the.blog @scwleung

Hmm…what’s been new?

Well…my contract work at the Student Life Office has come to a close, and I’d like to think I left it in a pretty good place. The new OLT Database is up; people are using it; it hasn’t horribly crashed yet. All in all, I’d say that’s a good thing. There are still some loose ends I have to handle though, so I’ll be doing that next week.

In terms of gaming, I’ve done a lot of video gaming, and very little of board gaming. I’ve just found myself too busy [in a good way] to find time to go to Darcy’s place for a round or two of something. Still, I’ve been playing a pretty wide variety of games including GTA IV (360), Okami (Wii), CrossWorDS (DS), and Wii Fit.

It’s quite odd, actually, about Wii Fit. At this point in my consumer career, I feel that I really should only be able to buy something that rare by pre-ordering it 6 months in advance. In fact, I really shouldn’t have such a penchant for finding these things at random whenever I stroll into a store. I feel quite fortunate to know that being a consumer whore pays off. : – P

I’ve been putting my iPod Touch into good use recently. I have it almost wherever I go, which almost makes it a second cell phone. I’ve been listening to a lot of my old anime OSTs and whatever’s been passed down to me through my external hard drives, which is nice. I’ve also been listening to a lot of podcasts including The Bugle podcast put together by John Oliver [of Daily Show fame] and Andy Zaltzman. It’s marketed as “An Audio Newspaper for a Visual World”, and it is simply hilarious. I recommend this to all.

Hmm…so what’s next for me? Well…more job hunting. I’ll be in Toronto on Wednesday for an interview in the afternoon. I’m still mulling whether to go down to Boston Thursday and Friday to visit people [Main Concern: How to get to Buffalo easily.] After that? Well, there’s Zohan…but what about after that? Who knows? It’ll be an adventure. I’m sure. Fingers Crossed.

But until next time,

sammee

Can’t believe I sat on this one for a month… I guess that just shows how busy I’ve been lately. But that’s for another post… Let the reviewing begin!

Grand Theft Auto IV!
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platforms: XBox 360, Playstation 3

What they say:
What does the American dream mean today? For Niko Bellic fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity. As they slip into debt and get dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don’t.

What I say:
There’s already plenty of people who have written their thoughts on this game, so I’ll keep my comments brief.

Wow. This game was a big leap from the previous GTA games I’ve played in the past [I and II], and I have to say, I am very impressed with the robustness of the world. Rockstar did a bang up job recreating New York City, its inhabitants, and the overall feel of the entire world. The storyline is immersive and puts up a good attempt at getting players to empathize with Niko’s situation. Like previous iterations of the game, Niko can commandeer cars, motorcycles and other vehicles in his journey through the city. The player can also ensue in all the mayhem that made the other games in this series a success.

There are a couple of really great points to this game: the story, the realism and the dialogue. It really shows that Rockstar has put a lot of time and effort in making the game feel as much an interactive graphic novel as possible. The story itself keeps drawing me back to my 360 more so than any other aspect of the game.

Despite it’s high level of realism, I still found some parts of the game lacking. Firstly, I find that the cops are really far too gung-ho to chase you down for the tiniest misdemeanor. This only annoys me as I would end up spending more time running away from cops than I would be trying to further my beloved storyline. With such detail to the game, I was surprised to see that Rockstar didn’t incorporate some way to gauge fuel consumption and stall the car when the tank’s running a bit low. The game already embeds a number of different socio-political messages into the gameplay, why not put in others that matter as well?

One of my personal concerns with the game is that players may just gloss over the story in favour of shooting things and doing all things that are Grand Theft Auto. I find this a true shame because the game really does present itself as a reflection of who we are as a society, and how well-intentioned our actions may be, the result can still be dire. This is a message that needs to be reiterated in today’s world.

In spite of some of these shortcomings, I would still recommend this game. Even if you don’t want to be in the driver’s seat [so to speak], it’s still an enjoyable experience to sit back and watch the game being played as if it were a decent drama. Even not having touched the game for a fortnight, I still feel that this game was a very solid investment.

For those of you [well...I'm pretty sure none of you] who actually visit the site through wordpress, you would’ve experienced a bit of downtime today.

Let’s just say I was an idiot for trying to upgrade wordpress before heading out to Toronto for Mother’s Day. In my haste, I borked something.

By the way, Mother’s Day went well…even though my thumbs are sore from screwing in bolts for my sister’s new desk.

I’ve done a bit of movie watching and game playing in the past few weeks. So here are some highlights and thoughts.

• Okami [Wii] – Fun little game with great graphics and controls, but combat needs work.
• Mario Kart Wii [Wii] – Totally different beast from Double Dash with great new elements, extremely balanced game.
• Grand Theft Auto IV [360] – Solid and realistic that offers a compelling look at the condition of our current society.
• Forbidden Kingdom – Great take on the classic Journey to the West with excellent fight scene choreography.
• Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay – Nothing like a stoner flick to make you feel good about yourself, though there were some unnecessarily disturbing scenes.
• Iron Man – Downey Jr. played Tony Stark as I imagined, great effects.
• Speed Racer – Surprisingly Enjoyable, if you go in expecting pretty cars and elaborately detailed ‘car battle’ scenes.

All in all, been a good month for entertainment so far. Can’t wait for the new Indie movie, and Narnia to wrap up this month.