Tuesday, February 17, 2015

A Bunch of Games I Completed

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

I bought the Dual Pack Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves back in 2013, I believe. The game is like an Indiana Jones type adventure, looking for a lost forgotten treasure, getting there before the bad guys do, collecting artifacts along the way, lots of climbing and shooting, and just great storytelling. I didn't see much change in the controls as in the Drake's Fortune. The story has improved as well as the graphics. It's still one of the better games to come out for the PS3 and I'm glad I got to play it. I just need to make some time to play the next one, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.


The Walking Dead Season 2: A Telltale Game Series

There's not much I can say that hasn't been said with the first game. It's based on the the Walking Dead series. It takes place in the same area, with different characters. The story picks up several months after the first game. This time, you're playing as Clementine.

Not much has changed from the gameplay. It's a story-driven game that factor's in your responses and decisions. There are segments that let's you move around to explore an area or timed events such as shooting walkers and avoiding them. As for the story, it's a lot sadder and makes you feel hopeless for the characters. The main difference this time compared to the first game are the multiple endings.

The first game was mostly one-sided. There were some decisions that affected who lives and dies based on who you choose to save. This time, the last few decisions in the last episode affects the endings. There are 5 branching scenarios. Each of them are as valid as the other. It really depends on which side you choose and your reaction. They're also planning a sequel. The decisions you made carries over to the next game.


Bioshock

I didn't play this game when it first came out 2007. The game is set in 1960. You guide the protagonist after his plane crashes in the Atlantic ocean near a tiny island with a lighthouse. It turns out this was a bathysphere terminus that leads to the underwater city of Rapture.

Long story short, a very wealthy business magnate created an underwater utopia for society's elites to flourish outside of government control. Of course, left unchecked, they were free to do all their scientific experiments, including gene manipulation and splicing. This divided the inhabitants into two camps, erupting into a war inside Rapture. That's where your character comes in.

It's a story-driven first person shooter unlike any other. There's something fundamentally messed up with the overall story. I think it has to do with people playing god. There's also the scare factor of the splicers (mutated inhabitants) in Rapture.


Rainbow Moon

Rainbow Moon is a tactical, turn-based RPG that borrows elements from dungeon crawling games. As far as game mechanics is concerned, it's a complete game. The story is weak and generic at best. The game also relies too much on grinding to level up. That's actually a turn off for me.


SkyDive: Proximity Flight

After watching the skyfall cheat in Grand Theft Auto V multiple times on YouTube, I thought about buying the game. Then I realized that I'd just be buying the game because I wanted to do the the skyfall cheat. So I looked around to see if there are any games centered on skydiving. I found two games on the PlayStation Network. One of them is SkyDive: Proximity Flight.

The name is actually a misinterpretation. This is a wingsuit flying game with a focus on proximity flight (falling with style). Probably the most fun I've had in any game.


DuckTales: Remastered

The first game came out for the NES. They remastered and converted the 8-bit graphics into HD. It's the same gameplay that I saw other people play in the shopping malls when I was a kid. Definitely worth the nostalgia.



I'm done.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Happy Singles Awareness Day (Nanoblock)

Advanced Happy Singles Awareness Day. To everyone else, Happy Valentine's day.

I built this yesterday. These are special Nanoblock mamelog sets. The figure with the flower is called "Thank You." The heart set is called "Love." I also added in the assembly of placing it in the specially made collector's case.



I'm done.

WTF Fridays - m͏̺͓̲̥̪í͇͔̠ś̷͎̹̲̻̻̘̝t̞̖͍͚̤k̥̞à̸͕̮͍͉̹̰͚̰ẹ̶̢̪s͏̨͈̙̹̜͚̲ ̛̬͓͟

At 4:52: "The man carrying a wounded soldier in this painting based on a photograph taken during WWI is Henry Tandey, an English recipient of the Victoria Cross. Four years after the event in this image, Tandey caught a wounded soldier in his gun sights. But rather than kill the man, Tandey took pity on his wounded state and spared his life. The "German" he allowed to live was this man. Later, the man whose life he spared wore his mustache shorter, but still have the same name... Adolf Hilter."

Thanks, Tandey.



I'm done.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

The World of E-Mail Spam

I was following up on an inquiry for a change in tracking and invoice number for a shipping company. They told me they sent the details to my personal e-mail, but it's not going through. The case has been resolved since they told me the info over the phone. I went ahead and checked my junk/spam folder and it got me thinking about e-mail spam.

It was only 17 years ago when I created my first e-mail and online accounts. It didn't take long for companies to monetize it. About a quarter of my e-mails go to the spam and junk folder. The rest come from digital store flyers, coupons, job openings, and social media notifications that I subscribed to. I tiny portion are e-mails from friends and relatives.


I currently have multiple filters for ruling out junk and spam. Everything else is white listed and sent to their specific folders. This only applies to e-mail that comes through the e-mail client. Others are filtered out online. I'm also only talking about one e-mail account. This does not include Yahoo or G-Mail. Those accounts have their own spam filters, which I'm grateful for. Other than that, some of them always find a way to get through. Here are some of the annoying junk and spam I get:
  • Subject: RE: HELLO
    hello my name is Sonali, how are you , hope to hear from you soon.
    Don't know who this person is and I don't know the address. Other people online have encountered the same message.
  • Subject: Super pretty single moms
    Local hot moms near you are searching for men that they can sleep with.
    These hot moms, also known as MILFs, are not old. They are young and ready to have a good time.

    Press here to see the hot moms that live near you
    [Link omitted]

    Get ready to have the best time ever with a MILF!

    I can't take these e-mails seriously. Too funny.
  • Subject: [Name of someone I know or something random sent by someone I know]
    [Nothing or something random]

    These emails are tricky if you don't know what they are. The sender name shows as someone you know. However, if you check the actual address, it's gibberish.
So what do you do to avoid these? First things first, try not to use your person e-mail address and hand it out to just anyone. Some companies sell your e-mail to third parties. That's how they get to send you junk mail. If you must, you can set up an e-mail specifically for subscriptions to digital store flyers, coupons, sales, job openings from job boards, etc. It's also better to use G-Mail from experience. Their spam detector/junk filter is updated frequently and blocks most spam e-mail for you. Yahoo and Outlook seem to do their job as well. Other than that, just be diligent on who you share your e-mail to online (including social media).

I'm done.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

18 w/ 13 Years Experience




It's not a definitive list, but it's a good list because it's my day :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_11



I'm done.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Labrinth - Jealous

Underrated artist. This song hits me deep. Takes me back to a not so distant past.



"Jealous"

I'm jealous of the rain
That falls upon your skin
It's closer than my hands have been
I'm jealous of the rain
I'm jealous of the wind
That ripples through your clothes
It's closer than your shadow
Oh, I'm jealous of the wind, cause

[Chorus:]
I wished you the best of
All this world could give
And I told you when you left me
There's nothing to forgive
But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was
Heartbreak and misery
It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

I'm jealous of the nights
That I don't spend with you
I'm wondering who you lay next to
Oh, I'm jealous of the nights
I'm jealous of the love
Love that was in here
Gone for someone else to share
Oh, I'm jealous of the love, cause

[Chorus]

As I sink in the sand
Watch you slip through my hands
Oh, as I die here another day
Cause all I do is cry behind this smile

[Chorus]

It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way
You're happy without me

I'm done.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Nanoblock - Neuschwanstein Castle

This is one of many Nanoblock "Sites To See" sets. Neuschwanstein Castle is in Germany and is the basis for the Cinderella castle for Disney theme parks (Disneyland, Disneyworld). Over 550 tiny Nanoblock pieces. This is the first Nanoblock set where I got to use the official Nanoblock tweezers. They're larger than regular tweezers with a special notch at the two ends for holding a nanoblock head. I had fun making this.

Music: Ian Van Dahl featuring Marsha - Castles In the Sky
https://www.youtube.com/user/ianvandahlOFFICIAL

If your browser allows it (Chrome) you can watch this video in 720p60/1080p60 (That's 60 frames per second). It turned out buttery smooth.



I'm done.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Movies I've Seen - January 2015

After my last movie review, I thought I'd start jotting them down rather than wait a whole year and forget movies released before that same year. Here are the movies I saw in January 2015.
  1. Monkey King (2014) - This was another adaptation and highly fantasized telling of Journey to the West. This movie focused on one chapter, telling the origins of the Monkey King and how he rebelled against the Jade Emperor of heaven. In the beginning of the movie, gods and demons were fighting in heaven. If I was a kid, I'd probably enjoy this movie a lot more. It had a horrible script and bad pacing. Events just happen out of nowhere, jumping between scenes. The CGI is on par with late 90s/early 2000s movies. The movie tries to be funny, but fails. Journey to the West (2014) is a better movie.



  2. The Imitation Game (2014) - Based on the true story of Alan Turing, the father of computer science, when he was hired by the British government with other mathematicians to break The Enigma machine to gain an advantage on Nazi Germany during World War II. Interspersed in the story is his backstory as a kid at a boarding school and when a police investigated a break in to his house later after WWII. They showed his struggles as a homosexual man living in Britain where it was illegal at the time. Great performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. If you haven't seen it, you need to watch it.



  3. Silver Lining's Playbook (2012) - The movie that gave Jennifer Lawrence the best actress Oscar in 2012. I didn't think her performance were Oscar-worthy compared to other nominees, but her performance was great, nonetheless. Bradley Cooper should have won that year. Most people have seen it, so I'll just post the trailer.



  4. Taken 3 - There can't be enough Taken movies. This the first movie in the trilogy (so far) that takes place on American soil. The last two movies were in France and Istanbul, chronologically. Things happen, again, forcing Liam Neeson to take matters into his own hands. Deadly stuff, car crashes and Angry Neeson ensues.



  5. American Sniper - Based on Chris Kyle's autobiography of the same title and his life according to family and friends, American Sniper is about the deadliest sniper in US history. It talked about what he did during the Iraq War after 9/11 and how he handled PTSD. I saw it as an anti-war movie.




I'm done.