Tube Relief: Mardi Gras in London

You remember Police Chief Tami Brisset of New Orleans whom I blogged about a couple of times? Well Tami is back in the UK and this evening a group of us (mainly of Tube Relief fame) went down to Central London to meet up with her and her family at the Garrick Arms near Charing X. Jennifer even came up from Brighton, and had to endure one of the daily London-East Croyden commute exodus on her way back. Pictures are up - I can finally go to sleep! Yay!

56k killer warning! Quality of pictures vary as I switched between combinations of flash/no flash, low/high ISO, high/low shutter speed etc. Taking pictures in a low-light pub with a digital compact is a tricky and noisy business!


Tami and her husband!


Anthony, blinging up the pub!


Jenni.


Chris, Sam and Neil.








Chris from Upminster: Ultimate blinging king.




Congrats Stephen!






Cups from Mardi Gras, New Orleans.




Tube dusk masker picture from here.




Pete Lupton in a surprisingly dark picture.




Mex: buy her book here!



Update: Tami made a video compilation in tribute to those who suffered and helped during the Katrina disaster. She gave us copies of these and yesterday I uploaded the video to YouTube. You can stream it live below (requires Macromedia Flash Player):


In other news, I just heard (at the pub) that Geoff (who organised Tube Relief 2005) received some kind of cease and desist order from TfL's lawyers in regarding to his collection of spoof maps (titled silly maps on his site). The maps has been taken down but lucky for me I have them stored on my PC (as some of them were rather useful during Tube Relief). I think this other spoof map, created by a disgruntled reader, sums up pretty much what I am feeling at the moment, if you don't mind me saying.



Technorati tags: Mardi Gras TfL London Underground Tube Tube Relief

Box Art

Inspired by the 1up article entitled 'Box Art Around The World' I decided to write this up. Seriously I have nothing much to do anyway. A quick browse through Amazon UK/US/Japan, Lik-Sang and other sites provided me the images I needed to stitch the article together.

Enjoy.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike / Famicom Wars DS

Japan:


North America:


Europe:


If you ever played Risk or Axis & Allies board games when you were a kid, then this is the game for you.

It is nice to see a military game receiving an 'Everyone' rating by the guys at ESRB. Europe however gave it a '7+'. Their reasoning is that anybody under the age of seven isn't well developed to play such an intelligent game, so why bother selling a game that they couldn't play. Apart from that the box art is equal (Nintendo's logo is curiously missing from the EU version). The Japanese version, which retains the Famicom Wars title, features a photograph of a toy-style battle. It is cool but I still prefer both the EU and NA versions.

We Love Katamari / Katamari Damacy Minna Daisuki

Japan:


North America:


Europe:


I haven't played this game but I do know that many people really really hate the North American cover. I don't know about you, but all three versions do not appeal to me one bit. A non conventional game with non conventional covers. The Japanese cover even has a giraffe on the freaking roof!

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow / Akumajō Dracula: Sōgetsu no Jūjika

Japan:


North America:


Europe:


I hate the fact that while the European version has the best artwork, it has the worst design due to the Konami's insistent to stick E3 awards on it and another video game rating (isn't PEGI enough?). This is my pet peeves among media box arts where publishers ruin the art by sticking unnecessary clutter and information. The biggest culprits are book publishers on paperbacks.

Back to the subject, here we have a cool looking Soma Cruz, whose head is right up in front of a full moon (which gives him a sort of halo look) and they ruined it (grumble). As for the North American version, it contains too many supporting characters. The Japanese version though still using the same image as the North American version, has a huge full moon and features an uncropped Soma Cruz. Probably the best design here, but I still lament the fact that the EU design was wasted for some E3 awards.

Resident Evil 4 / Biohazard 4

Japan:


North America:


Europe:


Firstly this is a fantastic game. If possible get the GameCube version as the graphics are superior to the PS2 version.

RE4 European PAL version beats both the Japanese and North American versions hands down. It is simple and doesn't feature a gun on the front. The Japanese version (known as Biohazard 4) features only the floppy haired Leon, which me thinks is better than the Dawn of the Dead inspired look of the North American box art.

PS2 versions:

Japan:


North America:


Europe:


I will go on record to say that Europe wins once again. It isn't as nice as the EU's GameCube art but it is close. Both NTSC versions received horrible box arts.

Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble / Viewtiful Joe: Scratch

Japan:


North America:


Europe:


The Japanese and North American version share the same box art although the Japanese version is littered with rubbish everywhere. The European box seems to be more colourful, probably due to the shades of purple and pink. The film cell reference is also missing. I prefer the North American version because that is the version I own. ;)

Nip/Tuck Season One

North America:


Europe:


This isn't only about games. DVD boxes vary greatly among territories and regions. I am using Nip/Tuck as an example because the differences are enormous. I searched high and low for the Japanese box art but couldn't so these two will make do for now.

I love the UK box art, but after seeing the North American box art, I am like wow, the UK version sucked so much. To be fair, the American version, at first glance didn't look that great (it looked 80s) - until I saw the stitches over the eyes which says a lot about what Nip/Tuck is all about. The UK box however features the three protagonists on the front, probably to convey that Nip/Tuck isn't only about plastic surgeries. It is about the surgeons. Needless to say both are pretty good boxes, I just prefer the US version more.

More on box arts by GameSpy: Top 10 best box art and top 10 worst box art.

Technorati tags: Box art Castlevania Advance Wars Katamari Viewtiful Joe Nip/Tuck

"Youth opportunity cards"

Gordon Brown is planning to give badly behaved louts up to 25 quid a month as part of the government's campaign on anti-social behaviour. This simply beggars belief - the government are already bribing kids to stay at school. Tsk. I wish I were a teenager but carrying 'youth opportunity cards' will only make me so unpopular, innit?

I think I should get paid for getting up.

Technorati tags: Britain Anti-Social Gordon Brown

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan review

The box has this cool looking guy on the front that looks a little bit like that Bean Bandit fellow from Gunsmith Cats. The whole thing was in Japanese. I felt a little regret when I got it. Then I remember about this English guy who raved about it. He didn't speak a single word of Japanese and yet he loved it. That was it. Rather than eBaying it I decided I was going to PLAY IT! Osu!

Ouendan centers around three Japanese male cheerleaders. Yes you read that right. Male cheerleaders. Now before anyone of you starts thinking that I have gone all softy, this isn't what it seems. Each level of the game is a manga in itself where someone tragic in dire need to help cries out "Ouendan!", and the troupe of cheerleaders would be dispatched to provide 'motivation'. It is your job as the player to guide these three cheerleaders and help people out of their depression.

The music starts and the cheerleaders dance. The idea is that watching three guys doing crazy dances is pretty motivating and would help remedy any sort of situation. Ouendan, as the cheer squads are called in Japanese, dances to the beat of famous Japanese J-pops and J-rocks. You are required to tap on the screen with your stylus, following the instructions as accurate and as quick as possible. You have dot tapping, dragging and full on spinning. Depending on your accuracies you will be awarded with points. The songs are pretty neat, all supposedly to be covers and not originals. The DS speakers holds well when playing such tracks, even more impressive when you consider how tiny the speakers are.

The stories are told in comic panel manga style all in Japanese. This could be a problem but the drawings are detailed enough to understand what the situation is about without resorting to getting out a Japanese-English dictionary. However I guess in order to enjoy the story to the fulles one must learn the art of reading Japanese. Fortunately the gameplay is furiously fun that that alone is a worthy reason to import the game. This is one of the best games ever developed for the DS, if not for any systems.

9/10

Get this now! Osu!

Bunnies, tastes just like chicken

Yesterday we had dinner at Casa Don Carlos, a Spanish tapas bar in Brighton, to celebrate a colleague of Jennifer's birthday. There were eleven of us in total. This is the first time me and Jennifer have been there and the food is wonderful. I do not know how authentic the food were to those in Spain since this is my first trip to a Spanish tapas bar but there were pretty good. The prices are reasonable averaging around four quid per dish.

Now rabbit isn't a popular dish in Asia, so I never had one. People seems to either welcome or hate the idea of having cute little bunnies cooked. Well I had the chance yesterday and in the name of research (and much to Jennifer's displeasure) I had a little nibble. I can honestly lent my support to those often phrased 'it tastes just like chicken', because that was exactly what I said when I had my first bite. So I can't see why you should bother cooking rabbits. Rabbits are cute. They tastes like chicken, even with the relish. Even when downed with Sangria, the chicken taste is still there.

So just get chicken instead. They are cheaper. And they are not that cute.

update (address):

Casa Don Carlos
Union Street,
Brighton BN11HA
01273 327177



Technorati tags: Brighton Spanish Tapas Rabbit Bunnies

It is Friday!

Hiya peeps!!

So Sir Ming has won. The next election will be an interesting one with all three major parties being led by Scots. Either way all the mainstream parties all now looking eerily similar, with the Labour now centre-left (while being led by a centre-right) and both the Tories and Lib Dems who can't seem to decide whether to be centre-left or centre-right. What choices do we have? Is it time to look at smaller parties and independents, or will more people just stay at home?

Henry Beck's LU map is one of three iconic British designs. Now go vote.

Anyway, go on, have a nice weekend.

Don't go over demonstrating over trivial issues.

Technorati tags: Friday LibDem British Politics Tube

Only in Japan

I think it is safe to say who will win the handheld gaming war. Satoru Iwata's strategy to expand the gaming population seems to be working. Looking at the pictures you can find many elderly people who just can't wait to get their hands on a gaming console. I bet they just can't get enough of educational brain training games!



It is funny how the DS Lite - a redesign - can outsell the Xbox 360 at launch. Oh my. If you didn't preorder it you probably won't get it for a long long time.

More at GameSpot

Technorati tags: Nintendo DS DS Lite Japan Games

What now Skype?

I wanted to do a link dump on the recent oil price increase in Malaysia that so many bloggers are upset about (just go here and see the number of posts in regards to fuel price increase). But I have already done three 'anti-subsidies' posts in the past with a grand total of one reply by a Malaysian blog celeb. My environmental ranting isn't exactly generating any heat due to the Malaysian mentality, so I think will just blog about something else instead. Skype.

-

I recently helped by grand auntie install Skype. Making free calls to her friends all over Europe was obviously important. I used to be a fan of Skype even though I knew the software isn't terribly efficient. I hardly use any VoIP software now due to rising electricity cost - leaving your PC on just to make or receive a phone call is quite pathetic.

Skype in the past has resisted developing a PalmOS variant of their application citing 'slow processor' as their main excuse. Recent confirmation that the Metroid Prime: Hunters game for the Nintendo DS (which has a 66Mhz ARM9 processor) would contain a lobby chat function proves just how incompetent the programmers are at Skype. Either that or their business mantra is somehow skewed. Platform agnostic my arse.

Yesterday news about Skype being subpoenaed by AMD in their AMD/Intel anti-trust lawsuit in the US. Before I continue I have to say that the news about the Skype/Intel deal escaped me (I was busy, I didn't check /.), so most of the deal is pretty new to me. However after digesting the news about how Skype plans to restrict functions to only PCs that contains Intel Core Duo and Pentium D processors, I was furious.

Now the company has, in some bullshit way, maintained that only Intel processors has the power to run those advance 10-way conference calling. This performance bullshit excuse is similar to the bullshit excuse that was given for the lack of Skype application for the PalmOS platform. But this is actually far worse because while Skype can argue that PalmOS as a platform sucks (which in some ways is quite true), how can you argue for crippling a software on AMD machines unless somebody is paying you to. All this under the lie that Pentium Ds are faster than AMD X2 processors with 2Ghz bus. CPU resources has nothing to do with it - it is all about bandwidth!

Excuse me while I look out for any flying pigs.

Okay where were we? What Intel/Skype are saying is that Intel's processors are so mush faster, that it will totally outperforms AMD's - to the point that Skype is needed to lock out AMD users - even if their processors outperformed a similar spec'ed Intel Yonah processors. You have access to the Interweb - just search for reviews of AMD processors. AMD CPUs has been proven to be equal if not better than similarly priced Intel chips.

Intel is feeling the heat now. They just can't compete with AMD in terms of raw performance, so they attempt to lock out software features (just like they do with PC manufacturers - Dell anyone?). What they are doing is an abuse of monopoly by trying to lie over their performance level. This deal has 'anti-competitive' written all over Paul Otellini's facial. Bill Gates is sure to be proud of him.

I am no fan of Google (especially with the way Google behaves these days) but if Skype can't just see through this damn mistake then I (and many others) won't be topping up my SkypeOut accounts anymore and be switching to other VoIP software like Google Talk.

Technorati tags: AMD Intel Skype Anti-trust