Bats and Zelda.

Bats and Zelda. Hi all. I've been kind of busy lately. Have picked up two new projects which will keep me pretty busy till middle of dec. Still, i've found the time to play zelda phantom hourglass on my Nintendo DS. So when i saw this tiny bat taking a midday snooze in broad daylight, i had to shoot a pix of it cuz it really complements my zelda obsession right now. For those who have played anyone of the zelda titles before, you'll know that bats are a mainstay in the games. Usually they're annoying little buggers in the game but this little fellow on the ceiling has a very cute face and isn't one bit scary at all. Ok. Gotta go. Was killing time but now have to dash. Later. :-)

- This blog was updated through my M1 mobile phone.

The Nintendo DS Opera Browser

Usually I like to place pictures in every entry on the blog but this time it isn't going to be quite that easy for me. The reason is because I'm using the NDSL's Opera Browser to write this entry.

I only just got the browser and have just started playing with it. I thought that this woud be a good time to test this browser out since I'm currently still working and have a little time to kill but don't have my laptop with me.

I'm currently rather liking this application and even liking it more than the Sony PSP's browser. Of course it has been months since I've gone online on the psp but even then I wasn't particularly in love with the experience.

The biggest beef I had with the psp browser isn't actually the application's fault. It's really a hardware problem. Now, I do think the psp is a good handheld, especially if you like your games to look good but surfing on the internet isn't one of it's better features. The reason is simple. The psp doesn't have touch-screen. This is the biggest reason why I really much prefer the ds when it comes to going online. The touch-screen makes typing out an entry like this a breeze especially when compared to the clunky and time consuming way of doing it on the psp. On the ds, one simply uses the stylus to tap on the screen to spell out words. It is that easy. The psp requires a combination of moving the d-pad or joy-stick and mashing on the A button to type out some thing. Correcting mistakes can be a chore on the psp as you have to move the cursor one letter at a time unlike simply using the stylus to tape at the point where the mistake was made.

There are of course a few cons. The ds opera browser is not free and certainly not cheap. The ds itself does not have enough ram for cacheing so a slot-2 ram cart is necessary to run the application. This is probably why the browser cost more than SGD60 in the shops.

The other imperfection of the browser isn't actually the browser's fault. It is really a hardware problem. The ds's screen isn't really that big and although the dual screen helps, it's still not the most ideal if one wishes to surf for an extended period of time.

Still in the end, I think that if one has the extra cash, want internet access on the go, has access to a wi-fi connection outside your home and owns a ds, this application is certainly worth the money. At the very least, it may help you keep your blog just that little bit more updated. =)

cheers

Wii would like to play

The Nintendo Wii was finally launched in Singapore last week and I finally managed to buy one after months of waiting since its US launch last December. Unfortunately, this is only the soft launch and these official sets from the Singapore distributor are essentially US sets which they imported and repackaged with a 220v power adaptor. Word is, South East Asia will only get an official launch and a true localized set in Oct of this year.

I, however, decided enough waiting for me as I'd put aside enough money to get the Wii since its launch late last year. So although this soft launch Wii is probably more expensive than the Wii that will be launched late this year and although this is a bundled set, I still got it it in the end. Anyway, I'm on good terms with my heartland game shop guy and he let me trade in Sonic and the Secret Rings for Zelda and I just paid the difference.

I have no regrets as the Wii is a truly fantastic gaming machine and it has provided me and my family hours of fun. My mum LOVES the Wii and plays it almost every single day. I, myself, play it almost everyday unless work gets in the way. A friend and I also threw a joint Wii party on Saturday and the 7-8 of us were at this party for about ten hours.



The Wii is like no other gaming machine on the market right now. It revolutionizes game play by taking it back to the basics. There are no dizzying graphics and complicated stories. It's like the first time one plays pong, you pick up a controller and simply have fun.

It is extremely easy for non-gamers to begin playing as the Wii uses motion control for many of their key and most fun games. The best way to experience the Wii is to play Wii Sports which is a game they very cleverly included as part of the Wii package when one buys the Wii in all regions except Japan right now. Take tennis for example. In order to execute a forehand, one just swings the arm grasping the Wii-mote, which acts as your tennis racket of sorts, like one would swing one's arm when one is playing tennis in real life. Similarly for games like boxing, baseball, golf and bowling, the Wii-mote is grasp and the motion one needs to execute is similar to the action needed in real life. Compare the simpleness of the controls to the complex multi-button, two analog joysticks controllers of the xBoxes and Sony Playstations. It is really THAT easy to play the Wii.

Wii Sports gets my vote as Wii game of the year as it really is the game that illustrates how much potential the Wii has. I have my 60+ year-old mum, my 4+ year-old niece and my non-gaming friends all happy playing the Wii and it is simply amazing to watch them play and to play with them.

And if you ask me what is the biggest thing that has distracted me from blogging these days, it isn't work, it's not my continued recovery from a serious bout of flu, it isn't a tv series I'm hooked on. Instead, it is the Wii and I've not been this hooked on video games since I got obsessed with conquering Soul Calibur on the Sega Dreamcast years and years ago.

So much as I would like to continue with my Guizhou photos, reply to YTSL's request for her meme on films, write up reviews of two rather good Mainland Chinese series that I just saw and talk a bit about Sembawang etc, it is the Wii that has me completely in its spell right now. So I bid adieu as I'm off to play Zelda for now and I will get back to blogging, I promise, but after I get my does of Wii. :)

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! Agents Are Go!

(courtesy wikipedia)

This week has been really busy at work and on occasion it was pretty horrendous too but one thing I had going for me are the agents from Beat Elite Agents!!!!! They made me grin from ear to ear even when I was being a totally grouchy about have to work the many hours that I had to. When Commander Kahn yells "Agents Are Go!!!!" I know that the Beat Elite Agents are here to save me. =D

Last week I discovered that I'm not the only Nintendo DS owner at the office, SY owns one too. I had been interested in this game Beat Elite Agents but wasn't sure if I would like a rhythm game. So when I found out that SY owned the game, I was like... lend me... lend me.... lend me please.... please... please. =D Well, I didn't really have to bug her lah, she lent it to me anyway and I lent her my still-in-progress Final Fantasy III in return.

This is one goofy game and it's probably not a very cool game to be seen in playing in public but boy is it FUN FUN FUN. There is probably no point going into the details of the game as there are many other webpages that do it better. Click here to read all about the game.

The game is really very simple. You just have to tap to the rhythm and try and tap the number hit makers as the circle closes in on it.

(courtesy wikipedia)

The graphics are pretty much comic booky but they are rather well done, bright, colourful and very cheery. There are several songs you can play to and each one is rated at a different level of difficulty. And while there isn't much of an overall story arc, there is one common theme. It always begins with a rather silly story that's told in an overly dramatic and in a humorous fashion. And at the end of the story, there is always someone who needs help and that's when Commander Kahn will go "Agents are Go!" and our agents will appear and help save the day.

(courtesy www.gamehope.com, www.perfect-gamers.com)

My favourite part of each song is when the 3 agents and the person or persons they are trying to save raise their arms and sway to the music. It works especially well with the YMCA song. It always makes me laugh. I think it's also because when SY first showed me how to play the game, she played the game with YMCA. Since then sometimes during the day we'll raise our arms and sing YMCA and sway to the beat in the corridor or even in the office.

I couldn't find any nice pictures of my swaying agents so here are some taken by me. They're horrible I know but you get the picture. =)


Okay, that's it from me today. Late and am sleepy. At first I thought I would talk a bit about Dicey Business, this new TVB series I'm currently watching but I think I'll leave that for tomorrow or a later date depending. Also, I hope to get back to my Guizhou photos sometime next week.

For now, it's good night. =)

Nintendo Wii - update

(pix courtesy of http://wii-wii.us/)

Oh... this is for those who care. I saw Wii games displayed at a game shop at Jurong Point today. I didn't ask if they were really game boxes or just mockups but I did ask the guy at the shop when they expected the Wii to be in and he said that he was told by the supplier that they would be in by the end of this month. So hopefully, this means that we might see the Wii in Singapore finally.

Cool.. now I just have to get my hands on one and maybe Zelda: Twilight Princess or perhaps Excite Truck. :)

Okay, so this post isn't about Guizhou but the next entry will most likely be. :)

cheers

Nintendo Wii !!!!!!!

(image courtesy of wikipedia)

I've got to go shower and dash off to work in like 15 mins. But I just have to express my excitment that according to Game Axis, the Nintendo Wii will quite possibly be available in Singapore by the middle of this month. Perhaps even as early as the 15th of Jan. Yay yay yay!!!!

For those who really know me well, you know that all I've done for the last 6 months is talk about the Wii and then for the last two months I've also been whining about the lack of news on the Wii's launch in S'pore. Now it looks like the console may make it here before Chinese New Year after all. My only concern now is that I may not be able to get my hands on one, the extra controllers and the games before CNY. I'm going to have to try and make it to my game shop tonight and ask about the rumours and see if I can pre-order stuff. I really hope to get it before CNY so my cousins can play and so I can organize a video game party.

For those who are interested, here are a couple of links.

Wii website - For all things Wii
Nintendo website - For all things Nintendo
Gamefaqs - For faqs and reviews of the hardware and the games.

Ahhhh... this is great news, at least good enough to take away the bulk of the disappointment of Everton's horrible 4-1 loss to Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup 3rd round match last night. =(

Right have to dash off now. Later... :)