Away From Keyboard Journal

1:02pm: [misc] Move complete



The Gamer's Litter Box is now open. From here onwards, all future blog entries relating to anime, videogames, and other pop-culture matter will be posted there. The old Away From Keyboard Journal will be retained for everyday, personal entries. Please update your bookmarks accordingly.

1:11am: Japanese pasta with onsen tamago and kinoko



Came across a Japanese casual pasta restaurant next to Carl's Jr in 1Utama the other day, and I thought I'd give it a try. I ordered their onsen tamago to kinoko pasta, which is a cream pasta with wild mushrooms and 'hot springs' egg - basically a poached egg. Ala carte is RM18 while a set, which comes with a small salad and miso soup, is RM22. A nice simple dish that's tasty and filling.

Am now in Bali for the Samsung Printing InspirAsia Tour 2008 until this Sunday. The broadband connectivity here is rather wonky, so I'll try to upload some pictures tomorrow if the connection remains stable.

2:51pm: Labor Day Beach Weekend



I'll be nowhere near a PC for the next few days as I'll be gone on a company trip to Pulau Redang. Incidentally, I'll be off to Bali a few days later for an event. Guess I'll be getting a lot of sand and sunshine for the next two weeks!

2:27pm: Iron Man press screening



The Iron Man movie press screening will be held on Tuesday morning and although I've been invited to watch, I can't go. Dammit. Why must all the press screenings happen in the morning? I don't mind weekdays as long as it's at night and I can leave work to check it out but because it's in the morning and GameAxis isn't exactly a movie magazine, so it wouldn't be sensible to skip office and watch it.

Actually, I'm aware of the reason why press screenings are held in the morning (night time sessions earn more money for the cineplex owners) but I'm still kinda frustrated that I can't make it. Oh well, at least I'll have GTAIV to keep me company.

12:44pm: Special Delivery



Full review and lots of images to come tonight at The Gamer's Litter Box. Right now I'm busy with finishing the magazine.

But for now, I can say it's pure fuckwin.

EDIT: The review and gallery are now up.

http://gamerslitterbox.com/?p=46

11:48pm: Alleviating the monthly sniffles



I'm usually busy chasing deadlines around the 3rd and 4th week of the month, and during this time I do overtime in the office, don't watch my diet, and go to bed later. Hence I'm also more susceptible to coughs and colds around this period. It doesn't help that this month's weather has been absolutely bollocks with rain falling like a thousand angels taking a piss at the same time. So now I've a mild cough and cold and whenever I sneeze, my sneeze is loud enough to wake the dead. Throughout the whole day, I sneezed enough times to probably resurrect the victims of both World Wars. I'm gonna sleep earlier tonight so that I don't turn into one of the living dead myself.

I'm highly anticipating a couple shipments this week. The first is Arcana Heart for the PS2 to which I admit, I downloaded the torrent like a dirty pirate and burned it. I was rushing to review it for this month's magazine, and I couldn't wait any longer for my order from Play-Asia to arrive. That said, I really hope that Atlus localize the sequel as soon as possible as from what I've seen from the matches videos on YouTube, the game looks really promising. Once the magazine is on the newstands, I'll post my full review of the game online.

The second package that I'm really looking forward to review and feature on my new blog is the 1/8 Franco Il Nero figurine from Alter. By some miracle, I think I managed to snag the very last unit from Hobby List Japan because soon after I placed my order, the sales page listed its availability as 'Discontinued'. I only got the confirmation yesterday that my order has been shipped to me, so cross fingers it won't have any problems with customs and it'll reach here by this week.

12:59am: Matching Pair



Normally when the IT media go to product launches and events, we often get freebies like water flasks, pens, and carry bags. Last week when I went to a LG Dealer Conference where they launched their new plasma and LCD TVs, they gave out this designer cup and plate combo instead. Sweet! I'm now using it for my afternoon cuppa when I'm at work. Pity they didn't give out matching teaspoons, heheheh...

1:19am: [misc] Back to Square One



My new server is online and I've redirected my domain name to the proper place. Right. All that's left is to redesign the new site, which means I've to wade through an ocean of unfamiliar CSS code. Ugh.

This reminds me of the time when I first tried my hand at customizing my LJ blog, when I had to go through LJ's terrible, terrible S1 Style documentation and I had to learn HTML by myself from scratch. Now I've to do the same thing with the new site. Looks like my new site won't go online so soon after all...

12:22pm: [game] Arcana Heart impressions



Even though it isn't as fast-paced as the Guilty Gear series, there's something appealing about Arcana Heart amidst its rather static backgrounds and simple designs. The all-female cast of characters isn't as varied or interesting, but when you have characters like a nekomimi swimsuit-wearing schoolgirl(?) constantly wading in a blob, a pint-sized goth loli, or an Excalibur-wielding meido, there's a certain guilty pleasure in using them. Arcana Heart is a blatant take on every moe-inducing archetypes, and if you don't find that feature appealing, it's unlikely that you'll find Arcana Heart to your taste.

But if you stick with it a little longer, you'll find a very hardcore fighting game buried within - air combos, guard cancels, homing cancels, loops, and more. Being able to mix and match the various Arcanas with your characters adds a strategic element to the overall gameplay: do you want to add more offensive powers, defensive moves, or mind tricks to your character? It shakes up the common idea that one particular character can only play one style, which no longer makes them a static character unable to improvise or adapt to different styles of fighting.

Arcana Heart may lack the pizzazz and refinement of other established fighting games like the King of Fighters and Street Fighter series, but that doesn't make it any less capable. When the sequel gets localized, I'll be looking forward to another prolonged catfight on the world stage.

11:41pm: [misc] Drawing to an end



Today at PCFair, someone asked me for my autograph. It felt a bit weird since I've never thought myself as the type who'd be admired or important enough to request for my John Hancock. And I don't think the schoolboy who had asked for my signature was a big fan or anything - his actions suggest that his request was done more out of politeness than any sort of reverence since he didn't seem that all acquainted with the magazine.

It's been a tiring day today. Tomorrow's going to be worse, though I'll be taking leave in the afternoon to discuss some matters with my travel companions for a planned Japan trip in the near future.

I've just watched the end of Sketchbook ~full color'S~ (yeah, yeah. Slowpoke.jpg). Overall, I really like the series. Not only for its eccentric cast of characters but also for its gentle, mellow quality that it brings to the slice of life genre. It reminds me of when I was younger, when I used to like drawing sceneries and landscapes. I also took art classes and my elder brother used to dabble in oil painting, so watching Sketchbook reminded me of the smell and feel of the various art media that I used to surround myself with.

10:38pm: [manga] Mx0 manga review



Oh hey, my first manga review. :3 After several anons on /a/ gushed with praises about Mx0, a new series created by the author of Pretty Face, I decided to check it out. To my delight, I think I've found a new manga series to follow regularly.

( Full review of Mx0 )

11:05am: [misc] I should really stop playing games for a while



Last night I dreamt of being a character in GTA IV. But it had GTA III graphics and as I ran along the streets jacking cars in my dream, I kept thinking that once I reached a certain percentage of completion in the game, I'll be Niko and I'll be in glorious HD graphics.

Perhaps I spent a wee bit too much time editing and writing the GTA IV article this month.

8:02pm: [misc] (no topic)



(so many emotions now)

1:16pm: [game] Just when I thought I was out...they pull me back in



I've taken the plunge - I'm now using Vista Home Premium SP1, gadzooks! It's actually working pretty well so far, though I've to reinstall some programs which is a bit annoying.

Soon out in newstands is the April issue of GameAxis, which our cover story for this month is none other than Grand Theft Auto IV. No it's not a review (as much as I'd like it to be), but a rundown of the GTA series so far and the new features we'll see in the upcoming GTAIV later this month. Also as you can tell from Morita Masakazu's cheery profile at the bottom, we did an interview with him during last month's GACC2008. The GACC2008 feature takes up whopping 7 pages in GameAxis this month as I tried to cram as many pictures of the event and cosplayers inside.

11:45am: [game] Gamer's Hideout League: Double it! Tournament



This Sunday, Gamer's Hideout at Cineleisure Damansara will be holding the qualifiers for the Gamer's Hideout League: Double it! tournament. It's a two-part competition, with the Finals being held next week. Tomorrow's the last day for registration though, so if you haven't signed up I suggest you do so now! First place winners for Call of Duty 4 Team Match will get RM500, while the Free for All CoD4 and Guitar Hero 3 winners will get a cool RM300.

Needless to say, I'm going to enter the Guitar Hero III comp. It's been a while since I last played the game and I'm itching for a rockin' challenge.

10:23pm: [figurine] Rin Kokonoe



Cute, not pedo. I think. Dammit, I'm confused.

( Read more... )

12:41pm: [misc] Moving plans



Just a short announcement that I'm planning to migrate to another blog platform. It's not because of any protest or anything like that to LJ's recent policies changes, but my needs have outgrown LiveJournal's basic tools. I actually bought some server space some time ago, but I haven't had the time to make use of it. I'm going to use WordPress since I've heard good things about its flexibility.

I won't be closing down this blog though - I'll still be using it to blog everyday stuff. The new blog which I plan to set up will be more of the game/anime/manga news and local events that I've been blogging about the past couple years. This LiveJournal blog will be more for my close friends and family who want to keep tabs on what I'm doing. It won't turn into a Friends Only blog since several of my friends and family members don't use LiveJournal.

11:18am: [comic] PeKOMIK miniKON



The rather awkwardly-named PeKOMIK miniKON (KOMIKKON, geddit?) will take place during the KL International Book Fair this weekend at the Putra World Trade Centre. I'm going to cover the comic con on Saturday but I'm planning to check out the KLIBF at the same time. Perhaps I can pick up some nice books to add to my library.

Read

1:56pm: [misc] Cooldown period



Now that the April issue of GameAxis is closed for the month, I'm going to do the things that I've neglected in the past couple weeks. Namely, sleep. And play videogames. And maybe read a book. Gosh, I wonder how long it's been since I actually sat down and read a novel?

I'm trying to gather support for an Xbox 360 tournament for the Malaysian WCG2008. For far too long, we've always only seen the same games for PC being played at the WCG and frankly speaking, it's getting boring. I don't want to report on the same ol' Counter-Strike, Starcraft, Need for Speed, and FIFA games. It's not like the whole game industry only revolves around those 4 titles. If you're a Malaysian Xbox 360 player and you want to see a console tournament happening at this year's WCG2008, please visit this thread.

Today I'll probably just laze around the house and do some housekeeping. I think I'll also work on my Ignis the White figurine. I managed to get a sheet of fine sandpaper when I was in Singapore a couple weeks ago, and I'd like to work on removing the extra paint residue that's been bothering me for months now.

5:14pm: [game] Play-Asia Easter Sale



The Easter Bunny has come to visit Play-Asia and they're offering 20% of all in-stock items. Nice! But the promotion will only last until April 1st so you only have a few days left. Me? I'm going to take it easy for games this and next month. Especially after playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Army of Two. Heck, I don't think I've burned in Burnout Paradise yet. Not to mention that this weekend I've a new figurine coming in...

7:45pm: [anime] CLANNAD After Story Confirmed



According to Moon Phase, the latest issue of Dengeki G Magazine confirms that the After Story section for CLANNAD will be animated. Awesome! Though I'm wondering when it will be out and how many episodes it will take. I'm guessing it will be after the second season of Haruhi.

Speculations: While the original After Story section hardly featured Tomoya's classmates, I think they may change this as the absence of Kyou, Ryou, Sunohara, and Kotomi in After Story were sorely missed. We might see Kappei's and even Sunohara's route animated, though it really depends on how many cours After Story has signed on.

EDIT ::



OH SHI-

So the big announcement after the extra CLANNAD episode is a 15 second commercial for After Story. And that it might come this Fall. Wow. And I thought it would be the second season for Haruhi. I didn't expect After Story to come so soon. But I loved After Story so it's all good.

But seeing Ushio and this screenshot means... ;_; Oh man, I think I'm gonna cry buckets when it happens.

Source: Kurogane's Anime Blog

11:24am: [game] Moe GLaDOS-tan is ♥



Spotted at Kotaku, the schizophrenic and batshit insane GLaDOS has been 'moe-fied'.

Loli GLaDOS with Zettai Ryouiki and Heterochromia? HUGE SUCCESS in so many ways. I demand a high-res version.

11:24pm: [figurine] The other Suzumiya



In anticipation of the second episode of Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien ~Next Season~ to be released tomorrow, here're some pictures of 1/8 Haruka Suzumiya in a bikini from Good Smile Company.



I like her wistful look here, though the way the bikini strings dig into her hips and pelvis makes me think "Wow, I wonder if they hurt?" Plus it gives the illusion she's got some baby fat around her hips. Or that her legs are detachable. O_o



Close-up shot. Staying in bed for 3 years sure didn't spoil her figure one bit at all. The color of the skin looks great: Haruka looks nice and healthy, not pale and sickly as expected of a bedridden girl.



I love the details of her straw hat and little trinkets around her arm. Really good attention to detail! I love these type of figurines.



Top shot. Again, note the details of her straw hat and trinkets.



Behind shot. Did I mention how I love the details they put into Haruka? God bless the sculpturers in Good Smile.

More Pictures here!

I can't wait for the Mitsuki Hayase version to be released. :9

4:00am: [anime] CLANNAD Episode 22 (END)



So...yeah. It's over. Still, it's kinda weird to see the show's final episode already screened when next week there will be a special episode which will apparently focus on Sunohara and perhaps Mei. And then there's the DVD-only episode, which will only come out in July. But as it stands now, the series is already rumored in Moon Phase to get a second season. So I'm looking forward to next week's episode for some sort of announcement. *cross fingers*

The best and most emotional part of the show was Akio bursting into the hall during Nagisa's performance, telling her that her dreams are his and Sanae's dreams. Tomoya's confession at the end was kinda subdued and anti-climatic though, but the end of Nagisa's normal route in the game also turned out similarly. Heck, she only kissed Tomoya like, I dunno, a month or so after they started dating in the game? I'm surprised that Tomoya can keep his hormones in check but then again, CLANNAD's focus has always been on family, not romance.

The meat of Nagisa's route resides in the After Story section, which is only unlocked when the rest of the other girls' routes are completed. If I didn't have prior knowledge of the After Story section, I suppose I would have felt disappointed at the lack of closure for several loose ends (the Other World, Tomoya's relationship with his father) and the seemingly "rushed" ending.

Is this a good thing though? While I can feel content with the knowledge of the existence of the After Story section in the game and the possibility of a second season, I can't say the same thing for the average TV viewer. Would he have felt frustrated at how the series ended? I believe if the script was tighter and more lean with character exposition (especially with Fuuko's arc), then the series end wouldn't have felt so rushed. That way any announcement of a second season would be a pleasant surprise, rather than be some sort of expectation.

12:10am: [misc] Back from Singapore

We did pretty well. We got 2nd place in the C&C3 regionals which saw a 3-way fight with Singapore and the Philippines. Some of our boys from the MyFES clan came down for the Fifa08 Open but unfortunately they only made it to the Best 32 playoffs. Forza managed to become champion for the Need For Speed: Pro Street Open, while Mutsumi got 3rd place. Pretty good results.

I heard from my colleague that the Sony PSP event at The Curve during the weekend was a success. It's a pity I wasn't able to check it out for myself. But still, this is great news. Hopefully this will encourage Sony to have more console events. Microsoft Malaysia, are you taking notes?

Also I heard that Guitar Hero III is one of the official games for the upcoming World Cyber Games 2008. OMGWTFBBQ, can I join please??? Though I wonder how the competition format will be like. If it's 1 on 1, do they choose the winner based on who can get all the notes right with the highest score? Also will players be allowed to watch the notes on the screen? Is the song list randomized? Hmm...

EDIT :: I do believe that this is the first time the WCG has included an MMORPG, Red Stone, as part of their official games lineup. Interesting that it wasn't the juggernaut World of Warcraft. Of course the fact that Red Stone is published by Samsung Electronics, the main global sponsor for the WCG, might have something to do with it.