Star Wars the Force Awakens

The seventh chapter in the Star Wars saga. All I can say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is basically a new hope but reskinned into a new franchise. There are new characters that we are rooting for. Old characters that we love. Every bit of nostalgia to bring the fans back. Basically is a good Star Wars movie. The story is fairly simple. A lot of the characters didn't get that much screen time. Probably they will in the next sequel. Lightsaber battles are not choreograph. So it looks more seedless. X-wings now come in black. The best thing that happens here is the new driod BB-8. Would I see it again? Probably not. This movie is still not as epic as Episode 5. The movie fall flat by having a whiny bad guy. It doesn't have the menacing effect as Darth Vader or even Maul has in the previous movies. Overall, a must watch if you are a Star Wars Fan

4/5

Year End Review

Finally, 2014 has come to an end. A lot of things happen so lets recap. This time I'm going to do a play by play of the stuff I did as well as other things I did during the year. Let's start

Games

Here are my stats of game during the year

PS3: 1
PC: 2
PS Vita: 16
PS4: 2
3DS: 6

Adventure: 2
Action: 4
Racing: 4
FPS: 1
Puzzle: 4
Shooter: 2
Fighting: 4
Platformer: 4
Sports: 2

Game played: 26
Finished game: 24

Game of the year

3: Luigi's Moon Dark Mansion

The first game I actually played with my 3DS. I love every moment of it. The thing that draws me back to the game is trying to get all of the upgrades. Plus vacuuming ghost is damn fun

2: Need for Speed Most Wanted

This is the best racing game I've played this year. All the cars handle differently. The tracks are unique and challenging.

1: Injustice Gods Among Us

The best game of the year. I still pick it up from time to time. 72 hours in and I still havent reached level 100. Multiplayer sucks (probably the vita connection). Other than that Batman rocks.

Series

Due to my lack of a job. I do spend time watching a lot of series. Here is the total series I watched for the whole year

1256 shows

Memorable shows

• The Entire DCAU
• Marvel's Agent of SHIELD Season 1
• Person of Interest Season 3
• The Legend of Korra ( Still running)
• Homeland Season 3 and 4

Movies

17 Movies for this year 

Movie of the year

3: Guardians of the Galaxy
2: Gone Girl (I didnt watch it at the cinema but it was awesome)
1: Captain America the Winter Soldier

Unrelated = 46 :)

NEW STUFF FOR 2014

1. An Awesome PS4 for my birthday which is under utilize because Arkham Knight was delayed
2. Nvidia Shield which im addicted with Real Racing 3

New Years Resolution

1. Maximum time on a game is 2 weeks unless the game is actually really good
2. Stop spending too much time in the bathroom
3. Try to get a job
4. Be a better person for my family 

Happy New Year 2015

The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies

We are finally here. The epic climax of the movie. The movie has very little dialogue than the previous. Its 2 hours non stop fighting. Like most of the reviewers this movie is bit too long... But enjoyable one

5/5 orcs

Last movie of the year

Big Hero 6

Watch this last week with the kid. Awesome movie based on the Marvel comic. The main character is obviously Baymax. Wish there were more segments with him. The other side characters were cool too.

4/5 tralalalala

The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1

Almost forgot about this one. Well this I can say is the best among the trilogy. Since it doesn't deal with the game but more on a propaganda which is a good thing. After seeing this end I decided to wiki the whole book. It turns out that part 1 is only the first 30% of the book. How on earth they are going to fit the rest in the second act. 7 more months

5/5 mockingjays

Interstellar

Its been a while since I went to the cinema. What better way to start by watching a Christopher Nolan epic. I can say this movie has a great premise BUT... damn there are a lot of things that can be differently in the movie. Like they have all the ideas for space travel but somethings just leave you scratching your head. Overall is a movie about the relationship about a father and daughter. Nice movie but its seriously too heavy. Plus TARS is awesome

4/5 corn fields

Nvidia Shield the FAQ review

Last week I got my Nvidia Shield. It may be second hand but it still looks and plays great. I'm going to do a FAQ review on it.

What is it?
It's a portable andriod gaming console develop by Nvidia.

Why does it looks like that?
There are a couple portable gaming controllers for android devices that give people the feel on tactile feedback. Nvidia went and 1-up the competition by making an actual gaming controller that is stuck with a 5 inch screen.

So does that mean the screen can't be detachable?
Correct... The screen acts like a clamshell. It protects the buttons from being accidentally pressed.

Can we type on it?
That's very subjective. Yes we can. But it's not that convertable touching the screen when the controller is sticking out. But at least they gave the option of typing with the joystick.

So it only can play games?
It was design with games in mind. it's just basically like any android device. You can do anything an android can.

Is the controller comfortable?
Yes, it fits most adult hands. It has 4 face buttons, 2 joytisticks with pressure points. 4 shoulder buttons. A start button,  sound. A tegra zone button, home and back button but...

But....
The device is 1- 1.5 kg heavy. So holding it in the air too long can cramp up your hands.

What about the screen?
The screen is nice and sharp. it's 5 inch so it's just right for personal gaming.

Ok enough about the device. What about the games?
Here is the best part of the review. the games I can say it plays games extremely well. The touch controls for Android games are automatically map to the controller. But that's not the best part about the device...

It's not?
What you got in your hand is a history device. I say that since this device is able to emulate all type of consoles from the 8-bit era to 128-bit...

Get out....!!!!!
So far let me list down what it can emulate
NES, Mega Drive, SNES, Genesis, N64, PS1 and Dreamcast (yup no joke) = 7 home consoles
Gameboy, GBA, Game Gear, Nintendo DS, PSP = 5 portable consoles
And a couple of arcade emulators.

So basically what you have in your hands is a collection of 7000 games in your fingertips. (Emulation is wrong unless you already have the Rom in your hands... Disclaimer)

So it is worth it to get this rather than just use a normal phone? Anything exclusive for this device.
That's a subjective question. Like me I don't game on my phone. I like a dedicated gaming device. This fits all the right criteria of a gaming console. There are only 2 exclusive games on the shield. which is Portal and Half-Life 2. Yup the PC ports are available exclusively for this device in the play store. You can just go download it in your smartphone. It won't recognise the hardware....

Overall... I'm giving this machine a 5/5

Bonus Round Questions

Can I fit this in my pocket?
No... Too big. You can put it in your bag

What games have you been playing?
A lot of real racing 3 and star wars racer for the N64.

So what about your other handhelds?
Ps vita is on temporary hiatus...
3DS is powered down after Smash...
I'll get back to that eventually.

Super Smash Bros 3DS

It's been a while so let's gets started

Context: Before I start the review. I can say I've been playing a lot of SSB. Until the item I accidentally brick my 3DS... So while my 3DS is out of commission. Let me review the game

Game: Super Smash Bros for 3DS
Genre: Fighting
Platform: 3DS
First 3 Hours: Got all of the characters in less than 2. All 54 of them. My favourites are Greninja and Sonic. After finishing the main smash. I was still playing it for the challenges. There are 105 challenges that range from the easy to the impossible. The actually a big grind to get it all. And don't forget about the trophies.
What I liked: Gameplay, Characters, Challenges, Greninja, Little Mac, Trophies
What I didn't liked: Little Mac, Smash Run, Classic Mode
Status: All characters, All stages, 73/105 challenges completed. 235/600+++ trophies collected. Going to go again after a couple of months

Mario Tennis Open

Game: Mario Tennis Open
Platform: 3DS
Genre: Sports
First 3 Hours: Gameplay is fast paced. I still don't get what are the colourful circles on the court are for. But it makes for an intense match
What I liked: Gameplay, Courts, Characters
What I didn't liked: Lack of variety.
Status: Finish a single tournament with Mario. There are still a couple modes. Probably get that later
Score: 4/5 Tennis balls

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon

Game: Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
Platform: 3DS
Genre: Adventure
First 3 Hours: Besides the title sounding like a Transformers movie. The game is awesome. It's Ghostbusters with a vacuum. There are a lot of interesting ways to catch a ghost and the feeling on sucking them in is utterly satisfying
What I liked: Storyline, Level up system, the vacuum, Stages
What I didn't liked: No jump, no checkpoints, restarting the same mission over again
Status: Finish the main story mode and rescued Mario
Score: 5/5 dark moon pieces

The Maze Runner

Just watched another dystopian teen survival movie. It's basically the same premise but with an added bonus. A maze to run in. Seriously, for a movie called the maze runner I would expect it to focus more on the maze. It has little to do with the maze running and more to do with the characters. Not to say it's a bad movie. It ended with a cliffhanger. Had to Wikipedia to find out what's the story about.

3/5 Mazes

The State of Gaming

Since there is nothing new to report I am just going to write about the state of gaming in my home country Malaysia. Where to start? Let me break it down the the consoles, genre, players and environment since that the best way to gauge how Malaysian view gaming. Its going to be a too long too read article.. but since no one views my blog anyway... I would say this is just for me to keep a record of things

Gaming is divided into 2 categories. Console and PC gamers. Which is also divided into 2 different categories. Those people who plays a single game (i.e FIFA, DOTA 2) and people like me who likes the art of gaming. 

DS

Let's start with the most popular Nintendo console ever (in my opinion). Over here piracy is king. Don't get me wrong there are people who still buy original games. But I could say that is less than 15% of the market. Most of everyone who owns a DS, will own an Acekart, R4i gold or a generic flash cart to play backup roms. The funny thing is that the roms are damn easy to find and all you need is a micro sd card to put all the games in. A single 64gb card can fit close to 400 or more games. I believe that the reason that the DS manage to sell a lot of units. Who doesn't want a console that can carry a lot of games and that is portable. I rarely see people play a DS on the street. Probably is because of...

PSP  

Actually this is not the reason. The main reason why handheld gaming is less than 5% of gaming in Malaysia is because of the apples and andriods of the world. In a world where you can unlimted supply of games in your tablet. Who wants to bring a dedicated gaming machine.'Well, as I said in my previous post that everything here, piracy comes first. This console is no stranger. With CFW (custom firmware), players are able to download and load any game they want. For me the best game on this machine is still Killzone Liberation ad-hoc multiplayer wifi. I think handheld gaming is almost dead here since everyone has a smartphone and they can get better games (so they say) on that...Personally pressing a screen is nothing compared than pressing buttons. Which brings me to...  

PS3, XBOX 360 and Wii

I'm doing all three last gen console at once since they all share a common theme... Piracy. Don't ge tme wrong there are still people who buy original games. I think there are around 100k-150k people still buy original games in order to access the PS Network, Xbox Live and err.. whatever Nintendo does... But the main issue here is old people (37++ age group) view console gaming as toys for kids. I've seen kids who can't even reach the third row of a shelf play Grand Theft Auto V and COD Modern Warfare... I think they think that the parents are idiots. I think that the parents are not bothered to educate themselves on what the kids are playing. So they will just go to a store and buy the game that little Timmy has been wanting to play for a long time...Idiots... Where was I, oh yes, parents will see consoles as babysitting tools. So they don't want to fork up a lot of money on original software. Since you can get a game here for as low as $3, why don't just buy that. So that why these 3 consoles are popular with the old people. As for the young people, they are practically cheap (gaming is an expensive hobby, no denying it) It's better to save a couple bucks then to buy original software. Among the 3 console, the most popular is the Xbox 360. Its easy to hack, games are cheap and most people just want to play FIFA on it. The Wii is more like a 15 minute of fame type of console. Once you are done with Wii Sports, you are practically done. I almost forgot to touch on the best console of all. The...

PC

Master Race. So that what people like to call it. I used to be a PC gamer until the games were just to advance for my PC to handle. Now I just use it to stream movies. PC gamers are a funny bunch. Since 100% of PC software you can get it for free. Most of them already play free-to-play games. Young kids nowdays love to play DOTA 2. I honestly have no idea what that game is all about... Doesn't look like fun when your face looks like its going to poop all the time. Seriously... that game is fun as a kick in the nuts... I have never seen anyone crack a smile while playing this game. Maybe that's just how the game is played. Seriously... Another famous game is Counter-Strike. I call it the poor man FPS but its still a cracking good time when you load it up. Oh yeah... and of course FIFA... You can't forget about FIFA. PC gaming has become the most expensive gaming medium. Every 1 year, your technology becomes obsolete. Upgrading is the same cost of buying 4 consoles your machine needs a fine tuning every now and then. If you stick the low spec games, you should be fine for another 10 years. I would like to end my rant with the...

FUTURE

The Future of gaming in Malaysia. Lets see... In the handheld department, the 3DS will have loyal Poke'mon and Nintendo followers (ie Me). It is hackable but from what I heard recently, the console with the specific hacking firmware are selling like hotcakes. Sooner it will just be another rare item on the list of pirate goods. The Vita is cheap.. but there has little traction over here. Since the console is not modding friendly, the game carts cost a lot of money. Plus the memory cards are also not cheap. A lot of people over here (90%) don't seem to know that the Vita is the most profitable console of all since you can get free games with a yearly subscription of $50. The only console that is doing well over here is the PS4. Those stuff are selling like hotcakes. FIFA (of course) is one of the best seller. The Wii U is like a unwanted mole... Nobody wants it and no shop wants to keep it in their stock. Its like the kid in the group that no one likes to be friends with (but I really wanted a WII U :((....). The Xbox One has only 10 followers. I say 10 since I saw 10 shops carrying it... So probably 10 people will snatch it... The current generation is one step ahead of the pirates. But its going to be a  matter of time until the pirates figure a way to bypass all of the systems countermeasures. Probably in another 5 years. Until then... I would say.. Its a great time to be a gamer... rock on 

New Super Mario Bros 2

Game: New Super Mario Bros 2
Platform: 3DS
Genre: Platformer
First 3 Hours: You can't go wrong with Mario. The game is pretty straightforward. Lots of hidden paths to get star coins. Fun times all around.
What I liked: Golden Tanooki Suit, Stages,
What I didn't liked: Progression based on Star coins is hard
Status: Finish the game with 60 Star coins
Score: 5/5 golden tabookis

Injustice Gods Among Us

Game: Injustice Gods Among Us
Platform: PS Vita
Genre: Fighting
First 3 Hours: I'm been playing a lot of this game. Almost close to 72 hours. I still can't beat the impossible battle. It's a good game to pick up and play.
What I liked: Everything
What I didn't liked: WiFi connectivity
Status: Beat all the star labs missions, story mode, now at level 59.
Score 5/5 heat blasts

PlayStation Battle Royale All Stars

Game: PlayStation Battle Royale All-Stars
Platform: PS Vita
Genre: Fighting
First 3 Hours: A fighting game like smash but you only have a super move to drop your opponent. It's gets repetitive after a while.  What I liked: Characters.                                What I didn't liked: Gameplay.                   Status: Finished Raiden single.player mode. I'm done.

Score: 3/5 smash moves

Sega Rally Championship

Game: Sega Rally Championship
Platform: PC
Genre: Racing
First 3 Hours: Not applicable
First 5 Minutes: That how long it took to finish the game. This game didn't age well. I remember Sega Rally being slow. But afterr booting it up on my laptop. It damn fast. 3 tracks in 5 minutes. Straightforward enough
Score: 2/5 dirt roads

The Typing of the Dead

Game: The Typing of the Dead
Platform: PC
Genre: Shooter
First 3 Hours: The house of the Dead being made into a keyboard shooter. They should do this if anyone wants to be a great typist.
What I liked: Gameplay
What I didn't liked: Cheap shots
Status: Finish the game in one sitting.
Score: 5/5 keyboards

Mario Kart 7

Game: Mario Kart 7
Platform: 3DS
Genre: Racing
First 3 Hours: Mario Kart. What's not to love. The series has changed over the years. With the addition of gliders it does feel a bit different. It's still good but nowhere close as the DS version.
What I liked: Gameplay, Karts
What I didn't liked: Some tracks are quite boring
Status: Finish one cup. Want to try again
Score: 5/5 karts

Super Mario 3D Land

Game: Super Mario 3D Land
Platform: 3DS
Genre: Platformer
First 3 Hours: Finally got a GW card for my 3DS. The first Nintendo game on my list is the best platform game ever. It didn't disappoint. Awesome stages. Great music
What I liked: Everything
What I didn't liked: Nothing
Score: 5//5 Golden Tanooki

Lumines Electric Symphony

Game: Lumines Electric Symphony
Platform: PS Vita
Genre: Puzzle
First 3 Hours: Lumines is a game about connecting 4  or more blocks. It's also part rhythm game.
What I liked: Gameplay, Music, Graphics
What I didn't liked: Difficulty
Status: Played the game till level 35. It had around 80 levels. I'm consider done.
Score: 4/5 blocks