Games are fallin...
» Written on November 27, 2007 at 1:03 AM «
Ironically, since this year is supposed to mark the magnum opus of technology, what with all the radically different advancements crawling out of the woodwork. On the technical front, you’ve got Direct X10 with its pretty shaders and its associated new architecture for both video and aural development. On the other front that hits closer to home, you have Nintendo and Sony embracing actual player movement, in a bid to enhance the illusion of immersiveness within the world we call videogames. Even Microsoft, generally regarded as the upstart and monopolist of the technological industry, has seen remarkable success with their offering of the Xbox 360 and its associated LIVE service.
So why the pessimistic post heading?
Monster Hunter F...
» Written on November 25, 2007 at 2:28 PM «
This is quickly turning into a game review blog, yes? Rest assured that my sudden vigour for bombastic critique is merely a temporary delusion that plagues my brain, a fad if you will, serving only to quell my urges to write about something (seeing as I haven’t really been doing anything else other than studying and playing as of late; I don’t think I’ve even touched XSI in the last couple of months). Today I shall go over yet another of the delights that I have accquired for my PSP but neglected to rant about in the chaos of school and examinations. Damn, who knew writing pointless reviews that no one ever reads could be so much fun?
Monster Hunter Freedom 2. I’ve never actually played its predecessor, dismissing it as yet another anime-inspired action RPG that was sorely based on the ever-popular MMORPG mechanic of grinding, something which I think I’ve finally grown out of after a few gruelling months of finding jewels of bless in the korean MMO MU Online.
Crisis Core: FFV...
» Written on November 24, 2007 at 10:21 PM «
Now that exams are over, I can actually start to get myself back up to date hypertext-ually on the various exploits that I have undertaken throughout my absence. One of these endeavours has been a foray into Square Enix’s latest Final Fantasy offering, a spin-off, if you will, of its critically acclaimed Final Fantasy VII.
Crisis Core.
So what exactly am I doing here? Well, I’ve decided that instead of offering mere jumbled-up thoughts and opinions on the various doodads and oddities that I waste most of my life playing, I thought that it would be slightly more productive to actually offer more detailed reviews of such experiences, if only to remind myself of why I liked or disliked a particular title.
I know such a foray into journalism, game journalism rather, generally lends itself to all sorts of nasty consequences, including the usual fanboy backlash, among the concern of accidentally pissing off potential employers. (Why yes, I am hoping to get into game design at some point in my life, thank you very much.) Rather than focus on such trivial nonsense, I shall merely offer my unbiased, unabated opinion on whatever I may choose to review, with spoilers abound.
A few things
» Written on March 6, 2007 at 12:15 AM «
That I forgot to mention, mostly trivial, but still heavy in terms of importance. I had originally intended to get this up yesterday, but Blogger, conspiring with my ISP, appeared to have issues with me connecting to the Internet, and thus delays were inevitable. Annoying, but unchangeable.
Birthdays
» Written on March 3, 2007 at 3:50 AM «
Are things to be celebrated, to be served with a healthy dose of cake and presents, culminated with the extinguishing of a predetermined number of lighted flames, then rapidly forgotten and thrown away into the dark, musty closets of the mind to await the next.
That’s what most people usually do. I prefer to just skip right to the end instead. Unfortunately, this doesn’t really go over well with most people, resulting in, ah, conflict of interests. Thankfully, it’s my birthday, so whatever they may attest to and accuse me of, they can’t really force me to cherish it.
I’m not really certain how exactly my family operates; it appears that whatever you want them not to do, they will, and whatever you need them to do, they will not. It’s a cycle of viciousness, one that regularly rubs coins against each other, with the most terrible of grinding noises.
So I wasn’t exactly keen on the need for a birthday cake or even a mention of such an event, but somehow, it all happened anyway, to my dismay. You will realize, of course, that my call to arms in the post preceding this one was, in its entirety, a complete joke. For the uninitiated, it means that it should perhaps be read for amusement, and nothing more.
I present exhibits of blasphemy next.
My sister got that for me, a nice harmonic combination of colours. With fruity bits, though; somehow she likes that. I prefer chocolate, but then again, I hate cakes anyway, so that’s a moot point.
There it is, with complete lighting features. I was lucky my sister moved her hand out of the way before I took the shot.
My sis took this shot instead, which explains the heavy underexposure (I forgot to set the camera to use automatic settings before hefting it over to her)
I’ll probably upload a proper album of shots after I fill up my SD card with, uh, more shots of other stuff, I guess.
Anyway, where was I? Ah, yes, the lamenting about how most people go about celebrating their days of entry into this dark, forbidding world.
As such, how do I celebrate such occasions? Why, doing whatever the fuck I want, of course!
The day’s trials began with a 11 a.m. wake-up call after finally finishing the story campaign of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on my Sony PSP yesterday morning in an extended marathon lasting till around 3 a.m.. After logging on to the rig, I finally decided to get myself a second-hand copy of Sid Meier’s Pirates! for the PSP (at 35 SGD, which would be around 22 USD), having only played the primitive first iteration of its Macintosh older brother. But before that, I finally managed to get into contact with a contact about a possible rental of his Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories UMD for downgrading purposes. Now, for those who don’t particularly care for the PSP (or Sony), downgrading refers to the process of reverting a device’s firmware back to a previous version. In the PSP’s case, this would mean my being able to execute homebrew applications on the damn thing, which Sony has been doing their best to prevent.
I’ve mentioned about it before, but anyway, the reason I didn’t go through with such a process was the fear of bricking my PSP prematurely. I’m one for everything when it comes to total customization of whatever I own, but I hesitate, perhaps, when those changes are tagged with the property of being potentially irreversible.
Anyway, I met the guy at the National Library in our Bugis district, whereupon I plugged in my laptop and began the nerve-wracking, nail-biting process of downgrading my PSP to 1.50 firmware, then upgrading it to a custom firmware version, 3.03 OE-C.
(For the PSP junkies: yes, I know that 3.10 OE-A’ is out, but read the readme. It has its own share of issues, and I’m not about to cheat death twice, though I am half the devil. Maybe someday.)
So anyway, I currently have myself such a fantastic new piece of hardware with (God forbid, even though I’m an unbeliever) Sonic The Hedgehog on it.
I feel like I’m about to cry.
Can you imagine what will happen once I get my hands on those old ROMs I used to own? Metal Slug and the King of Fighters immediately come to mind, but goddamn, imagine Marvel VS Capcom running on this thing. Or the original Metal Gear Solid. And all for just 10 bucks. Still expensive for a 15-minute rental, of course, but I don’t know anyone who owns a PSP with the unpatched version of GTA:LCS, and I’m not about to buy the actual damned game for like 70. And that’s even assuming I can still find an unpatched version in this country.
I feel a bit peckish for some Nintendo 64 Zelda action, though; that’s probably the only franchise I haven’t yet touched in my life, which is kind of amazing considering how much I’ve played since the conceptions of my childhood. Maybe this will actually help me fill that niche.
One thing is for sure, though; the train rides back home are going to be a lot less boring than before.
(I haven’t finished the House illustration yet, and I have an avalanche of school tests coming my way sooner than I would have preferred. C’est la vie.)
Moo
» Written on February 22, 2007 at 5:04 AM «
Goes the cows. As I have aptly illustrated below, after spending about half an hour in Illustrator.
The story behind this particular doodle is a bit odd, actually. But then again, I guess the stories behind all my pieces are rather odd in their own ways. In any case, this particular one was derived after watching my friend doodle on his lecture notes during a particularly drier-than-usual torture session. By the end of half an hour, he had accomplished several iconic masterpieces all over his white canvas, some of which were actually quite good in their own way.
If you hadn’t guessed by now, yes, one of them was indeed a mammal of a certain species. B. taurus, as Wikipedia attests to. And if you’re also wondering, yes, this is the same guy who inadvertently provided inspiration for the Vandalism piece. Maybe I should ask him about helping out with Hard Life; he did take an art course after all.
You’ll also note, of course, that the design uses the stkHandwritten font, the first time I’m actually using it anywhere out of the Hard Life comic project. This would somehow coincide with the fact that it is now under a Creative Commons license as well; you’ll probably hear more about that once I finish up stkImplacable and other stuff on the comic. Basically, though, know this; if you find yourself wishing for said typefaces, you will be able to be in possession of said fonts soon.
I’ve just about finished watching the few meagre episodes of House M.D. that I managed to prematurely accquire, and I must say, boredom is once again beginning to set in, though I’m trying to prolong each episode’s shelf life by transcoding it over to my PSP. The process is arduous, tedious, and may, I don’t know, be a representation of Sony’s idiocy, in every sense of the word?
You can probably tell where this is going.
And I mean it. Unfortunately. Sony has managed to slam doors shut on its consumers every step of the way, whether in advertising, in homebrew development, in firmware updates, everything. They’ve somehow managed to take a great concept and turn it into potato salad. Burnt potato salad.
I know Jerry Holkins of Penny-Arcade shares the same sentiments. Honestly, going through so much trouble just to put a goddamn video on a handheld, you’d be inclined to think that Sony wanted to do this just so people would rather buy UMD movies and save themselves the trouble. Except that now, UMDs aren’t doing so hot, and yet, still, even with the 3.01 firmware update (I know 3.03 is out, but do you really think I want to off all chances of getting this thing downgraded?!), the VIDEOS subfolder on the PSP still doesn’t somehow, allow videos to be stored and recognized on it.
Kind of amusing, yet insanely annoying, if you catch my drift.
But with this year’s hongbao totals going at a nice amount (though it’s still less than last’s), I may just find myself over at our local gaming haven tomorrow picking up an unpatched copy of GTA: LCS.
Hopefully. But then again, I’m still sick, so I might just take the day off instead and head straight home.
Of course, that’ll mean I’ll have to pass on Chemistry and a Photographic Society meeting. But hey, I’m sick, right? Accomodations must be made!