Thursday, December 27, 2007

True Next-Gen Gaming (for me at least)

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When I first looked at "next-gen" graphics that is Xbox360 and PS3 demo reels, I was blown away. When I first held the controller and ran around a room gunning down aliens, I was overwhelmed with great disappointment; it was more like 1.5 generation, rather than true, next generation. Maybe I was expecting too much of gaming? Well, I never thought expecting to see a eye-popping (r)evolution in gaming "too much". And now, I know what I was hoping to see. Here: take a look at this Virtual Reality on a TV set, a Wii-mote remix by Johnny Lee from Carnegie Mellon University:

Now, imagine heart pumping COD4's action, along with head-tracking 3D effect!! +_+ That's what I call next-gen gaming!!!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

It's Only A Game?

First, back to an old topic, racism and video games.

I recently came across a comment by a reader, who claims he's black, saying that he has no problem with Resident Evil 5's controversial trailer. (The trailer shows a protagonist, who is white, in what it appears as an impoverished African village, full of black villagers, who are also zombies. And yes, it also shows the good dude fighting the villagers.)

How does everthing turn into race, Yeah I’m Black too, and it’s only a video game. DAMN! I mean every shooting game has somebody being shot, Look at all the R.E games, I don’t see a problem with the game, It’s not like they’re saying lets kill n*ggers or cr*ckers, quit trying to turn little things into big things.

So, he's saying anybody can say anything in video game, where as murmurring the "n-word" can cause a murder? (Of course there's a deep history behind that word, but my point stands!) If video game's so pitifully weightless, then why is he wasting his precious time even talking about a trailer, not even a real game?! People like this, who tries to bring video game's down to the level of tiny baby's meaningless da-da's (even that has so much meaning to the baby's parents), pisses me off.

I really, truly want to see people, gamers so much more especially than anyone else, start treating games as something fascinating, meaningful, and worthy of serious affection, just as big names in cinema thinks of feature films.

No? Then go play with Legos, instead of just video games. God.

Wonderful Atlanta

Oh, what have I gotten myself into...?

Saturday, December 15, 2007

The Second Revelation



For man is the destroyer of things;
and the vicious master of his savage domain.

We are the revolutionaries;
We are the usurpers to the heavenly throne;
We are the enemies of the gods.

There is something about EVE Online that attracts me so brutally, but then bores me to death so mercilessly. While the game itself is something I can't stand, the game's trailers will be remembered as one of the best trailer I've seen. Check out the Revelation II trailer on EVE Online website. It's breathtaking.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Blizz's next Not-WoW-Expansion MMOG!

Blizzard is hiring!
Story Link

Some game company's job posting pages are usually a good place to see if there's unannounced, or "Top Secret", project that were shoved into the oven in the kitchen. And recently, our beloved and looked-upon game company, Blizzard, has posted several job postings for their "Unannounced next-gen MMO," with a little image saying "Top Secret!" in place of a project's title.

What do we know about this project? First, it's NOT an WoW expansion. It's completely new, and it's "really awesome," senior vice president of product development Frank Pearce says. "I can’t give you any hints, but it’s totally awesome."

What a way to tease us.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Game Show? or "Are You Offended Yet" Show?

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OK, I can care less about those Gamecock people messing around. Whatever they tried, it didn't make sense to me. But what I do want to point out is... how Spike TV presented the winner of the awards...by painting the winners on the naked body of women! (or more like 99.9% naked..but almost same difference) No, I'm not joking. Watch the clip above if you haven't yet.

When it comes to our culture objectifying women as something to drool at (not even sure I'm saying this right), like AXE, Maxim, to name a few, I'm pretty much dismissal of those issues, because, one, I obviously like hot girls (or cute ones rather... or cute and hot one.) and two, I think girls look at guys much in the same way a lot of times, too. If not, why'd any girl enjoy looking at well trained bodies of hot Hollywood actors? Why'd they smile in certain way when they take their clothes off?

OK, I know I may appear to be on one side of the fence but then again, I try to think from both side of the view, and because of that, I am really disgusted by what SpikeTV has done with that award show. Even I am really really offended. It's an award show, not a strip show lounge for Christ's sake. How could they shamelessly devalue whole game industry like that? It's like they're pretty much thinking all gamers loooove naked girls, and only that.

Wait, it's SpikeTV, the channel that has "Hot, Chick, Bang bang, hot, Chick, Action, ..." advertisement on all the freak'n time. Guess fool is what fool does fools do what they do the best.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Let the Shopping Spree Begin!

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Although it's certainly not a happy news, a news of a retail chain going down cannot make us happier than any other news to us consumers. Not that we all hate big retail chains--maybe we do. but that's besides the point--this kind of news always follows with chain-wide closing sale!! And they can be much, much bigger than any other living retail's sale. Can they beat 70% sale? 75%? 80% off?

So, if you have a CompUSA near you, let the holiday shopping truly begin!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Share the Gameplay! ..and on the Art of Texting

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I'm yet to experience a significant other who's also a gamer, and so I haven't had any trouble with sharing gameplay with someone. I could play as long as, and as often as I could afford to, and beat a game--or not--on my own. But apparently, when your girfriend/boyfriend is a gamer, too, the couple needs to share the console. And so tricky and sticky situations arise. And this MTV's Multiplayer blog entry linked above lays this out pretty well.

However, what caused me to link it is not this. Rather, it's about the girl's subtle gesture... in texting. Here's the quote (after responding to a picture message showing the progress her boyfriend made without her with plain "nice"): "Couldn’t he read the underlying message in my previous “nice” response? I mean, come on, if I had been excited about his rapid progression, I would have included an exclamation point or a smiley face, obviously."

LOL.

Ah, the art of texting...

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Importance of Religion

이 넓은 세상에서, 이 크나큰 지구에서 나는 이 자리에 매일같이 나와 하루 9시간을 컴퓨터 앞에서 이렇게 누구나가 다 할수 있는 자그마한 라이브러리들을 쓰고있다. 이렇게 지내기를 이제 벌써 100일하고도 1일째. 이런 진부한 스케줄로 짧은 인생의 시간을 쓰고 있다고 생각하니, 왜 사람들이 그렇게 종교를 찾게되는가 알것같다.

인간은 본능적으로 자신 삶의 의미를 찾는다. 내가 왜 이 자리에 서 있으며, 그 뜻은 무엇인가? 내가 여기서 무엇을 해야하는가, 혹은 내 의무를 다할 곳은 어디인가? 하지만 이 세상의--정확히는 우리들이 살고 있는 사회의--대다수 일개미같은 사회의 일꾼들은 매일같이 똑같은 일을 하며 진부하게 살고있다. 물론 종종 개개인의 크고작은 이벤트가 있지만, 그것도 잠시뿐, 모두들 계속 돌아가는 사회에 이바지하기 위해 식상한 생활로 돌아오게된다. 매일 반복되는 나날에 사람들은 점점 삶의 의미를 잃어가고, 더욱 자신의 중요성을 찾게된다. 그것을 충족해 주는 것이 바로 종교인 것이다.

너무 냉정하게 말하는것 같지만, 난 종교를 비판하는 것이 아니다. 큰 그림으로 이 사회를 봤을때, 종교는 사람들을 물레방아 돌아가는 듯한 삶에 중요성을 주고, 그리하여 가장 큰 일꾼인 middle-class에 있는 사람들을 만족시켜줘 사회에 많은 도움이 되게 해준다. 그리고 사회의 풍습과 특성을 만들어 주기도 하며 양심이란 것을 모두들에게 심어주기도 한다. 하지만 그런 종교가 한 사회의 뿌리가 될때는 정말이지 모든 나쁜일의 원인이 되는 듯 하다. 그런것을 보면 정말이지 we should take religion with a grain of salt--이게 여기에 맞는 말인지는 모르겠지만.

...누군가가 이런 발상을 오래전부터 하여 책으로 내놨을 듯한 느낌. 누구 없을까?

Friday, November 9, 2007

When We Start Dating Playing Games...

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So the world has two kinds of people: Casual audience, and hardcore gamers. Hardcore gamers tend to place gameplay over content (loosely used to mean script, lore, presentation... everything that can be found in other media like movies), while its the opposite for casual players.

Then maybe I was thinking from the perspective of general crowd? I always believed that when gameplay and in-game mechanics (physics, AI, and so on)become something to be criticized for not being believable instead of getting praised for being fairly interactive--in other words, when realism in games is taken as granted--is the time games can evolve into something greater. I even thought having okay gameplay that is fault proof so everyone can pickup controller and experience what a game has prepared, which will be very short compared to today's games, will be great, as long as the content is very, very compelling.

I guess this is true, for I am looking forward to the day when the market for games become comparable to that of movies, which may not be so far out.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Suicide Bombing Though Gaming

Story Link

Today feels very different. My brain is rolling hard, and unlike other days, I did not feel sleepy or grumpy at work. ..Well, almost. Besides my brain working hard, I've landed on several interesting articles. One of which is the story linked above. It's a post about the author starting to use--all unintentionally--suicide bomb strategy that of terrorists' to hurt elite players before dying himself. (More specifically, it involves less skilled player running straight to advanced player shooting at them, sticking a granade on them before being killed. Which, after few seconds, kills the shooter as well.)

If you're a gamer, then this may be trivial as you may have done this several times before. However, there is no denying that it does simulate same strategy of terrorists, or Japanese pilots during WWII.

The author goes in deeper, linking this experience to various other subjects. One key quote:

"Athough I've read scores of articles, white papers and books on the psychology of terrorists in recent years, and even though I have (I think) a strong intellectual grasp of the roots of suicide terrorism, something about playing the game gave me an "aha" moment that I'd never had before: an ability to feel, in whatever tiny fashion, the strategic logic and emotional calculus behind the act."
And this ability to let people experience and "feel" something that otherwise would not be possible, is something only interactive medium like video games can deliver, in my opinion. And that is something game must perfect.

Friday, November 2, 2007

New PS2 SKU for $99?!

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Just when I was planning to get myself a PS2... I actually thought there will be a price drop, but not whole another SKU!

If this rumor is true, which I think it is true, I can't buy PS2 right now and get money back using low price guarantee since it'll be two totally different product!!

What should I do?? Should I just get it at $129, and say I'm paying $30 for 2 months of gaming, or should I wait for the new model...? (But I already ordered Final Fantasy XII Collector's Edition..!!!)

I hate Sony... x'(

Hello Kitty News for Wii

Wii = household entertainment system, meaning people with families are large portion of the install base. They have kids, who may be very young, and may not be suitable for news segments adults watch.

What if there's a little program they can download, for a small fee, onto their Wii, which downloads a series of news for kids, and some audio clips along with them, and play them using 3D figures such as Hello Kitty, or some other characters for kids who tells them what's going on in this world? By selecting only ones that are suitable for kids, dressing the screen with flashy and cute mascots, it will grab children's attention.

Just a thought.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

$ex vs. Violence

It's apparent that parents are more sensitive on sexuality then violence, meaning they are more ok with their kids seeing gunfight than a couple being naked on a bed.

While I, too, find that I am the same way myself, I just don't get it--why is it that it's okay to see someone shooting bullet into another person's head, but not okay to see anything that suggests sex? (Case in point: Hot Coffee scandal. Running around streets while gunning cops and bystanders down is acceptable while sex with hookers is not. ...Hmm.) Is murder not as bad as rape? Is rape worse than killing someone? Do people get put down because they have uncontrollerable sexual desire or stream of different blood on their hands? Of course murder tops rape, but then parents' and my reaction to what appears on TV is still unexplained.

I think it's just that people can justify violence easier than sex. Parents don't have to go into sensitive area to explain why there's violence, than to explain when sex is ok. ("That doo-doo deserves to be spanked because he's bad" is easier than ....however you'll explain sex to your kid--haven't thought about this... ah...the ramification of absense of proper sex education.)

So, what it boils down to is that, kids, explicit sex is much worse than unwarranted violence! ...Wait, that doesn't seem like why I started this post....

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Introducing... My New Companion

This is my new phone, Motorola RIZR Z3. It came exactly as it appears in the picture above.

...Well, minus those hot girls on the screen, although it wouldn't have hurt if they came with the phone. But considering that this color is, presumably, mostly used by female mobilers--I am NOT one of them. Nor am I a gay. I just have unique and superior fashion sense--Motorola would be wasting tons of money and all those girls. Motorola would also be advocating lesbianism. (...on the other hand, considering the astonishing result of evaluation of planet-blood-sucking species named Homo sapiens sapiens, that marketing strategy might actually receive wide acceptance by tree huggers.)

Ain't it Sexy?! Think the Weighted Companion Cube will be jealous.

Friday, October 26, 2007

How to Tell Your PC Is Old.

You know your computer is outdated when our Big Brother starts purchasing computers faster, meaner, and sleeker than your own!

Here's spec of PC gov't is purchasing:

  • Dell Dimensions 9200
  • Intel Duo 6600, 2.4 GHz, 4 MB FSB
  • nVidia GeForce 8600, 256 MB RAM
  • 1 GB RAM
  • 160 GB HITACHI SATA HDD
  • DVD+/-RW 16x
  • 19 inch LCD Monitor (This thing is HD! >720P)

Man, my computer is so frigg'n old!!!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Flash Flash!



LOLz. If person in that fluffy thing is not 1)a girl, and 2)cute, I'll hate Pikachu forever.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Microsoft Surface rocks?

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I'm not too sure on this, but I say Microsoft's new "innovative" product, Surface, may be their next big thing. (After, say, Zune. Or.. I don't know, what else did they make anyways?) It seems like they are showing it off as the new thing, and people are biting it; I see people talking about it as coolest thing in the world.

But the thing about it is, I don't see it being anything but a big failure, a big let down. Maybe it won't be a BIG failure, but definitely not a big success. Sure it is cool, to be able to have interactive, true desktop to play around with. Note that I said "play around with" because I precisely mean it. They claim it will have much more use; Sure, it can. But will people adopt to realize it's full capability? I doubt it. Here's why:

  1. It is BIG. It is pretty much fixed on one spot, if not completely fixed. So, it's a real hasstle to install it, or to move it around when reorganizing the place. So the whole room has to be designed around it, which won't be a real pleasure.
  2. What's the use? Whatever it can do, you can do it with a PC already. Why would anyone cash out a fortune to do something they can do with a lowly PC? Oh, it's not for consumers but for businesses? They got something too: Serveers. They can bring out dishes and such, too.

Unless they roll out a table top that's only few inches thick that can be installed easily--think IKEA--I don't see this going far.

I think Microsoft is struggling to find a new ground for it to roam about. Certainly, they seem to be doing better with entertainment area with Halo 3, their new OS is certainly not welcomed, and I don't want to even mention Zune. It feels like they're trying out new stuff just to keep up with companies like Google, when they should more focus on their own product, and perfect it. I say they should employ Surface's interface to Windows, renovate it in such way that people will actually use it. Not like Vista's deceptively sucking UI.

Zero Punctuation Review:

Not sure if you'll find this British person reviewing some games really fast--I mean fast--but I certainly did.

This review from some time ago is on Psychonauts, one of the-most-innovative-artistic-fun-yet-huge-commercial-failure game by Tim Shafer. ...Oh, that and dick gamers who want games to be art yet don't want to play them. I personally haven't played this. I really want to. And I shall... someday.

Enough of my bullocks, and here you go. Enjoy!

PS. Yahtzee's (the guy mumbling in the video) comment about how game became 2nd job reminds me of how I just don't play Eve-Online now. I want fun and reach experience from games, not dry, long, not interesting laborish experience. I..better cancel the subscription.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Moore's Law, and Game Industry

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Moore's Law. It represent our--consumers'--expectation of how fast computers will become as every year passes by. Because of it, the chip industry always scrambles to meet that expectation and is designed and built based on this law; the whole industry competes each other to meet this law, and rips profits from doing so.

Although this is a good thing--who doesn't want super fast computer at disposal?--recently the market has seen a phenomenon it has never seen before; because all of the processors, even the low-end models became sufficiently fast, people simply stopped opening wallets for fastest chips out there. While the chips grew by Moore's Law, software stayed relatively simple, and did not use much of the processing power today's models are capable of.* The Cutting-Edge, The Fastest lost its sexyback.

One market that hasn't seen this yet is the game industry. Because it is relatively young industry, it has seen crazy growth throughout its history, and still sees unbelievable speed of advancement--people that I know who hasn't realized how fast the games grow often tells me how amazing they look these days. Because people wants more, games keep pushing its limits, which in turn asks for more processing power.

Although games do have a lot to develop on currently, there certainly will come a time when gamers stops looking for prettier and more realistic games, simply because most if not all games look pretty and feel realistic enough. This will be the time when games takes another step towards realizing its potential, and starts experiementing to become more mature media as a whole. I hope CEOs and managements of game industry will look forward to and prepare for this day. I certainly can't wait to see this time to come.

*Microsoft's new OS, Vista, tries to push boundaries with it's new graphical interface and other gimmicks, but seems like that boundaries will remain still for awhile, as Vista's launch seem like a failed ignition--at least for now.

Mr. Wright, Will Wright. Oh, and Spore.

Will Wright.
One of the legendary game developers of this age. One thing that amazes me about this person is that his eyes are so full of curiosity all the time, just as that of 8 year olds. That, I think, is the driving force behind his ground breaking games that we all love and enjoy.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Power of Apple

Check this out.

Although it's really impressive--the instant I saw the photo, I went "holy crap!"--I must say, I feel sorry for all those professors who probably feel dizzy and fall flat on floors with all those glowing Apple logos in front of them.

Wow.

I think I would've quit if I had to stand before them. -_-

Friday, September 28, 2007

AoE III: The Asian Dynasties ... my a$$!!



This poster was so intriguing that although I am not a Age of Empires fan, I went to their website to take a look at this expansion to an old game (I remember looking at this games trailer way back in... 1800s!) from the studio developing Halo Wars.


Word is that because Ensemble Studios, the creator of the original game, is busy with developing Halo Wars, and so Big Huge Games (people behind Rise of... series, and those who flunk me on a phone interview for software engineer position...-_-) took on this expansion.


Anyways, this expansion was described as having to do with everything Asia. So, I checked out their website, and looked at the new civilizations, and... I must say, this does NOT represent everything Asia! Why? Because the new civilizations introduced are...the usual China and Japan, India, and... that's it. Yep, no Mongol, no nothing.... and no Korea!


Now, I remember Age of Empire II having Koreans as one of the playable civilization... What happened? Does different studio behind the game has to do with this rediculous selection? Man... I am so turned off by Big Huge Game now... First they reject me, then they reject Korea altogether.... -_-

Monday, September 24, 2007

Buy 1 Battery for 32!!

This is really exciting. If you have lots of electronics that eat up AA ones, save your money with this trick.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Scary Song

I don't know how I got this song, but in my iTunes Library exists a electronics titled 6th Gate (Dance with the Devil). Artist's name? 666. Length of the song? 4:44. (Number 4 signifies death in Asian culture, and thus people avoids that number as much as possible. Almost same place as 13 in western culture.)

So, what's the song like? It's just boom boom techno with a voice that tries to sound scary that utterly fails.

Anyways, how did this song get onto my computer...? *scratch*

Monday, September 10, 2007

Crisis Core: FF7


Two things:

  1. Cool graphics. The quality of Japanese full 3D graphic animation is developing so fast that it's rivaling Holywood's special effect animations.
  2. SquareEnix should stop sucking the life out of FF7 and move on. Feels to me that now that core developers who created FF and Square itself are gone to make their own games, SquareEnix is having a "Crisis Originality" itself. And do port FFXIII to Xbox360!

UPDATE: This game did a magic on PSP sales. Curses! Not sure what Square and Sony have going on in the back, but Square's doing a log of favor for Sony... (First they save PS, then PSP..)

Monday, August 20, 2007

The Devil Wears Prada

Yes, another "chick-flick," but it was actually good and satisfying--it makes people feel good about themselves at the end. At the same time, I am not so happy with the movie, precisely because of the same reason--they made the whole movie a suck-up to general public.

The movie was good in that it showed me a world people envy. It takes us to the world that we only dream of, have all the fun, and at the end, make a stupid excuse about being good with where we are. While this does help people be happy with their lives, I don't like the fact that in the process, they downplay those who actually work their ass off for that something superficial, called fashion. Although I do keep myself on one side of the line, I do think there is more than just "looking good, be super-expensive, and be stupid" to fashion leaders. They are a form of art, and they drive the evolution (or revolution, if you will) in its own area. We are all enjoying the benefit from those fashion designers--whether we know it or not--and I think we should appreciate it, instead of making fun of it at the end, and say bye-bye cold heartedly.

Saying all this doesn't mean I chase designer brands around, wasting my precious money on them. If I were a rich, single man--which I hope to be before I get married--I would go out and buy those brands. But I just started earning money, and I still have tons to pay off. So, until that day, they'll just serve as inspiration for my clothing choices... Hope you don't use so much money on them, thinking they are "da shiz," like someone I know...


Some of Anne's outfits were... just too much. And it seemed like
they really wanted to show her big rack shacking
while she was running around, which was quite alot... -. -

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Heavenly Sword

ZOMG! If they make animation just like this, maintaining the same quality and atmosphere, I'll dig this. Seriously.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Resident Evil... Racist Evil?!

When Microsoft played Capcom's crazily anticipated game, Resident Evil 5, at this years newly renovated(?) pre-E3 press conference, I was shocked. Not of the quality and the intense and gruesome atmosphere alone, but also with how this iteration of world's favorite zombie massacre game may ignite fire on something we're all too familiar to: racism. Why? Watch the trailer at the bottom, and you may see what I mean... or not, like one of my close friend. (Hint: Handsome and well-fit white guy vs not-so-welcoming-looking native Africans.)

When I told that above-mentioned friend about this, he, as other noble Resident Evil fans, defended the title fervently, stating if this one was to be questioned for being racist, then previous game should have been treated the same way. (Resident Evil 4 had a white dude from America hacking and slashing his way through Spaniards.)

However, it seems like I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Check out this posting on GamePolitics.com. Apparently, a very electric debate, if you will, on racism in this title has already been started, and it's not all pleasant to read what people say.

When I say that this game may spark the racism discussion across fellow gamers, I am not accusing Capcom or its title of promoting racism in anyway. I think, just as film industry has gone through long time dealing with racism issue, games should go through the same if the industry proves that it's impossible to learn from film industry's lesson. Racism within games isn't one of the topic I have ever thought of before, and I think many other gamers are the same. It needed something to be brought into spotlight, and Resident Evil 5 is that something. I hope game industry will wisely deal with this issue, and learn a great deal from it... and surpass where game industry is at...where ever that may be.

UPDATE: I guess I should add that being so realistic graphically (and in other parts as well) also brings more responsibility on developers' shoulders. People will start noticing things, small or big, they have been ignoring simply because they were so primitive. (In the same sense as how fairy tales or stories from Bible are overlooked of some of their intolerable settings if it was done today.) This is actually a good thing, in my opinion. This shows us that game industry is developing, and we are going somewhere. Through all these hardships, I think game will grow so mature that it will be accepted by general public just as cinema is today.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Project..What?

Have you guys seen this? Originally shown back in 2005, this largely hidden (or at least not-well-marketted) title, Project Offset is looking terrific. While all the other titles are focusing on visual fidelity only, this game (while not neglecting it) seems to focus also on motion blur capability. Take a look at their tech demo yourself.

I am really excited about this game not because it looks fantastic, but mostly because it finally brings believable, most natural motion blur that we see every second of our lives into its game.

I've been a believer that motion blur is the key that will make graphics more believable, and it seems like it's finally coming to reality.

My only beef is that even with that fantastic motion blur capability, they still use that unrealistic blade trail to signify attacks (which, I believe, should be used rarely, to make something stand out...as with the movie V for Vendetta). But hey, they can't get it perfect all at once.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Transformers for Adults

Yes, I, too, watched Transformers that came out only a few days ago. And it was.... fun!!

That was the short version, and longer version would be this; Although it was very fun to watch--mostly because it's like kid's dream come true on screen!--Michael Bay was clever enough to include just enough robot battles in the movie to leave me wanting more. After the movie was over, I couldn't keep thinking about how it would've been terrific if they did this and that... And so, I was thirsty of more Transformers and was glad to find out they're already in the process of making a sequel. (Yes, I am a victim of their cunning marketing strategy. I'm sure so are many other people.) So, the movie itself was good, because I did get what I wanted out of it; action. Lots of them. Although disorienting and quick and messy, they were very believably made and it did have plenty to entertain me. It just didn't have too much like Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End which made me wanted to get out of the theater half-way through it.

This movie shows how much Hollywood's special effect has become so advanced. The whole movie, although it's full of effects, seemed very acceptable. Even when there are robots everywhere in this movie, there isn't really a time when you notice something and go "oh that looks wrong..." Something like that would ruin the whole movie. Now I only wish that technique goes over to Japan and so we can see live action Evangelion....+_+

Following is just a clip on YouTube of some people who can't have enough transforming robots. *sigh* Can they be any more dorky?!

Rage against Machine360!! And Some Pondering.

Not that I'm annnouncing myself as anti-360 and pro-PS3, but I just found a funny video on the issue on notorious "Red Ring of Death" on all too many Microsofts Xbox360's:

So, the question for me is... which should I get? Xbox360 or PS3?

I sure wanted Xbox360 with Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Bioshock, among other exclusives, but recent occurings with Xbox360 and Microsoft--bad PR strategies, bad marketing strategy with Vista, and much more--makes me want to look the otherway. The other way to PS3.

After long line of terrible news on Sony and its PS3 before and after its launch, PS3 has been getting more and more brighter news and titles, such as Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword, LittleBigWorld, and more, and there are these good-to-your-ear news; Ken Kutaragi's resignation, which, in my opinion, is actually more like getting fired because of his stuck-up attitude that was doing the company's already weak PR no good, and of course, there is the recent news about it's price drop of a whole $100.

Since I still am in no place to make a purchase, I got some time to sit back and think about my choice. I sure want to wait for Xbox360's stability to get revamped, its price dropped, and get more good titles on it. (Halo 3 doesn't count. At least for me.) And for PS3... It's still over the top, pricewise, and so I don't wanna carve huge chunk of my wallet just yet. At least until they streamline their online game network, and do some good firmware that enables Blu-Ray's interactivity. If it will ever.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Ethan Haas

Ethan Haas Was Right

Before Transformer starts, there is a short, but very intriguing teaser of a movie by J. J. Abrams, which doesn't even tell us what the title is.

It starts with a surprise party for a guy leaving New York to Japan for a new job, when all in sudden there's a big roar and shaking of the ground. Soon, there is giant explosion, followed by hell on Earth soon after. The whole thiing was short, but powerful.

Wondering what this teaser was about, I've stumbled upon a Wikipedia topic on a project called Cloverfield. And on that page, there are links to Ethan Haas Was Right, and a blog, The Truth of Ethan Haas. Those pages hold clues to what this movie is about, and what that monsters identity is...

Visit the site. Join the movement. And wait for the day to come....

Surprise!!

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Just Another Day At A Sushi Bar

Just another typical day at sushi bar...


2:27!!!!

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Sony, Sony, Sony...


Exclusives Sony Dropped The Ball On

With Sony seem to be losing it's grip on exclusive third-party titles lately, it seems like Ken Kutaragi was behind that mess afterall. In the article I linked above, it talks about two accounts like this: Grand Theft Auto IV and Assassin's Creed, both are triple-A, top-of-the-line, must-have titles.

You may be thinking, 'Of course, they want more player-base, and went multi-platform!' But no. They actually went to Sony to offer them exclusive rights to those titles!! Then what happened? Ken stayed silent...and they went multi.

So what happened?

One can only speculate, but I think it's simple; Sony is running dry on bank account. Third-party exclusive costs tons of money, and so, Sony lost the grip on those titles. It's as simple as that.

But I think it's all on Kutaragi-san. If he weren't so stuck-up about how uber his PS3 was, then he'd have spent every penny to keep them exclusive which would've driven PS3's sale like crazy. I, for one, would've decided to buy PS3 if they were exclusive for Sony!)

Monday, July 2, 2007

Pre-Occupied

I probably won't be writing stuff on here as often as I have been. The reason? EVE Online. I've been flying around univer to get started, and I finally got into a user-made corporation (same thing as guild).

So, yeah, I'll be there most of the time. If you happen to join EVE, shoot me a email to Morgen Dawn!! :D

Friday, June 29, 2007

The Day of iPhone Has Come!

Yes, finally!!!! Finally, that little shiny thing called iPhone, that smacked the hell out of everyone when it was introduced (if you don't know about this... where on Earth have you been..?!), came out today. I wonder if anyone I know got one yet. I wanna see how sleek and easy it is to play around with!!

Just a funny clip on iPhone.

iPhone review by David Pogue

EVE Online's Greenspan

Blog Post by Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, EVE Online's economist

Recently, I have been very interested in trying out EVE Online once again, drawn to its sandbox design and complex and diverse structure of its universe.

One of its strength, according to the website, is that, unlike other traditional RPGs like World of Warcraft, it boasts freedom. Freedom to do whatever you want, with only one goal: Power. (Acutally, I think there's freedom in goal as well. Not everyone's out there to become the number one overlord.) You can pursue the goal by whatever method suits you; you can mine for vital ores for the universe, you can trade goods in various regions, manufacture necessary components for others, or if you are more of violent person--most of us are--you can even pirate other players for goods; this creates another opportunity for others who can get hired for protection or escort missions. Players can also form alliances or corporations to bring their efforts together to make much more profit and form a noticable presence.

This diverse activities are possible in the world of EVE because it maintains a real, complex, and breathing economy, dynamically evolving by players, along with huge (and I really do me huge) universe to provide abundance of market to run it. There are countless regions with different recourses, and needs for other resources it lacks. There are secure zones, or insecure ones. There are so many that I can go on for hours. This diverse setting is vast enough to grab attention from academia (as explained in the blog entry linked to this post) on how economic researchers may use it to study economic dyanmics, and much more.

As such complex economy keeps growing and evolving, EVE Online's creator, CCP Games, has brought in a real economist into their development team. As can be seen in the blog entry linked to this article, he will be making quarterly reports on EVE Online's economy, and providing vital feedbacks to the core development team for future development of the community. In essence, he will be Greenspan of EVE.

I am both awed and amazed by this news. It is another indicator how advanced EVE community is. Unlike other MMO games, which most of them claims that the future of [INSERT A WORLD HERE] depends on your hand.....except it really doesn't. (I can talk about this in length, but it's a whole different topic. Maybe later.) On the other hand, EVE Online really lets players have impact in the world. They never say players are heroes, or that they're destined to be saviors of the world. Instead, they say that players are citizens. People live in that world and can band together and make changes...just like the world we live in!

Blog Post by Dr. Eyjólfur Guðmundsson, EVE Online's economist

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

To Live One's Life to the Fullest...

I was flipping through this week's Newsweek when I came across a short column about a sighting of Paris Hilton holding Bible in her arms. She claims that she has found Jesus, and that He has given her a second chance. Only three days before going into jail, that is.

While it kind of made me to think how shallow her action must be, that column talks about how there's a "long tradition of jailhouse conversions," from Malcolm X (to Islam, in this case) to Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma-bombing conspirator who claimed to have worn out four Bibles, and such. Why do people suddenly become religious behind bars? To impress judges in order to avoid, or shorten, jail sentence may be one reason for some. But for others, it's because, according to Chuck Colson, a special counsel to President Nixon, "...everything else is stripped away, so you think about what really matters in life." Well, if that is true, it in turn tells us how almost all people in this world are distracted by worldly affair, away from "what really matters."

Then, how do we live life like as it is meant to be? Should we all start going to church, pray everyday, and bow before the Almighty, who is so invisible and becoming more and more distant as time goes? Well, it may help living a calmer, soothing life, but I don't think it won't work for everyone. Instead, I think finding your true calling, and working towards it is what matters the most. For deeply religious people, it's by devoting their whole life to church activities, doing charity work, or even becoming priests, monks, and so on. For others, it means do what you are good at, or what you think you are born to do...like Paul Potts! When you find the right one, everyone around you will be cheering for you and be glad to see you succeed. Like Paul Potts!

As for Ms. Hilton, I hope she keeps going to church on weekends, so that going to church will be da shiz. That way, more people will go to church, be more educated (hopefully) and help bringing naughty-ness of our teens down a bit.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Mr. Lee's CatCam

While listening to CNET's wonderful podcast, Buzz Out Loud, Episode 487, Veronica, one of the host, read a reader's letter about this very interesting site.

Mr. Lee CatCam is a site built by someone in Germany, who modified a small, durable digital camera, and attached it to his cat, Mr. Lee. He made it to take pictures every few minutes or so, so he'd know what his cat was up to the whole day. It's like cat's daily picture journal or some reality show!

I always wondered what cats were up to the whole day, and now my curiousity received its answer. At least a bit.

Woo! Instant Freeze!

When I saw that instant freeze...thingy in an old, 1993 movie, Demolition Man, I thought it was a big bogus. How can something so small freeze the whole room, including the bad guy, a living person? Well, although it is bit stretched, freezing water at an instant is ... apparently possible?!

If you could tell me how this is done, let me know please.

UPDATE: I guess this is pretty popular now; to cool pure water (water with low amount of impurities) to below its freezing point, then giving it a disturbance to start the freezing process. There are several YouTube videos that explore this very interesting characteristics of water...

Supercooling Experiment 2

Friday, June 22, 2007

Making of the Band

To my own surprise, I was given a link to this video. It's a clip from season 4 of Making the Band, showing an Asian guy trying out with R&B/Soul performance. It was a surprise not because he's an Asian, but because he's from my church, who always dreamed of becoming a singer.

Here's the clip:

Pretty cool? He's gonna start working on his first album soon, so we should be hearing songs he sings in near future.

Good job!! Hope you do an examplary work for all of us! :D

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Robot Slavery is Here!

I'm a lazy guy. Yet, I like my room clean and tidy all the time. And those two things doesn't go so well... I'm constantly annoyed by dirt that piles up on my desk, furnitures, etc.

Some people like me, with means and brains to make robots, came up with a great answer: iRobot's Roomba. It's a round shaped robot that once activated, it finds its way around the room and vacuums the floor. It looks like it takes a while, but it can work while you're off to work, so who cares?

The follwoing is a introductory video to Roomba:

MMmm, I need to get myself one of this.

Some funny videos related to this cute thing:
Roomba attacks a dog!
Dog attacks a Roomba!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

A Hidden Jewel

The following is a clib from U.K. version of talent seeking program, showing Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman, singing an opera in front of Simon Cowell!

Honestly, when I saw the goofy-ness of this guy, I was getting ready to laugh. And.... No more spoilers. See it for yourself.

Did you feel that chill running through your body? I didn't. At first. Not because I am stuck up bastard, but because of disbelief. I just thought it was a recording or something... But hell no! He really is a diamond hidden among mundane stones! Second time I watched, I couldn't bear the chill.

God, he is amazing!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Odin Sphere

Some time ago (probably when 3D was still new and fresh that most of them sucked big time), I read an article reviewing a 2D game that claimed (roughly translated) "Detailed and well-made 2D animation based games are far better than clunky and crappy 3D games." And since then, everyone have been favoring 3D games for some obvious reasons, and 2D games has been kind of pushed into a shadow by flashy, and flamboyant advance of 3D technology, lead by companies like Squeare (now Square-Enix) and Epic Game.

Although 2D has become something of the past, I still think great 2D games beat many of good 3D games. Case in point, recently released Odin Sphere.

Being one of the many games still basing on now-being-replaced-yet-makes-more-money-than-its-successor PlayStation 2, Odin Sphere doesn't employ killer 3D graphics, but if you take a quick look at its beautiful 2D animation, you'll realize there's absolutely no need of 3D stuff here. The quality of animation this game has is so sleek, smooth, detailed, and really well directed that everything--from visual to gameplay to sound--conforms so well that you can't help but fall in love with it instantly. (At least I did.)

Seeing is better than a thousand words; here is the intro to the game:

Thursday, June 7, 2007

The Matrix in the Real World

I've known that there are researches on interacting with computers using brain waves going on, but I didn't know it was this advanced.

Apparently, there are some cases where people have been playing games using brains! This means that they're playing games--controlling characters, initiating motions, and so on--without using hands, sitting on their couch and just using telepathy (or, more accurately, artificial telepathy)! How cool is that!

Of course, this goes far more than just playing games. It'll be like The Ghost In The Shell coming true. Or The Matrix, if you're more familiar with it (but Wachowski brothers got that idea from that anime, among other sources).

This will open an era where ESP is the main means to communication, either with computer or among people, and people with disabilities will no longer stay disabled, since it can be fixed (if they'd like) with such technology. Think about it; if the technique of translating your thoughts into words on computer develops that it types in real time, then nothing will surpass that ability! For me, I'd like to code with my thoughts... I think that'll make it so much easier, and faster... and also draw and paint stuff. Hell, there can be a program that brings my thoughts into 3D environment! Mmmmm, talk about Web 103402532435.0....

Controlling Computers With the Brain

Monday, June 4, 2007

Alizée - J'en Ai Marre!

Live Version

This is the song that World of Warcraft's female Night Elf character's dance came from, as I've learned from this video.

Alizée Jacotey, born in 1984, is a very attractive, French singer who prefers dancing over singing. As such, her songs are more appropriate for dancing than singing, but the fancy and upbeat mix of pop and electronic tunes was more than enough to grab my attention. So, even though I don't like dancing, I've been listening to this song for awhile now.

I have to confess, until now, I haven't thought about listening to French songs at all. All my music world derived from Korea, Japan, and the States. But listening to this song makes me think how much I am missing. To be honest, I seem to like European songs over the American songs, mostly because here, Hip-hop is da shiz, where as electronic is more popular in Europe. And I like electronic way more than hip-hop.

So, how do you like it?

World of Warcraft Dances: Real vs Game

I have always wondered what all those moves World of Warcraft characters burst out when you type in "/dance" command, and this video answers them all. (Except female Blood Elf's dance move. Whose song is that?)

The Most Powerful Person in the World

"A love letter to video games" - Australian machinima artist, Thuyen Nguyen

Money Printing Machine

I just had an epiphany : "Third installment of most of highly anticipated movies sucks." You will agree with me if you have seen movies like Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End, The Matrix: Revolution, and Spider-Man 3 and was deeply disappointed that you have watched it, and now you dislike those very series you loved before you watched that three.

But at that right moment, I realized something; Even when I was disappointed by all those titles, I am still eager to watch same type of franchises (meaning they're created to make money, not a valuable movie as a literature-art work), such as The Bourne Ultimatum, Ocean's Thirteen (with some sprinkle of doubt on this one), Live Free or Die Hard, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, and so on.

Yes, I am also a victim of marketing and am one of the contributors who fuel the movie publishers' thirst for never-ending, boring but rich-making series and deprive humanity of creative and unique, truly artistic motion pictures.

I just hope those upcoming movies are worthwhile...

The Next Big Title from Blizzard Entertainment

If you haven't heard this news, you've been obviously living in a no-man's island with no internet connection.

Yes, Blizzard has announced the next big title, the sequel to extremely successful (especially in Korea) Starcraft.

The following is the announcement trailer Blizzad showed at their big party event in Seoul, Korea:

Are we excited yet?

Sources:
GameTrailers.com
Gamespot Preview

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Eternity Begins

We do not know how it began. We just know it is. We don't know how it will end.

Go back to the time when it began. We are not allowed there, because we are weak beings bound to time. Only the privileged can see the creation. It is when eternity begins.

Welcome. Watch closely. Enter the realm of immortals.