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Monday, July 29, 2013
Books: Ender's Game

Books: Ender's Game

Have you watched the Ender's Game movie trailer? Kind of confusing right? Exactly, what is the movie's premises at all? Ender stands for the kid's name, and the story is about a kid who played the game, hence the title Ender's Game. But the game itself is not named nor developed by Ender. He merely played the game. The game, that will decide the fate of all humanity.

Of course I haven't watched the movie, are you crazy? The release date for the movie to the nearest cinema is 1st November 2013, which is the next 4 month. But I did watched the trailer, and I was intrigued. Not to mention the sneak peek trailer had shown Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. The movie was based on a novel series, a science fiction novel series. Which is exactly my favorite preference on novel series.

So I spend a few day looking exactly which book did this movie belong to. I once got my hand on the I Am Legend,  I, Robot and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and those weren't bad at all. Seeing that there is some spaceship and explosion all over the places, it could be another good read while I'm waiting for the next Horus Heresy series.


Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Book: Warhammer 40k - The Horus Heresy Part 9

Book: Warhammer 40k - The Horus Heresy Part 9

Well now, I think I'm back on track. And I start writing the Horus Heresy series in sequence back. Let us start with the seventeenth novel of the series, The Outcast Dead. The setting this time took place in Terra after Magnus 'incursion' into the Emperor's forbidden Imperial Palace Dungeon.

The story revolves around a 'broken' astropath named Kai Zulane. When Magnus the Red barges into the Imperial Dungeon by means of sorcery, the psychic backlash caused a terrible warp disturbance which greatly affect the City of Sight. The city houses the famed Scholastica Psykana, where psyker such as astropath and alike are trained. The effect devastated the psyker cadres stationed there all but one, Kai Zulane.

Due to his broken psyche, the only thing passed into his mind is the future vision and revelation of the Horus Heresy's culmination. Imperial agent quickly try to gather this sensitive information to tip the balance into the Imperial balance by any means necessary. Unfortunately, Kai Zulane broken psyche causing the information extraction proved to be difficult.

At the same time in the prison, the very same where Kai Zulane is tortured, lies 7 legionary from the Traitor Legion. Imprison for the same reason, information extraction, just like Kai Zulane, the legionaries were bidding their time to escape. When the moment came and pass, Kai Zulane was taken along with the legionaries to be brought to the Warmaster Horus Lupercal, the Emperor's traitor son.

During in transit toward the rebel camp, Kai Zulane was visited in his dream by a mysterious figure who turn out to be Emperor himself, unlocking the vision of the future thus giving the Emperor the decision to be made at the end of Horus Heresy.


Next one, is the eighteenth novel of the series title Deliverance Lost. Now, this is the novel that I was waiting for. This book covers on another primarch named Corvus Corax from the Loyalist Legion of the Raven Guard. From the summary of the Horus Heresy, Corax was known to be defeated along with the bulk of his Legion during the dropsite massacre of the Isstvan V.

However, he managed to escape barely with his skin attached when one of the Raven Guard cruisers that was supposed to stay behind makes a daring attempt to contact with the lost Loyalist forces in Isstvan V. Corax aboard the ship and make haste back to Terra to report the devastating losses suffered by the Loyalist.

With Ferrus Manus, primarch of the Iron Hand Legion, lies dead while Vulkan, primarch of the Salamanders Legion, was missing. To add further to the terrible losses was that the majority of the three Legion sent to Isstvan V were completely annihilated. Legionaries, veteran, war machine and material were all lost with the possibility that the three Loyalist Legion would be out of action for the remainder of the war.

Corax, however, was not just to sit on his ass while waiting for traitorous bastard brothers to come and knock on his front door. During his stay on Terra, Corax took the opportunity to ask help from the Emperor to rebuilt his Legion using the ancient gene technology, the very same used for the Primarch Project. Using the ancient gene technology, Corax manage to quickly breed a new batch of legionaries. Not enough to quickly restore the Legion to full strength but sufficient enough to organize raids and lightning strikes. However, Corax's plan did not go unnoticed by the illusive Alpha Legion, especially by their primarch Alpharius Omegon.

Hmmm.. I love it when novels was about the primarch or the Legion instead of some random bystander..

Sunday, July 21, 2013
Book: Warhammer 40k - The Horus Heresy Part 8

Book: Warhammer 40k - The Horus Heresy Part 8

Its been a while since I wrote about my favorite sci-fi novel series. Well, its not that I stopped reading them. If anything, I actually read even more. Now I have read almost every piece of Warhammer 40k novel series, like the Imperial Guard series, Nightlord series, Word Bearer, and many more. The only difference now is that I no longer purchase the physical copy of the book, instead I bought them as e-book. I tried the audio book once, the Garro series, didn't enjoy it. Maybe because I love reading in silence, you know, instead of listening someone reading it to me.


Anyway, I almost forgot where I stopped. Not to mentioned I jumped and skipped around with the book's number, well, no matter. All I need to do is find the one that I haven't wrote yet. Tales of Heresy is the tenth book in the Horus Heresy series. It composed several short stories, in other word, a book of anthology. There is not much that I could tell about the short stories, all of the event happened in between during the Horus Heresy with two exceptions. Two short stories in here that caught my attention.

One of them is titled 'After Desh'ea'. This story takes place during the time when the Emperor found one of the missing primarches. Desh'ea, hmm, there is only one primarch hailed from there and it is none other than Angron himself, known as the Red Angel. Of all the primarches in the Warhammer 40k universe, Angron is almost as mysterious as the Alpharius. Where Alpharius homeworld was never revealed, Angron however is the only primarch who doesn't rule or conquer his homeworld. In fact, back in his world, it is know that he was captured and made as a fighter in a gladiatorial pit. In other word, he was a former slave. But the short story, well it is a short story, only cover the part where the Emperor 'kidnap' Angron from the planet side.

Which during that time Angron was leading his gladiator friend's in a rag tag armies of slaves to rebel against the high-born. Angry, being snatched from his fellow fighters, Angron killed one of the Emperor's praetorian forcing the Emperor to teleport Angron to another ship, his own ship, the Conquerer. There, Angron's own legion, initially know as the War Hound, try to reason with him, only to be killed one-by-one (yeah, he is really angry at that time and all the other time as well). Each and every Chapter Master, Commander, Captain, pretty much all the legion's higher up was killed trying to reason with him. Until finally he was calmed by Kharn, captain of the Eight Assault Company. Convinced that now the Legion is his new gladiator fighters, Angron renamed his Legion as the World Eater (back on Desh'ea his rag-tag army was known as the City Eater).

And the other short story that becomes my personal favorite, is title 'The Last Church'. This event takes place before the Great Crusade even began. It happened during the Age of Strife on Earth. At that time, the Emperor was well known throughout the globe as his first prototype of superhuman soldiers called, Thunder Warrior, marched relentlessly against all adversary. The Emperor was ending all wars among the people of Earth by either offering or forcing the allegiance from every nations and states to the Emperor's banner. Ruthlessly, the Emperor also destroyed every fane, temple, and church to stamp out superstition and deity worship in order to introduce the Imperial Truth. It is in this church, the last one standing on planet Earth that the priest tried to withhold to his belief, finally relented when he realize the grand vision of the Emperor.


Next book is the Age of Darkness, the sixteenth book in Horus Heresy series. It is also an anthology book, consist of several short stories. Not much to tell and personally I didn't find any of the short stories to my liking with the exception of the 'Savage Weapon'.

In the 'Savage Weapons' short story, it reveals what happened to the First Legion, the Dark Angels, during the Horus Heresy (they were missing during the conflict). It turns out that they were engaging one of the traitor Legion, the Night Lords, in the Thramas sector.

They were locked in a stalemate and neither could break free because both Legion was personally commandeered by their own primarch. Finally, Conrad Curze, primarch of the Night Lords, invites Lion el'Jonson, primarch of the Dark Angels, to parley in order to break the stalemate.

However it turns out that Conrad Curze have no intention to parley, in fact he just wanted to reveal his 'sight' (it is known that Curze have a gift of foresight in a form of vivid dreams) to his erstwhile brother, el'Jonson. In his dream, he saw what would have become of el'Jonson after war. This infuriates el'Jonson, causing them to change blows with swords and lightning claws, with later reduced into brawling to the ground. When both were finally disengaged, both by their own praetorians, the opposing Legions quickly resume the fight again. Only this time, el'Jonson is troubled greatly. For Curze dreams, never not come to pass.

Well, that is all for tonight.
[Tutorial] Playing Nintendo DS in Android

[Tutorial] Playing Nintendo DS in Android

Easy, all you have to do is find the apps named NDS4Droid from the Google Play, then you almost certainly probably maybe able to play the NDS game in your smartphone. Hey, I'm not promising anything other than to tell you that the reason why emulators like this exist is because sometimes it is much more convenient to have multi-purpose gaming platforms

Not to mentioned that some consoles become outdated by a newer consoles rendering your old game collection to be unplayable (I still keep a Playstation 1 emulator so just I could play again my old Metal Gear series). There is a lot of NDS emulator for Androids, but I find that NDS4Droid is the most stable (well, for now) apps. There are other emulators including NDS4Droid that is continuously updated, upgraded, and re-tweak just to ensure the maximum gaming experience when you had the old hand-held console.

To use the apps? Also easy. All you gotta to do is just install the apps, then open up the menu to search for the ROM files (which of course, you own the game). Do you need BIOS to get the emulator running smooth? Not at all. See, very easy
And this is how your emulator would be look like when you play the game. The difference between this emulator and the real console is the console screen is actually vertical, but in the emulator the screen is divided horizontally. Well.. it doesn't really matter.





Of course, one thing you need to know is that even in PC, NDS emulator is known to have a quite of machine requirement, which is 2 Ghz processing power. So yup, in your smartphone some games might be unplayable due to the limitation of the smartphone processor capacity.
[Games] Pacific Rim the Video Game

[Games] Pacific Rim the Video Game


Ok, I'm going to write one more about the Pacific Rim, then I'm done. Before this we have the movie, the comic (graphic novel), and now we have the video game.

Actually, I might have been waiting for this. Too bad its kinda disappointing for me. But hey, don't let my own personal opinion and preference deter you from enjoying whatever that is you enjoy. If you love the movie, then why not collect some of its merchandise, a fan is still a fan.

This game is published and developed by Yuke's Co. Ltd, a game company based in Japan. I'm not exactly familiar with this game company but apparently they  known for developing WWE Smackdown! game series. They also have experience in developing games based on a movie called The Incredibles.. so..
By the way, this game is developed in a multi platform so there would be for Playstation, Xbox and PC.

I think the gameplay is already spread all over the net, especially in Youtube. So I don't think Spoiler Alert! would be necessary. Every one could see exactly what to expect in this game. But I must warn you though, don't get your hopes too high. The poster might look good, the movie could be great, but with game, well, we've seen what kind of a game it would be when the title have 'the Video Game' at the end..


The game's genre is fighting, a fighting arcade. You know, Street Fighters or Mortal Combat, something like that. The gameplay is pretty much a simple one. In fact, its very simple. You choose which Jaeger or Kaiju (thats right, you can choose to be a Kaiju), and fight with the AI opponents. The opponent could also be either a Kaiju or Jaeger.

The character for both Jaeger and Kaiju is pretty much the same with the one in the movie. There are extra character but it will be included in the urm... DLC (Seriously? A fighting arcade game nowadays have DLC?). Well, back in my days we would just trash the buttons on the controller to get some hidden characters unlocked.

But what makes this game different from other fighting arcade game, aside from the DLC of course, hm? Just as all the fans (probably maybe) would have hope for a video game version of Pacific Rim, yes, there is a customize feature in the game. You can build up your own Jaeger (or Kaiju) and use it to urmm.. fight. The character that the player use would gain experience (you'll get it each time you throw a punch and finishes mission) where the accumulated experience can be use to purchase new gear or increase body part level. Sound nice, eh?

Well, too bad all that prettiness would just go to waste because you still gonna brawl like a piss drunk. In case you still haven't realize from the top all the way down of this article, the graphic is really sucks. I mean, its not like it really matters- wait, it does. The movie was great is precisely because of the graphic.

I mean it was the details of the machine monster what makes us drool over the awesomeness of robot vs monster battle. Not to mention that the entire game lacks of a proper background sound or even something as simple as effect sound. The game might as well put the sound of Whack! or Kapoww! each time somebody's punches landed on something.

Oh yeah, right. I almost totally forgot about the 'single player' and 'mission' part. Well, because of this is a fighting arcade game, so the mission is not exactly something complex with multiple objective. In fact, all you gotta do is pound your opponent's head like a mashed potato. And yes, there would be rounds, like in a wrestling. And no, you not gonna get a chance of walking around rampaging in a city full with scared population. In fact, the mission is completely repetitive and it have nothing to do with any story line, at all. Its just gonna be you, your opponent, and clobbering time! Doesn't matter if the opponent is a Kaiju or Jaeger.

Overall, I think- does it matter if I try to sugar-coat it? Honestly the game really sucks and what would you expect for a game developed and released almost at the same time as the movie. Hey, the movie alone uses $200 million for a budget. So its understandable that the video game version of Pacific Rim is just another way to fork up some money just to break even.

Good news is that movie director, Guillermo del Toro, said that if the movie is a success (they already started the production of the sequel) then next time he would do his best to ensure the gaming experience to be the same as in the comic and the movie.



Thursday, July 18, 2013
[Book] Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero

[Book] Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero

 
That right everyone, I got my hand on the Pacific Rim comic book. Took me a lot of hassle searching around Amazon.com and you wouldn't believe the price tag they put on this 112 pages of a comic book. $16!! I've paid less for a even thicker graphic novel (its a comic, really) before. Luckily, I found a really nice guy who resold it at cheaper price and still good as new. Good thing you could find the 'used' comic book along with the new ones. Gives you choices and whatnot.. but do be careful for a 'used and damaged' goods.

So what does this comic book (opss, its graphic novel) reveal about the Pacific Rim storyline? As per title, the novel starts with the background story, how the human-made titan robo the Jaeger came into being. Now, because of this book is newly released, so, some unwritten rule could be in effect somewhere along the line like, Spoiler Alert! probably maybe. So, yeah, spoiler alert and click read more to know more about the graphic novel.

Monday, July 15, 2013
[Movie] Pacific Rim

[Movie] Pacific Rim

Finally, an Westernized mech battle. Well, not exactly the first. But I always like a mech movie incorporated both Western and Eastern culture. I do like anime, but I really hate Japanese over dramatizing of things like, the answer to life, universe and everything, and why human is such a piece of shit that polluting the world . It just infuriates me. For example, I was once a fan of Gundam series, but ever since they make the Gundam Seed series into 'more of a drama and less of mobile suits battle', I kinda hate Gundam now. I practically skipped over 60% of the entire episodes (the dialog, reminisce, conversation regarding on the reason of the existence of humanity, bla bla bla)  and proceeded to watch the mobile suits battle scenes only.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to glorify the western movie instead. Even the western motion picture have its flaw. Like the iconography, popular culture, its all just tiring. For example like, in every western motion picture, there will be a woman. Who is strong, equal to man bla bla bla something like that but end up being a sex object. Yeah, hey, remember Transformers the movie? With its sequel the Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon? Did you remember how awesome was Optimus Prime? Don't lie to me, I bet the only thing you remember was Megan Fox bending on a sports car. And she was not even involved with the story line at all!


But today I'm not gonna write about my opinion on Western Eastern motion picture or what is wrong with the Transformer the movie. Let by gone be by gone. I'm only gonna say this, if you're a real fan of science fiction, the this movie will blow you mind. Click on read more to see the spoiler. Oh yea, spoiler alert, I guess, if you haven't watch 'em.

Thursday, July 4, 2013
Landslide in Ukay Perdana and what does it mean.

Landslide in Ukay Perdana and what does it mean.

KUALA LUMPUR: A landslide at a construction site in Ukay Perdana left three foreign workers dead and another injured.
Eight workers were performing piling duties at the Sierra Ukay construction site for single-storey houses when the landslide occurred at about 11am Wednesday.
The landslide buried four workers beneath the rubble while others escaped unscathed.
Selangor Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (operations) Mohd Sani Harul said when firemen arrived at about 11.30am, two of the victims had been pulled from the rubble by their co-workers.
"One of them, a Myanmar national had already died, while a Bangladeshi worker sustained multiple injuries including a broken leg.
"Two other workers were pulled from the rubble but they were already dead.
"The bodies have been sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for post-mortem, while the injured worker was sent to Ampang Hospital for treatment.
"We are still investigating the cause of the landslide,” he said, adding that the department would work with other agencies to probe the matter further.
Mohd Sani explained the construction site was located on a hill slope in Ukay Perdana.
"We will contact the housing developer soon. Our operation was wrapped up within an hour,” he said.
The Source: The Star Online

Time of occurence: Thursday July 4, 2013

The Comment:

Not exactly the biggest news out there. But for those who doesn't know where is Ukay Perdana or Sierra Ukay, or maybe you do know its in Ampang, the place is actually much more accurately to be near Bukit Antarabangsa.

You know, the one that have a major landslide that occurred in 6 December 2008, killed four people and buried 14 bungalows. The cause of the landslide at that time was believed to be the pipe leakage laid by Syabas, saturated the land with water and make the ground grow weak and smooth. Like mud or something.

The place gain it notoriety by the name of 'Hill of Death'. Which is hilarious to some people because we all know that the real reason that the landslide becomes big news was because it happened to famous people. Its bungalow you guys, who do you think lives there? When real disaster like food poisoning happened in schools throughout the country, no one even bat an eye, because you know.. its only cause the death of some peon's kid that nobody cares about.
Why? Have you ever heard a school canteen called 'Diner of Death' before? Exactly, thats what I thought.

What about the case back in 2010 where a crocodile terrorizing a fishing village somewhere around Teluk Kemang? Where in the end the crocodile was shot to death because, why not? If the authority will not take action then perhaps a real man would get the job done. I know about this case because I lived around the area at that time, and yes, there ARE crocodiles there. Salt water crocodile. The issue was ages ago and the complaints were numerous.
There were cases where people got their legs bitten.

Like this guy. Souce: Cosmo.com.my

But there are people ignored the case because, you guys, its a crocodile. Crocodile don't bite, they fucking murder you! And oh, what was the authority have to say about this case? Nope, there is absolutely no crocodile. There was also an official statement by the Menteri Besar saying, no. There is no crocodile. And if it does, don't poke the beast or it will retaliate. Let me be honest here, if you are living in a fishing village, its hard NOT to disturb the beast because, you know, you gotta to fish, needs to eat, got kids to send to college, that sort of things.

What.. that crocodile isn't from around here. It 'strays' from somewhere else. Like Sungai Linggi or somewhere ELSE.

Even if, the victim's injury was not caused by a crocodile's 'love bite', the reason why the victim even mention the word crocodile was because the locals knew there was a crocodile there. They just saying, you know. Like, hey you got injured, was it bitten by a crocodile or somebody just pour some ketchup for a really nasty pranks? And then everybody just laugh it out loud. Ha ha ha but seriously though, there is crocodile in the water. The locals, they are nice bunch.

Why do I relate both news that supposedly have no relation at all? Well, no reason in particular. Except when something becomes big in the news, you know that someone in higher ups or have a relation with higher ups was involved. Like the, 4 deaths and 14 bungalow buried in the landslide of the 'Hill of Death' in 2008. Or the landslide that kills 3 and injured 1 workers just yesterday (who were building, well, you guess it a bungalow). 


The landslide that killed 3 and  injured 1 worker.

Hey, don't mind the 1,000 kg crocodile prowling around the fishing villages. In fact, you can even pretend that the crocodile doesn't exist. 
You know why people ignored the crocodile? I bet because it doesn't involves a BUNGALOW. 

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