Alone - Movie review

Movie poster for this flick. Scared yet? :p

Language: Thai (w/English subtitles - Blurry Chinese and Malay subtitles also included -_-)
Rating : 18-PL
Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes.
GSC website: Here
Sypnosis: (taken from GSC.com.my)

Looking roughly at Pim’s life, she is just another ordinary woman. She moved from Thailand and started a new life in Korea with her caring and loving husband. But one night, a phone call from Thailand changes her life forever. Pim learns that her mother is gravely ill with an unknown disease, and she and her husband Lee rush back to Thailand.

The moment she arrives in Thailand, the flashbacks begin-painful memories, long buried, along with a strange familiar feeling. These things only grow stronger, as she reaches the house where she grew up. She is inundated with a nostalgia that is sweet, but with an undercurrent of terror, a realization that someone is “there,” right beside her, always. And that someone had always been there.

The secret of Pim and her family has slowly been revealed: she was once a Siamese twin! Ten years ago, Pim and her conjoined twin sister underwent as operation to separate them. But her sister died during the attempt. And now, Pim suddenly feels her presence once more, relentlessly.

Will she regain the normal life she once had – her own and hers alone?

My thoughts
(Apparently, this is based off a true story, the twins with the same name Pim and Ploy did get seperated in 1994)

Since this movie is directed by the duo that also directed Shutter (a good Thai horror flick as well, must watch for horror fans), I had some expectations on this movie. After watching it, I can safely say that it is a good watch.

The scare tactics (hey, thats why you came to watch the movie right?) are more of the same old stuff, but even so you'll still feel shocked when you actually WATCH it. (eg. beach scene). I personally found some of the same scare tactics in Shutter reused in this flick (coming from the same directors, this is expected), yet the scare factor is still there. Kudos to the directors for being able to keep the horror feel in each scene. (Lift scene anyone? Woot.)

Marsha Wathanapanitch did a splendid job as the lead in this flick. Her acting definitely was superb, and definitely doesn't look fake. (It got me scared too >_<). One of my fav scenes involving her was (minor spoilers ahead):

Doctor: (takes out art that looks like a butterfly)Tell me what do you see?
Pim (Marsha): Batman
Doctor: ......
Pim : If I said butterfly, you will say I am normal, but if I said anything else, you will say I am insane.

As for the plot....well, I'll be frank. Simply just reading the sypnosis will NOT work....as a matter of fact, the turn of events that will be revealed towards the end are rather shocking. It kinda reminds me of Phoenix Wright in a way...(a VERY horrific way). Even the ending was actually action packed - And that I did not expect.

Overall, the movie was worth a watch. If you are one that are pretty much immune to scare tactics this probably won't change a thing, but nevertheless, the plot was superb, something I don't expect in a horror flick.

Rating by me: 4/5

The one gaming wish

Tagged by Reveur

If there is one wish, one gaming related wish. What would you wish for? Would you wish for PS3? Would you wish for cheaper price? Would you wish for the best game ever to come now?

Hm, Reveur wasn't too far off when he said "Ouendan mastah". But I simply just wish for more of these games to come out :) It's so fun and addictive, and I would not mind being a mastah for all of them kakakakaka.

I hearby tag everyone reading this :p

(I don't have much to say, hence the short post)

Deal or No Deal?

Does anyone watch that show? It's on NTV7 (Malaysia) on Mondays and Tuesdays at 7pm, in Mandarin. I think in the US NBC shows it (in English obviously). Basically the premise of the game is this. After being the one selected from the contestants, the contestant has to pick a case (from about 20 over cases) for the contestant to keep (for the duration of the show obviously). Then, the contestant has to choose from the remainder of the cases to open, revealing the sum of cash to be "deleted" off the score-board. The main aim here on this portion of the game is to have the lower sums removed from the board (e.g RM0.10 [yes THAT low is in the game too]. And here's why:

After a number of cases are removed, the "Banker" will call, offering a sum of money to the contestant to purchase the briefcase he/she earlier chose (the very first one), in which either the contestant can either choose to "Deal" or "No Deal". The amount the banker offers will be based on the contestant's performance - Do well by getting rid of the lower amounts and the amount offered will be high, do bad by getting rid of the higher ones and the offer will be lower. Regardless, if Deal, the case will be sold to the banker for that sum of money, if no Deal, the contestant has to open more cases to delete more values.

And then the banker calls again, with a higher/lower value to offer for the case (dependant on performance) and the option to Deal or no Deal comes up again. If "No Deal", the contestant has to open more cases. The banker calls more often towards the end of the game where there are only few cases left to open (usually by then it's pretty clear whether the Deal or No Deal option is better).

Once the contestants chooses "Deal", the contestant has to answer a further question - failing in which the contestants will take home only 20% of the amount offered by the bank (though I don't think this is in the US version of Deal or No Deal...). And at the end of the game, the value of the very first case chosen by the contestant will be revealed (to show if it was a "good deal" or a "bad deal" - It'll really suck if the contestant sold off the briefcase containing RM100,000 for a lower amount the banker offered LOL).

Anyway the game is based on luck as you don't know what cases hold which amount (and they are not preset obviously), by all means you could have Lady Luck with you and open up all the low amounts forcing the bank to offer you absurd amounts of cash for whatever value it is inside the case or in most cases, have luck turn against you and you are stuck with lower values (and in turn, lower banker offer). It's still fun to watch as a TV show.

If you want to play this online, NBC (US) has a flash version of it on their site here. Of course this is just for fun and you won't get real money from it.

What I don't understand is what drove the idiots named Golden Star Software (whatever company this is) to release a DS game based on this game show when you can play the flash version for free. And to top it all off, there's no reason to buy it anyway - There is nothing to do but open cases and reject / accept the banker's offer. Fun to watch as a viewer, fun to play as a REAL LIFE contestant where you win real money.

But in a game where I probably will get a "CONGRATULATIONS YOU WIN US$(insert amount here)" at the end of the game and then get booted back to the title screen? At least Who Wants to be a Millionaire has a point to be released on the PC/PS because it tests your knowledge. But this? LOL. I pity the idiots who buy it.

Speaking of which....Ouendan 2's EBA mode.

Woot Chieftain's gonna cheer on a kid! Woot woot!

'Case anyone doesn't know yet, between 28 June to 11 July, there will be an event for Ouendan 2. (page in Japanese - Announced here) Apparently, if you go to a DS Download Station in Japan (YES JAPAN ONLY stop asking whether will it be in your local game store in the US/Malaysia/wherever) you can download the Agents and the Cat to your DS.

"HOLD IT! Then how the hell did you get it so fast?"
Here's the deal. I don't like getting screwed out of things that could have easily been an unlockable. And it's not like Japan is right next door or anything like that. No, I do not have wads of cash that I can fly to Japan within the next few days. Anyway, it is probably understandable that importers like me do not get such luck with Japan only specials and Nintendo of Japan doesn't recognise imports, but for something like this that they practically KNOW will have loads of people importing (EBA came coz of Ouendan being mass-imported by us non Japanese) I'm not really too pleased.

Google's lousy Japanese -> English translation. Want a better one? I'll do it for you. Only available on 28 June to 11 July in JAPAN DS DOWNLOAD STATION. Not in Japan? F*** you.

So there was only one way of getting them of course - The great Action Replay DS *woohoo*

Before I proceed, I will provide a disclaimer: I will NOT be held responsible if your Ouendan 2 save gets corrupt or anything like that. Please note that the codes below are NOT created by me. I am only providing it here for you, the reader's convenience. If you do not want to take risks with your savefile, I recommend you DO NOT proceed.

Here's the codes, courtesy of someone over at 2ch.

Game ID (you need this for your AR to recognise the game)
AO2J-B9A91626

EBA Mode
220D7397 00000001

I see no need for the (m) code seeing that I got it to work on BOTH the original cartridge and the ROM on the R4 without it.

With the code on, on the difficulty select screen there should be a button of the EBA emblem - That's to activate the EBA mode. You WILL need to trigger the game to save to keep the mode. (Beat a high score or go to options, hit the top-middle button, enter and exit)

But hey, I don't want to use an AR to get them! Is there really no other way?
There has been no way so far in game to unlock them. Definitely not by points (I'm already past the last rank by some distance). So unless you happen to be Japan, and you don't want to use an AR, you're screwed out of them.

And before anyone screams of using the AR as a matter of gaining an advantage in the EBA mode, let me remind you AR-haters that this does NOT affect gameplay whatsoever. All this mode does as explained by Nintendo is to replace the skins of the Ouendan with the EBA. That's it. It is only for decoration (though it looks cool to see Chieftain do the Ouendan cheering :p).

Keep in mind - If you choose to reset your game (as in delete data), your EBA mode is gone.

In which I Ouendan 2'd the day away.

And so I played Ouendan 2 as usual, trying to secure better S ranks. Then I did Music Hour on Insane-Hidden. The try came out....

259 300s, 1 100

Oh yes, that 1 100 is sticking out like a sore thumb. So I spent the next hour trying to all 300 the thing, finally doing it at last! (after X amount of tries - I didn't count)



ALL 300 Music Hour. Take that you stupid game!

And then came Countdown. Doing it on Insane-Hidden as well...and then history repeated itself.

168 300s, 1 100

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Oh and by the way, I didn't manage to get all 300 on this one....first section is so hard to get the timing right *sob*)

[EDIT: I got Glamorous Sky in Hard-Hidden ALL 300'd right after this post. HAH! Take that you stupid game!)

Glamorous Sky ALL 300 with EBA's Chieftain! Take that!

In which I review some food at last.

Location: Berjaya Times Square 10th Floor Food Court (there's a name for it, but blah I don't remember it)
What is this?: Penne Arrabiata <--- (this spelling is wrong I think, someone correct it pls) How much $$$: RM7.90 (not inclusive of tax)

Since i was at the outing, I figured that I'd have dinner there as well. So I ordered this from the Italian store over at the Food Court (it's very near to the IMAX entrance, can't miss it). RM7.90 is rather steep for a food court pricing, but that's a good price for good food like that (FYI, RM7.90 is nothing compared to the other stuff they have on the menu which cost double-ish more)

How does it takes like? You obviously do not (and cannot) compare it to true Italian joints, but nevertheless it manages to replicate the taste a little. The spicy tomato sauce really tastes good and gives it the Italian taste right there. I don't have any complaints about this pasta, it's just that good! (Again, price is a non-issue here).

I would certainly recommend this to anyone who needs a good place to have lunch, especially if you are right in the middle of Bukit Bintang. :)

The LYN NDS Gathering - A mini review.

Before I begin, here's a log from the LYN forums outing thread.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time : 1030hrs - 2000hrs;
Date : Saturday, 23th June 2007;
Battleground : Food Court, 10th Floor, outside IMAX Cinema, Berjaya Time Square;
Status: SUCCESSFUL!

Attendance
01) Mudmaniac
02) Mudmaniac's friend
03) Phoenix_Cypher_K1
04) Corez
05) Pr1me_Minister
06) Yuki Ijuin


Games played:
Mario Kart DS
- Round 1 (Mudmaniac, Corez, Yuki Ijuin - DL play)
- Round 2 (Mudmaniac, Corez, Yuki Ijuin, Mudmaniac's friend, Phoenix_Cypher_K1 - DL play)
- Round 3 (all - DL play)
- Round 4 (Pr1me_Minister, Corez, Yuki Ijuin, Phoenix_Cypher_K1)

Tetris DS
- Round 1 - (Corez, Mudmaniac, Mudmaniac's Friend, Phoenix_Cypher_K1)
- Round 2 - (Corez, Mudmaniac) <--- this was interesting tongue.gif
- Round 3 - (all)

Elite Beat Agents
- Round 1 - Corez/Phoenix_Cypher_K1 vs Yuki Ijuin (DL play 2 vs 1 tongue.gif)
- Round 2 - Corez/Phoenix_Cypher_K1 vs Yuki Ijuin/Pr1me_Minister (DL play 2 vs 2)

Ouendan 2
- Corez/Phoenix_Cypher_K1 vs Yuki Ijuin/Pr1me_Minister (DL play 2 vs 2)

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (trade)
Phoenix_Cypher_K1, Pr1me_Minister (thank you for the Togekiss and Articuno tongue.gif hope you enjoy the Latis)
---------------end report------------------------------------------------

Well, I went there at around 11.40am (was busy uploading vids to Youtube coz the GameFAQs forumers were asking for some Ouendan 2 EBA mode vids - hence the lateness - and said vids are also uploaded to my subsite, check the sidebar). When I reached, I could not find them, till I saw them over at the seats outside IMAX. Mudmaniac and friend, Yuki and Corez were already there. Pr1me Minister arrived last, and there were no more arrivals after that.

The games were fun. Pr1me and I definitely enjoyed switching leads on top of the MKDS leaderboard at least a dozen times while Corez did enjoy his moment of fun on top for 2 rounds. Tetris, no contest, again, Corez won most of the matches. I pulled a win tho :p. Then EBA and Ouendan 2 gaming sessions, were pretty limited (download play), but it was still fun (I'm not used to playing Normal mode tho)

The meeting effectively ended at 5, but Yuki, Corez, Pr1me and me stayed back for dinner (Yuki having the worst Yong Tau Foo ever), and had single player fun (Yuki finished Nanostray !_!, Corez playing The Anthem on EBA till...his battery packs ran out, and Pr1me actually playing Ouendan 2 despite having a busted touch screen, I played Ouendan 1 in the meantime, while pulling off another (crap) 9999999 on SSAY Insane-Hidden on Ouendan 2 when I did get to play it.

At 8pm, Corez and Yuki went off, while me and Pr1me went off to Starbucks, as he wanted to surf on his Ninty DS browser (while I took the advantage to eat cake + Mocca Frap :p), before we both took the train home.

As for the outing, as per report it was a success. However, Times Square is starting to be a cursed place for outings for low turnouts. I'm beginning to think about NOT suggesting Times Square in future.

Cleanup.

Ah, I just did it anyway.

I created a sub-site where I will archive any Youtube vids I post up after 5 days on the main pageover there (be it mine or anyone elses). I will leave a link on the main site (that's HERE). :p So that the main site don't get cluttered with YT windows :p

Ouendan 2 vids (previously shown on blog)

Click here. I archived it onto a seperate site now.

LYN Nintendo DS June Meetup

[Bumped up once]

We interrupt the regular scheduled programming for a special news bulletin :D


It's the official LowYat.Net Nintendo DS Gathering June Edition. It's on this Saturday the 23rd.

Click HERE to go to the discussion thread over at LYN forums :D

As usual the FAQ in case ANYONE missed it.

1) Where in Times Square? SO BIG LA!
10th floor food court, same as IMAX. Take the lift at the far left end (Borders side)

2) Why there and not (location X)?
It's always good to know that Times Square is massively crowded on weekends EXCEPT for the upper levels. (Because except for IMAX, it is deserted). And lo and behold the food court is located at the upper levels.

3) What do you guys do in the outing?
Play Multiplayer games such as Mario Kart DS, Clubhouse Games, Tetris DS, Metroid Prime Hunters, Ouendan/EBA/Ouendan 2 and more. Take this time to show off your l33t skillz. No cheating pls -_-

4) I'm not a LowYat.Net member? Can I still come?
Of course. The more the merrier. Of course, sign up later for post-outing discussions! :p

5) Erm...my games are...you know la, not the "real" kind, so can I come?
Yes you can. We don't discriminate against "ahem" users. (Original zealots, STFU)

6) I don't have a Nintendo DS but I'm interested. Can I still come?
Well, it might be a problem to find a spare DS/DS Lite for you, unless you plan to just come as an observer. I *might* bring the spare I had, but due to technical issues with it (Hint:R button) I might not.

7) Any preparations if I'm coming?
Charge your DS/DS Lite. Very important. We don't want you to run outta power. Unless you bring your own charger (and find a power outlet) coz most of us don't.

8) Why the meeting end time is so uncertain?
This depends on location, and the outing goers' free time. We all can't sit inside some place till night right? (Actually some can :D)

9) I'm staying quite far away, but since most multiplayer games have the Nintendo WiFi Connection, can I use that to communicate with you guys?
I'll shorten last month's FAQ answer: No because of battery consumption issues, and there is no WiFi at the location anyway.

10) Any rules during multiplayer matches?
No rules. This is just a friendly meeting. However, I advise and stress that NO cheat devices be used in the outing. Don't spoil the fun of others. We are here to have fun, not rake in wins.

(As far as Mario Kart DS is concerned, ask first if it's a snaking match or not)

11) What about behaviour? Any rules on that?
No. But I'd advise NOT to get over your head. We don't want to get kicked out of the place.

12) Why is the banner PINK?!
According to the creator, it is effective at warding off certain...things.

13) You make it sound like a ghost story.
-_- No.

Oh, and Reveur says that pwetty girls are invited :P

Layout changed :D

Well, changed the layout abit. Thanks to a good friend who helped out :) It's nice no?

(Yeah, this blog post is a one-liner, I'll be sinking this to the bottom soon, bumping a previous blog post up for this weekend's event :p)

A tale of three DS'es (Part 2) - The White and Pink Partnership.

(My first NDSL. Awwwww....:p)

Yup, thats the box. The US version. It didn't have a strap so I curi from my phat DS (I had it at the time so meh :p). Also the edges are pretty dirty (no way to clean it AFAIK unless I rip off that plasticky cover thing). The DSL's pretty good. :P

Opened up....

(That's Shirosaki Rin cheering by the way. :D Go!)

Now, one thing I didn't like about the White DSL was the fact that it collected stains fast. (You can probably spot them on the pic...) I didn't really notice them until Pr1me_Minister told me about it some 4-5 months after owning it (Yes I'm pretty oblivious to the stains). The D-pad, and the buttons (except one...) works fine till now, as so does the touch screen. (The alignment is very slightly off in the center but everywhere else, it's fine and dandy :D)

And when I put it up Flat....

(Baby BANG BANG BANG! XDXDXD)

No, despite mine being the "famous White US DS Lite that cracks", mine didn't so I put it up flat. That's a relief. (Actually, it's pretty cosmetic anyway). And pardon the picture, I'm not too good with the digital camera (just got it back after a long while :) )

So, this DS Lite was pretty fine. Until the R button got stuck and became 50% responsive. (Probably due to MKDS :( ). I already sold off the phat DS at this point of time, and since the R button was pretty important, I figured that it's time to pick up the Pink.....

(Box shot with the Pink DS Lite)

(Tsukasa Hiiragi desu~! Balsamic vinegar FTW!)

This one I bought from Gamers Hideout (no not the subforum in LYN, the shop over at Cineleisure). Recommended by SWATwolf actually. For quite a nice sum, this pink was all mine. And yes, I was criticised left and right for picking pink of all things.

And no, the casing and all are bought later. :p

(The Pink DSL when opened. And yeaaa....99999. Walking the dog everyday helps. Woohoo!)

This DSL served me quite well. It's all fine except for the touchscreen. It's...off. Well, not that bad actually. The left and right of the touch screen are perfectly fine, but.....

(OMG nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!)

......the center is off (not by much). And attribute it to Ouendan all you want, but considering that I've been abusing the White DSL even longer, I'm pretty surprised.

Not that it really hurts, since I'm still playing Ouendan on it despite the White one having a better touch screen. And it doesn't seem to affect me at all O_o

But anyway, these two DS Lites have been such a partnership. I use the Pink one more than the White, but the White one still has its uses. *coughR4cough*. In any case,

(All my DS stuff. Oh, and don't bother looking for the R4, it's not there)

(Oh, and if you haven't noticed the subliminal messaging, buy Ouendan and Ouendan 2 :D)

Nintendo DS FTW. :D

A tale of three DS'es (Part 1) - The DS Phat and the beginning.

I joined the NDS community rather late. May 2006 late (Hey that's a year and a month ago! :p). All this while before I had the DS I had only my faithful GBA SP (Silver, sold off). But anyways, my friend in a way influenced me to the way of the NDS.

At the time, I didn't think that the Big Mac DS would be so much big of a difference to the DS Lite (note: I am not all that bright back then -_-), but anyway the DS suited me more, so for a nice sum from a shop at Sunway Pyramid, I picked up the phat DS. Silver it was and it was the Asian version (from Maxsuck/Sucksoft/Maxsoft, whatever you want to call it, any one is fine). I then picked up Advance Wars Dual Strike (first ever DS game I had woohoo!) over at Mission World at MV.

Of course, then I picked up Mario Kart DS (from the same shop) a week later. [And it turned out to be the only game I had that lived through my several rounds of selling DS games] The phat DS was a fine piece of hardware I had at the time, and certainly it was 580 well spent I might add. Fun with friends w/MKDS? Oh yes.

But then by end of June, the shortcomings of the phat finally overran me.

1) Bulky. When it is open, it feels comfy. But when it's closed, it's....not so compact as I think it would be. (And for one, I always put my handhelds in my pocket, I can attest to that)
2) Battery Life is not enough :( (P/s - This time last year, I had time to burn. Obviously, I can no longer say the same now)
3) Weak backlighting. It made the GBA SP frontlight look good. (No offence...but I feel so)

So come July, despite being barely two months into its life, I decided to pick up another NDS - This time, I decided to get a DS Lite. A white one, US version (which currently serves me to this day). And it is well worth it.

*End of Part 1*

Note: I am not bashing the phat DS - I just feel it's just a bad purchase on my behalf. If you feel the phat DS is more godly than the DS Lite that's all fine and dandy because I have friends who think that and I respect that. However, I will delete flaming comments on sight. Keep them to yourself.

Note2: And no, I do NOT have pics of my Silver Phat DS because I sold it off to a friend (I'll make mention of this in future updates). I'll make sure there'll be some pics in the next one though.

Gyakuten Saiban 3 preordered.

Preordered Gyakuten Saiban 3 yesterday, along with Steven (SWATwolf)'s copy.

(Yes, obviously there is 2, and yes I used FedEx. The PA coupon that came with Ouendan 2 was of great use. Kakakaka)

I have played the previous two games and it was such a good experience that I decided to pick the third game up. It's definitely worth the money (its already on Best Price too :p). The game arrives on August 23.

You can preorder Gyakuten Saiban 3 here. Or if you are willing to wait for Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations (comes out a month later), you can also preorder it here.

What's on your desk?

Tagged by SWATwolf

What's within arm's reach on your desk, without leaning forward too much?
For me it's

• My Pink Nintendo DS Lite (w/Tsukasa Hiiragi Custom Cover + Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu gashapons attached to the strap)
• My White Nintendo DS Lite (with nothing else, not even a game cart in it)
• My DS Lite Pouch with all my games + R4
• You're Under Arrest Theme Song Full Collection CD Case
• My PC + Logitech Speakers + WiFi USB Connector
• My (lousy) Nokia handphone
• My Initial D Arcade Stage 3 Lv31 RX-8 :D (Invalid though)
• An inkless Epson Stylus C40UX printer
• Initial D Super Eurobeat D Selection 3 CD
• Goddess Family Club CDs
• Unreal Tournament 2004 Manual (the CDs are somewhere else unreachable :p)
• MP3 player
• A pair of pens
• Suo Mikoto School Rumble Ni Gakki Gashapon
• My Dell Inspiron 1501 Laptop
• A (used) Play-Asia coupon
• House Phone (Cord)
• Aztech Modem

I take this opportunity to tag Reveur, Rumizu, Dyna-Storm, PM, Penman and everyone else who's reading this. :) Don't forget to link to the one who tagged you :)

Yes!

This one above is Hard + Hidden SSAY (Sekai wa Sore wo Ai to Yobunda ze). Actual score: 10636410. Did it last night.

If that Cheerleaders+Hidden SSAY took me 3 hours, this one took me at least 12 hours (on seperate days, not one sitting). Quite simply, on Cheerleader difficulty, the cue to hit them is when the markers start to disappear. On Hard, it is 1 second AFTER it disappears (I'm practically tapping on an invisible marker- aka NOTHING). I thank the white line which served as guidance(and I don't think have served me any purpose before :D). This is definitely harder than the Cheerleader one (in Hidden) even though it has less markers.

Of course, the pink Touch Pen Attachment I bought(click here to go to Host Play for review) was a major help. ALL HAIL! :D :D

Hare Hare Yukai and the parodies of it.

I was surfing over at Kotaku when I spotted:



Hare Hare Yukai, Pokemon version. Interesting it is.

Also, a Megaman ver :p in all the 8 bit glory. :D



Here's the original ver from Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi for reference:-

The mini RanTank.

Don't you just hate it when something screwy happens with your PC?

Earlier I logged off because of rain, and when I came back on, I was greeted with a CMOS Checksum Error. Great. Windows won't start. So I tinkered with the BIOS and found my CPU overclocked settings reset to Disabled. Turning it back on makes it work fine. (and for some reason my SATARaid controller got uninstalled, luckily the drivers are still onboard the PC) God knows what triggered it (I suspect dying CMOS battery; the XP clock stopped...but I swore I saw the BIOS clock was correct when I went into BIOS), but at least it's working fine for now. I backed up all the important stuff of course in case.

As for the exam itself, I think I should be fine but I'm not so confident. Something is bugging me. I can't figure out what is it from the top of my head. I guess I'm gonna have to go study more for a bit.

Elite Beat Agents Review

Elite Beat Agents. The US counterpart to Ouendan. How does it fare?

EBA plays like Ouendan. If you've played Ouendan you will feel right at home. You tap along to the beat, slide to the phrase markers and spin (ala touch screen destroyer style) the spinners, usually towards the end of the song.

What sets EBA and Ouendan apart are the characters. Instead of the male cheerleaders you see in Ouendan, you now have MIB-ish agents dancing to the beat. One thing I noticed that unlike Ouendan (BOTH 1 and 2), this one seems to have original dance moves for each song. Yes, you get to see the agents do the YMCA during the song. A rather nice effect. One notable absentee from this game is the combo flames, but I think they were removed due to the theme of the game.

The song selection was made in line for all ages. Classic songs such as September from Earth, Wind and Fire to Jumpin' Jack Flash from the Rolling Stones to recent songs such as La La, Survivor and Sk8tr Boi are present in this game. Is the song selection justified? Yes to some, no to some. Some have great beats to tap to while others are horrendous just playing to it. It's immensely difficult to keep the beat to for certain songs because the song itself sounds weird.

Feature wise, it is a step up of Ouendan 1 with the introduction of replay saves where you can save one replay per song. It is also compatible with the Rumble Pak (although I personally don't find much use for it). You can also skip the intros at the start of the song (but not the end; a feature later implemented in Ouendan 2).]]

Is it a recommended buy? Definitely. It will and has appealed to many, and even if you do not like the song itself, the gameplay will blow you away. I myself didn't like many songs because they were a chore to play to begin with but I grew to like them soon enough.

You can purchase Elite Beat Agents from Play-Asia here.

Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill Tabitachi Review

Lately if you've been up to the news, the DS has been used for learning purposes in Japan. Great isn't it? Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill Tabitachi is just that, a learning game. Is it good?

For those not in the know, Lucky Star is a rather popular anime now in Japan. Hit up your favourite Japanese anime torrent index to find out. (No I will not provide links, but I'm sure Uncle Google glady will). The game in my opinion doesn't really live up to the hype generated from the anime. As a matter of fact I don't think this game really relates to the anime judging from the different voiceovers in game compared to the anime. (Perhaps to the drama CD - Lucky Star had two different seiyuus for each character)

The game itself is pretty easy to jump into actually. There are three main sections in the game. The first one is a fairly basic Mathematics battle between you and the CPU where the premise is rather simple: If you get it correct, you deplete the enemy life bar and vice versa. Getting it wrong will hurt yourself. (Although I am fairly sure the CPU NEVER gets it wrong). You are actually given roughly 2-3 seconds to answer before the CPU answers. But here's something I did not like. It's pretty easy to answer questions like 8 x 9 or 32 - 14. But what if you are hit with a question like.... 234 / 9? Yes, for some odd reason, questions like this show up and while it is challenging, I don't quite like the sudden spike in question "difficulty" when you are blazing through most of the easy questions.

The second section is based on kanji. I can only fairly assume it has something to do with basic Japanese knowledge, though due to my lack of Kanji knowledge, I cannot verify on this. Perhaps someone would like to fill me in on this?

The third section is a simple Japanese-English test. The format of battle is the same as the Mathematics, except this time, it's more of a "fill in the blanks" thing. Basically, the screen will show you the Japanese sentence, as well as part of the English translated sentence. The main purpose is for you to translate the red parts of the Japanese sentence to English. Most of the answers are fairly hilarious (Konata would probably be the one be designing these tests IMO LOL)

Story mode is fairly straightforward and revolves around all three of these "tests". I highly doubt there is much of a story involved if at all. As far as multiplayer is concerned, you can choose to go on local wireless or Nintendo WiFi Connection for a head-to-head battle for the three above tests. Not too fun, but...it is nice to be able to challenge someone far away with things like this I suppose.

Is it import friendly? Not that much. This game is clearly designed with the Japanese in mind, and as a result, if you are planning to import, you will need a sufficient amount of Japanese knowledge to get through (this is important if you intend to play the Japanese kanji test...).

You can get Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill Tabitachi from Play-Asia here.

The day in review.

I guess I shouldn't procastinate on updating, plus if I don't update it now, I'll probably never get around to updating it at all since exam is knocking on my door.

The day began...from yesterday. Since I spent the night bashing to Ouendan. (Lesson: Never play Ouendan when your eyes want to close shop. You'll end up smacking the beat to the left or the right of the actual marker).

Anyways, I got to LRT Taman Jaya at 7.20am, 25 minutes before Penman's supposed arrival at 7.45. SMS'd him too. 10 minutes before the supposed arrival I got a nice reply >_>

So I glanced and looked around to check on where on earth he is, and then I found out that he is in Taman Bahagia. WTF.

Taman Bahagia =/= Taman Jaya. ZOMG.

Next time, I'm gonna double-triple-quad confirm, even to the extent of checking on the surrounding areas. Anyway, met Andy up at the station (also another victim >_>) and took the train to Taman Bahagia, where Mr. Penman was happily waiting. Then we went to pick up his girlfriend and went to Hong Kei Dim Sum for Breakfast. Halfway through Reveur and his girlfriend joined us and we had a good breakfast. :)

Then we drove to the Litt-Tak Bandai Clearance Sale. (whatever you call it, it feels like a clearance sale to me!). There Mr. Penman lead us to the finest Final Fantasy adventure ever where followed a sign that says "Welcome: Gundam Land", promptly gotten lost, fought no monsters (someone must have equipped "No Encounters" armor), but only served to do 99999 to the self-owned meter. Which wasn't too bad actually. A good morning walk after breakfast was good.

So then when we FINALLY reached the warehouse, I guess it was a relief we didn't get lost. Personally speaking the warehouse sale feels great for everyone but me. I did like the Tomy Train Set though. But they are expensive !_!. As for Gundam, I came close to picking one up but I guess I resisted, somehow. Anyway for a more complete coverage of the event head over to Mr. Penman's blog. :)

I didn't figure that Penman would be from my church. LOL! I had no clue till I saw the empty envelope stuck to his err..."Sun Shade", or whatever he called it. LOL. I didn't quite figure also that he'd be more involved in the church than me, with the Calvary Life Ministries site designed by him. Nice job.

Anyways, the outing ended after the sale, and I headed back. That's about it.

Now to catch up on some studying. Out.

Blog update.

Added the Game-Lah link to the sidebar, as well as Mr. Penman's blog as well as Zio's :)

I'll blog more later. I'm quite tired and I have to finish studying. Zzzzz.

The Lit-Tak Bandai Clearance Sale (or whatever you want to call it) was interesting though at least for Gundam fans. Be back with more in a bit...

EDIT: Make that tomorrow or Monday.