The Ace Attorney series, and I watched the Ace Attorney movie

I actually got into the series last year. Initially I wasn't that interested in the Ace Attorney series, but in the end I got interested thanks to another series for the DS and a crossover game starring the main characters of both series.

Yes, I'm talking about the Professor Layton series. I love the PL series because I like puzzles, and solving puzzles. While doing Sudoku is fine by me, I always like to find different types of puzzles to do, and PL has plenty of them.

So when I heard they were going to have a crossover with the Ace Attorney series, I was excited. But I didn't know anything about the Ace Attorney games. So, I tried it out.

And I was hooked.

It was really enjoyable. While the point and click part was okay, and the dialogues have plenty of pop culture references, the best part of the game was what happens in the courtroom. The things that happen in there were so interesting that I wish real life court processions were like that.

Anyways, because of that, I look forward to play as Phoenix Wright when I do play Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3. And now I look forward to both PL VS AA and Ace Attorney 5.

But before all that, I watched the Ace Attorney movie.

As a movie based on a video game, the show doesn't suck, which is good since most movies based on video games are shit. While is nice to see all the movie references they made, people who played the first game would have a rough idea on what is going to happen. Meaning, if you played the game, you're instantly spoiled on the events of the movie.

Even though the plot of the movie is slightly different from the game since they had to squeeze cases 1 - 4 in one movie and try to combine case 1-2 and 1-4 together, people who played the game before will know what is going to happen. But I think that's alright. I mean, at least they stick to the actual plot.

Some of the characters are portrayed well in the movie. Some, however, not so. Like Maya Fey. I mean, like other than the fact that she's not a childish 18 year old, how the hell does she know how to play a piano?! I don't think her piano playing skills are even mentioned in the game. Also, Gumshoe doesn't seem like the bumbling lovable fool he is in the game. And Redd White doesn't even look like is video game counterpart.

I think the best characters in the movie were Wright and Larry Butz, mostly Larry Butz. I think Wright was portrayed better than some of the characters in the movie, but Larry Butz has the best portrayal. I always smile when I see him on the screen because I think this is how a real life Larry Butz would actually act. Needless to say, while he isn't my favourite character in the game, he is in the movie.
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Anyways, my history with this series is rather short, and I don't have much to say about it. So I guess that's it for now.

The truth of how the next few days will be like on Facebook.

Over the past few days and the next few days till new years day we will experience the most typical of posts on Facebook by some of our friends, strangers, and even family. I find it pretty annoying and amusing. Annoying because we'll be seeing a lot of it at one shot for a day. Amusing because you wouldn't believe how many people you know will post the exact same thing as another person you know.

So, the day before yesterday, on the 19th December, I'm pretty sure you see a lot of 'We should watch the movie "The Day After Tomorrow" since the day after tomorrow is 21/12/2012'. I got a lot of those. To me, I think it's a pretty good idea to actually watch the movie, and not just post it and not watch it. The movie is actually a great teaching tool in my opinion. It shows you the potential disaster that could happen, and maybe teach a thing or two on how to solve the main problem the earth is facing at the moment - global warming.

Moving on to yesterday, or 20th December, we see a lot of 'Happy 20122012' or even a suggestion to watch the movie '2012'. I find people who find 20122012 to be a special day pretty dumb. I mean, every day is special in some way, and we're the only people who will be alive on 5th May 2012 or some random date right? So what so special about that? It's just that people in the future can't live with us unless they have a time machine or something. I really wanted to watch '2012' yesterday, I just don't have the DVD for the movie in my house, so I went on and beat Street Fighter X Mega Man.

Then today, 21/12/2012. Seeing posts right now like 'Woke up, still alive!' and 'We're survivors!!'. It's just idiotic. If the world DID end today, it wouldn't be at 4 a.m. in the morning would it? The time for doomsday to come is not stated in terms of what time it is, just the date. Not that I think the world would end today, that's just the equivalent of giving up in life. Also, I dunno about you, but I just find it weird that people DO believe in the 'world is gonna end today' shit. But I hope that they will not be any more 21/12/2012 posts. We now travel a few days later to....

24th and 25th December, Xmas eve and Xmas day itself. Aside from the festive greetings (which I don't find annoying at all), I'm sure there's gonna be people out there (most notably kids or immature people) who isn't satisfied by the Xmas present their parents bought for them. It's just things like these that made you think 'How could a child behave like that?' and even 'How could the parents let the child treat them like that?'. The thing is, parents do need to give their child tough love every once in a while, or the child will become a spoiled brat. Russell Peters (a really famous comedian) was right, parents should beat their kids (of course he meant physically punishing them like caning, not just sending them to their room).

And then, 31/12/2012 arrives and people will be celebrating the new years eve. I think this day isn't the worse among all the days. If you're lucky, someone may just post something about recapping the events of this year, which I find rather informative if someone were to do so. Finally, it's 1/1/2013 and the whole internet is flooded with 'Happy New Year' posts everywhere. People will also be posting about their new years resolution. Another not so annoying day I think.

Anyways, I wouldn't be doing some sort of obligatory 'Merry Xmas' or even a 'Happy New Year' post since I don't find any of the days significant other than the fact that you give/get gifts on Xmas and a new year begins on 1/1/2013. However, I might do a recap of the things that I remember happened on this very year.

I guess have a good Xmas weekend. I'm gonna attend a convention called Comic Fiesta this weekend, and hopefully get my picture taken with some cosplayers.

Street Fighter X Mega Man: My thoughts on the game

On 17th December, Capcom released a game called Street Fighter X Mega Man for the PC for free on their website, Capcom Unity. While this game started out as a holiday project by a fan of both series, it ended up getting the support of Capcom. The fan developer developed the game and gets paid, and Capcom advertises the game and releases it for free.

I am fans of both series, but I'm a fan of the Mega Man series longer. I liked how Megaman X4 looked last time (that was my first Mega Man game), and my favourite Mega Man series by far is the Megaman Zero series. With the exception of the Legends and Starforce series, I've played (and beaten) at least one game from every Mega Man series.

So, when I saw who developed this title, it was no surprise to me. I subscribed to a Youtube channel called 'Cross Counter TV', which is a channel formed by the team Cross Counter, and is mainly about fighting games. While most videos from them are from CC US, some of them were from CC Asia, a subgroup consisting of top fighting game players in Singapore. At one point, they had a CC Asia intro, which was an 8-bit Mega Man-like style of animation with chiptune music playing at the background. This intro was done by the same person who did SFXMM - Seow Zong Hui, a Singaporean. He's also responsible for the 8-bit remix of EVO Moment 37.

For a Mega Man game made by a fan, it's actually quite good in my opinion. The jumping, shooting, and sliding all feels like Classic Mega Man games, and the fan did all the physics of the game by himself. The roster for the eight bosses also feels right, having at least one representative from every main Street Fighter series.

One thing unique about the boss is that they have a Super meter next to them that builds up when they get hit. And when it's full, the boss could execute their super where the camera zooms in to them like when a character does an Ultra Combo in Street Fighter IV.

Defeating all bosses will automatically take you to the final boss stage, where the first battle is with Balrog (Boxer), followed by Vega (Claw). Next, the boss rush, and finally, a final battle with M.Bison (Dictator). However, if you have gotten 4 perfects or more (by having full health when the boss is defeated) from bosses prior to entering the boss rush stage, you'll encounter Akuma/Gouki, who will kill of M.Bison while you're fighting him halfway, and the sentence 'Here Comes A New Challenger' appearing on the screen.

While I have not fought Akuma before, I know that his super meter is always full, and his super, Wrath of the Raging Demon (or Shin Shungokusatsu) will kill Mega Man in one hit. It's cool that they have a secret boss in a Mega Man game since this is a Street Fighter thing.

Anyways, I should have a brief summary of what I think of the game.

Pros:

• Unique boss fights. Bosses in this game have a much more different attack pattern that can't be abused that often. Just like a fighting game, no characters will to the same attack over and over again. 
• More flexible ladders. In the Urien and Vega stage, we get introduced to ladders that we can use to ascend, but in a more flexible way (as in we can move left and right since the ladder is wide).
• Balrog's fight. It's a first in the Classic series. Instead of fighting the boss in the end, you encounter him in the beginning, where you must run away from him or he'll one shot you with his punch. The method of winning him is unique too (though it seemed too cheap and easy), which is to let him fall into a pit.
• It has plenty of secrets. Like Mega Man able to do the Hadouken without getting Ryu's power, getting Yang's Seiei Enbu Super (also known as V-ism in SF Alpha) permanently, changing the stage's them to Guile's theme, or even making Mega Man helmetless. This game has some hidden secrets here and there.
• It's a crossover game. Fans of both series will get to enjoy it.
• It's free. Also, if you like the soundtrack (which is pretty good), you could also get it for free.

Cons:

• You can't save. So if you want to beat the game you have to beat the game in one sitting.
• Stages may be glitchy. E-tanks are sometimes found in random places in the stage that doesn't make any sense.
• Difficulty spike from stage to the boss battles. This is mostly because the bosses does not have a proper attack pattern and some of their moves deal a lot of damage. While an experienced gamer might be able shrug it off, novices can't. Also, the Vega boss fight is one of the hardest in the game. 
• The controls. Some people think that Classic Mega Man games should be played on consoles as using a keyboard to play the game feels weird. The good news is that if you have a PS3 controller or any controller that has a USB port, you could use it instead of a keyboard. For me, I have a PC gamepad by Logitech, so I don't really experience this.

Overall, SFXMM is a really good game, considering that it started off as a holiday project by Seow Zong Hui. I would highly recommend this to any Mega Man fan. It's worth playing if you have the time. 

Achievement Unlocked: Eat/Drink at a Maid Cafe

I always wanted to visit Japan. There's many places in Japan that I personally would like to see for myself. Like the Statue of Hachiko at Shibuya, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower, and Evangelion World which is located near Mt.Fuji, I always wanted to eat/drink at a maid cafe.

Maybe it's because I'm into Japanese pop culture, or that some girls when dressed in frilly French Maid costumes look really cute/hot. Or maybe it's just my urge to know how it feels like to be in one of these cafes.

Then one day, I went to a mall that I don't go too often (maybe once a month or two months), and I notice a pink-coloured restaurant. Normally, I would dismiss it and look somewhere else because I was expecting a girly-themed, fairy tale (maybe?) shop of some sort. But upon closer inspection, I realised that it was a maid cafe.

Back then, I didn't really wanted to visit a maid cafe. But some months has passed, and my taste has changed. However there was a problem. The fact that I don't really go to the mall that much and that when I do, I don't normally eat/drink there means that I won't be eating/drinking there. So I waited for a perfect opportunity.

There was an anime convention coming up (this was around June of this year). One of the highlights of the convention (other than the performances by J-Pop singers) were a mini Maid Cafe and Butler Cafe. So I wanted to go in and try it. However, the queue was long and I didn't have the patience. Plus, I'm going there alone and that, to me was a pretty awkward situation for a first timer going into a place like this.

Then today, I happen to be at the mall where the maid cafe was at. And this time, I got a friend with me who was interested in going into the cafe but is embarrassed to do it alone. So together as bros, we went in the cafe and have a drink.

It was an interesting experience. While the girls were pretty cute, I wish that they wore a black maid outfit instead of a pink one (just my personal preference cuz I think black is an awesome colour) even though the whole theme of the cafe is pink. There were some rules and regulations stated on the menu itself for the customers (like no groping the maids, no outside food, harassing one of the maids, asking for the maid's handphone/email/facebook etc.).

Another thing stated in the menu is that you can play a game on the PS3 there (and ask one of the maids to play with you! But you have to pay them, of course). Also, you could also ask them to feed you (as ridiculous as it sounds), but you have to pay for their service. Finally, you could also take a picture with a maid of your choice. Again you have to pay them.

We weren't there for all those. We just went in, had a coffee drink and left the place (oh, there's a rule saying that you can't stay in there for more than two hours). If there's one thing I regret not doing is that I didn't take a picture with one of the maids. Yeah, one of them was really cute in my opinion. Too bad I just wasted it.

Anyways, the whole experience at the maid cafe made my day. It was a rather shitty one at first. I couldn't get a 3DS, stores in the malls are closing, arcade cabinets not working. It all went better when we went into the maid cafe.

Yeah, good day.

Back in Malaysia

Yeah, I have not posted much in a while. Mostly because there's nothing good to post in one post. instead, I'll do a summary of the stuff that happened in the past few days:

I went to Singapore to visit my friend and to just walk around there. I went to one of their libraries which was pretty awesome as they have a lot of artbooks for Capcom games like the Megaman classic, Megaman X, and Street Fighter series.

I also went to this beautiful place called Gardens by the Bay, which is near Marina Bay Sands. It's a really cooling place that showcases many different plant species, some even from Africa and Australia, and you can find it all in one dome. It's a great place to see plants and all it's various types without getting hot and sweaty like you normally would if you go into a forest or a jungle. Also, there's a really cool looking man-made waterfall in there, something that you should check out.

The Street Fighter 25th Anniversary World Finals just ended. Hoping that Daigo would win SSFIV:AE ver.2012, but he got second to EVO 2012 winner Infiltration, who also won Street Fighter X Tekken, meaning that this dude won 50,000 USD and a sports car! Also, I knew from the very beginning that MOV would win 3rd Strike, and I was right. He was also saying that they should ban his Chun-Li for being too overpowered. So during the grand finals, he used Ken instead. But he gave an absolute dominating performance even with Ken and took the title.

In other news, a free game from Capcom called Megaman X Street Fighter will be released on the 17th December for the PC. While this game is fan-made in the beginning, the creator of the game showed his idea and his current progress to one of the Capcom guys during EVO 2012, and he liked it. Long story short, Capcom funded the guy whatever he needed to continue the game, and did the advertising themselves, and of course, selling the game for free, which is a rarity for Capcom. Not that I'm complaining.

Also, did anyone watched the finale of The Amazing Race 21? It was so epic. The goat farmers, which is a team who have not gotten a position higher than 4th place before there were 4 teams left, and did not get above 3rd place when there were 3 teams left won the whole thing when they were able to complete the memory task faster than the other 2 teams.
 Allow me to explain a bit. Since season 9, there is a pattern in most final legs of the race where teams will need to do a memory task, which is based on the things they encountered during the race. This season's memory task was a tough one. Whenever the teams reached a pit stop they are greeted 'Hello' and 'Goodbye' by the greeter in the language of the country they're in. The final task was to place in correct order the phrase 'Hello' and 'Goodbye' in the correct language of the country.
Most teams would have recorded what they've done, where they went. But no one took note of the greeters greetings when they reach the pit stop. Adding to the fact that the task is quite physical, and you see teams stuck in this task for two and a half hours and still not completing the task.
But in the end, the farmers, who were last or close to last almost every leg, end up winning the grand prize. The ultimate underdogs, and proof that anyone in the top 3 can win the race.

Anyways, that's all for today.

Having some events and stuff going on

First off, I got the results for the units I took this semester. I passed every unit (yay!), but the way the results was presented to me nearly gave me a shock.

So, there were a few columns in the table. The one that I was looking at was the 'unit name' and 'grade' column. Then I saw:
Biotech - C
Biology - D
Chemistry - HD
Statistics - D

I was like 'Fuck! A 'D' for Bio and Stats? I am so dead!'. I panicked a while, then I saw a column saying 'marks' next to the 'grades' column. And then it all made sense (somehow):

Biotech - C .             67
Biology - D               78
Chemistry - HD        82
Statistics - D             74

I thought 'How is 67 a 'C' and 78 a 'D?', then I finally realised that a 'C' stands for 'Credit' and 'D' stands for 'Distinction', 'HD' being 'High Distinction', not 'High Definition'. In short, I did pretty decently for this semester and my current CGPA is 3.0. Let's hope the CGPA is maintained or even improved on throughout my uni life.

I somehow knew how my unit grade will end up like after finishing my exams. I knew that Chemistry and Biology would be the two highest scoring units this sem, and that Biotech will be my lowest. I just don't know the grades I will get for those units. It's a good thing it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. So I'm pretty satisfied with my marks.

Even though some of my friends aren't satisfied with their grades despite doing better than me I don't really mind. They have their mind set on a goal, and I didn't have any goals for this semester, really, other than to not fail anything. Maybe that's how I do things. I start off slowly, and get progressively better. As long as there's improvement in grades, I'm happy about it because there is improvement.

So now I can enjoy the rest of the month of December month in peace. I'm heading to Singapore tomorrow, visiting my friend and staying at his house for a week.

Also, another thing. The world finals of the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary will be on this weekend, live from the US. This is something I really look forward to. I want to see who will take the crown for Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition Ver.2012 and Street Fighter III Third Strike. The finals in on the 8th of December but the schedules of the event is not out yet. When is out, I'll see whether I have to stay up late to watch who will win.

And I guess that's all for now.

My opinion on Wreck-It Ralph

I hate to admit it, but video-games based movies and movies about video games usually suck. I dunno why. Or maybe I just never watch the good ones. Other than Tron, other mainstream movies like Gamer and Staying Alive suck pretty bad. But I was pretty excited when I saw cameos of bad guys in the bad guy anonymous meeting during the E3 trailer of Wreck-It Ralph. But I was also a bit cautious about it. Due to the fact that previous movies about video games tanked, I wasn't very sure how Disney would do in this movie.

Then I had to wait, till November when the movie comes out. It was released in the US on the 2nd of November, so I thought 'Hmmm, maybe it would be released here in Malaysia a few days later, which means after my semester exam, it would be just the right time to watch it'. But I was wrong, it was released in Malaysia on the 29th November. So I had to wait another four more weeks till I can watch it.

Meanwhile, the reviews of the movie were positive. 'Finally, a good video game movie' I thought. So my expectations were high before entering the movie. So, when I watched the movie today.......

Short version: It was a really good movie. It exceeded my expectations by a mile, and I would consider it to be one of the best movies based on video games ever made.

Long version:

WARNING: MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS

Where do I even begin? Maybe by a summary of the plot.

Wreck-It Ralph is the bad guy in an arcade cabinet called Fix-It Felix Jr. in which Fix-It Felix Jr. is the good guy. He's been playing the bad guy role for 30 years and he's getting tired of it because he doesn't get the appreciated by the other NPCs in the arcade cabinet (aka the residents in the apartment he destroys). He sets out on a journey to other arcade games to get a medal (something rewarded to Felix whenever he wins a level), something he thinks that would make him appreciated in his game world.

Some say this is a video game version of Toy Story, as the video game characters come alive when the arcade closes. It's a fun to see how Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter would stop fighting each other and go to the Tappers bar for a drink.

One of my favourite part of the show was the bad guys meeting, where you can find Ralph, Zangief and M.Bison from Street Fighter, Kano from Mortal Kombat, the Zombie from House of the Dead, Bowser from the Mario games, Dr. Eggman from the Sonic games, and even Clyde, the ghost in Pac Man all in one room. Mad props to Zangief for being the Street Fighter character that deliver the most lines (cuz he's my main), including his 'crushing a man's skull like a sparrow's egg between his thighs', which is one of the most awesomest descriptions of his spinning piledriver. Also, I was surprised when at the end of the bad guys meeting, it was held in the Ghost's house (or whatever that is) in Pac Man.

The different video game worlds were also nicely done. Other than all the cameos and video game references which appears from different games (which I'll get to later), the train they used when they travel to the Game Central Station looks different for each game. There's a retro look to the Fix-It Felix one, a modern/futuristic version in Hero's Duty, and a simple looking one in Pac Man.

Now for the references. So many of them, and some that I even missed. From the exclamation mark from the Metal Gear series to Ralph sarcastically saying that his name is Lara Croft, to mushrooms from Mario, and even the famous Konami Code referenced. There were even some I missed, like the graffiti saying 'Leeroy Jenkins' and one about 'Shen Long'. There's also a Subway reference, and the diet cola and mentos shout out. Also, Ryu's appearance at the Tappers bar and Chun-Li and Cammy, along with some Princess Peach and Daisy lookalikes in the Game Central Station. Not to mention, Sonic losing his rings when he got hit. And portraits, of Ryu, Ken, Tails, Sonic, Eggman and more in the Tappers bar. Seriously, there's so many of them that I lost track and lost count.

I also realised that, for a Disney movie that is suppose to appeal to the general audience, it got a lot of crap pass the radar, which is rare. There was Kano ripping a zombie's heart out (presumably doing a fatality), Ralph finding Zangief's red underwear at the Tappers lost and found, a red guy with horns called in the bad guys meeting called Satan but pronounced as Sah-teen. The phrases 'move your molasses', 'milk my duds', 'pussywillows', and 'pillow pants' heard at some point. Yeah, this is a kids show alright.

The credits sequence was awesome to watch. From Ralph and Sonic in the Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic 2, to Ralph, Venellope and Ryu detroying the car in the Street Fighter II Bonus Stage, to Ralph fighting Blanka, and finally to what seems like an older looking version of Hero's Duty which resembles Doom, one of the earliest FPS.

Overall, I would highly recommend this show to anyone who likes video games, animated shows, children and even their parents to watch this. It's nice for the kids nostalgic for the parents. It also have a decent plot that is well executed, and some good moral values in it that children can learn from (coming from a movie about video games, which is generally perceived as bad for children). It has some hilarious moments, some tense moments, sad moments, and heartwarming stuff. An great movie that is quickly becoming one of my favourtie animated movies out there.