Mass Effect 2

** Warning mild spoilers ahead**

I have finished playing Mass Effect 2 and I am impressed. Sure, it doesn’t have the immersive environment that Bioshock had. Also,  it doesn’t feel like playing a Hollywood blockbuster ala Uncharted 2 (that game was a lot of fun).  I love the characters, complex story, moral choices, and how they all gel together.  30 hours of solid gameplay.

I did mostly play as a good fella with a  female Shepard. By the time I launched for the suicide mission, I had all team members loyal to me. Even though I didn’t know it back then, this enabled me to save the entire crew and team.

To achieve the same, you should play all loyalty missions before you acquire the Reaper IFF. This ensures that you can quickly launch your team for the suicide mission,  thus ensuring the survival of your crew.

As for the suicide mission, this is the combo of teams I chose:

First specialist(Valves) : Legion
First Fire team lead: Garrus
First playable team: Grunt, Kasumi

Second specialist (Barrier): Samara
Second Fire team lead: Miranda
Second playable team: Garrus, Jacob

Third specialist (escape): Jack
Third playable team: Zaeed, Jacob.

Just before the suicide mission I was pacing about the room, cussing and excited at the same time. The pace of the suicide mission also helped to keep the whole atmosphere.

Btw, after the whole thing I get Kelly – and boy does she have dance moves

All in all – I am glad that this game made it to the PS3.

Raising the dead

Another attempt to bring this place back. So here are few updates that I feel are worth mentioning in no particular order.

1. I have changed my Job and will be staying a little bit longer in Singapore. I will be doing the same thing with some more responsibilities perhaps.

2. I have fallen for microblogging – http://www.twitter.com/swengeorge. However,  I will *try* not to delete this blog and to post more. (You have heard this one before.)

3. I am now the proud owner of a PS3. And I have played and finished these games so far : Metal Gear Solid 4, Half life 2 Episode 2, Portal, Killzone 2. What next ? InFamous most probably.

4. I have upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 and must say the boot up speed amazes me, especially if you are using the Ext4 File System.

5. I lost all my songs because I backed up onto a FAT32 drive. The software in question sBackup writes a zip file to the back up device with incremental updates. If the zip file size exceeds 4GB (which it surely will do if you have a lot of stuff), nothing else will be backed up – but no error message is displayed. The problem? FAT32 File System supports files to a max size of 4GB. My fault, I knew it but somehow didn’t relate it.

6. I have developed a taste for Macallan and Ginger Ale. Love it.

7. I finally feel the new iPhone 3G S is worth buying. At least it has a complete feature set.

Violence and Videogames

Sad story about a guy who went on a killing spree. He drove his rental truck over pedestrians and then started stabbing random people with his survival knife because he was “tired of life & hated the world” and just wanted to kill. Here is the link.

However disturbing the story maybe, the last paragraph really rattles my cage. WhyTF do we need to know about the video games he played 10 years ago. Why do they always try to pin it on the Video Games? Luckily he wasn’t playing GTA4 or else we all know where they would be pointing fingers at. I am surprised they didn’t investigate his religious beliefs hoping to catch an Atheist.

XKCD and life

Recently, thanks to Johnny, I have added xkcd.com to my reader. I must say this web comic is just hilarious. Also when you feel bored you can just go to the site and hit the “Random” button. I actually did that for an hour or more and collated my favourite ones. Here are some of them:

How many times did you make up elaborate excuse just to NOT speak up.

I do this a lot in my head. Of course I avoid any calculation that require squares and square roots. I basically stick to + & -.

I believe all bloggers must be have thought this line at some point.

Do you watch the show and find yourself hoping that the Coyote finally catches the Road Runner? Come on he has been at it for while – give him a break. I also hope Sylvester gobbles up that Tweety once and for all – too f*cking annoying.

Some guys just aren’t romantic

Valentines Day – I never understood it.

So true!

Since we are on the topic of Web comics I also have to mention this amazing web comic called “Concerned: The half-life and death of Gordon Frohman”. Yes , its for people who have played Half-Life and Half-Life 2. I controlled the urge to roll on the floor and laugh (mainly because I was reading this in the Office ).

LOGO, Commodore 64 and me

Reading this article on Wired about LOGO brought back some pleasant memories. LOGO was thought to us back in school in my 6th Grade. FORWARD 100, LEFT 90,  RIGHT 90, PENUP. Back then I found it fascinating watching that Turtle create images. That was also the first time I got to use a modern PC with Hard disk and a CPU tower. Both the PC and LOGO made me a frequent visitor to the Computer Lab in my school.  My friend used to tell me that he installed games (we are talking about Doom, etc..) onto his computer, which I just couldn’t understand and made me more curious about it. I think I must have spent hours all together asking him to explain to me how he does it step by step.

The reason for not understanding what installation meant is that I had only used the Commodore 64. It had no hard disk and no CPU tower. Just a monitor, Keyboard, joystick, mouse (which was totally useless as there was no Graphical UI. Later, however, I purchased an Add on module which generated some UI) , a Floppy Drive and no Windows. Initially I used to play games on it (Rambo, Carnage, Defenders of the earth, etc..) and later moved on to a bit of BASIC programming. I think right then I knew I would have to get a job programming with Computers when I grow up. Anyways, this C64 kept me going till my 10th Grade. It was then that we finally got a new PC. The C64 was quickly packed up and stashed away with all the other junk in my house. It still remains there.

We Humans are Evil

This is it. I have lost all respect for the Human Race. We are vile, evil beings that survive by deriving pleasure out of other’s misery. We look for those moments and if not found create them, to then enjoy them sumptuously. Read this and feel depressed

Half Life 2

A week and half of very productive time: Am done fragging the butt of a load of zombie’s and an even bigger hoard of combine Soldier’s. Half Life 2 and then Half Life 2 Episode 1. Woohoo. Feels good. But I need more… When is Episode 2 coming out?

Half Life 2 is a game that had me gripped right from the start (the brunt of which my brother bore, because I dispossessed his Laptop from the moment he rang the door bell). The game picks up right from where Half Life left off. At the end of the much acclaimed Half Life 1 we were left with one question – What the Hell? And the Half Life 2 starts bringing one question into your mind – Huh? Don’t worry you wont spent too much time with that question in your head as the action begins soon enough by meeting your good old Friend Barney. Anyways not getting into details, the Game was a fantastic play. What disappoints me is the fact that the game is strictly linear. I guess that’s why “Deus Ex” will always be my favorite.

I decided to look up Half Life on Wikipedia just for the fun of it. Coincidentally it was “Today’s featured article” on Wikipedia. Maybe it’s a sign. Hmm …

Now can you please buy me the XBOX 360? or PSP? or PS3? or Alienware PC/Laptop?

I’ll also settle for a PS2. Read this…

Video Games Becoming A Family Bonding Experience Now That 80s Gamers Are Growing Up

Good Stuff

If u like video games and Comic Strips that is the right place :

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