Category: Games

Got this as a gift back during Christas at the white elephant party. Or was it the pink elephant? Anywhere, I was a bit bored tonight and decided to see how far I’d get. I actually was about to give up half way. Most of my time was spent breaking the pieces apart and discarding the junk pieces. I eventually decided to do the samller tower (Met Life Tower) and leave the cinokucated Empire State Building for some other rainy day.

So I built the base for both towers first because that was rather easy. They had cars on those pieces. Hehe.

The biggest difference between the Met Life Tower pieces and the Empire State building pieces was the fact taht the Met Life Tower pieces had bigger windows. So I sorted them out by window size and eventually came up with the same of pieces I needed. Turns out I had all the pieces, an a few extra which I’ve returned to the box.

You can check my gallery album to see it from start to end.

Here’s the ending product:

The box claims it glows in the dark, but I haven’t tried that yet.

Final Fantasy XII – Opening Movie (from Esca). Graphics are really pretty. Several of the aliens remind me of the ones from Star Wars. Not too sure what the story is going to be, but the video was fun and pretty to watch.

The link provided above is actually a recompressed version so it’d fit on PutFile. Do note the actual file size is 120MB. You can download the torrent here.

I’m currently in the process of recompressing it down to 100MB so I can upload to RapidShare. Link will come shortly.

*update* Here’s the direct download link as promised. Do note the video was recompressed to 95MB so I didn’t have to split the video into 2 seperate archives. That way you can download it without waiting 70 or 80 minutes before you can start downloading the 2nd part using the free account. I used Super v2006 and recompressed it using the H.264/AVC video codec at 1776kbps and mp3 codec at 48khz 128kbps. Quality difference is actually minimal, though still discernable.

I had actually tried to use VirtualDub before that, but was hitting into problems where the ffdshow codecs were giving me a: Cannot start compression: An unknown error occurred (may be corrupted data). (error code -100). DivX 6.1 worked, but I was having this weird echoing effect. Tried many ways to fix it including finally splitting the audio and video and saving it in raw formats and then muxing them together again. Finally gave up and decided to use Super v2006 as stated above.

So apparently the game’s already out for the PS2 in Japan. Torrents are already available if you follow my “drift”.

I’ve decided to re-encode it into wmv and upload it to my gallery: Final Fantasy XII – Opening Movie. Enjoy!

Random Crap:

The Great Escape (from /.) – You’re trapped in a high tech Spanish slammer, crawling through real tunnels, behind real bars. First-person gameplay breaks out of the box. … This medieval-looking electric chair sits deep inside an old bank in Madrid. The building has been remodeled to house La Fuga, a real-life role-playing game. Think of La Fuga (The Escape) as a $20 million cross between Halo and laser tag. The goal is simple: Decipher visual riddles to navigate and escape Mazzina, a high tech prison. This actually sounds really fun and only costs 15€ for 3 lives.

My weekend was rather relaxed. Caught up on a lot of sleep. Didn’t post much as you may have noticed. It was a relaxing weekend. Did I just repeat myself. Haha. It’s not everyday where I can wake up at 3pm anymore. Sigh.. Wish I could though. Haha. Though I have noticed some weird symptoms lately that resemble my lifestyle back in college. First thing is I noticed for the first time in many many months, that I actually fell asleep on the table in front of my computer.

Last night, I went over to CDMCC’s place to check out his new Xbox 360. It’s so pretty, especially on his 51″ HDTV. We played PGR3 for a bit, but it turns out that game doesn’t support over 2 players on the same console/tv and Elizabeth wanted in. So we switched over to Perfect Dark Zero, which allowed up to 4 player split screen. The wireless controllers didn’t have the lag I was expecting. They sure have gone a long way. Play Perfect Dark Zero was really fun. We only played Team Kill Count and it was us 3 against 3 boths set to the easiest level, and even then we were having problems. Though we finally got to the point where we go to win every round. Then we started playing with what weapons we get on the round and we got slaughtered when we chose rocket launchers only and assault riffles. Haha.

After dinner, we came back and played several rounds of the Guillotine Card Game. It was an interesting game which I’ve never heard of or played. It even came with a little guillotine stand up thingy which was nothing more than a decoration. The game has 2 piles of cards, nobles and action. The point of the game is to get the most points. You get points for killing off nobles and each noble has an associated point value to it. You can also get negative points if you collect heros and martyrs and other creepy looking guys. Either way, there’s a specific order the nobles get executed and the next player has to pick up the next noble. Before he/she executes the noble, she can play some action cards which lets you do one or more things such as rearranging the order, forcing other players to give up their action cards, adding more nobles to the guillotine line, giving you extra points for having specific colored nobles, etc. The game ends when the 3rd day is over. Was rather fun since I won a few rounds.

I just notice today my Shure E4c-n Sound Isolating Earphones in Black were delivered on Friday. Of course I didn’t pay that extravagant price on Amazon.com, but it was quite expensive. But I’ve always wanted a good set of earphones since I listen to my iPod Nano several hours a day. The UPS guy must’ve been lazy because he didn’t drop off one of those yellow slips telling me they left my package in the office. Good thing they still had them since there was a notice stating that they were going to send packages back that aren’t picked up in 3 days.

Xbox360 DVD Firmware Hacked – Video (from /.) – Months of hard work have come to an end. The 360 FW security details were posted a few days ago already, so why not make it official 🙂 It’s been done. … And no, the team decided not to release a hacked FW. The security details are proof itself. The team advocates hacking, not piracy. You can read the replies in the thread. Direct download of the original video is available on RapidShare. What they show in the video is an opened Xbox360, a burnt copy of Project Gotham Racing 3, and how they booted up the copy and the game started. Nothing too fasicinating. No explosions, but just a proof of concept as they stated.

I’m still waiting for Costco to carry stock for the 360 before I purchase one.

Spore (from /.)

This looks like an extremely fun game if it ever comes out. The game is actually being designed by the creator of the Sim series (i.e. Sim City, The Sims, etc). Words can’t really describe how cool this game can be. Do watch the video: Will Wright discusses his new game creation called “Spore”. If you’re too lazy to register, you can always use bugmenot. You can also watch this video on Google Video, but I don’t think the quality’s as good and it actually cuts off the beginning.

You can also check out some of the screenshots.

To put it in a few words, this is a game of evolution, but that barely even starts to tell you waht this game is about. You start off as a microbe living ina droplet of water. You go around eating stuff and avoiding “enemies” that can eat you in a 2D world. After a generation, you lay an egg. I know you’re suppose to just split off, but the egg is a way of letting you know you can evolve now. You can add weapons, tails, limbs, mouth and alter its shape. And you repeat this process until you become big enough to leave the 2D world. In the 3D world, you start off living in the ocean and you slowly evolve into a land creature. There’s even a point where you have to start mating with your same species to produce an egg. The story goes on and a civilization is built and you actually have war against other creatures. That part of the game is somewhat like a RTS (real time strategy).

Later on, you can build a UFO and can abduct creatures and so on. You can even move onto other planets and teraform them if it’s not livable. Later on, you can move onto other galaxies and make contact with other civilizations.

The game just looks amazingly fun.

There’s a site called The Spore Zone that is dedicated to bringing the newest information about Spore to you.

*** UPDATE ***
Thanks to froinlaven for bringing to my attention: Do NOT Download This Game! – Thing is, the game is infested with malware. The anti-PC copy protection site Boycott Starforce has listed Trackmania Nations as a game that carries Starforce (see Luke’s post below). Starforce is hidden and installs without the user’s consent or knowledge. These unwanted drivers are even linked to system instability and computer crashes. Yuck. The removal process was pretty simple, though it did require a reboot to complete. You can follow these steps to see if you’ve been infected. You can download the removal utility provided by Online Security.

I tried out a new game a week ago called TrackMania Nations. It’s a free version of the game where you can race against other players online. You can download the game here. It seems to be a joint venture with nVidia to display how nice the graphics are. The graphics are indeed nice. It even supports my maximum resolution of 1920×1280. Unfortunately, my cpu isn’t fast enough to handle the game at that resolution, so I’m playing @ 1280×960. I haven’t tried playing online yet, but I’ve been doing the training and the graphics are just stunning!

(click on full size if you want to see the image at 1920×1280)

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Random Crap:

The Bar (from SkyLancer):

“The Bar” opened in 1955. It’s been moved three times. The man and his girlfriend often visisted this bar together.

“Will you love me after a hundred years?” she said.
“Hmm…. probably, if we could live for a hundred years.”
“Well…. 50 years, is it possible?”
“I think so…. Yes, I’ll promise.”
“Are you sure???? Then let’s promise this. If for some reason we are ever split apart in the future, let’s meet here again in exactly 50 years, same time, same day, same place, and then I’ll believe you.”
“Good. It’s a promise”

Since then, by a twist of fate, they split apart, and lost touch with each other. Eventually, he bought this bar. It’s a good bar. They promised to meet again at this bar, right here. After that, he can move on with his life.

A fun short little game (though it can get frustrating). It’s like one of those try to escape from this room games. Unfortunately, they found a way to hide the tab function from outlining what you can click. I got stuck about 75% of the way and had to look at the walkthrough. Apparently there’s 4 different endings, but the only difference is which wine you choose. Have fun! There’s a bunch of other flash games you can check out at Bart and Ste.

Hard Drive Clock – An interesting video where a clock is displayed by having a slit in the platter and lights flashing. More info here.

Willy the Hog Pairs With Antelope at Zoo – Shortly after his mate went to hog heaven, Willy the Red River porcine spied a new mud-pen pal in what officials are calling one of the oddest pairings at the Los Angeles Zoo. First you have the turtle and the hippo. Now you have the pig and the antelope. Didn’t animals not get along together before? Or is this a recent phenomenon because they know the world is ending soon.

Man charged in killing over toilet paper – A Florida man has confessed to bludgeoning his roommate to death with a sledgehammer handle and a claw hammer after an argument that started over an empty roll of toilet paper, authorities said Tuesday. That’s why I have spares at every toilet!

Would-be rock star plunges from bed to death – A teenage guitarist got so carried away while bouncing up and down on his bed mimicking a rock star that he flew out of a third floor window to his death, a Singapore newspaper reported Wednesday. I know I shouldn’t laugh, but imagining the scene is so funny!

Bash Quote (from Tera):

#291655
<vai> My mom is like, deathly afraid of worms and she saw one on the sidewalk
<vai> so she made me go get it and she went inside the house, so I went in the house with the worm in my hand
<vai> and she yelled my name and told me to get rid of it, so I threw it outside I came in the house
<vai> she called me an asshole and a son of a bitch
<vai> so I was like “son of a bitch?” she said “shut up, you’re adopted go away”
<vai> =(

San Francisco to test turning dog waste into power – San Francisco, a leader in urban recycling, is preparing to enlist its canine population for a first in the United States: converting dog poop into energy. You’d think there’d be more human waste to convert to energy than dog waste…

Retired couples told cruise may sink marriage – Many Japanese men who retire have spent decades living largely apart from their families as they devoted themselves to their jobs — a recipe for trouble when they decide to take extended trips abroad with their wives. “It is dangerous for couples to suddenly go on overseas trips after the husbands retire,” author Sayoko Nishida, who wrote a popular book called “Why Are Retired Husbands Such a Nuisance?” was quoted as telling Kyodo news agency.

So I finally beat the game. Didn’t really do much of the side quests as I later found out. Didn’t even get any of my characters ultimate weapons nor level 4 limit breaks. Just a bunch of Ultima and Comet 2 and Bahamut Zero and Neo Bahamut. I was actually expecting Sephiroth to be a lot harder since my characters weren’t exactly optimal and I was frantic they didn’t give me a save point anywhere near the end of the game which meant if I lost I’d have to defeat Jenova and both Sephiroths again.

The game was entertaining and I finally saw how the movie Advent Children and the game connected. One of my 1st questions regarding Advent Children was what the heck were those colorful crystal balls? If I had played FF7 at all, I would’ve known they were material.

It turns out the move that Cloud uses to defeat Kadaj was the Omnislash, a limit break which I did not get because it costed too many BP (battle points), but I did get to see it in action when I defeated Sephiroth with it.

Also, the intro scene with Red XIII and 2 cubs running is the epilogue after the ending credits in the game. I’ve compared the 2 scenes and they’re almost identical, but I think the cubs were cuter in the original game. Here are some pictures for comparison:

Advent Children:

In game FMV (from Final Fantasy Shrine)

I had tried to look for the video online, but didn’t have much success. I did find the ending video though if you’re interested.

It turns out the video is on the CD just as an avi, so I uploaded it to my gallery: Final Fantasy VII – Epilogue. For some reason, the hue is extremely red. When I watched it in the game, it wasn’t that red and in fact looked pretty much like the pictures I posted above. I wonder if there’s actually 2 set of videos or maybe they’re using another codec to display the avi.