So What's Up?: Are you game?

Monday, February 1, 2010

Are you game?

"STOP YOUR GAMING AND COME DOWN FOR DINNER!"

"TURN THAT THING OFF AND GO STUDY!"

Sounds familiar? Gamers? No one can understand how we felt at that point. Passion? Nah, it was just something which makes you get hooked on for hours. I used to get that all the time during my primary and secondary school days. My very first gaming console was the Micro Genius!.

Meet the family

Did that picture bring you back to memory lane? I don't know about you but for me, it did. I remember those days where I would spend my school holidays back in Malacca at my grandparent's place. I would set up the console and play some games with my cousin for almost the entire day.

The main unit

This is where you connect the controllers

To switch between TV and the gaming console view

The ass shot

My collection of games

One of my all time favourite game, KAGE FIGHTER. Me and my cousin, Nicholas were GOOD at it.

My first Rockman/Megaman game, Rockman 2! Yes, I've completed it.

At that time, we were also into Sony Playstation but I didnt own any. I was stuck with Micro Genius and till date, I still don't own a Playstation. We would be going to shopping malls or shops which allows us to play their Playstation with any game for a small fee. And the game I used to play on the PS was Dragon Ball Z.

That was the past and now, I'm gaming with a computer. Some people find it very addictive while some finds it childish. I used to game alot at cyber cafe during the counter strike era. Man, those were the days where as soon as you enter the cyber cafe, all you hear is

"Fire in the hole!"

Passion? Hardcore? Which category do you fall into? Its something very personal that one might not fully comprehend. I bought a new personal computer back in December 2007 and I gotta be honest with you, I'm addicted to some particular games. My all time favourite game, War Craft III: Frozen Throne. This was my VERY FIRST original pc game.

The reason for buying this game is simple, because of the updates. Back in those days, Blizzard used to come up with a new patch every few weeks. Sure there are people who are "kind" enough to create a crack for it but I was too lazy to wait. Furthermore, I love this game so much that I'm still playing it till date. However, it's not so much of War Craft III but its a custom map game called Defense Of The Ancient or in short, DOTA. I have been playing DOTA since 2002; since the Reign Of Chaos(War Craft III: Classic) version. I would be looking forward to game with my friends at night after a hard day's work in the office. To my gaming kakis, you know who you are :)

Wait a minute, what about World Of War Craft. You caught me. Well, I don't like these MMORPG. I have tried it but I don't find it interesting when it takes 2 weeks to level up one's character and having the point to walk to from 1 end to the other end to do stuff. I don't have the patience for that. And because of this, I also don't play games like Final Fantasy.

Next on the list is none other than, Street Fighter 4.

Mind you, this is also original :)

Benefits of having an original game is, you don't have to worry about updates and patches. I play this game in between DOTA once in awhile. But I've been practicing more SF4 lately in Training mode instead of playing against the AI. Playing with AI has too many disadvantages because they are too predictable and you know what is coming at you. And when you play against a human player, its simply uncomparable . To be honest, I only decided to train properly in training mode after my Akuma got his ass served in an offline match(Kandang, if you're reading this. Thanks for the pointers :) ). Nevertheless, I'm sort of improving in one way or another.

Gouki in Japan, Akuma in the US.

Bring it on!

My arcade at home

The original Hori Arcade Pro 3

My modded HRAP3 with Sanwa buttons

As usual, some friends asked me "Wah, you bought an arcade stick...why don't you just use keyboard". For example, some people will go to the extend of modifying their car to look like their dream car. And one will wonder, why waste time, effort and money? Well, I enjoy the game more with this. The feel and satisfaction that you get is simply awesome. Furthermore, execution of moves are alot smoother with this baby. So it is indeed, money well spent and I'm loving it to bits! So...ABUGIT!

Before I end, I shall talk about a game that I'm currently adding into the list, Batman Arkham Asylum. The graphics and lightings of the game are simply amazing! I'm not going to explain the game here so to know more about the game, please visit the link I posted earlier. So before I end, enjoy the screen shots.