Toy Review: Nintendo Famicom Controller Keyholder and Super Mario Bros.

Thanks again to Jennifer, here are some pictures of Japan only release, Nintendo Controller Keyholder with Sound. This features a 3D dot graphic version of Mario from Super Mario Bros. and a Famicom controller replica, which emits the sound from the game when pressed. This is the perfect gift for retro gaming fans.









You can import them from Lik-Sang or through most retro gaming and Japanese toy stores in London.

Technorati tags: Nintendo Nintendo Controller Famicom Nintendo Famicom NES Mario Super Mario Bros

Magazine Review: Playboy Indonesia Issue 01

This is it, my 'review' on Indonesia's first Playboy magazine, courtesy of Jennifer.



Premiere issue - Playboy Indonesia. Out for one week before being removed from the shelves.



Compared to FHM, Playboy is a little bit smaller and 'less sexy'. The bright red does catch your eyes though compared to 'yet another high street honey' cover.



News from Playboy America.



Farhan enjoys reading articles more than seeing pictures of Erika Eleniak. What an idiot.



This joke isn't even funny in the first place. The way the joke was told is funny though.



The nude drawing of Playboy Advisor is gone.



Unlike localised FHM Malaysia, Playboy Indonesia also features original articles written by their local writers. This is an interview with an old man.



It isn't only pictures of semi-nude ladies. Like its more matured Playboy USA, a local political issue should always be featured. Because of Indonesian constitution and red-tape, these poor people are now 'atheist'. What is wrong with that?



Eh?



Alan Moore speaks Indonesian...



The obligatory fashion section.



This picture of a so called Malaysian celeb (that I have never heard of) is the closest to nudity you will find in Playboy Indonesia. I don't know what the fuss is all about - this isn't pornographic! You can probably find sexier pictures in an Argos catalogue.



I present to you Miss April Kartika, Playboy Indonesia's first centerfold and one of the few centerfold pictorials not to feature nudity.

Miss Kartika Oktavini Gunawan turn-ons includes getting a job and presents.



Ad: A baggy version that allows Mr. Happy's head to maneuver easier, giving Miss Cheerful a better sensation. Hmm...

I can't say that I expected much. Much of the articles are recycled from Playboy USA, although for a first issue, it does feature quite a number of original local produced features. The lack of nudity is pretty much expected (they even went on to edit out see through nipples). And after all that they are still at the receiving end of crazy conservative idiots. I can honestly say that this isn't even near pornographic and the only reason we are seeing protests are because of irrational and subconscious negative thought to the brand name 'Playboy'. Uninformed idiots tend to do crazy things.

At most this can be classified as similar to GQ, Esquire or Arena (minus the nudity of course) and is a more 'serious' mag when compared to mid-shelf lad mags like FHM, Maxim or Front. As far as Playboy is concerned, it follows the similar format to Playboy USA with two pictorials (although in this case, there are no nudity) plus jokes, articles, news etc.

I wish them success but knowing S.E. Asia, I believe this publication is doomed from the beginning. The country isn't ready yet. Even Jennifer found it hard to purchase the mag. Over cautious newsagents were wary of putting them on shelves.

But it is a step and at least Indonesia can stand proud and say that they have/had a Playboy magazine. Can't say the same of Malaysia and Singapore.

Technorati tags: Playboy Playboy Indonesia

Brighton sunset

Nothing beats the sight of sunset while strolling on the seafront of Brighton. So... what sorts of stuffs did you do over Easter?

Technorati tags: Brighton Brighton seafront Brighton pier West Pier

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana mini-review

If you are a fan of RPG games like Final Fantasy or Disgaea: Hour of Darkness then you should consider this. Hell it is already proving a much better game than the last RPG game I played: the good but enjoyableness Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Like Nippon Ichi's own Disgaea (Atelier Iris is published by Nippon Ichi and Koei in Europe, but is actually developed by Japanese outfit Gust - this is their first game released outside Japan), Eternal Mana is hilariously funny. Which is a nice change of pace compared to other serious RPG games like Final Fantasy X.

Characters are made of typical RPG clichéd anime style and the plot not providing much substance but at least it provided me with much laughter. The graphics is a throwback to sprite based games from the SNES era but in higher resolution. Exploration for example occurs on a 3D isometric plane similar to Dragon Quest VII and Tactics where as during combat the camera zooms in slightly over a pseudo 3D landscape. Three characters can participate in a battle at any one time, certainly a much reduced number compared to say the six in Final Fantasy VI (III in US). Items can be synthesized in the shops to forge new gears.

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana is a good game, hampered only by the lack of engrossing storyline. It isn't a game for anybody as the amount of hours put in will demand serious investment, but if you are an old school RPG fan with a penchant for unusual character design, this first available Gust game outside of Japan should be considered over the usual affair of standard RPG outings by mainstream developers like Square Enix or Atlus.

7/10

Buy now from Play-Asia or Amazon UK

Easter weekend

This latest news on Playboy Indonesia is really a downer isn't it? The issue here isn't about the magazine, but a police chief who is attempting to assert his own demand on a publication. News from Jennifer is that the magazine has now been pulled from the shelfs. But do expect a review sometime next week. I will see if I can escape doing a comparison between Playboy Indonesia and Playboy USA. ;)

Looking at these shots of the developers of Red Steel from Ubisoft playing with the Revolution remote, I can't help but glee with the excitement of little girl. Hurry up already Nintendo!

And have a lovely easter and nice long weekend.

Technorati tags: Playboy Playboy Indonesia Red Steel Nintendo Revolution Easter

Broadband price war

Are we finally going to see a broadband price war? I surely hope so. One of the reason why I do not have a personal landline (therefore having to hitch on an open WiFi network) was the reliance on BT. No matter who you want your broadband connection to be with, you still have to pay BT for line rental.

Carphone Warehouse' new TalkTalk package pretty much breaks this rule and others. One-off connection fee of only 30 squid (to BT of course) and no more monthly BT line rental charge - yay! For only £21 a month, you get a landline with unlimited local and national call, plus unlimited calls to 28 other countries (using VoIP me thinks), and that broadband access with a 5GB download limit (which won't matter to the majority of surfers like me).

Technorati tags: TalkTalk Carphone Warehouse Broadband Internet

An (almost) dead Shure

Curse this world and my bad luck. My Shure e2c is halfway through its deathbed, just ten months after I bought it. While walking to the Tube station on Saturday evening, I found that my MuVo was outputting crackling songs. I thought that I was walking too fast and tracks are skipping (it shouldn't happen since it is flashed based). But it the music kept on crackling. While waiting for the Piccadilly Line train to arrive I took my chance to check if there was anything wrong with the Shure.


Which do you prefer? I hate white.

Sweet jesus. How the fuck did it get there? A large tear just below the right earbud. As you can see in the pictures above, the e2c cable is quite a bit thicker than your average buds, but I guess one its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. You see, Shure sound isolating earphones are meant to be worn wrapped through the top and down the back of the ear. I guess all those wrapping gave the part of the cable some pressure. Sure it may thick and durable, but its thickness made it less flexible.

The e2c still works but I need to pull the cable down from time to time for it to work. It works well if I am stationary, so I may yet keep it for those time when I need to chill. But right now I am stuck with the generic Creative buds that came with the MuVo. The sound fidelity is no where near the e2c but at least it is much more comfortable than the cheap throwaway Sony earphones I have (about ten of them). The problem with wearing the Creative buds are they are white. Now I look like a generic iPod wanabee clone.

Right now I am looking for a possible replacement, unless someone here can suggest how I can repair the tear. The Shure e2g looks nice. This is basically a Shure e2c with a black casing (and apparently optimised for gaming). I find the e2c's transparent case wicked, but if I am going to spend more money, might as well get something different right?

Sennheiser recently introduced its first in-ear canal earphone called the CX 300. Unfortunately there aren't any reviews of this unit (which looks awfully similar to the EX71) so I will hold out on getting it.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike review

Okay, this game has been out for quite some time now (since September last year), but as I have just finished of the last of the single player campaign (I am crap!) after a furious late night/early morning session, I felt compelled to write a short review of this amazing game.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike is part of the Famicom Wars series (Nintendo Wars as known in Europe and North America) and is a turn-based strategy wargame. It was developed by Intelligent Systems, the developer who made both the Gameboy Advance games and the original Famicom Wars. For the uninitiated, Advance Wars is a Risk/Chess/Command & Conquer hybrid game. The main difference is with each turn you are able to instruct all your units to move/attack, and of course it isn't in real time.

If you just bought this game you should get moving with the campaign mode. The storyline is reasonable and similar in lines with the Advance Wars series where the Black Hole army is up to their conquering the world mischief again. You control the Orange Star army in repelling the invasion. After you complete the campaign, a hard campaign would be unlocked. Using coins earned in the campaign you can use them to unlock new battlemaps.

A new feature to the Advance Wars series is the introduction of multiple COs (Commanding Officer). This is why the game is called Dual Strike. While you can only control a CO in AAdvance Wars, in Dual Strike you can partner two COs. Each COs has unique abilities so you should select them carefully in each mission. For example you should use Sami in missions that requires a quick capture of towns and bases. If a mission that requires a more direct brute force combat, then use Max.

With two different COs a new mode of gameplay called 'Tag Battles' has also been implemented. Basically once both your COs 'super power' has been charged you can invoke 'Tag Battles' which gives you two turns instead of one. This is crucial in some missions. Like in Advance Wars, the COs has uncanny humour, although I do wish Advance Wars veteran Nell returns to the game. She is the funniest of all. Her younger sister Rachel replaces her as your tutor. The most annoying character I believe is Jake, the first CO you control, and one of the main protagonist. His internet lingo annoys me (eg. We owned you!). STFU!

While most of the missions would only take place on the bottom screen (with the top screen displaying crucial information such as terrain and unit intelligence and other various stuffs), new to Advance Wars are battles that also takes place on the top screen. These battles (called secondary battles) are quite rare but do give some dimensions to the game. Basically you can assign a CO to take control of the top battle. If he or she wins, they can join you on the front battle. You can leave the CPU to take care of the top battle but should you wish to, you can take command as well.

Gameplay remains the same as the original (Western) Advance Wars with some modification to take advantage of the Nintendo DS. You can now use the touch screen to select your units, but personally I find it easier to use the d-pad and face buttons since the map is grid based.

Graphically the game is similar to the Gameboy Advance games. Terrain and units are still 2D sprites, although they are much more detailed. Likewise with the animations. The map is slightly tilted, sort of a 'cheat' to make it 3D like. People who must have 3D in their games would do well to avoid this game, which is a shame as I think the graphic is lovely.

Winning missions is straight forward. You can either capture the enemy HQ or defeat all the enemy units. Some missions deviate slightly and requires you to destroy certain units, but for most of the missions winning is as simple as capturing or defeating.

Because this game came out before Nintendo launched its free internet gaming service, Dual Strike only features wireless local LAN multiplayer. This supports up to eight different players and requires only one copy of the game. Yay!

Advance Wars: Dual Strike is a great direction for the series. If you are a fan of real time strategy, then check out its bigger brother, the under-rated Battalion Wars for GameCube, developed by Kuju London. While it isn't turn based, it is similar to its portable console cousins with its rather unique micro management system.

Either way, Dual Strike is a great war game. If you have Advance Wars for GBA, you may find at first glance that Dual Strike doesn't really offer a significant reason to upgrade. But combined with new units and new gameplay (dual COs, tags, music) and a new campaign, if you are a fan of turn-based war strategy.

War may be bad, but Advance Wars: Dual Strike is great.

8/10

Buy now from Play-Asia or Amazon UK