Bluedrake a.k.a. shippoukitsune's life...

Photoshop heavy edition for Multimedia design

2011-10-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Didn't get to post much things lately due to assignments and stuff. Anyhow, the one I'm posting now is still part of my assignment as well. It's a Photoshop class though and I quite enjoyed it to be frank, here is the final outcome and to make it more epic, please use your cursor and point to the image below for even heavier Photoshop effect :D

Alarm clock for Multimedia design

2011-09-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

My alarm clock

Digital Design Assignment (12/9/11)

2011-09-13T08:34:00.001-07:00

These are the 3 different resolution that is taken for few web safe area when making a website. Among the web browsers used are Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari:

The web safe area for 1024x768 resolution with the specific display size from my browsers.

The web safe area for 1280x800 resolution with the specific display size from my browsers.

The web safe area for 1280x1024 resolution with the specific display size from my friend's browsers. If you notice, it's not taken from own pc as my display did not come with this resolution.

And the last thing to post tonight will be the pixel buddy assignment that I've been assigned to do. I'm still not sure who is who in the class but here is the result, hope it matches his personality...
UPDATE:
Just received my buddy icon from my classmate, thanks Choon How :D
It does look kinda like me!! (except for the white shirt, I don't do white....)
Signing off,

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

10 things to describe me (Multimedia Design)

2011-09-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

1) I'm part of the darkness when it comes to my personality. Nobody really knows my true nature and I don't show my real myself unless the person is deemed worthy to be my friend.

2) I'm like an owl due to my nocturnal status every night. Technically, I sleep only 3-4 hours per day.

3) I'm a tornado when it comes to doing my assignments. Everything is messy and hectic when I'm trying to complete it as I'm not the most diligent person around the class.

4) However, I'm like ant that works as a team when it comes to group assignment. I will not slow down other people and will try my utmost best to fulfill the assignment with my team mates.

5) I'm referred as Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde once in a while as I could almost become another different person when I'm in different mood. Positive mood will obviously makes me look like Dr. Jekyll and when I'm not in a good mood, you will see Mr Hyde in me.

6) I'm like a rubber string when I'm communicate with people. I'm flexible when I'm talking to any type of people but there is a limit of patience I can take before the rubber string snaps in me.

7) I personify myself as dog when it comes to friendship loyalty. However, the process to gain my loyalty is a painfully long process before I will even consider you as friends. Girls are exception though, I will not be loyal to any of them except for my soul mate.

8) Internet is also considered as a part of my personality due to my curios nature that wants to gather new information/resource about everything all around the world everyday.

9) I'm a mountain when it comes to stubbornness, no matter how the winds of comments howled at me, I will not retreat and will stand at my point

10) My life is as busy as a bee due to my enormous amount of workload for my assignments and company work. (I have at least 5+ different odd jobs to perform almost everyday)

See photoshop PSD thumbnail in explorer!!

2011-09-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

Do you have a massive amount of PSD files in your pc, cluttered up so badly that you can't tell which is which until you open them up? Frustrated as you keep on opening them and still couldn't find what you want due to the random names we put for the psd files once in a while?

Here is an example of an unfortunate stacks of PSD files cluttered up and we have no idea which file is the one we want. So, is there an easier way to fix this problem? What if it's like this?

Now, wouldn't this be easier since you can see the preview of the psd file from the thumbnail itself? It saves a lot of time and it's easy to do it. If you want this for your photoshop psd files, here's how to do it:

1) Download the photoshop plugin viewer here:
It will redirect you to my secret dog photo, right click the picture and save it to your pc. Check out the preview below if you are not sure:
Once saved, the secret.jpg file will be in your pc. For my case, it will be in the desktop.
2) Cut/Copy the picture and paste it into this location:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell

If you do not have this directory, you can create a folder for this directory then, just make sure you have adobe photoshop (doesn't matter if it's CS4 or CS5). Once you are there, paste the secret.jpg image over there like the picture below:
Next, right click the image and select open with. Select winrar and you will be able to see the magic. (Note: You need to install winrar to extract the file. If you don't have, download it from here, it's free anyway...)
If your "open with" option doesn't have winrar, then you have to select "Choose default Program" and look for winrar.exe from there. Here's the location and the way to do it if you are not sure. Winrar.exe will be located here usually:

C:\Program Files\WinRAR

Let's resume the tutorial then.
Select choose default program.
Click at browse and look for winrar.exe like you see in the screenshot above. Click on the image if it's not clear. Once winrar.exe is selected, click open.
From here, your winrar.exe will be listed under your default programs. Select winrar to open the secret.jpg and make sure the option "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" is untick or else all your jpg files will be opened with winrar next time. Once this part is done, select ok you will see my secret.jpg magically becomes a rar archive :D

Haha, there are actually hidden files in this picture you have downloaded. Impressive eh? Anyhow, I did this so that I do not have to upload all these files into a file sharing site and all. It's easier to keep files in blogspot itself, don't you think?

The next thing you will need to do is to drag and drop the files into the folder where you secret.jpg file is located. I can assure you with my life that the files are clean and not infected in any kind of way. Cross my heart...
Once that is done, run the adobe.reg and click yes once the pop-up asks you for permission. Click yes and there you go, it's all done!! You may remove the secret.jpg, readme.txt and adobe.reg file once you are done. However, do not remove psicon.dll or you will lose the psd thumbnail preview option. Check with your photoshop file to confirm if it works or not. If it's still not showing, then give your pc a restart and it should be there. Hope you like my tutorial and see you guys again soon. If you want to know how to hide the files into an image, drop me a comment and I will explain in details on how to do it. Thank you for reading!

(Note: I am not responsible for any of your pc problem IF this ever blows up your pc though I can 99% guarantee you nothing is going to happen) And lastly, here is the secret picture once more, I can help it but lol at the dog...
Signing off,

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

Top 5 ways to prevent spam in your e-mail

2011-09-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to teach most of you on some important aspect about preventing spam in your mailbox. As you all know, message spams are a total waste of time and they always get more and more once they get hold to your e-mail. I will tell you the top 5 rules that you should never do when you are online at home/school or work.

1) Always keep your e-mail name as long/complicated as possible. This is because spammer has automated e-mail name generator which will send random e-mails spams to users starting with:
a@hotmail.com
b@hotmail.com
And so on...
It will not take them long to accidentally generate your e-mail address if yours is something like ash@hotmail.com

2) When you subscribe to any site(I don't really care if it's porn site or what-so-ever), I'm pretty sure they will send you e-mail verifications right? Sometimes, even when you did not subscribe to that site and they kept on spamming your mailbox, IGNORE them and NEVER click the "unsubscribe from this mailing list". By clicking on the unsubscribe button, you are acknowledging the spammers that your e-mail address is indeed real and this could open the floodgates to even more non-stop spamming.

3) Never post your e-mail in any website. Spammers have spiders which is crawling all over the web to look for the @ symbol, which is always (mostly) e-mail address. If you must really tell someone your e-mail address in the public, try to put it like this instead " Ash at hotmail.com". By doing this, you are safe from the spiders <--- not the real kind of spiders!

4) If you really need to register to a website, try using a temporary e-mail instead. These are e-mails that are generated for you so you can use these e-mails to register to any site you like without compromising your security. These famous temporary e-mails are:
http://www.guerrillamail.com/
http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html
http://www.mailinator.com/
http://www.mailexpire.com/
By using these website, you will never have to reveal your real e-mails anymore when registering to a new site :)

5) Always filter your messages by always reporting all the spam messages. Once clicked report, all similar associated spam message will be listed under spam (depending on the security settings of the e-mail that you've registered to...)

BONUS TIPS:
Sell your pc and live in a deserted island for the rest of your life. That is probably the only way avoid spams 100% :)

Signing off,

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

Why do people go for piracy?

2011-08-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

Piracy is something common in everyday live and whether you like it or not, we are all definitely pirated users in one way or another. So, the main question is, why is the usage of pirated software (especially) is widely used? Why do we still use pirated software when we know it's a crime and against the law? There are a lot of answers to this million dollar question and I have compiled most of them in this thread right now. And I hope forumers can participate in this thread as well by telling me which category are you on so we can do some research and maybe even get the company to realize what is needed to get us buy the original software. Here is a set of reason why we are getting pirated software.

1) Price
Yes, this is a common problem for everyone as the price of an original software is usually expensive. Sometimes, it can go from RM50 to even RM10,000 just for a single piece of original software, don't you think that it's ridiculous? I'm sure we all have economic problems of our own and certainly would not want to add burden in our monthly expenses by buying original software and so in the end, everyone looks at the pirated version. The pirated software, ranging from mostly free to only a couple of bucks, is something that everyone smiles when getting it. Due to the low cost of the pirated software, most of us don't even bother to look at the original software anymore and the money we saved can be used on far more important things in our life.

2) Availability
This may sound simple but it's a major problem as well in everywhere. For example, compare with the shops that sells pirated and original software, which is more? If you ask me to give out the ratio, I would say that pirated software shops would win by the ratio of 10:1. That is the sad truth and to add salt into the wound, there are some original software that never got into some certain country due to region problems. Sure, you can pay online and download from the internet but wouldn't that take time to download from the internet, especially when you really need it? Or would you rather go to a shop and buy it for a RM15 and move on with our life? Sometimes, it's the availability problem that forces people to go for piracy.

3) DRM (Digital Right Management)
Another big reason why would people go for piracy. Basically, DRM is a anti-piracy method developed by companies to prevent people from using cracks and reverse engineer the software. Yes, this seems to be one of those perfect methods as users will need to insert the game disc while playing the game or go connected with the server the whole time while using their software but doesn't this seems a little unfair to some of us? The reason people do not like DRM is because some people do not have internet in their home in the fist place. If there is no internet, then we can't use the software then? What about people that doesn't get to connect to the server due to their college campus blocking them with firewall? Or the worst case scenario, what if the software's server went down and everyone around the globe can't connect to it? These things has to be taken into consideration in my opinion and it's proven to be too much of a hassle for most users. But even with all these DRM going on for new software, the cracking team still got to bypass it which proves DRM is a waste of time in the first place.

4) Long and tedious process to perform before you can eventually get to use it
As you can see above, this is the comparison between a pirated and original movie. I know it is overdone but the fact still remains that we need to see those disclaimer craps from the companies when we actually bought the original product... (Do you see the irony in it?)

As this one is regarding about Windows issue and original software. They tend to link each other up and often screws up in one way or another. Yes, this happens a lot to everyone and it could take hours before you can even run it properly. And I happen to seen this in real life as well, my friend bought an Adobe Master Collection CS4 Student Edition for RM399 and tried to install it. The moment we open the cover, there is a note written "STOP, before you can install, you will need to register to Adobe.com to get your student license key!" My friend was like "Ok, how hard can this be..."

1 hour later,
After finding all over the package and website, we finally found the stupid website that allows us to register for student key. After we are about to finish keying in the details, the last thing in the form was "To prove that all these information you gave us was real, please provide us a prove from your respected college stating that you are a student there and send to us" We looked at that and then looked at the clock 10:30pm, it means we can only resume this registration tomorrow then, what a waste of time! Luckily Adobe still allowed the installation without the key and we get to use it as trial version. But the process of getting the letter from our college took us another 2-3 days, IF there were no trial versions available for Adobe, I swear I would have crack the software myself and screw the license key. But the moral of the story was, IT's FREAKING LONG AND TEDIOUS PROCESS TO GET YOURSELF A LEGITIMATE SOFTWARE!!

5) Installs weird stuff into our computer
If you realize, the moment you install an original software, they will have additional (hidden) software installed into your computer that works like a DRM as well. Some of them might be harmless but some could be fatal to our computer. As proven by people all over the world, one of the biggest company called SecuROM was used in mostly new games. Usually it's installed without the users knowledge and acts as a anti-piracy protection. What the users do not know is that it can also cripple a user's pc without any warning and when I mean cripple, it means damages the hardware and OS. Another software that is commonly used will be called Starforce which has been told over and over again by people around the world how this software protection tool killed their pc. It was so bad until to the point where the company themselves offer publishers to release patches that remove the copy protection just to make the gameplay more comfortable to the customer. And if you think it's a small problem, then you are dead wrong. Some software (Rockstar's GTA 4) went even more bizzare that they require users to download it themselves (with the file setup size is 211.78mb) before the game can work but after numerous complains from angry users, they decide not to let RGSC (Rockstar Social Gaming Club) a compulsory thing to install/run when starting up GTA 4.

In conclusion, these are some of the reasons I found out that makes people chooses piracy over Original software and to be honest, the reason I took piracy sometimes was because of #2, 3, 4 and 5 while the price doesn't really bother me much. If you have more opinion about the reasons why people prefers piracy do share with me.

Signing off,

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

(Gmod) Gordon Freeman vs Dragon

2011-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

I had been testing out with Gmod (Garry's Mod) lately and with some models and skins, I get to put an epic scene where Gordon Freeman battles out with a Dragon to save Alyx Vance. Please have a look and do give me a comment about the screenshots I took, it will help me to improve the character's modeling and positioning in order to add more realism to the scene :)

All the images are created and made by me. However, the Dragon model belongs to the maker that created it (Which I forgot who made it in the first place...) My bad...

Signing off,

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

My new badass CPU

2011-04-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've had any new hardware for my laptop and therefore I've decided to get myself some new rig to pimp myself up. So after some careful planning and extremely tight budgeting, I've finally managed to get myself a hardcore CPU that works wonderfully well on gaming and graphic design at the same time. The total cost for building up this CPU was RM2,600 (or $860.02 to be exact. Click here for the currency exchange rate) and every component was bought at the best price. It took me 4-5 hours to get everything together into pieces and here is the outcome of my new CPU:
A fancy Cooler Master Scout Casing with the some of the most badass hardware all rigged into one awesome square box. And here is the front/top view
Comes with red neon light from the inside with a total whooping 10 usb slots to be plugged in (4 at the front, 4 at the back with another 2 usb3.0 at the back) also comes with esata reader, audio jacks at the front and a button to turn on/off the red neon light.

The back view of this baby... The motherboard comes from Gigabtye H67MA-UD2H-B3 and it comes with a built in graphic card and 7.1 built-in surround studio sound card. So, what's the hardware that is packed in this casing? Here you go:

Asus ENGTX460 GC (DDR5 with 1GB video memory)
ME2 550 watt power supply
Intel I7 2600k processor
4GB DDR3 ram
1 TB 7200k rpm hard drive

I guess that's all that I have to say about my new hardware for now but before I conclude, I really want to thank all my amigos and brothers from Palmville that had helped me out in sorting out the list, carrying the hardware, giving me some tips/advise/precautions about almost everything. I really couldn't have done it if you guys are not there to help me. Thanks again to Raymond, Gian, Kiro, Fauzi and Phoenix.

Signing off

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

Facebook Spambots in your chat

2011-04-03T10:33:00.000-07:00

Lately, there has been a lot of people that got into trouble with the facebook spambots where you will see your friends sending the following messages to you: (DO NOT OPEN THE LINK BELOW THAT I'M SHOWING YOU GUYS, IT'S JUST FOR SAMPLE PURPOSES AND IT STILL WORKS FOR SPAMBOT TO INVADE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT!)

OMG: This girl killed Herself after her father posted this message on her wall: bit.ly/hiht3w

Haha, I am going to look like a Sharpie in 20 years! See what you will of look like here: bit.ly/ek8UcF
hey, i just made a photoshop of you, check it out :P: bit.ly/fInyHj

Or you will see something like this in your chat section of your facebook...

Obviously, this is a spam message that is being circulated around Facebook and no, it's not a VIRUS. If you are to see this message, just ignore it and tell them to refer to my blog in order to remove this problem. Anyhow, if you are the one that is sending this messages to your own friends, follow this procedure of mine and the problem will be solved in a minute, or so...

Step 1:
Go into offline mode for your chat. This is to stop the spamming from starting temporarily while you proceed to remove the spambot. Not really necessary but I feel it's needed to just in case.

Step 2:
Go to your accounts settings (on the top right of your facebook) and select privacy settings
Step 3:
Select edit your settings on the "apps and website". Refer to the screenshot below

Step 4:
Click on edit settings on the "apps you use"
Step 5:
Click remove app on logalysi.co.cc

And there you go, the spambot will not have access on your chat anymore. Please take note that logalysi.co.cc could be only one of the spambots as there are tonnes of them everyday. I would recommend you to remove those recently allowed apps that you have "unknowingly" agree to allow them to access to your facebook profile. The web above will most probably be used to spam this message:

hey, i just made a photoshop of you, check it out :P: bit.ly/fInyHj

For the rest, I'm not sure it will be registered under which application name in Facebook but if the apps has the setting to access your facebook chat, most probably it's the spambot. Or if you really have no idea which one is the spambot, my last solution (not recommended) will be removing all the apps that you have allowed for you accounts all these years. You will not lose anything by doing so but you will need to allow access again the next time you want to use your Facebook applications again such as Farmville and etc etc.

Signing off,

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

Whats with all the games review???

2010-09-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Most of these games reviews that I've posted here are made by myself and I want to put most of them in a place that belongs only to me to keep it safe. And to fill up my blog as well :)

Feel free to browse through the reviews I made throughout my past 1 year and I'm still alive and kicking as always if you are wondering....

Signing off

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

Left 4 Dead 2 review by Bluedrake

2010-09-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

Got this game and finished playing. So here I am reviewing the game. Similar to the original series, Left 4 Dead 2 has quite the similar time-line but it has totally four new different character. Filled with 5 different campaigns and few other mods such as survival, scavenge and multiplayer, this game will last for quite some time. Now that Valve has added new modes almost every week, the game will actually last forever! (As long as Valve keeps adding new things in it)

New survivors

From left to right Ellis the mechanic, Coach the... coach, Rochelle the cable news reporter and Nick the gambler

One of the new cool addictions in this game will be the melee weapons. It's enjoyable to use + realistic sound effect when you whack the crap out of the zombies. Here are the 10 melee items that is available throughout the game:

Baseball Bat
Cricket Bat
Crowbar
Electric Guitar
Fire Axe
Frying Pan
Katana
Machete
police baton
Chainsaw

Sorry but I will not post screenshot for each of this melee weapon or else it will take years to load it all but basically the strongest melee weapon in he game will be the chainsaw. Once equipped with a melee weapon, you will not be able to carry any handguns anymore, so it's either handgun or melee weapon. You may still carry your primary weapon if you still want. All melee weapons can be carried permanently except for the chainsaw due to it's awesome nice. It will have a fuel lifespan and once it runs out you will have to discard it, so choose carefully for the best item combo.

Health items
In left 4 Dead 2, there are a few new health items that will help players to gain the upperhand in tight situation. As we all know, the classic medikit and pills is back and this time there are 2 more new health items that is added to aid the players. Meet Adrenaline syringe and Defibrillator, the new items that will bring up the spice in left 4 dead 2 game.

The Defibrillator, another type of medikit that is able to resurrect dead players is an interesting option to carry around. But that means you will never be able to use it for yourself compared to medikit. And the sad part is, you are only able to carry either medikit or Defibrillator, so choose wisely as well

The concept of Adrenaline syringe is to make the player to be able to perform faster maneuver when fighting and running, which means it's a steroid formula to make you last longer. once used, the sound effect around you will sound funky and weird until the medicine is weared out. You can only choose to carry pain pills or the Adrenaline syringe, so as usual, choose carefully.

Offense items
And just like Left 4 Dead 1, the old pipe bomb and Molotov cocktail is back in action together with several new items to aid you, The new items are:

1) Explosive Ammo Stockpile
2) Incendiary Ammo Stockpile
3) Bile Bomb

Incendiary Ammo stockpile/Explosive Ammo Stockpile

Both of this items looks the same but the effects are just like what it's described as. Once a zombie is shot with Incendiary Ammo, they will combust in fire while explosive stockpile will... Make bullets to be explosive... Anyway, these items uses the same slot as the medikit slot but you can just deploy the ammo stockpile once collected and take back your health item. just make sure there are no greedy players taht will steal your item while you are deploying the ammos. i know some would steal it which is very annoying.

Bile bomb

Another item that is similar to pipe bomb except that this one is filled with the boomer's bile (I think is from Boomer...) All you have to do is toss this into a area like a pipebomb and once it explodes, a green smoke will come out, luring all the zombies over there temporarily.

Weapons
One thing that made me want to play the new Left 4 dead 2 is their new ranged weapons. It's hell a lot more variety and it's so fun to use them sometimes. Here are the list:

Tier 1:
Pump Shotgun
Sub-machine Gun
Silenced Sub-machine Gun
SIG SG 552
Chrome Shotgun

Tier 2:
Auto Shotgun (Tactical)
Hunting Rifle
Assault Rifle
Sniper Rifle
Spas-12 (Combat Shotgun)
SCAR (Combat Rifle)

Special Tier:
Grenade Launcher
AK-47
Heavy Machine Gun
Mini-gun

I don't think I can explain all of these but if you want to know more or see the picture in the game, please proceed here

New special infected!
this wouldn't be Left 4 Dead 2 if there is no new infected huh? Well the old ones are back in action with a few new ones! here are some of them:

The Spitter
It's a very disturbing looking special zombie that shoots out acid that is quite damaging to survivors if in contact. The green acid is similar looking to boomer but it will not affect the hordes to chase after you and once it dies, a pool of acid will there temporarily.

The jockey
it's a hunchback dwarf-like zombie that will jump onto a survivor like a hunter but has the ability to control the survivor and steer them away. If not careful, the jockey can steer them off from other survivors and prevent them from rescuing the victim. With not much hp, it's easy to kill but quite annoying if you ask me. Will have a few damages while the jockey is riding (literally...) the survivor.

The charger
With the half steroid, half retard body parts, the charger is one of the most dangerous and painful special infected zombies in the game. having the speed equivalent to the hunter and strength of a tank, the charger will charge towards a survivor and grabbed them with the steroid arm. Once a survivor is caught, the charger will slam the survivor to the ground until he/she dies. Each slam is aroudn 20 damage is considered very painful in the game, so the remaining survivors better need to be careful if you want to save your team mate. Their life is equivalent to a hunter only though.

Uncommon Infected in each campaign
Left 4 dead 2 have 5 different campaigns and each campaign there will be a special zombie in it. These are the 5 special ones in each campaign. Here are they:

1) Hazmat-suited Infected (CEDA Workers)
2) Clown Infected
3) MudMen
4) Worker Infected
5) Riot Infected

Hazmat-suited Infected (CEDA Workers)
Apparently, the hazmat suit zombie is a fireproof zombie but with the same amount of health as any other zombies. But sometimes once it's killed it will drop the Boomer's Bile. Only found in the first campaign.

Clown infected
This zombie is only found in the Dark Carnival campaign where theur job is to only make squeaky noises and attract a horde of zombies toward the survivors. A real pain in the neck if you ask me

Mudmen
The mudmen is found in the Swamp Fever campaign where they will crawl on four legs and try to camouflage under the muds. Once it, your vision will be mudded and this will become more with each hit. It will not slow down even when it's under the mud unlike the survivors.

Worker infected
The worker can be found in Hard Rain campaign where he will wear a reflective vest walking around. He will have an earpiece (makes him unable to listen to the pipebomb) and a helmet to prevent himself from getting headshot.

Riot Infected
One of the toughest infected compared to the rest as they were security guards with riot uniform, making them to have high armor and bullet proofs. Will take quite a lot of shots to finish him. Could be found in The Parish campaign only

Old infected are back as well with different design and costume though, the Smoker will have a new outfit while the Hunter will have more torn-up cloths, and boomer will have a male/female version this time, which is a bit disturbing if you ask me. Also the witch will be wandering around this time instead of sitting there like a cry baby.

The things I hate in this game!!
Weak AI skills
Alright, despite the fun things in the game, this game is still problematic to play. One of the first thing to notice in this game is that, the AI could be very weak sometimes when you are playing single player. It's either you are too fast and they are left behind or they take their own sweet time to save you when you are in trouble. Basically, it's very fustrating to play with AI as they are not dependable. Meanwhile, playing with real people in Steam is even worst due to lagginess and your team mate is always unaware that you are pinned down. You have to type it out only then they will realize...

High Graphic demand!!
For those people that say that game uses ripped model from Left 4 Dead 1, then you are wrong. this new series uses more graphic demand than the previous one and will hangs once in a while when encountering with huge amount of zombies. Think twice about getting this game if your computer can barely support Left 4 Dead 1!

Sound problem! (NEW UPDATE: Problem fixed with latest patch)

Game glitches! (Problem fixed with latest patch)

Conclusion
Left 4 Dead 2 is quite enjoyable when playing with your pals and buddies but when it's all to yourself, it's hardly that amuzing to play anymore

Rating : 8/10

Reviewed by Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

Modern Warfare 2 review by Bluedrake

2010-09-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I've got the game and finished it, I guess it's review time!! So, Modern Warfare 2 is a continuation of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, with the setting of 5 years after the last series and the first impression I get when I played the game was "THIS IS TOTALLY COOL!!" True to my words, the game was totally awesome and the cinematics is incredible throughout the whole time. So, let's get the review started, shall we?

Graphic: 8/10
Just like COD 4: MW, the game's graphic hasn't change much and surprisingly, the game didn't even hang much compared to COD4. And to top things up, Modern Warfare 2 has even better graphic engine but yet does not need higher requirement than their old series. Conclusion is that if you can play COD 4, then this will definitely be playable. A thumbs up for Infinity Ward for this! However, they lost 2 marks in this new game due to their over realism concept.

Unlike the old COD4, when you are hurt, your screen will have some red lines in your screen to indicate you're hurt, but in MW2, your screen will be filled with your own blood (seriously...) making you, unable to see what is going on after that. It might be cool for the first few times but after a while, you will find it annoying. Refer to my self-made video at the bottom to see what I meant. (Contains SPOILER!!) Another thing that is worth mentioning is the environment. Not only that it is beautifully done, it is awesome as, check out the snow and sandstorm effect! It's just to frigging nice!

A scenery in the snow storm....

Another scenery featuring the sand storm

Filesize : around 10 Gb
Another surprising thing is that this game is actually around 10Gb. That is 3 Gb bigger than the original one! But who cares about the game filesize? I can sacrifice some of my old games just to fit this new baby in (Filesize may differ if you get this from steam as I got the retail version)

Sound : 9/10
The music and sound effect in this game is totally cool! The right music play at the right timing and the bullet sounds how it suppose to be. But in order to really appreciate the musics, put on a headphone or get the game soundtracks just to understand what I meant. An epic game has to be accompanied with epic music, get me?

Weapons : 9/10
This is the part that I like the most, Compared to COD4, Modern Warfare 2 has a HELL lot more of weapons! With some of the old weapons re-emerging back, plenty of new deadly toys are there for you to choose! Ranging from the Striker to heavy-ass 50. caliber rifle, and even dual weapons at the same time, there is always tonnes of selection of weapons to spoil you throughout the gameplay. Perhaps too much, as weapons are quite unlimited in the single player mode, where you will never be out of ammo. Weapons are just scattered everywhere to try and you will soon find out which weapons suits which missions once you get the hang of the game. And not to forget about additional weapons, the predator is one of the new weapon that you must try, pressing 4 in the game will bring you a bird-eye-viewed rocket and with a click, it will start crashing down to your enemy and blow them to pieces! And don't forget about 2 in 1 weapons where some rifle (forgot which one...) will be able to turn into shotgun mode just like a weapon attachment when you press 3. (refer to some of the weapons in the gameplay made by me at the bottom) Refer here to see the weapon list

Gameplay : 8/10
The game play can only be described with one word... PURE AWESOMENESS! With realistic graphic and crazy weapons, all you need now is a good gameplay to blow up your enemies. With super intensed and detailed storyline, you will feel like you are watching a movie or playing it yourself! I was really surprised by some of the storyline and I have to really give Infinity Ward a big clap for being able to think up of such creative storyline. Playing this game will make you feel like you are in World War 3, trust me... Not only the storyline is Godlike, the cinematic is something that you will have to admire as well. With unexpected turning point event, the game story will not be as predictable as you think it is. The only drawback of this game is that it will only take you 12 hours to finish the campaign which is shorter compared to COD4, I just bought this game like yesterday and today I'm reviewing it due to completing the single player campaign game... Good things never last I guess... But it was fun while it lasted

Vehicles : 8/10
Vehicles is one of the things that you may want to look around at. With detailed shapes and texture, the game could have not done well without the vehicles. What is even cooler than watching the vehicles is that now you can actually ride it! With the chance to drive a snow mobile, a car (for a while) and a speedboat, you will get to have plenty fun escaping from your enemies with top speed XD (there will be a snow mobile and speedboat video at the bottom page )

Overall : 9/10
The game will be one of the best game I ever play in 2009 and I will be waiting for modern Warfare 3 soon.

Here are some of my gameplay (Works nicely even when using game recording software )

Audiosurf, ride your music

2010-09-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wanted to play rhythm games such as Guitar Hero but doesn't have the bling? Wish to have more music selection compared to 02jam or Super Dancer Online? Well, Audiosurf is the alternate solution for you then! Developed by Invisible Handlebar,(Not a famous company I presume...) Audiosurf is a music/rhythm game for pc user. So what is so special about this game. Unlike other rhythm games, Audiosurf requires only a mouse or keyboard to play, a low quality graphic card (at least 128mb for better gameplay) 60mb of memory space and of course a speaker to enjoy the music. The most common question that the users ask before buying this game is always "What kind of song does this game have?"

Don't be too surprise when I tell you this now. Audiosurf plays every song in the world as long as you have the mp3/wma file in your computer as the software could read and convert the soundtrack into a game. The flow of the song will usually determines the game's difficulty. Choosing a slow grandmother song will make the game course an easy one. However, choosing fast paced rock song such as Linkin Park will make the game course a bumpy and difficult ride. The game is split into 3 lanes (looks smaller compare to other rhythm games) but it is way harder than the rest due to it's limited space.

The game however is totally different from other music games. Instead of typing out the keys to get the rhythm like other music games, Audiosurf creates a rocket (or a plane) that the user can control it throughout the 3 lanes. Throughout the 3 lanes, different colour blocks will appear and users have to stack up the same colour throughout the whole song to earn the highest score. Well, collecting the same colour blocks is only one of the modes. Having more than 10 modes, the game has categorized into 3 groups which is the casual character (easy) Pro character (medium) and elite characters (hard)

This game is even more fun to play when two players (Yes, there is a two player mode with 2 lanes to control each) are cooperating with each another to score the highest mark for the song. And the best part is, the game course will never be the same as the others as the course is generated by analyzing the music that you've chosen for that particular track. So, it will be totally different each time you play. Once the song is loaded into the game, a graph is also available to show the bumpiness (difficulty) of the particular song and the target scored required to get medals.The graphic in the other hand is awesome and is adjustable if your computer can't handle too much nice backgrounds throughout the game.

Scored a high mark for a particular song and want to show it to the whole world? This can also be done once you logged into their server as it syncs together once the game starts and you can see the other high scores obtained by other people that played this song. Overall, Audiosurf is fun to play and have great graphics, plus it's darn cheap (I bet most of you like the word cheap...) to get. Soon you will get the meaning of play my music the gaming way. The only bad thing that I've seen so far with Audiosurf is that sometimes, the game tracks doesn't match with the soundtrack (could have been your fault for using cheap bitrate mp3 files XD) Overall I will rate this game 8/10 for it's simplicity and entertaining gameplay

Here is a sample gameplay I've done by playing on ninja mono (it's a mode...) using Bleach opening theme, Velonica (I like this song a lot)

Reviewed by Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

Reason for me to like/hate Grand Theft Auto 4 (PC)

2010-09-09T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know that the game is out for a while but it's still worth mentioning as GTA 4 is still one of the most realistic and cool game that I've played so far. With the game physics designed based on real life, it is said that whatever you do in GTA 4 could almost result the same effect if it's done in reality. The game has an excellent plot and storyline, players will have to play the role of Niko Bellic and choose his fate throughout the whole game. Also, the driving physics is quite the same as the real driving system, making player to have difficulties in controlling them (I'm ok with it though...)

However, not all the news for GTA 4 is good... The main reason GTA 4 has not gained much popularity from PC users is because Rockstar had been slacking when they release the PC version of the game. Without thinking about any consequences, they ported the game directly from Xbox and therefore screws up the PC version. Having no option to lower the graphics, PC users have to run the game using Xbox graphic interface which means PC users need to have a super high quality graphic card and processor to cope up with the game. With that problem, 70% (or more) PC users gave up their hope on playing GTA 4.

Recently, Rockstar had realized about the seriousness of this problem and is helping users to lower the graphic quality by unlocking more graphic options such as shadow and bloom being able to turn off. As for me, I was glad with the upcoming new patches as I am able to play this wonderful game on my laptop with 30-40 fps. Now that I'm able to play this game nicely, I want to share with you guys some of the glitches that I've found in the game. Enjoy the video :D

Counter Strike is outdated? Then you are dead wrong!!

2010-09-09T22:47:00.000-07:00

Do you think Counter Strike is old and feeble compared to others new fps games? Well fear not as I'm here to show all of you the next generation of Counter Strike (not really... It's just my modding and skinning that makes the game look new/different/cool/better...)

Alright, since I've received a few request to show all of you some (most)of the modding and skinning of the famous fps game Counter Strike I've compiled back then, I did some file rummaging to look for my old games in my old desktop and I was surprised my old modded game was still left intact in the hard drive. Recording them and uploading them was still a pain in the neck, so the least you can do is to comment about the video(s). Since there is a huge amount of skinning and modding that I've added, I will separate them into weapons category and write out the change log. (for those that want to know...) All the skinning is done in Condition Zero and is still playable online even after modifying it :)

Game menu title and handguns skins...

The game menu is completely changed and the selection colour screen has been changed to highlight the items clearly compared to the old one. The list of modded/skinned handguns are:

1) Glock = Added laser sight for better accuracy
2) USP .45 = remade with new skin
3) Sig P228 = Change to luger pistol
4) Desert eagle = Changed skin to revolver (damn I love revolver XD)
5) Dual Beretta Elites = changed to double golden desert eagle with new reloading method
6) five seven = remade with new skin

The new shotguns skins

Changed the two shotgun skins to something cooler. The list of skinned shotgun are:
1) M3 Super = changed to dual shotgun (same fire power as the original one...)
2) XM1014 = changed shin with a scope <--- cannot use the scope though lol

The smg's new skins

Changed all of the smg to cooler looking weapons. The following of changed weapons are:
1) TMP = changed to auto pistol <--- yes a bloody machine pistol XD
2) Mac 10 = Also changed to an auto pistol <--- The skin makes you want to use it often...
3) MP5 = Added another MP5 <--- meaning you are holding dual MP5
4) UMP = Changed the skin + new weapon sound
5) P90 = changed to Tommy Gun + tommy gun sound effect

Bonus. I've also changed the chicken model into a cute dog, a must see. Also, character models have been modified to have their heads exploded once headshot...

The new rifles

The list of skinned rifles are:
1) IDE defender = New skin
2) Ak 47 = New skin + new sound effect
3) Scout rifle = changed to pistol with laser sight.<-No need to zoom at all. It has red dot sight XD
4) SG552 Commando = New skin
5) Magnum rifle = changed to finger with rubberband... <--- wtf...
6) G3/SG1 = Changed skin to Dragunov
7) Clarion 5.56 = changed to new skin + red dot sight
8) M4A1 carbine = added red dot sight
9) Bullpup = new skin
10) SG550 = new skin

Machine gun skin

The changes of the M249 are:
1) new skin (a minigun to be exact..)
2) half life sound effect added

Accessories and fun stuff...

This is the part where i put some of the most awesome modification and weapons. The list are:
1) Knife = changed to a chainsaw with sound effect!!
2) Smoke grenade = Cigarette <--- ninja style XD
3) HE grenafe = Grenade launcher <--- pretty darn cool
4) tactical shield = human meat shield! <-- check out the reloading technique!

Well, that's all I have to show for now and note, the weapons functions are all the same (ammo capacity, reloading time, zoom and all...) as you will not be able to play online or LAN once the script is changed. I know it's a lot of stuff but please bear with me, it took me the whole night to compile them and record them. Please forgive me if the video is not clear... XD

Changes that are not shown ( I forgot to add them...):
1) VIP model
2) C4

Compiled by Bluedrake a.k.a. Shipoukitsune

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing PC Review by Bluedrake

2010-09-09T19:11:00.001-07:00

Do you like Sonic? Do you like racing? And do you like multiple Sega characters? If you like any of the two above, then Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a must have game of the week for you. Filled with greatest Sega character of all time, this game will rock your computer as you began ditching games like Need For Speed. So in the beginning, here's my first impression....

I thought Sonic's has the speed of light, how come he needs a bloody car to race then?? So I went and got the game from Steam to have a go. After installing and starting the game, I found out the game is actually quite fun and enjoyable to play. With more than 20 characters to play with, players will get a different vehicle for each different characters. Here are the list of characters in the game:

Racers name	From which game
Sonic the Hedgehog	Sonic the Hedgehog (Duh...)
Miles "Tails" Prower	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (The fox with 2 tails...)
Doctor Eggman	Sonic the Hedgehog (I thought his name was Robotnick...)
Amy Rose	Sonic the Hedgehog CD
Shadow the Hedgehog	Sonic Adventure 2 (Total badass with a bike in the game)
AiAi	Super Monkey Ball
Amigo	Samba de Amigo
Billy Hatcher	Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg
Knuckles the Echidna	Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Another badass uh... echidna?)
Big the Cat	Sonic Adventure
Beat	Jet Set Radio
Ulala	Space Channel 5
B.D. Joe	Crazy Taxi (They have taxi drivers in a racing game?)
Zobio and Zobiko	The House of the Dead: EX
Ryo Hazuki	Shenmue
Jacky Bryant/Akira Yuki	Virtua Fighter
Mobo and Robo	Bonanza Bros.
Opa-Opa	Fantasy Zone
Alex Kidd	Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Banjo and Kazooie	Diddy Kong Racing (Banjo) and Banjo-Kazooie (Kazooie)
Avatar	The New Xbox Experience
Mii	Wii

Some of the characters are well familiarized throughout the Sega franchise and some I have no idea who is it at all (those that I haven't commented are all unfamiliar to me...) The game format is seriously similar to the old classic mario kart 64 where the objective is to race to win and use dirty tricks to slow down your enemies. Even the weapon concept are similar to the original Mario Kart (just redesign the items and weapons image and they claimed it as their own. Shame on Sega...) However, Sega do have a few tricks up their own sleeve when they design the game's items. They have their own uniqueness in the end that can make it as their own originality as well I guess..

So here are the game review that I have made and come up with when I'm playing the game (Note, this is just my opinion and does not really affect the game, if you really want to experience it, you have to play it yourself)

Game filesize:
For a racing game, the filesize is certainly huge for this game. With the setup filesize racking upto 4gb the download and waiting was killing me... After the installation, it's around 4.8 gb+ which is around Need For Speed : Shift's game filesize which is 5 GB as well..

Game graphics:
For this game, I've set the game settings in between high and medium using Nvidia 8600M GT 256 ddr3 and managed to get this game running at 50-60 fps, so it's quite playable even with a 128mb graphic card( I hope...)

NOTE: I've installed the game into my external hard drive and therefore it has slowed down the gaming even more.

The game's engine, graphic and design is done amazingly well-ed to get the players into the gaming mood. With each stage in a different high detailed racing course, the players will not be seeing repetitive racing course for a while. (I guess this is one of the reason why the game is that big XD) The explosion, fire, water, water, sky effect are considered realistic for a 3D cartoon racing game and definitely up to satisfactory. :D

Screenshot taken from the video replay of my game :)

Audio:
The game's audio is awesome and totally fits the stages most of the time. Sometimes, I find myself humming to the rhyme of the game while I'm racing in the game which is quite addictive lately... And one of the best part about the audio in the game is the game announcer himself, With all the racing and chaos, it's good to know who is leading in the race and what is the rest of the racer is up to. Just like a football announcer when you are watching the tv, they will describe to the players about each of the racer's status and will usually focus back to you since you are the real racer in the game after all. This is just what a racing game should need compared to the other games I played. It makes you feel like you are really part of the racing game and the best part is the accuracy of the announcer, he doesn't use repetitive words or phrases and describes exactly what he says (I have played plenty of soccer games like FIFA 2010 and their announcer is totally horrible in describing things...) Besides than the announcer, the sound effects and voices are amazing as well. With each character with their own voice for taunting, cheering, and etc, the game is really focusing on making the gamers pleased.

Multiplayer, split-screen or LAN is a yes!:
There are various ways you can play with your friends in this game and one of the most convenient way is of course to use the split-scren feature where both players can use the same computer and race against one another. It's always much more fun to play with your friends than to play alone.
Racing course:
There is a total of 24 racing tracks that is available in the game with tight corners, short-cuts and tricks where players have to play a few times before being able to master them. Each of the course will be actually related to the sega games ( they will tell you this race track is based on what game before you start) so you will notice a lot of similarities to the original game itself. One of the most anticipated race course was the Curien Mansion (House of the Dead game) where racers will drive around the creepy mansion filled with zombies while trying to stay in the first place. The courses are just that fun to play with especially when the natural obstacles are actually from part of the game. Zombies from Curien mansion will walk around waiting for racers to run over them, flowers from the seaside hill will slow down racers upon being run over and etc.

Gameplay:
Though when I played the game first time, I have to admit that the controls are pretty awkward and unfamiliar but once you get the hang out of it, it's actually pretty fun to use. Or if you are a grumpy player, you can always change the game controls manually in the settings. Now let's talk about the difficulty. In the game there is the beginner, advance or expert. The difficulty is very far from one another actually compared to other games. In beginner mode, it's not easy NOT to get no 1 in the racing game. If you think it's too easy, then hop in to advance mode. I don't know if it's me or what but there is always bound to be 1 or 2 people that will beat me to the finish line before the race ends which makes it a whole lot more challenging to play. And the expert mode where only gods are allowed to play this mode (LOL me...) because in this mode, you are fighting not to get the last rather than getting the first, haha... And another cool feature in this game is the ability to drift. Drifting a car (or any other vehicle in the game) in any racing has always been my weakest part and if players like to drift in the game, then this will be an excellent choice for you

Shadow (played by me) as he drift and crashed into the flower's later on... (refer to my video gameplay below)

Characters:
With each different character, you will be able to drive different vehicles in the game though it will not make a difference regarding with the speed. All of the vehicle will be at the same speed, just that the size is different. The best part about the characters are the ability to taunt other players (And no, I'm not talking about how dota players are taunting people with their GTFO phrases....) It's actually represent the character's personality when you do it. For example, doctor eggman will stand on top of this transportation and make fun of the racers behind him while Shadow will do the "no way" sign language. Their expression will change when they get something cool from the random items. Some of the speech are quite catchy and some are very familiar

Items:
As I said earlier, the game's item concept is mostly based on Mario kart 64 so veteran users like me will realize it's the same thing after all. Items like KO punches are actually turtle shells from mario kart and their shield are exactly the same. However, they do include additional items like the ALL-Star item. Once taken by a racer, the character will turn into their ultimate form and blast through race course, trashing other racers that was in front of them. Though it does look like mario's star item but there is a difference in them. Based on the game rules, only racers that is almost the last will usually get the ALL-Star item, which makes it fair. And it can even shoot unlimited projectiles at your enemies once the racers activate it. Another fun item effect is that your opponent will get hit with a star and their screen will go upside down. For AI's, I don't think it will be a problem for them, but for us, it will look like this...

Overall:
The game is enjoyable to play with and it's a must have game for racing and sega fans. For the game rating, I will give it 8/10 (deduct 2 due to the unoriginal item concept) but for the rest of the game aspect, it's very fun and nice to play especially if you have your siblings to play with. Here's a video gameplay taken from my computer with the settings stated on top earlier, so you can decide if you want to get this game or not after watching this gameplay. Have fun watching :)

Reviewed by Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

The NOOOOOO factor...

2010-06-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

Found this from a site I browsed lately and I really love clicking onto the button. Try it now, it motivates me to press it and listen to it over and over again, haha...

Signing off

Bluedrake a.k.a. Shippoukitsune

My lava lamp's personality...

2010-06-04T03:46:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, it's been a while since I posted anything about myself so here I am today, talking about my uh... lava lamp! Yea, that's right! :D

I was a fan of lava lamps since I was a kid and I wanted to get one really bad, so I went ahead and got myself one. To cut things short, I went to Pyramid's Asian Avenue or what they call (Lala-land) where they sell all these kinds of weird/stuff a few weeks ago and got myself a green lime colored lamp. It was nice and all when you see the bubbles bump one another while floating around. Well, there is one part I do not like about lava lamp is when you start it up. Since it's made out of wax, you will need to wait 30 minutes or more to heat the wax up into the bubbles and you must off it every 10 hours to make it last long. And people from the internet has been saying that the lava lamp will usually reflects the owner's personality and I was skeptical about it until one day I start to see the pattern of the lava lamp. And just a few days ago, here is what I saw, kinda reminds me anyway....

Great, it has a skull that bores right into my eyes

Taken the picture at the same time with different angle...

After another 1 minute, the skull shaped wax starts to dissolve slowly and rise

Still looks ok but the wax was going to turn into bubble soon

This was the last one (and coolest one) I took before it changes into my nice looking lava lamp
Tada :)

And then on an unrelated news, this owner of the blog has finally got to draw head figures without sucking as much as he was, please give him an applause at the comment box if you give a damn about him. Sorry about the sucky quality (both the camera and drawing quality)

Until then, I'm signing off...

Bluedrake a.k.a Shippoukitsune

My life and adventure in The One Academy

2010-05-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy around here and I'm being surrounded by people from all walks of life. Here are a few of them that will be stuck with me for at least another 2-3 years, so I will have to get used to them. Here are some of them and what courses they do...

From left to right...

Derrick : A dude from Kuching that is taking for Certificate and he has the "nicest" choice of words when he's talking to anyone. Always full of !@#$%^&* (shakes my head while listening to him sometimes...) Dun see him do much homework so I can't say much if he will be a successful man or a douchebag...

Nicholas : This dude is going for Diploma for Illustration and is from Brunei. Too bad, he don't act like a Brunei dude and he likes to turn any songs into a screwed up version of his. I think I'm already affected by him already. Nonetheless, he is a great artist and helps me a lot in it. Respect you man :)

Me : Always the IT geek with loads of cash, that's all I have to say for myself XD

Irene : A really innocent girl that knows nothing about adult talks (literally) She's just a SPM graduate last year and she will be taking Diploma for Graphic Advertising. You can say all the dirty things in front of her and she will look at you with a "?" expression, very funny XD

Kimberly: The name gave her personality away huh? This is the only girl that always claim herself as cute and innocent. She will be taking Diploma for Multimedia Design and she's the big sister in our group. In other words, she kicks ass and she do break dance (Beware...)

Next to me will be Adrian, who is shy to cameras. You will understand why he's camera shy by looking at the photo above. He will be taking Diploma for Illustration and he's a crazy martial dude that likes watching Kamen Rider. Wait, come to think of it, he like all movies that has kungfu scenes, power ranger type of show and japanese reality comedies. Guess he's the type of guy you will be looking for if you want to work out. Oh, he's a fan of KOF (only some of you will know what I meant :D)

The list of crazy things he will do to prove he's Kung Fu master... (And that includes going around to Taylor main block and mess on top of their building...)
I don't really get this photo but I guess this is what they meant by act cute =.=
The hippies in the house doing the peace signs...
Alternate version of our group photo...
Even more alternate/random/scary/screwed-up version of our group photo...

Well this is all I can post for now, and I guess they are not bad to hang around with. Until then, I'm signing off...

Bluedrake a.k.a Shippoukitsune

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift review by Bluedrake

2010-05-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

BlazBlue is another excellent 2d fighting game with incredible graphics to marvel at. Soon to be available for PS3, Xbox and PC, Arc System Works is the developer for this incredible game. (and so was their ever successful Guilty Gear Series game) And I forgot to mention that this game is actually the predecessor of the first series of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. The game has really interesting storyline which makes the player want to try out all the character to figure out what is going on. The thing about this game though is that they have too little characters (14 only to be exact) to try them out. They should try to increase the game character rooster list to at least 20 (like King of Fighters game) so that the game could last longer. For those that enjoy Guilty Gear game, you will notice the similarity of some the character like the game's protagonist, the spiky-haired, sword-wielding bad boy Ragna which really is just an upgrade from the spiky-haired, sword-wielding Sol Badguy.

To cut things short, here are the few things that I love and hate about the game.

1) the uniqueness of each character and their personality.

(Icon is created by me as well....)
Take this guy for example, his name is Hazama in the game and by the cool expression that he wield in the game, a lot of people will think that he is one of the game's patroganist but after playing him half-way, you will realize that he's actually one of the bad-ass mastermind for the game which makes gamers think what is so evil about him? My point of writing this out is to tell the gamers not to judge a book by it's cover. You need to play it to understand it.

2) Weird characters in the game
One special thing about this game that they makers did not seemed to lack off is that not all of their characters are humanoid. Take a look at this character called Arakune. He was a scientist before doing weird experiments on himself turned himself into a lump of.... whatever you call that. It's body shape and fighting skills does resemble a bit from the Marvel's Shuma Gorath and he was actually the boyfriend to the hottest chick in the game (Litchi Faye-Ling's his girlfriend)

3) Excellent soundtracks and Background
The game is really special for their high detailed artworks, music works. Every character actually has their background and music theme which makes each of them special. Not only does it suit the character, it also gives player the mood to play. The game backgrounds are something that the gamers have to check out while characters are not fighting. Here's a sample of the final boss theme song:

4) Beautiful character design and skills + excellent game mechanic design
It seems that Arc System Works really focused in details when making this game as the characters are really lifelike and their design actually represent their skills. In addition the, game mechanics seems to be one of the best. The way the game character falls down or knocked out is realistic compared to some of the 2D fighting games that I've seen and I'm really impressed with it. Skills especially the ultimates from each of the character are beatifully done as well. Sometimes, it's so good that gamers would rather get hit with their enemy's ultimate to see what happen :D

5) Superb storyline + character speeches
Each of the character will not have their standard win quotes when talking to other opponents and some will even show off their skills before starting the fight officially. And with each of the characters have their own purpose in the game, this makes gamers want to play everyone to find out how is this person related to that and etc.

6) Unique controls
The game is seperated into 3 types of controls which is Type A B and beginner. Whatever it is, the game has only 4 buttons (similar to Guilty Gear) and the difference is that Type A and B will have different positioning of the control whereas beginner type is really for newbies that does not know how to use the skills. By constant hammering each of the button, beginners will still be able to user the game character's skills which is really far too easy compared to type A and B.

Thing's that I hate about this game:
1) Too little characters.
With only 14, I can finish it in one day and know the whole game storyline by then. To summarize it, the game is pretty short but it will take a while for you to master their combo skills as the moves are really hard to do with some characters

2) Same ending storyline
No matter how many times you play, the game's ending will be the 90% same as the others except that the boss will reveal some detail about the game character's personality that you are controlling. I was expecting for something more different in each of them :(

3) Unable to resume the level if you lose and continue with another character
For some reason, Arc System Works do not want players to continue the game with another character once they lose. For example. if you lose in stage 3 and then you press continue button and choose another different character, you will be back to stage one again. I guess they don't want to upset the game storyline if you decide to choose some other characters to continue...

The overall score I would give to his game will be:

7.5/10

I hope you liked this review of mine and here is a sneak preview of the gameplay done by me. Enjoy :D

Who Died in Left 4 Dead 2’s The Passing?

2010-05-12T01:42:00.001-07:00

We know from Valve that One of the original Left 4 Dead survivors didn’t live to see action in the recently released DLC The Passing. It’s only right that we offer our proper respects, and so I’m creating this post for Left 4 Dead 2 players to say their final goodbyes. This is your last warning, if you would prefer not to know who has died, you should stop reading right now.

So who died in Left 4 Dead 2? None other than William Overbeck, that wily old, pill-popping veteran that was difficult to love, but impossible to hate. Yes, Bill won’t be fighting zombies with Zoey, Louis and Francis anymore. Instead he’s solemnly sitting in a pool of his own blood, his gun still in his cold hands. How did Bill die? It’s never explained in The Passing. In fact, Bill’s name isn’t even mentioned by any of the characters throughout the DLC. Oddly enough, Bill’s old companions seem completely cheerful, even jovial without their fourth musketeer.

Now that I’ve taken a few days to mourn the loss of one of the best characters to ever bless a game with his presence, it’s time to discuss the tragedy (or should I say conspiracy?) of Left 4 Dead 2’s The Passing. If you didn’t already know, I’m here to tell you that Bill does not make it. If this is news to you and I’m spoiling it for you, then I apologize. However, I’m only discussing this openly because I’m assuming that all the people that really cared to know have fired up the game by now and discovered this as I did, and I think many of us are just plain mad at Valve. If you aren’t, you should be.

Why Bill?
In trying to make sense of this, I keep asking myself “Why Bill damnit?”. It just makes no sense to pick Bill as the guy who bites it. Sure, he was famous for quotes like “I’m gettin too old for this s#%t”, but Bill really had no quit in him. He was a grizzled old vet, and he was just the kind of guy you want with you when the zombie apocalypse starts.

Think about it. The world implodes in a zombie apocalypse. You are struggling to stay alive and get to somewhere safe. Who do you want with you the most? You want the guy who is already wearing his military issue gear for Christ’s sake. Bill is ALREADY prepared for war, and experienced from fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. He might be crazy, but in a zombie apocalypse you need a little crazy with you to make it. I don’t want the whiny office worker in a shirt and tie. I don’t want the questionably gay biker looking guy with me. I might want Zoey if we have to propagate our species again, but damnit there’s still no one better to have with me than Bill. We can’t win this without Bill people. We have been robbed of hope, the zombies will surely take us now.

The Conspiracy
I’m calling Valve out now. A large company is surely pressured to make “politically correct” choices nowadays, and this is one of them. Here’s why it had to be Bill. If you kill Louis, the African American community gets offended. Sure, kill off the black guy like every other white movie ever made. Too cliche, so Louis lives to continue politely whining to zombies. If you kill Zoey, the feminists and gamer chicks come out of the woodworks in protest. Cries of sexism will rain on Valve HQ. Zoey lives, and we keep our female audience in tact. If you kill Francis, either the biker gangs light your building on fire. Neither is an appealing option, and Francis lives to parade through zombieville. That leaves Bill.

Perhaps it’s our fault. Who cries now that Bill is gone? Who cares if a half-crazy old guy dies? Just another disturbed Vietnam vet buried in Arlington right? Wrong. Some of us care. Some of us are just as pissed off as I am that Valve chose Bill to die

Time to Take a Stand
It’s time the old guys stand up and made some noise too. It’s time we picket Valve HQ to defend those that defend us, the Bills of the world. Sure we may need to take some pills and a med pack to be able to picket for hours, but someone needs to do it. This travesty cannot be tolerated. Bill has to have died for something, and we need to be heard.

R.I.P. Bill, you’ll be missed.

It’s safe to assume we’ll find out the truth in the upcoming DLC for the original Left 4 Dead, the second portion of The Passing.We’ll hopefully see more information on that soon, but expect it to be released sometime in the coming months.

My personal comment:
I'm surprised as well when I see Francis, Zoey and Louis looking at me during the final chapter of the passing. The moment I see the three of them, "I was like oh poor Bill..." he is lost but will never be forgotten. And sorry for this cheesy cut and paste review as I've a lot of things to do and downloading this DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 is just to darn slow due to streamyx's recent breakdown. I will try to review other games myself after this :)

Here's a video tribute for him:

Photoshop realistic pic tutorial by myself

2010-03-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

I'm sure most people want to learn photoshop the easy way without much hassle and such right? Well, today I will be teaching you on how to change a dull looking photo into a more realistic the easy way using only photoshop cs4. This time the tutorial will be quite interesting as this will be the first time I'm making a video with me giving out the instructions on how to do it. Don't bother about my weird voice/accent but with less than 3 minutes, I can guarantee you will get to learn something new today get to share it with others. So, here's an example of the original picture that I've got randomly from the internet, so here are the video tutorial and some of the samples...

Video tutorial by myself:

Artwork of the pictures:

A dull looking miserable photo of One Piece...
Once you have learn/watch the tutorial, you will get to see something like this! A brand new shiny one

Not included in the tutorial:

If you are good at it, you can even do something more complete like this
If you just want to show off, here's the best version I've done, with no watermark and logo at the side. What do you think?

Please do excuse some of the mistakes I said while making the video as I did it in one shot. I was more into teaching people new things than to care about my language mistakes. Rate and comment please :D

2010-03-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

I'm testing out some noob graphic/web coding effect. Do feel free to help me test out... (might take a while for slow internet XD)

Do you see the change when you place the cursor on the image? The second version is made purely by me :D

Why is this keep happening to me.... WHY!?

2010-01-30T05:46:00.000-08:00

Ever since I've been told to retake my Maths 2 paper so I can advance to Degree, I've been trying very hard to score that subject. But none of that matters anymore... Nothing...

"Dear Andrew, I'm afraid that you won't be getting your foundation cert even if you are to complete the course and pass your maths 2 paper as we found out that your SPM did not get a credit for your maths. You can't go to degree either as well and here are the 2 options for you, retake SPM or get the hell out of this college......."

These words had been ringing over my head for 4 days now and I'm.... I'm feeling that all these things I had been working so hard on doesn't matter anymore. None of the things I do is going to matter now and I might as well get back to Ipoh to work. Is this my fate? Or is this a punishment for not good in maths? I am completely at lost here and I'm starting to lose all the will and faith that I have for myself. No matter what you all advise me, it's not going to work and I'm sinking deeper and deeper into depression each day. Every single day in my life is becoming more and more meaningless as I stare at the mirror. Just please make all these stop.... please.....