Xbox Gaming Bonanza

It has been a month since I have been hooked on my Xbox 360. I feel like an excited kid with a new toy. I used to have a hard time looking for nice games but, with the X360, I am pretty much spoilt for choice. I realized that I actually bought much more than I normally would. I'm usually not so extravagant (originals are expensive and I am usually careful with my choices) so it looks like I'll be playing them for quite a while until the next big release. haha. The following are some of the more notable titles I have been playing:


Halo 3

I finally got a chance to experience what the Halo series is all about. It's the Xbox's flagship FPS (first person shooter) title. The story is nice but, having never played the previous games, it was like watching the last film in a trilogy of movies. Fortunately for me, there's always Wikipaedia. Overall, a fun and solid multiplayer FPS with a large online community. This game got me a little interested on the sci-fi space opera genre. Unfortunately, the game is showing its age a little, facing still competition from COD4 (below). That doesn't stop me from enjoying the game, though.


Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

One of the most popular FPS multiplayer games to date across multiple platforms. Pretty fast-paced and boasting one of the best graphics on the X360. The multiplayer is pretty unique with its leveling up and skills allocation. I initially bought it soley for the multiplayer but now I am glad I tried the campaign for its immersive and memorable story.


Devil May Cry 4

DMC4 was supposed to be THE game. Despite good reviews and great sales figures, I personally felt it was disappointing. Maybe DMC3 set the bar too high for the series but DMC4 feels like a shoddy rush job. The game impresses with its deep combat system, likeable characters and crazy, over-the-top cutscenes.

Then Capcom decided to be lazy with the stages. You are forced to go through the same few zones in the game 2 times; once as Nero and then again as Dante. You even have to fight the same 4 or so bosses; three times each. By the time I had finished two playthroughs, I had the layout of every room burned into my mind. Still a decent game but DMC3 still remains the pinnacle of the series.

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As for my SingNet-bundled Wii... it is no longer with me. I sold it to Hobbes, who seemed like a pretty big Nintendo fan. On that very same day, he went out to buy a DS so that he'd have the full-blown Nintendo experience. He's probably having a Nintedorgasm now, playing with his Wii-lly and all. Since the day I collected the Wii package, I did not even bother to examine the contents. The thing just sat next to my bed and collected dust. It was about time I let it go. haha.

Working Life is Sad

I just need some room to whine about my sad, working life. haha. Six months at my current job and already, I have grown tired of working. Is this what they call burn-out?

Sometimes, I can't help but feel that life is a little sad. Everyday, it seems like I am enduring through 9 hours of work in order to earn the right (privilege?) to go home and enjoy my 6 hours of personal time. As the days go by, I find myself delaying my sleep time just so that I can have more 'awake' time. I used to go to bed at 1 am, then it slowly became 2 am. Recently, I have been going to bed at 3 am. Trading off 2 hours of doing 'nothing' for extra gaming, net-surfing and TV does seem like a worthy deal. But, of course, I always end up feeling cranky and frustrated at work all the time.

Unless we can all end up having our dream jobs (whatever that may be), there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Students look forward to school holidays and further studies. NS guys look forward to ORD. Me? I have no idea what to look forward to other than watching the office clock everyday impatiently, hoping that it would strike 6:30 pm.

Sometimes, we all wish we could have all the time in the world to ourselves.

Chinese New Year Holidays

I honestly wouldn't have known it was the year of the rat if it weren't for the office decorations.

It's the Chinese New Year holidays. Another loooong weekend for me. Sadly, it's Sunday already and it's back to work on Monday.

As with every year, I only visited my father's side of the family on New Year's day and had the rest of the days to myself. Oh, there was a tiny difference this year. I had one other household to visit; my boss' home. Just because she asked me to. haha.

I haven't been blogging much. I am sure it's due to laziness. I have drafted several blog entries from work but never got about to finishing them so they never get published. If I were to clear the backlog, it'd seem weird posting stuff that was relevant weeks ago. I'll see what I can do, though.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Chinese New Year holidays.

The Box with a Big X, or How I was Driven to Buy a HDTV

Yup, I now have a Gamertag.

I bought a 2nd-hand Xbox 360 from Brainy (the one that he won from a lucky draw in December 2006). The thought of getting one has never occurred to me before (my SingNet promotion Wii is on its way) but Devil May Cry 4 was coming and Brainy's offer of $150 was really attractive for a no-warranty, pre-2007 set. I'll just buy it and set it aside for the release of DMC4 in February, I said to myself.

Then a few things happened.

First thing I realized was that my standard TV was too old to accomodate the Xbox 360. In-game text was squashed up and very blurry, making it near-impossible to read anything properly. I guess it was time I found out first-hand that all next-gen consoles require HDTVs. I went out and purchased a Samsung LCD TV (LA26R71) which arrived on Friday. It looks like my idea of actually saving money with a cheap 2nd-hand Xbox had backfired since I had to fork out a lot more for a HDTV (never mind, I would've probably needed it for the Wii, too).

Only then I could start playing properly. Despite my initial prejudice towards the Xbox (and all things Microsoft in general), I actually grew to love it. The Xbox's online connectivity, with its downloadable content, online community and achievements system (via Gamertags) changed the way I looked at console gaming. Now, I wished I had purchased a brand new Xbox 360 instead (this one is beginning to show its age with some minor freezes and system error every now and then). But then again, it's rather expensive and I would not have learnt that I actually enjoyed having an Xbox 360. haha.

By the way, my Xbox 360 can blog, too. It's alive... it's alive!

Team Fortress 2

I finally picked up The Orange Box last week. It was mainly for Team Fortress 2, a team-based multiplayer FPS. I decided to snap it up after reading a lot of positive reviews and asking for friends' recommendations.

It's a fun and awesome game with nine classes to learn and play as. Its cel-shaded graphics with memorable, cartoony characters make it stand out from most other FPS games, though in essence, it is still a serious shooter. In any case, I think its comedic theme is what makes the game extremely enjoyable for me.

The game is fast-paced and pretty intense.; it kinda reminds me of how I used to play Counterstrike in LAN shops. There are even local servers (by Starhub...) so the game runs smoothly with like 20+ ping. I am pretty much addicted to the game. I hope it will have more content soon. As of now, there are only six official maps to play which is frankly quite pathetic.

There is a funny Saving Private Ryan parody comprising of movie footage re-recorded with TF2 music, sound effects and voice samples. I exploded laughing when I watched it. It really made my day.

SingNet + Wii!

I went to sign up for SingNet's Nintendo Wii promotion on Thursday. It was the Nintendo Wii that swayed me over! I've always thought of getting a Wii. It's pretty pricey at the moment (around S$600+) so this package was quite attractive. At the very least, if my connection still lags after switching ISPs, I can live with the consolation that I got a Wii out of the deal.

I think what I have done might be a little extreme (I just want smoother, lag-free online gaming) but I guess if I let the promotion slip by, I would probably regret it and keep dwelling on it. My SingNet connection should be up and running on the 11th of January and I will be redeeming my Wii a week after activation.

Happy New Year 2008!

Happy New Year, everyone! This is my first post of 2008!

Monday was a normal working day for me. It was New Year's Eve and I had a dinner & movie outing at night. It was around 12 noon when the admin next door asked me if I had half-day off. She said that most of the staff could go home after 2 pm. My boss didn't mention anything about it so I kinda hoped she would bring it up before lunchtime. At around 1 pm, my boss left the office so I knew it was (sadly) just another full work day for me. By 3 pm, most people had left the office so I was all alone. At least I am free to do my own stuff till it was time to leave.

After work, I went straight to Bishan Junction 8 to shop around. I met up with Kyo, Akira, YongHao (trying not to call him 'Maggie' anymore) and Darrell, accompanied by Brainy who popped out of nowhere (Everyone now say F-O-E!). We had dinner at Cafe Cartel. I tried to eat something light like spaghetti so that I'd have room for nachos later but I was still very full.

We then caught Aliens vs. Predator 2 at around 9 pm. It was an okay action movie with a non-existent & rushed plot. I guess the violence was the highlight of the show. At least it was better than the first AvP which was pretty much rubbish.

When I got home at night, I caught a quick glimpse of the countdown at Vivocity on TV before carrying on with my Heroes DVDs. Sadly, I was on the 3rd-last episode. I completed it on Tuesday morning and got that same empty feeling that I get whenever I finish watching a good TV series. I can't wait for Season 2.

Anyway, here is a nice funny movie that Brainy mentioned:
Meet the Spartans (Trailer)
I guess it's by the makers of the Scary/Epic Movie series.

Merry Christmas 2007!

Today is Christmas day! Merry Christmas, everyone.

On Monday, I went to watch the movie, I Am Legend, with Akira, Chaosmag and Kyo. I must admit, it wasn't what I expected. It was a very slow-paced, scientific tragedy instead of an action movie. I should learn to check Rotten Tomatoes next time before I pick a movie. After the movie, it was dinner at Pizza Hut before we went home for the night. We had actually wanted to eat at Breeks but it seems that the branch at Ang Mo Kio had closed down.

On a side note, Aliens Vs. Predator 2 is next on my must-watch list, but when I saw the trailer in the cinemas, it was much more tame compared to the gory splatterfest that I saw on YouTube. I guess I would only want to watch that in local cinemas if it gets an MA-18 rating.

When I got home, I found my package from Japan sitting on my bed. They were here! My Pesoguins have arrived!



I actually bought them off Yahoo Japan (as usual with help from Hobby Shop K). I heard that the Pesoguin plushies were pretty rare so I couldn't resist it when I saw them on auction and I had some spare Paypal money made from selling stuff on Ebay.

My favourite is the one with the cell phone(at least that's what I think it is). He looks like a busy little guy, doesn't he?

Maybe he's ordering pizza.

Sadly, until I get about to tidying up my room, I don't have any space to display them.

My Heroes marathon began at night! I actually bought it on Friday from VideoEzy and it was the last copy they had.



I told myself I would just watch 2 episodes and go to bed but it was very nice and I stayed up till 4 am to complete the first disc containign 4 episodes. I woke up today at 2 pm and carried on watching. There are a lot of things going on with all the characters which keeps me hooked.

Oh well, it's almost near the end of the day. Now I am beginning to dread tomorrow because it is back to work. I remembered that I wanted to do some Christmas shopping to get my bosses a present but alas, I was too lazy to do anything about it.

December Holiday Season!

Yes! The string of year-end holidays are coming, starting from Thursday (Hari Raya Haji) and lasting all the way to Christmas Tuesday. While others at my workplace are planning on week-long vacations, my idea of spending the holidays is simply taking leave on Monday. This super-long-weekend is going to be great.

I think I have not gotten this much free time in quite a while ever since I started working. I am actually afraid that I may not have enough time to do everything that I want. Aside from the usual gaming, I plan to do a little bit of shopping just to give myself an excuse to get out of the house, mingle with the crowds of Orchard road (or some other place) and see what cool things I pick up. Maybe if there are others like me who wish to do some Christmas shopping together, we could meet up or something.

Anyway, I will be doing some wrap-up/looking-back style blog entries to commemorate my rather eventful year (and also help breathe some life into this blog) so check back in the weeks to come. Cheers.

It's the Start of December!

The company is having its annual convention so it means every manager will be in Korea for the entire week. The office is pretty deserted aside from the occasional agent who comes in to settle some personal work. If this were like some crazy American sitcom, you'd be seeing all the dull admin staff crawl out of their boring little cubicles and party out in the open.

Anyway, I think I won't be seeing much of my boss around this month since she has several overseas business and family trips to make. Such little surprises in life that make me happy sometimes. When even your boss takes a break, you can't help but feel a little switched-off, too.

Somehow, I feel that this year's December will be pretty different for me. For one, I am now working so I won't have all the time in the world to do anything that I want. I really miss those days. Incidentally, it was this time of the year when I bought a new laptop from SITEX 2006 and started playing WoW.

I hope that this month will be quite meaningful for me and all those around me.

A Little Break from Hardcore Gaming

I have recently got a little more free time since my WoW guild stopped raiding. That means no more coming home knowing well ahead that my nights have been fully booked. No doubt, raiding is the core of the game and it's fun, but one starts to feel the strain when you realize that it is taking up 4-5 out of 7 days every week.

I'll miss raids but, in the meantime, I will learn to appreciate this change in my daily routine as I can now play the game at my leisure and set aside time for other activities like web-surfing reading or watching TV. Maybe even sleep early.

Worst PC Game Launch. Ever.

Alright, I can overlook the fact that Hellgate: London is a mediocre and repetitive game but its first few weeks of release had been the most horrible thing I have experienced in my entire gaming life. I never knew so many things can possibly go wrong in a short span of time. The situation is so catastrophic that I am surprised IAH games haven't closed down yet. This is worst than the time I was playing Priston Tale (shudder) many years ago. And that was a free game.

What you are about to read may be one of the biggest farce in local gaming history.

Week 0: The Gates are Open!

Local gamers picked up HGL only to realize that they were playing an early Beta version of the game, albeit packaged nicely in a shiny box with a price attached. (US gamers get a retail version update known as Patch 0 the moment they go home and run the game.) Over the first weekend, players soon hit the Beta level cap of 22. Everyone was generally unhappy and flamed IAH on their forums.


Week 1: Welcome to real life Hell...

To help appease the gamers, IAH announced that they will patch the game on Tuesday to remove the level cap. Patch 0 will still have to wait, though. Maintenance ended on Tuesday but... no changes was made to the game at all! Flames ensued. And we learnt that we have a useless bimbotic CM (Community Manager) who only knows how to post ditzy remarks and spam pics of 'sizzling hot' babes.

The server was brought down again on Wednesday to finally remove the level cap and this time, it went through. However, in a most unexpected turn of events, all level 22 with excess EXP automatically skipped levels, causing them to miss out on stat/talent points. Characters were bugged permanently this way. More flame threads appeared on the forum.

IAH announced that they would be looking into the matter to try and 'fix' characters. From a technical standpoint, I already knew it was impossible to alter the game code for each and every bugged character. I played on, bracing myself for what I fear might happen next...

And it did. On Saturday, IAH announced that there would be a character wipe to make way for Patch 0, the reason being that their Beta-version database was incompatible with it (My penguin senses still tell me it's largely because the bugged characters were irrepairable ). Sadly, the wipe/maintenance/patching will be on Monday. It was a weekend with no HGL for players everywhere. Flames carried on in the forums.


Week 2: ???

Monday was supposed to be fresh start for everyone so that we can forget the game's rather shameful first week. But alas, IAH has let down its gamers again with a last minute announcement; there would be no maintenance and Patch 0 has been put on hold until further notice.

Massive flame threads continue to pile up on the Hellgate forums and it has become my source of entertain during work hours.

Looks like the entire game has come to a standstill. It would be interesting to see how IAH can screw up even more.