The Gamer’s Litter Box

This weekend is going to be a busy one for anime and videogame fans. First, the WCG Malaysia 2008 kick-off started today at Plaza Low-Yat though the official launch will only be done tomorrow. There will be a number of competitions, stage performances and activities scheduled so gamers shouldn’t miss this one out.

For anime fans, the Cosplay, Comic, Anime & Games Exhibition (C2AGE) will be held at HELP University College, Pusat Bandar Damansara. The event is held by the HELP Matricultion Centre (HMC) of HELP University College. Among the list of activities to be held on that day includes anime wargames(?), cosplay catwalk, and PS2 and Xbox games competitions. A number of local comic artists and toy collectors will be present to display their collections of manga and toys with support from AnimeTech, AsiaSoft, and IG Interactive.

Now that I’ve closed the magazine for the month, I’m looking to relax a little bit this weekend. *phew*

You may have heard recently about the Gundam painting that sold for US$600,000. Now I’ve been looking high and low for a high-res version of the image but even the artist’s website didn’t have it. On its auction page, you can only zoom into the image by using its embedded flash image viewer. Checking the cache revealed that the original image was broken up into several tiles for faster downloading.

With nothing else better to do (except, of course, finish my magazine), I downloaded each and every 196 image tiles from my cache and stitched them together in Photoshop. After that, I resized it at 50% so that it’s easier to download and view. If you want the original high res picture, you can click on the download below but be warned: it’s super huge.

High Res version (4.11MB, 3443 x 3450)

Codemasters Malaysia will be launching Race Driver: GRID at Zouk KL on June 11 from 7:00 p.m. till 1 a.m. The event will be open to the media and adult general public. Zouk KL is off limits to kiddies, so you gotta be of legal age to be there (18 for girls, 21 for guys). You’ll notice that the GRID launch is on the very same date and time as the MGS4 launch at Plaza Lowyat so if you could care less about stealthy geriatic soldiers, you can choose to go to the GRID launch instead.

One advantage that the GRID event has over the MGS4 launch is that Ralph Fulton, the Chief Game Designer for GRID will be available for autographs from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. I’m also told that the game will be available at a special discounted price so this is a good opportunity for players who want to get the game cheaper than retail price.

That’s right: the final chapter of Solid Snake’s last stand will also be launched in Malaysia this coming June. I’ve been informed by Play Interactive Software Sdn Bhd, the official distributor for Konami titles in Malaysia, that Malaysians will get to enjoy the game a day early with the launch taking place at TecAsia, Plaza Lowyat Level 4 on 11th June 2008 from 7:30 p.m. to 12 midnight. There will be a midnight pre-order sale with activities planned from noon to evening, until the official launch of the game.

Anyone going? I’m going to bring and wear a cardboard box for yucks.

The long Wesak weekend provided me an opportunity to marathon watch Hayate no Gotoku. I also managed to catch up with Code Geass R2, Soul Eater, and Kurenai. Alas, I’m ashamed to say that I’m now watching Shugo Chara, a magical girl series about a girl with three guardian eggs. I’m still staying the hell away from Kanokon though. The increase in ecchiness in the latest episode more or less affirms that I’m unlikely to enjoy this series, even though the show features experienced seiyuus.

I guess you could call me a fan service snob, but I’ve always derived more pleasure out of such scenes when they aren’t so blatant. I used to enjoy them a few years back, but they’re growing old for me. Or maybe I’m growing too old for them. I’m even lamenting the lack of strong male characters in the upcoming Soul Calibur IV; when I was a teen, I’d drool at the prospect of a new female characters but now, the lineup of new characters almost seem like a tit fest just to pander to a particular demographic (though Oh! Great’s contribution looks really neat).

I watched Speed Racer earlier this evening and although I like the movie in general, I didn’t like how the Wachowski Brothers pulled off some of the racing scenes. Most of the time I was able to follow most of the action but others it was just plain confusing. I think this is mostly due to them throwing so much technicolor razzle-dazzle that it became hard to see what was going on. In fact the races flew so fast that it felt like the blur filter was constantly on.

Also, Spritle and the chimp are annoying as hell. I swear to God I wanted to bitchslap their faces everytime they appeared on screen. The movie would be a lot better if they weren’t around.

This weekend GameAxis will have a booth down at Sunway Pyramid in conjunction with Celcom. I’m gonna drop by this afternoon to check out the booth and play some games there, so if anyone is going there come by and say hi.

Although the Xbox 360 has an official presence in Singapore, Microsoft has been pretty quiet in the island city. Besides the recent announcement of a price cut for the console across Asia, there have been jack squat activities or events. The rumor is that Microsoft has ‘frozen’ the budget for their entertainment devices divisions across the region in order to work on the rumored Valhalla and Jasper internal chipsets.

2008 and 2009 are going to be strong years for the Sony PS3, and I doubt Microsoft will just lay quiet and announce nothing this coming E3. While we see a new addition to the family of Xbox-tans sisters sooner than we think?

One thing I’ve never liked about Malaysian videogame events is that they’re too PC games-centric. Now I know that PC and online games are the main driving force for the local videogame industry in the country, but that doesn’t mean console games should be totally left out of the picture. As we’ve seen in the last couple years, console gaming is making great inroads in the gaming community and to ignore it is to deny the true picture of the videogame sub-culture in Malaysia.

This is why I’m proud to present GameAxis LIVE!, a major videogame festival that will take place at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, Hall 1 on the 11th to 13th of July 2008. Besides your usual fare of PC and online game publishers, we plan to bring console gaming to LIVE! in one form of another for visitors to enjoy. LIVE! will also have several activities, booths, and sections dedicated to anime, lifestyle, and popular entertainment. It’s going to be huuuuuuge, and we got more surprises in store for the event in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Is it a condom shop? Is it a figurine shop? Or is it an airsoft gun shop? One of the weirdest shops I’ve ever visited.

Continue Reading »

Joking among geeks:

“Oh wow, the scenery here in Pulau Redang is just breathtaking!”

“Yeah, it’s almost as good as the graphics in Crysis!“

I loled heartily.

Still in Bali at the moment. Dammit, there’s a 42-inch flat-screen panel TV in my hotel room. I really wish I brought my Xbox 360 so I could play GTAIV on it.