About Stuff

Friday, June 23, 2006

ADVENT CHILDREN

Though the English voice acting may not be good enough for most of Final Fantasy VII fans, the translation is amazing at heart. I have seen more than one fan-translation but not one of them would stand a chance against the official work, which is really surprising.

I remember telling my friends that I could invest the rest of my life just watching this awesome piece of work and after watching it for like the 10th time just now, it just keeps amusing me to no end. Tetsuya Nomura has done a great job yet again.

I would love to see more from the team behind it (they are working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII as far as I know).

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

JOURNEY

For my first driving travel (I was driving while my only companion, my 9-years-old little brother, was playing DS lite), I kept driving for about 6 hours continuously on Monday the 19th of June:
  • 06:00-07:30 a.m. : I went from Hofuf to Dammam .
  • 08:00 a.m. : I arrived at SCECO HQ (Saudi Electricity Company, Head Quarters) to finish my Summer Training papers (I was assigned to work at Hofuf Main Office, more on that later).
  • 08:10-09:00 a.m. : from Dammam to King Fahd International Airport.
  • 09:30-11:30 a.m. : driving back home.

So I'll work for 8 weeks at the main office of SCECO here at home, Hofuf. I started working yesterday which was more like introducing me to the company (I got my office only an hour before the end of the day). Today I received some info about my first assignment which I'll have to finish in 3 weeks.

I was hoping to finish the first book of my novel this summer but it seems I'll be very busy working even during the weekends.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

Thursday, June 15, 2006

NARUTO, and more

After reading the newly released chapter 311 of Naruto manga, I can't help but be super excited. It's finally happening (SPIOLERS WARNING), Naruto is going super - he'll surpass even the great Kakashi.

I wanted to blog for a while now but I couldn't since I was in college and the blog was blocked there (basically, only the universitiy's site was open). Unfortunately, I cannot really recall exactly what I wanted to blog. Anyway, lets just move on.

For a while now, some of the podcasts on the 1UP network keep pissing me off. They keep saying PS3 games do not "look" any better than the best XBOX 360 games. Just to clear things ahead, I have a 360. To me, the main thing about next-gen/new-gen is not "look," it's experience. The major difference between 360 and PS3 is not the graphics. RSX is not the PS3's biggest strength; Cell is. That processing power that should open new doors for developers to explore. So yes, PS3 should provide a different experience from 360 (I'm not saying a better experience here). Hopefully, publishers will realize that and make the right game for the right console (some of them already are doing that).

Since I was talking about PlayStation, here are two quotes that I liked early in the day while surfing the net:
  • "The world would be a cold place indeed without the PlayStation." Ken Kutaragi
  • "[The new camuoflage system is] a visual effect only possible on the PS3." Hideo Kojima

I just finished Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams and Genji (both are great games). Right after finishing Genji, I wanted a PS3 even more just to play the next Genji which should be available at launch. I can't help waiting for Lost Planet from the creator of Onimusha for XBOX 360. The E3 demo was awesome but did the game no justice (just watch the trailers and you'll know what I mean).

I just bought DS lite which was just released. That thing is hot.

So the World Cup is happening right now. Well, it's no longer the "World" Cup since I cannot see it (I have to pay for the execlusive channel).

"Do or do not, there is no try."