It's A Difficult Time!

It's the end of  the first semester of my ICT degree program. It's examination week now and I've started my exam since the last two weeks. I'm having a difficult time now. I don't whether I can perform well this semester; but I think my foundation year is a lot better than this semester.

     The worst part is I'm having health problem although I got two more examination papers. I  got headache since yesterday. Argh! It's so painful. I can't focus to study and revise. I hope that the ache will heal quickly before examination tomorrow. Wish me best of luck in the examination...

    This is my last post this year. I will have my holiday (and so with my blog) in two days. Thank you for visiting and supporting my weblog. See you next year.

HAPPY HOLIDAY & HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010! :-)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

The most anticipated first-person shooter game this year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has been released almost a week ago. I've played the game myself and completed its campaign last two days. Below is my short review.




Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a 3D first-person shooter game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It is the sixth installment of Activision's Call of Duty series.

Modern Warfare 2 is the direct sequel to 2007's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Modern Warfare 2 takes place 5 years after the events of Modern Warfare in the campaign. It retains some of the main characters in Call of Duty 4, including Captain Price, 'Soap' Mactavish and Nikolai as well as new characters. The game's plot is amazing and most fans would love it. However, the game's campaign is quite short and even shorter than Call of Duty 4. You may finished the campaign in just 5 to 7 hours. Still, it has a great story to tell (play it and you'll know).

The game has really good graphics.  The game utilizes the in-house IW 4.0 game engine, which is claimed to be a generation beyond the capabilities of the engine used in Call of Duty 4. The game is very detailed, having high resolution textures and good lighting. Character's animation also very fluid and believable. AI is much better in this game compared to Call od Duty 4. The game's sound effects is good and the music score is really great. Characters' voices are narrated nicely too. Overall, the graphics and sounds does make the game alive perfectly. The gameplay is very awesome and its similar to Call of Duty 4. You'll be able to access various real-world customized weapons of many types like sidearms, rifles, machine guns, shot guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, grenades, C4s, claymores and even able to control Predator drones. The game controls are easy and familiar like other similar games too.

Overall, I would recommend this game to all first-person shooter gamers.
Below is my score:

Graphics:     9/10
Sound:         9/10
Gameplay:    9/10
Controls:      9/10
Replayability: 7/10
OVERALL:      9/10

Revenge of The Fallen's Easter Eggs

Surprisingly, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen has few easter eggs in the movie. But those easter eggs can only be seen by 'eagle-eyed' viewers. So far, there are three of them has been spotted:

1. Star-Wars' R2-D2
The R2-D2 can be seen as part of the debris field during the merge of Jetfire's parts to Optimus Prime moment, specifically at 2 hours 17 minutes and 52 seconds into the movie.

2. Decepticon Transformers' Shockwave
G1 Decepticon Shockwave was spotted as shown in the image below. The image is from the Devastator sequence when he is trying to suck the Twins up as they hang onto a pipe. Shockwave is on the front page photo below the headline "-ERIOUS ROBOT SPOTTED". 

3. Terminator's T-1000
The T-1000 is the classic villain Terminator played by Robert Patrick in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The "T-1000" symbol can be seen on one of the cannon fodder Decepticons in the desert battle.

Vote for Optimus!

It's election season now in UTP (university where I currently studying). It's the election for general constituency in MPPUTP (Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar UTP / UTP Student Representative Council). The candidates are now busy with their campaigns.

Just to have some fun, I create my own candidate (but not eligible fir the election), Optimus Prime.
Hahaha. Checkout Optimus's campaign poster below that I created especially for him! Guys, this is not a real deal, so don't take it seriously. It's just for fun... :-)

Green Upgrade

I upgraded my PC again! It's a green upgrade!

This time, I upgrade a new hard disk drive. It is a brand new Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB (just been released last month). Yup, it has massive 1 Terabyte storage capacity. So, I can store a lot of things in it, especially space-consuming games, movies, TV series, anime and others.

This drive is pretty fast and very efficient. Although its rotation speed is only 5400RPM, but it is able to catch up with many other 7200RPM drives; thanks to its new 3-platter technology and huge 32MB cache. It consumes less power, produce less heat and noise than any other conventional drives which makes it eco-friendly, that's why it is labeled 'Green'. It uses speedy SATA 3Gb/s interface.

It also wins the X-Bit Labs Editor's Choice - The Best Home Theater PC Hard Drive.

Go Green!!! Save Mother Earth!

Revenge of The Falllen is now on Blu-Ray & DVD!

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen Blu-ray and DVD version has been released today.
There will be three different editions:

1. 2-disc Blu-ray

Order : Amazon.com



2. 2-disc DVD

Order: Amazon.com



3. 1-disc DVD

The 2-disc Blu-ray and 2-disc DVD would feature IMAX scene cuts (longer version of the film).
For more info, visit http://www.transformersmovie.com/

It's Upgrade Time!

I've just upgraded my PC recently. Now, my PC performs better than ever!

Here is the specifications:

~ Intel Pentium D 945 Presler (Dual-Core, 2 x 3.4GHz, 2 x 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB).
~ 1 x Asus ENGTS250 Dark Knight (740MHz core clock, 2000MHz 1GB DDR3, CUDA, PCIex16).
~ 1 x Corsair CGM2X2G800 DDR2-800 Gaming Memory (2GB DDR2 RAM, 5-5-5-18 latency).
~ Asus P5KPL-AM Motherboard (Intel Bearlake G31 chipset).
~ 1 x Western Digital 320GB SATA.
~ 1 x Seagate 120GB SATA.
~ 1 x Samsung DVD+/-RW optical drive.
~ BenQ G900W 19" LCD (1440x900 native, 2000:1 contrast ratio, 5ms response time).
~ 500W Enermax Tomahawk PSU (True Power).
~ Thermaltake Soprano RS101 Mid-tower Casing.
~ 3 x 120mm Cooling Fans.

  ASUS ENGTS250 Dark Knight
This baby has decent gaming performance!

Currently, I'm very pleased with my system performance. Gaming performance is really great; thanks to the ENGTS250 Dark Knight that I bought for RM530. I'm able to play Crysis Warhead at playable rate with the settings: (Enthusiast setting, 16xAnti-aliasing, 1440x900 resolution). Far Cry 2 is also the same with all settings maxed out. Wow, I almost don't believe it at first. I'm really satisfied with my PC now. The only letdown here is the old Pentium D CPU, which is not up to par even with Core 2 Duo CPUs (but still it performs great, thanks to its high clock speed and quite large L2 cache and also CUDA in the GTS 250 which reduces CPU load in physics calculations).

My Gaming Rig!

Possible future upgrades:
1. Intel Core 2 Extreme
2. Another 2GB similar RAM (for dual-channel performance)
3. Nvidia GeForce 300 series
4. Higher wattage PSU

:-)

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

Good news for Gundam fans!
New Gundam anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn will be out this Spring 2010. Originally, as a light novel series by popular Japanese author Harutoshi Fukui, this new anime takes place in Gundam's Universal Century timeline.

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Normal Mode)

RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (Destroy Mode)

:-)

Need for Speed SHIFT

The 15th installment of the long-running Need for Speed franchise, Need for Speed: SHIFT has been release a couple weeks ago. Yesterday, I just got my hands on that game.

This game is similar to Need for Speed ProStreet as you will be driving your favorite cars on racing tracks around the world in the game. However, what makes the game more interesting is its 'simulation driving style', as the game perspective will be in-car. That's right, you can see your hands handling the steering wheel and shifting gear and of course featuring unique dashboard for each cars. But still, you can switch the in-car perspective to third person view outside of the car.

Graphics-wise, the in-game graphics is pretty cool. The car geometry and  world textures are very detailed. The lighting is also great, bringing the game to life. The car physics can be praised particularly when the car hits or crashes. Another cool feature is the motion blur, notably when you car crashes and driving at high speed. The car handling, which is different between driving levels is quite good too.

Generally, the game got many positive reviews; GameTrailers: 9.1/10, IGN: 9/10, X-Play: 5/5, Metacritic: 83%.
For me, I give SHIFT 9/10.

Need for Speed SHIFT is available on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and also PSP, iPhone & mobile phones.

Transformers 3: July 2011!

We have a great story on Tranformers 3! The next Transformers movie has been officially dated, which is July 1st, 2011. It was confirmed by the director himself, Michael Bay (who directed both Transformers and Transformers Revenge of The Fallen) through his website.

Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I'm flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.

P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.

Pain and Gain is right after shooting of Trans 3.

Michael

So, the great franchise will be continued. Let's hope that the third film will be much much better. :-)
Transformers rock the world!!!

Prologue

With the AllSpark gone, we cannot return life to our planet.
And fate has yielded its reward, a new world to call home.
We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight,
but watching over them in secret, waiting, protecting.
I have witnessed their capacity for courage.
And though we are worlds apart, like us, there’s more to them than meets the eye.
I am Optimus Prime
and I send this message to any surviving Autobot taking refuge among the stars.
We are here.
We are waiting.