Gaminez: August 2011

Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention 2011 ~ part 2

Friday 26 August 2011 22:37 Posted by desmondykw
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Carrying on from my previous post, here comes part 2 of STGCC! In my previous post, i talked about the different merchandises being displayed/sold, followed up by the mini-tournaments. In this post, it will be all about cosplaying. Anyway, let me talk abit about the overall schedule for STGCC. Basically, it was all talks and interviews. Talks about cosplaying/design of figurines/Comic-related etc. Interviews with Comic-Creaters/Figurine designers and Japanese cosplayers! However, as you all might have already expected, me and my friends could not be bothered with it. Given the fact that these talks were long and boring, we have to STAND and listen for consective hours etc. I guess thats all for the STGCC schedule. All that i have said only applies for Day 1 of STGCC 2011, since i did not attend Day 2. Okay, now lets get down to the real deal!

Ironman and Predator! Weird combination eh... who knows they might collaborate to produce a new game/movie?? Thats just a possibility that i just thought of. Anyway, great cosplay from the both of them, eventually gaining themselves much popularity. Just look at the number of the people snapping them!

More of Ironman..........

Star wars! Though i think Star wars kind of 'expired' in my generation, i am quite amazed it is still popular with the younger and older generations. And look at that driod! its actually remote/battery controlled, able to move around and conduct conversations. Pretty cool stuff!

Ichigo (Bleach series) along with Scorpion (Mortal kombat series)! Another weird combination, but still pretty cool. Since both were in the action genre, it arent that awkward for them to appear together in a photo eh.. Anyway, great cosplay!

Kamen rider! This time i could only spot Faiz. No sign of the latest riders like Den-O, Eternal and Double etc. So i guess Kamen rider Faiz still retained its popularity, having a large fanbase? Thats what i think. Nonetheless, good stuff. Thumbs up!

Crews from Modern Warfare and Battlefield i guess? I am not too sure about that, seeing a japanese soldier on the left. But still it is 100% related to games. Pretty good cosplay!

Lubu from the Dynasty Warrior series! One of the most dominant bad guys in all dynasty warrior games, definitely worth to be cosplayed, and here he is! Great cosplay by the way!

Kakashi! Been waiting for a Kakashi cosplay since Cosfest, and i finally found 1! Looks pretty alike i would say. And perhaps only 1-2 cosplayers i have seen, cosplaying from 'Naruto'.

Mio (K-on) and Miku (Vocaloids)! Intend to collaborate writing/singing songs?? Thats just my selfish desire...... But still, great cosplaying skills from them. Thumbs up!

Left side guy, looks like ichigo with his hollow mask on, but i doubt so. Right side guy, is pyramid from the Silent hill series. I dont know them actually, since i didn play their games. It was my friend who was a fan of horror games, got hyped after seeing them, which makes me curious about them. Anyway, great stuff by the both of them!

Vocaloids! Always present in cosplay events! Picture kind's of dark, have to blame myself for that. Totally miss out a good picture on these 3. They look really good during the actual day, great cosplaying skills by them, keep it up!

Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention 2011 ~ part 1

Tuesday 23 August 2011 00:13 Posted by desmondykw
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This will be my 2nd anime-related event that i have gone to, also known as STGCC 2011. A 2-day event held on 20-21 august 2011. I went on the 1st day, and being in the top 500 to purchase the tickets, i got a Ironman 2 poster. Me and my friends were kinda surprised that we were in the top 500 list, in our minds we were thinking, "isnt STGCC popular enough that people would be long queueing up for the early tickets?" Anyway as time passes, the main hall became flooded with people, so i guess we were wrong about STGCC being unpopular. As listed in the title, this event comprises of various games, toys and comics/manga etc. In this kind of event, you can never forget about cosplayers! Indeed, there are people cosplaying both games and the anime side. There were also mini tournaments for card and console games. Console games include Super Street Fighter 4 Aracde Edition and Marvel vs Capcom 3. Marvel vs Capcom 3 being the highlighted one. I guess i have talked enough, details coming up!
Dont worry guys, i wont bored you with words. I took a number of pictures, though not as much compared to Cosfest, still i think its good. First of all, showing some of the merchandise that were being displayed at the convention.

Some random toy/statue that was being displayed. It looks unique, so i just took a picture of it. Seems like a figure made from a game.

Star troopers and gang from the Star wars series if i am not wrong. I am not sure about it since i did not know much about Star wars. This was a whole lot of troops, my camera range could not even cover the entire container of it. The one who arranged this, i would say great effort!

More random stuff being sold and displayed. Totally did not know what is this about, but still great artwork, so i decided to take a shot.

Avatar! Still being remembered after the release of the 'Avatar' movie 1-2 years ago. Not very popular though, being the one and only figure of 'Avatar' being displayed.

Marvel time baby! Featuring Ironman figures in different armors in the 1st photo. In the 2nd photo, featuring Tony Stark fitting on his armor parts. Ironman still being recognised after the release of the Ironman 2 movie. Good stuff!

More marvel stuff, now being the female's side. Phoneix/Psylocke/Emma Frost and Rogue etc. can be seen in the pictures above. Abit of DC universe stuff, as Wonderwoman can be seen in the 2nd picture. Design of these figures are really good, appealing to marvel fans. I could not buy them just because they are way too expensive for me to afford.

Moving on to displayed posters. As seen in the picture, featuring 'Superman' and 'Joker' individual posters from the DC universe side.

From the marvel side, 'Ironman 2' and 'Thor' posters were being displayed.

Random posters like the 'Rocketeer' and 'Watchman' were also displayed. Just took a shot of it since i thought it was cool.

Animax!! Upon posting these, i just wanted to say i was kind of disappointed in the amount of anime-related stuff being displayed or sold. STGCC 2011 was totally 10% anime related and 90% non-anime related. Anime related stuff present would be just sale of anime deck cards, anime accessories and JUST 1 anime figurine's booth. I was kind of demoralized seeing the little availability of anime related stuff and still seeing these 2 boards. Since my main purpose for going STGCC was for the anime figurines/posters, this event fails to meet my expectations. I am not saying the event sucks, its just that i am more of a anime fan than a marvel/DC universe fan. My friend also told me STGCC 2010 had more anime-related stuff, so he was also kind of disappointed in this year's STGCC.

Moving on to the tournaments. Like i mentioned at the start of the post, there were tournaments for card and console games. I will not talk about card games, given i have no completely no knowledge about it. I will be talking about console games, tournaments for SSF4 AE and MVC3!

*Tournaments controllers were all fightsticks

Tournament areas were packed with audience, but i am still able to sneak it to snap some pictures. This is one of the pictures taken, match between Yun and Guy. Picture's kind of blur, but still able to see its from Street Fighter.

Marvel vs Capcom 3, being the most highlighted game in the event. Matches were shown on a big screen. These pictures snapped were damn blurred, i would admit that, so please bear with it. Anyone who wants to take part have to sign up for the tournament before the date of the event. Me and my friend did not know we had to sign up beforehand, so we could not have the chance to play, which was saddening. Early matches were kind of boring, since players were either scrubs or just so-so. Late matches, better players advanced and some of them really impressed me. Displaying techniques that i could only see in the web, and that moment, it was LIVE. Great stuff by these players. Rewards were Glasss trophies and fightsticks. Marvel vs Capcom 3 fightstick for the champion and Super Street Fighter 4 fightstick for the 1st runner up. How i wish i had the fightstick... Anyway i just wanna point out something. Since skilled players were able to displayed such magnificent skills in this tournament using fightsticks, that would mean they have been training at home using fightsticks all along. Giving them fightsticks as rewards, would just be making them have 2 fightsticks, which proves to be not-a-very-good-reward. But i think thats my stupid thought, as on a second thought, there is no better reward for a fighting tournament other than a fightstick! And those fightsticks as rewards, are of tournament edition, so it can be say its the best of all fightsticks. So i guess it should not be a problem. Pardon my way of thinking.

Thats all for STGCC part 1. Part 2 will be out sooner or later, and it will be on the Cosplayers! Get hyped to see some awesome cosplay!

Have a nice day!

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (Character impressions part 2)

Saturday 20 August 2011 07:29 Posted by desmondykw
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Here comes Ultimate mvc3 once again! As you all might already know, 2 more new characters gets officially added to the roster, Doctor Strange and Nemesis T-type! In my previous post of Ultimate mvc3, Strider/Ghost rider/Firebrand and Hawkeye were already confirmed to be in the roster. Now adding 2 more, its a total of 6, which concludes 1/2 of the new character slots in Ultimate mvc3.
Other stuff like character add-ons are also being showcased. For example, Wolverine's massive claw pokes, Chun li's EX spinning kick, C.Viper's lazer beam and Shehulk's lamp post smack! In my opinion, some are good and some are shit. Good ones are Shehulk's lamp post wack, which causes a wall bounce for further combo's etc. Shit ones are Hulk's charge punch, which can be easily dodge by just super-jumping and backstepping. Also, Hulk's charge punch requires time to charge, which totally gives time for opponent to move away or do a hyper. This is entirely my self-opinion, if you disagree, then you can just ignore what i just said. Enough of trash-talking, lets get down to the real stuff!

Starting on the Marvel side, here comes Doctor Strange! I have totally no damn idea who or what is he, never heard of him at all. He may look stupid and old, but when it comes to gameplay, it spells otherwise. In UMVC3, he is able to teleport, set up tiny traps and still able to engage close combat, pretty a potential character. He is definitely a character to be explored, given the number of fancy stuff he is able to do, he can be played in alot of different ways. If played well, he can be really deadly. His normal hyper is pretty good, a OTG kinda similar to Zero's Rekohha. The other hyper i would say is cool, seems to me that it is a counter-projectile hyper. Characters with projectiles, BEWARE!! He does have a level 3 hyper too, awesome nonetheless. Character design is not bad. To be honest, i am kinda looking forward to use him even though that i do not know a single shit about Doctor Strange. His gameplay just seems unique!

Doctor Strange official trailer-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEWR63SOK0I

Moving on to the Capcom side. Its Resident evil time bitches!!! Here comes Nemesis T-type! Seriously, i would never expect a boss from a game to debut in UMVC3, and somemore a huge ass ZOMBIE!! Capcom, this will be 1 thing that i will applaud you on, making something close to impossible, to possible. Yes, as you all might already guess, he is indeed kind of a far-range hulk or a better sentinel. Having a rocket launcher to conduct range combat, command grab that causes a ground bounce and melee combat that is as damaging as hulk! A potential character indeed. A improved version from sentinel/hulk if you were to ask me. His normal hyper is not bad, a OTG where he shoots 3-4 rockets at you, followed up by a stomp. Looks plain but damaging! His other hyper, where he knocks ANYTHING out of his way just swinging his rotten arm, including knocking out opponents out of their hypers! Incredible super-armor hyper which can even surpass hsein-ko's super-armor activation! Nonetheless, Nemesis is given a level 3 hyper too. A level 3 grab that is unblockable, similar to akuma's raging demon. A disgusting yet monstrous hyper! You can bet i am looking forward to Nemesis, huge yet capable character, awesome much!

Nemesis T-type official trailer-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EO_9w608Ig

That concludes part 2 on Character impressions of Ultimate mvc3. 6 more characters to be announced, get hyped guys! Theres a huge possibility that more will be announced in the upcoming Tokyo game show. Anyway, characters announced have been true if compared to the leaked list. So i guess we can expect Frank west, Vergil etc. to be announced sooner or later. As soon as more characters are announced, i will do my impressions on them, so do look forward to it folks!

Have a nice day!

11eyes

Wednesday 17 August 2011 20:49 Posted by desmondykw
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Moving on to my next anime review, 11eyes. A anime produced from the official game. The 11eyes game was released on the PC in 2008. The anime itself, was released in late 2009. As the title states, this anime is related to eyes. A specific 'someone' eyes, who holds great significance to the main plot. This anime can be confusing and captivating at the same time, depends on how you look at it. Action and romance can be relate from this anime. There is the 'twisting' factor present in this anime, a pretty good one i would say. A total of only 13 episodes, and yet still able to pull off a solid plot. The one thing that stands out from this anime compared to others, is the presence of different endings (good/bad/joke etc.). This would be possible since it was first originated from the game. A unique one (since its the 1st anime i watched present with different endings). Good stuff!

My rating : 7.5/10

As mentioned above, the specific 'someone' refers to the main protagonist, Kakeru Satsuki. A orphan from young after his sister's death, wears a eyepatch to avoid attention from others (since his right eye was of a different colour from his left, he did not want others to see him as a freak). He has a childhood friend, Yuka Minase, who was also a orphan. Everything was fine, school as usual, until a great phenomenon befalls them. The sky turns red, the moon turns black. Everyone was gone, leaving Kakeru and Yuka alone in this 'Red Night'. As they ventures to find out what was going on, monsters starts to appear and attacks them. In this instant, the 'red night' disappears and the world goes back to normal. Just when Kakeru and Yuka thought the 'red night' was a dream and nothing more, the 'red night' descends upon them again. As they moves on to learn more about the 'red night' and why are they being involved, they get to meet other humans who are stuck in the 'red night' as well as learning about the mysterious past of the eye that Kakeru possessed.

Every anime has its flaws, 11eyes is of course is not exempted. As i have mentioned above, this anime can be confusing and captivating at the same time.

1. Confusing in this sense, would mean that there is no explanation of any kind plot in the 1st couple of episodes, leading you thinking what is anime exactly about. It can be a turnoff as you are mindlessly watching it, without a single detail of what/why is it happening (Its just how i think, since i always seeks to understands the anime. If you just watch for the fun out of it, i will still respect that).

2. Confusing in another sense, as the main plot is being revealed. A whole lot of crap just came flooding all at once. Difficult terms and supernatural stuff are to be deciphered and slowly understand. That requires some brainstorming to slowly sort out the entire plot. Once again, maybe its just me.

This anime can be captivating too, given the various scenario's. It makes your brain goes thinking, anticipating something great and out of the extraordinary. The various endings available deserved to be praised, provides the different possibilities from just a single plot! Thumbs up!

The way i say it may be contradicting. Nonetheless, i recommend this anime to anyone who longs for a solid plot. Opening song is Arrival of Tears, by Ayane. Great song, powerful vocals, way suitable for a anime like this!