Staying Up for E3 Press Conferences

During the earlier half of last week, this year's E3 was being held in the USA. When I heard that they were going to have Live streams of the various company press conferences, I decided to stay up till the ungodly hours of the morning just so that I can catch them first hand. Of course, this meant that I would be a zombie the next day I went to work but it was still (kinda) worth it.

GameSpot was one of the sites offering Live Stream for the press conferences and the videos are still available for watching.


Microsoft (Monday Night, 1:00 am - 3:00 am)


Microsoft cut to the chase by showcasing their games and demos (instead of boring the audience with sales pitch, sales figures, powerpoints, etc).

Most notable titles to me:
- Modern Warefare 2: CoD4 multiplayer all over again? Sign me up.
- Halo 3 ODST: Droppinng in September 2009!
- Halo Reach: Fall 2010. I'm gonna get my hands on the Fall of Reach novel.

Unfortunately, I went to sleep at 2:30 am and missed out the last 30 minutes where the really fun stuff happened. I caught them all later on video.
- Hideo Kojima came out to reveal Metal Gear Solid Rising. I am sure the audience was just as shocked.
- Felicia Day (from The Guild) came to reveal that Facebook and Twitter will be coming to Xbox Live in fall 2009.
- Project Natal was revealed; Microsoft's motion sensor technology. It's nice and all but seems to be aimed at casuals.


Nintendo (Tuesday night, 12 midnight - 1:30 am)


I was actually falling asleep during Nintendo's press conference. I felt as though I was back in school sitting through a boring lecture. Way too much talking, presentation slides, sales figures, yadda yadda.

Everyone agreed that it sucks bad. GameTrailers slammed it for wasting 58 minutes, then finally showing 12 minutes of goodness at the end. This Penny Arcade strip pretty much sums up the entire Nintendo conference. Team Ninja + Metroid = Win.


Sony (Tuesday night, 2:00 am - 4:00 am)


Sony's press conference dragged a little at the beginning with PS2/PSP related stuff. But once they got on track and started showing PS3 games, it was great. The press conference had a lot of jaw-dropping moments. The PS3 has possibly the best line-up of exclusive games coming up.

Most notable to me:

Assassin's Creed 2 (multiplatform) - Game looks amazing. I loved it when the audience was like "Whoah!" at the part where Ezio knifed two enemies in the face at the same time.

Uncharted 2 Among Thieves - Game looks stunning.

MAG - 256-player FPS. Never thought it would work out but there they were, demo'ing it on stage.

Final Fantasy - After rolling some footage of the new Final Fantasy XIII, Sony suddenly announced that Square will be bringing Final Fantasy XVI (14) to the PS3 as well. At that moment, the audience went completely silent. I, too, sat there dumbfounded. Was this Sony's killer app? 13 was not out yet and they were talking about 14 already? But then the game footage rolled and the title flashed: FFXIV Online. Haha.

Do I even have to mention God of War 3?

Sony also brought out their motion sensor technology. Looks like everyone is out to get Nintendo. But I still think it's aimed at casuals, so until I see any actual games for it, it's just a gimmick to me.

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The E3 press conferences were all great (except for Nintedo's). Looks like there is another great year of gaming ahead for everyone.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

I have been playing Sacred 2: Fallen Angel on the 360 for the past 2+ weeks. The game is a port of the PC version from last year.

What can I say? It's a like Diablo. And we all know what such games can do to me. This one is actually pretty WoW'ish with its open-world concept, littered with towns and quest-giving NPCs. I have clocked over 50 hours already. Grinding and boss hunting is just so addictive.

The console version appears to be a lot more popular than the PC version! It makes me wonder if it will do to consoles what Monster Hunter did to the PSP. haha.

Distant Worlds: Final Fantasy

I went for the Distant Worlds: Final Fantasy concert yesterday. This was the first concert I've ever attended and also my first time going to the Esplanade. Sitting from high above in the 3rd storey, I could see both a Cloud and Tifa cosplayer in the crowd below. I also spotted my friend, Duelist & Mutouren sitting below.

It was quite enjoyable, though regretfully, I only knew like 3-4 of the songs so I could not really relate to the rest in their lineup. haha. I found it nice that they played Eyes on Me (not in the original list) and gave us 2 encores (FFVI: Terra's Theme and One-Winged Angel).

The highlight to me was FFVI: Opera House (Maria & Draco) because that was one of the more memorable moments of the game. Now I got to experience it fully vocalized as opposed to the blips and boops that passed off as lyrics on the SNES.

This event definitely made me look forward to the upcoming Video Games Live in June.

http://www.vgl-sea.com/

It's definitely a good year for video game fans in Singapore.

Beam Me Up, Scotty!

Rhyfe dropped by at my place on Saturday. As we jammed on Rock Band, I noticed he was looking down at my Sonic Array soundbar every few minutes. He remarked that he couldn't hear the bass.

It was then that I pointed at the unopened box containing the sub-woofer at the foot of my bed... and wondered why the heck didn't I hook it up to test it since the day I bought it.

I paused the game before the next song and set it up. The difference was immediately noticeable. I was amazewd by the newfound awesomeness of my Sonic Array. There was more a lot more oomph to the music. That was more like it.

Halfway into the day, I received a phonecall from FunZ saying that my broken drum kit has been replaced. Finally! It took them over 5 weeks!

At night, we cabbed to AMK Hub where I was meeting up with YongHao and friends to watch Star Trek. I never did follow the TV series so I had no idea what it was about. The only thing the show was famous for (to me) was the pointy-eared alien known as Mr Spock and the infamous "Beam me up, Scotty" line. haha. The movie was great. It's a prequel of sorts and introduces the characters very nicely. Definitely one of the better movies I've watched this year.

After that, I dropped by at FunZ to collect my drum kit and eagerly cabbed home to try it out. It worked fine but still sucked. haha.

I played games through the night and went to bed at 5 am. I have noticed that this has become a very unhealthy habit of mine; going to sleep at 5-6 am on weekends. Maybe I am rebelling against the notion of sleeping early cos' sleeping early always symbolized that there was work the next day.

I ended up waking up on Sunday at 1 pm with a massive headache. I was planning to just stay home for the day to rest and play games. Just when I was deciding which pizza to order for dinner, YongHao gave me a call and asked me out for dinner at Tampines One. I went there to met him along with Brainy, Akira, Darius.

We walked around a bit before settling down at the restaurant named SayCheese (or something). Food was pretty meh. The chicken I had only me crave for Kenny Rogers'.

And that was the end of the week. I started feeling annoyed that there was work on Monday. There should be off-in-lieue or something for Vesak Day which fell on Saturday. Work sucks.

Saturday at GameScore

I was annoyed at having to go to work on Saturday so I stayed up late the night before.

On Thursday, I still remembered trying to drop hints to my boss to see if I could skip this Saturday. "Tomorrow is Labour Day," I told her, putting on a hopeful smile, "But I'll be here on Saturday." "Okay, good," came the blunt reply.

Ah, well. At least I tried. When I got to work, the office was even more desserted than usual. It was just me, the clerical staff and one guy. Due to the lack of sleep, I was a zombie.

After work, I went to Funan Centre for lunch. I met up with Duelist, Addict and Justin and we went to GameScore. The couple who owned the store were getting married that morning so they were having a storewide 20% discount for the weekend. I actually found it a bit alarming that they came back to open the store straightaway after their wedding. I would have congratulated them but I didn't know them at all. I was just some random guy who was here for the sales. :(

The store was packed. I actually had three things that I really wanted to buy but I was extremely disappointed that they were tagged with a yellow label meaning 'no discount'. Come to think of it, practically all the 'good stuff' had yellow tags.

I didn't want to go home empty handed so I thought hard before picking up one of the items I wanted before going home. The shopping took a whole lot longer than I thought and I ended up reaching home at 7 pm.

Labour Day Movie Meet

Hooray for Labour Day and yet another long weekend!

I went to Plaza Singapura with Mog, Yonghao and Akira at Plaza Singapura to watch X-Men Origins Wolverine. Somehow, the movie was very, very popular. When I was doing online booking, I noticed that there were 30 time slots that day alone and most of them were filling up fast. I guess because it's Wolverine. haha.

Before the movie started, I dropped by at the arcade to try the new KOF XII. Best 2D sprite art I've ever seen. Somehow, the arcade game feels like a public beta. It just feels like it's very incomplete (no final boss? no endings?). It's still fun and I'm definitely looking forwad to the home release to experience the 'full' game.

We went to Swensen's for dinner. I realized that I haven't had a restaurant dinner in quite a while. The food was okay (there were new items on the menu) but nothing could beat the Mega Burger that YongHao ordered.

Movie: X-Men Wolverine Origins

Caught the movie on Labour Day!

The movie was extremely light on plot and heavy on fight scenes. Every time Logan travels to a new location, he gets into yet another brawl. There were a lot of cameos from other mutants but I was a bit disappointed that their roles were very minor (well, the show is all about Wolverine after all).

One of the things I was most looking forward to (as a comic book fan) was watching Deadpool aka Wade Wilson on the big screen.


When he is not killing people, Deadpool loves some StreetFighter, too!

Despite not being in-costume, the "Merc with a Mouth" lived up (a little) to his name by spouting tons of witty quips and showing some cool swordplay. But his screen time was very much short-lived...

*SPOILERS*

I can't believe that abomination at the end is the Deadpool that comic book fans love. He can't talk. He has everyone's powers. And he is controlled by keyboard inputs (?!).

But then again, there is a secret Deadpool ending after the credits (though it was not shown in the cinemas when I watched it). It shows him alive despite being decapitated. Maybe Marvel is planning for a Deadpool spinoff movie.

*END SPOILERS*

The movie is pretty average but still pretty enjoyable.

Dinner @ Tampines One

While at work, my next-door neighbour Jiehui suggested that we both go to Tampines One to shop around. He gets off work earlier so he went there first and I met up with him later at 7 pm.


As usual, there was a ridiculous queue outside UNIQLO. Jiehui told me that he had actually managed to get in when he came earlier before the after-work crowd started pouring in. He didn't buy anything though.


We decided to have dinner at Manpuku, the new open-market style restaurant. We were each issued a card and a nice little "Reserved" sign to put at our table. I had chicken cutlet curry, some sushi and a sundae, though I felt that they were a little overpriced.


After dinner, we went to check out the arcades. I got a little excited when Jiehui told me there was a Guitar Hero Arcade machine there which is quite rare. I saw a couple playing it but they kept pumping credits into it. I was actually a little impatient as I saw them performing very horribly on Medium but still pumped in credits continuously

When they were finally gone and it was my turn, I was shocked to realize that the machine was set at a ridiculous $1.50 per song (boy, that couple was rich). The game was basically a watered down version of Guitar Hero III. Disappointed that most of my favorite songs were myteriously missing, I played Slow Ride on Expert to warm up first.

When I was done and just put in another credit, someone approached me and went: "Kurow, can I play Pro Face-Off with you?" At this point, I wondered how did he know my name and whether did I attract any unwanted attention from the arcade pros by playing on Expert. Then it hit me that the guy probably saw the name that I entered on the high score screen.

I played one more song (Cult of Personality on Hard, which is always awesome) and then agreed to play Pro Face-Off with the guy. We both played on Hard and I let him pick the song. We chatted a little about how terrible this arcade port was and the ridiculous price. When it was over, we thanked each other and left.

After that, it was time for me to leave, too. I went to the MRT station with Jiehui and we took the train home.

Sonic Array 2000 - Aural Bliss

I wasn't really planning on getting my speakers anytime soon but somehow, I just gave in and picked this up from Challenger.

Sonic Gear - Sonic Array 2000 (link)


I chose this based on several friends' recommendations. I was very easy to set up; just plug it into my TV and power it on. I have no space so it is sitting on the floor for now.

My games all sound a million times better now. Explosions & weapons noises no longer sounded like weak sauce. Rock music actually sounds like ROCK. It was totally worth it. I never knew that my games could sound this awesome.

Tampines One is So Crowded

I went to check out the newly-opened Tampines One today. I heard there was a UNIQLO store there (the first to open in Singapore) so I decided to go and shop around. Casual shirts for the casual man; sounds good to me. haha. I read from various forums that the place was packed but I never realized it would be THIS packed.

It almost felt like Vivocity. When I got to UNIQLO, there was a massive queue outside the shop that snaked a few times and extended into the toilet/lift areas. There was even an usher standing at the back of the line with "Queue Starts Here" sign. All this just for shirts. Well, they are having a first week discount (like $5 off their $24.90 shirts).



Other than that, the place was pretty okay. The other points of interest to me were the Challenger and Times Bookshop, and that was it and even those were pretty meh. And there was this Marche-style Japanese Gourmet market called Manpuku.

I shall be back to check out UNIQLO again, hopefully before the first-week opening sales is over.

Where's your Crown, King Nothing?

Another year, another Guitar Hero spin-off title. This time, it's Guitar Hero Metallica. King Nothing grew on me and became one of my favorite songs!

***Watch in High Quality*** (Click on "HQ" after starting the video)


[ King Nothing ]
- By Metallica

Wish I may
Wish I might
Have this I wish tonight
Are you satisfied?
Dig for gold
Dig for fame
You dig to make your name
Are you pacified?

All the wants you waste
All the things you've chased

Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around

Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle's crumbled
And you're left with just a name

Where's your crown, King Nothing?
Where's your crown?

Hot and cold
Bought and Sold
A heart as hard as gold
Yeah! Are you satisfied?

Wish I might
Wish I may
You wish your life away
Are you pacified?

All the wants you waste
All the things you chased

Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around

Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle's crumbled
And you're left with just a name

Where's your crown, King Nothing?
Oh, where's your crown?

Huh!

(Spoken)
I wish I may
I wish I might
Have this wish I wish tonight
I want that star
I want it now
I want it all and I don't care how

Careful what you wish
Careful what you say
Careful what you wish
You may regret it
Careful what you wish
You just might get it

Then it all crashes down
And you break your crown
And you point your finger
But there's no one around

Just want one thing
Just to play the king
But the castle's crumbled
And you're left with just a name

Where's your crown, King Nothing?
Nothing

No you're just nothing
Where's your crown, King Nothing?
No you're just nothing
Nothing

Off to never never land
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No More Leaks

My mother decided to renovate our home recently (mainly the kitchen, toilet and pipes). In doing so, she had all the air-conditioners replaced!!! What this means for me is: No more water leaks!!! Goodbye stupid old leaky aircon. Byebye, stupid pail.

The new air-con is so cooling that I suspect it might be the cause of my flu.

Phase 1 of my room's makeover is complete!