Here is what it looked like…. well……. not bragging……. just sharing experience…

The overall view

Slightly zoomed in

i have no idea what was that under it, but i bet it gave out alot of heat to melt the plastic

Boy, now i’m scared of voltage regulators…. just bought a BELKIN 6 socket surge master for RM130 to replace it….  BELKIN had better work as what it claimed… dun wanna start a fire now, do we?

The advert

The Exhibition

Currently the games are played on the Xbox 360 console. Now this is the new era of playing, who needs to go out for an exercise when just playing games will get you a pretty good work out.

This is a 2GB thumb drive costing $42.99 acording to the source, overpriced for its spec i would say, but its a transformer USB… so i guess that makes up for the price. I’m not really a fan of transformer during its cartoon age, but over time when CGs take over… it has become much more interesting. So i find this USB really cool.

Source: http://www.ohgizmo.com/2009/05/19/transforming-ravage-flash-drive/

Dawn of War 2. The sequel to the warhammer strategy game series. I have never played the first dawn of war, but have played Dark Crusade and SoulStorm however. Seems that dawn of war was a different gameplay from the usual 40K series. It follows the Company of Heroes style where you dont get to build anything but just capture locations and Kill the boss, probably due to Essence Game Engine 2.0.

mission deployment screen

The variety is very limited in Dawn of War 2. There are about 9 maps common maps in the whole game and if i recall about 2-4 special assignment related maps, where its only playable due to special mission assignments. The objective is always the same, go in and kill the boss, you could however take the time to hunt down all the enemies in the maps and capture strategic locations, which would help you boost some power ups. Overall its a fast pace game, every map took me about 5 – 20 mins at most, i believe you could actually finish the game in a day (if you rush).

your units for the entire game

There are 6 characters you would get in the game, and you only get to play as the space marine factions. You start with the Force Commander (you the commander) and Tarkus (terminator squad), then you would get Cyrus (scout) and Avitus (another Terminator squad using chainguns), soon after you will come across Thadeous (Jump Jet Assault squad) and later Davian thule(Dreadnaught). You’ll play with the first 4 units for quite a while before getting the Dreadnaught. You get the Dreadnaught when finishing one of the tyranid main missions, something about getting the original sample of the hive.

The Force commander, and collected war gear

“i’ve come to destroy you”, woo hoo, the dreadnaught

Each Squad is good with their own abilities, and during the game you get war gears which would allow you to upgrade your character. Each character has a max level of 20 and the amount of points does not allow you to cover all their attributes, so choose wisely when giving each character points.

Avitus in terminator armor, carrying big chaingun and missle backpack ranged damage 1800++

Near the end you will come across something called terminator Armor, well its one of the only wargear that doesn’t get dropped so far i’ve played but comes as a reward for completing3 main missions only, so you only get 3 terminator armors. Personally i don’t find the terminator armor that grand as the normal armor has better performance and you would also loose alot of the nice abilities when you equip the terminator armor. However you get to equip terminator weapons which obviously deals a hell lot more damage which makes up for the lack of armor i guess.

Anyway, my final conclusion is, if you’re looking for a fast pace and alot of strategy thinking because you only have very limited units (you do get reinforcements), this is the game for you.

Requirements: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista SP1

Minimum: P4 3.2 or any Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM (XP) 1.5GB RAM (Vista), 5.5 GB HDD space, 128 MB Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / 128 MB ATI X1600, or equivalent (must have Shader Model 3.0 to run the game), Soundcard 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card 

Recommended: AMD Athlon 64×2 4400+ or any Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.0 GB (Windows XP and Vista), 256 MB Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT / 256 MB ATI X1900, or equivalent, 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card sound hardware

*the left green bar you see on my pictures is due to my geforce performance monitor which i do not know how to turn it off, its not a game bug or anything.

Tomb Raider Underworld, also known as tomb raider 8. I have been playing tomb raider since the Legend series because the graphic performace was quite nice since that time. From tomb raider legend till now the game engine is by crystal dynamics and the scenery has been fantastic throughout the game.

This time, the tomb raider series continues from the legend series but there are characters from the anniversary. It seems the anniversary series came out just to remind us of a character which would appear in the unerworld series. (Tomb raider anniversary is a remake of tomb raider 1, with better graphics). Now we have characters from the Legend and anniversary series which both of the older series are from different time and story lines.

The game scenery is fantastic as before. Gameplay is also quite good with new environment interaction. The storyline is quite ok. Thou i would say that the puzzles were not as hard as it seems ( just had to slam my head on the keyboard a couple of times think out of the box ). Lara this time looks more mature and abit more aggresive now. I suppose because of the series legend, she found out that she could somehow save her mother and the cause of her mothers disappearence is due to her.

Overall i would give an 8 out of 10. I like good graphic performace, good graphic content and a good gameplay to go with it. The story line however is abit short for my preference, the ending is abit sad thou, Lara had to kill her mutated mother somewhere near the end (spoiler).

Requirements: Windows XP or Windows Vista OS

Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 3+GHz or AMD Athlon 2.5+GHz, 1GB RAM (Windows XP) / 2GB RAM (Windows Vista), 8 GB of free space, NVIDIA GeForce 6 series 6800GT (or better) / ATI 1800XT (or better), DirectX 9.0c compliant card

Recommended: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or Athlon 64 X2 4400+, 2 GB RAM, 8 GB of free space, NVidia GeForce 9800 GTX or ATI HD4800, DirectX 9.0c compliant card

Need For Speed Undercover. Latest NFS series on 2008 also known as NFS 12. My one word to describe it: Disappointment. With all the previous series like Most Wanted and Pro Street, atleast there is something to look up to like good storyline, good gameplay or good graphics. Undercover on the other hand, is just a pure let down in my eyes. The gameplay is to arcade or fake to me (no real driving skill needed), the story line looks just too lame, the graphics are just ridiculous (even most wanted, 3 series back is better) and the realism is just not there (1 min in sprint, and i can count no more than 20 cars on the highway).

i have only played Need for Speed Undercover for 2 hours, and i have no idea what they are introducing, talking about or want me to get excited about. To me, the most wanted series so far is the best for gameplay and pro street is the best in terms of graphics and Carbon is quite OK. Anything before that is quite just leisure racing.

With most wanted, carbon and prostreet being quite good in certain perspectives, i expected undercover to deliver much more, but what a let down. I won’t even bother explaining more now, this is such a let down for me that i really don’t know what to brag about in this undercover series. My opinion: “it’s not what it looks”.

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3. Released at the end of october 2008 for PCs and mid november for Xbox 360. For me, i’ve played the whole C&C series on PCs since the first Red Alert. For this end of the year 2008, Red Alert 3 seems to have a wild imaginative story. Now it seems that the russions have built a time machine and messed up the past. The result is 3 factions, the allies vs the russions and the additional Empire of the Rising Sun (Japan). With Generals and Tiberium Wars having 3 factions, Red Alert doesn’t want to be left out as well. So what do we have next? 4 way battle royale?

So far Red Alert 3 still keeps the classic stuff like the Iron Curtain, Chronosphere, Appocalypse Tank, Tanya, Tesla coil and a few more. The main new stuff however are quite a shock. For the first time in the C&C series (if i recall) you can build on water (yes, you heard me right). Airfields, power plants, defense structures… about everything so far, except for barracks (obviously). Some tanks are amphibious so you could only build the amphibious ones on water. Cool or Weird?

Another new thing so far is the Co-op mode. Now you have an ally in all missions. Ally as in another player playing by your side (in campaign mode/skirmish optional). This ally can be the AI or play online with friends to complete a mission. The thing about co-op mode is that you share resources (yes, you heard me right again). Something irritating if i were to say, but you’ll get the hang of it.

Other than that are just modifications and tweaks on units and structures. 

Each faction has 9 missions. Total of 27 in the game. Computer AI this time is way better than before (they know when to retreat, regroup and backstab). Overall i’ll give it a 7 out of 10. I’ve been a fan of C&C and i’ll always keep a look out for its new series.

Requirements:

Minimum: Windows XP SP2, AMD Athlon 3000+/Intel P4 2.2GHz or equivalent, 1GB of RAM, 6GB free on HD, nVidia GeForce 6 series/ATI X800 or better, DX9c or 10 compatible sound.

Recommended: Windows Vista SP1, AMD Athlon X2 (3500+)/Intel Core 2 Duo (2.6GHz) or equivalent, 2GB of RAM, 10GB free on HD, nVidia GeForce 6800 or better/ATI X900 or better.

An internet connection is required to activate for online gaming.

This is my keyboard. A Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 v1.0. Used for 2 and a half years now, all the keys are working perfectly except for the ‘J’ key which i’m mad about as my name has a ‘J’ in it and i can’t type my name smoothly.

OK, forgive me for the camera, my left hand can’t keep still while taking this picture. So now to check whats wrong i have to make a few things clear. To check the sensitivity problem i have to open the key and see if the key button is actually working or assume the electronic board is faulty. To this, i use a minus screw driver. I have no idea if this is the correct way, but i have been doing this for 8 years now. And it never spoils (so far). Also a note, put your hand above the key because once you snap it out, it normally goes flying. My furthest was an estimated 4 meters away.

OK, now the key is out. To test this you could use the screw driver to press the button to see if its the sensivity problem of the electronic board is faulty. Now then…. tap, tap…. tap, tap, tap… (checks notepad, and monkey test a few more times). Looks like my keyboard is not all that bad, its not so sensitive so the electronic board is working but the button need to be pressed harder to get a response…. by the screw driver that is.

Ok now what should I do to fix this. (Knocks on head and thinks)……………….. I thought if i put something small inside to make the pressing harder it would work. So i tried it. Errr lets see what i have?

Well I have paper, a small note paper to be exact. Crushing the whole thing won’t fit thou. Perhaps a smaller piece would work. OK, here I actually tried different sizes to fit it in. Actually you only need very little paper. And boy making a round ball with so little paper is hard.

Once you’ve found the right size, put it in and make sure it moves smoothly and not like you’ve chucked your failed exam report away from your parents.

To finish the job just put the key back and press it hard enough untill it snaps back in. Now test again to see if it works to your liking. At this point i felt the key abit allevated because of the paper beneath it but it doesn’t really matter cause over time i got used to it. If its not to your liking, just snap it out again and change the paper ball.

Yeah…. my keyboard is fixed. (Very Happy!). No need to send for warranty and loose my keyboard.

*An additional update, ‘enter keys’, ’space bars’ and other bigger keys are a little different, they have a metal support or assistance that drags the whole key down when you press it. So don’t use the way i showed up there at face value, you most likely have to be extra carefull when snapping it out. I’m adding this cause a friend broke her ‘enter’ key. So again, perform your maintenance at your own risk!

This is the 8800GT that i’m currently using.

Ok the back of the box….

2 cards…. holding 2 power cards at that time really feels good

showcase… haha

this is what is inside of every box set. cables, convertors, manual, driver cd and the card.

this is what it looks like on a normal day light.

this is at night…. the orange light from the 8800GT creates a burning sensation when it runs in the dark.

Here i won’t talk about the performance rating and all. You can get most of these informations from reputable websites that really test GPU’s with the right tools. Google it. But from my brief point of view. Its good enough to play most games as of now like Crysis at 1280×1024 with medium graphics and 4x AA. Its smooth the entire game. That alone should tell you how good it is.

And to those who want to install SLi, just something to take note of that i learnt the hard way. SLi only supports 1 monitor. I had 2 monitors so the second went to waste. Enabling requires a restart, disabling doesn’t so its quite a hassle.

Just a note, the casing i’m using is a Gigabyte 3D aurora. I used this casing because of its ventilation system and also the luxury of having to see the inside of the PC and i prefer something that doesn’t accumulate alot of dust inside. This seems to be the best option.

*update: Its been sometime now and Nvidia has already upgraded their Sli drivers to support multiple monitors with SLi enabled.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) which was supposed to be released end of April 2008 is now finally out on 7th May 2008. Now you can say that Windows XP Service Pack 3 is now available for download on both WIndows Update and Windows Download Center.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 releases now features some new functions that were in Vista and implemented into XP. There is said to be some slight performance improvement to the system aswell. It also includes alot of upgrades on existing XP functionality. On the whole, this is what most XP SP2 users have been waiting for.

News source: Lowyat.net

Release Notes: Windows XP service Pack 3 Overview, Windows XP Service Pack 3 Release Notes

Download: Network Installation Package, XP SP3- ISO CD Image, XP SP3 Checked Build, Windows Update