Ayumi Hamasaki - Next Level... down?

The local radio station has been playing Ayumi Hamasaki's new release non-stop recently. 1 song is called Next Level and give's a bit of the more beat-ty tune. Another song I didn't catch the title, but is more of a slow ballad. Hmm... A little poor for an Ayumi release isn't it?
Don't get me wrong. I like her songs. Well.. Most of her songs. Her songs has mostly been about having a catchy beat and repeating it over again and again. Evolution, Beautiful Fighter, etc. etc. Some of my favorite songs.

But this time, the formula really backfired. Repetitive notes + bad tunes = boring song. The newest release really brings Ayumi Hamasaki the next level, down that is.

*Now excuse me while I go put on my Flame Suit*

The Witcher - Best of 2007

Was looking around for a nice rpg to play a while back, and Marts recommended The Witcher. Wow! Addictive shitz. Playing the game, 2 hours will pass by in a blink and will definitely not be enough gametime. But, I have decided to stop it for now, put it aside and go back to Tales of Symphonia on the Wii. After I finish that only will I restart The Witcher.

So 10 hours into the game and my current achievements (some not really proud of) in The Witcher includes:
1) Having a Mentor trust me with the life of his Apprentice during battle, only to let me get him killed within the first trip. :p
2) Choosing to let a female witch go up against a well-known mercenary and a mysterious sorcerer alone while I group up with a band of other Witchers and ganged up on a praying mantis
3) Saving a waitress from a bunch of thugs only to find out from her grandma that I knocked her up
4) Saving a dwarf from a group of haters, later letting him con me of my gold while "teaching" me how to play poker
Lol!

But all sarcasm aside, this game RoXs! Decided to do a detailed review and storyline sypnosis of the game later. And now, to finish Tales of Symphonia.

Seagate FreeAgent Go 320Gb

Recently my anime collection has really taken a toll on my hard disk. Using up the majority percentage leaving me with only +-1 gigabyte left. So a few days back I thought that it was about time I got myself a spare hard disk to store my animes temporarily. Then finding out that last Saturday was a holiday, I thought it was a great opportunity to go get one. So did a little Google to do some read up on some information Friday night, and went to Digital Mall the next day. Came back with a Seagate FreeAgent Go 320Gb Usb only. Encountered some minor misinformation which should be cleared up. First off, when I Googled around, all reviews of the Seagate FreeAgent portable hard disk had firewire a.k.a 1394. But when I shopped around, there were no Firewire versions, only usb adapters.
Cosmetically, the drive looks quite a stunner. When plugged in, dots of lights radiant from holes which is not easily seen by the eye.


I don’t have the knowhow to do a full performance test. And do not have any benchmark software I can use currently. But in summary, it took me 19 seconds to transfer a single 500mb .mkv media file from my internal hard disk to the Seagate FreeAgent Pro. Is that suppose to be good? Lol. I honestly have no benchmark-freaking-clue. Although a 320Gb, the usable space was only 298Gb. I doubt the auto back-up software and drivers took up 20Gb, and I’m not bothered enough by it to replug my FreeAgent after I have stored it away neatly. Now if only they put all the files neatly into a Seagate folder or something. I’m a neat-freak. I like my files properly and thoroughly folder-ized.

Ignore the 227Gb remaining in the screenshot please, I backed up some files and hid it. :p

One thing to take note is that the cable provided is too short. Initially I wanted to connect the FreeAgent to a usb port located in the lower front of my computer casing (below the 3.5” floppy drive) and leave the hard disk on top of the casing. But it was too short, and I didn’t want to leave my hard disk on the floor. Pfft!


End of the day, I believe it was a good buy. Seagate FreeAgent Go 320Gb @ Rm259 at Digital Mall PJ. Other minor specs include 7200rpm, Usb adapter, and erm… nice packaging? Lol!
Only question now is, how reliable is it? We’ll see as I plug it in, add files, un-plug it on a daily basis.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

It has now been the 4th hour into the game. And so far, it's doing fine. The longer I play the game, the more addicting it gets. Colette just joined the party of Emil and Marta. Making things slightly more interesting. But one thing which is already getting irritating is how Marta shows her affection and how Emil feints ignorance.

Anyway, just wanted to mention that this is the the type of J.R.P.G. I enjoy. Nothing too complicating, freedom of Leveling up, and a nice little fantasy story to go with it. Sure, the graphics feels abit dated, but it's a game meant for Wii after all.

Definitely recommended to gamers.
More info:
http://www.namcobandaigames.com/games/talesofsymphoniadawn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_symphonia_2

Did you know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o9nmUB2qls

Just something interesting I saw while browsing around.. Check it out..