New Geeks on the Blog

First, the definition of geek, taken from wikipedia:

A person who swallows live animals, bugs, etc..

Err...not that

A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream.

Thats more like it.

1. knightwalk's Eye Candy - Movie Geek
The oldest among 3, Eye Candy was summoned into the cyberspace on 20th January 2005. Attempts to tell the dude about any new movies under the sun would probably end with him saying "I know", what a bore! Blog on kelvo! With the constant crap Hong Kong and Hollywood are churning out, you are one of my important movie filters.

2. Xiao Niao's MageP Lab - Political Geek
Me and Kelvin had been persuading little bird to start a blog to no avail, and all it took was just one word of encouragement from Jeff, now here he is, blogging with such fervour, with an average of a post a day. Hmph!(actually, I'm happy) MageP Lab hosts very insightful views on current issues in Malaysia.

3. Renegade's The Right Hand Man - Rocker Geek
Wait, is there such a thing as rocker geek? Yup yup... it is also mentioned here.
Jaideep is a rocker in and out, takes no MTV crap and tolerates no poser rock bands. Though he is a rocker and i'm a jazzer, we had much fun bashing MTV and boy bands, and discussing about Maddox.

Check 'em out, they are here to stay!

Some Thoughts on Piracy

My girlfriend told me the other day that original DVDs and CDs in China are dirt cheap. I'm not surprised, since I picked up the Chinese version of both Warcraft 3 and its expansion Frozen Throne for less than RM60 the last time I visited Shanghai. (I was a Battlenet addict back then)

But still, China is ranked along with Malaysia and Russia as the top piracy havens(source from Entertainment Software Association)

I reacted by accusing the mainland Chinese of pirating in sprite of dirt cheap alternatives, my girlfriend in turn pointed the finger back to Malaysians for patronizing VCD/DVD pirates although cinema tickets are comparatively dirt cheap. (You need to pay around RM30 to watch a blockbuster movie in China)

Shes right, being the pseudo-patriot that I am, I tried to defend the act from multiple perspectives, but none of it justify the act.

A Self interviewing Session
Me: You're a developer yourself, what do you think of people that pirate your work?
Me: I rather have people hacking my work and using it for free than having it making millionaires out of bums.
Me: So you think your software is capable of making millionaires out of bums?
Me: Yes!! (No harm bullshitting myself right?)

One fallacy that content creators(of software, music, movie) often hold is every pirated copy sold is lost revenue. I'm taking none of that.
Look at Nintendo Gamecube. I think it kicks ass(ok, arguably), it has some kick ass games(I'm dying to play Resident Evil 4) and it does not suffer to piracy in Malaysia, due to its hard to copy and not so common disc format. But look, how many people around you owns the Cube? I know of only one person, the I last heard, he is contemplating selling it. I believe that if there is no cheaper alternative, people simply won't buy!

I believe that publishers/record companies should shoulder part of the problem. If i can pick up the original Warcraft and its expansion for RM60 in China, I should be able to do it in Malaysia too, whether in reduced form(jewel case and CD) or localized form(Kraf Perang 3: Takhta Beku). Old games should sell for a cheaper price too. The same goes to software. The exchange rate is simply murdering us!

If you're feeling slightly guilty, go download whatever you want in the internet. I'm not endorsing the act, but its the lesser of evils, have your own guilty pleasure, just don't give money to the undeserved!

Another Self interviewing Session
Me: So do you still patronize pirates?
Me: Yes, occasionally.
Me: You're a hypocrite then! A murderer preaching to murderers!
Me: But I don't own broadband, and I am piss poor!
Me: Excuses, excuses!
Me: CDs are luxury goods, not a necessity!
Me: Can you just shut up?

Ending the post and sidestepping my own relentless questions by doing the obligatory... ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR(I'm playing Sid Meier's Pirates!, remember?)

What are your thoughts?

Game Developers to the Rescue!(of the Universe)

A while ago(precisely 11 days ago) I came across an article in Gamasutra(registration required), titled "Soapbox:
Warning - Playing Video Games May Pose a Serious Risk to Your Health". The first heading titled "Child Obesity - Who's To Blame?".

Hmm...showers of blames on the game industry, memories of this, this, this and this were fondly rekindled. (keyword: sue) Oh come on, if I'm a hot chick, and guys are swarming me, should I be blamed for their obsessions?

A conversation between me and my brother(a mad engineer obsessed with saving the universe) a few years ago, as I was trying to brush up on my game coding knowledge by studying the Game Programming Gems series(in vain), went along the lines of:

brother: "Game developers do not contribute to society, and should be burnt alive!"
me: "..."

Alright, I exagerrated, but the main point was no contribution to society = bums and bums = BAAAAADD.

Few years down the road, I'm still as passionate as ever on game development(with little results to show), and convinced myself that games is a powerful art of expression. You want to burn game developers? Might as well burn musicians and artists too.

Now, back to the article, quoting from it(since most of you can't view the article without registering):

"The rate of obesity over the past 30 years has more than doubled for kids ages 2 to 5 and 12 to 19, and more than tripled for kids ages 6 to 11. Last month at a recent pediatric obesity conference, a speaker made the sobering statement: “This is the first generation of kids who are more likely to die before their parents due to obesity and it’s related diseases...
...In response to this epidemic, Congress and the Institute of Medicine recently put out a report stating that we will have to mount an assault on pediatric obesity like we did against the tobacco industry. They also recommended that kids limit their TV and video game playing to less than two hours a day."

If you do speed reading, you might catch the keywords: "obesity...kids...die...before parents...assault...video game." Not very peachy.

Here comes the interesting part, also quoting from the article

That’s too bad, because I believe that the very technology that is being blamed for the pediatric obesity epidemic is also the very technology that can eradicate it!

What exactly is the author talking about? Exertainment, baby.

So whats exertainment? Loosely defined, its exercise marrying entertainment. Its a reason for burger munching, coke drinking, couch attaching fat kids to start burning fat. Exertainment is not new, it has been around since the days of Dance Dance Revolution, up to the recent revolutionary Eye Toy. Just that the concept has not bring upon widespread popularity and revolution, yet (hint: look around the streets for fat kids).

I like how the author put it, "be a leader in this charge to literally save the world!" Game developers saving the universe instead of being sued pants down? No joke! Cause for rejoice!

I shall stop by leaving you with another thought-provoking quote:

"These children are our future teachers, policeman, doctors, social workers, and computer programmers. But who will do these occupations if they are getting fatter, sicker, and dying sooner? Who will support you and I as we get into our retirement years?"

FIFA2005: Best goals: #1

A series concluding my affair with FIFA2005, as I move on to Winning Eleven 8



A bullet loaded by Shevchenko, triggered by Kaka. The keeper was absolutely stunned.

Whats more to come? Own goals, blunders, free kicks, and evidence on why FIFA2005 suck

FIFA2005: Best goals: #2 (Now in matrix style)

A series concluding my affair with FIFA2005, as I move on to Winning Eleven 8



A bicycle/scissor kick from Lauren, finishing off a cross from Pires

Saberwolf's explanation of the difference between a bicycle kick and a scissor kick:

Bicycle kick is when your back is parallel to the ground, and your feet are usually kicking the ball at 90* angle from the ground.

Scissors kick is when your back is perpendicular with the ground and you kick the ball with your feet at an 180* angle from the ground.

Got it from here

Edit: Yesterday's gif was unclear, did a new one, matrix-style. For those that still want to have a look at the old gif, look here.

On Why I Hate Cats

A one week holiday for Chinese New Year with a brand new PS2, hmmm...takes an idiot to say "perfect for gaming!".

Resident Evil: Code Veronica X became one of the first games in my playlist, simply because Resident Evil 2 made me fell in love with console gaming in the first place! I loved it because it is scary, but not too scary to be played alone at night. I can't take spiritual horror,(ala Fatal Frame) no problem to gory and violent horror though, as they don't give me nightmares, though I still look in the mirror when I go to the toilet. It made perfect sense that Resident Evil: Code Veronica X is scheduled to be played strictly at night.

Enough background story, back to why I hate cats.

It was the ungodly hour of roughly 2 a.m., apart from annoying mosquitoes, I was all alone in the living room, doing what Lewis Caroll wrote in Alice in Wonderland: "You might as well try to stop a Bandersnatch." (what on earth is a Bandersnatch, Resident Evil version)

In Resident Evil, a Bandersnatch is a man like, single arm, huge and intimidating creature, with its strong and stretchable arm being its main weapon.
I particularly hate it because it always attack by surprise, regularly springing out of nowhere and making ranged attacks using its elastic arms.

I was so into the game world, that when something in the real world echoed, my heart nearly stopped beating. Something suddenly passed by outside the partly curtained window that I'm sitting against, and an instinctive quick glimpse caught details of the moving thing: brown, fleshy. THE SAME AS A BANDERSNATCH!!
Raising the curtain to embrace the evil, (already making devilish noises outside the window by then) I see a... cat.

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testing on behalf of my friend whether feeds to bloglines are displayed correctly.

Oh yeah, if you're reading, and happen to be Chinese, happy Chinese New Year!!

FIFA2005: Best goals: #3

A series concluding my affair with FIFA2005, as I move on to Winning Eleven 8



a 1-2 between Andrey Shevchenko and Rui Costa, cooly finished off by the later

A More Complete Man...I Mean Gamer than Before

I couldn't afford that little white monster, but at least the slim black beast is in my hands now!(partly sponsored)


ps2 in bag...


ps2 still in bag...


size compared to my sister's laptop


my gba on top

A long time ago, I was a pure untainted hardcore PC gamer, believing that all the goodies are in PC gaming. That fateful day, I met Winning Eleven on my friend's(Boon Ping) PS2, it shattered my initial belief. Later, he left his PS2 at my house for a month or two, and Resident Evil hooked me even further.(hmmm... soccer and zombies, Sony Entertainment definitely knew what I love)

Entertainment aside, hopefully my PS2 will fuel me with more ideas and help me with some kick ass game development. (excuses to play games! research! yay!)

Apologize for the abysmal quality of pictures, camera phones usually suck in performance under dim lights. Taken with Samsung e715

Goodbye FIFA 2005

Good news long suffering FIFA2005 fans! Konami came to liberate ya all from the evil grasp of EA!(actually, the lesser known saviour has been around for some time)

Winning Eleven 8 International(English version) was released yesterday(1st February 2005), now check out the official Winning Eleven page by Konami! For the cynics still under EA's spell, go download the demo and try it yourself(available in the page).

Will post up some animated gifs of goals I scored soon to signal the end of my affair with FIFA2005. Didn't score many great goals, yeah, blame in on the game!

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy that 5 minutes of fun(restricted by the demo on each match), which is far more satisfactory than 2 hours of FIFA-ing, while awaiting the imminent arrival of PlayStation 2.

Oh, while I'm on soccer, and for the fact that I'm an Arsenal fan, adding into consideration that 9 out of 10 soccer fans are Man U fans, you might want to taunt me on yesterday's result. (2-4 won by Man U)
I have no reply to that, my expression tells it all.