Dark age of PC gaming

Have been a gamer all my life, since the beginning of time. My first computer game if I remember correctly is "digger", a somewhat boring game that always got died at level 4.
Those are the age of "frogger", "buck roger", "space invader", "and the all famous "Pacman" time, thanks to my dad who forked out an awful lot of money to buy the first commercial PC (x8086 from Intel) when I was about 8 years old

Then I got the first Pentium-75 with Trident SVGA video card at the age of 14 and started to play games like the famous "F-19, Mechwarrior, and Command and Conquer. I still remember those days where I would play repeatedly for the different ending and experimenting with silly tactics and idea...

At 19 years old gaming moved to my college period with Pentium III-450 running on nVidia TNT2 AGP interface with the game of Half life, Mecharrior3, Homeworld, Counterstrike, Warcraft III, Age of Empire II, GTA III and many many more...

Then now at 27, my dad brought himself an Intel Core 2 Duo with GeForce 8600 GT with PCI Express. I was obviously excited and happy that my gaming experience will get to continue for at least the next 8 years or so!!! So after some hiccup during the installation and setup, it was good to go!

Without wasting much time, I excitedly use the new computer to surf gamespot for the BEST game around to check out the new computer's capability, to my surprise the list hasn't much change since my Pentium III era.
If one notice properly, majority of the games are 1997-2004!!! Unbelievably stupid of the software house to NOT coming out quality games I would say.

So never mind, I knew a game which is good since playing with Jeebs at cybercafe - Company of Heroes. So straight go and buy and became the first game to be installed in the new PC. Not bad for the campaign, but currently lack of any nice games in mind... in fact the long awaiting Starcraft2 doesn't look good compare to CoH on the demo :(

The main reason for these is probably due to the changes in PC game publisher / maker, as we all know, Westwood, Virgin Interactive, Sierra, Blizzard and rockstar are some of the top game maker, occasionally we have rogue publisher that make it once in a while like Epic Games (Unreal ONLY) and Barking Dog (Homeworld: Cataclysm) which only made 1 or 2 hitz before biting the dust.... but there are alot of acquisition movement in the field that caused many to be disappeared from the face of the earth like Westwood, KOEI (anyone still remember this?) and virgin interactive... I believe we will continue to have sux game for a few more years before the age of PC Games enlightenment is upon us.

Please give us a 10.0 game in the near future!

Transformer the movie

Never really a transformer fan myself, it was part of my child's routine to watch this, along with many others like He-Man: The master of the Universe, Silverhawk, Thundercats and the likes... then later it evolves to Baja Hitam, Robotech, then onwards to Initial D, slamdunk with now a loyal fans of hentai..... *cough* anyway, transformer wasn't really my cup of tea, those blocky robots aren't anywhere as cool as Gundam and Macross anyway, but 2 weeks ago my perception changed.

It was on GSC at Pacific 2 weeks ago, have to say this is by far the best movie I've seen for 2007. I did not read any review and critic's comment before going, and I was purely expecting a skirmish type of engagement fight between Optumus and Megatron with the typical "You slap me, I slap you back" kind of battle, what started out in the first 10 minute is just simply amazing, Qatar airbase got pawned by just 1 Decepticon unit to oblivion...


The aircraft used in the movie is also quite sentimental as there are the latest air force F-22 Raptor, the symbolic AC-130H with an integrated howitzer artillery piece used during Afghanistan & Iraq war, and the cute A-10 Thunderbolt II, which was my all time favourite. Most of the aircraft does not show in any major film and their appearance really make the DVD worth getting :)


So therefore not all anime --> CGI animation movie sux, this one definately spells exception. Overall this movie deserve a 9/10 rating with good action, plot and casting all together. It wouldn't be surprise if this made it to some of the nomination later.

Bad luck strike TWO!!!

A week after the glasses, raining and wiper incident, the al-mighty decided to land another blow in my wallet by striking a key into my rear left Yokohama Advan Neova AD07. This is the 2nd incident in a row that strange 'phenomenon' occured to my car! Seriously need a change of luck, but lacking any lately...

Rant aside, just finished submitting my income tax and realize that I am actually spending most of my money paying people / organization / government.... this sucks. Why can't an individual enjoy his pay? My wishlist is growing but there is no progress since.... Last November? The last thing I buy for myself is the 29" CRT TV, how pathetic.

In fact I can't seem to actually afford anything lately, this is depressing as I have worked for 3 years, an average Joe would've save enough to buy a new car or treat himself for an E&O buffet dinner spread, while I have to keep remind myself that I need to keep the extra money for this and that. Sigh....

Well, at least I finally confirmed for the Genting trip next 2 weeks, WHOO HOOO!!! After 3 months of delaying and planning, finally I get to have a break away from all these crap in my life, period.... and get to raid uncle Lim's casino *nyek nyek nyek* Hope this will rejuvinate my hp and mana, and maybe my pocket also :)

Damn my glasses and the gods

Lost the darn spectacles at the SP waterworld yesterday, so no big deal as I thought, what can 60degree of near sight cause? What I didn't realize was that I also have 100+ astigmatism which really sux during the night coz all the lights will be seen as flowery which will have problem when you wanted to pin point the source of the light (estimate distance)
So I guess Zeus decided to throw in some difficulties by throwing down some water from the sky to make the light smear even more, top up with thunder for effect yesterday. So I thought, what the heck, no rain is going to slow me down in the night, even without my glasses, I'm pretty sure I could nail the 20 minutes drive back to my apartment in Penang...

Then it hit me before the Bridge toll, Daihatsu's reknown's reliability decided to kick up a hush by ceasing operation of my wiper, DURING A level 2 rain!!! (Note: Level 2 rain = the rain's frequency requires user to operate their wiper at 2nd slowest speed)

I swear I did not insult anyone (especially gods) in any manner, but this is the list of misfortune that I have to put up with, on a cool Sunday night. I have driven Daihatsu Charade for the past 3 years and I NEVER EVER have a spoilt wiper before, nor did I heard anyone of my friends, even in the forum complaining about spoilt wiper. And then I have it, during rainy days, without my glasses somemore. WTF!

Luckily I have my sister with me, but that bugger also drive like no tomorrow, have to call her hp 2 times to slow down then only really slow down. Really glad I made it through Penang bridge without any incident, I seriously think that I have made a significant achievement / milestone in my life by surviving the drive, I think this beats being the #1 in Penang bridge run.

So the hell with Daihatsu's wiper, and my glasses... will post the picture I took inside the car during the freak drive later.

Quality my arse

Haven't been blogging for months already, not because I'm lazy but because I don't have enough time and accessibility to internet to online and post.... OK, maybe I'm lazy but the main reason I lack of the mood to blog is because of the amount of stamina my work is extorting on me.

Maybe I ought to say that my company is facing one of its greatest joke of its history, 3 same quality incident over the past 1 month. THREE!!! Very pathetic, I wonder how the customer really think about it, kena then kena then kena again, over and over.... if people slap you then say sorry, tomorrow slap you again then apologize, then the very next day slap you AGAIN.... fooohh....

It all started because of escapee in the production, coupled with QA failure to screen it out in their normal screening method, even the big boss cannot take this kind of crap.

So that leaves all the engineers working day and night for the containment and corrective action, plus with the micro-management style imposed due to the 'impotency' nature of our management, we were left with very little time and strength to focus on others. Come to think of it, I am still playing FFXII in my PS2 (after 2 months), WoW still level 35 (after 1 month) and the last time I really spend time with my gal was like 2 months ago.... this is ridiculous, never met into such dark age before.

Well for what's worth, I think I need to learn how to improvise my working attitude and method, if you keep fire-fighting in your work for a long duration of time without any sign of improvement, then it's either:

• You're useless, or
• You need to expose to some other elements for upgrade (whether mind or physical)

Coz I am pretty sure I'm not the former, I would have to really make effort to make the later came true. Maybe I should make a resolution that I will never put myself in such a dangerous position ever again in my life. At least Monday is a holiday, as much as I want to rest my spirit and soul this weekend, I can't help but think of what dreaded situation will I face when I go to work Tuesday, well, can always worry about that later. I need my much needed rest this weekend.

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.

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Off to my beauty sleep!

Buddy characterization

Do you associate your friend with your surrounding? I do.
Lets put some case study into this...

I have a high school friend, let say for anonymousity purpose I would call him Neebs. He is also one of my college time housemate and right now we still hang around during the weekend for a chat or two. Now how do I view this Neebs?
Passive: Straight to the point
Active ability: Honest, brave
Occupation: Engineer
Should-be occupation: Interest free loan shark
Part time job: World peace ambassador, leader of Save-the-dog campaign
Associated song: Nelly - It's getting hot in here
An idealist, won't regret going any holiday with him, yup, a good friend to have

Now lets move over to Jeebs, also a high school friend, disconnected during college time but reconnected during working life. How about him?
Passive: BS hater
Active ability: Smart ass, sacarstic, impatient, condemner, bicycle guy
Occupation: Engineer
Should-be occupation: Ice cream seller
Part time job: leader of save-the-cat campaign
Associated song: Gwen Stefani - Wind it up
Also a perfectionist, can go the extra mile to achieve complete domination, but must endure his merciless insults. Must able to cast 'heal' while he continuously chew your health and armour bits by bits.

Alvino is another from the fellowship, knew since high school during scouts activity. One of the few to climb the path of management. What's his tale?
Passive: Sleeper, Sinister smile
Active ability: Complainer, job hater, licker
Occupation: Technical support manager
Should-be occupation: Insurance agent, DJ
Part time job: Tow truck operator
Associated song: Akon - Smack that
Funny and wealthy, one of your must-have friends to have around.

And lets end this with another friend that I will call him Daud. Chinese name is molest. So what about him?
Passive: Believer, music fanatic
Active ability: Sacarstic, criticizer
Occupation: All rounder
Should-be occupation: Street performer, circus jester
Part time job: Guitar repairman
Associated song: Def Leppard - When love and hate collides
Overly big size giant who have a good sense of humour, and also comes with a little pinch of sacarstism. Had an evil laugh and despite his size, is actually harmless than a rabbit.

How bout that for friendship!

TiBuN is a fruit, not a vegetable!!!

TiBuN = Hokkien for cucumber.

" The cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. - Quote wiki"

"Q: Is a cucumber a fruit or a vegetable?
A: It is technically a fruit. From a botanical perspective, a fruit is the mature ovary of a plant, such as an apple, melon, cucumber, or tomato. From the common, every day "grocery store perspective," we tend to use the word fruit with respect to fruits eaten fresh as desserts - apples, peaches, cherries, etc. - and not to items cooked or used in salads. So, cucumbers tend to be lumped in with vegetables because of the way they are used (cooked and in salads), but botanists will call them fruits because they develop from the reproductive structures of plants. - Quote Cucumber facts by Cornell Department of Horticulture"

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~bcohen/cucumbers/faq.html

So this topic has been reiterated for the gazillion times and will be remain the controversial until the global ministry of education include this statement inside all national syllabus. Having said that, the reason I wish tibun to be classify as fruit because generically fruit will enjoy a better reputation than vegetable.

Why?

Because fruit is a luxury, vegetable is a common item and therefore is cheaper. Fruit enjoy the status of king's snack while vegetable is just a culinary you eat along with your main dish. Having said that, I just want cucumber to be on par with strawberry and lychi, instead of crap brocolli and cabbage :)

Financial deadlock

The most important education that I believe we should receive during school and college time is 'finance study' or 'money and you'. How often do people earn a $1000 dollar, only to find out that his/her expenditure is $980 at the end of the month? This is mainly due to bad planning and poor financial grasp of reality, which again attributed to the lack of course and lessons we had in school in our early days.

As bad as it can be, a poor planning would virtully mean you've screwed your whole month activities, and waiting for a turnaround next month. This kind of thinking and scenario plagued alot of new entry employees around the world and as most of the motivation book mentioned "the rich will not teach everyone the secret towards wealth", hence we have alot of these people around.

So how to save money? If you earn RM1K and spent RM999 type of guy, when only you will save enough for that Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-SPEC NurII? When only will you have enough money to run your marriage ceremony at E&O hotel with 100 tables? Guess the answer to this question is breakthrough...

One will need good discipline, high amount of trust, and strong commitment to make the leap of faith.... one which I'm not prepared to do just yet.

So it's back to Maggie mee and 60km/h kind of lifestyle for now.