Last Saturday, I managed to finally complete Valkyria Chronicles. While the story was somewhat predictable, it was still pretty fun, with an epic boss battle to conclude. I really like the whole presentation, with FMVs looking very smooth and crisp! I must admit, I'm nowhere near a good strategist, so I ended up using walkthroughs to complete it quickly lol. All in all, a great game with heaps of depth, and highly recommended for RPG fans, and strategy fans too. =D

As the title above says, I've basically kept myself busy with RPGs that I've failed to finish, focusing on Valkyria Chronicles and Xenosaga.

I'm up to the stage in Valkyria Chronicles where I can level up easily with a method I found on Youtube. (Check below) The game itself is different from games that I've played before in that it is a mixture of strategy with an anime RPG style. Maybe the best way I could describe it is like Worms 3D.

Xenosaga is an interesting sci-fi RPG based in the future and is a 3 part series. Only number 2 was released in PAL regions, but I managed to get a copy of the first part while I was in the states. It's a typical turn based RPG fare, but nonetheless interesting and good to try out. I have been annoyed at times where I'm trying to find the boss I have to fight, but end up having to refer back to FAQs for more information. The trailer is below for those interested!

Other than that, I've just been internetting, and doing nothing. I'd better start looking for jobs soon!

It feels so good not being guilty of doing nothing as today marks the start of my Winter Holidays, with my last exam being yesterday. Didn't really do much, went to Billy's house, and played some SF4. He actually has some tactics, and is a lot better than me at the game. I won 2 or 3 times out of 15 matches, I need a lot more practise! He had English voice overs for his characters, so it didn't really feel like SF4 to me lol. Or maybe that's just an excuse, I dunno.

I gave Resident Evil 5 a go too. I'm not really a fan of horror, but like what many people said, it's a lot more action rather than survival horror. It's a pretty fun game I must admit, but not something I'd be willing to fork out money for straight away. Again, like Red Faction, perhaps a game I'd like to get out of a bargain bin, or if my friends just have it lying around, I'll just borrow it. Mercenaries mode was pretty fun, where it was focused on killing the most zombies in the time allocated.

We finished off the day with Mirror's Edge, as my friend was stuck in an area. Luckily, as I have finished before, I had more of a vague idea on what to do for each of the remaining chapters that he was up to. All in all, it was still a fun day with heaps of gaming! I'm just getting more and more excited and pysched up for the Gaming Party this weekend. =D

Instead of study, I decided to chilax a bit, and went a mate's place for some gaming, to try out new titles (he has heaps!) I had a go at COD:WAW Zombie mode - that was interesting, but it just seemed kind of pointless to me, as the objectives was to shoot zombies and protect yourself. I didn't really enjoy it, but he managed to have heaps of fun.

I also had a go at Red Faction: Guerilla. It was a lot different from what I had expected from the series, as I have number 1 in my collection too. It's become a 3rd person shooter, with destruction playing a huge part in it. I can see how it's heaps of fun, and could be something I'd enjoy picking up if it lands in the bargain bin! XD

Because he started console gaming from this current gen, he didn't know much about the awesome back library of ps2 games back then. I lugged my PS2 over, and managed to show him some of the best PS2 titles to have graced the system. Of course, coming from an HD background, and then switching to SD is pretty hard to impress. Zone of the Enders: 2nd Runner was the only game that made him go wow, with the cool effects and attention to detail. He was always an action fan, but I'm glad that he appreciates the other types of genres of games that are around. I was heaps surprised when he ordered Valkyria Chronicles, a game where it has a huge RPG emphasis on too.

We finished the day with a few hours of SFIV. My friend was getting a lot better from the first time I played against him, and it kinda helped me improve my game, the more I played against him. He unknowingly found my weaknesses, and acquired that "fighting instinct" he was lacking when he first got the game. In doing so, this results in awesome close matches, and the adrenaline rush was huge as! We finished epically as our last round of our last match match resulted in a double KO! A friend of mine told me it's kind of rare to double KO, but we managed it. I'm a lot more motivated now to get better at this game, youtubing vids here and there. Here's a pic of how we concluded the day:
Great times. I hope my Winter Gaming Warmer Party hopes to achieve this as well! =D

I spent last Thursday catching up with an old mate of mine Chau. It was great, just seeing how he was doing and wondering around teh city at various game shops. I swear I basically know all the video game shops from the 3x EB Games shops to JB....etc...

We got to talking about random stuff, and for the first time I thought that maybe I should go and study Psychology if I can't get a job in the business/IT field. It just seems interesting to see the way people think, and why they do so. But it was just a chain of thought, that's about it for the moment!

We had Japanese Curry at Kadoya for lunch. It was pretty good, but level 5 out of their 10 levels probably is my limit of hotness. I can't really eat that hot food, I just get heated up for no reason. :S Here's a pic of it below:

Hey guys, did you miss me? xD

I'm so relieved and relaxed now after what would probably be my worst 3 exam block that I've had in the 3 years that I've been at uni. I'm pretty confident I passed all of my exams, but whether or not I did better is another question. I'm determined to do as well as I can for my final one as well, but I basically took the whole day off today just to do nothing, which was pretty awesome, since I haven't done it for so long!

So in my day of nothingness, here is what I did:

• Cooking! I tried to cook some dishes as my parents are currently overseas, and it made me realise how much I actually enjoy it. I just don't know how to haha. Cooking potato salad was fun, and tasted alright. My first time pasta was easy to cook, and I basically learnt most of it when I was in America. If I had more opportunities to cook, I'd love to cook more! My creations are posted below.
  
• PS3ing! I got through 2 more chapters of Valkyria Chronicles. It's pretty fun, but I got stuck again lol. I hope to be in front of the anime, and plan to finish it this upcoming holidays!
• TVing! Managed to spend a lot of time watching food and music programs on TV. There was one from Taiwan, and made me want to go and visit there just to try out the different dishes they offer there compared to here.
• Animeing! I watched a few more episodes of K-On! and I must say it is pretty enjoyable and addicting at the same time. Mio ftw!

Hey guys! How's everyone doing? I really haven't been up to much, except being busy with assignments with one on Monday being the Marketing Plan, and one due today being an Advanced Database Systems paper. It's not too bad, and they're both group assignments.
Other news:

• I'm not going to China in the winter break anymore, and will have a winter holiday now; got rejected at the interview as I don't have any teaching experience. It's a bit disappointing, but given this current economic climate, it's not surprising.
• I'm gonna have to start "nerding it up" this weekend, thanks to my exam timetable. It's gonna be a journey full of stress, and I might become a different person as a result from it. Have to keep procrastination to a minimum. ^_^"
• Last weekend, I booted up Valkyria Chronicles again and finally got past the Chapter I was stuck on. This could be my stress reliever in between studies! =D
• My parents left for a family friend's trip today, hope they have a safe and enjoyable one!

That basically wraps up what happened this fortnight, will definitely update more during the upcoming winter break!

I've had a quick week this week, with nothing too exciting to report on. Things vaguely interesting that happened:

• I started playing Everybody's Golf: World Tour for the PS3 - it's a pretty fun game, but theres just too many online updates for me! I have no idea when I can actually start playing with people online. It's easy to pick up and play, but hard to master - just like what all good games should be~
• I got my exam timetable, its pretty hectic - 15th - 5:45pm then 16 - 8am, 11:15am, and finishing with 24th - 2:30pm. I guess I'll focus on everything but the team project stuff for now. I decided to start studying now, although it is still quite slow in progress. Wish me luck to see if I can apply for a special exam, since its 3 exams within 24 hours.
  
• With regard to my Beijing exchange, I didn't pass the interview with the company. With basically no feedback, and with my fellow friend from Taiwan, we've come to assume that maybe the people working there want non-asian looking English native speakers. It kinda annoyed me cos it goes against the whole AIESEC way, but we'll see how that goes.
• Yesterday on the bus, it kinda made me wonder what kids are like these days. I dropped a $2 coin, before i realised it, a primary school kid picked it up, and went off with it basically. *sigh* I guess for next time I should make sure my coins are put in the right place all the time.
  

I had an awesome long weekend, doing a lot of fun things. These include:

• first visiting EB and seeing various people dress up as star wars characters, mind you it was a bit crowded
• Went to Timezone with Yoshi, Mio and Anna, it was great fun to ダンレボ(DDR) and try out the new Initial D. I found the physics really different compared to AS4, being that you can't just swerve the wheel to drift, it feels a little more "realistic", and you have to brake in this version. It was still great fun playing vs mode too. I was lucky that my cousin's Timezone card works too, so managed to get some cheap games as well. =D
  
• Played a few rounds of SFIV with Billy online, I have a long way to go in order to be good at it, apparently I'm a tad predictable lol. It's still pretty fun, though I want to get a new internet connection ASAP! We'll see how that goes.

Another busy week crammed in again. What have I been up to? Here's a quick list:

• My brother's 20th Birthday where we had Italian food at Gianni's in Hamilton! The first time I've been there, but there is great food to be had there~
  
• Finalising project plans for my IT group project - its not hard, just uses heaps of time. =(
  
• Getting exam results - I'll have to study a lot more now, too much time spent on job applications! >_<
  
• Tidying up my room - I'll try to keep this up for as long as I can, it just makes life a lot more easier by being organised!
• Bought Everybody's Golf: World Tour from Kmart for $30. I've heard that it's great fun but I haven't had the chance to give it a go yet.
• I also managed to grab a copy of Shadow of the Colossus - I've heard it's a pretty rare title, and an "epic" game, so I got a copy for $10 without the manual or cover art.
  

After watching this trailer of an upcoming game, Brutal Legend, it makes me want to buy this game from day one.
It seems like a action adventure type of game, but not enough is known about the game. Jack Black does the voice acting of Eddie, so it makes for a humourous game. The game is designed by Tim Schafer, the guy who was involved with the scripts for Curse of the Monkey Island and Psychonauts. I'm really looking forward to this one, when more details come out! =D

I recently picked up this title from PSN (Playstation Network), and it's great fun! It is based on the arcade remake of the original Outrun back in the early 90's. Both of which I have embedded below.

Overview: Basically Outrun is an arcade racer where you start off at A and finish off at B. What makes it unique include: the collection of Ferraris that you can choose to drive, deciding whether or not to drift corners, and which of the 5 final destinations you will finish at. It is really addictive, with the drifting physics pretty easy to execute, and there are 15 different areas to explore depending on your road choice - check the video below out to see what I mean!

What I liked:

• Playing this version was pretty fun, with Online multiplayer too.
  
• Classic Arcade experience, with eye candy in pure 1080p HD goodness!
  

• My online experience was pretty glitchy, with random glitches here and there that occur randomly - see below.
• Online community wasn't as good as it could be, with people disconnecting when they realise they can't win =S
• G25 support is almost non existent, and is easier and more satisfying to play with the DS3 instead.
  

Random Online glitch =S


Original Outrun!


Outrun Online Arcade Online Gameplay.

That's pretty much how I would summarise my week. I had 2 mid semesters one before and one after my actual birthday. They weren't too bad, though the one before my bday was theory rather than practical which was kinda surprising.

After exams, I finally spent some time with my PS3, giving GRID a go and playing some more Eternal Sonata. GRID was alright once I changed to bumper view, it was just difficult to play with cockpit view because my screen is so small - you can't see the track! I'll probably give it more of a go later. Eternal Sonata is something pretty magical too - I recognised Hirano Aya's voice instantly haha.

Other than that, just cooling down and going to enjoy my weekend. :)

Hello hello! How was everyone's Easter? Full of Easter eggs? I wouldn't call myself a chocolate fanatic, so I didn't receive any, except from a tutor in a first year course lol.

I managed to skip jogging today, cos of the rain. I'm gonna get fat cos of the weather, haha. I basically spent all morning making a Gunpla (Gundam model kits) that I bought during my last trip. I'll probably do a post dedicated to it soon.

We went to the Chan's for a family friends Easter BBQ in the evening. It was alright, managed to play some PS3 too. Street Fighter IV is still great fun for gatherings, and GT is fun too if both people love cars. We ended up watching the movie Twilight. Some of the lines were a bit corny, but it is a romance film afterall.

Better start studying for my two exams after the break now, and not be like this girl in this pic! >_< (PS - just trying to brighten up my posts with random pics now xD)

Just thought I'd write something as a log of my easter break. I'm determined to make the most of everyday where possible, doing things that I enjoy, with a bit of study here and there too. I'll probably start the study after this easter long weekend! :) I might do some different articles over the course of this break, we'll see how we go.

The first day went by quick, played some Valkyria Chronicles, and slowly getting into the swing of things there. I've started doing morning jogs too, hopefully it'll make me into a healthier person for the future. On the other end, i've just been preparing for my party, with an old computer used for karaoke purposes. Once that is done, I might play around ubuntu with my laptop :) I'll keep you guys posted on other stuff!

It's almost Easter! Which means holidays are just around the corner, although it's only a week. So, what have I been up to the past week?

• I managed to grab Valkyria Chronicles for 59 AUD off eBay. Sealed copy too!
• Went to the final job interview at Deloitte - it wasn't too bad, but probably could've answered some questions a lot better.
• Attended The Source launch party - basically a networking event, and did some AIESEC work, letting everyone know how it was.
  
• Filling out some more job applications, I'm going to be so happy when all this is complete!
• Doing a job interview on Wednesday next week with BDO Kendalls, we'll see how that goes.
  
• Easter break starts on Friday!
  

Well, as I approach the end of week 2, I must say, it has been quite an enjoyable one. I've managed to make a few new friends, from Hong Kong to Korea, to Holland(I think) and to Japan.

Lately, I've just been keeping myself busy with attending different careers workshops supplied by UQ, as well as going to various employer presentations too. It just feels so weird that this is my final year of university! >_<>

I also saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire on Friday. It was something different from your typical Hollywood movie, and probably one of the best movies I've seen this year. It's more like a drama type of film, with a few funny moments here, and serious moments there. I enjoyed it, and it's worth checking out! :)

The past two days I've spent wandering around looking at various computer stuff, gaming, and anime! I'd post some HK pics, except that for some strange reason I cannot read the memory stick from the camera. I'll try and find a solution sometime soon. :)

I went to the popular Golden Computer Centre, an awesome place full of computer components, from monitors to systems to laptops to different types of accessories. I went to the adjacent shopping place too, known as Wong Gum. It used to be a popular place for copied stuff, but now it consists of gaming and pc accessories at the bottom. I managed to finally get SF4, but it wasn't unfortunately. xD

Another computer centre is the Mongkok Computer Centre. It has 3 levels of shops, but is nowhere near the scale of the Golden Computer Centre. Still has most of what you need, just specific components might be hard to get there.

Kwong Wah Street is popular for plastic model kits, from Gunpla (Gundam model kits), to various car ones. By wondering around there, I started to get an appreciation for this hobby, and the time and effort people put in to build and collect models. I ended up getting two kits, a 1/144 scale HG Exia model, as well as an FD3s Initial D model.

Speaking about models and other hobbies, for those of you who love anime/gaming stuff, be sure not to miss out on going to the Sino Centre. It is kind of the HK alternative to Akiba (Akihabara) that I know of there, with heaps of anime goods, manga, a few gaming stores, and even heaps of Japanese CD shops too. I love to visit there at least once everytime I go back! I ended up getting two posters there, a BoA one and a Street Fighter IV one too. My room's less boring now thanks to it. =) There is also an "Animate" shop nearby that sells heaps of figures, and gunpla too. It's worth a visit if there's a model/figure that you really want.

If you're in the mood for other collectibles that aren't necessarily anime related, you should visit the CTMA centre, or the Trendy Zone. They have various plastic models for sale from Hello Kitty keychains, to unique original ones too. Visiting these places reflects on how much the kid inside all of us resides even to this day!

Hey guys!

Just thought I'd give some life into this blog, with a new template, just 2 weeks a bit late from the start of this CNY. I went for a simplistic look, hopefully less cluttered than the old one where I tried to stick as much stuff in it as I could.

And on with life, what have I been up to? Not much really, I saw Underworld 3 - which was a prequel but I've never seen any of the earlier ones, so I might be missing out on something. It was an alright action flick, just that because it is set with a vampire setting, the lighting was pretty dark, and in doing so it was hard to see what was going on. The camera angles made it worse because it would move a bit too quick for my eyes. It lasted for about an hr and a half, and we saw it at Southbank, so it was alright for $6.50.

Other than that, just been keeping myself occupied with the ps3. I'm anxiously waiting for Steet Fighter IV - it just spells out awesome! Probably my first PS3 game I bought on the day of release. Here is the latest trailer I found on Youtube!



I'll keep everyone posted when there are more exciting things to blog about! :)

Ah yes, it's that time of year. Happy Chinese New Year!
身體健康!
龍馬精神!
心想事成!
新年快樂!
Hope you all have a wonderful year of the Ox.

We had a family friends party on CNY Eve. It was good fun, with the PS3 and Karaoke too; not too mention the awesome food there! Kudos to the parents who made the food.

I spent the new year just with my group of high school friends, and just went to the GAME ON Exhibition in Southbank. It was just great fun playing some 2 player games including DDR, Street Fighter 2, and 5 player Bomberman on the SEGA Saturn. Great day in all, just to spend time with friends.

Other than that, I've just been catching up back with anime. Code Geass is what I'm watching, and it's pretty awesome. Kinda like an alternative Death Note. Highly recommended!