Gaming on Four Fronts

PC:
Just got C&C 3:Tiberium Wars this morning and Brandon already started playing it. Runs smoothly on his PC at 1024*768 with Medium/High graphics settings so should be no problem on mine as well (we have similiar PC specs except i have more RAM).

Played the first C&C on Sega Saturn (amazingly i still have the game) but in truth i'm not really a big RTS fan. Especially since i prefer real-world weapons to futuristic stuff, so i guess i won't play much of it. Probably just a couple of skirmishes with Brandon just to see what it's like before i go back to my console games.

PS2:
Still in the midst of God of War 2. So far it's proved much more bloody and gruesome than part 1 but ultimately, it's too much of the same action (and moves) from the first game and that's why i'm not really rushing to finish it.

PSP:
DJ Max Portable 2 is out! But...i'm a little hooked to Marvel Trading Card Game so i haven't started on it yet. Spent an hour today just forming a new deck in the game. Man, i miss my secondary school days when all i played after school were (real)TCGs at World of JJ @ Lot 1. But they became too expensive and too many weirdos started playing so i stopped.

X360:
Achievement points are the greatest invention since sliced bread! At least with AP you can check whether someone is bullshitting you when he says he accomplished this-and-that in a game (no prizes for guessing who i'm referring to). And at least i know the hours i waste on a game has a purpose.

Finished my first playthrough on Idolmaster (check out the limited edition package here) and i'm still yet to earn a single AP in the game. BUT! I'm pretty sure i can rack up at least 200AP for my 2nd playthrough thanks to the culmulative achivements. For the record, i only managed to produce a B-rank idol first time through. Have to manage my 52 weeks better and win over 300,000 more fans the next time for a A-rank and 100 shiny AP. I'm selecting Haruka Amami to produce next.

Been switching back and forth between GRAW 1 and 2 (260AP/2days) whenever i get stuck in a particular mission. The Tom Clancy storyline sucks so bad that i can't distinguish the differences between the 2 games. To summarise the plot: Americans= Good Guys; All other nationalities= Terrorists. At least the games are fun and the weaponry real. Still can't be bothered to play on Xbox Live though.

Upcoming Games to look out for:

Forza Motorsports 2: Supposedly the most realistic driving game.

- Forza Motorsport 2 demo will be released on XBL Marketplace soon. Looking forward to that.
- 8 new characters for Marvel Ultimate Alliance to be released this week for $10USD! Told Bernard about the roster and he claims he's gonna buy a X360 when he gets back..We'll see..
- A week after Guitar Hero 2 has been released in the USA, Funz Centre still doesn't have it yet...Grr! 2 more days to payday; please arrive by Tuesday.
- Gran Turismo: HD demo looks awesome on PS3! In addition, there are some interesting games on the PS3 horizon. Pretty tempting.. But the tilt factor will still be the 3 main games i'm interested in and whether they will be multi-platform-ed: Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy 13 and Tekken 6.

My poor aching butt cheek..

Had a nice ride today with W.Kim Wee who just bought a new hybrid from AMK Hub's NTUC. Rode him back to his house which is suprisingly near to AMK Central (i keep thinking that 'Hougang' sounds damn far east) and then rode back home. Haven't ridden my racer since Fraser Hill but today i definitely feel much fitter than before the trip. Even after reaching home my legs don't feel shagged. Only problem is i kind of pulled the muscle in my right butt cheek, most likely due to lack of proper stretching before setting off.

Seriously, these 2 are going to fight each other. (L: Nayuki Minase (Early morning version, Kanon) and R: Kanna (Air))

Downloaded Eternal Fighter Zero, a doujin versus game with characters from various Visual Novel games(read: H-games). All i can say is: It's too bloody cute! Characters from Kanon and Air are also in the roster. The moves that some of the girls pull are seriously funny and weird (if you've watched the anime) and i just got a good laugh trying everyone out.

One more reason NOT to get a PS3 (yet): Devil May Cry 4, previously always a PS2 exclusive is going to be released on X360 simultaneously with the PS3 version. I can see other big name games slowly losing their Sony exclusivity and coming to X360 in the future as well. Hopefully MGS4 as well! Unless PS3 has some killer apps coming soon or the Cell starts showing its potential i think Sony should start planning for the Next-Next-Gen now. I still prefer the PS controller over the Xbox anytime though.

I think it's time to retire the DVD player in office. Was watching 'Hana and Alice' today and it kept freezing in between. Couldn't even finish 1 disc even though we were completely Law-less today. Not the first new VCD to be given the freeze treatment. Anyway i brought most of my movies home to watch, because someone was giving all our ears 5-star crapping therapy yesterday about how we all owe him something for something that only he remembers. I think he would make a terrific ghost in Ju-on because he harbours grudges for so long. Oh well, just 2 more months before i'm promoted back to Mr Chin (no more CFC hooray!)...Carry on my wayward son!

And that reminds me...i have to start prepartations for Ja-plan (Japan Plan)! Besides getting a bicycle i have done absolutely zilch after that. Time to lift my one good butt cheek off my bed and do something..

Miyazaki Aoi vs Ichikawa Yui PART 2 (END?)

Went to Herbert's house for an evening of games (played GH2, DDR:SN, GT4 and WE8). Anyway i got sabohed because no one told me that they were going to eat out so i ended up ta-paoing my own dinner (MOS Burger) from West Mall before coming... So i was munching my burger and fries while walking out with them to eat when suddenly they decided to order Macs and turned back to the house. Haiz...Highlight of the evening was playing 4-man GH2 (me/wk vs mw/bert) and WE8 (same teams) but i didn't really like DDR:SN cause the score system rewards the player's accuracy more than their consecutive hits, which meant that my team kept losing even though we probably had a longer streak. Or maybe it was just me pulling Wee Kim down with my psychomotorness. Anyway i just dislike losing in video games so i'm just going to stay away from DDR (and also Guitar Freaks and Beatmania, basically any KONAMI rhythm games). And our favourite CFC was not present (not because Herbert didn't invite him) but cause he was on duty. Ee Wei i just want to say on behalf of everyone that we had alot of fun today! Too bad you couldn't join us. What a shame. Aww..

PSP GPS and MAPLUS Software: $160

While walking out from Herbert's house i tested my PSP GPS with Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops 'GPS Scan' Mode, and suprise suprise! it managed to connect to the GPS. Came close (to connecting) at Tuas and elsewhere but this was the first time i got to see the game's GPS Scan in action. And it just so happened that on the road leading out there was a hotspot (but i got a sucky character). I assumed it would be easy once connected to locate a hotspot but on the taxi home i didn't pass through anymore. The closest hotspot that i passed was (presumably) somewhere in Matthew's condo area according to the zoomed out view of the GPS.

As promised (to Ee Wei) i am going to put up another comparison (part 1 is here) between Miyazaki Aoi and Ichikawa Yui. This time the theme is who is SEXIER. I think the result is pretty obvious (so i'm not going to name the obvious winner) and i'm not going to pretend to be blind or too biased. However if given a choice i would choose...Erika Toda. But overall between this 2 i still prefer Aoi.

Pretty hard to find comparable pictures because Aoi doesn't have many skimpy pictures (the opposite is true as well).

Futureal

Just returned from a leisure ride with Alex. Lent Alex my MTB with a gel pad overlaid on the most comfortable seat in my house, but he still complained of groin (and back) pain. Can't blame him. Used to get that when i started riding after a long lay-off. Travelled through Mandai Road down to Upper Thomson Road and had supper (2 kosong, 1 kopi cino for me) at the Roti Prata House before heading down through Macritchie Reservoir and back down to Upper Bukit Timah Road to my house. Distance (as estimated by Brandon) was about 40+km. Quite impressed that he managed to cover such distance on a first ride. But he still can't beat Sufian's legendary cycling journey from Marsiling to my house to Changi Village..on a BMX.

I felt the pace that we did tonight was the sort of speed i would probably aim for when bike-touring Japan. 1 day cycling to a youth hostel, 1 day sight-seeing and vice-versa (something like guard-duty rotation). Ya i decided to plan a cycling trip through the whole of Japan instead of backpacking. Why? Cause i think it will be more meaningful and fun to do something like this before i start my working life. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that i don't want to miss while i'm still young. Been looking through this site to see some of the routes that i can take through the middle of Japan. Plan A would be to cycle through the middle, sent my bike back to Singapore and then backpack all the way back to my starting point down the coast this time. Plan B would be for me to chiong for my driving license, convert it to an international license, bring my bike over and rent a car and cycle around while driving from point to point. Easier said than done cause i haven't even taken my Basic Theory.

Anyway at this point i'm still very early in the planning stage. Will probably find some detailed maps, hostel information on the route, modify my MTB for touring and pick up my PSP GPS attachment (arrived 2 days ago!) and test it out etc. Have to really plan as i get closer to ORD if i want to make this trip possible. For the time being all i've bought is a bicycle rack attachment (centre and 2 side panels) to mount my luggage. Alex suggested that i blog on the way through Japan via my PSP (built-in Internet Browser) and take pictures via my PSP camera as i cycle through for a day by day update progress as i cycle. Oh yes, if anyone is interested (and available) to go through this tour with me please let me know. Plan to leave after July and be back before or during November (wintertime). Would love to see snow before i return.

Found this mini-series that Erika Toda also acts in titled "Division 1 Stage 8". Only 4 episodes in the series but too bad that there's no subtitles available. Airing date was 2004 so Erika was only 16 in the show. Have to say that she looks better as she gets older but she is still uber cute nonetheless in the show (after i skimmed through all 4 eps). Also starring with her are Horikita Maki (Nobuta in "Nobuta wo Produce"), Nakamura Ruria (some extra in "Attack No. 1" and the ugliest of the four) and Tokunaga Eri (same talent agency as Erika, never seen any of her other shows before). Hope someone releases some subs soon (though i doubt it cause it's a 2004 series) cause i can't understand shit on what the show is about, or maybe i'm just too distracted by Erika in a high school uniform.

Pretty. And cute. Or just pretty cute.

(L to R): Eri, Erika, Ruria and Maki.

PS: Ee Wei probably didn't realise this but Ichikawa Yui's birthday passed last Saturday. I noticed it last week but forgot to remind him about it. Saw "Siren" the movie in VideoEzy the other day. Will borrow it during the weekend to see how she acted in it. (Quote from Geek.com, "Its main star is the lead actress Ichikawa Yui, who is most noted for her roles in two of the "Ju-on: The Grudge" films.") Haven't seen either Ju-on so will try to find it as well.

Little Shot

Bought a PSP Camera (PSP-300X) last night for $70 from Funz Centre. Will post some pics of the camera + packaging and some pictures taken by it when i get out of camp tomorrow but you can check out the official site (Japan) here. It's called 'Chotto Shot' (Little Shot) in Japan. Cute name. Brought it to work today and Ming Wei was saying that i just wanted to show off my new toy again. Well if he thinks that way than all i can say is wait till he sees my GPS receiver (ordered through Funz Centre as well) for my PSP..

I found the image/video quality of the 1.3 Mega Pixel camera better than i expected when at the PSP's native resolution (480x272). Video capturing was especially lag-free (full 30fps support) and it comes with some nifty settings for photo taking such as adjusting exposure, picture quality (Fine/Standard) and adding effects (sketch, b/w, distort etc) on the fly.



The Chotto Shot's built in effects.
Resolution can be set for photos (320x240, 480x272 Default, 640x480 and 1280x960) and at default settings over 6000+ images can be taken on 800mb of free space on my memory stick! That number drops to 1000+ at max settings but that is still more pictures than i would care to take in a week. Video takes around 40MB for a minute's worth. Media saving to the MS Stick Pro is very quick as well. And it comes package with a UMD software called "EDIT" (that being the only non-japanese word on the UMD Cover i can read) that can has album, slideshow and some image/video editing functions. Not a bad package for $70.

Some issues i have with the device though:

- There's no way to keep the PSP with the Chotto Shot attached on top in my soft case or in any sort of case that's available on the market (as far as i know). So i have to detach and re-attach the camera everytime i want to use it, which would not be so bad if the USB connector on my PSP wasn't so screwy. Sometimes i really have to fiddle with the camera attaching screw quite a while before it gets detected. That's the 2nd thing on my PSP that's going crazy (the first being my analog stick) but i guess i have one of the oldest PSP around (coming to 2 years old this june) so that's to be expected.

- The USB connector doesn't fit with my Logitech Playgear Visor so i have to remove it everytime i want to attach the camera. Guess i can expect much more fingerprints/scratches on my screen in weeks to come.

- Can't figure out how to switch off the shutter sound when taking pictures. So much for trying to take voyeur shots on the sly...

- When you turn the camera upside down you will see "Made In China"...Arghh..

It was fun testing out the Chotto Shot today at work but of course i won't post any of the 'sensitive' pictures i took today online, except maybe the close-ups of the Teos (Cheng Wei and Ee Wei) sleeping during lunch. On 2nd thoughts i better not in case they whack me at work.