Are you kidding me?

Its weird how my Mass Effect 2 disc got scratched like one day after I completed the game. I don't know whether to feel fortunate or UN-fortunate. Yeah and now as usual, the fucking "This disc is unreadable. Please check for scratches and other nonsensical bullshit. Thank you for your kind cooperation. " message appears. I have a phobia of the message appearing on the Xbox 360. and coincidently, it only appeared on the original Mass Effect !

Maybe my 360 has a "anti-epic science fiction role-playing game" programme installed. Maybe they added abit of the "Annoy the faeces out of Nicholas" virus as well. Who knows.

Probably gonna get it buffed at Funzcentre on Monday. thats like a WHOLE ... 1 day(s) away.

I really want to start on my second playthrough !!!!!! What now with all the frikkin exams over and this shit happens?!

Reminds me of that Sunday when I spent half the day trying to clean the Mass Effect 1 disc and when I went to request professional help and the guy asked" Did you use a cloth or the floor to wipe this disc". LOL entertaining yet really depressing.

Bah. I guess in the meantime I'll play Dragon Age. The game seems sucky after playing ME2. Its like Flowers for Algernon, Bioware style. Ciao.

Finished the fight

I can't believe I'm blogging whilst Shawn Michaels is challenging the Undertaker to a WrestleMania match. Streak vs Career. Go figure.


Thought that I was going to do interesting things today. Well I did do some cool things except I was pitifully alone. School ended early with no CCA -> Teacher's going for (lou hei???). Well as usual the people in class intended to shoot some hoops. Its quite amazing how some people don't ever get sick of certain things. Oh who am I to judge. I've been patronizing the same canteen store for the past three years.


So anyway it was kinda like Chinese New Year except that this time Jerome was eating sushi over fried chicken. I actually wanted to invite the NCC guys over to watch Tuesdays with Morrie, but that went to hell. So ... I just went home alone.

Watched "Rain Man" instead. I really really loved it. Its ... (how do I describe it) ... really ... poignant. Poignant. Basically the story is about some young self-centered upstart Charlie ( Tom Cruise ), who in an attempt to inherit his father's vast fortune, discovers an autistic savant brother he never knew he had , Raymond(Dustin Hoffman). By the way, an autistic savant is sort of a handicapped person who is a genius but is also essentially retarded mentally. So he can multiply 12.345 by 789,654 within seconds but doesn't understand the value of money e.g. 1 dollar minus 50cents equates to 70cents.

So as I said, the movie is about 2 hours long. Although there WERE indeed some redundant scenes. My favourite scene personally was in the motel with the hot water. No there were no naked females you pervs, just Charlie and Raymond. and Charlie's revelation of spoilerific things.

Yeah, so I did that, and surfed the net for awhile ... IGN ... Wikipedia ... the usual. Picked up my matte black Xbox 360 controller. Entered the Terminus system, hell-bent on finally eradicating the Collector threat. Thats nerd talk for " I tried to finish Mass Effect 2". and I did.

Still can't belive my favourite squadmate, Thane, like just died right there. I was pondering whether or not to reload an old save to rescue the assassin from certain death, but that would negate Bioware's point on "serious consequences" right? So I moved on, depressed at the death of a valuable team member but also more determined to end the threat. Which really in the end made the experience much more memorable and moving.

Being the completionist that I am, of course I was pissed at not getting the "No one left behind" Xbox 360 achievement which stipulated that no team members would die in the suicide mission. and Thane happened to be the only one who passed away. So ... >:(

However, I thought that it was rather fitting that Thane would be the one to die. Because he was already terminally ill and if he did not die at the hands of the Collectors, he would have killed himself at Illium. So to him, the attack on the Collector base was truly a " suicide mission". Plus, he views death as a kind of freedom. He would be the reunited with his true love and be free of all the worries he experienced living life as a hired assassin. Of course the way he died was sort of significant as well. A well-placed shot right in the head, target never saw it coming? Pretty ironic death for an assassin huh?

The finale of Mass Effect 2 was everything you would expect from an epic science fiction role-playing game. Killing a REAPER? Thats one heck of climax. Have to say that I really enjoyed the entire experience of Mass Effect 2. From the improved shooter aspect to the deeply-moving squadmates and even Conrad Verner! It's going to be a game that I will look back on and remember why I love video games so damn much.

EDIT:By the way, sorry for wasting your time reading all these irrelevant information, I was really just blurting out everything I thought. :P

Random stuff

3minpost.

My blog looks prettaye awesome on 150% zoom. Actually, everything on my display screen looks awesome in zoom. Everything's cleaner, more distinct. I can distinguish the tatoos on Subject Zero's body.

Btw, not blogging very often due to Collector threat. That's cool slang for playing the heck out of Mass Effect 2.

Gonna watch DVDs this weekend. Erm, Tuesdays with Morrie, Rain man and Moon. Rain man and TWM's supposed to be emotional and Moon is a sci-fi psychological thriller? Its really like the man on the moon except that instead of returning to Earth and the joys of quarantine, poor dude's stuck on the piece of rock with a computer AI. Oscar material.

Tuesdays with Morrie's gonna make me cry. Well ... analyse this. I cried whilst reading the book. I teared up watching the damn trailer. So the movie itself's ... probably gonna unleash the flood gates. and hey ... don't judge me! Morrie says: " Its okay to cry" .

Touching episode of Chuck one hour ago. Very awesome show.

and lastly for further entertainment, visit the link entitled "Jerome". An inspirational story of ice-cream, class photos and blackmail apparently.

3 min up. Study for Geog time.

Its time for miracles

Spending Chinese New Year in Malaysia! Which is probably the only time I would care to OR have time to blog. Here's why I did not care to blog: I unwrapped the Mass Effect 2 Collector's Edition Box. Oh HELL YEAH I did. *drifts off ...

Here's how I was led into this predicament/blessing. It was Friday. All the red people were rushing out of school to go catch a movie at AMK hub ... or something. Jerome had to go eat chicken with his class. Class gang intended to play basketball till 6pm. So ... excessive basketball, fried chicken or video game time? I chose the last option.

Went home early. Was pondering which game I should play. Dragon Age, Bioshock or ... (Should I?) Mass Effect 2. YEAH MASS EFFECT RULES. With utmost precision, I tore the wrapping off the box. Shepard's N7 armor was becoming more and more visible by now. By the time I was done, I was staring at the blood-stained armor of the supposedly deceased hero of the human race. Screw that. The saviour of the Milky Way.

I carefully opened the tin box. Tin because its the COLLECTOR's EDITION mind you. There it was. Special edition DVDs of the making-of Mass Effect 2. Limited edition Art book of Mass Effect Concept Arts. Brand new Mass Effect comic by Dark Horse. A premium and shimmering "Cerberus" card. And the ultimatum. Two discs for the Xbox 360.

Those two discs stood between me and a whole new universe. They were the portal that would lead me into an amazing and beautiful galaxy crafted by the best in the business, Bioware. Yes thats right, THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS. The beloved RPG developer that gave us Baldur's
Gate, Jade Empire, The Knights of the Old Republic series and Dragon Age. Most importantly, they gave us Mass Effect and Commander Shepard.

I placed the disc into my Halo 3: ODST themed Xbox 360 and prepared for what awaited me in those discs. and I was not disappointed.

Mass Effect 2 has really changed. The graphics in this science fiction epic are evidently better. Gameplay is smoother and more immersive. The shooter element has become more intense but also very enjoyable. Not to mention a really realistic style of gameplay. You could fire at an enemy's legs as they charged towards you and they would tumble, helpless and powerless, completely at your mercy. You could fire at their heads for significant damage. The choice is yours.

Personally, my favourite part of the brand new game was the squadmates. My god are they bad-ass. COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY BAD-ASS. Mordin, a brilliant and dangerous Salarian scientist and operative. Archangel, a turian expet sniper and vigilante, who you would realise to be an old friend of yours. Jack, a mentally unstable and over-powered female biotic. and also Grunt, a Krogan, bred for perfection.

Instead of purchasing and finding new equipment like your traditional RPG, you now scan planets for resources to "upgrade" your equipment and armor. Make prototypes for new heavy weapons or install bio-amps to increase biotic damage.

Technically, I have only completed like 30% of the game within the a period of 2 days. But I really enjoyed it. I should probably limit myself to just playin every Saturday from now on cause thats really all the free time I have.

You know I wanted to post like pictures but my cousins are pestering me to play card games. Ciao.

Satisfactory

Oh my. I just feel really great. I completed 3 days worth of homework in one day. So thats like Oracy, Chem Spa WS, Physics Task-Based Learning, Math Surds Paper, Math Revision Paper, 5a, 5b, 3b, 4b corrections, A-Math paper corrections, Geography 4.1, 5.1, Geog Skills, Geography self-test, SS Transnational Terrorism Research, and Operation Propaganda all in one day = Sunday. And I summarized my list.

You know what? Screw everything about too much homework and stress. It only makes all your successes so much more gratifying.

And I can say that I really enjoyed my Saturday this weekend. I mean how long has it been since I last played a video game? How long has it been since I've last slayed darkspawn and mercenaries in Dragon Age? How long has it been since I ignited/freezed/electrocuted/stinged splicers in Bioshock ? Very very long I presume.

But it all goes back to those principles of self-discipline and proper planning. Without those, I probably would have gave in to the temptation of Dragon Age instead of completing 4 geography worksheets today. Peace.

Revenge of the Facebook Shepards

Shit I was just scanning the Mass Effect 2 fan page on Facebook and I got bombarded with a shitload of spoilers. It was as though my brain was stuffed in a microwave oven.

ALL I WANTED TO KNOW WAS HOW THEY FELT !!!

You don't defecate out all your spoilers on a Facebook fan page! Oh my god ?!! I actually know all the possible romances and sexual relationships! Aliens included !!! 3 or more aliens in fact !!!

I feel horrible. Why can't I just play the damn game ...

On to fun stuff

Thankfully for you , I decided to blog. Ok ... general Nic news.

Take a look at this page.

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/106/1066150p1.html. This guy on gamespy was making fun of some advertisments for gaming consoles and it is really hilarious. Well for me at least. My favourites were the Pokemon and Mental Institution ones. Really epic stuff.

My preview of Halo: Reach

So I bought it this magazine called Edge because I saw a Spartan on its cover. It's literally a magazine on videogame culture. and I read all about the production process of Halo: Reach which claims to be the biggest Halo project that Bungie has embarked on. Bungie's apparently ending the Halo franchise with a BANG. Finishing the fight. Well, you really can't believe them because they "finished the fight" with Halo 3 4 years ago. and 2 years later they "started another fight" with Halo 3: ODST. and now its a god damned war with Halo: Reach.

Anyway, it really shows that Bungie's putting alot of effort into Reach. My god do the Spartans look awesome. No ... the word Awesome is a COMPLETE understatement. The guy has a fucking skull decorated on his visor. Nuff' said.

By the way, it rains on Reach. The environmental dynamics have improved drastically.

The Covenant is a much more savage, less civilised group. If I'm not wrong, the jackals are not wearing armor in this game. It really demonstrates the idea that the Covenant are these raw beasts that will crush humanity.

New vehicles, new weapons, brand new Halo game set to invade video game stores worldwide end 2010.

It easy to understand why I have this great passion for all things geek because in the video game industry, reading magazines like these are coined " self-improvement " . In Singapore, under the SPUR programme, the government will pay for the damn magazine. I'm PAID to read about something this cool. So its really a dream to be able to establish myself in the video game industry worldwide.

Screw that. My ACTUAL dream is to bathe in these games.

By the way, Humanities students, go check out my group's SS video on the AndersonHumanitiesPortal. Is it too haughty to say that it is the official Video King on Ning portal ? Haha but it is pretty cool. The soundtrack is actually from a Mass Effect 2 trailer and Mr.Kamal praised it. So lesson number one: it pays to be a geek. Big thanks to all my team members for contributing, especially Adriel, who was really sick, and JK, who put aside all his pride to be our oil well.

EDIT: Oh my, I think I'm getting worse at blogging. It must be the stress. I actually found my blog un-interesting. and dare I say ... emo ????!!!!

Emotional Vegetable

Ok this is one of those days that I can say "Hmm... what should I do next?" and do you know what that implies? Yeah, I actually have free time and I'm in a dilemma as to what I should do ! I'm not sure many of you understand how difficult it is to actually say that when you are stuck in this abyss called Secondary 4 life? Except for my other secondary 4 friends that is.

You know recently I'm starting to lose this strong urge to actually study hard for my 'O's.

Taking a look at my life now, it seems to be going downhill. I used to consider them good friends, but now I just secretly curse them as materialistic hypocrites who don't give a shit about loyalty or friendship. When they giggle and joke around I just feel like throwing my Social Studies file into their fake faces. Shut them up. Yeah well fuck you and your sissy sense of humour.

Plus, I'm just so caught up in tuition and schoolwork, sometimes I just forget to do some homework. That teacher walks into the class, snobbishly exclaiming " Whats wrong with you Nicholas? You used to be good." and I'm forced to say nothing because "she doesnt accept excuses". Whats wrong with me? Whats wrong is that every single day of every single week I have tuition classes or Co-Curricular Activities that what little time I have left I use it to finish homework, leaving me with no more than 3 hours a day to catch some sleep. That's what wrong with me.

And when you don't get enough sleep, you get sick. So pardon me for sneezing so often in class. It only gets worse when those phony bastards make fun of your condition. 'Bacteria boy' is what they call me sometimes. You may laugh at it now, but I didn't find it the least bit funny when they joked about it. Only showed what kind of values your fucked-up parents imbued into you.

Sometimes I think this is karma's way of fucking with me. I believe in karma. I believe that what comes around goes around. And I know that I really messed up some people's lives.

But you know what? Karma isn't going to stop me. I won't care if I have no friends in class. I'll just sit in the front and pay more attention. I won't care if that teacher ridicules me in front of the entire class. I'll just put more effort into her work and shut her up.

I'm getting that 6-pointer by hook or by crook.