Bioshock 2 Review - 28th March

The world of Rapture, in theory, it is an utopia but indeed the human nature is unpredictable and bound to it's true instinct: destruction and rebellious. It's been 10 in-game years since the days of Bioshock and Bioshock 2 now tells of another story. Instead of the human you played in Bioshock, you now are what you've feared the most in Bioshock, a Big Daddy. Actually, I've finished this game a couple of days ago and only today I've decided to write an article about it. As usual, this review will talk briefly about the game on overall, the graphics, and also the gameplay.

The main backbone of the story is on you as the Big Daddy trying to locate back the child under your care, the Little Sister. Earlier in the story, the main antagonist, Sofia Lamb instructed the main character to shoot himself but revived 10 years later with the Bio-Tube. Throughout the game, there will be decisions to be made but most of them involves either saving or killing someone, which will affect the ending. Some of the story elements in the game are pretty standard after Bioshock 1 with someone taking over the helm of  the administration of Rapture and the citizens themselves making a mess of everything, although there are small surprises here and there. On the story, I wouldn't say that it is marvelous but rather mediocre, in fact, I had to look up online for the actual story as from the conversations littered throughout the game, I couldn't get the big picture only rough sketches of what was happening in Rapture.

Graphically, the game does portray the city of Rapture rather realistically in the sense of the setting and mood. The timeline of the game which is in the 70's can be felt from the decor, the way the enemies dress and also the furniture. Lights and shadows are well made and sometimes you might look behind you for fear of an enemy due to some shadow of someone running behind you. Although this, I'm not too sure if it is intentional, but the citizens of Rapture has been portrayed to look rather less "spliced" than 10 years ago? In Bioshock 1, the enemies looks much more hideous, grim and of course, much more prone to attacking you but they look like they've become better after 10 years? Not sure on this though. But well, there's no complaints from me on other graphical elements. The underwater scene looks very believable and water looks like water.

It's good that Bioshock 2 did manage to change the gameplay from a human point of view to the Big Daddy. It sure did play differently in the second game. Although this, some of the game elements are seriously not fun, well at least not for me. Getting ADAM now means that you've to snatch the Little Sisters from their respective Big Daddies which is a routine, but what's with the extra ADAM which you've to defend the Little Sisters from the citizens of Rapture? I've seen Little Sisters (un-snatched yet) plunging their needles into any of the corpses while in serenity and no one disturbing but "our" Little Sisters are so selective with the corpse they get the ADAM from and is a sure-fire way of getting the attention of the citizens of Rapture? Hacking the different machines in Rapture requires for you to click with precision, having to click once the needle reaches the green / blue zone which was much simpler than the pipe-mania of Bioshock 1. The other thing of concern would be the lack of sounds of the machines makes me wonder if the machines' sound boxes actually got spoilt after 10 years that they don't make their distinctive sounds anymore. Bioshock 1 machines' each makes memorable sounds that make them somewhat in contrast to the environment which is an experience by itself which is lacking in Bioshock 2.

It is not fair to say that Bioshock 2 is a bad game, it is not too bad but in comparison to its prequel, it does not match up in terms of quality and gameplay. There are spooky elements in Bioshock 1 that just doesn't cut it Bioshock 2 which results in a rather tad plain experience and not the kind of awe generated by Bioshock 1. My score for this game:- 8/10

HD 5850 With NF-M2PV motherboard - 26th March

It's been a while since I last posted on this blog and so, I've decided today to make a couple of postings to continue the life of this blog (although I doubt that many people actually read it) but anyways, changing to a HD 5850 is relatively easy but in a mother board like NF-M2PV, there maybe problems arising.

The Sapphire HD 5850 looks like the image below:-

It is a great card actually, running at approximately 50C when idle and 60+C when on load. BFBC2 is nor playable with High settings without a lot of lags. The thing is that, the installation process was not smooth at first considering that the motherboard is a Abit NF-M2PV where the PCI-e slot is being blocked by the chipset cooler at the rear of the card slot. The Abit NF-M2PV board looks like the image below:-

As you can see, the horizontal orange slot is the PCI-e slot, and in the right (black passive cooler) is for the chipset. The cooler was too high and was blocking the GPU's rear. The solution was indeed fairly simple, replacement of the cooler. Fortunately, all you need is to obtain another chipset cooler which was having a lower depth than the one shown, recommended is a Abit Fatal1ty board chipset cooler like the one shown in the image below which solves the problem:-



Having done so, the Power Supply Unit would then have to be replaced. The PSU that can be used is the Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 650W. In contrary to what most reviews say, the Cooler Master PSU is quite a moderate unit and it is able to power a HD 5850 unlike what most people on the Net say. Although, I would complain on the low 120mm PSU fan speed which does not do much in transferring heat from the case to the external areas.

Straw Pudding - 1st March

I found this in a coffee shop / eating place in my kampung, Jerantut.
(Credits: My Brother who took this photo)

Who wants some "Straw Pudding"? (Actual:- Strawberry Pudding)

Chap Goh Meh - 1st March

Yesterday marks the end of Chinese New Year celebrations for the year 2010. I'm sure after yesterday (meaning today), Chinese around the world would have made resolutions to continue working hard and hopefully  this year would bring them lots of wealth and better health. This year, for me, bring lots of hopes and wishes (which I won't reveal here) and of course, I hope all or maybe some of them would be fulfilled. In terms of angpows (red packets), this year everyone has been very nice and the amount was almost double of last years, even from the latest recession, which is good to know that Malaysia was not that bad....

Anyways, what marks the end of CNY is the Lantern Festival (not associated with Mid-Autumn Festival) where lanterns and lights are all lit up and temples are usually full with decorations. I remember watching in a Stephen Chow movie on ancient Chinese times where there will be sort of a night festival in the nearest city square where there will be games and such. The husbands would "compete" among themselves to earn lanterns for their wives. Accordingly, husbands who get the biggest and most beautiful lantern for their wives would generally mean that he loves his wife very much. Not too sure how much of that is true.

Which reminds me of a another customs today in the modern world. Not sure whether is it practiced anywhere else, but here in Malaysia, on Chap Goh Meh day, the single-ladies would go to a place where there's water which is where she will throw mandarin oranges with their contact and names written on it in hopes that some nice guy would pick it up. It is hoped then that would turn into a happy ending story.

Come to think of it, I sure won't mind any of these 'oranges'
come floating to me in form of comments for this article. I think it's about time.

Well, anyways, Happy belated CHAP GOH MEH and wishes for a great year ahead!

Mass Effect 2 Review - 28th Feb

Mass Effect 1 was a great experience as it was utterly new system where no other RPGs have gone before and on 26th January, Bioware released the sequel for this game, Mass Effect 2 and I've just finished it once yesterday with a clock time of exactly 24 hours. In this review, we'll talk about the story, gameplay, graphics and the whole game on the overall.

Now, lets start with the story. As with the prequel, Cmd.Shepard (whether male or female) has to fight against the Reapers, a race of sentient machines which are extremely large as seen as the Sovereign in the first Mass Effect series and this time, a new enemy has emerged, but in fact not entirely new as the sequel would reveal (Play the game to find out) and this new enemy is also working for the Reapers, The Collectors. The new enemy is abducting colonies of humans and Shepard intends to stop them. At the start of the game, Shepard is attacked and considered dead but resurrected again by Cerberus which just a minor excuse for you to have an entirely new team. In general, ii's all about you and your team saving the universe again.

In my opinion, although the story is about you and your team trying to save the universe's humans from abduction and probably are racing against time, the feeling of the urgency does not exist and there's nothing that's pushing you to do anything. As long as you choose to, you may progress your story at any time. Other than that, you may spent all day leisuring around, scanning planets for resources and there won't be any consequences. There whole story actually revolves in 4 stages which would be recruiting stage, know enemy location stage, prepare to get there stage and lastly assault stage. Overall I would say that the story is nothing special and not too memorable and pales in comparison for maybe say: Final Fantasy 7?

In terms of gameplay, in comparison with the prequel, this game has a much better mechanics and much simplified Upgrades to a better weapon is done automatically and you'll find weapons on the field instead of buying them. What you can buy is the upgrades for the weapons, such as accuracy, damage and ammo upgrades. There is no longer any add-ons for your weapons etc. Missions vary from diplomacy,  search and a court case or just plain fighting. The side missions are not much to be bothered as they provided only 40 exp which minuscule to what you have to do sometimes, simply not worth it. Overall, I would say that although the current new system is quite good, but I miss the old times where you can purchase better weapons in shops instead of finding them in the field which you may miss sometimes, which I'm not sure will or will not make it much harder for you at later stages. Firefights are relatively easy and the chances of dying is particularly low unless you don't take cover from enemy fire. What I don't like is that taking cover involves only one button, while it may be useful during intense fights, but sometimes I like a little bit of customization on how I'm taking cover and when. At times, holding (space key) to run puts me in the nearest side cover, e.g facing right  which is directly in the path of a frontal enemy fire. Besides that, I also miss the vast space to explore in Mass Effect, think Citadel, and is now confined to small spaces and only a couple of minor forgettable places. Instead of overheating, you now have thermal clips which act as a sort of ammo and not to worry, its abundant, although at times, you're forced to conserve as sometimes it becomes rare.

In terms of graphics, there is nothing much to brag about, although it is a little bit nicer than Mass Effect 2. There isn't much to complain about in terms of performance as I did not even touch any of the settings and yet still displays nicely, unlike Mass Effect 1 where there are sometimes some lag issues at certain parts of the game Graphical glitches are quite a common sight at times where what shouldn't be there is there. Scope zoom images are still clear and detailed which is particularly great for me. Overall, the feel of the different planets and locales are very convincing and atmospherically right although the vast awe I had in the first game no longer exists.

The game on the whole, I had a great time, but it could tedious especially on the planet scanning for resources part. Couldn't they make it simpler or more fun? But well, for those who liked mass effect 1, should definitely buy this while for those who never like mass effect 1 due to its complexity, should try this. In conclusion, the score for this game according to my opinion, would be:-

Story:- 6/10 (Plain)
Graphics:- 8/10
Gameplay:- 9/10
Overall:- 8/10

Battlefield Bad Company 2 - 27th Feb

I've ordered battlefield Bad Company 2 from The Software Boutique yesterday for RM129. Well, I'm not too sure on how the whole process is, so maybe I'll post it up here!

Kind of excited too as, truthfully, it's very rare of me to buy original games and I think that Bad Company 2 is an awesome game to support. It's also a step for me to show how much IW.net for Modern Warfare 2 really is terrible and degrading.

Call me a Modern Warfare 2 traitor all you want, but Infinity Ward got a kick from my gaming list quite a while ago with all the insanity they've commited. Well, come back for more updates on this!





Update:- 2nd March
I've already got the game and playing it. Seriously, it was so much fun, at least it does feel like you're shooting something in comparison to Modern Warfare 2, where you're not even sure if you actually hit or miss. Anyway, with the destructible environments, anything can happen which makes it more suspenseful and makes you feel like you're actively participating even for the single-player. Well, the reviews would come soon but here's two pictures of what I bought.


The un-opened box.
The case was basic with nothing special.

The Opened Box.
There wasn't much in the case itself, some manuals,
some redeem codes and the DVD itself. Can't complain as they're selling it for RM129 here which much less compared to the exchange rate in the United States.

The Freebies
You get: A poster, a T-Shirt and the DVD.









Well, order yours now from TSB!

Update:- 12th May
Made a review on the game. Read it: Here

Boom De Ya Da - 26th Feb

Suddenly felt like posting this song up:-
Boom De Ya Da song from Discovery Channel



I Love the Whole World!

Possible Cancer Treatment? - 23rd Feb

Got this from an email on possible cancer treatment, and thought I might share it with anyone interested (The English is not too perfect though, but understandable) :-


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Actual case studies, very important, please read patiently and pass this on..

Even if you have read this before, you should re-read this, especially the list of acidic and alkaline foodstuff , best to read several times and remember..

Please read this article in full patiently, it will be helpful to your health.More than 30 years ago, a Mr Zhang who worked in the public sales department of a Taipei Brewery, participated in the brewery overseas study selection examination, and passed with flying colours.Before going overseas during the physical examination at a public hospital, it was discovered that he had a lung tumour the size of a child's fist, and therefore was unable to go overseas to study.

The greatly disappointed Mr Zhang had always been suspicious that the diagnosis was wrong.. So he went to another hospital for a check-up, the result confirm that previous diagnosis was not in error.For the youthful and healthy Mr Zhang to be stricken down with such a terminal illness, in his despair, he rang his old classmate who at the time was Taidong County Government, Huangsun County Mayor's secretary, Mr Wei.Mr Wei rushed to Taipei during his rest day on a Sunday to see Mr Zhang..Mr Zhang discussed with Mr Wei in detail his despair and pessimism, and entrusted his friend regarding his affairs after his death. Coincidentally, Mr Wei was a good friend of Dr Lu Geling, who was in  charge of the Maijie Hospital, 1945-55, and specialized in the clinical research into cancer cases.
He immediately suggested that Mr Zhang go to see Dr Lu for treatment. At first, Mr Zhang said he preferred not to see anymore doctors, so as not to add further to his misery. But Mr Wei told him that he had telephoned Dr Lu before to seek his advice and arranged an appointment. Mr Zhang felt obligated and went with Mr Wei to meet Dr Lu..

When Dr Lu met with Mr Zhang, Dr Lu said: ' Mr Wei is a friend and introduced you and I to get to know each other. This is destiny. Thank you. Let me ask you do you know why is cancer referred to as  terminal illness? Both Mr Zhang and Mr Wei did not know how to answer.

Dr Lu explained: 'There are only two approaches taken by humans to treat cancer to-date. The first is to destroy the source of the disease. The second is to increase the capability to fight the disease.
But the strange thing is that, whether we use Cobalt 60 or other drugs to destroy the cancer cells, before the cancer cells are killed, the good cells are destroyed first..On the other hand, no matter what nutrients or supplements we use,  before the good cells have a chance to absorb them, the cancer cells have taken them up and it simply speeds up the growth of cancer..

Therefore both approaches are doomed to failure, that is why cancer is terminal.

Dr Lu continues: 'Human beings are most clever, they have successfully landed on the moon. But why is it no one ever questioned the above two approaches for treating cancer  which are nothing but self defeating dead-ends, and try to seek a third avenue?

When I was conducting clinical research in Majie Hospital , I had many opportunities to work with and being helped by many colleagues in the Hospital. I discovered that the blood tests of 100% of the cancer patients showed that the blood samples are acidic.

Those Buddhist monks and nuns who are long term vegetarians and live very close to Nature, their blood are prevalently weakly alkaline and amongst them, there has yet to discover any cancer cases.

Therefore, I boldly concluded that under weakly alkaline condition, cancer cells are not able to grow, or even to survive.Mr Zhang, I would suggest that starting from now you reduce your intake of the acidic meaty  dishes..Take more of the alkaline food. In addition you can take green algae and soup made from water chestnuts with skin, modify your physical condition, and try seriously to have a regular life style which is close to Nature;

If you can manage to stay alive for five years, you should have no further problem. I wish you the best of luck.'Mr Zhang followed Dr Lu's suggestion and seriously altered his eating habits.
Every day, he ate  green algae, drank chestnut soup, be optimistic and did an appropriate amount of exercise, and went back to the same public hospital for a check up. It was discovered that not only that the tumour did not increase in size, on the contrary it showed signs of shrinking, and surprised the hospital staff conducting the check-up as a miracle.. Five years later, the tumour had shrunk to such a state as to almost disappear..

After almost 40 years, presently Mr Zhang's health is totally normal, and living a very pleasant life. Following Mr Zhang, a Mr Chen Tianshou, who was previously Head of the General Administration of the Taidong Provincial Hospital , was similarly diagnosed with lung cancer.

When Mr Wei heard of this, he told Mr Chen of the experience of Mr Zhang, and Mr Chen started to follow the instructions of Dr Lu to change his physical condition. The outcome was that he was able to recover fully from the cancer, just like Mr Zhang.

At that time, Mr Lu and his family have emigrated to the United States . After the two cases, he returned to Taiwan and met up with Mr Wei.Mr Wei told Dr Lu about the experiences of Mr Zhang and Mr Chen, and suggested that let the two of them detailed their experiences to Dr Lu in person, so that Dr Lu could publish a report on his self cure body conditioning method.

Dr Lu very humbly replied:
'I am too old, besides, I do not have any clinical records of the outcomes. I would ask that you tell your friends and relatives, if they are agreeable, then please continue this experience and spread the words

One should take care of oneself but should also be caring about others, 85% of cancer patients have acidic in their physical condition.
***      Blood of healthy persons is weakly alkaline in nature, with a pH of about 7.35 to 7.45
***      Babies' blood is also weakly acidic
***      As adults mature their blood becomes more acidic in nature
According to a study of 600 cancer patients, of their bodily fluid, 85% of the patients are acidic Therefore, how to maintain the weakly acidic nature of our body is the first step for moving far away from diseases.

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Acidic physical conditions manifest itself in:
1. Skin without lustre2. Athlete's foot
3. Feeling tire even with very little exercise, and feeling sleep the moment one gets on to public buses
4. Easily out of breath going up and down stairs
5. Fat and with lower stomach protruding,
6. Move slowly and movement lethargic
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Why does the body physical condition turn acidic?  

1. Excessive intake of dairy acidic food

a) meat, dairy products, eggs, beef, ham, etc are acidic foodb) taking too much acidic food will cause the blood to become acidic and viscous, difficult to flow to the end of blood vessels, leading to cold feet or knee, stiff shoulders and insomnia.c) When one is young and strong, taking suitable quantity of meat is appropriate, but older people it more suitable to have a diet which are primarily vegetables ...

2.. Irregularity in the pace of life will cause the body physical condition to become acidic

a) Irregular pace in life will lead to mental and physical stressb) According to statistics, people who sleep late are more likely to have cancer than normal persons, by as much as 5 times.
c) Human beings originally lead a life with regular tempo in this world, it is not possible to store up sleep or food and not possible to change the order of living by mixing up days and nights.
d) Human organs are controlled by the autonomic nerves, and during day time it is mainly sympathetic nerves activities, and at night it is mainly the parasympathetic nerves which are functioning, If this order is disturbed and reversed, then diseases will result.

3. Emotion over tensed
a) Civilised society brings stresses
b) Job related or mental stressesc) A person suffers mental stress, when the stress is removed and the person relaxes, sometimes this may lead to death, referred to as the syndrome of imperfect adrenal cortex function.

4. Physical Stress
a) Before any operation it would be necessary to check to see if the renal cortex does function normally. If the adrenal cortex is lacking, or if the stress imposed by the operation exceeded the ability of adrenal cortex to cope, it could lead to death or other undesirable impacts.

b) If it noted that  patient's face is puffy, it would be necessary to inquire in detail the patient's medical history and medication status, for patients taking adrenal cortical hormone, extra care should be exercise when administering acupuncture.

c) Stress due to physical labour or exercise in excess, whole night card games, driving etc should be avoided as much as possible

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Appendix: Acidity/alkalinity of Common food stuff

1. Strongly acidic food: egg yolk, cheese, cake make with white sugar or persimmon, mullet fish roe, dried cod.
2. Mildly acidic food: ham, bacon, chicken meat, squid, pork, eel, beef, bread, wheat, butter, horse meat etc
3. Weakly acidic food: white rice, peanut,  , oil fried tofu, sea weed, clam,
weakly alkaline food:  red bean, radish, apple , cabbage, , tofu etc.
5.  Mildly alkaline food: dried radish, soya bean, carrot, tomato, banana, orange, pumpkin strawberry, egg white, dried plum, lemon, spinach, etc.
6. Strongly alkaline food: grape, tea leave, grape wine, kelp sprout, kelp, etc. Especially natural green algae which contain rich quantity of chlorophyll are very good alkaline health food, but tea should not be drunk in excess, and best to drink in the morning.

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Hope the article helps!