The Gamer’s Litter Box

A Red Alert 3 launch in Malaysia? OH SNAP!

Being the first Electronic Arts title to be launched in Malaysia, Gamers Dotcom, the official local distributor for EA games had a special Red Alert 3 launch at Leo’s Cafe, SS2 where gamers could pre-order the game and pick it up on the day of the event. Even a representative from EA Singapore came down to open the launch. There were lots of food and fun to be had, especially with the Red Alert 3 showgirls (and guys) stealing the event with their costumes. I managed to win a copy of Red Alert 3 thanks to the media lucky draw, so I’m gonna install and play it right after this post. In the mean time, check out the image gallery below!

 

The TGS 2008 may already be over, but I still see some news trickling out here and there, since the game show wasn’t terribly exciting this year. Also for people who were disappointed with the recent E3 clampdown on skimpily-dressed booth babes, they could find some solace with the booth babes at the TGS2008. Most of them were dressed pretty classily, though some dared to show off their waists. I wasn’t able to take pics of all of the booth babes due to lack of time (I was too busy playing the latest game demos and watching game trailers) but I still managed to compile an adequate pictorial collection of the booth babes of the show.

Much more pictures after the jump! To view a larger size of the image, right-click and select ‘View Image’ in Firefox.  Continue Reading »

In the last couple weeks, two particular noteworty movies based on games have been unleashed to the mainstream public. The first one was Max Payne, which I just saw yesterday. Another one is Resident Evil: Degeneration, which will see a 2-week limited release at selected cinemas in Japan this month with the North American version debuting this December.

Let’s talk about the Max Payne movie adaptation first. For the most part, I enjoyed the movie despite the clunky acting. Mark Wahlberg’s constant stony expression and the lack of narration from his point of view (only present in the beginning and near the end of the movie) only makes his character appear flat. There were some departures from the game’s original story (e.g. the absence of the mob boss and the special agent) but for the most part the movie was faithful to the source material.

Max Payne is visually quite attractive, evoking memories of Sin City. Although it has a PG13 rating, Max Payne is graphically and suggestively violent. The lack of blood showing feels odd (for e.g. Max punches one guy silly, yet he has nary a trickle of blood on his face) but it didn’t detract from the movie too much. Max Payne could have done with more shootouts though, as the setup during the first half of the movie was slow and plodding.

On the 2nd day of the TGS2008, the press had the opportunity to watch Resident Evil: Degeneration, a new CG animated movie that serves to bridge Resident Evil 4 and the upcoming Resident Evil 5 next year. I must say that both me and my Singapore colleague were quite disappointed with the results. The character animation were stiff and the character faces look unnatural, probably due to the Uncanny Valley. In fact, having recently viewed Final Fantasy: Spirits Within on Blu-ray, I couldn’t help but think that FF:SW had better graphics, animation, and voice work - even for a 7-year old title. And don’t get me started on Degeneration’s poor pacing and laughable “emotional” scenes.

Before the start of the movie, the director was on stage to tell us not to post spoilers on who the villain is. Really, you won’t need anyone to tell you who the bad guy is. His first appearance in the movie screams “I AM SOOOOO THE ASSHOLE IN THIS MOVIE”, and if you’re expecting some sort of ‘twist’ to this movie, you won’t really be getting it. Degeneration feels more like a bunch of cutscenes that came from a panned Resident Evil game, stringed together as a full-length movie.

I haven’t been able to blog about my trip in Japan recently as usually at the end of the day, I’m so pooped from walking around that I usually head to bed immediately. That, and the hotel Wi-Fi has been very iffy for the past couple days. The good news is that the connection seems much better now. For now, here are some pictures of the schwag that I’ve gotten so far from Akihabara a couple days ago.

Besides getting the G’s Festival November issue for the Haruka Nogizaka Oppai Pad, I got a bunch of Lucky Star fortune slips and some miscellaneous anime bookmarks for dropping a small fortune (oh hey, pun! I so smart) at Gamers. I got one Excellent Luck, 1 Good Luck, 5 Normal (half?) Luck, and one Bad Luck.

The Haruka Nogizaka Oppai Pad packaging, which also contained 2 badges of Toradora and To Aru Majutsu no Index, and 3 mobile stickers. I also picked up a copy of Takamichi’s collected artwork. Those Lucky Star stickers were free.

Was around the Tokyo Anime Center where they announced the 2nd season of Spicy Wolf. The announcement was made at the 15th anniversary event for ASCII Media Works, the main publisher behind light novel series such as Shakugan no Shana and Spicy Wolf. There was an artbook for Spicy Wolf which quickly sold out, but there were plenty of Horo’s Canned Apple Juice, which came in two different designs at 150 yen (RM5) each, so I bought both of them. There were also lots of Spicy Wolf paraphernalia, such as pencil boards, stickers, stationery, and plushies, but I decided to spare my wallet.

Success! I managed to obtain the discontinued and hard-to-get Lucky Star pair Kagami and Tsukasa Hiiragi miko pair at Gamers. Got them at 8033 yen (RM282).

Yeap, I visited a meido cafe. It was a fairly normal one, located on the 3rd floor of a shoplot. I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures of the premise, and they were charging 500 yen (RM17) to take a picture with one maid. Still, they let me take this banner home since it was my first time at a meido cafe.

Basically at Akihabara, I spent most of my time looking at the various anime and H-manga titles. I also spent quite a bit of time at the arcade, playing Konami’s new music simulator Jubeat, and Capcom’s Street Fighter 4. I found Jubeat fun while Street Fighter 4 boring. Yeah, yeah, SNK fanboy here. I’m not denying that SF4 looks great, but the gameplay feels and plays very Street Fighter II Turbo.  I haven’t seen many people taking advantage of the new feint/move cancel gameplay. At this rate, I still prefer Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

I gotta rest up for tomorrow’s Tokyo Game Show 2008. I’ll be posting some TGS updates on The Zone from my notebook so check it out if you want to see the latest photos from TGS2008!

I’m now in Tokyo, Japan. Just a few days ago, me and my friends were visiting various places in Kyoto, including this small shrine that we came across while visiting the Imperial Palace (didn’t go in though; couldn’t book the pass in time). What was quite amazing was the presence of these two senbazuru, which I can imagine must have taken ages to make. The wish behind these senbazuru must have been pretty strong to prompted two of them to be hung there.

I wish I can blog more and post more pictures but unfortunately for the last few days I’ve been without Internet access in Kyoto. Right now, I’m using a friend’s travel adapter and he’ll want it back after his shower. Once I visit Akiba tomorrow, I’ll buy a travel adapter. Also tomorrow, we plan to visit the famous Washinomiya Shrine. Hopefully I can get pictures up of my visit soon!