Nyx | HirOnyx

what's up lately

2011-01-30T19:03:00.002+08:00

couldnt believe it has been so long since i last updated this blog. in between this time, i have picked up a new hobby which was kinda draining all my remaining free time besides work and some gaming, i have picked up video editing as a new hobby. still new to it, and i am still trying to learn some basic stuff on it, but overall it has been a fun experience. have created a handful of videos recently, they are available at the side bar.

Sculpting Day 7 & 8

2010-06-07T16:20:00.000+08:00

Was really busy these days at work, didnt really have the time to update,so here's a quick one.

Lesson 7

Lesson 8

Finished Product

Sculpting Day 5 & 6

2010-04-17T17:53:00.000+08:00

been quite tiring since i started working in a new office. not because of the work load though, but i think its due to the fact that i have to attend lessons after work. even then, i feel that my time is well spent.

Lesson 5

have started working on the neck and shoulders area.

as usual, this side was done by the lecturer.

i wasn't quite finished with the left side of the face, spent another 2-3 hours after class at home to finish up the neck and shoulders as well as the cheek area.

Lesson 6

adding more details to the face here now, since lesson 7 would be the last lesson for me to finish up everything while Lesson 8 would be used for baking the super sculpey.

this side done by the lecturer again, the way he sculpted the ear makes it look so easy.

i spent the whole lesson just sculpting the ear, and it still looks weird. i went home and scrapped off the ear and redo it again, you'll be able to see it on the Lesson 7 post, i think :P

i hope u're starting to recognize who i'm sculpting, if not... oh well.

Sculpting Day 4

2010-03-27T22:26:00.000+08:00

looks like the students attending the lesson is getting lesser and lesser. this week only 3 students from the short course attended the lesson including myself. i guess its good for me at least, where the lecturer has more time to attend to each student as compared to a larger group of students.

finally get to shape the sculpture to a specific model that we want to do. 1 of the students chose to make a lion-man, another chose to make one after her kid, as for me, well, not going to tell, see if you guys can find out wat i am going for as i get shape it closer and closer to wat i want to do.

this side was done by the lecturer.

i tried mimicking my lecturer's work and it seems to be quite nice... for the 1st time i was praised for my work in art lol. i never scored well in art classes back in my school days. so i was kinda surprised that the lecturer actually said i did a good job.

no lesson next week since its good friday, so will have to wait for 2 weeks before i have pictures for lesson 5.

Sculpting Day 2 and 3

2010-03-25T20:52:00.000+08:00

did not bring back my sculpture on the 2nd lesson, so i didnt took a picture then. brought the sculpture back after the 3rd lesson and here's some of the pictures i took before and after the 3rd lesson.

this was done after the 2nd lesson. lecturer did the right side of the face while i tried to "copy" it on the left side.

this was done after the 3rd lesson. the same thing, lecturer did the right side of the face. i find the ear very difficult, so are the eyes.

this is the side view of the right side. see the ear... done by the lecturer, i wonder how am i going to match his level....

Sculpting Day 1

2010-03-07T14:46:00.000+08:00

Went for my sculpting class last friday. i must say that i didnt expect the lesson to be so confusing and boring. basically not only the new beginners (like myself) are in the class, a group of advanced students are using the same classroom, but doing their own work. many times we dont know the instructions given by the lecturer was for us, or for them. moreover, i felt very out of place in class. everybody else seems to be an art student of some kind or have done graphics/design and wat not. i, have totally no knowledge of art in any kind, i cannot even draw!

anyway, with all the confusion going on, we're supposed to be making some kind of a head sculpture. we just managed to make out a simple shape of the head with aluminium foil and will hopefully proceed with the sculpey material. somehow i dont think the class did much in terms of teach and helping us understand stuff, the lecture was helping a couple of the students do most of their work, which i think, does not help these students at all if the work is mostly done by the lecturer. sure enough his/her sculpture will be the best looking one, but what did he or she learn after the lessons?

yes, this is my ugly looking unfinished sculpture. brought it home so i can make some adjustments to it.

this is the side view.

just when i reached home and started unpacking my materials (used in the sculpting class), i noticed that i have left the tool made by the lecturer for us (the new students) in the classroom. it was a small tool, and i got distracted when i was packing the bigger stuff. i hope that the school finds it or i'll just have to be thick skinned enough to ask the lecturer to make me another one.

Dante's Inferno

2010-02-14T19:03:00.000+08:00

when i 1st saw the trailer of Dante's Inferno, it was really interesting. it's an action adventure game, a genre that EA seldom produces. i told myself i need to try this game out as it looks interesting enough. when the demo was out on xbox live's marketplace, i downloaded it immediately. played through it and was kind hesitant whether should i purchase the game or not.

1 thing for sure as i was playing the demo, i kept asking myself, am i playing God of War? it was so damn similar, especially the gameplay. the fighting combos, the upgrading "currency", the character movements, the life and mana refills and the soundtrack. besides having a different weapon, Dante and Kratos have really similar fighting combos. i wont say about the in-game "currency" as many action games nowadays have almost the same design: kill-something-and-get-souls-to-upgrade-something. the way Dante and Kratos move around looks similar too, maybe they are using similar physics engine... life and mana refills feels almost identical, except for the visuals. the soundtrack, REALLY sounds like a God of War track.

i really like God of War, but i'm not sure if i'm willing to spend money to buy a game that feels almost the same after playing the demo. i guess i will have to wait till i get more feedback from frens and such, and at the same time, if i can get my hands on a cheap pre-owned copy of the game, i'll probably buy it and give it a try.

singapore idol, y am i not surprised?

2009-12-29T19:17:00.000+08:00

to those of you who watched singapore idol finale last sunday, i wondered, y bother? the results r not even surprising, yet another malay male won the contest. i have nothing against malay males nor malays, mind u i have quite a number of malay frens and mostly males. the issue is the voting public, not the contestants. the results are always the same and we will never get a combo breaker if mediacorp never changes the style of the competition.

i would very much rather watch taiwan's "one million star" where the panel of professional judges decide who wins and who gets eliminated. where u truly see a talented singer win the contest and not another popularity/wealth contest.

Video Game Awards 2009

2009-12-21T08:42:00.000+08:00

Most Anticipated Game

Best Download Content

Best Downloadable Game

Best Voice

Best Cast

Best Performance by a Human Male

Best Performance by a Human Female

Best Game Based on a Movie/TV Show

Best Graphics

Best Original Score

Best Soundtrack

Best Music Game

Best Driving Game

Best Team Sports Game

Best Individual Sports Game

Best Multiplayer Game

Best Roleplaying Game

Best Action Adventure Game

Best Fighting Game

Best Shooter

Best Handheld Game

Best PC Game

Best Wii Game

Best PS3 Game

Best Xbox360 Game

Best Independend Game Fueled by DEW

Studio of the Year

Game of the Year

For more details, please visit Spike's VGA 2009 homepage.

Hero

2009-12-06T02:25:00.000+08:00

found this cool clip from styke's blog, sadly the english version is no longer available. but its not hard to understand if you watch until the end of the clip :P

Bayonetta

2009-12-05T14:00:00.003+08:00

Just downloaded a new game demo on xbox live, the game title is Bayonetta First Climax. Couldn't help but to scream "DEVIL MAY CRY!!!" when i started playing the demo, its no surprise that this game was created by the same person who created Devil May Cry, Hideki Kamiya.

I'm not really clear about the storyline as there isn't much of it in the demo. Tried the game play and it was kinda messy for me at first. I am still pondering should I buy this game as the demo itself did not provide enough game play for me to decide what to do.

the character you play as is a female, witch i suppose, since the beginning of the game there's a short cinematic about a child and something about dark arts and what so ever. and when you do a last minute dodge during a fight, you gain "witch time" which i suppose the character is a witch :P i guess her name is Bayonetta, since it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the demo, i just assume the title of the game is her name LOL. she wields 4 guns. i know, you must be asking, "how the hell she wields 4 guns? 2 on each hand?" no, she wields one on each hand and foot. basically, there's a gun attached to each heel. pretty cool design i must say. oh yeah, she can pick up any weapon dropped by the enemies.

the graphics is pretty cool and european/fashion inspired. i wonder if lady gaga would wear some of the outfit from the game XD she has a very cool and yet suggestive finishing move where she transform her hair into some sort of a monster/creature/dragon to finish off the much bigger boss opponents. i have no idea why the moment she transform her hair, her clothing disappears, making her totally naked (sorry to disappoint some of you guys, but the camera angles will assure that you don't get to see anything obscene.) unless her clothing is made up of primarily, HER HAIR! that's creepy.

found a clip of the game play on youtube. credit goes to whoever made the clip.

The Phone

2009-10-19T19:58:00.003+08:00

Project that i have been working on, has finally hit close beta. now, i can relax a little with the given day offs and night shifts i have to work. personally, i prefer to work night shifts in the office, simply becos there isnt much pressure going on in the office when everybody else is gone except you and your team mates. in other words, i can make alot of noise and not get complains XD

anyway, i have been browsing mtv's site for some time now. they do have quite a few shows that i like to watch but dont really have the time to. the good thing about mtv.com is that they do have full episodes of their own shows (some of them) that you cna watch. i like to watch "Made", "Crank Yankers" and "From G's to Gents". recently i came across "The Phone": a game show where contestants are put into a real life adventure game. everything looks scripted, but its cool as hell if you were given the chance to play it.

The Phone - MTV Shows

if the embedded video doesnt work, try this link.

Roktober

2009-10-03T21:57:00.002+08:00

cant believe i missed blogging for the whole of september, it must have been the overwhelming work load and the lack of time management. besides work, most of my time is spent on playing games and sleeping. nothing fantastic happened during september anyway...

busy august

2009-08-30T19:56:00.003+08:00

not sure when it started, but i believe after the national day week, work has become really busy. have been doing alot of overtime, though it has been very tiring, i kinda liked it. i am the kind of person who rather have work to do, than to laze around. the late nights have been really physically grueling, but i had a lot of fun doing so. and thanks to those overtime, i got a couple of days off to rest at home to play my x360 and go back to watch some jdrama.

have been watching quite a few jdramas recently, and 1 that really got my attention was "The Quiz Show".

its a drama about a millionaire-ish quiz show that only requires the contestants to answer 7 questions to gain the chance to challenge for the grand prize: to fulfill a dream of your choice. though the questions appear to be very simple, but they are extremely personal and forces the contestants to admit their past sins in order to fulfill their dreams. its a really bizarre and strange drama, u cant help but to have alot of questions in ur head as u watch it. but i like how they slowly reveal the truth and eventually answer all the questions u have as u watch. though its a really nice drama, the 2nd season is a failure in my opinion. it uses the exact same formula and u dont really have anything to look forward to. the main characters are replaced by a bunch of good looking idol singers, their acting skills arent even up to par compared to the ones from season 1.

happi burst dey two mi

2009-08-05T00:30:00.005+08:00

had a simple dinner with some close frens on friday, nothing of the extraordinary except for the birthday card and cake.

the flavor of the cake is lychee, 1 of the flavors i really liked, but seriously, i think the lychees on the cake looks like... ahem...

jason photoshopped my pictures to make the card, which to my horror, i looked really ridiculous on the card. well, kinda expected it, since we did the same for jiajia's birthday card lol!

got my present from jason today. he got it air flown from the US, which i really appreciate it. didnt expect them to buy it since cant really find it in a store here in singapore. really liked the wallet, cept that it has no coin compartment, which i am still thinking what should i do with my coins...

i remember.... childhood

2009-07-13T22:49:00.002+08:00

10 things i remember from my childhood days...

1. i had a favorite green overall.

2. i also had a favorite spider-man t-shirt.

3. our 1st VHS player had a uber long wired remote control.

4. mom used to tape down every Kouhaku Uta Gassen (Red and White Song Competition).

5. my sister and i used to lie on a mattress right in front of the tv while watching it.

6. when mom was washing the floor with soapy water, my sister and i would slide on our knees on the soapy water.

7. my 1st NES game is galaga and mom used to play till over stage 100.

8. my sister and i love to clip our blankets on the front of an electric fan to create a blanket wind tunnel, and we would sit inside that tunnel for ages.

9. we had this gigantic wooden fork and spoon hanging on the wall as decoration.

10. i was selected to play the lead role in a kindergarden play, a frog.

Lümmel

2009-06-30T21:53:00.003+08:00

ever since started working in EA, i have been noticing this weird looking mini sofa lying around in the pantry/game area. not only it looks weird, it looks extremely dangerous to sit on. i saw quite a few of my colleague sitting on it while playing games and i decided to give it a try, its really astonishing. you will never believe how stable it is until you have sat on it. not only its not easy to make yourself fall off while sitting on it, you almost need alot of strength just to push yourself over while sitting on it.

meet Lümmel, the L shaped wooden framed seat thingy designed by defacto.design. there are so many ways to sit on this thingy, it really depends on how creative you are. i personally like this mini sofa so much, that i actually wanted to buy a couple myself. to my horror, it costs €169, which is about S$344! i think i shall enjoy it at work while i still can LOL

MJ 1958-2009

2009-06-27T01:00:00.002+08:00

my 1st mobile blog post

2009-06-15T18:42:00.002+08:00

This is the very 1st time I am blogging while on my way back home frm work. Ever since I bought the htc dream, I have been having a lot of fun with it. I love the qwerty keyboard on the phone. I'm the kind of person who prefers to text than to make phone calls. With the qwerty KB, I am typing alot faster than the usual numpads on mobile phones. I also like the way the text msgs are displayed in the phone. They are arranged in such a way that it looks like a msn conversation, grping all msgs to and frm the same person in a single thread, u no longer have to scroll thru a long list of msgs to look for 1.

The other cool feature abt htc dream is the android OS and the android market. It virtually supports anything frm google, allows ur phone to sync with ur goggle acc. The android market is full of free applications where u can easily try out and have fun with. The browser that comes along with the phone is great, even better than opera mini. Works like a charm, loads all the sites I visit thru the phone.

The gui quite user frenly, the ball cursor works well, except that there isn't really a cursor on the scrn, its just another alternative for u to scroll if u do not want to use the touch scrn. The only complain I have is the battery life, which I think is quite short, compared to the phones I used to carry. But putting in the features into consideration, its not bad. Hopefully there will be a new firmware patch or battery that is able to increase the battery life.

sofa king great

2009-05-01T13:26:00.003+08:00

started working since april fool's day. yes, many have asked me "are u sure they're not fooling you?" no, i'm sure. i have a written contract, and if they want to fool me, they can always see me in court lol.

work has been so far so good. the process of doing things might be a little different, but basically i just need some time to get used to it and adjust the way i work. there isnt a perfect work, so even though everything has been good to me, the people, the environment have been great, there are always some little bad stuff in every work u do. just a matter of how u weigh them against the good things. i dun really like the location, cos its freaking far, but i hope i can work there long enough for the Circle Line to start kicking in full gear, and i'll save me a lot of time on travel. the other thing i dun like is where i am sitting now. its a crampy small little place. everybody else is sitting in a spacious 1-2 meter length of table when a grp of qa testers are sitting in a small cramp room with monitors touching each other, keyboard placed diagonally and pedestal-ish drawers lying everywhere becos of the strain of space. kinda felt like there is a "discrimination" on qa testers, it has been like that in every work place i been to. qa's kinda been the lowest form of rank in every work place, and qa's always full of temp/contract stuff without the benefit of every other employee. i really hope this global discrimination of qa will change, seriously i believe qa staff has always been working just as hard as any other employee and this discrimination has to stop.

overall, work has been great. i have good co-workers, just that those i spend most time with, are now sofa king far away from me. i am hoping for the best.

IAH holds up to their rep

2009-04-25T12:18:00.002+08:00

IAH never fails to disappoint their customers. it looks like every single game they put their hands on gives a bad name to their developers. 1st was Granado Espada, then comes Hellgate: London. and now FIFA Online 2. i cant say for Hellgate, but i feel that IAH is turning fun games like GE and FIFA to hellish experiences for their customers with under par services. so freaking disappointed with them to the point that i dont know wat to feel after going below disappointed. i may have to come up with a new adjective to express wat i feel.

feeling so uneasy

2009-03-29T00:37:00.004+08:00

i have not seen my dad in years... since i moved out to stay with my mom few years back (i dont remember which year). but i will be tomolo, at my sister's new place. she arranged for us to have dinner together over at her place, menu is the last thing i'm gonna worry over. i dont know should i be happy that i am meeting my dad once again, some people may find me heartless and cold for leaving him, letting him live alone while he is in his 60s soon, there is nothing i can say to make u change ur mind since i too am wondering am i so heartless and cold?

i dont ever remember having a heart to heart talk with my dad or even a casual chat with him abt my life, my work or even my school years. i just find him so hard to approach and chat with, unlike my mom. he was always so quiet, unapproachable and always ready to reprimand me over something that he doesnt like. i remember he used to dote me, he bought me my very 1st gaming console: the nintendo entertainment system aka NES. u could say that he's the one who planted the seed. if not for him, i wont be working in the gaming industry i think. maybe its becos of his work, he was never around the whole day and was always not available for chats, he used to buy things for me just to make me happy, but as i grow older, i no longer sense father's love in any other form other than materially.

he absolutely hates me for visiting or seeing my mom when i was living with him. i have no idea why he wants to create a disgusting personality for my mom in an attempt to make me hate her. it could be his way of trying to keep me (and my sis) with him than to have us leave him for my mom. its not a biased thing on my side when i feel annoyed that he tries to uglify my mom, but i feel annoyed too when my mom tells me abt the ugly things my dad did.

its so true that when parents divorce, ultimately its the children that suffer. they can absolutely take sides or speak badly about the other party in whichever ways they want, but as their children, we can never take sides or choose to abandon either parent without feeling bad or have an attack from conscience. the fact that now divorce has become so common, its very damaging to the future. more and more kids now have divorced parents, step-siblings and many more. sooner or later, every kid in the world has divorced parents. some people might think its not a big deal but u'll never know the psychological effects the kid may have and how they grow up to be in future.

lots of time in hand

2009-03-05T19:01:00.002+08:00

been really free these days... why? becos i'm jobless now. i'm not really celebrating the fact that i am jobless, but somehow it's my decision to leave mikoishi when they offered to extend my contract. i seriously cannot continue working there now when things are wat they are now. there are so many frustration and it feels like they are just dragging everybody along with them instead of making a clear decision of wat to do. moreover, i am getting very disgusted of how some ppl work. its like kids misbehaving while the parents just let them be. its not up to strangers to go up and tell the parents how ill-mannered your kids are without insulting them, but that's the truth. that's how its now at work, some kids just feels that they are the apple of the parent's eye, they can do watever shit they want and never get reprimanded for their actions. i certainly do not want to work in an environment like this.

well this past week i have been going out, to my sis's new place and to jason's house for a small bbq we have been planning for a long time. and since now i'm jobless, allowing me to go ahead with the bbq thingy. jason went to buy the portable gas stove and the korean bbq dome. it was pretty fun and the food was nice.

this, yet again...

2009-02-17T22:59:00.002+08:00

i feel like i am on the edge again, very close to unemployment again. i seriously hate this feeling, but wat to do? with the world economy spiraling down like nobody's business, everyday u read news about this/that company laying off employees.

with this problem at hand, my parents finally decided to let me know that we're facing problems with our housing loan. if i was told of the situation earlier enough, i would have saved enough money to at least help out pay about a year or 2 worth's loan by now. anyway now i'm facing the difficulty should i be taking on any job that gives me a steady income or should i shoot for the stars and look for a job that pays at least the same amount i am earning now. currently we only have enough "reserve" to pay for around a year's loan IF the bank decides NOT TO increase the interest anytime soon. with a monthly payment of S$800++ which is a very heavy burden for me to take up alone since my parents arent working. i'm grateful that my sister offered to help pay some for us, but that is not the way it should be since she has her to pay rent for the place she's staying.

very tempted to try the "internet begging" thingy, either i get alot of donation and help pay for the housing loan, or i get hate mails or spams everyday. but i guess i wont be doing it anytime soon, unless i'm really desperate.

May God show me the way.

青水龙潭插竹竿

2009-02-13T21:44:00.002+08:00

if u dont know mandarin, the title literally means "Bamboo pole inserted into the green water dragon pool". but i guess u dont have to understand the title to watch the video... please do not use speakers if u're watching at work :P but please do listen to the audio, as it enhances the visuals. =)

having fun with telemarketers

2009-02-10T00:37:00.003+08:00

how many of u have ever received a phone call from a telemarketer trying to persuade u to buy insurance, take up loans, apply credit cards, etc etc... well, i guess we all have received such calls once in a while. i really wonder why some companies still uses telemarketing. seriously, no one pays attention to wat the telemarketer has to say, plus there are way too many phone scams nowadays which further decreases the credibility of telemarketing.

i know these people are just doing their job, but seriously, having to receive a call like this really pisses people off sometimes. i happen to come across a list of things u can do to a telemarketer from LotsofJokes.com and have fun with it...

1. If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you could sure use some money.

2. If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems. My arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died . . . "

3. If they say they're John Doe from XYZ Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where it is located, how long it has been in business, how many people work there, how they got into this line of work if they are married, how many kids they have, etc. Continue asking them personal questions or questions about their company for as long as necessary.

4. (This works great if you are male) Telemarketer: "Hi, my name is Judy and I'm with XYZ Company. " You: Wait for a second and with a real husky voice ask, "What are you wearing?"

5. Cry out in surprise, "Judy? Is that you? Oh my God! Judy, how have you been?" Hopefully, this will give Judy a few brief moments of terror as she tries to figure out where she could know you from.

6. Say "No" over and over. Be sure to vary the sound of each one, and keep a rhythmic tempo, even as they are trying to speak. This is most fun if you can do it until they hang up.

7. If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends Plan, reply, in as sinister a voice as you can, "I don't have any friends, would you be my friend?"

8. If the company cleans rugs, respond: "Can you get out blood? Can you get out goat blood? How about human blood?"

9. After the Telemarketer gives his or her spiel, ask him or her to marry you. When they get all flustered, tell them that you can't just give your credit card number to a complete stranger.

10. If the Telemarketer is selling raffle tickets, tell him or her that you work for the same company, and that employees cannot participate.

11. Answer the phone. As soon as you realize it is a Telemarketer, set the receiver down, scream, "OH MY GOD!" and then hang up.

12. Tell the Telemarketer you are busy at the moment and ask if he/she will give you their home phone number so you can call him/her back. When the Telemarketer explains that telemarketers cannot give out their home numbers say, "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home, right?" The Telemarketer will agree and you say, "Me either!" and proceed to hang up.

13. Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.

14. Tell them it is dinner time, but ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation. For added effect, clanging of cutlery and dishes is recommended.

15. Tell the Telemarketer you are on "home incarceration" and ask if they could bring you some beer.

16. Ask them to fax the information to you, and make up a number.

17. Tell the Telemarketer, "Okay, I'll listen to you. But I should probably tell you, I'm not wearing any clothes."

18. Insist that the caller is really your buddy Leon, playing a joke. "Come on, Leon, cut it out! Seriously, Leon, how's your momma?"

19. Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up... louder... louder!

20. Tell them to talk very slowly, because you want to write every word down.

DJ Max Trilogy

2009-01-31T01:58:00.003+08:00

finally i got my own copy of DJ Max Trilogy, couldnt be happier. i bought it at a shop in funan, which to my surprise, the guy in the shop told me that he will give me a cheaper price if i order a copy from him (i went there yesterday and they dont have the game yet). so i did, and went over to another store to find out that they are selling the same edition (the first print edition that comes with the soundtrack) at a price that is more than $10 higher. well if u are hoping to get it cheap, maybe u can try out that store too, but i dont guarantee that they will give the same price. the shop's name is G3 Interactive Pte Ltd and it's in 5th floor Funan IT mall.

the copy i had also comes with postcards. the silly thing is the manual is glued to the case and i dont know who the hell wants to read the manual holding the big case open while reading it, or spread it across the whole desk just to do so... btw, a USB key is needed everytime u launch the game. to prevent piracy and illegal copies, pentavision sure came up with good measures. the USB key also saves ur profile and game progress.

i'm unable to capture videos since the capturing software i was using couldnt record audio, for watever reasons, i do not know. i tried figuring it out for like 2 hours before i gave up. i can only show u screenshots. if u want videos, u probably will be able to find some easily on youtube.

they have the same collection feature from the portable series, where u can collect OST, videos, discs, images and so on.

i dont quite like the new control settings, since now the fever mode is added (unlike the previous PC online version), the spacebar is now used to activate the fever mode... which i couldnt get used to it.... yet. i keep hitting the wrong keys when i play the 5 buttons mode...

the equipment feature is the same as the portable version. u unlock them 1st then u can buy them using gold earned while u play.

they have this Live mode settings in the sound options. basically just adding live crowd noise to simulate a club or a concert stage, which i seriously hated it... i turned it off :P

the disappointing thing abt the graphic settings is i cant play in windows mode... i am forced to play it in full screen. and when i try to do an alt-tab while in the game, it crashes... a huge turn off for me.

the song selection interface is slightly different from the previous PC online version. i'm not really fond of this new interface. oh well, just have to get used to it.

i'm not sure is it me or my PC, i noticed that the timing of the notes coming down isnt that "accurate" becos i have been getting really low max percentages. i'm not saying i'm a very good player, just that the same songs i played on the portable version, the note's timing isnt just the same as the ones in trilogy.... but the overall graphic is pretty good.

i went to the network mode to see how's the competition there. quite alot of hardcore players.

the network mode isnt the same as the previous PC online version. the previous version can support up to 6 players in the same room competing against one another and the highest scorer wins. but this network mode in trilogy only allows 1v1 battles, though each room can support up to 8 players, the other players that are not battling are simply spectators put on a waiting list.

and if u think u're good at dj max, look at the player on the left side. not only is he at lvl 99 now (trilogy was released on 29th dec 2008, just over 1 month ago), he is playing in CHAOS mode. wat is chaos mode? well dj max has this feature where u can change the speed of the notes falling on the screen. the higher the number, the faster the notes fall. the fastest speed on trilogy is x5, but chaos mode is way beyond that. in chaos, u cant control the speed of the notes, on the contrary, every single note drops at totally different speed. which means the 1st note u see does not necessary be the 1st note to drop to the bottom. so imagine this guy playing at chaos mode against another player and still leading...

overall dj max trilogy is a good game since it has alot of content in it and it costs around the same as the PSP UMD. if u have a pc at home good enough to meet the minimum requirements, why not buy it?

Bed selling and uber boredom

2009-01-27T19:25:00.004+08:00

my sister is GIVING AWAY her bed, so if any one of u wants to take it pls contact me. items included:

1. Slumberland King sized wooden bed frame.
2. King sized mattress.

all for free (pay ur own transport)

this couple of days during the CNY was pretty boring... though i had visitors, but most of them are people whom i dont even know... so i stayed in my room and play xbox... was really bored till i decided to try something really stupid while playing Assassin's Creed.

there's this camp somewhere near the entrance of Acre where there's a huge pit. i went to lure soldiers into the pit and killed them in the pit. i was basically trying to make a human carpet in the pit. when i finally lured every soldier i can find and kill them in the pit, there's this graphical glitch happening and when i exit the pit, new soldiers are spawned and almost half of the human carpet in the pit vanished. well, this is the best i can do...

All's Well Ends Well

2009-01-25T10:49:00.010+08:00

Went to watch the latest All's Well Ends Well movie with Jason yesterday. though it was not as funny as the 1992 version, its still funny, compared to the dreadful 1997 version.

All's Well Ends Well (家有喜事)

All's Well Ends Well Too (花田喜事)

All's Well Ends Well 97 (97家有喜事)

All's Well Ends Well 2009 (家有喜事2009)

PangYa Portable

2009-01-19T20:53:00.003+08:00

if there is 1 game that i love on my psp just as much as DJ Max Portable, that would be PangYa Portable. I'm so so so so so so damn glad that PangYa has been ported to the psp. the last time when it was ported to the nintendo Wii, i was already secretly hoping for it to be ported to the psp.

i liked PangYa on the psp more than on the pc, not only becos i can play it when i'm traveling, i no longer need to wait for someone to join me in a game in order to play, i also no longer need to wait for other players after i have finished my shot. (cept when playing a VS game against the CPU, but that can be fast forwarded)

there are also some interesting updates on the portable version that i really liked compared to the PC version. i've read on the forums that some gamers felt that the CPU opponent is way too easy to play against. well, initially i thought so too. but if u want to finish all the stages in story mode and tournament modes, not having an average score of at least -10 in a 3-star map (18 holes) is going to be difficult. esp the last few stages, it is going to be quite tough.

if u liked PangYa like i do, then u should try the psp version. the sad thing is, it's in korean. yes, the menus ARE in korean. took me quite some time to figure out the navigation of the menus and everything. but if u want to give PangYa Portable a try, being the good person i always am, i will help explain some of the menus to u. i dont understand korean, so i am not going to translate the exact meaning to u, just explaining wat the menu does.

at the title screen, u'll see 2 buttons. on the left is New Game, on the right is Load Game.

once in, u'll see the main menu with 4 big buttons and a very small one at the top right side. from the left: story mode, free play/tournaments, network play and lastly item shop/home. the small button on the top right is some sort of a settings menu, but i have no idea wat are the sub menus in it. i only know the 1st one in there is the sound/music setting. i dont wish to mess up anything in the settings, i'm just too afraid to erase my saved game lol. mess it at ur own risk.

basically the story mode is where u unlock the characters. u start up with the 2 basic characters: Nuri and Hana. as u play, u will slowly unlock all the other characters. basically u choose a character, and u play the story mode of that particular character. each character's story mode ranges from 5-8 stages. stages range from tutorial (teaching u how to make special shots) to VS match to mini missions.

in the free play/tournament mode, there are 4 sub modes: license (i think), tournaments, free play and tutorial. i'm not sure if the 1st one is called the license mode, that's wat i read someone wrote on a forum. i dont really know wat it does, i guess maybe only after clearing the license mode of that particular map, u will be able to play that map in tournament or free play. that's just my guess, i dont really know. becos i finished it before i tried the tournaments and free play.

basically in license, u will need to meet a target score for each map. u will be given 4 tasks to choose from, and they award different scores when u complete them. obviously the ones that award more scores are harder. the tasks include: Hole in one, chip in, pang score, stroke score and approach shot. hole in one: obviously u need to get a hole in one, it's not easy, but they give u 10 tries i think. chip in, basically the same as hole in one, just that it's alot easier and u get 10 tries too. pang score, u will have to reach the target pang score within a certain number of holes. stroke score, the same as pang score, except that the target score is the stroke score. approach shot is somewhat of a mini tournament, where u will need to hit the ball as close to the hole as possible. competing with other CPU players and the player having the highest score awarded according to the shortest distance between the ball and the hole wins. if u chip in when u play the approach shot task, u are disqualified lol.

in tournament, there will be different levels of tournament for each map, and everytime u win the tournament (1st placing), u will be awarded a set of items (usually clothing) and an amount of pang. the CPU opponents become more and more skilled as the level of the tournaments increases. once u finished all the levels of that particular map, u will be awarded the trophy. this is the best way to earn alot of pang and a nice set of clothing.

in free play, u just choose which map u want to play, how many holes and the last setting which i dun really know wat it means. basically just play on ur own, no opponents and no target scores. u will still get to earn pang as u play.

tutorial is, well, tutorial, which i think is pointless for u since if u're reading this, u probably dont know korean, u wont know wat it is trying to tell u. else, u probably know how to hit the special shots, u dont need tutorial anymore :P unless u're very good at interpretation that u can understand by just looking at pictures and arrows.

i guess i dont need to explain wat the item shop is. basically the same things u can buy in pangya online and more variety. personally i like the new clothing sets. the only difference is that the clothes no longer have attributes. the clothing however comes with pang bonus. when u equip, each piece of clothing gives 10% pang bonus when u play. but keep in mind that the pang bonus can only be used once, so if u want pang bonus again, just equip a brand new clothing piece. the club sets still comes with attributes, dun worry. and there are alot more club sets than the online version. (at least from what i play, since pangya SEA only has up to season 2. now the korean version has season 4!) personally i like the microphone clubset alot. it's very cute lol.

as for the caddies, well the caddies in the online versions are now playable characters. the only caddie in the psp version is papel (the flying paper bag). but there will be a whole lot of different papels to collect. the only way to unlock a new version of papel is to buy clothing in the item shop. CLOTHING, not club sets or balls or rings. every item u buy, u will be given a stamp. every 20 stamp unlocks a new papel. there is also a "gashapon"-ish item shop in the psp version. u pay 200 pangs and u get a random number of dolfini balls where u "open" them to find out wat u got. and if u're lucky, u will get something not sold in the item shop. personally i dont buy balls or "potions" in the item shop, becos u can get alot of them in the "gashapon". if u intend to play alot on the "gashapon", then dont bother buying balls or potions.

i have been having alot of fun playing pangya portable, the only disappointment is ice cannon map is not in the game! i guess the designers probably notice that ice cannon allows the player to earn too much pang (if they know how lol) and they remove it so that players will not use that map to "cheat" or earn pang fast, but to go through the story mode or tournaments. i apologize for not having pictures, since i couldnt find a source for the screenshots of pangya portable, and i dont have cwcheat on my psp to take screenshots :P

Say it!

2009-01-17T16:33:00.001+08:00

2009 and?

2009-01-09T09:49:00.003+08:00

I got this quiz/questionaire thingy from All & Sundry. dont ask me how i found this blog, i just happen to, and at least i have the manners to credit where i got it from XD btw, "this year" that is mentioned in the questionnaire means 2008, i'm just a few days late, so bear with me :P

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
climb 7 storey-ish flight of stairs at 1 go.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
i never make resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
nope.

5. What countries did you visit?
none.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
stable job/career.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March - the end of my time at 10tacles.
June - the start of my new job at mikoishi.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
that flight of stairs i was talking abt in pt 1. and my current pay, which i never thought i would be paid so much (imo) to do a job that i like.

9. What was your biggest failure?
inability to bootlick to secure my position at work.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
in 2008? nope. but i have an illness since birth till now.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
xbox 360.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
peiling, for starting to show some signs of proactivity.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
i wouldnt want to say that here lol!

14. Where did most of your money go?
xbox 360 + games, domestic expenses.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
buying my 1st xbox 360.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
not that i can think of..

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?
happier, fatter and richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
revising my japanese and finally picking up on learning how to use a level editor, but i guess i will never do so becos my procrastination is so bad.... plus i just bought xbox... hehehe

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
gaming.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
partying at jiajia's place, alot of preparations, surprises and some... i wouldnt want to say that here also XD

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
nope.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
i have been watching alot more japanese/korean/HK dramas, CSI and whose line is it anyway? haven been watching anime for a VERY VERY long time.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
yes, but that's becos i just got to know that person in 2008 :P

24. What was the best book you read?
i've only read 1 book in 2008, does it count as the best? Amber and Iron from the Dragonlance, Dark Disciple Trilogy.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
for 2008, Clazziquai

26. What did you want and get?
i wanted xbox 360, i got it.
i wanted a new LCD TV in my room, i got it.

27. What did you want and not get?
i wanted DJ Max Fever, it got delayed.
i wanted PS3, no money to buy 1.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Bank Job

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
celebrated with my old time frens, had dinner, then watched DVD, was 29.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
having a stable job/career.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
same as ever was.

32. What kept you sane?
someone at 10tacles quit her job.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
for 2008, Ishihara Satomi

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
cant be bothered with those.

35. Who did you miss?
no one.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
my colleagues at mikoishi, cept for some of those i already knew before i joined.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
some ppl just annoy you, but if u could just ignore them, u'll be fine.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
you spin me right round baby right round, like a record baby, right round round round.

Southpark animations

2009-01-08T17:29:00.002+08:00

Mac vs PC

Mac vs PC vs Linux

DJ Max Black Square

2009-01-07T13:08:00.004+08:00

its been 3 days since i bought my copy of DJ Max Black Square, after trying out the game i couldnt help but to be amazed at how the game designer(s) at pentavision managed to come up with such a good solution to meet the needs for both hardcore and amateur DJ Max players.

Many have said that Black Square is the hardest of all the DJ Max games, i will agree with that. since i started playing Club Tour mode, i have been struggling at the 3rd area. having 8 areas in the club tour mode, its almost impossible for me to even finish half of it. it was until yesterday i noticed something that i realised that even for amateur players it is possible to complete club tour mode.

since the release of DJMP1, some players found the game a little too hard while hardcore gamers embraced the difficulty of the game. DJMP2 was slightly easier and clazziquai edition would probably be the easiest of all. i have 3 other frens who play DJ Max as well and they still think clazziquai edition to be kinda hard esp the club tour mode, while browsing the forums, many hardcore players have commented that clazziquai edition is way too easy and there arent any challenges. i believe the designers at pentavision probably know of the situation and have come up of this solution to please BOTH sides of players.

i am not sure if this is wat it was intended to be, but if it was, then its a very genius idea. i noticed that even though the tracks are really hard but u can actually spam your way through the song, becos any (playable) button can play any note. for example, if you play the 4B mode, any of the 4 buttons (left, up, triangle and circle) can hit any of the falling notes. theoretically, u can play the whole damn song by pressing just 1 button, with the exception that if the notes become to close to one another, its very hard to spam it through with just 1 button and expect to get 100% throughout. this applies for 5B, 4Bfx and 6Bfx modes. even the analog stick note can be hit using a button. so even if you're playing a 6Bfx song, u can play it as if its a 4B song. it provides the high level difficulty songs for the hardcore players and at the same time, allow amateur players to able to scrape though the song if its too damn hard. the only problem i think would be if a player is not aware of this A.I. helping him through the song and believes that he is so good that he can actually pass a 6Bfx song on his 1st try, a boosted ego would be something the designers cannot do anything about.

so if clazziquai edition is too hard for you, dont worry, you probably can complete black square and amaze yourself lol.

DMC4: The worst installment

2009-01-03T18:24:00.002+08:00

its been a very long time since the game was released. i just recently got my xbox and finally a chance to play Devil May Cry 4, part of the series i really love. I played all 3 earlier installments and enjoyed them all, cept for this 4th one, it's not 1 bit enjoyment while i play, it's 100% frustrations.

the only new and cool feature i found in this installment was Nero's (the new protagonist) devil bringer arm, where he can snatch items far away from his reach, snatch enemies to him or bring himself to certain places out of normal reach. this devil bringer thingy can be useful, can be frustrating. while u enjoy the fun of bring the enemies closer to u during combat, but using this devil bringer during puzzle solving is a pain in the ass. not only it's hard for u to aim where u want to go, the fucking awkward camera angles make it so much harder for u to see wat is going on.

esp when i am fighting the mephisto, it's some grim reaper-ish demon that flies around and attack u with a pointy thingy. the stupid camera ALWAYS shift itself BEHIND the fucking mephisto, blocking my view. i cannot even see my own character, let alone locate the other mephistoes i am fighting. many times when i have to fight this bunch of enemies, i end up depleting my character's HP to the point i almost died.

i applaud capcom for putting new elements into this installment if the series, but the camera angles really frustrate me. not only during battles, also during puzzles. many a times when i have to navigate myself through laser beams, the sudden change of camera angle caused me to walk right into one. how frustrating is that!

they too also have changed the system of power ups. now u can no longer power up your weapon using the red orbs u collect. in fact, you can NEVER power up your weapons now. u will use the exact same one throughout the whole game. i dont know if that's the case, but i played through 9 missions and i am giving up. i dont intend to touch the game again becos i dont want to put myself though any more frustrations that may lead me to throw my xbox360 controller out of the window.

u may have a different view than i have, but that's ur opinion. i just dont like the camera angles and it just ruined the whole gaming experience for me. if u like the game, good for you. if any of you wants to buy the xbox 360 version of the game, do look for me, i'll sell it to u cheap... how abt $20?

NYE chillout session

2009-01-02T18:01:00.002+08:00

i believe the NYE "celebration" we had was more enjoyable. lesser preparations to make, lesser money spent, lesser hassle and more fun. time passes faster as well on NYE as compared to xmas eve. no gift exchange, no huge portions of food to prepare, we just all sat down and ate snacks while watching tv.

we ate some fondue, nachos and some booze to go along with it. having the tv on helps us to keep track of the time. dont wanna miss out the once in a year countdown.

bought some party poppers to play with during the countdown, along with a couple cans of string spray.

we're all ready to pop the party poppers and spray the strings right at suxiang and peiling...

suxiang was quite agitated even before we started spraying at her, while peiling on the other hand... was forced into a corner with no choice but to take it like a MAN! XD

stayed up the night till almost 7am in the morning before we all head home. after reaching home, i continued to play my xbox 360 till 11am in the morning before i start dozing off lol.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T05:21:00.001+08:00

and crunchyroll is dead... all those dramas i "queued" up on my favorite list so i can watch them during my free time.. all gone. nice way of treating the people visiting your website shinji, i guess u just flushed out more than 50% of the visitors in just 1 night.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T00:38:00.004+08:00

Its been a very tiring xmas celebration, at least for me. finally i can sit down and blog about it. only had 2 celebrations for this xmas, i bet there are people out there with many more. i shall blog according to chronological order...

met jiajia around noon on xmas eve, went to AMK hub with her 2 naughty kids to buy the ingredients needed for the celebration. was kinda hectic trying to keep the kids in control while shopping for stuff. met up with raymond, his gf adeline and briefly with jason before we head back to jiajia's place to start preparing.

i guess the preparation itself is an enjoyment for us, we had alot of laughs and jokes while preparing the food, along with the "sampling" as we cook lol.

i swear we always try to not waste food everytime we had such celebrations, but somehow, we always will... i have no idea why, maybe the next celebration, we'll just prepare 2 dishes lol.

i actually became full before we finished preparing the food LOL! cos we were sampling while we cook, but somehow, i became full really fast. but wat the heck, i still managed to finish some of the stuff to minimize the wastage.

the tempura was quite nice, though the 1st few tries were kinda disastrous, we somehow managed to save it from becoming worse. by far my fave food of the night lol.

the dumplings were nice too, just that the skin was way too thick! lol, it tastes more like pasta than dumplings. well, practice makes perfect. the next time we attempt it again, probably is going to turn out better.

i was quite glad that pamela came, unlike some other... oh well, never expect too much. i tried to keep that a secret from peiling and suxiang, cos i wanna see their faces when pamela arrives, which i get to, it was fun lol. i finally got to play DJ Max with pamela this time round, and I WON! lol.

we did a quick gift exchange and alot of laughter while doing so...

Jason receiving from Adeline

Adeline receiving from me

Pamela receiving from JiaJia

me receiving from Pamela

Peiling receiving from Linjie

Raymond receiving from Peiling

Linjie receiving from Raymond

Suxiang receiving from Jason

Jiajia receiving from Suxiang

this is wat the pressies look like after we tore off the wrapping lol, except for raymond's present, which was wrapped in transparent paper XD

went back home around 6am in the morning, was very tired. slept till 4pm in the afternoon before heading over to my sister's place for a little xmas celebration with my family.

there's definitely feels more like xmas at my sis's place than jiajia's, with all those decorations and lighting. the celebration at jiajia's place feels more like lunar new year lol.

even the dinner is so much more romantic lol.

Happy Birthday!!

2008-12-20T20:48:00.000+08:00

OUT

2008-12-18T21:38:00.001+08:00

gone case...

xbox360

2008-12-09T03:18:00.003+08:00

it's been 2 weeks since i bought xbox360 (i think). haven got any problem with it cept that i simply cant hook it up with the hdmi cable i bought. i thought the cable was spoilt, brought it to the store and have it checked, it works perfectly fine... thought my TV was faulty, since i dont have another HD device at home, i tried to hook up the xbox360 with hdmi to the bigger HD LCD TV in the living room, and still nothing. so i suppose the xbox's hdmi port is kinda faulty.

wrote an email to microsoft requesting for the address of the customer service thingy and see if i can get it fixed. the stupid support email came back giving me a list of suggestions on how i can troubleshoot the xbox. for goodness sake, obviously they never read my email and just reply me with a template email. stupid idiot microsoft, u call this proper customer service? i know some other ppl might send in email with vague explanation, but its me u know! me! lol, i'm extremely good at explaining a problem with detailed description, damn u microsoft. cant be bothered to call the hotline anyway, opens on weekdays 9am to 6pm ONLY, which everybody else is also working during that same time, besides i hate to talk to some operator over the phone, becos they are never properly/technically trained on how to help the customer with the problems, they just keep referring u to some other hotline or department until u're sick and tired and just want to hang up.

i'll just live with the component cables, at least it still supports HD.

i am not oblivious

2008-12-05T21:29:00.002+08:00

those of u who actually bothers to scroll down and see wat playlist i am currently listening to on imeem, well, you're not seeing things. i AM listening to an enka playlist on imeem recently. not sure y suddenly i have the interest in enka, maybe becos i have been listening to too much techno and metal songs, my subconscious mind is telling me to listen to song thing more soothing lol.

those of u who have heard of hokkien songs, well actually hokkien songs came from taiwan, and it probably came from enka songs since so many of them are actually covers from enka songs, not to mention that taiwan was under japanese occupation during the world war 2. i guess that's probably how taiwan ppl now are so into japanese culture.

on to another topic, i was told that i put myself and other ppl in danger when i always play my psp while i was walking. yes, i admit that i do that alot, since i started playing dj max. but mind you, most of the time, i am aware of my surroundings, becos i purposely bring my psp to my waist level while i play. i might seem oblivious to others, but actually i am aware of where i am heading to and if there are ppl around me. wat puzzles me most is when i notice that i am blocked by someone in front of me, i raise my head to see that person looking directly at me while walking towards me. so, if i am occupied with my psp while walking, i actually knows that someone is going to bump into me, but that very same person who is looking AT me, actually doesnt give way and still is walking towards me. who the is the oblivious one? and that wasnt based on 1 account, that actually happens to me all the time while i was playing my psp while walking, at least once every time. i cannot imagine that these people are far worse than me... i am already multi-tasking and i can even spot them earlier than they do, wat the hell were they even doing?

try it if u dont believe me, pretend to be occupied with ur psp/nds/handphone and walk around, see if some idiot bumps into u or doesnt give way to u when he/she wasnt even doing anything else while walking.

new AC!

2008-12-04T18:53:00.002+08:00

finally got a new AC! ever since i moved into this flat, the old AC has always been giving me problems. when i asked my mom why didnt we change the AC when we bought the flat, my mom said that my step dad is unwilling to change since the previous owner insisted that her AC is in mint condition and barely gives her any problem..... NOT!

the AC in my room leaks, the compressor leaks as well. the AC broke down once and we had to get someone to repair it. not only that, we have to install a metal plank below the compressor becos the leakage drips on my neighbor's compressor. i thought that was the end of the AC problems, but no.... birds started building nests on the plank, causing it to breed other insects, worms and the very book lice i found in my room. the pests not only get into my room, they get into the neighbor's room as well.

i told my mom to get someone to remove that plank, but she argued if we use the AC without the plank, we'll still have the leakage problem. so i told her, y dont we just dont ever use the AC again. i was fine without the AC, cos i am used to the heat... plus my room is warmer than my parents' room since i have alot more electronic stuff. i never complained abt not having the AC, but my step dad couldnt take the heat. he told my mom, he wants to get new AC. lol.

and i have to remove everything on my desk to allow them to install the new AC. for your info, i slp in the master bedroom, not my parents lol.

my desk is just by the window, where the compressor is hanging out.

this is my new AC, its bigger compared to the old one. and my parents were like "bigger generates cooler air!" i was like, "watever..." lol

even the compressor is a big ass one...

Patapon 2 Don Chaka

2008-11-17T23:18:00.003+08:00

good news for those of u who loved Patapon! I know it's a bit late for me to post it here but Patapon 2 Don Chaka Demo is available! in japanese though. i had quite a lot of fun playing the demo. in the beginning the demo felt like it's exactly the same as the previous Patapon game. but once u get further into the game, u'll notice the new and improved features.

those of u dread the fever mode and having difficulty maintaining the fever as u play (yes, u ppl with poor sense of tempo/rhythm), there is now a difficulty setting where u can play in the easy mode, or challenge urself to the hard mode. not only that, when u're really off rhythm/tempo when u're already in fever, the fever doesnt die down immediately like the previous title. there's an indicator that tells u that u're in trouble! and u're given a second chance to try to maintain ur fever b4 it dies down for real. the indicator looks quite cute though... a yellow-ish skull thingy lol.

the picture above with the aerial patapons look familiar to u? yes those "supposed" aerial units that were taken off the previous game is now available in the 2nd game! though i'm not sure if they are available in this demo version, have yet to unlock any new patapons besides the old ones in the previous game. besides the Toripons (bird-pons literally), there are also Mahopons (magic-pons) the magic users and the robopons (robot-pons) with big hands. these are the 3 new classes of patapon that i heard will be in the 2nd patapon title.

Toripon

Mahopon

Robopon

besides new patapon, there is now a Heropon. Basically like wateva RTS games where u have troops and a hero. This heropon basically is able to change to any type of patapon as u wish, to use a heropon, u need to have masks. and masks can be obtained from eggs through multiplayer mode. yes there is a multiplayer mode.. will get back to that. and eggs can be obtained through the normal single player campaign mode. heropon deals more damage and has special abilities. but these special abilities only comes out during fever mode. yes, practice ur rhythm/tempo well if u want to fully utilize ur heropon.

ok back to multiplayer mode. in multiplayer mode u can play with up to 4 frens in a co-op manner. the main aim is to transport an egg to the destination within the time limit and at the same time defeat boss along the way. dont worry if ur frens dont have the game, u can play in game sharing, meaning u only need 1 copy of the game and 4 ppl can play at the same time. and dont worry if u dont have any frens (sad case), u can always play multiplayer mode by urself. the other 3 partners will be controlled by the psu. i guess the developer notices that most patapon players have no frens XD

so after u transported the egg, u will need to play in another rhythm mini game, very much like the miracles in the previous title, only harder and longer. yes, if ur rhythm/tempo sense sucked, u're gonna hate patapon. only when u complete that mini game, then ur egg will hatch and u can collect watever it comes out. i haven gotten a 2nd mask, so i'm just gonna try again.

1 last thing, there is a new patapon evolution tree, where instead of just creating rarepons, u evolve current patapon into the rarepons. depends on how u see it, it might be easier or harder to get rarepons. the tree isnt very big but it sure takes alot more items to evolve them. but hey, the mini game to gain items (the dancing tree mini game) now gives more items than it used to. and u dont have to sacrifice an item for the minigame, u just have to sacrifice kachins, which is the patapon currency :P

there may be stuff that i missed out, but that's all i know from just playing the game and reading a few game boards. if u liked the 1st patapon game, u probably iz be EXCITE! like me on the new patapon game. go get the demo and try it urself.

catching up the years

2008-11-07T00:08:00.002+08:00

i haven talked so much in just 1 night, after meeting up with pamela, i talked so much that i couldnt believe myself. it has been many many years since i met up with pamela and had a nice talk, i remembered i accidentally bumped into her like 3-4 yrs ago but didnt talked much as we were busy doing our own stuff.

i couldnt remember how i managed to find her on facebook, after adding her as a fren on facebook, i sent her a msg and i thought i'll never get a reply from her since it has been close to 2 months and i haven heard a word from her. after working overtime last night and returning home, i received a request on msn and found out it was pamela. was really surprised, she didnt seem to change at all (appearance wise). the only shocking thing is that she's such a hardcore gamer, which is something i never would have imagined.

she was such a bookworm back in school (my impression of her), she's like 1 of the top students in school and so hardworking and even studied all the way to uni in the UK. now, she has more game consoles than i have, played more hardcore games that i do. which is good, cos at least we have some common topic to talk about. she asked to meet up for dinner tonight and i was glad i went. (too bad for u wuguang! :P) we talked for so long, until we were chased off my the staff at starbucks becos they were closing for the day LOL. i think we still have alot to talk about, and i have yet to challenge her on DJ Max. Must... practice.... hard.... to... win... XD

Fever is DELAYED!!!

2008-11-05T22:47:00.002+08:00

just when i thought i can have another new DJ Max game for my PSP soon, i log in my own blog to see the DJ Max Fever countdown widget from IGN jumped to 60+ days. yes, DJ Max Fever has been delayed... to early next year. very disappointed, but after reading up on the article, it seems like Fever is going to be added with new features and contents. if it's going to improve, by all means if u need to delay the release of the game, but if its gonna suck, then retribution follows... judging from the games delivered by Pentavision, i have faith and i believe Fever is going to turn out better than just a "combination of DJ Max Portable 1 and DJ Max Portable 2".

now i like clazziquai XD

2008-11-04T22:58:00.000+08:00

for once i almost gave up on DJ Max Clazziquai after hearing all the crappy sounding tracks in the game. after reading some of the DJ Max forums, i found out that some other people are also having the same problem, and to solve it, simply update the PSP firmware higher than 4.01, gd thing i found out abt it and now the tracks in the game sounds AWESOME!!!! Oblivion is back in the way i liked it!! cept that i have to replay the whole thing again since my save file is gone after upgrading the firmware... but i guess i'll be able to do better this time round since my morale is back XD

not just full metal

2008-11-03T22:35:00.002+08:00

these videos are just to proof that i'm not just into metal, i listen to other types of music ok!

The Darkness - I Believe A Thing Called Love

Mr. Children - Hanabi

Speed - White Love

Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round

KLF - 3AM Eternal

not my type of clazz

2008-11-01T00:06:00.002+08:00

have been playing DJ Max Clazziquai Edition for 2 days... and i'm starting to dislike it. DJ Max has always been my favorite game on the PSP, but this particular title isnt wat i expected. 1stly, I have never heard of Clazziquai, and i'm not really into their music. yes i listen to trance/house/techno/dance sometimes, but clazziquai's mixes arent the types i would listen to. i am not ditching clazziquai for the songs, i mean most of the new songs (by DJ Max's resident composers) are really not pleasing me. maybe some other people like them, but definitely not me. wat's worse, the old songs, like "Memory of Beach", "Every Morning" and "Your Own Miracle" are minus one tracks! (no lead vocals) its freaking boring to listen to some karaoke track while playing DJ Max, the songs and singing has always been the most enjoyable part while mashing buttons in rhythm... on top of that, the mixes sound so bad... its like having ur grandparents fooling around with the equalizer on ur stereo Hi-Fi to the point where watever music u play sounds horrible and cracking...

Further more, i hate the Club Tour mode... which is basically like the Mission mode, only that u're forced to play all different button modes... from 2Buttons, 4Buttons, 5Buttons, 6Buttons and 4ButtonsFX mode. i'm not the adventurous type and 4B has always been my fave mode... now having to struggle with 5B and 6B.. and the new 4BFX is really giving me a hard time... i'm just 1 "street" away from completing the mode, but i think i prolly will give up sooner than i expect.

But its not all hate on DJ Max Clazziquai Edition, there are improvements which i liked. The analog-stick notes are easier to hit now, with the new improvement. The Fever score multiplier also have been improved. other than those 2, i don't see any big improvements on DJMCE (maybe just for me, i have weird tastes), i hope DJ Max Black Square isnt going to be as bad... even so, i know i prolly will like DJ Max Fever, since it's a combination of DJMP1 and DJMP2.

was so bored...

2008-10-23T22:59:00.002+08:00

i was really bored today... so bored i was watching my desktop wallpaper for a long time at work. i had this animated gif i found on crunchyroll forums, which was really funny. i'm not sure who did it, so i'm not able to credit whoever did it... but this gif made me want to make one myself...

and so i spend hours at home making one myself... here it is..

just had spring cleaning

2008-10-13T01:16:00.002+08:00

im so tired now.. i just had a spring cleaning of my room. it all started yesterday when i spotted some very very tiny bugs on my pc desk. first i thought it was some harmless bugs that used to get into my room through the window, but they became so frequent, i almost spot at least 1 every 3-5 mins. i'm really sure it was not the previous bug i saw as i always kill them when 1 passes by :P

when i still spot the bugs this morning, i started to wonder wat the hell is this bug. after talking to jason on msn, he suggested it could be fleas. after much discussion i decided to ask him to drop by and take a look at it as i have never seen a flea and i cant really tell wat bug it is becos its so damn small... how small? well just about the size of a fullstop...

after he came, we started to suspect it could be book lice as it doesnt bite like fleas does when it crawls on me, i decided to call pest control after that. the pest control guy came within a couple of hours and finally confirmed that it is book lice. so i asked him to fog my room. it was a bad decision... not only i had to lock myself out of my room for 4 hours, the cleaning of my room after the fogging is tiring! the whole floor is oily and the room stinks, everything that wasnt covered during the fogging is covered with the toxic... i had to clean everything in my room. my room still smells, and it's 5 hours since i opened my window and had the fan blowing at the highest speed. i had to keep my cats out of my room for days cos i'm afraid the pesticide might get to them. so its better not to call pest control UNLESS ur pest problem has gotten out of control.

are gamers that dumb?

2008-10-04T20:41:00.002+08:00

i bet most of u heard of news regarding school shootings in the USA and stuff like that involving teenagers and such. the media always "credit" video games as 1 of the main influence of the violent behavior of those teenagers. that might be the case, but that doesnt mean that video games are harmful to everybody. parents shouldnt just blame video games at the behavior of their kids, the way they educate their kids also plays a big part. all they focus on was the violence in the games, but how many of u actually know that the things u did in video games are obviously not something u can do in real life... thus making u realise that video games are video games after all. still dont get wat i mean? alright then... lets list some points out...

in shooter games like Time Crisis or Virtual Cop, u shoot at things to actually "pick" them up, like health aids and bullets. now, use ur intelligence, can u actually do that in real life?

in turn based games, u have to wait for "your phase" to attack ur enemies. come on, have u ever seen people fighting in real life wait for each others' turn to punch one another in the face?

in RPGs (role playing games), u drink health potion to regain ur health. if u can do that in real life, we dont need doctors and all convenient stores will start to sell health potions.

in fantasy games, slping in an inn of some sort will help u regain health overnight. now, if such things happen in real life, we need more of those inns.

now if gamers are dumb enough to mix up virtual reality and real life, then the gamer race probably wouldnt survive extinction by now.

to the max!

2008-10-01T22:09:00.002+08:00

those of u who have watched the anime version of Death Note probably knows abt Maximum The Hormone. yes, they are the band that performed the opening and ending theme songs for the anime. but the videos i am putting up today arent those songs. the following 2 songs are my favorite from this band.

Buiikikaesu

Tsume Tsume Tsume

shut up and cry

2008-09-20T07:33:00.003+08:00

finally get my lazy ass to edit a short video out from a HUGE video of my old old jamming session... the video was taken back in 2003. the band has been inactive for many yrs, so dont ask me if we're going anything now. this video is purely for entertainment purposes... the song is actually called Cry and See, but i dont remember why we used to call it shut up and cry...

if u want to see my other jamming video, just click on the youtube link in the video (the youtube logo by the bottom right corner of the video) and find my user id, should be able to see my other videos.

corruption dates back to.....

2008-09-15T23:05:00.003+08:00

i wonder how many of u knew abt the corruption/money laundering case that involves taiwan's former president. and the much earlier corruption issue involving thailand's former prime minister. politicians, since as long as i can remember, never had good impressions or images. they are always seen as corrupted, money hungry, power hungry, people. they lie and make empty promises to get ur votes and supports only to break those promises after they get power.

i can understand people criticizing those former leaders who got exposed, yeah, i despise them as well. but the horrible things are always those that are not made public. i dont think any country in this world is entirely corruption free. it's hard to resist that temptation when u're sitting on top, and it's even harder if u get to sit for a long time...

finally something entertaining

2008-09-13T00:55:00.005+08:00

am watching WWE Raw now on cable tv... this new wrestler, Evan Bourne, better known as Matt Sydal in other wrestling promotions, is really impressive. it's been a long while i was glued to a match from beginning to end. i forgot since when i started to lose concentration when watching wrestling matches. most of them are quite boring and only a few high impact or huge moves in the whole match. the match i just watched, involving evan bourne was different. very entertaining and the moves he pulled are extremely beautiful and perfectly executed... i hope WWE keeps him as long as they can. he could very well replace AJ Styles as my fave wrestler if he continues with that kind of performance.

more old school nightwish

2008-09-11T20:46:00.003+08:00

i know some of u might be sick of me putting up more nightwish videos... oh well, u can always dont click on the play button :P

it's not even in chrome!

2008-09-07T14:27:00.004+08:00

have been trying out Google Chrome for a few days, i think it's pretty cool. 1st thing 1st, i liked the address field very much, becos u can just simply enter keywords and it'll perform a search on google, so u dont even have to load the google page in the 1st place. 2ndly, i liked the fact that it doesnt popup a new window when u are downloading or finished a download using google chrome. it'll just be a small tab at the bottom of the window to show u that the download has completed or something.

i haven experiment with google chrome long enough to finally decide whether should i replace my firefox with it. maybe after using it long enough, i may be able to make a decision. but for now, chrome is here to stay... 1 thing i dont like about it.... it's not even in chrome! it's freaking blue in color... WTF!

korea woot?!

2008-09-02T21:25:00.002+08:00

besides enjoying korean dramas like Tae Wang Sa Shi Gi (太王四神記) and Iljimae (一枝梅), playing korean PC games, i dont think i have any interest in anything korean. not the traditions, not the fashion and definitely not the food. recently have been playing this korean card game called Go-Stop. ironically, the cards used for this game is actually the japanese hanafuda. being someone who's interested in japanese culture, i never learned how to play koi koi, hachi-hachi or hana-awase. instead, i learnt how to play Go-Stop.

the way of playing the games are similiar, but i've only familiarized myself with the Go-Stop rules since i have been playing it for around 2 weeks i think. its a really fun and addictive game i must say... but it's quite hard to pick up since the cards are kinda alien (unlike poker cards).

I haz mai lolcatz

2008-08-21T23:45:00.000+08:00

your new champion

2008-08-14T23:57:00.001+08:00

at the request of jialing......

happy birthday to me

2008-08-03T05:25:00.003+08:00

after a long night, i just came back home from my birthday celebrations with a bunch of old time frens of 15 yrs... how time passes, as i could still remember the days we celebrated our 15-16 yr old birthdays... now, we're just a bunch of adults reaching the mid yr range.

today's celebration didnt really go as planned. well the food at waraku was quite nice, but i wasnt able to order the food i wanted to eat... becos i was too full... from the last min late lunch with my sister and mom. but at least i enjoyed myself while eating with them, and it was also my 1st teppanyaki. back to waraku, the air conditioning was kinda poor, plus we order shabu shabu, we were perspiring like there's no tomolo. but the staff was kind enough to give us ice cold towels. for a moment, we seemed like a group of old people with towels wrapping around the back of our necks LOL

the after dinner entertainment at e2max was a disappointment. the service was really bad, and i swear that's gonna be my last time visiting the place. even if it wasnt, i swear i wont pay money to use the services there. they were so short handed, with so many customers clustering the counter, not only that, the staff was so unorganized and the manager had that fucked up CB face that screams "please slap me!". he was so unwilling to help any of the customers, always pushing them to his crew while he stand there and do nothing.

though everything sounded so bad, i still enjoyed myself. having to spend time with such old time frens, everything else seems unimportant. i loved the pressie they gave me, and especially the cake. it was really a pleasant surprise for me, though it didnt taste nice at all lol.

thanks jiajia, for that superb idea of yours lol. though i cant have the real thing, having it as a cake for my birthday is good enough.

new ECW

2008-07-26T22:17:00.003+08:00

most ppl know i like to watch wrestling, but not many ppl know i have a fascination with WWE's wrestling belts. i just love the designs, dont know why i am so fascinated with them... recently WWE has introduced the new ECW title, which is something i believe is going to happen ever since WWE brought back the ECW program, i just didnt know it's gonna take so long.

it not my fave design, but i do like it more than the previous one. i like the way WWE design their belts. they arent so conventional like most wrestling promotions, making their belt ultra big with small straps, or plain rectangular or circular shaped center plate. but alot of hardcore wrestling fans arent happy with WWE treating wrestling belts like fashion accessories. which, i think if those fans are so hardcore abt pure wrestling and the sport, they shouldnt be watching WWE at all. WWE is making the whole thing plainly for entertain purpose, the belts are just building the character persona and enhancing the storylines.

i have been thinking when will WWE redesign the world heavyweight championship belt, retaining its look since the NWA days. besides, i dont really like the design at all. the center plate is too damn big... since now the title is brought back to RAW by CM Punk, i'm hoping that they are going to redesign it for either CM Punk's character, or Cena. Cena has been WWE's top favorite wrestler, i believe it's more possible for cena's case, ever since he won the US championship, they had a new design of the belt to enhance his character and later, they did the same when he won the WWE championship. now with CM punk and cena both on raw, it's just a matter of time when cena wins the title back again (which is of a very high possibility since he's the hot fave). so i am anticipating the changing of the design.

some people thought my fave wrestler is cena. well, on WWE, i consider he's one of those with good mic skills. other than that, i like watching him mainly becos of the WWE championship belt he used to carry (cos it's my fave championship belt design). people thought that i dress like cena becos i like him, that's not true. i was already dressing the way i do now even before cena debut on WWE. my fave wrestler is actually AJ Styles. lol

no randy jackson?!

2008-07-20T17:53:00.003+08:00

i'm sorry joys, u once said randy jackson reminds u of me... but somehow, this program doesnt think i look like randy jackson... LOL

ok BYJ fans dun come and bash me, it's the program not me thinking i look like him. relax! its just a fun program, y so serious? it's not really that accurate to begin with LOL... lemme proof it to u...

see? now i look like a whole bunch of different people XD i guess Nana Mouskouri is the only match for both pictures lol

ur very own karaoke

2008-07-20T15:29:00.003+08:00

have u been listening to ur mp3s on ur computer using windows media player or winamp? if u do, good news for u. for those of u who likes to sing along or just want to practice the songs before ur next karaoke session, busy searching for lyrics on the net, then saving them, opening them on notepad or some other applications like microsoft word, fret not. becos u wont have to do that any longer.

here comes Lyrics Plugin, a plugin program for ur windows media player or winamp. simply turns the visualization screen into a lyrics display. as long as u have the correct ID3 tag for the mp3, it will help u search for the lyrics and display it as it plays. not sure how it'll be if the song is too obscure... so far i tried all the obscuriest song i ever had, and it still displays the correct lyrics LOL! anyway if the lyrics is wrong, u can always click on the edit at the bottom of the lyric display and change it to the way u want it to be.

BJ vs CAM

2008-07-16T20:15:00.003+08:00

i suppose most of u know wat Botak Jones is. recently i was informed abt this Crazy Ang Mo thingy by Jason. the 1st thing he said was "it's something like botak jones." it quickly came to my mind that CAM was probably 1 of those sad imitations of BJ very much like the bubble tea boom when Quickly was making alot of money.

well to not jump to conclusion so quickly, Jason and i decided to go CAM and try out their stuff, since it's not really that far away (at bishan st 24, blk 279)...

Botak Jones VS Crazy Ang Mo

Popularity
with 10 stalls and a website, there's no way any singapore foodie will not know of botak jones. crazy ang mo on the other hand, has only 1 stall and no website, not only that, jason my dear foodie junkie didnt really know much about it. it's clear who the winner is.
Winner: Botak Jones

Service
once u step into the coffee shop housing a BJ stall, u cant help but to notice the large number of helpers wearing that dark blue tee walking around. the only down side is the long queue to make an order, but after that, u can just sit down and wait for the food to arrive. as for CAM, though the queue isnt very long, but once u walk into the coffee shop and spot that digital number display, u know straight away they dont bring the food to u. with that "self service" sign displaying, u know for sure there wont be any service coming from them.
Winner: Botak Jones

(Food) Quantity
BJ used to serve so much fries that i cant even finish on a single plate, but now they have already cut down the serving. a good choice since alot of people have been wasting food by not finishing everything. even with BJ reducing their serving, they are serving similar quantity as CAM.
Winner: Draw

(Food) Quality
I haven tried everything on both side, but i'll just compare wat i have eaten. i've tried fish and chips from CAM and it's mediocre. wat's weirder is that fish and chips is listed as their best selling dish on their menu. though the salad is nice, they put too much lemon juice or something (i suppose). yes it does make the salad taste very nice, but the fluid also makes the fries very soggy and tasted weird. BJ's cajun chicken is my favorite choice. i love chicken breast for 1 thing, it's totally lean and without fatty meat. their chili fries is way superior than CAM's fries. though i dont really like coleslaw (all becos of KFC), i find their coleslaw the best i ever tasted (but i still like CAM's salad more). in general, i should say...
Winner: Botak Jones

well i guess CAM is trying hard not to imitate BJ, but people couldnt help but to see it that way. i guess when something gets too popular and successful, anything similar will be quickly branded as the imitator. overall, BJ is still better.

still pondering about it

2008-07-07T23:18:00.002+08:00

i have always been very fascinated with wrestling championship belts, esp the ones from WWE. their designs are really nice and i really wanted to buy myself a replica. but the belts always costs a bomb and not to mention the shipping cost since those belts weigh a ton, the shipping is gonna be like crazy.

i searched for some online shops and ebay sellers but i'm still not sure if i really want to buy one. i know most of u are gonna be like "buy for wat? wear it urself meh? or let it collect dust?" well, i'm not sure about it myself too... that's y i have been putting it on hold for years! recently i found some ebay sellers selling a "commemorative" version of my favorite belt. yes the WWE Championship Spinner belt. it's a lot cheaper and lighter, meaning lesser costs and yet it's not much lesser in quality than the usual replica. though it's cheaper... but spending around $250 in singapore dollars for the belt and shipping, is still kinda expensive. if only i'm a really rich and make money faster than i can spend, then i'll probably buy every replica belt without even thinking about it lol!!!

i want to be a champ

it aint beh!

2008-07-02T00:58:00.003+08:00

earlier in the evening, i was watching that chen hanwei's cooking show on channel u... he and the chef were saying "wa-sa-beh" so many times i almost wanted to slap them (if i could...) it's wasabi わさび, please, remember it... i've heard many locals mention it as "wa-sa-beh". if u're one of them, please take note.. it's "wa-sa-bi". "bi" as in how u pronounce the english word, bee. remember, it's bi and not beh.

wasd in mmorpg

2008-06-30T01:57:00.003+08:00

i just tried Requiem: Bloodymare recommended by jialing... well, i'm sorry jialing, but i hated the game LOL. basically it's the WASD controls that i dont really like. 1st thing 1st, i hate playing FPS games becos it makes me dizzy. the constant rotating of the camera and fast changing camera views somehow makes me want to puke after 5-10 mins. i assure u it's not a psychological thingy since i do feel the same with 3D platformer games that has fast camera rotating action. i couldnt even play the dynasty warrior series on my ps2 back then becos of the camera action, i can only resort to playing the psp versions of the games since the screen is alot smaller.

the other reason why i dont like requiem, the NPCs are so far apart, not only that, i couldnt find a map that tells me where they are within the game. i end up having to run around the town looking for those NPCs, hence increasing my suffering with the camera, i end up having to give up on it.

requiem isnt the only mmorpg i encountered with the WASD controls. risk you life was 1 of those that has the WASD controls as well. there was another game too i remember that uses WASD, i just couldnt recall right now. i still prefer the point click controls for mmorpg games. i'm not sure why they want to make mmorpgs nowadays with WASD control... was it to lessen the possibility of players using bots and macro? or was it to attract FPS players to venture into the mmorpg genre? 1 thing for sure, if u're a designer or developer and making a mmorpg with WASD control, i suggest u give the option for players to be able to switch the controls to point click, so u wont be losing players like myself who hates WASD controls. =D

get the old movies rolling

2008-06-22T19:52:00.002+08:00

i hoped u enjoyed the previous post, becos i really like to watch those old 80s classic movies, remind me of my childhood. recently found another old classic. i used to watch this movie so many times that i could remember every scene and line. watching it 20 yrs later... still gives me the creeps as i sometimes can remember wat is going to happen lol.

Mismatched Couples (1985) Starring Donnie Yen

do u still remember?

2008-06-21T17:03:00.004+08:00

not sure how many of u share the same childhood as me, but i grew up watching movies like this one below.... i'm not going to post the whole movie here... u can watch the whole thing if u would just search/follow the video link

好小子 The Kung-Fu Kids (1986)

subway is no longer wat it used to be

2008-06-14T19:45:00.004+08:00

well, exactly as wat the title says... i used to enjoy subway sandwiches alot more in the past than now. i remembered the 1st time i went to subway was sometime around 2001, ben brought us, the whole far fetched (band) to the (i think) only subway outlet back then located in orchard hotel. since then i've fallen in love with subway lol.

nowadays, there're more and more subway outlets, and yet the quality and quantity of the sandwiches are getting worse... i remembered the 6-inch sandwich was alot bigger... even the slices of ham (or other meat) they put in was more... now, a 6-inch sandwich has only a pathetic 2 slices of ham, it was around 3-4 slices back then if i remembered correctly. not to mention the veggies, they used to pack veggies like the sandwich will never be able to close without u holding it. now, they're packing so little veggies to the extend that u can count the shreds of lettuce in the sandwich...

the worse part... prices of the sandwiches are going up... that's the usual part for everything nowadays, subway used to be my favorite "fastfood", i'm not so sure about it now.

adapting into the new world

2008-06-12T21:31:00.002+08:00

it's almost 2 weeks since i started work, i'll be away for work a couple of days to have my dental surgery. i guess it's a little harder for me to get used to the new environment as compared to 10tacle. it's not a bad place... its just that 10tacle's environment is way too cosy, too good, it makes everything here looks kinda bad... but trust me, i've been to worse places before, i guess i just need more time to get used to here.

the 1 thing i dun really like about is the location. i believe i'm not the only one who thinks so. it's in town, and yet so hard to get to... it's on top of Mount Sophia... it's like in the middle of nowhere... located in OldSchool. wat's oldschool? it was the former methodist girls school, now a "arty-farty" place with units rented out to offices, studios and other arty-farty stuff. it's so near to dhoby ghaut mrt, and yet so hard to get to... there's this stairs from hell... i think it's approx. 7-storey high, or so somebody said it's 137 steps...

good thing they have a bus service catered just for tenants in oldschool. i heard they used to climb that very stairs from hell everyday to go to work and back to office after lunch. imagine if u miss the bus... the stairs from hell awaits. i've challenged it a few times... and i always had to pause midway before finishing it.. i wonder how long before i can finish it at 1 go...

the place itself isnt that bad... gives me the nostalgic feeling of being in a school building. been around 10 yrs or more since i went back to secondary school, already forgotten the feeling of walking around the school building. too bad they didnt retain the school canteen, becos i totally hate going out for lunch.

that's how it looks like from the inside. speaking of lunch, though it's been almost 2 weeks, i still find myself very out of place when going out for lunch with the guys... it's not that they arent frenly enough or anything. i just feel kinda weird to go lunching with a bunch of people i hardly know. i'm not being anti social, but to me, i would prefer to have meals with people i am close with... to the extend that we can chat non-stop. but to eat with someone i can barely strike a conversation with, it's not different to eating with a stranger who happens to be sharing the table with u. for the past 2 days, i have decided to buy take out and eat by myself in the pantry... which to me, it's alot hassle free.

here's the main entrance to the office, the pantry is outside the office... yes u heard it rite... outside. i know it's kinda weird to have the pantry outside, but hey, there's always a 1st for everything. i really miss 10tacle's pantry, which ken agrees with me. 10tacle's pantry is way too nice... too clean, too cosy, too tidy and a fridge full of free canned drinks. at mikoishi, we have canned drinks as well, but u have to buy them urself from the vending machine. well, it still beats philips (the worst place i worked in) where they dont even have a pantry.

i have a girlfriend!

2008-06-09T00:05:00.003+08:00

most of u guys might not know abt it, but our relationship has been around 3 yrs i think... she's kinda hard to understand... always gives me a black face... she has a very bad temper and very unpredictable... sometimes she slps with me on my bed... i love to caress her when she's slping, but she'll get irritated and stares at me, sometimes scold me. at times she can be very "sticky", and demands that i spend more time with her than playing games. i always take nude pictures of her, but she's very camera shy, she will turn away or run away when i try to take pictures of her...

that's me and her.... what were u thinking? LOL

double post within 2 hours!

2008-06-06T22:10:00.002+08:00

lol just felt the need to write something here. some time ago when an (very very very long time) ex-colleague of mine knew that i like to listen to nightwish told me to check out other symphony metal bands with female vocalists, like epica and within temptation. i went to search on symphony metal bands or more specifically metal bands with female vocalists, listened to quite a few of the songs on youtube... somehow, i just couldnt sit around finish the whole song... for any of the songs...

i know they too are very similiar to nightwish in terms of musical genre and style... but i just dont know why only nightwish gives me that "pumping energy" when i listen to them. maybe it's the combination of the characteristics of different metals that i like... nightwish somehow has "speed", "power" and "symphony" plus the opera female vocalist, which to me, is a very refreshing and energizing combination. the constant "thudding" of the drums, the powerful palm muted riffs of the guitar, the synthesizer, the powerful female opera voice and not to mention the fast paced tempo all rolled into 1. but ever since tarja (the original female vocalist) was replaced... i stopped listening to their new music... currently still stucked with the songs that tarja performed.. i guess losing 1 "ingredient" out of the whole combination really puts me off. without tarja, i'll probably wont listen to nightwish anymore.

since it's pretty hard to get a proper quality music video of nightwish's songs, i'll just put up some AMV with better music quality... if u dun see a woman singing to the song in the video, it's probably an AMV :P

my personal favorite songs are planet hell and kinslayer.

Wishmaster

End of All Hope

Elvenpath

Planet Hell

The Kinslayer

i am not a genius but i am smarter than peiling

2008-06-06T21:18:00.002+08:00

last sat we went to jiajia's place to make some finger food in celebration of her birthday. while we were there, we made peiling to sit for an online IQ test to see if she's really that dumb. well, she scored 122, which is quite good for an average person. however, she admitted to guess some of the answers. i went to the same site to take the tests, but i guess the scoring probably aint that accurate since i have read some of the question before.... i thought they would have changed the questions, but it seems like it's not the case... i scored....

Free-IQTest.net - IQ Test

a little too high i think...

Movies i wanna watch...

2008-06-02T22:11:00.002+08:00

The Love Guru

Igor

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

Get Smart

Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?

new beginnings

2008-06-01T23:57:00.003+08:00

starting work tomolo. better slp early today. thanks jasmin, i'm forever grateful.

osaka mood

2008-05-28T02:12:00.003+08:00

have been watching Azumanga Daioh for the past few days and really enjoying it. haven been laughing so much while watching an anime series, its so light hearted and funny i could watch it over and over again. 1 particular character i really liked, and she's nicknamed osaka. LOL i like the way she talks, her kansai dialect and her weird imaginations lol.

here's more clips of the funny parts of osaka in the anime...

if u like the parts u see, u should really go watch the anime, though it's pretty old (back in yr 2002) it's a nice anime.

do u know wat is this?

2008-05-25T15:26:00.002+08:00

take a look at this picture here...

only when u truly know wat this painting is... then go to this site to get a painting of ur own lol.

IAH is the worst!!

2008-05-20T18:47:00.005+08:00

if anyone of u do not know wat IAH is... it's Infocomm Asia Holdings. why do they want to venture into game operations? beats me... i seriously doubt their ability to operate games properly, so far there hasnt been any satisfactory cept that GE is a nice game to play...

i will not mention the other crappy services IAH tried to do to destroy GE, since i've already mentioned that in the past few ranting posts i written. today, i'll focus on GE's weekly maintenance. why u ask? becos it's the bloody most time wasting event every week. it's so lengthly, i have no idea wat kind of stupid maintenance they were doing.

every week, IAH brings the game server offline for 8 hours (9am to 5pm) every thursday for maintenance. bloody the ONLY game i came across that needs 8 hours for maintenance. and that's not all, the surprise of the week will be they bring the server back online without extending the time for maintenance. yes, that's right... it's almost a 90% chance the server maintenance time is extended... sometimes 1 more hour... sometimes another whole bloody 4 hours., today... another 6 hours is added to the unusually long 12 hours maintenance. which means, today's maintenance is a whooping 18 hours. i doubt their technicians work that long... what were they doing?!

EDIT: WOW, IAH never fail to meet my expectations! i just saw this msg on the website...
Due to unforseen circumstances, there will be a further extension of the maintenance to 21 May 2008 0800 hrs (GMT+8)
LOL another extention!!
Our technical team is still resolving the issues at the data center. We regret to inform you that the maintenance will be extended to 1600 hrs (GMT+8) today.
it's so "iah"!! extention after extention... might as well close down the server for good!

let's see, the maintenance started on 20th may 0400 hrs.. which mean a record breaking of 34 hours of maintenance!! YOU HAVE BEEN IAH-ED!!!

u want to know how bad IAH's service on game maintenance as compared to other game services in the region? fine, i'll show u.

Mo Siang Online
Run Up Game Distribution and Development Sdn Bhd
Maintenance: Thurs, 9am to 12pm (3 hours)

CABAL (SEA) Online
AsiaSoft Online Pte Ltd
Maintenance: Tues, 12pm to 4pm (4 hours)

Pirate King Online
Sing-Gium International
Maintenance: Thurs, 10am to 11am (1 hour)

Perfect World
Cubinet Interactive Sdn Bhd
Maintenance: Wed, 11am to 12pm (1 hour)

Holic Online
Netgame Corp
Maintenance: Wed, 6pm to 8pm (2 hours)

Mabinogi - Fantasy Life
Nexon
Maintenance: Thurs, 9am to 11am (2 hours)

HighStreet5
Eaglegame (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Maintenance: Wed, 10am to 12pm (2 hours)

These are just a few to name... i know i know there must be games that have maintenance as lengthly as GE... those game providers probably suck as well :P

y do u buy virtual items?!

2008-05-14T18:29:00.002+08:00

i used to remember the older days of mmorpg, its alot more fun and bot free. now, it's almost every game u play, u see bots here there and everywhere. no matter how the game developers try to block them out of the game through new updates, the bot programmers seems to always be able to hack through.

back in those days, real money trade in mmorpg isnt really bad or anything. just some hardcore players raiding bosses and getting uber rare item drops and ebay-ing it for a high price, but now, real money trade is buying in-game money where u can earn it urself in the game, or even selling high level items that were "created" by hacking the game program, like duplicating and such.

played GE for a year and really saddens me to see how the RMT has gone... what's worse is that players are actively buying vis (in-game money) from those vis sellers. how do i know? well, i went to visit 1 of the vis selling websites. they were having some lucky draw and bonus for players who buy alot of vis from them... they players were listed in the "winner's list", of cos their names were censored, but it goes to show how many people actually bought vis from them. not only were they selling vis, they were selling catherine character card as well. as much as 13 catherine cards, now, i have no idea how are they going to get so many catherine cards, since the quest is not that easy to do, plus if they were to sell 13 cards at 1 go, with the high demand of catherine in the game... there is only 1 day they can sell so many cards... and that is to hack or duplicate the cards, which means... those cards are illegal.

now, i've heard people saying that since some of the players hate to grind and spend alot of time playing games just to get to the certain level or attain certain items. the excuse of coming back home from a hard days' work, and u just wish to be able to play the game with ease and not struggling to catch up with the rest of the community. well, lemme ask those people who think that way: how do u think those people have vis to sell you? they create multiple accounts, use macro/bot applications to control their characters, hunt, farm the vis, then sell it to you. so when u finally got the vis, u log on the game, u try to train or farm other items, but u find that the maps are filled with the bots, they steal ur kills and make it almost impossible for u to farm anything. in other words, u're paying people to bot and steal ur kills, steal ur farms so they can sell it back to u. the more u buy, the more bot accounts they create to meet ur demands, it's a vicious cycle. if u still want to buy vis, go ahead, u're just making everything harder for urself.

uber high pitched

2008-05-13T14:17:00.002+08:00

if u haven heard of vitas... u probably aint active on youtube lol! the russian singer is known to have uber high pitched voice. think maria carey, but male. how uber high pitched is it? watch the video... this song made him popular on youtube.

there has been speculations that he's not really singing that high, they're just using the computer to digitally pull it up high... but i've seen his live performance videos on youtube, i want to believe he can really sing that high... after all, he's not the only person who can do it... i found this parody video on youtube as well... the same song sang by some guy in taiwan...

my SP frens

2008-05-11T16:45:00.002+08:00

bored enough to make SP versions of some of the people i know... not going to name them... i think they know who they are... u should be glad if i didnt make an SP version of u XD

Southpark me and you

2008-05-09T23:47:00.003+08:00

found a website, Planearium, that allows u to create ur own south park characters... just did one for myself.... i edited some parts using gimp, becos there are some things i want that are not available on the site...

My GE Scrap Book

2008-05-06T20:36:00.004+08:00

its been around 1 year i guess, since i started playing granado espada. its by far the game i played the longest, the game which i had the most characters and the game i spent the most amount of money on. i decided to make a "scrap book" for my 30 characters. yes, i have 30 characters... and i believe it'll increase again...

i cant fit all 30 into 1 picture, so i split them into 2 pictures...

i apologize for the bad photo editing work... lol too lazy to do it nicely. i got the polaroid frame from Canay.
EDIT: since i got time, i made a new version, this time with adhesive tape instead of thumbtacks... i thought the thumbtacks version look horrible..

wwe is better off with only raw

2008-05-03T22:11:00.005+08:00

for the past few months.... i hated watching smackdown and not to mention ecw. the only programs that i still watch on wwe is just raw and the pay per views. anybody who watches wwe regularly can tell that raw is the "A" show of the company while smackdown is "B" and ecw is, well.... "C"

the biggest and hottest superstars are on raw... people like triple h, john cena and shawn michaels. and the most interesting things happen on raw... like DX and the presidential candidate parodies. smackdown on the other hand is horrible. 1st, teddy long is no longer GM... and i have no idea why he has to listen to vicki guerrero like a dog... no offense to the guerreros, but vicki as the GM of smackdown is just bad, not only that... putting her and edge together is just so wrong! everytime i see them on screen being intimate, i feel like puking... and i cant help but to feel sorry for eddie... i know its just kayfabe, but it makes me sick.

ecw is slowly dying and slowly evolving into wwe's developmental show on cable... is like OVW or FCW putting directly on cable and adding it to wwe's main programing to make it look like a 3rd brand. the 1st ecw ppv under wwe's flag was great, and so was the 2nd ppv, with the hardcore fans and the philly arena, fans chanting and throwing of toilet rolls, drinks and everything u can find in the stand and onto the ring. it's great to watch u know... but ever since ecw became a regular programming weekly... the show is horrible to watch. not only u dun have that philly arena, the ecw originals are slowly removed from the company, and did i mention its on the sci-fi channel?? it's weird! the storyline sucks as well, and most of the matches were jobbing matches... they're so boring to watch. vince should just let ecw run like how it used to be. i mean even without putting it on tv... he can still earn money out of it just by owning it... let the originals do their job, it may very well lasts longer and more watchable...

i know some of u might not totally understand wat i am talking abt, i've added links to the terms that some people who are not into wrestling to understand better

i thought that was kinda funny

2008-04-24T22:58:00.000+08:00

things like these will never happen in my country... lol

what am i going to do?

2008-04-22T19:30:00.002+08:00

yes officially jobless and still looking... i'm feeling that i'm kinda slowly getting lazy and hopeless. i know i should be studying more on level design and yet i'm putting that aside for quite a lot of days. i'm still looking for jobs and sent quite a few applications, but none of them replied me.. i'm wondering could it be the reason that i'm getting much older and they prefer younger people for the jobs i applied for?

sometimes i see a really good job vacancy and i'm very convinced that i'm up for that job, but there's always 1 criteria that i couldnt fill... it's either i have to know a certain foreign language or i have to work like overseas... trying so hard to tell myself that the day will come when someone calls me up for an interview... well, i can only do wat i can do and the rest is up to someone else.

i noticed that i have been playing GE alot lately, not sure if it's a good thing or not. usually when i play games i try to let myself absorb certain things or features of the game as i play.... my recent GE gaming experience is kinda zombietic.... yes, zombietic. (that was a adjective i came up with years ago and i have been using it as a nickname for quite sometime...) in other words... kinda like zombie-ish. playing it like i'm a zombie without any thoughts or planning or watever in my mind. i guess i'm sinking back into that hopelessness i once had when i 1st quitted my job at HP and went to philips. i dont wanna remind myself of the hell i been through during that "hellicious" period of my life. that was when i felt so hopeless on my job and everything, i dont even feel like working or even moving my feet to go to work.

i'm the kind of person who needs something that's waiting for me to go do it, and i'll feel energized and have that zeal to do my best and everything. i really hope to get a phonecall or email from someone or some company that can lift my spirit again. i think i should go back and read on those level design materials again... (trying hard not to procrastinate)

my personal DNA?!

2008-04-15T23:29:00.005+08:00

I am a...

Click for
My personalDNA Report.

found the link of the personality test from sze kiat's blog... i suggest u not to do it unless u have alot of time.... it's bloody long XD

unsure future

2008-04-08T17:28:00.002+08:00

currently looking for jobs at the moment... still prefer to be working in the industry i love the most... but not sure if i can get a job since the industry is pretty small... and i heard disturbing news as well... some ppl... well, a particular person has been also applying the similar companies like myself... wat's worse than getting a job u dont like? is getting a job u love and u have to work with someone u totally hate.

if i ever do get in a company where i have to work with that person again... i'll most probably quit the job... i know it sounds stupid to give up a job u love just for a stupid person... but if u never worked with this person, u never know how dreadful it was...

i was browsing gamasutra and i noticed a very big ad by the side of the page....

and i really hope that person would click on it and dream on LOL. since that person is sooooooooo into AMERICANNNNNNNn stuff and sooooooooo into world of warcraft... might as well flew its ass over to america and never comes back. =p

ZOMFG!!!11!one!!eleven!!1!11

2008-04-01T14:20:00.006+08:00

PAIN!

in the previous entry i mentioned i have 2 wisdom teeth on my left. my mistake... the upper tooth was on the right. i got my 2 right wisdom teeth extracted today... the jab for the anesthetic was fucking pain can!

my next appointment

2008-03-31T22:04:00.009+08:00

i'll have to go pay a visit to the specialist again tomolo morning. she told me last week that i may be able to get the wisdom teeth extracted tomolo (tuesday) since the swelling is going down pretty well and i can open a little wider. well i still cannot open widely like how i used to when i yawn... but since yesterday, for the 1st time in 3 weeks, i am able to stick my toothbrush in and brush on the inner side of my teeth. for the past 3 weeks, i can only brush the front and sides, and can only rely on mouth wash to get the other parts where i cannot brush. so when i am able to open wide enough to stick the toothbrush in... i was so damn happy.

although i can really brush all the way in, its better than not being able to brush at all. hopefully i can get the surgery done tomolo, becos i dowan to wait any longer...

y i used to hate dentists

2008-03-27T18:36:00.002+08:00

i guess i probably wouldnt suffer from so much pain if i had regular dental checkup every 6 months like i was told. but i totally hate visiting the dentist. i think the reason was that, my perception of dentists are always nasty people.

when i was primary school, the dentist in our school was a bitch, yeah i mean it. she was never nice and never comforted us (the children) when we go for dental check up. will would say nasty things about our teeth and never using tactful ways to coax kids to take care of their dental health. when i graduate to secondary school, i tot i can escape from a nasty dentist, but i was wrong.

even after i graduated and came into the working society, i had my 1st major toothache (also caused by wisdom teeth), i went to see a dentist in the neighborhood. the dentist was a nasty man. he too wasnt too comforting, on the contrary, saying things to scare me and it wasnt really helping me 1 bit. not only that, he did a very bad filling on my front tooth and now it looks horrible.

that was when my recent swelling i went to see this neighborhood dentist for the 1st time. she's a really nice lady and being really patient on me. explaining things to clear my doubts and help to comfort me regarding my wisdom tooth problem. when she referred me to a specialist, she helped to call the specialist personally and ensured i get the problem fixed asap. she even called me today to check up on my situation and comforted me again becos i was worried that i still couldnt fully open my mouth. dentists should be like her so that people wouldnt be afraid to see them, especially kids. all the drilling sounds are so scary and being a nasty dentist isnt going to help at all.

more medication

2008-03-25T22:29:00.003+08:00

and i thought i can get my extraction done at the specialist today when i went to pay a visit. in the end, i'll still have to battle the swelling before i can get a proper extraction done.

at least i'm glad i went today to get the x-ray done. it's pretty cool that the machine can take an x-ray of all my teeth without me having to open my mouth, and still i wonder how they can not snap an image of the other parts of my skull. anyway, it's not up to be to find out.

the dentist showed me the x-ray... i have 3 wisdom teeth. 2 on the left, 1 on the right. the one on the right (bottom) is the one causing the swelling and has to be extracted asap. but the dentist is not able to do so unless i can open my mouth wide by myself. for a moment, i thought i was gonna be given general anesthesia, and she's gonna somehow pry open my mouth and extract the tooth. too bad it wasnt so LOL.

the right tooth was bad, but the left bottom one isnt any better. it's growing diagonally forward into the root of the tooth that's infront of it. she's surprised that i wasnt feeling any pain with that kind of impacted wisdom tooth. she did mention that the left one has to go as well, (not sure about the top one) as to whether will she extract all of them at 1 go or just the right one 1st, she didnt say. i hope she would do all 3 at 1 go, though i know it's gonna be painful, but it's better to be extremely painful once than to go through pain twice...

for now, she gave me a heavier dosage of antibiotics to bring the swelling down to enable me to open up. i'll have to see her back again on friday. not sure will i get the extraction done that day... hopefully i can, but then again, i doubt so lol.

tough week... and still going

2008-03-24T18:54:00.004+08:00

its has been a very tough week for me, unable slp, talk, eat properly everyday for the whole week... it's a real torture.

it all 1st started with a toothache on monday night when i was having my baked pasta from the pizza hut delivery for late dinner... i felt a slight pain on my right lower molar... i figured it might be the wisdom tooth since the pain felt very similar to the one i had years ago also due to the wisdom tooth, but it got better by itself so i ignore it for years... when i tried to slp, i felt the pain as escalated, to the point that i cannot even slp at all. i stayed up until 6 in the morning and took a painkiller, waited for the neighborhood dentist clinic to open and call to make an appointment. unfortunately they're fully booked for the day, so i made an appointment on the next day (wednesday).

tuesday was the worst day... the pain was unbearable, i felt like dying. i cant open my mouth to eat anything at all. mom cooked me some porridge and i just took a few sip, no appetite to eat at all. that's when my right cheek starts to swell, and my right cheek starts to have a burning sensation... mom told me to go see the chinese sinseh, i said no... since i'm seeing the dentist the next day, i cannot be taking any chinese medication.

wednesday was just as bad.... i hardly slp the night before... and the swelling is getting worse. mom told me to go see a (western) doctor instead... to check on the swelling. and so i went. the doctor couldnt see much inside my mouth since the swelling is so bad and i cant open wide... she gave me antibiotics to let the swelling go down and advised me to see the dentist when the swelling has subsided. i changed the dental appointment to monday.

the rest of the 5 days was gradually getting better. the antibiotics did slowly bring down the swelling, and i did some icing on my cheek once a day. today is my dental appointment, but i still got some swelling going on and still cant open my mouth wide. i noticed my jaw is somewhat misaligned sideways, i went to see the doctor again this morning before the dental. she said since the swelling is going down, i can let the dentist check on wat is going on, and gave me somemore antibiotics to further bring down the swelling. after lunch, i went to see the dentist.

she slowly pry open (as much as i can) my mouth and look at the source of the pain. after some checking and exchanging of information from the doctor i was visiting (good thing this clinic shares the same unit, both the doctor and dentist), she told me the cause of the swelling is the wisdom tooth and it needs to be extracted asap. however, since i cant open wide, she cant determine the position of the tooth. and their small x-ray machine isnt able to take an x-ray for me... since i would have to open wide. she referred me to a specialist in alexandra hospital for x-ray and tooth extraction. i'll have to go there early tomolo since she cant get an appointment for me (the specialist is fully booked for the day), i'll have to do a walk-in and hopefully i'm the 1st patient.

i just want to let this problem be fixed asap, i dowan to let the problem go on any longer.... not sure if i can get an extraction tomolo... i doubt so... but i hope i can get it extracted asap... it's still so painful!!!

y ppl degrades game testers?

2008-03-18T19:05:00.003+08:00

i've been currently looking for jobs online, mostly game tester related jobs, if not something related in the gaming industry that i am able to qualify for. i end up reading alot of tech forums (mostly based in singapore) and how ppl misinterpret the jobscope of a game tester. it really makes me sick.

1st of all, most ppl i know of, tells me "hey, u're a game tester? wow, so good. sit down do nothing but play games and get paid, isnt it like a dream job?" the answer is NO! if ur perception of a game tester is like this, then dont bother to apply for the position if it's available, becos most likely, u'll end up getting fired.

game tester isnt just play games and have fun. it's basically the same as doing software testing. u have to check every single menu and possible functions and make sure they work, not only that, u MUST have an eye for details. many small little things most people misses is not acceptable for a game tester. plus, u MUST be able to spot the bug and find out the EXACT steps to recreate the bug and find out the possible step or function that caused the bug to occur. u MUST then be able to write down a report for (every single) bug u find, give exact steps and get possible screenshots and MAKE SURE the programmer who's gonna fix your bug is able to understand what u wrote. u MUST then re-test the exact same bug when the fix was given to u to make sure the bug no longer exists. sounds tough? it's not the end.

there are also other type of testing which includes consoles. for example, if the game is to be released on a PS3, there are strict rules that Sony gives for all game developers who make games for the PS3. and u have to make sure all the rules have are met according to sony's regulation. meaning having to test screen size and stuff like that which is pretty much boring and time consuming.

and if the game u tests has cheats or unlockables, u will have to play the game numerous times to make sure the unlockable works, it really sucks if it takes a long time to unlock just 1 single thing. but that's ur job, u cant complain.

all these sounds tough for u? well, how about adding another variable? doing all these testings on a game genre u absolutely hate to play? now does game testing seems easy to u? this is just entry level game tester job... there's still positions like test leads and such, which includes planning the test cases and schedules, training testers and making sure everything is done before the deadline... now, dun go saying a game tester job is sitting around and do nothing but play games, u deserve a slap on the face for saying that.

sicko?!

2008-03-17T03:23:00.003+08:00

i was just watching Sicko, a documentary by Michael Moore. i've always liked to watch his movies and read his books. although wat he writes or films doesn really do much impact on my life here in singapore, i think it's good for us to watch his movie or read his books to have a chance to think about wat is going through with ur life and are u really happy with ur life or that u're happy becos u've been told u're?

sicko is a documentary about the health care system in the US, and how the health care insurance companies are just trying to save money on their end than to help the people with their health care problems. although the insurance companies in singapore arent as bad and the medical facilities arent as restricted as it is in the US, i think the people here in singapore are more or less facing the same problems with the people in america, and that is if we fall sick, we pay ALOT of money just to get treatment.

after watching the film, i had the sudden urge to move into canada, britain or france. u should watch the film.

my 1st try at 3D

2008-03-16T00:58:00.002+08:00

i've been busy learning 3D modelling using Blender Software. well, when i 1st started, i dont even know how to select items or add items. i just knew that i was clicking in empty space and everything. luckily there's an online video tutorial to teach u all the simple functions in blender.

though i tried to follow another online tutorial to try to create a simple landscape, i noticed it went horribly wrong becos that tutorial didnt teach in simple steps, i find myself struggling to find out wat are the functions it was mentioning and i end up giving up on it. so i went back to the video tutorial to learn the basic stuff.

now i want to try to make a simple 3D model myself. i went through google images and i finally decided on Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture. i figured it's not that hard to make. but once i starting making, i noticed the letters have curves in them, which i do not know how to make LOL. so i tried to cheat abit by making it a little square-ish... until i came to the last letter i'm making, and it's the O... it took me the longest time ever, and finally i am able to make the O... and i noticed that my O looks nicer than the other 3 letters...

here's my 3D model of the love sculpture lol. i think i'll need to redo the L, V and E to add the curve edges instead of the square-ish ones.. but that's gonna be some other day. i'm really tired after making this whole thing :P

new look same awesomeness

2008-03-14T16:59:00.002+08:00

i used to be a MTV junkie, watching MTV channel all the time back during my sec sch/poly days. that was when i 1st hear Papa Roach, i love their music and their music videos, always so full of energy and crazy cool band performance.

the 1st song i heard from Papa Roach was Last Resort,

i remember how i spent my entire day practicing the guitar riff till my fingers got cramped.

i still occassionally listen to Papa Roach, but i am no longer a MTV junkie... not like last time. i still watch MTV once in a while, but more of their reality series like Pimp My Ride and the 70s House or something like that. it was not until i watch MTV Scarred i notice that Jacoby Shaddix is hosting the show. and man, he looked really different. and i thought i saw wrongly until i went to search for Papa Roach's recent music video...

not sure how he get to lose that many pounds, he sure looks different, but Papa Roach's music is still so awesome.