From Spirits to Zombies

Nothing puts a good bargain to waste like not actually making use of it and it comes to games, i have certainly had my fair share of those. Though I have no intentions of letting any of my recent good bargains go to waste the fact that i have more than one does complicate the situation. High on the list to play would have to be Dead Rising and Muramasa as these third-party games do have a tendency of losing their retail price real fast so i better not leave them idle for long. Metroid Trilogy can actually wait because i doubt i would be able to find it again had i not picked it up that time and as much as i'm looking forward to Other M, it probably won't be a first day purchase for me.

Between Dead Rising and Muramasa, the choice is really simple as i would prefer to wait until i have a classic controller in hand before playing Muramasa. That leaves me with Dead Rising which does seems like the ideal choice as its campy horror is just the perfect antidote for the spookiness of Fatal Frame IV.

Monster Good TIme

Not long after splashing out on an expensive japanese import like Fatal Frame IV, the hole in the my pocket gets bigger with yet another big third-party Wii exclusive on the horizons. That's right Monster Hunter Tri is almost upon us and if you are a big fan of Capcom games and Wii exclusive like myself then you have to get this game, nevermind the fact you know almost next to nothing about the world of Monster Hunter.

Part of the problem with Monster Hunter is if you don't have a band of hunters to hunt with, you stand almost no chance against some of the latter monster you will meet in the game. Fortunately there is an active community of gamers willing to commit time and effort to this game so i'm less fearful of this problem. The bigger problem is the world of Monster Hunter can seems so daunting to newcomers, this is truly a game for the hardcore gamers and expects a big commitment from the gamer in order to get the most out of it. This is probably also my last chance to get acquainted with the Monster Hunter series having missed the first two installment on the PS2 and PSP. Being a Capcom fanboy, I felt like I had to be a fan of the Monster Hunter series with it rising rapidly among ranks of Capcom other franchise.

The Rule of Four

Capcom's rule of four seems to suggest that by the time a franchise reaches the fourth installment. a major rehash is in order. Tecmo may have took this theory to heart when they were developing the fourth installment of the Fatal Frame series. Collaborating with Grasshoppers and Nintendo on a new platform, a change of things was definitely in order.

Visually the game looks and plays a lot like the Ashley chapter in Resident Evil 4, completed with all the lighting effects that made the Gamecube version incomparable during its time. The control takes a bit of getting used to with a combination of classic and motion controls blended together but i liked to think it adds tension to the game much like the archaic controls of the early Resident Evil games. Many series veterans have lamented that this new installment on the Nintendo Wii has been dumbed down to cater a new audience but i didn't really get that feeling. There were plenty of cheap scares early on and the game generally feels creepy, it's definitely been a while since i had the hair on the back of my neck standing.

When Grasshoppers and Ninjas Collide

You really have to tip your hat off to the translation team behind the Fatal Frame 4 english patch, they are clearly well-versed enough to enjoy the game in its original form but decided to produce a patch for everyone to have a chance to experience this great game. My japanese import of Fatal Frame 4 arrived promptly yesterday and since the only other game i'm busy with happens to be a bit of a slow-burner, i decided to play Fatal Frame 4.

Part of the eagerness was for the game itself and part of it was curiosity of how it all works with the patch installed onto the system. Thankfully after a quick restart, everything began to run smoothly as you hoped in fact, the translation work is so seamlessly you probably think it was an official localization of the game rather than fan-made. I have read that pretty much everything was already in placed and all that was required was a good understanding of the Japanese language and then it was just a matter of replacing the hiragana and kanjis with the ABCs. The fonts of the English text doesn't look awkwardly out of place or 'burnt-on' save perhaps for some of the menu but i have yet to load the game in its original form so i don't know for sure if the above statement is true. A huge thanks to the guys who made this possible, it's the stuff that fans always talk and dream of but rather ever happens. You guys have certainly prove it is possible, this game feels like such a quality product that i can't possible cram all my impressions into this one post.

Intercooler Impressions

The last time i bought anything from Nyko I ended up not using it much as there is only so much lightgun games one can play. I have kept the perfectshot back in its box since my early plays of Umbrella Chronicles and have yet to even dust off them for my recent Darkside Chronicles run.

The Intercooler TS is an entirely different matter, fitted onto my Playstation3 it will form part of my console and function as much as the system. It has to be up to speed and frankly if it cost a bit more it would be worth the money too. Thankfully the price of Intercooler is on par with the other third-party brand I saw in Singapore, in fact its worth every dollar considering how much it will be used and how well it works. The common complaint i often hear of the product when reading up on it was the loud noise emitted by the fans when operating. That much is true but the noise doesn't bother me much as i'm used to the noise of the built-in cooling fan of the ps3 by now. The intercooler fits on to the back of the playstation3 where the vents are, a big difference considering all USB-powered fans fit onto the front vents of the playstation3. At first i didn't understand how the Intercooler could work placed onto the back vent with all the exhaust vent blowing out from there but i think that's where its temperature sensor could come into play. The sensor senses the temperature of the playstation3 from the exhaust air emitted and regulate the Intercooler fan speed accordingly. The four fans of the Intercooler works together with the in-built fan to improve the air circulation inside the system by blowing into the system and exhausting the hot air out of the system. This is achieved with one pair of fan blowing in one direction and another pair blowing in the other, at least from what i can tell studying the fans at work since the fans only run when placed in right position and temperature. I rarely hear the built-in fan running anymore since installing the intercooler, not because the Intercooler is so damn loud but because it does such a good job that the in-built fan doesn't even kick in.

Black Humour

I'm not very demanding when it comes to action movie or action game plots, usually even the cliche works for me so when i heard that Platinum Games had roped in Final Fantasy XII's Yasumi Matsumi to pen Madworld scenario, i wasn't sure what to expect. Sure enough Madworld made little sense at the end but the cutscenes are slick and exciting enough to keep things interesting. The final boss is a bit of a joke but fitting considering the game's dark humour, in the end i'm not even sure who the real villain is. The game is just long enough so things don't become too repetitive but Madworld still works best when played in short bursts rather than one long sitting.

Hopefully Platinum Games will come up with a sequel without the Final Fantasy plot and introduce more new creative kills.

Does Everything (Except Keeping Cool)

While i was doing my usual game hunting earlier this month in singapore, my friend was hunting for a cooling fan for his playstation3 slim. Now this guy is a certified cooling geek, the type of guy who looks at the size of the cooling fan first and foremost before anything else when shopping for a PC. OK i may have stretch that part a little bit but the point was he instill a fear in me which i learnt to let go a long time ago. I remember back when i first got my ps3, i placed it in a vertical position at a confined area so the fear of overheating the unit was always there. I kept a standing fan turned on facing directly at my ps3 the whole time it was powered on that time. Later when i moved the ps3 downstairs to hook up with the LCD TV, i never really bother to cool down the unit anymore since it was in a horizontal position at a relatively open space.

After some friendly teasing from my friend, i became a little paranoid again and wonder why did i abandon my cooling habits a while back. The cooling fan which i could find in Singapore are mostly USB-powered made by third-party brand i have never heard of before, frankly they looked a little tacky and not the least bit reliable. Ultimately i came home without a cooling fan but still a lingering concern of this matter then i decided to see if there were reputable third-party labels dealing with these cooling fans gizmo. I found this Temp Smart Intercooler by Nyko which happens to be powered by its own external AC adapter and is available at most Gamestop outlets, all the hallmarks of a reliable product if you ask me. I immediately ask my sister to make a last-minute addition to my shopping list and here it is along with my other easter haul she brought back this week. Now the only thing remaining is to see how well it works when hooked up with the playstation3.