silent hill Homecoming / first impression

first impression of SH Homecoming:-

-----------------------------------

managed to play til the 2nd save point. yes saving game is like classic SH, no save game as u wish but play til a save point indicated on the wall, a bloody circular icon.

the menu, was a nice surround sound with the familiar SH haunting tune. mins later if u dont press the START, the trailer comes in with mary elizabeth's vocals and aikra yamoaoka's music.

so far only 2 difficulty at the start, normal or hard.

fooled around with the options, the vibration was set to OFF as default.

the cutscene graphics aint great, but when the

 game start graphics improves, with the fuzzy feel. the torch is barely lit, so i keep knocking into beds and trolleys and lamp post in the hospital.

i like the R3 button where u turn into a non movement look around mode, left stick for movement, right stick cam.

actions button are on screen, plenty of "X" to open doors [but i dunno why the door closes again when i turn away]. 

L1 for your inventory and R1 is your weapons inventory. 

when i stepped over a puddle of blood, there are no blood food prints. i'm sure those are not dried blood.

the siren sounded and the walls peel. gray hue changes all to red.

met 3 nurses so far, hold R2 and "SQUARE" for hard attack and "X" for fast attack. no variation of combat, maybe later i might learn some combos? i keep stabbing the sexy mummified nurse's left breast. she falls flat on her stomach when dead, so far she dont wake up half dead like previous.

reminds me very much of recent SIREN game, but graphically better, and darker. 

gory level, 6/10 so far. didnt got myself to 2 of the environmental scare cos i was a little too far from scene when it triggered.

.... mins later, left the room and got attack by bugs. they are annoying. then i died. a bug was stucked on my face and i didnt know. 

this is just my first impression.

love

"bram stoker's dracula" - directed by francis ford coppola used to be the ultimate love story movie. my views changed after i recollected the movie on blu-ray format recently, painfully dragging me for hours despite in full glory hi-def. 

my loneliness are sheltered by nice home movies. my sanity, contained by video games. life's torment never ends til the grave, if there's a next life, i'll re-live. life, there is never a game save you can replay.

my modern or 90s or the new millenium's love stories will be awarded to classics like "proof of life" - starring russell crowe and meg ryan. and another powerful one is "unfaithful" starring diane lane and richard gere. these movies has it's action and highs, but the hidden theme is love.

and another recent great, "30days of night" with josh harnett and melissa george.

love is not lust. love is not liking. love is a sacrifice.

wait

had a great fall / catch my fall

slip and fell while opening the brollie to shelter my wife to visit the clinic. got a nice jab into my right kidney, the edge of the stairs. doc found minor traces of blood in my urine hence i was referred to the A&E.

i call RMG they got no clue how i should proceed. then i called finance dept and they say i dont have to pay upfront in a govt hospital A&E basing on my CCS scheme. 

the doc was a star wars fan. he recognized my Force Unleashed guidebook, which it kept me company for the 8hrs there. 

then there was a male nurse who also recognized the guide. my urine was sorta misplaced when i had my first review at 6pm, after some ultra scan, x-ray, so the doc left to attend to some life-threatening cases and he only came back 3hrs later. 

it's nice to see pple working hard in the A&E dept, they were there the same hours and longer during my stay at the observation room. it reminds me of the dedication pple put into their work, like some of us in our lowly paid air traffic department.  

i was discharged at 10pm .... took a cab home, not wanting to trouble my brother who offered to pick me up. my mom was nice to accompany me to A&E, and i'm glad my wife didnt grab my fall, that would sure hurt the baby. 

well i loss a $500 recall, due to the fall, that i was recalled back to work to cover a MC .... let me check the 4D, maybe i won something .... 

force unleashed guide

big box small item. i saw this guide yesterday at comics connection and i must say i'm utterly disappointed. mine came in the mail 2day. it has the guide for PS3 and xbox360 and for Wii on the flip side. no sign of a guide for psp .... 

but the Wii version like the psp version of this game is designed by a company called krome studios while the ps3 and 360 versions are by inhouse lucasarts. i briefly run thru the guide to notice similarity in the Wii and psp version .... so it's pretty sufficient guide for me as of now.

ps3 force unleashed arrived .... just a mere 2 days via UPS

while they ponder if it's ok to import .... mine arrived. the local one is one helluva disgusting R4 .... and so i got the psp version .... but for ps3 it's gotta be the superior R1 .... 

did a upgrade of my loyal psp to version 4.05 and ps3 to useless 2.43

U900 soul / psp force unleashed

sold my c902 off at $400 for u900 soul by samsung .... since buying the f480 for my wife, i've been a samsung convert and gave up on sony ericsson's bad record of good phones .... 

u900 seems to lack a good shortcut function, the customizable menu just aint enuff for my heavy usage of shortcuts for phones. another lacking goodie on u900 is the great cam functions in sony ericsson models .... 

also bought a R4 psp the force unleashed ....

brett anderson new cd / GH tee

bought brett anderson's new cd + GH tee at large size .... decided not to get "i'm a jedi like my father b4 me" SW lego shirt .... metallica's new cd "death magnetic" still not in stores yet. and the box magnetic limited version is delayed due to video content ....

much later in the evening, IT was out. i bought the simplest version ... there was one more version in a digipak at a higher price.

solving the freezing of singstar PS3 during updating songs

managed to find my game data on singstar for ps3 under the xmb .... 

i previously have a R2 version and i didnt know thy share the same file when i bought a R1 version. there's 1.9G worth of downloaded songs, and after wiping it clean, i dnt have my library of downloaded songs, but i no longer get the "updating songs - 50%" stuck/frozen  screen. 

the pain however is to re-download all songs, each song takes abut 1.5hrs subject to sign-out from us psn. this of course is better than wiping my hard disc for my ps3, which i luckily didnt, after desperate attempts not to find answers on the net, but after backing up my ps3 data using the backup function on the xmb, god directed me to the correct spot and it solved my problem.

now i got to make careful downloads .... some files could have been corrupted during download, especially when i get a signed-out and u re-download the same file, i guess this is when the corruption comes in. so ....

rule #1 

if i get a signed-out from the psn or the singstore, tho redownloading the same song it'll take faster, maybe i should choose to download another song first

rule #2

download 1 song at a time, test it by updating, then proceed to download a second song, dont donwload a bunch of songs at a goal

rule #3

download those songs that was before i got the freeze screen .... if my memory serves me well, below is the list that didnt had a corruption

-> A-Ha - the sun always shines on tv (ok)

-> A-Ha - hunting high and low (ok)

-> A-Ha - take on me (ok)

-> billy joel - just the way your are (ok)

-> bonnie tyler - total eclipse of the heart (ok)

-> britney spears - baby one more time (ok)

-> britney spears - overprotected (ok)

-> culture club - do you really wana hurt me (ok)

-> cutting crew - i just died in your arms (ok)

-> duran duran - ordinary world <--

-> duran duran - wild boys <--

-> duran duran - save a prayer <--

-> duran duran - planet earth <--

-> joy division - love will tear us apart (ok)

-> men at work - who can it be now (ok)

-> natalie imbruglia - torn (ok)

-> radiohead - creep (ok)

-> radiohead - high and dry (ok)

-> REM - everybody hurts (ok)

-> roxy music - more than this (ok)

-> spandau ballet - gold (ok)

-> survivor - eye of a tiger (ok)

safe songs (cos i have not download these yet):-

-> duran duran - union of the snake <--

-> duran duran - rio (ok)

-> suede - trash (ok)

suspicious songs :-

-> A-Ha - I've been losing you (safe)

-> culture club - karma chameleon (safe)

-> duran duran - hungry like a wolf (safe)

-> duran duran - the reflex (safe)

-> duran duran - is there something i should know (safe)

-> roxy music - jealous guy (safe)

-> suede - beautiful ones (safe)

* but in second thoughts, i decide to alter rule#3 .... download the suspicious songs first, so in case any of these songs cos a failure, i can avoid that song .... and start fresh again ....

soul calibur 4 OST and secret blu-ray /

2 items arrived 2day. soul calibur 4 OST and a blu-ray starring jay chou.

the soul calibur 4 OST comes in 2 disc and 28 songs on disc1 and 37 songs on disc2.

after taking many days to download almost 20 over songs for my singstar for ps3, the game hangs suddenly. the game will update whenever u download songs. i was downloading some songs and switch to play the game, when it updates, the game hangs at updating on 50%. perhaps on of the song i downloaded is corrupted or the hard disk for the ps3 has a bad sector.

now i gotta figure after which song that i downloaded that has cos the crash.

my solution is either to sell the game, and loose $92 for the cost of the game, loose $60 of worth of downloaded songs OR reformat my ps3 hard disc and backup and update my other ps3 games .... which is bloody tedious, and worst re-download the singstar songs again, which is extremely tedious and time consuming. each song can take up to 1.5hr to download and not counting the number of log-out of psn by starhub or log-out by us psn.

reformatting my ps3 hard disk, i'll have to:-

1) update my ps3

2) choose which video to backup and which to delete

3) choose which pictures to backup and which to update

4) choose which music to backup and which to update

5) choose which game saves to back up and which to update

6) slowly download the game contents of my existing games

should this task takes a few days due to the slow speed of psn .... but i'll revive my singstar fr my wife and clean up my ps3 hdd .... provided it's not about a bad sector.

jango's head on other medicom figures

what's beneath boba fett's helm is a wrapped head with a blank face. since boba is a unaltered clone of jango, and clone troopers are also modified clones of jango, they should resemble actor temeura morrison, just like in the movies. 

medicom's 1/6th jango fett has a decent head sculpt of the actor .... below is how boba and a shock trooper might look like with a jango head ....

boba fett with helm removed but without the head wrap.

shock trooper with helm removed.

yes these adult toys are expensive, it's nice tohave them still mint in box .... but the the fun factor is missing if u dont take em out and twist their arms. 

pepsi x be@rbrick x star wars

had cancelled my previous pre-order for a complete set of these cute 60% star wars be@rbrick by medicom found only in japan with a bottle of pepsi nex. the complete set sells at $80 for 16 pieces, resulting in $5 each, i bought 2 of them at $15 at CSC, a EPII clone commander + vader .... other cute ones re chewie, the imperial logo and maybe a stormtrooper

added to my phone .... this phone hangs too frequent ....

these fellows are taking centre stage, it's a good star wars revival year .... "i'm a jedi, like my father before me ...."

singstar PS3 track list

some tracks from the euro / international version of singstar R2 were replaced by other tracks in the R1 (US) version, which was released months after the R2 version.

below the list of 30 tracks on the R1 singstar for ps3 ....

the automatic - monster
amy winehouse - back to black (replaces blur - coffee and tv)
blink 182 - all the small things
britney spears - toxic
beck - loser (replaces coldplay - fix you)
blind melon - no rain (replaces the fratellis - chelsea dagger)
coldplay - clocks (replaces gorillaz - feel good inc)
corinne bailey mae - put your records on (replaces gwen stefani - cool)
the cardigans - lovefool
dave matthews band - crash into me (replaces junior senior - move your feet)
david bowie - let's dance (replaces macy gray - i try)
faith no more - epic (replaces musical youth - pass the dutchie)
franz ferdinand - do you want to? (replaces orson - no tomorrow)
jane's addiction - ben caught stealing (replaces primal screm - movin on up)
the killers - mr brightside
ne-yo - so sick
new found glory - my friends over you ( rplaces razorlight - america)
outkast - hey ya!
pixies - here comes your man (replaces robbie william and nicole kidman - something stupid)
pussycat dools - beep
radiohead - no surprises
REM - losing my religion
the ramones - i wanna be sedated (replaces the stone roses - she bangs the drums)
the rolling stones sympathy for the devil (replaces supergrass - alright)
scissor sister - i dont feel like dancing
the smashing pumpkins - today (replaces twisted sister - we're not gonna make it)
U2 - beautiful day
warrant - cherry pie (replaces the zutons - valerie)
weezer - buddy holly
wolfmother - love train

*yellow - tracks i like

singstar R1

bought singstar R1 for PS3 .... 

spent quite abit of time and money for the new songs from singstore .... each song takes about 1.5hr to download, cost USD $1.49 ....

i gotta log on into the USA PSN to purchase and download the music. the blu-ray disc comes with 30tracks from different genre, and less than a handful is to my liking .... the Vol.2 of Singstar for PS3 has already been released but it's only on R2 version .... another Vol.3 is in the works .....

-> songs i've added to my library

A-Ha / hunting high and low

A-Ha / take on me

bonnie tyler - total eclipse of the heart

culture club - do you really wana hurt me

cutting crew - i just died in your arms

duran duran - ordinary world

joy division - love will tear us apart

men at work - who can it be now

natalie imbruglia - torn

radiohead - creep

roxy music - more than this

spandau ballet - gold

survivor - eye of a tiger

-> songs i've purchased but still pending download

A-Ha - I've been losing you (downloaded)

A-Ha - the sun always shines on tv (downloaded)

britney spears - baby one more time (downloaded)

britney spears - overprotected (downloaded)

culture club - karma chameleon (downloaded)

duran duran - hungry like a wolf (downloaded)

duran duran - rio

duran duran - save a prayer (downloaded)

duran duran - planet earth (downloaded)

duran duran - the reflex (downloaded)

duran duran - union of the snake

duran duran - wild boys (downloaded)

duran duran - is there something i should know (downloaded)

radiohead - high and dry (downloaded)

REM - everybody hurts (downloaded)

roxy music - jealous guy (downloaded)

suede - beautiful ones (downloaded)

-> songs yet to buy and interested ....

billy joel - just the way your are (downloaded)

one more trooper .... medicom 12inch coruscant guard clone trooper

bought a medicom 12inch shock trooper from suntec 2day. visited simply toys to check on things but found this fellow from another shop.

what i'm missing is the commander EPII commander clone trooper (SWShop  / SW Japan Celebration Exclusive) apprx SGD250 if shipped from SWShop.com . and the 501st EPIII clone trooper SGD250. i saw 1 piece of it at the shop i got my figure.

assemblage of troopers.

left to right 30th anniversary sandtrooper (SW Celebration IV exclusive), EPIII clone trooper, EPIII shock trooper (SWShop exclusive). i wonder why my shock trooper isnt weathered .... is this a diferent version? [i just figured. mine is a self painted customized version. nice job]....

EPII clone trooper, shadow trooper (SWShop Exclusive / Blister JP exclusive) , stormtrooper.

medicom EPII clone trooper outta box

took my EPII medicom clone trooper out of the box 2day. tho it might look like just another medicom trooper, it has does have some nice detailing.  posed here with assajj ventress of sideshow.

juno eclipse

bought a juno eclipse 3 3/4inch figure at $15 from CSC ....