No.1 Gaming Geek

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Hello. Today is the final day of 2008. I'm doing an early post because I'll be at my grandmother's house counting down to the new year later tonight, and I'll only be back around 3am. Since this is going to be my last post for 2008, I'll be doing some extra stuff.

I woke up at 12 pm today, and I played Guitar Hero World Tour. I recorded two videos today. They are played on the bass. I don't feel too pleased about how I did in these videos because I'm not very used to playing the bass.

When playing the bass, you have to play all five buttons, and you also have to play open strums. Open strumming is especially difficult for me to get used to because after playing Guitar Hero for so long, it just feels wrong to take my fingers off the fret buttons to play the open strum. But I'm getting used to it. I'll upload the video tomorrow.

I decided to play Bioshock after that. I started a new game again, and I played up to the part where you defeat your first Big Daddy. I explored everything and I got every plasmid, tonic and diary recording available so far. The fight with the deaf Dr.Stienman was fun because I hacked both of his healing machines. I also had two hacked security bots to help me.

When the fight started, the security bots immediately started to fire at the doctor. I used Incinerate to light the oil the doctor was standing on. He caught fire, so he immediately retreated to one of his healing machines. Since I hacked it, he got poisoned instead of getting healed.

He made one final, desperate run to his final healing machine in hope of healing himself, but the doctor got another dose of poison, and he died. Since I didn't get to take place in much of the action at all, I just fired a few shotgun shells into his dead body to satisfy myself.

I soon met my first Little Sister, and I rescued her instead of harvesting her because I'm such a nice person. I didn't have to go against the Big Daddy accompanying her because it was dead for some reason.

Not long after that happened, I walked around a corner into another Big Daddy and Little Sister. By instinct I immediately shot at the Big Daddy, and of course, I got a rampaging Big Daddy on me. I took care of it with a few electric shotgun shells, and I rescued this Little Sister as well, then I made my way to Neptune's Bounty and I saved and quit.

I'll continue tomorrow. I also played Guitar Hero World Tour drums for a while, then I started to use my computer. Since today is the last day of the year, I'll have to do some special stuff. I'll do some lists, and the contents of the lists are in no particular order.

10 Cool Things that Happened in 2008

1) MSHS 50th Anniversary Concert
How many school actually hold their 50th Anniversary concert in the Esplanade? And it happened on my birthday. At about 7pm, the concert started, and it lasted until about 9pm. As we were getting out of the Esplanade, my classmates sang a birthday song for me and Rufus.

How awesome is that? I got a personal performance in the Esplanade. Thanks guys. After that we went to Lau Pa Sat and we ate until close to midnight. The next day, school only started after 11pm, and we were still dismissed at normal dismissal time.

2) Taking O level
I expected it to be hard at first, then I expected it to be easy, but it turned out average. The difficulty varied for the various papers. After the final paper, the sense of accomplishment and freedom is pretty satisfying.

3) Getting a whole lot of games
At the start of this year, I had 19 games. At the end of this year, I have 42 games. This year, I got 23 games, more than the amount of games I got in 2006 and 2007 combined. That also means that I spent over a thousand dollars, but it was mostly worth it.

4) Last few days of school
I brought my camera to school, and everyone was taking a whole lot of photos. Especially on the last day, where we didn't really have any lessons at all. We were allowed to slack and talk and sign autographs on our class photos.

We also got back out individual photos, and it was funny to see how we looked after being Photoshop-ed. People with tons of pimples on their faces had clear skin on the photos, and my skin was a few shades lighter.

5) Learning to play Hard and Expert mode on Guitar Hero
I first started playing on Hard mode in the Guitar Hero 3 demo, and I've been improving ever since. Now, I can play almost all songs on Hard mode and most songs on Expert mode. After getting past the fact that I have to actually move my hand up and down to play on hard and Expert, and after learning how to pull on and hammer off, I've gotten pretty good.

6) Attending X08
It was a nice experience to be in a place that was surrounded by games. Until I get old enough to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo [E3], I'll just have to satisfying my craving for attending video game events by attending the local yearly Xbox game show.

7) NCC POP and dinner
During the day of our Passing Out Parade, we were all slacking, and when my name was called out, I screwed up everything. But I don't really care. I was just happy to finally be out of NCC. On Friday of that same week, we went to have dinner at Sakura at Toa Payoh.

After eating dinner, we went to Plaza Singapura because we wanted to watch a movie, but there were no seats left. There weren't any seats left at Cathay too, so we went to play pool instead. I only played one round of pool, but I played a lot of arcade.

8) Super long holidays
We ended school a week and a half before the first O level paper started. Once O level actually started, I was already in holiday mood. And now when everyone else is going back to school, we still have on more month of holidays. That's like 17 week, or nearly 4 months of holidays. Nice.

9) Youth Day celebrations
Youth Day celebrations sucked last year, because we had to do the stupid Hip Hop thing, but this year things were back to normal. We had the usual costume parade, then there were the various stalls, and we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. About an hour before dismissal, our History teacher let us watch Battle Royale. Fun times.

10) Getting to know Yiling
I'M VERY HAPPY THAT IT HAPPENED.

Now that that is done, I'll do another list.

10 Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2009

1) Being in a co-ed school
After being in a all boys school for 4 years, I am more than happy to be able to share a classroom with members of the opposite sex. I also look forward to making new friends.

2) Getting my results back
Everyone is excited about knowing how well they did for the O levels. I'm nervous, but I'm excited to know. Also, getting my results back would also mean getting a hell lot of money from my father.

3) Money
As long as there is school, I'll be getting my allowance. I'll finally be getting money again. Also, I'll be getting my ATM card next year, and that means I'll have access to the 5 digit amount inside my bank account. My spending power is going to increase.

4) New Games
New year means new games. 2009 is already looking to be another great year for gaming, with huge games like Resident Evil 5, God of War 3 and Final Fantasy XIII coming out.

5) My Birthday
I want more red packets and presents. Who doesn't? Some of you might recall me saying that I would like to invite a whole lot of people to my house during the holidays, but that never happened, so I'll be doing that during my birthday. I didn't have a sixteenth birthday party, so I better have an awesome seventeenth one.

6) More Naruto, Bleach and One Piece manga chapters
Looking forward to reading the chapters the next year has to offer.

7) Laptop
I'll be getting a laptop next year, and I'll be able to keep all my stuff in it. I'm going to put a double password, and a fingerprint lock. I'll also probably be playing more PC games when I get my laptop, and it will be so much easier to use the computer secretly during the night.

8) My PSP/iPhone
I'm probably getting a PSP during my birthday, and Yiling's parents will probably buy an iPhone for me during their next trip to Hong Kong. She'll be getting an iPhone too, so all I need to do is to buy the same phone as her. Yeah, I know the iPhone is a phone, but I would like to have more than one handphone.

9) Going to Amsterdam
If goes well, my family will be going to Amsterdam during the mid year holidays next year. I want to go during year end, because it will be snowing, but just being able to go there is good enough. Marijuana is legal, and the red light districts are accessible to everyone. What a nice place.

10) X09

It'll probably be the same as this year's, just with different games on display, but I'll still go for fun.

Ok, that's all I can do for today. I'm leaving my house now. You people have a great time counting down to the new year, and to all the people I don't have on my phone contact list, have a Happy New Year in advance. Ending off, see you next year :D

posted @ 8:03 PM
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Hello. Today is already like the second last day of 2008. That was fast. I still feel as if we just started Sec 4. But that's because I am lag. I'm sad to note that after today, I won't be able to get anymore games, see my friends or see Yiling until next year.

Today I went to AMK Hub with Sebastian and Say Yin. I woke up and helped my sister finish up her project, then I left my house at 11.45 am. I was the first to reach, followed by Sebastian. Say Yin was helping with some of his church stuff, so he was a bit late.

While waiting for Say Yin, I watched Sebastian play Final Fantasy Desidia. The game looks nice and it plays pretty cool. I played the Bleach game. I like using Ichigo a lot. It is so satisfying to Bankai right in some one's face, and then you can use the Hollow mask and pwn everything.

We went to buy tickets for Yes Man. It was a 3pm show, so we went to eat first. After eating, we still had about an hour left, so we waited outside the cinema. Say Yin and Sebastian were playing DJ Max while I was doing some serious CBS. I saw some CB, but too many old ones too.

Yes Man is a pretty ok show, definitely better than Bedtime Stories. The audience was laughing a lot, but I wasn't. I'm only amused my sexual humour, so I'm sorry that I didn't find it that funny. The part where the old lady was starting to blow Carl was hilarious because she put her dentures into the glass of water. Just look at my twisted sense of humour.

After the movie, we went to look for New Moon for Sebastian's sister. We couldn't find it anywhere. Not at the AMK Popular, not at the Junction 8 Popular. Is the series really that popular that it cannot be found anywhere?

I dunno, but I'm not getting onto the craze at all. **** Edward he is a pervert with. Golden eyes and the weird sparkling skin? If you even think about it for a second, that's ****ing freaky man.

I went to look all over for Oblivion as well, with not luck at all. Why the hell is Ninety Nine Nights, an Xbox 360 launch title, still available while Oblivion has just vanished from the face of this Earth.

At J8 we met Ming Woon, and he told us that the O level results would be out on 12th of January. I'm not too sure about the exact date, but I'm pretty sure it will be during the 10th-20th January period. Feeling a bit nervous already. We also saw my cousin Shashi.

After a while, Yan Ming met us. He thought that we were going to play pool, but we weren't, so sorry about that Yan Ming. Actually, all he really wanted to do was to SMC.

We went to eat dinner at Food Junction in J8 and it is a ****ing scam. Why in the hell does a plate of chicken rice cost $4? What, am I eating race with gold dust in it? And that's like one of the cheapest things there. Screw the place, I'm not eating there again.

After eating, we took a bus to Sebastian's house. We were supposed to play basketball, but as soon as we got off the bus, my father came to fetch me, so I couldn't play. When I got home, I watched TV and helped my sister print some stuff.

After everyone was done using the computer, I started using it. The new Bleach chapter came out, but it's nothing special. At least now we get to see what is happening in Hollow world again, rather than that other stupid fight that has been going on for so long. Ok, now that I've read the Bleach chapter, I WANT MORE NARUTO PLEASE. Next week, please come faster.

Wait, why the hell am I asking next week to come faster? There's school next week, and that sucks. Oh wait, I forgot, there is still one more month of holidays. Muahaha, alright you can call me an asshole.

Some news:
-New Tomb Raider Underworld costumes available on Xbox Live/Playstation Network.
-A recent study shows that buff video game characters make gamers feel negatively toward their own bodies. Really?
-New Euro track pack comes to Guitar Hero World Tour. Too bad these songs aren't in English, so have fun trying to sing them.
-Ninja Blade demo is up on Xbox Live, it can be downloaded by anyone with a Japanese Xbox Live account, regardless of where you live. The dialog in the demo is fully in English.
-Star Wars Battlefront 3 renders revealed, coming to PC, PS3, X360.
-Barely a month after being dubbed a "sinking ship" by Silicon Alley Insider, the PS3 gets an article written about it by Wall Street Journal titled "Hope Fades for PS3 as a Comeback Player" Ouch.
-It is rumoured that Left 4 Dead downloadable content will be revealed soon.
-The actual trailer for the movie "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li" has been revealed. Here it is:

It looks kinda dumb and none of the characters actually look like their video game counterparts.Also it reminds me way too much about the Dead or Alive movie, which also sucked.

Ok, I need to end now because my father wants to use the computer. Ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 10:46 PM
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Monday, December 29, 2008

Hello. I woke up at 12pm today, then I started playing Guitar Hero World Tour. Now I'm playing the solo bassist career. No offence to anyone, but playing the bass is ****ing boring. There isn't even any challenge playing it.

You never ever get to do anything cool. When playing bass in Guitar Hero, you just keep playing the same notes again and again, while the guitarist, drummer and singer all get cool solo parts. I was playing the career mode on Medium difficulty, but I was getting 100% for everything, so I played Hard difficulty. I got 100% for more than half the songs, and 5 stars for everything.

If there is one instrument in Guitar Hero World Tour that is easy to play on Expert mode, it is the bass. Even the vocals are more difficult.

After a while, my cousins came and we played Call of Duty 4. I realised that I play COD4 better solo than in a team. When it's just me against my brother and two cousins, I can win by more than 200 points. When some one else is team with me, I can only win by 50 points or so, and I might even lose if my team mate is a stupid feeder.

My cousin played the Smackdown vs RAW 2009 career mode and got some Achievements for me. We played a bit of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. I can't get past how cheap Scorpion's attacks can be. He has this combo that is like punch,teleport,punch,teleport,punch,range hell fire,grappling hook,close hell fire. And that takes of 3/4 of your health.

I helped my sister with a bit more of her project. We're almost finishing now. After my cousins left, I took a few videos of Guitar Hero World Tour. I'm going to be uploading World Tour videos over the next few days, with video of a different instrument for each day. For today I played the songs with the guitar.

I played "Re-Education [Through Labour]" by Rise Against in this video. I was playing it on Hard mode. I only got 96% which sucks. This is a really fun song to play. It's not hard, but not easy as well, and it tests your hammer on/pull off skills.

I did "What I've Done" by Linkin Park in this video. I got 99% on Hard mode but I'm not happy with the score because I've gotten 100% before for this song. This is a boring song to play because of the long pauses in between. But it is probably the easiest song in the game for guitar.

I played this song for Yiling. It's "Misery Business". I'm kinda disappointed with this one because I nearly got 100%. After missing the first note I was like "screw this" and I started missing some more. I got 99% in the end. This is one of my favourite songs to play because it is easy as hell, but it still sounds nice.

The latest Naruto chapter is finally out, although it is really low quality. Anyways, Naruto appears in Konoha with Gamabunta, Gamakichi, the old frog and two other frogs. He's wearing some new clothes which look like the Hokage robes.

And apparently, Naruto can really kick ass now. He took down one Pain with just one blow. Konohamaru took down one Pain with the Rasengan, but Naruto was just using his bare hands. Man, things are getting exciting.

Naruto is in sage mode, wearing a robe that looks like the Hokage's, and he's carrying a big ass scroll on his back. I want the next chapter now!!

Ok, off to read One Piece. Ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 11:36 PM
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Sunday, December 28, 2008

Hello. First of all, happy birthday to Say Yin. I went to the gym in the morning with my family in the morning, and I watched in awe as one man did all the weight lifting machines with the maximum weights attached.

After that we stopped by Monfort Secondary School to get some of my brother's school books, then we went to eat lunch. Once we got back home, I continued helping my sister with my project. I helped her for the entire afternoon, then I went to watch New Police Story on Channel 5.

After that I started to use my computer. I'm waiting for the latest volume of Empowered to go online, but since it isn't anywhere to be found, I started reading it from the start. Empowered is just fun to read. Although I read the first three volumes already, it's still nice to read.

Maybe it's just Emp that keeps me interested because she is hot. Since I got nothing else to talk about, I decide to upload some pictures of the series. Empowered is a good series so you should try to read it if you have the chance. Just note that it's meant for an adult audience. Here are the pictures:

Sorry ladies, but men are all like that.

Violent awesome ninja fight.

Most people take advantage of Emp.

When some one she cares for is in danger, Emp can really kick ass.

That's a fake suit that Emp is wearing. The real suit is much, much tighter :D

Hehehe.

The Super Homeys.

The ability to control all things concrete. That's one awesome power.

Yeah, it is ****ing intense.

Every volume ends off with a page like this.

Ok, ending off this short post. One Piece time. Now I'm almost up to date with the series, just 70 or more chapters to go. Ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 10:22 PM
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Saturday, December 27, 2008

Hello. I went to the temple with my family in the morning, then we went to Little India to eat. At about 11.30am, my father sent my sister and auntie to some restaurant, because my auntie is treating my sister for her birthday. My cousins came to my house to play Xbox.

We played Call of Duty 4 and Smackdown vs RAW 2009. At about 2pm, I went to meet my sister and my auntie at Tiong Bahru Plaza, and we went to buy some stuff from Popular. My sister had some project to finish, and I was helping her get the stuff we would need.

Once we got home, I started helping my sister with the project. She had to create some board game. She wanted me to make the game in such a way that the board could be folded into a box, so I did that for her. I also stuck some Velcro onto certain parts, so that it can easily be opened up or folded back into a box.

In the evening we went to my grandmother's house. It was my cousin Shashi's birthday. There was some dog at the house called Spencer. It belongs to one of my auntie's friend, and my auntie was helping her friend look after it.

I don't like Spencer because he is ugly and he doesn't have much reaction to us. Aldo is still the best.

I brought over my controllers and my two Guitar Hero controllers so we played Guitar Hero World Tour for a long time. We also played a bit of Call of Duty 4. My auntie [the one who has migrated to Amsterdam] brought back a lot of food stuff, so I ate quite a lot.

We we were going home, we walked past a playground and there was this group of people sitting around there. There were two guys playing real guitars, and I made sure that they saw me holding the Guitar Hero guitars.

When I got home, I used my computer. I saw this poll on IGN.com:

The results are normal, but it's nice to see that the iPhone is more popular than the PSP. The iPhone is really becoming a major gaming platform. PSP mostly gets ports and low budget games, while iPhone gets all the awesome ones. I think I'll need to get an iPhone soon. Maybe next year.

I saw these videos on Gametrailers.com:

This one is about the next Burnout Paradise expansion pack. Check out the sick flames left on the road as the car drives past. Also, hover cars are awesome.

This one shows a guy playing as a Hunter zombie in Left 4 Dead multiplayer. He has serious skill. He actually calculates the angles on his jumps before he makes them.

Ok, I need to end off now. My father wants to use the computer. Ok, ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 10:36 PM
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Friday, December 26, 2008

Hello. Today I went to watch Bedtime Stories with my family. We went GV Grand to watch [it's at Great World City for those who don't know]. We went there early to ensure that we got good seats, then after buying the tickets, we went to eat roti prata at Food Junction.

The movie was starting at 11.50am, so we went to buy our food and drinks, and then we went into the cinema. We got the hall with the really steep seats and the giant ass screen. After several trailers, the movie started.

The movie is watchable, but it isn't very good. More like a small kid's show. Many of the parts which were supposed to be funny just turned out looking lame. If you've watched the trailer, I can tell you that most of the funny scenes in the entire movie appear in that few minutes of trailer footage.

If you want to watch it with your family, that's fine, but don't watch it with friends. You should just watch the movie online and save yourself some money. It's an average movie, nothing special about it at all.

After the movie, we went to eat at Jacks Place, then I went on a fruitless hunt for Oblivion. Then we went to my sister's friend's house to collect some of their project stuff, then we went home. I helped my sister with her project for a while, then we all went to my grandparents house for dinner.

My cousins bought Nerf guns, so I was shooting my brother and cousins like crazy. We were playing a real life Gears of War. We used walls as cover, I used blind fire, and I used pillows as shields. I also used my cousin as a meat shield once.

Once we got home, I started to use the computer. For some reason, the new Bleach and Naruto chapters aren't up yet, so I guess we'll have to wait tomorrow. I was looking at the list of games that will be out in 2009, so I decided to make a list of the games I'm looking out for next year.

This list is made up of games appearing on the Xbox 360, because I don't give a shit about any other console. Anyways, here it is:

Game-watch 2009

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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
This is the first Splinter Cell game that plays differently. While previous Splinter Cell games are heavily focused on stealth, Splinter Cell conviction features open world game play while maintaining the stealth elements. While you had to hide in the shadows in previous games, now you have to hide in crowds of people.
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Bionic Commando
The game looks plain awesome. And there hasn't been a single negative comment in previews for the game yet. Also, it is made by Capcom. How can it be bad?
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The Godfather II
The original Godfather game is probably the only game that came close to surpassing Grand Theft Auto. The game is basically an adult's GTA. Sure, GTA is already mature rated, but the violence in GTA isn't a big deal compared to the stuff that happens in the Godfather games.
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Street Fighter IV
The game looks beautiful, and according to the previews so far, it plays beautiful too. Instead of having to wait for my turn to play it at the Bugis arcade, I'd rather have my own personal copy.
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Damnation
The is a third person shooter game that actually does something new. When playing the multiplayer of a shooter game, it is not uncommon for a map to have more than one level. The upper levels are usually accessed by stairs, slopes, gravity lifts, teleporters or ladders. Not in this game. To get to higher levels, player must use grappling hooks. The hooks also allow players to pull themselves into cover, and towards or away from the enemies.
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[March]

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Halo Wars
I don't really care about this game, because it's a strategy game, but it come with the Halo 3 Mythic map pack, so I need to buy it. It's still a Halo game, so it might be good.
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Resident Evil 5
This is probably going to be Game of the Year 2009. There's zombies in it, it's set in Africa, the story seems good, there's online co-op, controls seem right, graphics and voice acting are awesome. This game is going to kick ass.
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The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
The original Riddick game is considered one of the greatest games of the previous generation. This game plays the same as the previous game, the neck needle healing method is back, Vin Diesel is doing voice acting again, and the graphics are almost photo realistic. If it can even be three quarters as good as Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, it's going to be a great game.
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Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
I'm not too convinced about this game, but it looks fun, and it is Matt Hazard, so I'll just keep an eye out for it.
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[April]

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Prototype
Looks cool as hell, I'm going to buy it no matter what. You play a guy called Alex Mercer, and he's infected by a disease that pretty much allows him to pwn everything. Some times, playing as something god-like is a good thing.
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[May]

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Dark Void
This game is a third person shooter that features vertical combat. You shoot on horizontal maps, but there are also times when you shoot your way UP vertical places. You use ledges as cover, and you occasionally have to avoid falling debris. Also, you can use a jet pack that allows you to fly all over the place, and nothing is cooler than flying.
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X-men Origins: Wolverine
If you read one of previous posts, the one where I was talking about this game, you'll know that this game has high potential. Here's hoping it will actually be good.
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[June]

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Ghostbusters: The Video Game
The game looks good. You can switch from first to third person, you capture ghosts side by side the original ghostbusters, you get to drive around in the ghostbusters vehicle, and you get to use a proton pack. Also, there are epic bosses, including the Stay Puft marshmallow man.
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[Q1 2009]

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100 Bullets
Looks like the Matrix on crack. Enemies are constantly firing bullets your way as you dodge them in various acrobatic ways, after that you can return the favour with your own guns.
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Borderlands
It's something like Fallout 3; an open world game where guns play an heavy role. However, the major difference between this and Fallout 3 is that Borderlands has 4 player co-op.
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Blood Bowl
This one might turn out good, but there are equally high chances that it will suck. Either way, playing a super violent version of rugby using teams of orcs, trolls and other mystical creatures could be fun.
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Hei$t
Remember that cool bank robbery level in Grand Theft Auto IV? Didn't you wish that other missions would be similar? Hei$t is an open world game where you control a member of a crew of bank robbers. The places you rob slowly get more and more high risk, and eventually, you'll rob the city Mint. If they manage to pull this on off, I'll be seriously impressed.
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Highlander: The Game
I dunno much about this game, but you get to play as sword fighting immortals. That's good enough.
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Just Cause 2
The first game was fun, and there's going to be more than jungle environments in this game. Also, the grappling hook will be used in new ways.
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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion
Marvel Ultimate Alliance is the best 4 player beat em up game so far in this generation. Good level design, a large roster of characters, and epic boss fights. All this will return in the sequel and this time, and a heavy emphasis has been placed in combining attacks to for new attacks. No screenshots for this one yet.
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Rogue Warrior
It's a shooter game, and there's nothing special about that, but it's being made be Bedestha Softworks. Now you're interested too right?
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Saboteur
This game takes place in the WWII era, but it isn't a shooter. Instead it is more focused on stealth game play. When the game starts, the entire game world will be in black and white, but as you liberate areas from Nazi troops, colour gets restored into these areas. Eventually, colour will be restored to the entire game world.
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Shadow Harvest
It's just a normal shooter game, but there's a dual story line. Not much else about this game has been revealed.
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Sky Gods
Another shooter game. This one involves tons of ariel based firefights. You shoot while free falling, you shoot while on an airplane, you shoot while you're decending with a parachute. You get the idea. Also, there is 8 player co-op. No screenshots for this one yet.
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Wanted: Weapons of Fate
The trailer looks sick, and bullet curving looks incredibly fun to do. An assassin style cover system, which involves fast movements and acrobatics is also used in the game. The plane level in the trailers look awesome.
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WET
This game is so huge I don't even feel like describing it. Basically, you are Rubi, who's like this hot babe. There's two warring factions, and there's double crossing, allies, enemies, guns, swords, and drugs. Rubi is also very acrobatic and she is awesome at killing using weapons.
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Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned
Alright, this isn't really a full game. It's just an expansion pack, but it is XBOX 360 EXCLUSIVE. Muahahaha. And the next expansion pack is XBOX 360 EXCLUSIVE too. Muahahaha. I'm not uploading a screenshot because it is the same as GTA IV.
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[Q2 2009]

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Alpha Protocol
It's an action RPG shooter. Not much information about it yet.
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Champions Online
A follow up to the wildly popular online PC game City of Heroes will also be coming to the Xbox 360. You get to create a hero and villian at the start of the game, and these two will eventually clash at the end of the game.
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Scratch: The Ultimat DJ
It's like DJ Hero. It'll be coming with a turn table controller. Now all they have to do is make a percussion drums and keyboard game, then we will have enough plastic instruments to play a Slipknot song.
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Terminator Salvation: The Video Game
Graphics are awesome, and it plays like Gears of War. You can play as human or machine. Could be good. No screenshots yet for this one.
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[Q3 2009]

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Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams
It's a prequel to Bioshock. That's all I have to say. I mean, IT'S BIOSHOCK.
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Brutal Legend
You play as Jack Black and you kick ass using an axe shaped electric guitar. The idea might seem lame, but the game's colourful visuals, interesting design and humour might just make this one good. There's blood and swearing in it, so it isn't a child's game.
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Halo 3: ODST
It's a Halo 3 campaign expansion pack. No much information has been given about this one, but you control an ODST troop instead of Master Chief. Also, the gameplay is said to have been changed. Changed for the better or worse, no one knows yet.
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Section 8
Not much details, basically it's a futuristic large scale epic First Person Shooter.
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[Q4 2009]

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Final Fantasy XIII
Actual gameplay hasn't really been showed, but this game looks great. But as we all know, looks don't make a game. I have to see gameplay first.
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[TBA 2009]

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Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
It's a port of the popular PC MMORPG. It's been a while since I've played such a game, so I'm pretty excited to play it. It's a pretty normal MMORPG, you control a character of a certain class, you level him/her up, you learn new skills and spells, you fight tons of enemies. Also, you have the option of making your charcater almost naked [you can be topless, regardless of your character's gender], and there are no censors. I'm using a female character by the way.
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APB
APB is being made by the man behind the Grand Theft Auto games, and it's basically a MMO version of GTA. Online truf wars sound nice.
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Batman: Arkham Asylum
It's a dark, gritty and violent superhero game, and it looks cool. You control Batman, and you can explore the vast grounds of Arkham Asylum. In addition to having thugs and psychopaths as enemies, you will also have to go up against various foes of Batman. So far, the Joker and Killer Croc has been confirmed for the game.
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Bayonetta
It's the brainchild of the guy behind the Devil May Cry games. You control Bayonetta, who is a witch. She has 4 pistols, two held in her hands and two strapped to her boots, a massive sword , and as if those aren't enough, her hair is magically enchanted and it can be used in both offensive and defensive ways. Since her entire suit is made out of hair, it gets less and less as you use more magic attacks, eventually leaving her almost naked.
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Burnout 6
It's the next Burnout game, and it's only a rumoured game, so no screenshots. However, after the awesome Burnout Paradise, I am looking forward to playing an [hopefully] even better Burnout game.
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Call of Duty 6
There's bad new and good news for this one. Bad news first: We don't know if Infinity Ward will be developing this, and we don't know the release date yet. Now the good news. It's modern warfare again. Hell yeah!!
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Darkest of Days
This is probably the most interesting game I've heard of. It's a shooter game, but players have to travel through time, taking place in major battles as the move along. During the different eras, players have to look for special people, and these people have to survive in order for the future to be better.
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Doom 4
It's rumoured, and it might not even be out by next year. But judging from how awesome the previous Doom games were, it's pretty safe to say that this one will be awesome too. Obviously no screenshots.
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Guitar Hero 5
Not announced yet, but we all know it's coming. I'm getting it since I have the most of the other Guitar Hero games other than the original Guitar Hero, because that one isn't on the Xbox 360. No screenshots.
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Guitar Hero Metallica
It's Guitar Hero, and it's ****ing Metallica man. And since it's Metallica, the songs will most likely be incredibly difficult. Nice. Do I even need to consider if I should buy this? No screenshots yet.
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Half Life 2: Episode 3
Has there been a bad Half Life game yet? Although this is just a rumoured game, I'm pretty sure that it'll be at least revealed next year. If it actually comes out by next year end, that'll be awesome.
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Huxley
This game plays similar to the fast paced Unreal Tournamet games, but it's a MMO. Not much details yet, but we will possibly be able to form our own clans and compete in various tournaments.
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I Am Alive
This is a game that allows you to play as a survivor of a huge earthquake. Along the way, you have to make decisions whether to save or betray others in order to ensure your survival.
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Mafia II
It's basically Grand Theft Auto set in the 1950s. The graphics are pretty cool.
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Mass Effect 2
Sequel to Mass Effect. More aliens, more story, more epic bosses, and hopefully more alien sex.
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Overlord II
The next Overlord game. Since I never got to play the first Overlord, I decide to wait for this one.
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Splatterhouse
This one is pretty cool. You're this average guy and your girlfriend gets kidnapped. You put on this cursed mask, and you turn into a badass, unstoppable behemoth of a man, and you use a many brutal melee weapons as possible to pwn. As you get damaged, the muscles will get revealed, and eventually, you will be able to see your character's bones. Little injuries like that aren't going to stop him though.
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Timesplitters 4
It's a shooter game, but what's unique about the Timesplitters series is the way it doesn't take itself seriously. Instead, it choses to let players play through parodies of other top notch shooters like Halo, Gears of War and Resistance. It's like the Scary Movie of video games, but unlike Scary Movie, the game is actually looking good.
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Watchmen: The End is Nigh
For a really long time, the Watchmen series was said to be impossible to film, since it featured a storyline too complex, and way too many complicated characters. However, the Watchmen movie is coming out next year, so I don;t see why a game about Watchmen cannot be made. The graphics and gameplay look good, and the fact that it is actually a downloadable episodic arcade game makes it even more impressive.
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Ok, it's One Piece time. Ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 11:48 PM
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Thursday, December 25, 2008

Hello. Today is Christmas!! Merry Christmas everyone!! Hopefully you're having a better Christmas than me because I haven't received a single gift.

I woke up at 7am today. I woke up because I had to use the toilet, but then I couldn't sleep anymore, so I just used my computer. I read One Piece for 4 hours, until about 11am, then I helped my mother buy stuff.

After eating lunch, I played Xbox. I finally completed the solo guitar career for Guitar Hero World Tour. I played on Medium mode, so I managed to get a perfect 100% for most of the songs. I'm kinda surprised by the difficulty of the last set of songs, especially "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen. It's not like I had any problem with them, but people who are new to Medium mode will take a lot of tries to pass them.

The last group of songs are played in Times Square, and you get an all star band. Your drummer is Travis Barker, your bassist is Sting and your vocalist is Ozzy Osbourne. I'm not sure who the guitarist will be, since I was using my own character, but I'm pretty sure it's Billy Corgan.

The ending cutscene is kinda lame, but I'm not going to spoil it. Here' a hint: It involves griffins. After completing the game, you'll unlock a Dream Theatre song, and you'll unlock one last set of songs which will be performed on Asgard. If you don't know where Asgard is, google it.

Soon after I completed the guitar career, my cousins came to my house, and we played Left 4 Dead. We played for about 4 hours, then they left. My parents went out to get dinner while I watched TV.

After dinner, I used my computer again to read One Piece. Today, I read about 80 chapters of One Piece, which is approximately 1600 pages. Now I need to go and sleep because I have to wake up early tomorrow. Ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 11:23 PM
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Hello. Today is Christmas Eve man. It's Christmas season. Season of friendship, love and forgiveness. I already got the friendship and the forgiveness. And I've been getting excessive love, but it's about time I return the favour.

Also season of giving, but people are too cheap nowadays. You want to give something that's free, the only thing you can give is the finger. Or you can give sex for free, then you're worse than a whore.

Today I woke up at like 1pm. The latest I have ever woken up before. So instead of waking up to breakfast, I woke up to lunch. Of course I didn't have any appetite to eat after I just woke up, so I went to play Xbox first.

For some damn reason, Crackdown doesn't load anymore. When I put the disc in, everything is fine, then when the game starts loading a save file, my entire Xbox just freezes. Every other game works fine I dunno why it's just this one. I can play it fine while connected to Xbox Live though.

So since there was no Crackdown, I played Far Cry 2. And let me tell you this: Far Cry 2 is seriously the hardest ****ing shooter game I have ever played. You did after taking about 4 hits, but your enemies are practically bullet sponges, taking forever to go down.

The fact that everything in the game has an animation to it doesn't help either. In most games, when you switch from the driver to the gunner seat, you do it immediately, and you don't take damage while you do it. In FC2, you have to watch a long animation of your character pulling himself up to the turret, and you can still take damage while he is doing that. What the ****.

And what's the matter with everyone in the country. They just fire at you as soon as they notice you. Even when you're just driving a car through the jungle, minding your own business, they will suddenly drive by you and start firing. No wonder the tourism in Africa isn't too good.

I'm not done yet. As if having to watch out for enemies all the time isn't enough, you have to watch out for other ridiculous things as well. For example, you cannot sprint too much, or you might collapse from exhaustion. Also you can get malaria in the game, and once you get it, you are constantly, and by constant I mean every five minutes, prompted to take malaria pills. Seriously. I agree, these add to realism, but there are times where realism just sucks.

After Far Cry 2 and Resident Evil 5, I don't think any game should be set in Africa anymore. The game is so damn difficult partially because you can't even see you're enemies most of the time. I'm not being racist of anything, but here's a fact: Africans mostly have dark skin. In the game, I can't even see them because most of the time, their camouflaged with the shadows. And don't even get me started about trying to find them when it's night time in the game.

Ok, I'm done ranting. I'm not saying Far Cry 2 is a bad game or anything, because at times it is downright awesome, but it is one of the most frustrating and difficult games I have ever played.

In the evening, we all went to my uncle's house for a Christmas dinner. There was so much food, and more importantly, so much meat. Another one of my uncles came, the one who plays guitar on youtube, and he is damn funny. He recently bought a PS3, so now I have a chance to play God of War 3 now.

We all exchanged presents. I got some wallet. I doesn't look nice, but it's made out of leather. But then again, my Billabong wallet is also made of leather, so I'll just stick to that one for now. We also did that cracker thing, the thing that looks like a giant sweet and you have to pull both ends and then it'll break. When it does break, some thing will fall out of it. I got this bracelet thing.

After dinner, we all came home, and I cleared things up with Yiling. Instead of talking, for once I just listened. At first I thought that it was just about her charity thing, but I found out that there was much more to it. And now I feel guilty. I'm not going to be that way anymore. I'm going to return her what she as done for me.

A new Angry Video Game Nerd episode just came out a few hours ago. Of course, this episode is Christmas related. To be exact, it's bible games part 2. The Nerd already made one bible games video a while ago, so this is the second one. Since this episode is about religious stuff, I'm not going to embed it, in case some one gets offended. If you want to watch it, click here.

Some news:
-Tony Hawk's Adrenaline, which will be out Fall 2009, is set to take a more realistic approach to skateboarding, obviously to counter ultra-realistic Skate 2.
-Passage is now available for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
-Kojima is now working on two NON METAL GEAR related games, and even more surprisingly, these games are targeted at the Western market.
-Guitar Hero World Tour getting two FREE Bruce Springsteen tracks.
-PSP game LocoRoco 2 is coming to North America on Febuary 10 2009.
-Analysts predict that there will be a new Zelda game next year. Analysts also predicted that 2008 would be the year the PS3 outsold the 360, so it is safe to say that they suck. We'll just have to see if they're right this time.
-Castle Crashers title update is finally available.
-It is rumoured that PS3 exclusive zombie shooter Redwood Falls has been cancelled.
-Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which is exclusive to the Nintendo DS, will be far bigger than the GTA PSP games.

Ok, my father wants to use the computer now. Ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 10:36 PM
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hello. Today I went to watch Twilight. We watched it at Cineleisure Orchard. I got there really early, so I just walked around. There was a little video game sale going on at the basement, and the Xbox 360 games were going for $40-$70.

I freakin saw Oblivion there, but I didn't have enough cash to buy it. I can't wait until I get my ATM card, then I can withdraw money immediately in a situation like that. I hope the sale is still on tomorrow, then maybe I'll finally be able to get my hands on Oblivion.

Once Say Yin came, we went to buy the tickets. There were very few seats left, so we had no choice but to take the front row seats. And the seats weren't together; it was 4 people on the first row and one person on the second row.

Soon Sebastian and Priscilla came. We were waiting for Yeow Boon. He got lost and he was waiting for us at the MRT station, so we all went to get him. Once we got back, we bought popcorn and our drinks and we went into the theatre.

The movie is kinda boring. And what's up with Edward anyway? He has a pervert face, especially his eyes. There are a whole lot of better looking guys in the film. Every time something emo happened, and every time someone mentioned Edward as being "gorgeous", we were laughing.

After the movie, Sebastian, Say Yin and Priscilla went to eat while me and Yeow Boon went to look for an ATM machine for money. We even walked all the way to Heren or however the hell you spell it. However, due to some unfortunate events, we weren't able to get money, so we didn't eat.

I watched Yeow Boon play DJ Max on his PSP. How the hell do you guys manage to move your fingers that freakishly fast? And what's even weirder is the way most people who are insanely good at DJ Max cannot play Guitar Hero, although Guitar Hero is way easier.

I tried a Bleach game on the PSP. I used Ichigo, and it feels awesome to pull of Bankai in the game. It is even more satisfying to use the Hollow mask. This is why I feel that a Bleach game deserves to be made on the PS3 and 360. I would get an orgasm if I saw a Bankai in high definition.

After dinner, Sebastian and Priscilla went to church, Yeow Boon went home, and Say Yin and me went to Tiong Bahru Plaza for a while. I ate my dinner at Burger King, and I talked with Say Yin for a while, then he left and I went home.

I watched TV for a while, then I tried to used my computer, but my Internet connection was screwed. I couldn't connect to any web page at all. And you know what the most frustrating thing was? My modem still displayed a valid Internet connection. So what was happening? I dunno. I turned the piece of shit off and I went to watch TV.

When it was nearly 10pm, I got a phone call. It was something to do with Yiling. It's between the two of us, so I'm not going to talk about it. Yiling I'm sorry I didn't come today but please don't ever do something like that again because you made me really worried.

I'm going to do a case study just for fun:

Case study: 2009, the turning point for superhero based video games?

I was reading the main article of the latest EGM issue, and it's all about Wolverine: Origins. The game will be out along side the movie in March 2009. From what I have been reading, the game might actually turn out to be pretty good.

If all goes well, 2009 may be remembered as the year that completely changes the way people view superhero games. Up til now, there have been several good superhero games, like Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, but there hasn't been anything that's really awesome.

All this might change with 2009. There's Batman: Arkham Asylum, Wolverine: Origins, Prototype and Infamous, just to name a few. And these games are actually getting as many people excited as a AAA standard game would. But why the sudden liking to superhero games?

Firstly, these games are gritty, darker games compared to previous superhero games. They feature dark, gloomy worlds that have a unique look to them, and this interests people to play them. Having an incredibly immersing world was a major factor in making Bioshock the great game it is.

Secondly, these games don't hold back on the violence, unlike other superhero games. While previous games in the same genre feature minimal blood, games like Wolverine: Origins literally allow you to tear the limbs off your enemies. And the violence isn't just a gimmick, it makes sense. I mean, I'm playing as Wolverine, so why the hell shouldn't I be able to rip some one in half?

Thirdly, the main character in the game are not your typical uber pure superhero like Spider-Man or Superman. These guys walk on the line the splits right from wrong. And people like that. There is nothing more badass that a character that inhabits a morally gray area.

Fourthly, the games do new, unique things. In a typical superhero game, you go from point A-Z, beating up minions, and finally taking down the boss at the end of the stage. These games use the same formula, but what really makes them special is how that make you get from point A-Z. Instead of mindlessly beating up enemies, these games require you to think of different ways to get through blocked areas.

Fifthly, they have great stories that are written by actual comic book writers. Having a good story can really help make a game better. In previous superhero games, the story lines were generally bad to the point where it some times became hilarious. There are also epic boss fights and impressive looking levels.

Lastly, they introduce new game play mechanics that really change the game. Batman: Arkham Asylum requires you to sneak through places and to perform stealthy kills, while Infamous allows you to channel and amplify your attacks through any metallic object.

I'm especially impressed with the ideas the Wolverine: Origins team came up with. Since Wolverine is pretty much unkillable, they decided to use him to stop some enemies. To stop a helicopter, Wolverine must throw himself into the engine. Of course he'll be ripped to shreds, but he will regenerate within a few seconds.

There is even a stage which requires you to survive a volcanic eruption. As Wolverine gets damaged, you will get to see his muscles, then his bones and vital organs.

So, will 2009 really be the year of great superhero games? Only time will tell, but from what I've been seeing so far, there is a pretty good chance that it will actually happen.

Some news:
-Who says only a small percentage of gamers are female? Recent studies show that more about 40% of gamers playing online are female.
-MMORPG Tabula Rasa is now free to play for all until it gets shut down on February 28 2009.
-Overlord will be available for free on Gametap for a week.
-Xbox Original Halo:Combat Evolved will be on sale on Xbox Live for 600 points, half its usual price. The offer will start tomorrow for all XBL Gold members. This is the game that pretty much set the standard for FPS games, so if you haven't played it, now is your chance.
-No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle will have huge improvements done to its open world.
-Microsoft is making a Zune Xbox App, which will allow a Zune to connect to a Xbox 36o to transfer files and to play certain games.
-It is rumoured that Dues Ex designer Warren Specter is working on an "epic Mickey Mouse project". This will be interesting.
-Xbox Live Arcade hit Braid coming to PC in early 2009, possibly to PS3 later that year.
-PS3 consoles now cost 53% less to produce than when at launch. If that's true, then why are they still so damn expensive?

I just realised today that tomorrow is Christmas eve. And then it's going to be 2009 in a few days. Wow, time really flies. I'm going to read One Piece now. Ending off, see you tomorrow.

posted @ 11:49 PM
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