I'm moving there. I feel that Blogger is not keeping up with the times, and that its functionality is very limited.
Updates stopped for this blog. Last post 20 August 2013.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
I made a new signature using a new style. I put some Cinema 4D (C4D) renders and I have to say the result looks... intriguing. I posted it in Planet Rakion and the people say its plain and simple = cool. I find it pretty cool too.
Other than that I haven't done much, or nothing much has happened. My L1R5 for term 1 is 15. Not happy with my A-Math. I got B3 for it.I know I supposed to complete Battle for Middle-Earth and do a review about it, but I kind of got bored with it and stopped. The problem with the game is that the campaigns have a too similar target. Just build up your army and attack. I think there should be more interesting missions like escort someone, or use just 1 hero to stealthily bring something down.
posted @ 5:16 pm
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Monday, March 19, 2007
With exams coming soon, I decided on what I want to count in my L1R5, and what to put lots of effort in.English: This is a must count so I'll just have to somehow do well in this. Hoping for an A2, since I usually hover around the B3 area.
Chinese: Even though I write B3 on my targets for this, I am really content as long as I get a pass here.
E-Math: This is pretty easy so its a must for me to get an A1 here.
A-Math: A lot harder, but I know its possible and I have to get an A1 here too.
Chemistry: Ah, the funny subject for me. Went through my Secondary 3 common tests failing almost all of the tests, but I decided that I must get an A1 for this too. Excluding careless mistakes, I got an A2 for Chemistry in the End-of-Year examinations, so I have to somehow get an A1. I know I can.
Physics: I wanted to get an A1 and count this in for my L1R5 last year, but after some comments made about the difficulty of getting an A1 for Physics, I decided to not count this. Every year less than 10 people get an A1 for Physics. Not easy. I won't give up on this subject though, I will still work on this subject, and see what happens.
Biology: This is surprisingly easy, and remembering facts and parts weren't as difficult as I thought. I got to get an A1 here too.
Combined Humanities: Though last year was a bad year for this subject, term 1 has showed me that it isn't that hard or difficult. I got a B3 for this subject this term, making me one of the top 5? 10? scorers in this subject. Besides, Geography elective has always scored better than History elective, so it has to be easier. I targeted for an A2, but if possible, I want an A1.
I have to count English, E-Math, A-Math, Chemistry, Biology and Combined Humanities. Maximum L1R5 I can afford to get is 9, and I'm aiming for a 8. Minus 3 points for affiliation and CCA (%^@$ express doesn't get 2 points for A2), that should guarantee me a place in ACJC.
I'll have to start revision in June, and also 1 month before the O-levels. This is seriously the first time I'm actually going to study one whole month before an exam. I've always studied a week or even a day before. This change is going to be hard.
This doesn't really concern you, the reader, but it just feels good when I have the whole thing planned out on a solid place, rather than my head. Yes, my head is not solid =)
posted @ 5:36 pm
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Demo
So, the Command & Conquer (C&C) series is back. I played the demo, loved it, and can't wait for it to hit the stores on the 28th of March.
I won't say much about the storyline and what has been happening, because when I played the first two C&C games I was just about 10 years old or around there. At that age, you don't really bother about the storyline, you just want to get into action and start fragging. Almost every game I played at that age, I hit the escape key to skip the stories.
Therefore, I'll just talk about gameplay, the strengths of the Global Defence Initiative (GDI), and the strengths of the Brotherhood of NOD. Everything I say here will be among GDI and NOD only. I have no idea what Scrin is does, I only know that they are an alien race.
Tutorial
The first thing one would usually do is start the game and play the tutorial. Well, you start off in this tutorial with what I believe are 2 squads of overpowered Zone Troopers. I tell you, these guys own everything, from infantry to vehicles to buildings. They don't really have a weakness, except to weapons which kill infantry easily. So in this tutorial you just do all the lame basic stuff you need to know like scrolling around the map, attacking, building, and some other things unique to the C&C series.
GDI prologue mission
Ok, tutorial complete. Then there's two missions for you to play in the demo. The GDI prologue is really easy, because after you try attacking them using aircraft they give you the powers of the ion cannon. Target the ion cannon on their base, and their base is toast in 1 shot. That's it, mission accomplished.
GDI demo mission
The other mission is much better, as the enemy has a lot more defences put up and there was no overpowered ion cannon for you to use. You get to use the mammoth tank in this mission, and its one of the strongest tank, if not, the strongest tank in the game. Well, just spam about 5 or 6 mammoth tanks and send them to their base and they are dead. No challenge.
I actually see some features from Company of Heroes (CoH) and Dawn of War (DoW) implemented in this game. I saw an option to allow tanks to reverse all the way, facing their stronger front armour at the enemy. This is something the Company of Heroes community actually want in CoH. In DoW, when you drag that box to select multiple units at a time, if a builder unit happens to be in the selection, it doesn't get selected. I find this really useful. This is implemented into C&C3 by having the harvester not get selected.
GDI strengths
If you're wondering why I can actually talk about NOD forces in the game, its because you are actually able to use both NOD and Scrin in the skirmish. However if you use Scrin, you would lose in 13 seconds. After using both GDI and NOD about 3 times each, I realise that the GDI has a much stronger frontal assault force than NOD. The GDI infantry and tanks has more firepower than NOD infantry and tanks. In fact, the NOD tanks are really pathetic. However, by having more firepower, GDI is a little weak in terms of defence.
NOD strengths
NOD, on the other hand, is a lot better at holding their ground rather than attacking. The Obelisk of Light has to be the best defence building among these two factions. The basic NOD defence always come in threes, and they cost about the same as 1 of GDI's basic defence. NOD also has the power to stealth its whole base, proving vital against air strikes and artillery. If NOD wants to attack, I don't recommend a frontal assault unless you have a force equal to the number of orcs in LOTR. I recommend long range, hit and run attacks. NOD has an aircraft bomber which remains stealthed, and I have to say its one of my favourite units. What I like about NOD infantry is also the fact that they can upgrade themselves so that they are invulnerable to Tiberium radiation.
Superpowers
On to the superpowers of GDI and NOD. The GDI has the ion cannon, and NOD has the nuclear missile. They are both equally powerful I think, and they can destroy a whole base (except for the construction yard) in 1 shot. What I want to comment is how crazy the nuclear missile is. Maximum frames per second (FPS) in game is 30, and guess what it fell to when I nuked the enemies base? It hovered around 1-2. An in-game timer showed that the animation of the explosion only lasted 4 seconds, but in real life it took 15 seconds or even more.
Skirmish
Anyway, what I like about the skirmish option of the game is the fact that you can choose the AI personality. Balanced, rusher, steamroller, turtler, or guerilla. Here are what they mean.
Balanced: Well, balanced. Duh.
Rusher: Enemy builds up forces quickly and attacks easily only 1 or 2 minutes in the game.
Steamroller: Enemy focuses on heavy upgrades, slowly building up strong units. Eventually ends up spamming heavy tanks.
Turtler: A player who sits back, builds up a crazy defence which should be impenetrable.
Guerilla: Hit and run tactics, and some ambush and stuff.
Issues
While playing the game, I saw some interesting stuff. I saw allied infantry walk through my tanks, and I saw allied tanks going through each other. I'm sure it'll be fixed by the time the game is released or through a patch.
Good news for players with not-so-good PCs. This game doesn't require a powerful PC to run on, so even if you can't play Supreme Commander, you have C&C 3 to play.
One thing I don't really like is the powers each faction has. The missile strikes and nuclear missiles, ion cannons are way too much overpowered. They easily flatten a base in a shot. For the weaker powers, they destroy a building in a shot. I'm sure the community will give lots of feedback and maybe it'll be nerfed.
I know is my longest post ever, but who cares? The real reviews you find on the net are easily 3 pages long. In fact, this review is 1049 words long. If only game reviews were allowed in English composition writing.
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 9
Lasting appeal: 8
Overall: 8.8
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Trailer (1:12)
posted @ 6:21 pm
Monday, March 12, 2007
Homework.Exams.Tests.Death.Sickness.Misery.Pain.Suffering.
Depression.
Life-deciding major exams.Holidays worse than normal days.Irritating people.Satan.Money.Murder.Jealousy.Bankruptcy.Repetitive days.Mindless studying.Studying for what?.The fact that everything good is harder to get.
LIFE SUCKS
The fact that everything good is easy to lose.The fact that everything bad is easy to get.The fact that everything bad is hard to lose.The crazy speed of city life.The coldness of people in the city.Traffic jams.Body odour.Diseases.Pests.Insects bugging you for no reason.Terrorism. Disharmonious people. Racists. Sexists. Hate.Arrogance.The way better things have to be more expensive.The way people who make our everyday life pleasant are lowly paid and looked down upon (sweepers, cleaners, etc.).Corruption.Greed.Viruses.
I might add more to the list.
Depression.
Life-deciding major exams.Holidays worse than normal days.Irritating people.Satan.Money.Murder.Jealousy.Bankruptcy.Repetitive days.Mindless studying.Studying for what?.The fact that everything good is harder to get.
LIFE SUCKS
The fact that everything good is easy to lose.The fact that everything bad is easy to get.The fact that everything bad is hard to lose.The crazy speed of city life.The coldness of people in the city.Traffic jams.Body odour.Diseases.Pests.Insects bugging you for no reason.Terrorism. Disharmonious people. Racists. Sexists. Hate.Arrogance.The way better things have to be more expensive.The way people who make our everyday life pleasant are lowly paid and looked down upon (sweepers, cleaners, etc.).Corruption.Greed.Viruses.
I might add more to the list.
posted @ 5:07 pm
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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Barely 3 months has passed and two really good games have made their appearance. Supreme Commander, which I have no idea what it is about, and Command and Conquer 3, of which the demo has only come out. Supreme Commander is a huge game which requires a good PC to run on, and my laptop is on the dot for its minimum requirements.What I'm more interested in the Command and Conquer 3 (C&C3). The C&C series has been out for a long time, more than a decade I think. I've played the earliest C&C games like the first one ever released, Red Alert 1, and also Tiberium Sun, which is the prequel to C&C3. Even though I haven't played the later C&C games like Red Alert 2, C&C Generals and so on, I know that all these games have always received good feedback and good ratings. C&C3 came out pretty late, mainly because of some company changes and stuff. Whether or not it'll retain its goodness, is unknown, but I have high hopes. I'm currently downloading the demo, and the system requirements needed to play it is surprisingly low.
What other good games will come out this year? GTA 4 is expected to come out this year, and what else?
I'm currently playing The Battle for Middle-Earth, and I'll be doing a review on it once I've played the evil campaign and test whether its balanced. One thing about it is, its definitely much better than Battle for Middle-Earth 2.
posted @ 9:05 pm
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