Final Fantasy Miniature Trading Figures Vol. 1

3 Months in TBA

2 Months in Pending

1 Month in Coming Soon

After finally 6 month ( maybe less, I was exaggerating ) the Final Fantasy Miniature Trading Figures is out. The figure compromise of 5 heroes from the Final Fantasy series

Cloud Strife - Lead character in Final Fantasy VII

Yuna - Female lead in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2

Vaan - Sky pirate from Final Fantasy XII and FFXII Revenant Wings

Penelo - Accompanies Vaan on his adventures and explorations

Rinoa Heartilly - Stalwart of the rebel force in Final Fantasy VIII

Each piece are around 6 CM high. Think of it as a fancy chess piece. Although you would need another two piece of figure to make the game work... Which is where the Vol 2 of Final Fantasy Miniature Trading Figure will come in.


More purchase information can be found HERE

Tv Tuner for DS ( Lite )

You could have probably seen it coming from a mile away. I for one did not. Apparently this Tv Tuner uses only slot 1 and allows user to tune it to whatever channel they want manually. The top screen is used as the TV while the bottom screen is used as the remote. Pretty interesting stuff. There is only one minor little problem.Can it work?

Did I mention that this is an OFFICIAL product from Nintendo?

More purchase information and picture can be found HERE

Of Sword, Bow and Magic

If there is a fantasy character that you would associate yourself to or one that you would be. Who would it be? Or better yet. What would you like to be? Of late, I have been veering towards double scimitar with bow and arrow. This by no means is due to my obsession with Drizzt Do’Urden. No no, au contraire I have always wondered how it feels like to wield dual sword with a bow across my back.

My first character in World of Warcraft was a hunter. I was obsessed with dual sword that looks bad ass but are bad in fighting. I can kill with the looks of my character but never with my weapon. I even took up learning archery in real life and partake actively as a member of an archery club. Rising through the rank as the president of my club (I am showing off, I know) but the art of archery is an expensive art. Barely a year into it, I abandoned it due to the expensive nature of the game and the fact that I just don’t look like Legolas.

Then I thought about picking up Kendo, Japanese style of sword fighting which requires a full minded discipline and a steady hand with a very good stamina. I even went to enquire the cost of the art, and from what I found out. Learning the art is free. They do not charge at all. Its getting into the art that cost you. A full set armor can run as high as RM 2000! The Shinai ( Japanese Bamboo Sword ) cost a hundred or so each and you would have to exchange it every 3 month! WHAT WAS I THINKING!? I would run into bankruptcy before I even start to learn the art (Yes, I am THAT poor).

So here I am, sitting in front of the computer yet again. Dreaming about how fun it would be to cross sword or shinai with another. Wondering how cool I would look in a full set armor wielding a sword with a bow and arrow strapped across my back.

Then again, I have always wondered about the arcane art. Or magic, for those that are not familiar with it. I have written a number of short story which depict of a short gnome which is crazy and sarcastic yet wield a formidable control of magic. I have written of dark tails where kingdom are brought down from its perch with an elven warrior wizard as its downfall.

If all there is to choose for me to be, I would choose to be a wizard. An elven wizard. There is just that twinge of mysterious air within the confine of those tree huggers. Then again. They have pretty lights. And I have always been a sucker for pretty lights. And robes too. Long flowing robes with hooded cape. Now that would make me look all mysterious and cool. Plus, It covers me up and make me look more imposing then I am.

Well, this is all but a daydream and a rant. But it never hurts to dream and rant does it?

Final Fantasy Doll: Chocobo Plushie

I have waited and waited for anything that is chocobo related. Be it figurine, keychain and most of all plushies. Anyway, there is no need for me to say more, The Chocobo Plushie are fashioned in 3 costume. White Mage, Black Mage and Santa Claus version.

For more purchase information, click HERE or click the respective picture.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Barely 3 episode into Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and the money making machine in Bandai has already started producing gashapon figures of the 5 character in Gundam 00.

Check HERE For more purchase information and pictures


On another side note, I came across an interesting blog post talking about translation error of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 anime. Not really believing that, I redownloaded another sub from another subber and found that its true! The story was completely different, it makes more sense if you ponder about it and its not a jumble of beautiful rubbish!

The said site is DarkMirage site, further post and information can be found HERE. The author even posted picture by picture and translation by translation difference.

Mario Party DS Video - Gameplay

Ever curious what is the gameplay for Mario Party DS? Curious no more as this is the latest video presented by Kotaku. The video shows various funny mini game. As far as I can tell, there are monopoly, blowing game, and what not. This is shaping up to be a must have game for a party :D

Original post from Kotaku HERE

First 5! - Hellgate: London

UPDATE Jan 2 2008: A continued Review of Hellgate: London can be found HERE

I am smitten. It has been sometime since I found an FPS game that runs well on my Acer Ferrari 4000, looks good and are interesting to boot. I downloaded the DEMO for it and boy, even the download speed impresses me. Granted, for others its a normal speed. But the speed I get is 100kb per sec. Very fast for me. Anyway, besides the praises of how it is nice and all that.Lets move on to the game play shall we?

The graphic is nice. On my laptop it looks amazing actually. The detail is there, the shadow is scary and the light flicker is terrorizing me. Granted, it does hell to my laptop when I crank everything up, so I tune it down a notch and it run beautifully. Then there is the game play. This is the part where certain aspect mess up. Demo Single player only allows me to play with Blademaster and Gunmen. Blademaster is basically a warrior with high defense and good attack. Gunmen are high attack with low defense. (Think archer)


I played both class briefly and found my calling in being a gunmen. The aiming is not bad, but the whole thing feel glitch. At times you can shoot between two very huge object and take out the demon on the other hand, but at times, you cant even shoot between a tin can! The aiming is hell too, I aimed at a box and the bullet hit 2 feet to the side. This is the where the saying " You can't hit a barn with a shot gun even if its right in front of you" comes in. Then there is the grenade, throwing a grenade means you throw it and hope it lands on whatever you are aiming for because most throw that I made at the same location at the same altitude ends up at a different place. Cool eh? Took me at least 3 try before I can land it where I want it. Granted, the grenade is powerful. I can take out a cluster of demons in one shot with one grenade.

And the AI, goodness, at times the AI are smart. They can come at you with a vengence but at times, the glitches are amazing. There is one particular demon that jumps at you when it sees you. So the correct thing to do for me would be to hide behind a huge wall or inside a building. But guess what, the demon "phase" through (or as some would say it, glitch through ) the wall and attack you!


But what makes this game interesting to me is the Skill tree ala Diablo/ WoW style. You learn certain skill via a pre-set of skills that link to each other, you get to add stats every time you level up. This gives you a choice to customize your character to whichever you see fit and I like that features. It allows us a certain flexibility and individuality. The weapon looks cool, different "availability" of different item are classified via color. Common items are in grey, uncommon item in green, rare item in blue, and I would assume very rare item in red while legendary item in orange ala WoW style.

Conclusion:

The game is not without its fault. Glitches here and there, the graphic are superb for an old pc but will look normal on most high end pc.The gameplay is an interesting concept which can still be refined.

Granted, the first look does not look good for it, I will be buying this game when it comes out. The game is not perfect but its still very good.The concept of it is interesting and the availability to play it online with your buddy makes it nicer.If you are planning to either get battlefield 2142 or this, I would go for this.I had 2142 and I prefer Hellgate over BF 2142.

The Series I watch

There are just time when you look upon a title of the movie and you thought. Wow, That sounded a lot like a B-Grade movie. I would never watch that. But then curiosity either takes a better hold of you or you accidentally watch the show and then you have a revelation again.

Wow, This is actually quite good!

That was my exact sentiment when I saw the show called, Pushing Daisies. It relates about a man with an interesting ability. The ability to bring back the dead. This ability can be used to bring back anybody from the realm of death for a minute without consequences. More then that, and somebody else dies in its stead. He can touch the person again to "undead" him and the person will stay dead. Permanently. Sounded grim? Not really. On the contrary, the movie is light hearted funny and surprisingly good. It tells of how the man uses his ability to solve murder of the dead people. All are done in a light hearted tone. With funny looking car, funny looking shop and very good jokes which got me laughing the whole way.

Then there is another series called. Overdrive. Its an anime actually which tells of a cyclist, how he learns his trade. The people he met and explanation of cycling itself. The anime is funny and all but sometimes it drags on a bit. Regardless, the anime teaches would be cyclist or current cyclist quite a number of interesting things. How cyclist are differentiated between climber,sprinter,power and what not. A good watch if you like cycling and funny jokes with some very mushy aw shyuk guy girl scene.

Those two are some of the shows which I "stumbled" upon and never regretted it. Then there is the other two all time favorite of mine. Gundam series and House MD.

I first watched House MD over a year ago in season 3. I then looked around for Season 2 and season 1. Season 4 started barely a month ago and the show is turning into an interesting twist where House ( the protagonist ) is evolving yet again. The sarcasm is thick, the humor is abundance. If you want to learn how to talk and have a wry sense of humor with good comebacks. House MD is a very good show to catch on. Just in case you wanna know what this show is about. Here is a bit of intro for it.

Gregory House is a maverick medical genius, who heads a team of young diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. Most episodes start with a cold open somewhere outside the hospital, showing the events leading to the onset of symptoms for that week's main patient. The episode follows the team in their attempts to diagnose and treat the illness.

The quote I liked best from House MD :

If you talk to God you're religious. If God talks to you, you're psychotic.

Lastly the Gundam 00 series. The anime kicks off with an explosive starts with new design of the gundams. Very nice, very pretty. But to quote my fellow bloggers. Its still the same old formula. War, Love, abandoned children, orphan children, religion and faction. Which prompt me to reply, Would you prefer Gundam series to be teaching you how to cook or them fighting aliens like Power Ranger? Granted, the anime is using repetitive. But the fact that it still hooks on thousands of millions of fans watching the series is a testament of something however insignificantly irrelevant that fact is.


4 series of shows that I watch, I think I need more. I am sick of CSI, Heroes are starting at a very slow phase, what else is there to watch?

Dragon Quest Monster: Joker

I have a sudden urge, sudden yearning to want to play this game. Maybe its all the article and hands-on first impression article that I have been reading about. But its there. The feeling, the nagging clawing cold finger of impatience is crawling all over my conscious begging me, demanding me and making me yearn and crave for the game Dragon Quest Monster: Joker!

Oh November 6th! When shall you arrive?!

IF you are as crazy as I am, click HERE to make your pre-order of Dragon Quest Monster: Joker


*Disclaimer note = The writer should regain a sense of normalcy after the 6th of November when he cradles the game in his loving arm. As of now, the writer is hugging the print out of Dragon Quest Monster: Joker US Box art.

Looking For Group: One demented Warlock

I am an avid reader of LFG Comic. The artist did a good mix of all the major fantasy character into one finely woven story. Granted, I have no idea what is happening lately in LFG comic now as the story seems a bit mess up. I believe this is no fault of the artist and more of me not really following the storyline ( see how much I like it? I even blame myself ! )

Anyway, below are a video of the demented Warlock from LFG Comic. Very nice rearranged music. Nice drawing and story. Watch em if you have time. Oh and turn up the stereo. The music is that nice. Kekeke

Worse McDonald EVER

The term Fast Food means the food are served fast and hot. Something that Mcdonald are well versed in. They have a standard practice of throwing away any burger that are pass the 15 minute mark. ( if i am not mistaken ) that is why you see most burger have the time marked on them or they are not left around waiting for customer to come and are prepared based on the volume of customer at that time.This is not the case in Mcdonald Berjaya Times Square Malaysia.

I have been told that the Mcdonald in Berjaya Times Square is not up to standard. I personally felt that they suck but I figure its just a matter of not enough manpower and bad batch of soft drink ( my drink was warm and gasless ) I went there again today figuring that McD will served my food fast, the warm food warm and the cold drinks cold. I was disappointed yet again.

The burger came out slightly warm, the drink was not cold. The ice is all melted, the soft drink does not have any "gas" in it and the services could not cope with the volume of customer there. One would have figured that they would have solved the problem by expanding, or hiring more people or upgrading their services. But no.. after more then 3 years (or was it 2?) the problem still persist.

And its not for the lack of manpower mind you. The waiter are abundance. In fact its overflowing. You can see 3 people trying to fill in drinks, two trying to get some sundae ice cream done, two packaging the fries and 3 manning the counter. The problem is. ITS NOT COORDINATED! The manager looks like she came out of a fever or a good fuck and have no idea what she is doing. She manage to get the whole order wrong from a machine which is idiot proof. ( Which says a lot about her )

The staff are basically getting onto each others way and getting nothing done. The cashier is doing what they are supposed to do. Cashing and not preparing any food. The lines are disorganized, orders are taken and the customer are shoved to the side to welcome the next person in line with no indication on what happen next. ( Clue : you are supposed to tell us or serve us! )

If any of those Mcdonald staff is reading this. Get your management down to Berjaya Times Square, Grill the manager in charge for incompetence. ( Clue : She is working the afternoon 4 pm session on Oct 16 2007. Check the Roster for her name! ) Hire new staff to replace those cumbersome staff. ( Clue: More does not mean better )

Oh and change the fucking soft drink machine. Its without "GAS"!

You no take Candle!

I took a break from gaming this week and revisited some old stuff. I replayed Children of Mana which arguably is not the best game of the Mana series, ( so says every other critics) which I like due to its simple straight to the point. kill the monster, get up to the next level and kill more monster.

The break also allowed me the time to visit my uncle at his home. A fu*kin huge place if you ask me. But what took a turn of interest in me is what my auntie is cooking in the backyard. Candles. Yeap, and I also had a chance to made one for my GF. A very romantic gift if you ask me. :D

Anyway, to back into the history, the candle making process is a no brainer thingy. Get this and mix it into that. But to make those ornamental candle you see in your everyday mall with flowers and decoration inside. That one is a bit tricky. I manage to snap some picture of how the process goes. Its actually still a no brainer. The chemical can be purchased from ASACHEM if you are in Malaysia.

This is the step by step picture tutorial of how to make your very own candle from the chemical that can be purchased from ASACHEM. Here goes :

1: The chemical is in gooey form. You scoop up the amount you want

2: Boil it in any regular stove until it turn into liquid

3: Put in whatever coloring you want into the solution to dye the wax

4: Wait till its truly liquid and then
5: Pour it into a see through container, preferably a glass
6: you can add whatever you want into the cup before pouring the wax in to give it a bit of decoration
7: The resulting creation from my hand. Never believed I can create something as beautiful as this. Ah...

Candle making chemical can be purchased from

ASACHEM ( M ) SDN. BHD.
Tel: 603 - 8734 5998

The Unsung DS Game!

This week there will be a number of game passing under the radar with the launching of the boy in green , The Legend of Zelda - Phantom Hourglass 2 weeks ago, The boy with orange hair, Bleach - The Blade of Fates. One wielding a short sword with a pixie guiding his way and another with a fiery orange hair and a big a** sword ( or is it katana? ) chopping up everything in sight. Intriguing, No?

But there are quite a few amazing unsung, under the table, unknown ( enough ) title coming our way. Two of the best unsung game that I am looking forward to are on the funnies side. Touch Detective 2 1/2 by Atlus. A sequal to Touch Detective and Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck by Warner.


Touch Detectives as Wikipedia says is are as so

The player controls the titular detective Mackenzie as she solves four mysteries in the small town of Osawari. Both the art style (which is reminiscent of 1960s anime) and the plot reflect a subtle fantasy mood - for example, the first case is to track down a thief who is stealing someone's dreams. Aside from the main plots, there are also a number of small "bonus" mysteries that involve much simpler tasks. There is also a "Touch Notebook" containing a list of major items in the game the player has touched.

The game play is similar to many PC adventure games and is entirely controlled via the touch screen. Tapping a location on the screen will talk to a character or examine an object. The player has an inventory of items collected, and may use them on other items or objects in the environment. The player can also communicate with the characters along conversation trees or present inventory items to them to learn new information. Mackenzie's pet mushroom, Funghi, is used as an aid in some puzzles.

What endears me to the game is the wry and dry humor which the protagonist exudes, the thinks that come out of her mouth and the thought that she have at the same time. Both reminds us of who we really are, of how two sided we are when we talk to our everyday companion. The puzzle is slightly more illogical but the dialog provided is anything but normal. A must get if you like humor, puzzle and detective in one shot.

More purchase information for Touch Detective 2 1/2 can be found HERE


Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck though is another game that I have personally been waiting for. There is not much news on how the game would be but based on the title, I dare say it would be something within the line of messing up Daffy Duck life again.
Below are article quoted from Wikipedia

Duck Amuck is a surreal 1951 animated cartoon produced by Warner Bros. and released in 1953 as part of the Merrie Melodies series. It stars Daffy Duck, who is tormented by a sadistic, unseen animator who constantly changes Daffy's location, clothing, voice, physical appearance, and even shape. Pandemonium reigns throughout the cartoon as Daffy attempts to steer the action back to some kind of normality, only for the animator to either ignore him or, more frequently, to over-literally interpret his increasingly frantic demands.

If you have been liking Daffy Duck and want to do your best to ruin his life yet again, do make your booking for this game. Current fastest delivery time is 5 days from play-asia.

More purchase information for Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck can be found HERE

*Both article are taken from wikipedia. I do not claim to write any of those.

Mario Kart ,Jeremy Clarkson and Top Gear

I finally got my Mario Kart gashapon today! Wohoo! it took 4 month for a fellow gaming blogger to deliver the little piece of mischievous to me. A myriad of reason was given to me when it fail to reach my hand. Forgot to bring lar, store in cold storage lar, not in the mood lar, boeing 707 me lar.

But it all matters not now as it is finally in my hand! Muahahah! My Wario will now have a playing partner in the form of Mario! ( ok that sounded gay ) Granted, the pair of them will be zooming around my desktop for the days to come and providing much needed distraction for colleague from gazing upon what I am doing in my monitor. Kekeke

This morning, I happened on a battered up compact car. The car looks like Jeremy Clarkson went through it with a hammer ( which he probably did, check out the video below )



he car then forcefully insert itself into the traffic and taking a spot right in front of me. Not that I mind, but its just that, can't you take care of your car? I mean come on! Your car looks like it went through heaven and hell with Jeremy Clarkson! Tsk

Anyway, on a brighter note. Top Gear season 10 is now on air, it seems they have yet to lost their charm and sarcasm. Captain slow though have been a bit... slow. No pun intended. His joke is monotonous and it seems he is the butt of all the jokes by Jeremy and Richard.. Oh well! Buck up Captain Slow!

P ost Card Book

A few months back I bought a Kingdom Hearts II postcard book. Not exactly one of the best art available. the KHII Post Card book is still a good set of art in my room. As fate has it, curiosity lead me to clicking onto the Post card book link in Play-Asia. And this are some of the stuff I found there that have quite good art.

Check out the list below and click the picture for more purchase information

Jump Ultimate Super Star

Kingdom Hearts 2

Phoenix Wright/ Gyakutan Saiban

The Corpse Bride

The Nightmare before christmas

Full Metal Alchemist

For those that have known me, they would be able to see the obsession i have for FullMetal Alchemist. For those that know me but didn't know that little fact, it means I am full of mystery and you shalt never understand the depth of my artistic love! HAH!

That said, for those that have no idea who is FullMetal Alchemist, shame on you! It is like the greatest manga EVER! Worse anime and movie though. No argument about that but the depth of the manga is so deep its scary. That said, let me give a brief history and recap about FullMetal Alchemist

Hagane no Renkinjutsushi or better known as Fullmetal Alchemist tells the story of two brothers and the struggle for them to survive, to thrive and to mature. Created by Hiromu Arakawa ( a chick mind you ) FMA is known best on their alchemy. A long dead skill which was said to be nothing but fanciful thinking. Witchcraft, some would call it but with a twist. Alchemy combines the element of Chemistry, Biology, Physic and magic in one shot. The ultimate science, so to speak. Where matter can be converted if you understand the chemistry of it, and reconstruct to whatever matter that you want it to be as long as its made out of the same strand of Chemistry. Cool eh?

Anyway, its not the alchemy that captures my heart. Its the character, the mystery that was weave into the many woven history of the manga and how the character evolve, how layer after layer of the story are unveiled like onion skin. The humor of the story is vast and hits the spot. The fight skin are creatively imagined and the graphic is just spectacular. No details are too minor to ignore and no character are too minor to be forsaken. God bless Arakawa.

Anyway, FMA is a good story to read. It makes you think of what is right and what is wrong. Is everything done for greater good is good? Is everything the way its supposed to be? Do you take life for granted and lastly the motto of the anime.
The Law of Equivalent Trade. To obtain something, something of equivalent value must be given in return.

Anyway, the gist of the post today is that I found two artbook of Full Metal Alchemist on Play-Asia. Retailing at US 22.90. I would be buying both book pretty soon. The thing is this, I only have enough fund to get one now. Anyone wanna sponsor the other one for me?

FullMetal Alchemist The Hiroshi Arakawa Illustration Collection


Fullmetal Alchemist 2- Hiromu Arakawa Illustration

Click HERE for more purchase information or respective picture for their information.

Zelda DS Lite Blue & White Mod

Remember THIS post way back in May 2007? Quite a few people lamented about the lack of such mod anymore in the market. Well, if you are still interested there is another mod alike this one currently on sale in E-Bay HERE


Zelda modded way back in May 2007

15% of the proceed from this sale will be given to Child's Play charity. Quite frankly the color looks at odd with each other and I see no familiarity of the mod with Zelda game. Blue and flashing green light? Bleh.. But anything goes if the mod is from Zelda and part of the earning are given over to charity.



What are you waiting for? Time to bid! The bidding price now is at $ 285. Not a bad deal for such a mod.

Click HERE for more purchase infromation

Bleach Sound Drops Gashapon

One of the many things that I would not buy. Bleach Sound Drops Gashapon. Do you know why? What can this sound drop do? Ichigo Screaming Bankai? ( wait that sounded cool ) Kenji going Nova? ( Thats pretty cool too ) or Hitsuga Going Ice Dragon? ( Did i get his name right? )

You know, I think i will change my mind on that. It would be cool to have Ichigo going Bankai on me :D

More purchase information can be found HERE

Subarashiki Kono Sekai: It's a Wonderful World Original Soundtrack

I noticed that quite a number of hit onto my blog is propelled from It's a Wonderful World Sound Track. And I dare say quite a few of them left disappointed thinking they can either download the whole soundtrack here or torrent it.

Well, Despair no more as there is a new Subarashiki Kono Sekai: It's a Wonderful World Original Soundtrack available for a mere USD 19.90! Featuring over 34 song from the Wonderful world game, the price is comparatively cheaper then other games.

Click HERE for more purchase information