Cards

Got a decent pack of cards at 4.25....

Many thanks to Minna who taught me how to play Tai-te... Finally i know a card game involving poker cards...

Must add that i was thrashed horribly and beginner's luck somehow didn't kick in at all when i played against her... lost with a score of 5-1.

And yes i do know that Tiong Bahru plaza is far better than Chua Chu Kang's Lot 1 shopper's mall...( but hey, we're upgrading....we might just be BETTER someday...) heh.

Daniel Craig Comic Relief...( a must watch!)

need i say more?

Hot Toys' 12' inch The Spirit & Hellboy lines

Some of the new upcoming figures Hot Toys would be producing. Though i wasn't exactly into The Spirit at first...its slowly growing on me i must say.... the spirit's suit and its make seems pretty decent to me...the trenchcoat and all.

i must add too that Hot Toys indeed are setting a very high bar in which many other toy manufacturers would have a problem to cross over...

pretty evident in their Hellboy lines, where the new muscular bodies, hellboy's arms and body, the attention to the details etc....seem to make it seem so lifelike....

and despite not being so into hellboy or the spirit. i can't help but think how it would be a NICE and AWESOME figure to sit on my shelf...(there goes my money again.)

Toy and Comic Convention 08'

Some pretty cool pictures taken during this year's Toy and Comic Convention 08'
Just posting it up because this blog didn't exist when i went to this convention

Support your troops!

Do or do not, there is no try....

an army of one man.

Hail LORD VADER!

hasbro's variants of vaders through the years.

Christmas red vader ....WTF?

Yes i wanna score that AT-TE....

all these products displayed then( which weren't available) are now widely available in stores now...

Don't you wish .....

Gundam
(No, that isn't me in the picture, its just someone who happened to pop up in the picture.)

No second thoughts when it comes to putting a bullet straight between this fucking doll's eyes.

random* me and a stormtrooper. ( too darn poor to afford photoshop...)

Hunt for Silenced UMP 1/6th scale

Hunting for a UMP with silencer in the 1/6th scale for my 007 bond kitbash. Would appreciate any help and locations to recommend.

Yellow box trade has long since sold out. CSC doesn't seem to have it. ( would appreciate heads up if you do come across it during your shopping trips!)

Movies to keep an eye on.

also Spiderman has been announced to release a 4th and a 5th sequel...as said in this newspost.

another one to look out for is clive owen's the international.

Star Trek Movie Trailer

Never was much of a trekkie to begin with. But this trailer is seriously cool IMHO. Won't entirely rule it out in my to watch list.

Left 4 Dead: Review

As suggested by Ken, here's a review for LEFT4DEAD. Hope you enjoy it bro!

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As the title suggest, the game is set in a dark and apocalyptic theme, as the world falls into a rabid infection which turns infected humans into wild, flesh craving, corpse munching ZOMBIES.

And here is where the name comes in play, as there are only 4 characters to choose from. Francis, Bill, Zoey and Louis. Hence Left4Dead-leftfordead.

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''Set in the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, L4D offers four expansive "movie campaigns" that challenge you and your fellow survivors to battle thousands of swarming zombies as you travel across the rooftops of an abandoned metropolis, through rural ghost towns and pitch-black forests. In addition to the movie campaigns, Left 4 Dead features a Versus mode that allows you to play as the Boss Zombies

New technology dubbed "the AI Director" is used to generate a unique gameplay experience every time you play. The Director tailors the frequency and ferocity of the zombie attacks to your performance, adjusting pacing, special effects and audio on the fly.'' -www.l4d.com

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Summary

After 2 full days of zombie mashing, headshotting, gut busting action, i'd say that this game leans strongly towards a friend-cooperation gameplay. The entire concept of the game is the dependency on your teammates for survival, which plays out just like real life. ( Players who feel that each man is for his own, would truly find himself in a sticky situation , such get getting himself ripped apart by hordes of undead, alone.)

Gameplay

Whilst i feel that this game is best played with friends, or other players online, its single player campaigns are pretty well fleshed out. Not that there is a storyline in this game than just brain busting and trigger happy reflexes, one thing to note is the fast paced, team reliance, realistic gameplay that was considered and incorporated in the game.

Things like healing yourself or your team are present, Medkits that give health and pain pill for temporary boost before finding a medkit would actually help online players work better together. EG: sharing of pills to avoid eminent death of teammates, for another GUN available, is another angle of your arse covered and a better chance for survival.

Loading page: a refreshing movie like poster per campaign/mission.

Continued

Revives are an essential part of this game too for sometimes you may find yourself backed into a corner while your team falls back into another room. Trapped and alone you may find yourself overwhelmed by hordes of zombies. ( hundreds to thousands ). As such you would go down and be grouded and pounded as the undead rip into ur flesh, though you do not have to lay and pray, you're allowed something reminescent of CALL of Duty's LAST STAND feature, whipping out your pistol to hold off the hordes that pour whilst allies try to find you and revive you before the countdown till you bleed to death.

That aside, allies status are displayed on your screen in a visually accessable and non cluttering way which is very effective IMHO. Furthermore whereabouts are not on a HUD, but in a 3D sillihoute where you can see the outlines of your allies in blue through walls, and in orange when there're incapacitated and in need of a revive.

Once again, like i already said above, the game draws heavy on teamwork, sticking together and planning strategic corners to hold a stand greatly helps tip the odds in one's favour. And unlike other games in the zombie genre, camping isn't quite as safe as you think it would be. Zombies can climb fences, barricades, break down doors, and a thing to point out is closing doors would become a habit ( something you would do in real life if this kinda shit happens....) which is pretty realistic. Though it wouldn't hold up for long as zombies can also claw through, breaking down your door eventually. By far i would say this video game sums up all the realistic little details here and there to make this a really strong contender in the zombie genre.

Simple things like visually reaching out to grab ammo or heal friends are a PLUS.

weapons are pretty awesome though you can carry a limited amount. molotovs, and grenades. Light em' up and watch em' BURN

Death cam, spectating.

ZOMBIES

This game draws heavily from 28 days later, as the zombies are somewhat fast and as rabid as those seen in the movie. You will actually feel like you're playing and starring in the movie as you play through it. These undead climb fences, tear down your doors, rip, pound and claw at you. and they sure as hell do not shamble like you wish they would. ( Though they do shamble when they haven't noticed you yet.)

there are a few classes of zombies in this game which adds to the pain in the ass..i meant *FUN* Factor to your survival.

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Horde- something like the 28 days later's zombies. Crazy, violent, angry and hungry.

Smoker- armed with an over 15 metre long tongue, its able to stand atop high roofs or trees or vehicles and drag you away from your teammates and dangle you helplessly as other zombies happily chew and claw you.

Hunter - Hooded motherfuckers that pounces and leap great distances and are a 1 pin- straight down and helpless as they claw sitting atop you untill someone rescues you.

Boomers- swollen and overloaded with vomit when targetted at you, attracts swarms of hordes. ( PUSH AWAY BEFORE SHOOTING AS THEY EXPLODE)

Tankers- Big ugly, angry strong zombies that rip chunks of ground to toss at you, hurl you across rooms and mince you. Toughes zombies yet.

Lightning effects and gore, with tons of blood.

Down and out and in desperate need of a revive. ( an example of how rushing does not pay)

Graphics

The graphics are pretty awesome though i must say you would be familiar and its not really something new if you've played half life 2 before. Though the blood splatters across you screen with each close kill is satisfyingly cool. Blowing apart a zombie's head and spray em' with bullets and watching their limbs fly apart is also another thing to enjoy. The savagery is one to behold. Furthermore the corpse of the DEAD undead do remain in the map to add to the realism factor. Something i always liked. Facial expressions of character models are well detailed and lighting effects are good enough to give you the feel of a zombie apocalypse but not enough to spook you out completely, being an FPS.

Difficulty

On different difficulty settings, your mortality is seriously challenged and you'd find that you'd rely heavily on pain pills to get from one safehouse to another. You'd find out soon enough. ( oh and on extreme, you die after 2 revives unless you find a medkit fast) though dead players can rejoin when other players rescue 'trapped survivors' in certain random parts of the map'.

Conclusion
While this game may not be your ambience heavy, ''scare the crap outta you '' kind of game like DEADSPACE, as its a run-gun, don't think just shoot genre. The attention to the realism and details of your ingame world, reactions of zombies, movements, physics, the gore and just simply how blowing apart a zombie's head, arm or limb looks just as cool now and ten thousand times later. Furthermore with its A.I director, no two games are the same, no zombie attacks again from the same corner, alley, or swarm you in the same direction. Ammo piles turn up in different areas, weapons and stock elsewhere. Just adds to the fun and freshness factor to its online gameplay.

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On the Stormtrooper Effect's Scale of AWESOMENESS, I GIVE IT 8.5 out of 10.

+ Realism in the smallest details like how doors break down and the need to close them

+ Realistic gameplay and reliance on teamwork, just like what you'd do in real life.

+ Pain pills reliance, suppliments to keep you alive till you find better substitudes. great idea.

+ sharing and team healing at the cost of your own personal benefit. ( added realism)

+ blood effects, screen splattering, smoke effects and lighting.

+ believable voices. great music cues

- we've seen this graphics before

- FPS can only do so much to immerse you deep into it. though teamwork is fantastic enough to be believable.

Left 4 Dead: Pictures

It is indeed refreshing when developers decide to revamp their strategy of packaging of video games. In this case scenario i'm pleasantly suprised when LEFT 4 DEAD preorder version came in a carded, slightly larger than A4 sized ''fedex parcel' kinda packaging.

Good to know they put in alot of effort for the visual appeal for gamers.

The package and the preorder pre-given mousepad.

Gruesomely appealing. i love zombies. do you?

as you can see the package/flatbox opens like a mail letter by the dotted edges.

Can't wait to give this game a shot. But that will have to wait till after lunch.

Weekend Haul: Kotobukiya Star Wars ArtFX 501st Clonetrooper

Something i got last sunday as a new addition to my new shelf.

Kotobukiya's Star Wars ArtFX 501st Clonetrooper Vinyl Statue.

I always dug koto's vinyl statues for the pretty decent prices for such fantastic sculpts and paintwork. Furthermore its simple assembly isn't too much of a hassle or time consumer.

so here goes.

Pre-assembly parts

Yes the head's the last to go on. its what i do.

Fully assembled, locked and loaded with its base.

The addition to my new shelf!