Now…

Now playing: Hammerin’ Hero, NBA 2K10, Policenauts, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (demo)

Now listening to: Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral, Thrice – Beggars, Chevelle – Sci-Fi Crimes, Muse – The Resistance, HAARP, Saosin – In Search of Solid Ground, Dead By Sunrise – Out of Ashes

Now Watching: Batman – The animated series, The Machinist, Tron, American Psycho. Chuck

Now reading: Knightfall part 1: Broken Bat (comics),  Batman: Year One, Any other stuff I want to read

My Semester is FINALLY over.

Finally got around to writing another blog entry. My semester is over and now I have a lot of time to do the things I love doing. And one of the things I love to do is to show off how smart I am. Well, not really. I am not that smart. Still, I’m pretty proud of finally passing a subject which I found to be really, really hard. So yeah, I guess I’m pretty smart…I think.

Fan made movie Metal Gear Solid: Philantrophy has been released

Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy is a 2009 non-profit Fan made movie created by Hive Division, a team of Italian students and filmmakers. It is a film based on the highly successful Metal Gear line of games. It is written, directed, edited and stars Giacomo Talamini, a 27 year old Italian student filmmaker.

Wikipedia sums it all up pretty nicely. I first found out about this fan-made movie 2 years ago, when I watched the first (or second) trailer. Holy Shit at this effort. I really admire the dedication of everyone that contributed in order to make this film. I’ll be posting my review sometime this week. Meanwhile, check out everything about the movie here.

Pacquiao vs Hatton Fight: Street Fighter Style

Another reason to be proud of the Pacman

I don’t know if you guys have seen this but this is seriously, one of the funniest things I’ve seen online. It’s an edited version of the Pacquiao vs Hatton fight last May. Someone (a fellow Filipino probably) edited the 2-round fight and made it look EXACTLY like a Street Fighter 2 bout. From the opening sequence (with Pacman replacing Ryu), to the character selection screen, to the actual fighting, sound effects, life bars, and even the fighter dialogue at the end. The editing here is really something to see, and I know most gamers will find this hilarious!

The 10 best NBA teams of the decade never to win a championship

Oh So Close...

The 2001-2002 Sacramento Kings placed 2nd on a recent Ball Don’t lie post about the 10 best teams to not win an NBA championship. While I agree with most of the teams on the list and their respective order, I really disagree with some of the things that they said about the 2001-2002 Kings, specifically, the highlighted parts:

2. Sacramento Kings, 2001-02

This team deserved a championship so much that Ralph Nader thought he’d lend a hand in helping them out. The Kings were absolutely jobbed by the referees in a Game 6 loss to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals, a series of calls so bad that Nader thought he’d do a little work on Sacramento’s behalf. Honesty compels me to mention the fact that the Lakers were also jobbed a bit in Game 5 of that series in Sacramento, and that the Kings did have a Game 7 at home in their favor to make things right.

They blew that one, though, even as it went to overtime. It tends to mar an otherwise sublime season that saw seven Kings average double-figure points per game (with two, Chris Webber(notes) and Peja Stojakovic(notes), averaging well over 20 per), alongside the sixth-best defense in the NBA. But, you know, maybe if Vlade hadn’t flopped so damn much …

Also considered: Sacramento Kings, 2002-03; Sacramento Kings, 2003-04

Jobbed a bit? If I remember right, game 5 was pretty fair contest that went down the wire. And even if the refs did give the kings some calls on that game, the Lakers still had a chance to win in the end.  Game 6 however is arguably the worst officiated game in NBA history and the Kings didn’t really have a chance. It’s not like an NBA ref didn’t admit that that game was rigged, and Kobe Bryant’s elbow to Mike Bibby’s nose (resulting in an offensive foul on Mike Bibby!) doesn’t make it even more obvious. When you look at how bad game 6 was officiated, it was obvious the refs wanted the lakers to win. The fact that the Kings lost game 7 in overtime at home is IRRELEVANT SINCE IF GAME 6 WASN’T HANDED TO THE LAKERS ON A PLATE, THERE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN A GAME 7 IN THE FIRST PLACE. Anyway, this is probably the last time I’ll say anything about that game or even about the series. I just felt like I needed to say something about this one last time.

09-09-09 in Gaming

Wow, 09-09-09 looks like a pretty special date. Might as well write about the things that I think make this day special for gamers like me.

10 years of Squall and Rinoa

• The tenth anniversary of Final Fantasy VIII. Say what you will about the crappy melodramatic story but in all other aspects of the console RPG, FF VIII was a groundbreaking achievement. It is one of my favorite RPGs of all time and quite possibly my favorite final fantasy game ever.

The Sega Dreamcast is now 10 years old!

• The tenth anniversary of the Sega Dreamcast. The DC is one of the greatest consoles ever. It had the best graphics for a home console during the time of its release, pioneered console online gaming, and had one of the greatest game libraries ever including classics like Shenmue, Soul Calibur, Skies Of Arcadia, Sonic Adventure, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Phantasy Star Online, and a lot of other cool games.

• The Release of The Beatles: Rock Band. The greatest band ever finally get their own game.  The Beatles: Rock Band is one of the most spot on, and one of the greatest game concepts ever. A game where you and your friends become a rock band by playing instruments? How does playing Beatles songs sound? Freakin’ appropriate. Also, today is the official launch of the ENTIRE Beatles discography (that means all of their albums and more) digitally remastered. Awesome.

Site Updates: Who the?

I updated the 3 pages of the site after a long while. I also renamed them:

Meme, Gene, Scene (MGS)

Album Review: “Beggars” by Thrice

Thrice’s new full length album “Beggars” leaked onto the internet MORE THAN 2 MONTHS (July) before its scheduled release date (October). However, this review was from a listen of the proper digital copy of the album that was released on Itunes on August 11th.

I’ve always admired the musical versatility of Thrice. From the pulse pounding beats of “The Illusion of Safety”, the pop-punk sensibilities of “Artist in the Ambulance”, the progressive riffs in “Vheissu”, and the massive sonic landscape covered by “The Alchemy Index”. Beggars is an album that sounds like the combination of Vheissu and the Earth disc from the Alchemy Index.

For starters, the album isn’t very upbeat and it’s not very heavy either. One word I’d use to describe the overall sound of the album though, is “raw”. Album opener, “All the world is mad” gives listeners a ride on a chugging baseline reminiscent of Thrice’s days of playing heavier music. The songs bridge provides a mid-tempo and slightly heavy vibe for the album. However, after the first song, you’ll notice that Thrice, yet again, has embarked on another journey of musical discovery.

Circles, was the song that caught my interest the most on this record. It’s very soft and very relaxing to listen to. A slow piano-based song, it is simply, one of the best songs that Thrice has ever produced.

The highlight of the album however is “In Exile”. Being perfectly placed in the middle of the tracklist, the song encompasses the album as a whole both musically and lyrically. It has a slow drum pattern that will make you shake your head in unison with Dustin Kensrue’s excellent vocals. Its chorus ( “My heart is filled with songs of forever” ) manages to be catchy without over-doing it.

“At the last” has a punk sounding intro and fast verses that sounds like a throwback to the Thrice music of old. Although this time, the hardcore and metal elements are clearly at a minimal.

The final and title track of the album is “Beggars”.I didn’t hear anything special in the slow verses and the riff heavy bridge. However, the lyrical message in the song is outstanding. It is a message to world’s powerful and influential, reminding them that all their power and riches mean nothing if they poor in spirit. For if they are poor in spirit, they ARE poor and are thus, Beggars.

Notably, the album is devoid of heavy screams. I guess the band thought it didn’t fit with the type of music they wanted to create. Overall, the album as a whole is better than The Alchemy Index. However, it pales in Comparison to Vheissu, which in my opinion, is Thrice best work. The album is slightly disappointing for Thrice’s standards, however, a slightly disappointing Thrice is still better than a lot of other bands from the hardcore/punk scene which spawned them.

Beggars is step in the right direction for the band in terms of song writing, lyrics, and musical consistency.

The first 3 PS3 games I’ll buy once I get a PS3

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots

This is the main reason why I’m gunning for a PS3. I am a BIG MGS fan and I’ve read/watched/heard nothing but great things about this game. Hell, I’ll still be getting it even if people called it a steaming pile of monkey crap. It’s the end of the Solid Snake Story and I want to witness it for myself. If I could only play one more game before I die, then this would definitely be it. It’s Stealth Action at its finest.

Metacritic rating: 94

2 Batman Arkham Asylum

Batman is my favorite comic book hero/character. The fact that Batman doesn’t have actual super powers makes him even more awesome. As for the game, IGN calls it the best comic book game of all time. Based on the trailers and and gameplay vids I’ve seen on youtube, I definitely agree. Man, this game really makes the player feel like Batman. The story is really interesting, with the Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy and other Batman villains taking over Arkham Asylym and causing chaos all over Gotham City. It’s Batman’s longest night on the job and he needs to restore order to Gotham like he has done so many times before. An action-adventure game with lots of stealth elements and Metal Gear Solid influences? A definite purchase for me.

Metacritic rating: 90

3. Little Big Planet

Play. Create. Share. Awesome. Little Big Planet is a revolutionary platformer that allows users to create all kinds of levels and share it to the world via the Playstation Network. The game’s graphics is beautiful and gives creative players the tools to create all kinds of levels that they envision. I’d like to try my hand in this thing since I have all sorts of ideas for levels. The game also has a single player story mode that holds its own very well.

Metacritic rating: 95

New design

I changed the site’s theme after almost a year of using the old one. All the widgets and stuff will also be looked at and edited as I see fit. The redesign will be finished during the weekend.

Finally, I’m trying to come up with a proper blog post. It will come soon.

Awesome new PS3 Ads

Saw a couple of new ads for the PS3 Slim and the new price of $299. Thought I’d share it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. These ads are pretty funny and may just convince more people to pick up a PS3. After all, it only does everything.