'Interstellar' - A Storytelling Masterpiece

I finally watched Interstellar, and was tremendously moved by it. Not because of the science fiction facts (which I wonder how much of those are correct), but by the story, the choices that the characters made, and the repercussions that followed, be it good or bad. Every character made their choices based on what they think is best, and the choices felt real. The whole movie felt like a journey rather than a formulaic, scripted movie, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Even though I am not a sci-fi fan, I could not help but applaud Christopher Nolan and his team for creating this masterpiece. And the ending, it made me feel hopeful and happy. Highly recommended for movie-goers who like stories that are deep and thought-provoking.

KOF XIII Great Tutorial For Beginners

I have to admit: I love The King of Fighters XIII more than Street Fighter IV. But I also hate it for how hard it is to be good at this game. It has deep fighting mechanics, cool character design, beautiful animated sprites, and exciting matches to watch even if the viewer has no idea what just happened (such as a combo chain that never seems to end which depletes the opponent's health bar from full to almost none left). But to be good enough to even compete, you must be really good at it, like really, really good. Forget about the cancels, neo max, and the combo challenges. Just by trying out the game's tutorial, one realizes that the game has four types of jumps. Four! Street Fighter only has 1!

So, how does one start to learn about the game? Fortunately, I came across this amazing tutorial online that breaks down the game's mechanic into terms that are easy to understand. On top of that, the video is humorous. All that is required now is to practice the stuff presented in the tutorial over and over again. Now, if only I could find where I last stashed my Mad Catz Fightstick...

'Dead Or Alive 5' Beginner Tutorial Series

The Dead or Alive series has always been a favorite of mine, ever since I first got it for the Dreamcast. Having been away for years from fighting games, I recently returned to introduce competitive fighting games to my younger students. Despite not liking how Team Ninja took the sex appeal approach to sell their game, I could not deny the amazing game mechanics underneath it. However, I am so rusty that I needed some assistance into learning how to play the game. So when I found a series of tutorials on YouTube, I could not help but smile.

If only Team Ninja had chosen the path of Virtua Fighter, I believe this game would not be scorned or taken lightly by many casual gamers, which happens to be the target audience of this game.

Beautiful Short Film For Project CARS

What an amazing short film for the game, project CARS! Beautiful in-game footage, combined with a powerful song, in the hands of a gifted editor makes me watch this clip numerous times. After watching, I showed it to almost everyone I met that day. And then, I watched it over and over again. It made my day.

If you love cars, if you love good editing, if you love powerful music, then, watch this and you'll enjoy every minute of it.

'Suburbia' Review

According to the rule book, Suburbia is a board game where players plan, build, and develop a small town into a major metropolis. Using building tiles, players build up their residential, civic, commercial and industrial areas, as well as special points of interest that provide benefits and take advantage of the resources of nearby boroughs. The goal is to end up with a greater population than any of your opponents. Bottom line is, Suburbia is the SimCity PC game played on the table.

To check out my review, click here.

'Zombicide' Review

Zombicide is a board game where a group of heroes fight against hordes of zombies and try to fulfill their objectives. Each game last an average of 2 to 3 hours, and every minute is an intense battle to try and survive the surmounting odds. By the end of the game, whether your group survives the zombie apocalypse or not, you will have a story that rivals a Hollywood blockbuster film. It's that epic.

To check out my review, click here.

Basic Overview On Building iPad Games

I was searching on how to create iPad apps when I came upon a very interesting take on building games for iPad. Although it's very general information, I'm glad to have stumbled upon it.

'NHL 13: True Performance Skating' Trailer

Very nice trailer on the upcoming NHL 13: True Performance Skating. The skating is amazing! I never thought that kind of animation is needed to make a good game, but it can make a good game better. On top of that, the trailer was presented with slow-motions, text animation and beautiful camera angles that fits right where they should be. If it was CG pre-rendered cinematics, then that's nothing special. As an in-game engine cinematic, it's very impressive. I felt like I was watching a movie trailer. Good job to the one who made it.

Getting Things Done

Recently, I found myself busy with many things to do, yet I feel like I haven't been productive. I have been trying to organize things hoping that it will help me get my work done but it wasn't until I saw 'GTD explained in minutes' that I got my workflow going nicely. I hope those who are looking to organize their life/work can benefit from this short clip.

Video Montage Of Skyrim

Want to see how 'beautiful' Skyrim is? Here's a collection of video clips uploaded by various youtube users, collected and edited by FauveProd.

(Note: It will appear more beautiful to those who play Skyrim.)

When I first heard this song through a user's in-game video montage, I thought to myself, "Amazing song and vocal." And I tried looking for, maybe a bard in one of the inns that could play the song. However, there wasn't one. It wasn't until recently that I realized this was not the original voice for the song, but by the artist Malukah. Yet, it resonates with me so much more (maybe it's because it's more emotional). Nevertheless, enjoy the song, especially if you are a Skyrim fan.

Here are 2 other Skyrim songs sung by her:
Age of Aggression (Skyrim cover) and Age of Oppression (Skyrim cover).

Thanks to Jeremy Soule for creating such beautiful soundtrack for the Elder Scroll series.

Painterly Look Of Skyrim

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is truly a beautiful looking game. I'm always mesmerized by the painterly look of the forest, villages, and towns. Sometimes, I would spend the whole day with nature, admiring its beauty while picking up plants and herbs. Other times, I would climb up a high place and watch the sun set in the horizon and the dazzling stars that appear after that. It was always a magical moment. As I love rainy days the most, whenever it rains in Skyrim, I would take a walk outside of town just to be immersed in the rainy atmosphere. Other than real life, this is as close as I can get to experiencing the same feeling without getting wet.

Key To Good Games: Fun

Ever since getting the Logitech G27 a few weeks ago, I've been playtesting it with a number of racing games. I've been playing Gran Turismo 5 before getting the G27, and playing it with a wheel is a completely different experience. However, I craved for more realistic driving games and thus ventured into the PC realm with games such as GTR2, GTR-Evolution and rFactor (I don't have the money for iRacing yet). I also tested more arcady games such as Dirt 3 and Shift 2: Unleashed. After playtesting them, I somehow found myself going back to Gran Turismo 5 and wondered, "If GTR2 and rFactor games are so much more realistic, why am I playing GT5 instead?" (Okay, I also went and play Dirt 3). Then I realized that it was the fun factor. GTR2 and rFactor, although great games with amazing physics that mimics realism to the highest degree in car racing simulation and great for learning how to drive cars, are just a bit too dry.

Maybe it's because I'm more of a casual player than the hard-core gamers who strive for realism in every way, I found that Gran Turismo 5 struck the balance between boring and frustrating, and having challenging gameplay for the players. In addition to that, Gran Turismo 5 implements to a certain degree a sense real-world driving, making casual players feel they are part of the driving world. It's like Starbucks, who goes for quality dark-roasted coffee that caters to the majority of the people. It's a win-win situation. Coffee purists may go beyond the needs that Starbucks can provide, but most people are happy to be a customer of Starbucks. That's what I think Gran Turismo did for gamers as what Starbucks have done for coffee drinkers.

Today, I saw a video of Todd Howard's DICE 2012 keynote speech and he talked about similar content. He mentioned, "You can do anything. You just can't do everything." and within that limitation, what the stuff were that he and his team implemented to create the award-winning game, Skyrim. For those interested, check out the video below.

Realistic Take On Video Game Skateboarding

The tricks in this video are not hard to pull off, but the nice filming coupled with a good soundtrack make the video extremely watchable. I always feel calm whenever I watch this video. Good work on making the video montage!

Humorous Racing Clip!

While watching video uploads on car racing, I came across this little gem that made my day :)

Great Driving Skills In Race 07/GTR Revolution Game

This is a video entitled RACE 07 / GTR EVOLUTION - Ferrari 458 Itália by beingy on youtube showing great driving skills. Makes me want to play racing game after watching it.

'Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruins'

Thunderstone is the first deck building game for the board game club, although it uses a system established by Dominion. I love the concept of going preparing my characters with spells, weapons and equipments, and heading off into the dungeon to kill the monsters that have been terrorizing the villagers. During the next few months, we stopped playing it and have not looked back ever since. Maybe it's because the game takes too long, or maybe because we got burned out by playing too much in too short of a time. I did not get the last 3 expansions as they seem too samey as the original one.

Recently, I got wind of Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruins awhile back and was wondering what new things could have been added. I knew the artwork has changed, and some stuff are tweaked. But there weren't any in-depth info on it. Today, I watched the DiceTower review of the game and somehow, it revived the long lost excitement that I first had when playing Thunderstone. The DiceTower released 2 reviews, one for new players and the other for Thunderstone veterans. As much as I am excited over the new changes that I believe will make Thunderstone a more strategic and better game (the preparation phase, obtaining familiars, etc.), it was the board that made me smile. I had longed for a board like that for my Thunderstone game sessions. Having it adds a layer of immersion that is just lacking with the original one. I will surely be picking this up for the board game club when it's released.

Real Driving Simulator On PC

The above is a video made by a gamer of rFactor and it's simply amazing! Below is how I came to know about the game.

I've been playing Gran Turismo 5 for quite a bit over the weekend and thought it was a great driving simulator until I checked youtube and found out that Forza 4 seemed to be more realistic than GT5. Having loved the Gran Turismo series since GT on PS1, I forced myself to check Forza out. It is a really pretty game. What attracted me was not the visuals, but the sound. It sounded fantastic!

So, after drooling over how good Forza 4 plays (and sounds), I began reading through the flame wars from the fanboys. It was then that I found out the most realistic driving simulator belongs to the PC. What? Really? How come I did not know that? So I checked out the gameplay for GTR2 and rFactor v1.225. Wow! Simply amazing! Project CARS also showcased amazing graphics, although there's a debate on the realism of the cars' physics. Now I'm itching to get my hands on them.

Danny Way's Hawaiian Dream DLC Tour & Commentary

I found the following video posted by WretchedRapture on youtube. He has some mic problem, but the overall commentary of Danny Way's Hawaiian Dream Skate Pack created a very relaxed viewing. Late at night, with a cup of coffee in hand, I spend 15 minutes of my life experiencing the Hawaiian dream...

Skate 3 Great Video Montage

Many years ago, I remember buying VHS tapes on aggresive inline skating just to see the cool tricks being pulled off. With Skate 3, there are lots of video, but the bobbybobbydigi solo is one of the best. It's not the stunts he pulled off, rather, it's the way the whole video is put together, creating a sense of real-life skateboarding that amazes me. Nice editing timing, right amount of slow-motion and correct use of camera angles make this video a pleasure to watch. Hope you enjoy it.