Christmas 2009

The Christmas holidays began for me on the 24th. After my half day at work, I met up with Duelist, Addict and Mambo at Funan Centre. We shopped around and then had a late lunch at Shokudo at Raffles City. I realized all these open food bazaar restaurants always have rosti which I really like. haha.

On Christmas itself, I met up with Kyo, Akira, Brainy, Bahamut and Mango for dinner at Suntec City. At first we were planning to have Kuishinbo but it turned out that the buffet charges were much higher that day. We ended up eating at Kenny Roger's which was just as fine since I love their chicken.

At night, we went over to Bahamut's place for some BlazBlue. I haven't touched the game in months and ended up spamming a handful of combos that I could barely remember. I can't wait for Continuum Shift!

(As I post this, I realized that I should be more cam-whorish and be daring enough to snap pictures next time...)

I spent my Saturday at home playing video games. I was in the mood for some music and picked up several rhythm games to keep myself busy; DJ Hero, LIPs Number One Hits and Guitar Hero Van Halen.


Here's the obligatory Prinny-with-new-toy photo. And yes, I have to stack up several empty boxes every time I want to play.

On Sunday, I met up with YongHao to catch Sherlock Holmes at AMK Hub. It is always fun to see Robert Downey Jr. in any movie. I don't know much about the character but I guess they were going for modern-day Holmes who has some character flaws and can fight really well. The plot was a little weak to me but it does hint at a sequel. The show has a lot of investigative moments when it reminds me of CSI. haha.

Looking at the Halo Legend Anime Series (Part I)

Halo Legends starting airing over Xbox Live on alternate Saturdays since November. I believe it is up on YouTube and other sources as well. Some of you may have watched it so here are my brief personal views on the episodes out thus far.

1. The Babysitter
Studio: STUDIO4°C


This is actually currently my favourite episode so far. Nice, clean traditional anime character designs and a memorable story to boot. The plot is based on a familiar concept from the novels (the rivalry between the ODSTs and Spartans). There was a cool twist at the end that left me thinking. Looking forward to see the upcoming "Origins" episode which is done by STUDIO4°C as well.

Halo Geek Moment: That Brute 's Gravity Hammer must be out of batteries seeing how totally UN-destructive its impact is.


2. The Duel
Studio: Production I.G.


This episode centers on one of my most favourite subject matter in the Haloverse; the Sanghelli (aka Elites). The story takes place before they actually joined the Covenant. Seeing them portrayed as olden day honourable Japanese warriors (complete with Kimono!) was a nice touch. Fight scenes were cool, too. Unfortunately, the animation did not do it for me. It was said that they were going for a CGI-meets-watercoloured-painting look but all I saw was a pixelated mess. Some may applaud it for its unique animation style though. Ah well.

Halo Geek Moment: We get to learn how the "Arbiter" became a 'bad' title.

3. The Package
Studio: Casio Entertainment


I found this to be my least favourite episodes so far. So the Spartans are supposed to retrieve a 'package' from a Convenant ship. What ensues is 15+ minutes of filler'ish back-to-back action sequences that seem to serve no purpose other than to showcase the studio's 3D polygons/CGI rendering prowess. It's very mindless and disappointing to me.

Halo Geek Moment: In some parts of the action scenes, the camera switches to a first-person view (complete with crosshair) similar to the video game. This would've been a cool gimmick... if they did not re-use it multiple times during said action sequence.

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The remaining episodes will be aired over the first few months of the new year. I am actually planning to get the DVD/Blu-Ray just so that I can experience the anime a second time in Japanese. hehe.

TIme to Clear Leave

It has been a while since I had a normal update. Everyday has been the same for me: It's all work and games.

There was a period of time when I actually thought that I may be out of the job soon because my agency was in danger of not hitting our quota to stay in business. However, things are starting to look fine now so it is no longer a cause for worry.

I started clearing my leave this month. I was advised against clearing several days at one go so I went and spread out my 3 days to one day per week. It doesn't seem ideal but it is actually not too bad since I end up coming to work only 4 days a week.

Clearing my leave actually reminds me that I need to negotiate with my boss for more annual leave next year. I always felt that 7 days a year is quite pathetic. I'm gonna see if I can ask for something more reasonable like 10.

VGA: Halo Reach

When I first saw the Halo Reach world premiere trailer during the Video Game Awards (live stream) on Sunday morning, I felt cheated. So much hype and they just showed a 2-minute pre-rendered cutscene without a single gameplay video.

It was only later in the day that I realized that whole trailer was running on the in-game engine. I went to catch it again on Gametrailers and also downloaded it off Bungie to watch on my laptop. Still felt it was nothing to write home about.

I got back from work today and saw that the HD trailer was up on the Xbox Live Marketplace. I decided to give it one more shot.

I ended up watching it several times. It suddenly looks and sound so different on my usual gaming setup. I managed to catch little tidbits that I missed out. The music of Halo never fails to impress. Spring 2010 seems so far away.

For those wondering why the game has such an odd name, it's based on the events of the first novel.

More MW2

Penny Arcade hits the nail on the head once again.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/30/

Those knife runners (Marathon+Lightweight+Commando) and Akimbo 1887 shotgunners are overpowered.

I finally Prestiged today on MW2 (360). Haven't been able to spend much time with the PS3 version due to the "Fetching Playlists" bug. It is kinda annoying not being able to play whenever I want.

Camp of Duty: MW2

I have been playing Modern Warfare 2 every night (It's fighting with Dragon Age Origins over my attention). I'll probably get around to finishing the campaign and play some SpecOps one day but for now, MW2 is all about the multiplayer.

It's just like CoD4 all over again but somehow, I feel that the magic is somewhat lost. Does MW2 live up to all the hype? For me, it's a Yes and No.

I) Maps Maps Maps

The maps in CoD4 were very well done and fun to play. In MW2? Not so.

The map choices mostly consist of run-down urban areas with many buildings and tons of little hiding spots. Up till now, I still don't know some of them by name because they look rather similar. And then there is Wasteland which is possibly the worst map ever designed in any FPS. I think you can see what I am getting at. The way the maps are designed actually encourage way too much camping. I used to refer to CoD4 jokingly as "Camp of Duty 4" and it looks like it has come true!

A few gems stand out, though. My favorites are Terminal, Highrise, Sub-Base and a few of the smaller, non-camping ones. Even so, they are nowhere near the polish of the CoD4 maps.


II) Whatever Happened to Green Bars?

Throughout my 2+ weeks of playing, I have only been dropped into a grand total of 3 Asian servers via the public matchmaking system. It seems to think that players on the other side of the globe are a good match for me and 1-2 bar connections are perfectly okay.

In CoD4, the matchmaking system would prioritize matching me with Japanese, Hong Kong, Taiwanese and other Asian players. Something needs to be fixed.


III) You've Got Your RNG in my FPS

In my opinion, the Care Package/Emergency Air-Drop killstreaks are somewhat imbalanced and out of place. Sure, a bit of randomness is fun. But in an FPS? A competitive FPS? Something is terribly wrong. What were they thinking?

It's still a good game, though. I am sure Infinity Ward can fix things with a patching and some DLC maps.

Back from ICT 2009

My ICT is finally over. Other than being deprived of sleep, it was actually not as bad as I thought. It has been years since I was forced to wake up as early as 6 am.

The training programme ended up being completely different from what was uploaded online. During the in-pro briefing, they actually warned us not to post any sensitive material regarding our ICT on our Facebook, blogs, Twitter and whatever social networking sites we had nowadays. I'll just be briefly posting my own personal experiences and feelings about this year's ICT.

- Right on the first day, my feet were hurting like mad. I thought I had worn my brother's boots by accident so I went to buy a new pair of size 11s from the E-Mart using army credit. When I got home that night, I realized that I did outgrow my boots after all. I never thought I would still be growing at my age. It must be my feet getting fatter.

- My uniform was lacking a lot of the new badges because I was unaware of the recent changes. With the help of my guardian, I managed to have everything ready before the last day as there was a spot check before we out-processed. They also told us that there will be another new SAF uniform coming up and we have to buy that next time (it's not the crappy-looking pixelated green one).

- Most annoying thing about this ICT to me was the outfield exercise. Thankfully, it was short & sweet and, once it was over, the rest of the ICT went by rather quickly.

- Went to Jurong Superbowl on Thursday for unit cohesion programme. That was the first time I ever touched a bowling ball and probably the last time as well. I took a cab home after that and it costed $41 thanks to the peak hour charges. It was my most expensive cab ride ever.

- Watched the movie "We Were Soldiers" as it was aired after one of the lectures. Very nice. It feels so different when you watch a war movie in an army camp while in uniform. lol

Well, that's it for this year. We were informed that our next ICT is in 2011. It seems that other people get called back every year but we get it once every 2-3 years.

1 High Key, 1 Low Key down. 6 High Key, 2 Low Key to go.

ICT 2009 Approaches

My reservist ICT begins next week and will last from the 9th to the 14th of November. This is actually only my second ICT. It has been 3 years since I was called up. I was hoping the SAF may have forgotten about me.

I have been rather sad about it for the past week and chose to drown my depression in Dragon Age: Origins, the new epic RPG by BioWare. It helps to take my mind off things.

Seeing that there is only one day left, I decided to read up on my ICT today. I actually had no idea what was in store for me until I checked the NS.sg website. Back then, the unit training schedules were never updated but this time, they actually bothered to uploaded it.

I was very relieved to learn that there would be no field camp this year. In fact, the only thing I found annoying was a TOPO exercise. Aside from that, it seemed to consist mostly of lectures & briefings. The schedule did not indicate whether if this was as stay-out ICT or not, but seeing that each day's activities end at 5:30 pm, it keeps my hopes high!

More Holiday Titles

Continuing the crazy onslaught of holiday game titles, I picked up the new Ratchet & Clank game on Friday after work. I was planning to spend my weekend just gaming. Anything to take my mind off my upcoming ICT. I actually took leave next Tuesday to rest because it was getting me down.

Despite sleeping through most of the weekend, I still managed to spend over 15 hours on Magna Carta 2. At one point in the game, the story had me gripped and I kept on playing to see what happens next. It also helps that the battle system is actually fun. MC2 is shaping up to be one of my favourite JRPGs on the Xbox 360.

Ah, well. It's November. Titles that I am looking forward to this month:

03/11: Dragon Age Origins
- Massive RPG by Bioware.

10/11 : Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- It's like the whole world is waiting for this game. But my ICT... ugh.

19/11: Assassin's Creed II
- Enjoyed the first game and the sequel looks awesome.

No Boredom to be found in Borderlands

I picked up Magna Carta 2, Borderlands and Tekken 6 over the weekend for the 360. I am kinda overwhelmed by all these new releases. Dragon Age Origins and Bayonetta are coming. I am sure I will work something out and give each of those games the time that they deserve.

I thought I would bring up Borderlands, the new FPS-RPG by Gearbox. It is unlike anything that I have played before. The best way to describe it: It's Diablo with guns. I was totally hooked and clocked 19 hours on it over the weekend soloing and co-op'ing with friends. Despite its highly repetitive nature, it is just so addictive.

It also helps that the game was released with a whole bunch of goodies. (Thank you, FunZ Centre.)


If the world ever becomes a nuclear wasteland, I'll have my survival bag and mug to tide me through.

Oh, and one last thing: Borderlands is for real gamers. Casual gamers can go play their sissy games like Halo and Call of Duty*.

*PS: Not to be taken seriously

PlayStation 3 Slim

I went to FunZ on Monday night with Raccon and Justin to get my PS3 Slim. Raccon bought his as well and Justin picked up some games.

I have been wanting to get a PS3 for quite some time but thought I would hold it off until there was a game that caught my attention. Never would I have realized that game would be Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. But come to think of it, considering the kind of games that I like, it shouldn't really come as a surprise at all. Uncharted 2's timely release was also a contributing factor to my PS3 purchase.



Impulse buy or not, I am quite happy that I can now enjoy the best that both the 360 and PS3 has to offer.

The next thing on my to-do list is to get a Bluetooth headset. My first attempt at organising a multiplayer session over PSN was an exercise in frustration. And not being able to communicate during a game made me feel 'handicapped'.

Impulse Buy?

Prinny came home with a little something today.