Archive for February, 2008

Playstation 3, all hail Blu-Ray.

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on February 20, 2008 by mdjasrie

So with all the hoo-haa about the Hi-Def format wars coming to an end, i’ve “kinda” decided to get myself a Playstation 3. Yeap thats right. All hail Blu-Ray. Its about time the format wars coming to an end. Ive been getting tired of having to wait and see which format would come out the victor. Seriously i dont think it makes sense to have both format out on the market when some of your favourite movies are released in one format or the other exclusively. It just hurts the industry in the long run.

In my opinion, i think that Sony made a rather risky yet strategic move to implement Blu-Ray technology in its latest Playstation 3 console. Its general direction of having the console as the hub of all your visual and audio entertainment needs in the living room have finally starting to pay off. I can still remember last year the harsh criticism given to playstation 3 about the feasibility of having such advance technology, such as the Cell processor and Blu-ray to the general gaming consumers. And with the hefty price tag, it makes the investment a real risky one indeed.

And yet if you look at it from another perspective, the market penetration of next gen gaming console, coupled with next gen Hi-def video is quite a brilliant move by Sony. The ability for the company to penetrate 2 different products to the masses actually tilted in Sony’s favor. Even now with the success of Blu-ray, it is not because of the Blu-ray players that gave it a significant market share, but rather the consoles bought by gamers which incidentally give the edge needed by Sony over Toshiba’s HD-DVD in terms market dominance.

As of now, the cheapest Blu-ray player you can get is the PS3. And thats not all. With the PS3, you can obviously play video games, listen to your favourite music, playback various videos, surf the next and engage in online gaming activities. The All-in-one concept is really starting to work for Sony. Lastly the PS3 is a dynamic, ever changing piece of hardware, made possible by software updates which is able to update its software as well as firmware for the Blu-Ray player, making it future proof for many years to come.

When Warner Bros. made a bold move to desert HD-DVD, it was the beginning of a domino effect on the fall of the format. Soon after, retailers and online rental companies such as Best Buy, Netflix and Walmart finally gave in to support Blu-ray exclusively. This finally tip the scale and caused Toshiba to fall out and made the inevitable of stopping its support and manufacture of HD-DVD. The format war is finally over.

What whats in store for Blu-Ray now that HD-DVD is no more? We shall see. But for the Playstation 3, 2008 might be an interesting year for the console. Will it make a roaring comeback to the gaming scene? Will games developers and publishers have another look at the PS3 as a potential piece of gaming machine of the future and start developing games for the console? Im sure that game developers would study this latest event closely and determine if the time is right to fully exploit the processing power of the Playstation 3 and create incredible video games in the years to come.

Meanwhile, do enjoy this video clip. :)

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Evangelion 1.0 You are (Not) Alone coming to town…

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on February 9, 2008 by mdjasrie

Ok i seriously need to head down to town more often. Im missing out lots of juicy and interesting news lately. Just this evening, i was heading to Cineleisure with my friends to have some lan gaming fun when, to my shock, i spotted an ad of Evangelion 1.0 movie on the first floor of the mall.

O RLY?!

YA RLY! Yes its true, its exactly what ive said. The movie is indeed coming to town. The franchise that started a social phenomenon in Japan years ago is coming to theaters right hereT Too bad i didnt have camera to prove it to you guys but im dead sure the ad is there. I cant remember the release date for the movie but if im not wrong its 13 March 2008.

The remake to the original blockbuster classic that redefines Mecha animation today is the 1st of 4 movies to be shown here. I need to reconfirm the official release date again. It happened so fast… we were rushing to out destination when this Evangelion poster caught my eye. It was crowded at that time and i didnt had the time to stop and take a closer look. It was quite big, covering the entire length of the mall’s pillar near the entrance.

I can already hear Utada’s featured song, “Beautiful World” being played through the theater’s powerful speakers… What good music!!

On a side note, A Death Note movie spin off, “L Change the World” is coming to theaters on 21st February 2008. I hope its good. I love the manga and the movies are not bad either .Im definitely gonna catch this when it comes out. At least it will relieve my impatient wait for Eva to arrive.

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Utada Hikaru’s Heart Station PV out! Single Coming soon!

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on February 7, 2008 by mdjasrie

 After the recent release of Stay Gold song by Utada for the latest Asience Hair shampoo commercial debut last December, a new single has emerged. Entitled Heart Station, its PV was released and aired on Japanese TV station on 4th February 2008 and i must say its sounding (and looking) darn goood! The Heart Station/Stay Gold single would be released on the 20th February 2008, featuring both Heart Station and Stay Gold tracks. Utada fans out there, mark your calenders to grab her latest single!

This is the PV to Heart Station. Chorus is catchy indeed!

For those who wish to sample the song, click here.

Its  been a while since Utada release a new album, but fret not. You can look forward to Utada’s 5th Japanese Album on the 19 March 2008, under the same name as the latest single, Heart Station. It would feature 6 songs from the previous singles released, including Beautiful World, Boku wa Kuma, Flavor of Life and Kiss & Cry. Another 7 original never before heard songs will be on the album itself, making a total of 13 tracks. Im definitely gonna get my hand on that album, seeing how good Heart Station, Kiss & Cry and Beautiful World sounds.

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PSP, The Temptation

Posted in Uncategorized with tags on February 3, 2008 by mdjasrie

Lately a number of my friends have been playing some pretty cool games that i did not have a chance to play after i sold may PSP last year. Games like Naruto and Monster Hunter Freedom looks good on the PSP. Now im starting to regret selling mine away when i could have been playing online with them in camp. But now that i think of it, the urge to play is gonna be very shortlived and i would have regretted more buying the PSP for more than 300 hundred bucks for a few months of fun. I’m not portable console type of person. Now i dont even touch my DS anymore, despite promising myself that i would play Zelda Phantom Hourglass when its released.

So I have made up my mind to stay away from portable consoles.

Speaking about video games, Ive decided not to complete The Witcher Roleplaying game. Its very lengthy for me and i still don’t get the essence of the overall plot after the third chapter. Sure the graphics are great, and the main character is really cool but the role playing aspects have much to be desired. I would still say its a great game, but i dont wanna waste me time playing a game i dont enjoy.

Im still sticking to Neverwinter Nights 2 and probably complete it. On the downside though, im pretty dissapointed with the game so far. The story is very bland and the dialogue a little flat. I can still remember playing the original Neverwinter Nights and it really blew me in terms of the writing and the story. Maybe the novelty has worn off and there is nothing special about the second installment, since I am already very familiar with the first one. Nonetheless the story is still quite OK and im still curious as to where the story is going from there and the secrets of the artifacts that are in your character’s possession.

I just bought Jade Empire for the PC. Ive been waiting for years for the opportunity to come for me to be able to play this game. Its about a year old but the graphics are great. Especially when you crank up the settings and you know your graphics card is more than capable of handling it. Great framerates, smooth as butter. Ive also started playing Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic again. It really brings back nostalgia. One of the best story driven roleplaying games out there.

World of Conflict is pretty nice too. Lots of action and i really love the smoke effects from the destruction and explosion your incur on your enemies. Pretty graphics intensive too. My ATI 3850 is literally wailing when i crank up to the max. But the game is very very eye candy.

Im still waiting for Assasins Creed to arrive. Funny though, that the shops states that it would be released in February, but online retailers have pushed back to March. Is there a difference in release dates for Singapore and the US retailers? But it doesnt matter anyway. Its very unlikely that i would get the game immediately. I still have Neverwinter Nights 2 and Jade Empire to complete. To top it off, World in Conflict too which i play sporadically. Im in no mood to play any wargames, after finished Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty 1 which i downloaded it.

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