven LIVE! network of online gaming, reasonable pricing and great exclusive titles ( gears of war, halo 3 etc. ); all these positive traits from the software company has denied easy entry for sony this time around.

although ps3 is surely a bleeding edge high-tech machine that every single male ( the female gamer is increasing everyday though ) wants their hands on, sony has been messing around with their production line, unable to deliver their promise to have 2million units ready at launch. they're only launching with 100000 units in japan ( an another 400000 units for northern america come this 17th november ) ! that's 1/10 of what they have delivered during the ps2 launch, and that machine was sold out just minutes after launch ! the japanese gamers are sure desperate enough to have the ps3 at launch that they pay chinese homeless people 20000 yen to wait in line for them to buy the ps3 when the store opens at launch day.

i'm no analyst, but i predict in the end of the life cycle of these 3 game consoles, the market share this time won't be conquered by sony anymore. it's going to be like ps3 38%, xbox 32% and wii 30%. and that could be another way around because this round of console wars is very competitive and unpredictable. i'll watch with much anticipation. i want a ps3 and xbox 360 though. what about the wii ? meeh the wii is for kiddies and casual gamers. i'm a true gamer so ps3 and xbox 360 is the way to go, at least for me.

so i would like to end this today's long post. and yeah about me being vegetarian, i give up on the fourth day. it's been fun but oh my god i can't live without meat ! but to think about it again, i've done more than i thought i couldn't.

Tokyo Game Show 2006 : My First Impression

So yesterday i went to the annually held and currently the biggest game show in the world (after E3 was scaled down) : Tokyo Game Show and i HAVE to write something about it. Just a quick first impression and my thoughts about the games. GAMES ONLY. I’ll write about everything else when I feel like it.

ok. there were a LOT of nerds. and they stink. My first ps3 game that I tried is Coded Arms Assault from Konami. Man this game sucks. The graphics are not that impressive and the gameplay is soo mediocre. The frame rate is bad and it has a lot of jaggies. Even IF it has great graphics I don’t think this game would be good because the gameplay is lower that the average current gen FPS out there. Very disappointing.

Next: Dead or Alive Extreme 2. I have to cut lines in front of a bald, old Japanese nerd to play this and he can’t even have the guts to say something at me. Hahaha geeks. Anyways, the graphics are good, colorful and the 3d models look great. The graphic is solid but still not impressive enough. Now on to the gameplay. Beach volley ball is harder than I though. Jet Ski is fun. Other mini-games are fun and cute especially the Butt-Sumo. Now that’s how game developers should do with game-babes.

Next: Lost Planet. Man this game is GOOD. The graphic is very nice with the motion blur and everything and the animation is solid too. I only played the multiplayer portion of the demo and it looks like capcom is doing a very good job at that department. Now that’s one good Xbox360 game.

Next: Heavenly Sword and Genji. I only just watched some guy play. OMG the graphics are amazing and the gameplay is fun. Heavenly Sword really reminds me of God of War and I personally think that it’s better than God of War. On the other hand, Genji reminds me of onimusha goodness and the graphics is just BEAUTIFUL. Medieval japan never looked this good.

Next: Warhawk. I have to wait for 1 hour in line to play this game. This game utilizes the 6 axis motion sensor in the ps3 controller when flying the many air vehicles and I have to say that I’m quite disappointed with the controls. Maybe I’m just not used to the new controls but it’s just hard to stay on target and actually hit it. It’s really weird and intuitive in the same time too and I guess I just have to spend more time with it to get used to the new controls. And oh, the graphics are…. OK. Not bad and not too impressive too.

Next: Virtua Fighter 5. This game is absolutely stunningly beautiful ! I got to play one of the 2 new characters (Eileen with her monkey fighting style) and well, maybe I'm still not used to playing her so i got beaten up by this other guy that I'm playing with. I guess they don't change the gameplay much because it feels just like Virtua Fighter 4 and that's a good thing because Virtua Fighter 4 is one of the best 3D fighting game out there. Solid gameplay, solid graphics.

Next: Resistance Fall of Man. Watched some Japanese kid played this. Oh yeah the graphics are GOOD ! Very nice. The game play is fun too especially the GUNS !!! it rocks !!! I don’t know why but I think this is going to be a very good FPS for the ps3. The guys who made rachet and clank really have done a great job. Can’t wait to play this！

Next: Lair. I watched it while it’s being played. Wow. My biggest disappointment at the show. They say the graphic are going to blow people away but I think it just sucks real hard. Jaggies. Jaggies. Jaggies. The texture looks bland. Very bad graphics for a much-hyped ps3 game. But the gameplay is another story. Just like Warhawk, it utilizes the ps3s’ six axis motion sensors to fly the ‘dragons’ and it makes it easier to handle it during flight. The gameplay is okay but damn I was disappointed with the graphics.

Next: Cell Factor. A FPS for windows that fully utilizes Aegia’s new physics engine. Wow physics make my eyes bleed. Never have I saw such gaming physics greatness in my life. You can pick up hundreds of stuff with your psi powers and throw it at your enemies with great speed and force. Best physics engine I have ever seen.

Next: Some small games I don’t remember. I don’t know. I don’t remember. I don’t care.

NEXT: WOOOOOTTT !!!! DEVIL MAY CRY 4 !!!! The first game that I want to play is this game, but unfortunately the wait line is 3 hours !!! So just settled with watching someone lucky bastards play the demo. Damn the graphics are just amazing. This is THE game that screams: NEXT GEN !!!. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous and beautiful. Monster killing has never been more beautiful than this. And the gameplay is just purely Devil May Cry good. It’s fast, hectic and FUN. WOW. I’m totally blown away by this game. Argh I want to play Devil May Cry !!!! Dante is not the main character anymore but still playable. The main character is now Nero, that looks and dresses pretty much like Dante but he's even cooler than the ever over-the-top master of cheezy lines, Dante. His right (or left?) arm has this wicked, cool looking lines of glare to it and acts as a new power system (I'm guessing) that they're are trying to bring to the newest installement to this great series. Nero can lauch sick, stylish power moves with that arm and it look very good and fits very nicely with the Devil May Cry universe; oh how many times do I have to tell you that I can't wait to get my hands on this new mechanic !

I guess that’s it for now. Metal gear solid 4 was not playable but being able to see Devil May Cry 4 is pretty much worth the trip. This year’s TGS is really about the ps3. Although I know that the ps3 is a beast, I don’t really think the launch games are going to make me want to make a purchase during launch. I’m going to get my ps3 only when Devil May Cry 4 or Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out.

On the other hand, Xbox360 is looking good with it’s 2^nd year titles that’s coming out and I’m really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I don’t get to see Gears of War and Lost Odyssey because I…. forgot to. And Nintendo Wii is unplayable to the visitors. We only get to see Nintendo models is weird outfits play sonic and other wii games using the wii-mote. Oh well, in conclusion, this year’s TGS is slightly better than last year because I got to actually play the ps3. Next-gen gaming is sure making me very excited. If only I can get myself more excited in my studies then in gaming…….