Hmm… what should I play today?

Infinite Undiscovery, which is a must-check-out because it’s published by Square Enix (of Final Fantasy fame)?

Or Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, which has received 9/10 ratings from several review sites?

What a dilemma Xbox Singapore has given me.

Or should I play bus?

I got me a little bus today!

So many things to play, so little time.

I think I shall play bus.

So, I was playing bus when the Goonfather came into the room.

His eyes lit up like a kid’s in a candy store as he exclaimed, “Wow! How come you have mini bus?!!”

He ran to me, snatched the bus over and began studying it on all sides.

“Wow! You’re all over the bus!”

Then, the tiniest frown crossed his foreheard.

“Can I put my photo on the front?” he said.

I was about to say something clever when he spoke up again.

“I want to be the bus driver!”

A reader sent me this link and said, “Hey, you’re in the Dawn Yang and Xiaxue league!”

And I’m thinking, “Right, thanks. Should I start moderating comments now?”

So, here’s the link. Sharithstar asked this question in the iAnswer page in Infocomm123:

What attract readers to reading blogs by Sheylara, Dawn Yang, Xiaxue?

I wanna know what attracts people to read their blogs.

In the same vein, I also wonder why the Goonfather likes slapstick and how people can eat boiled chicken breasts with no seasoning whatsover and not die of abject misery.

The Goonfather can watch something like White Chicks for the fifth time and still bust his guts and split my eardrums guffawing like there’s no tomorrow.

Seriously. You don’t want to be in the same room as the Goonfather when he’s watching slapstick.

I’m digressing on purpose because it’s fun to make fun of the Goonfather. His expressions, each time he confronts me about making him my post-of-the-day subject, are priceless.

Then, in retaliation, he’ll make me sit through another two hours of mind-corroding slapstick. It’s a fair world.

Okay, end of digression.

What I want to say is that I hope readers are reading all our blogs for quite different reasons because I don’t really want to be like anyone else.

I think people read Dawn because she’s pretty and has a glamorous lifestyle. People read Xiaxue because she’s funny and creative and naturally controversial (that is, as opposed to people who become controversial merely for the sake of getting traffic). I hope people read me because I’m pretty and glamorous and funny and creative and naturally controversial.

Just kidding.

I think people read my blog because I’m randomly entertaining. At least, that is what I’m hoping for.

I try to be unpredictable.

For instance, I didn’t post an entry in the last two days because I decided to give myself an MC.

I received a flu virus on Friday from the Goonfather; such a thoughtful gesture. It made me feel really horrible, so I decided to boycott everything (after publishing GGF) and do nothing but lie in bed for two days and watch TV and play games.

But then, my boss (the tyrant that lives in the back of my head) was really horrible and still made me reply e-mails and do admin work which amounted to more hours than it takes to squeeze an orange entirely dry with your bare hands.

In the end, I only had time to play ten minutes of Tales of Vesperia. The rest of Sunday was spent watching an entire season of Heroes with the Goonfather because that is infinitely more rewarding and less painless than watching an entire season of slapstick with the Goonfather. I thank the stars that Adam Sandler does not have a TV series.

So, yeah. I like to think that I’m entertaining because I’m randomly unpredictable.

But I don’t think I really am. I think I’m just randomly random.

I’m also just a sick girl whose flu virus has now progressed to the coughing stage so, tonight, we shall have a showdown, me and the Goonfather. My coughs vs. his guffaws.

Well, perhaps you could just read my blog out of pity.

It’s funny how the events that prevented me from publishing GGF on time yesterday are the very same events that I’m gonna end up talking about in this latest issue of GGF.

I had an absolutely exciting gamer girl friday (literally), hardly marred by the fact that I was running on only one hour of sleep and walking around with a painful sprain in my spine.

That’s why today is the show off issue. I have lots of stuff to show off!

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Table of Contents

1. Creator of Fable talks about Fable II
2. Meeting the lead designer of EndWar
3. Unboxing Warhammer Online Collector’s Edition
4. The Goonfather rates The Force Unleashed 9/10
5. I have a PlayStation Home
6. Results of last week’s contest
7. Ask The Goonfather
8. Win PlayStation Home beta accounts!!

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Creator of Fable talks about Fable II

Peter Molyneux, creator of Fable (for Xbox 360) and founder of Lionhead Studios, is in Singapore for GCA (Games Convention Asia) this week.

I didn’t have to go to GCA to meet him because the Singapore Xbox team hosted him at the Microsoft office with a bunch of journalists.

I know I’ve said this about a few other games before, but Fable II is the game to wait for. I’m superbly impressed and amused by it. It’s a Fantasy MMORPG meets The Sims and will appeal to both hardcore and casual gamers, and both male and female.

I’ll show you a video of Peter explaining the game, in a minute. Just keep in mind that I recorded it with a mobile phone so the quality is really bad. The game in real life looks a zillion times better than it does in my video. Sorry about that!

This is only Part 1 of the video because I don’t have enough time to edit the rest. I have more than 30 minutes of footage. In this video, Peter talks about:

1. The important role of your canine companion
2. True free roaming in an open-ended world
3. The ability to walk away from cutscenes literally
4. How the game promises an emotional journey with a dramatic story
5. The interesting combat system
6. The unique experience points system

More videos coming soon! Keep your eye on SheyaraTube!

In the meantime, here’s a picture of me and Peter. He is such a warm, charming guy despite having intimidating acccolades heaped on him such as “god of gamers” and “godfather of the UK gaming industry”.

I’m holding in my hands a very cute premium which I have to mosaic because I have an NDA on it. And I can’t tell you why, either. The gaming industry likes to be secretive like that.

More photos!

r
Journalists photograph Peter Molyneux

Peter Molyneux interviewed by a journalist

Okay, will talk more about Fable II again!

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Meeting the lead designer of EndWar

Besides Peter Molyneux, I also met the lead designer of the upcoming hit game, Tom Clancy’s EndWar.

Introducing Michael de Plater!

Michael is the creative director of UbiSoft Shanghai and he is also amazingly nice. He showed me a picture of his cute daughter!

We did a video shoot yesterday of me interviewing him about the game and him playing a demo for us. The video will be available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace when it’s ready.

I guess I’ll talk more about the game when I have a chance to try it out.

I will get to, soon. I have a VIP demo download pass!

You MUST try out EndWar because it’s going to revolutionise RTS games with its amazing voice command feature.

Set during a fictitious World War III, The game is more than an RTS, actually. It’s a combination of action, strategy and simulation and you’re so gonna feel like a real army commander playing it.

The general public will be able to download a demo around end October, before the game launches on November 4.

[Back to Table of Contents]

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Unboxing Warhammer Online Collector’s Box

Between meeting Peter Molyneux and Michael de Plater yesterday, I had about an hour to visit the post office (to mail prizes), fix my SIM card (yes, it’s fixed, finally!!) and pick up my collector’s edition Warhammer Online.

It’s damn heavy lah.

I almost died yesterday travelling all over Singapore lugging around an immensely heavy game box, my netbook, all my other gadgets and hardware peripherals, and my usual barang barang.

But I survived! So here I am to show off to you my coveted Warhammer Online Collector’s Edition.

Many gamers who picked up the box a day before me also complained about the heaviness of the box.

Let’s unbox it together to find out why!

The box:

Back of the box:

It slides out like the drawer:

Ooh. A big book!

It’s a glossy, hardcover art book showing pictures of Warhammer characters, weapons and monsters:

Aah! Another big book! No wonder it’s so freaking heavy!

Nice! A comic book!

Aww, the last layer, the game box and a figurine.

The game box is usually the most exciting thing in a CE package but I don’t really need it since I already have the WAR client from beta. But I can’t resist looking into it, anyway.

Aww. Now, all I need is some time to play the game.

I totally wasted my open beta and headstart access, lol.

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The Goonfather rates The Force Unleashed 9

I received a copy of The Force Unleashed for the Xbox 360 from New Era on Thursday. Yay, thanks! I didn’t have time to play so I made the Goonfather play it and review it for me.

“Woah! This is a damn good game!” he said while playing it. “I love it! I rate it 9 out of 10.”

“Why not 10 out of 10?” I asked.

“Er…,” he said, and then went silent.

Five minutes later, I spoke up, “Your answer very slow leh.”

“I dunno lah!” he complained. “You ask me stupid question.”

“It’s not a stupid question,” I said. “If it’s such a great game, you’d give it a 10. There must be some reason you gave it a 9. Like, something missing or something not so ideal.”

“I dunno. Because we must always reserve 10 for another better game.”

“Then no game will ever get a 10 rating from you!”

“Yah.”

“That’s lame.”

“Okay, how about this. I f****** hate the holocrons.”

“What about the holocrons?”

“They have holocrons in TFU. It reminds me of my nightmare days in Star Wars Galaxies when the game was all about collecting holocrons to unlock the b***** Jedi character.”

“I think it’s a bit different in here right.”

“Right. It’s a damn good game.”

There you go.

The Force Unleashed starts off with you playing Darth Vader for one stage. You’re sort of wandering around killing Jedi until you suddenly bump into a toddler who yanks your lightsabre off your hands without even touching you.

That toddler grows up to be the apprentice (of Darth Vader). From there on, you’re playing the apprentice and doing evil stuff under the administration of your evil godfather, Darth Vader.

You know what, this game doesn’t need a review. It’s a damn good game.

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I have a PlayStation Home

So, another exciting thing that happened to me yesterday was that Brian from Ogilvy e-mailed me my PlayStation Home beta test account.

WOOTAGE! Brian is awesome!!

PlayStation Home is a new community service for PlayStation fans to interact in an online world that mirrors the real world. It has been in development since 2005 so it’s not, like, news or anything. But beta acccounts have finally been released so there’s a lot of hype over it now.

You can create an avatar, acquire a virtual home, and decorate your home with trophies that you earn from PlayStation games, then invite your friends over to watch a digital movie or gawk at your trophies and nice clothes.

It’s kind of like Second Life for consoles, I guess.

Well, I haven’t had the time to try it out yet, but you could! I’m giving out accounts to PS3 owners in this week’s GGF contest. Scroll down to the contest segment for more details! :)

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Results of last week’s contest

Yes, yes. I know. You guys have been waiting till you’re blue in the face for the results of this very, very popular contest.

So, without any more useless ado, here’s… a picture of the PSP pouch some of you will be winning!

Haha. Isn’t it cute?

Okay, then, HERE ARE THE FIVE WINNERS!

Lindy
tiger4
abraxis
austingy
aig

So, there you go! Winners, please e-mail me your name and mailing address if you want your prize!

And when you receive your PSP pouch, please remember to shower it with tender loving care because pouches also deserve to be loved.

Thank you, and congratulations!

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Ask the Goonfather

Please e-mail the Goonfather at if you have any questions on games, girls and lame jokes (which he is very good at).

King asks a PSP question:

Can PSP use a 16GB memory stick?

The Goonfather Says:

Can. 32GB also can. But it’ll probably be very slow. It’s advisable to buy offcial Sony memory sticks for better performance.

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Win PlayStation Home beta accounts!!

I have a limited number of PlayStation Home closed beta accounts to give out this week, courtesy of Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong.

How nice!

These accounts are very coveted so I need to know that only the most deserving people will get them. (If you win, you’ll need to give me your PlayStation Network e-mail address and ID).

To win an account, please post a comment here telling me why you really need to win this. The most convincing answers will win!

I have about five accounts to give away, maybe more if you guys can be really, really convinicng.

So, let the contest begin!!

Last day to enter is Sep 25, 2008.

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Okay, this is the end and I shall not ramble on anymore so I can publish this issue right now.

Thank you for waiting till you’re blue in the face! =)

My blogging stint at iTest is over, so it’s now your turn to go there and give your two cents.

For the price of 150 words or less, you will be admitted for a chance to win an Apple MacBook!

Can lah. I write thousands of words a day. I’m sure you can manage 150! So, go go go before the contest ends on Sep 25!

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Now, here’s a summary of my 10 posts, which I had slaved over in the last 10 days, detailing the wonderful things my delinquent Xbox 360, Aristotle, can do.

(Because I know many of you never read!!!)

Day 1: My Xbox 360 gets cranky

He calls me a dodo bird and calls himself Aristotle.

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Day 2: Connecting your Xbox 360 to the Internet

Aristotle doesn’t like this post because it bores him.

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Day 3: Introducing the Xbox 360 to the PC

I tease Aristotle all day because he’s so fun to tease.

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Day 4: My Xbox 360 wants to listen to jazz

Aristotle acts high class and asks for Michael Bublé.

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Day 5: Let’s MSN chat!

I chat with the Goonfather on Xbox MSN.

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Day 6: Let’s camwhore today!

I camwhore myself and Aristotle.

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Day 7: Watch YouTube videos on your Xbox 360

I watch my YouTube videos on TV.

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Day 8: Reasons to use the Xbox 360 as a media center

I explain why it’s better to listen to music through the Xbox 360.

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Day 9: Colour your world with Xbox accessories

Pink controllers!!! Enough said!!!

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Day 10: My Xbox 360 can blog!

I love my Xbox 360!

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Now, go read those while I work on GGF. =P

What a strange week!

I was to have a super-packed week (nothing new) and I had been hyperventilating since last week, trying my best to juggle everything by prioritising, wanting to get my phone fixed but having to list it under low-priority (read: not a chance).

Then, yesterday, a video shoot was postponed at the last minute. Today, a photoshoot was postponed at the last minute.

Weird!

Last minute postponements are usually very annoying but this time they came as blessings in disguise.

I actually had the luxury to go get my phone fixed today!

(The customer service lady apologised for making me wait 10 days for my new SIM card to be activated. Can you imagine I haven’t been able to SMS a single soul for 10 days!!

She promised that she would personally see to it that my new card gets activated tonight. Well, there are only about two hours left till tonight is over. It’s still not activated at this moment. Let’s hope I don’t have to go yell at people tomorrow.)

I have Xbox LIVE duty tonight till midnight. Tomorrow, I have to wake up really early in the morning for the postponed video shoot, after which I have a media event to attend in the afternoon, after which I have a dinner appointment.

You know what that means?

It means Gamer Girl Friday won’t be up tomorrow. Sorry!

She’ll see you on Saturday!