Final Fantasy XII US Officially Released

Today, the game machine that has ultimately dominated the world of gaming in these last six years, the machine that has took several thousand of hours from my life into nothingness, that black box, known as PS2, is dead.

Well, not officially though. Some third-party game producers were still going to made several games in the next few months. Some of them probably good enough to receive a rave reviews from EGM or gained a cult status over time, but really, with Nintendo Wii coming in next two weeks, and PS3 not further ahead, it would be a 'smart' move to start thinking ahead and produce games suitable for the next-gen consoles. Duh, it's not that smart actually (notice that single quote), dummy.

Coincidentally (or not), the game that many gamers (including yours truly faithful writer) heralded as the final game that closes the PS2 domination era was this game. Final Fantasy. The same game-serie that i think, responsible to put PS1 on the position where it was in 1996, but also dig the grave and buried PS1 in it. The seventh installment made a considerable leap from the sixth installment previously on SNES and marked the era of PS1. Many (excluding yours truly faithful writer, unfortunately) still considered that sixth and seventh Final Fantasy games were among the very best from the series. However, two installment later, on the ninth, PS1 died. Well, there were still some games released even now, but you get the point. No point in bought the PS1 machine unless you'd give it as a present to your four year old little brother (wait, that's what i did, hehe).

Three installment later, one of them was an online game, plus one (un)necessary sequel, PS2 died.

Final Fantasy XII, was the name of the game. It's Japanese version was released on May 2006, and has been safely on the top of waiting list of many gamers worldwide (including yours truly faithful writer) awaiting its US version coming today (October 31st, and that, dear readers, was further proof that October was indeed my favourite month of the year). I had the Japanese version, of course. Been playing it for several-ten hours, but with my current level of Japanese language proficiency, it would took me much more longer to finish the game than if i played the US version and it has been a public knowledge that Japanese version RPGs were harder than its US version counterpart. And so, with that said, i would check the game store today, and bought the game. And if, in the next few weeks, this blog seems to be abandoned, i've got this game to point my finger to.

Post-Holiday

How's your holiday? Had (not) enough time with your families, relatives, and old friends? Good. I had mine. Well, until yesterday, anyway, when i checked my wallet and my bank account to see how much money i had spent during last holiday. And my, i've been robbed. I was a first born child, and a first born grand-child from my mother's side. And there you have it. :D.

Well, anyway, though that it has been a week already, let me say, "Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin" to you all, dear readers. And let me quote you my favourite saying regarding Ramadhan (can't remember the source though, must've been from emails, *shrug*), "Ramadhan was a month prep to face the next eleven months, in hope that what has been achieved in Ramadhan could be held or even better, be improved in the next eleven months". Not an easy task, much harder than hard, if you asked me. But believing in such saying, in my opinion, was a first step. And every great voyage, begins with a single step. Or so they've said.

Iseng

Sekali-kali posting pake bahasa ibu... Kemaren iseng jalan ke mall (sendirian), iseng masuk ke toko game, terus keluar dari situ bawa barang ini :)). Sumpah, gak sengaja. Padahal niatannya mau beli HP (HP-ku yg lama, kalo ga full baterenya, ditelpon langsung nge-hang, jadi mohon maaf, kalo akhir2 ini susah dihubungi), HP-nya malah ga kebeli.

Gw bukan anak mall, jadi jarang ke mall, tapi sekalinya ke mall, suka beli barang2 yg.. apa ya?... belum ada immediate useness-nya. Untung aja gw ga suka beli baju.

Birthday

I dont care about birthdays. Nothing special about birthday, the sun still rises and sets on its predetermined time, the road was still jammed with traffic and people frowned their eyes, sometimes shouts (that would be me, all the time, though) while hands busily thumping horns or feet constantly reining breaks, the job was still as dull as yesterday, well, nothing changed. Looking back at the time, i had my first and only birthday celebration when i was five. Afterwards, there'd be no special, probably because my parents see that i'm already such a loner who lived in his own world and rarely wishes company and see them (the company, not my parents) as more a hindrance.

Thus, i rarely wished somebody else Happy Birthday, but mind you, not that i forgot about them. I had a good memory on numbers and dates, and that's a fact. Well, i just dont.

But today, i recieved 3 messages wishing me Happy Birthday (excluding my girlfriend, which was of course, the first in line to say, 'blow the candle') two of them came from old friends whose birthdays came before mine and both of which i've missed. Well, i heard somebody shout, 'How could you?' from the back-seat. I know, i know, my mistake. But on my defense, if it's already a habit for me not wishing Happy Birthdays to friends, wouldn't it be hard to change it? Imagine an avid smoker trying to give up smoking. Anyways, my apologies, and my highest appreciation for wasting ten seconds of your precious time to remembered my birthday and type a message.

Honest. Scout's honor.

Time

As cliche as it may sounds, allow me to say that i had "so little time, so much to do". I will be 25 this week, already expecting a huge movement that may sent me to that deserted island with nothing to do, nobody to convers with, and no purpose in life or swimming in a pool full of hungry sharks, which at best would eat me alive and sent me to hell, but most likely would only chew some part off my limbs and left me alive with permanent disabilities.

Anyway, in a much happier note, i've been calculating with 5 new movies coming in theater each week, while i still had 250+ titles waiting to be seen and collecting dusts in my cupboard, add that with 100+ books in my collections that waiting to be read, add that with 40+ games in my drawer waiting to be played, add that with 2 new consoles waiting to be purchased, and in turn spawns hundreds, probably thousands games to follow, add that to 1 technology waiting to be mastered, which in turns spawns 10+ new concepts and brand-new innovations also waiting to be learned, add that with 1 foreign-language waiting to be mastered, what you'd get is ... impossibility.

Got to catch-up, fast, something has come up and tugging at my trouser, look at me with those despairing eyes, impossible to ignore, while further behind, there were eyes striking at my back with disgusts and pity. Can't turn back, nobody to ask shelter to anymore, and i can't look to those tears-striked face, anyway. Can't go forward even if i wanted to, can't leave this whose eyes look at me with despairing eyes and tugging at my trouser. Can't leave him.

They say, when you hit "rock bottom", either you'd be devastated, utterly-destroyed, and brought down with you all those who loved you, tainted the history of you forever, that it seems death was the only easy-solution or you'd be bounce-back, fight your way up and be stronger than ever. Which end will be mine, still remains to be seen. Though, history has wrote that there weren't that many who had hit "rock bottom" able to bounce back.

I'm currently plunged to the "rock bottom" right now. Which end shall be mine, i myself, can't tell.

Help....

Zack Snyder

In 2004, Dawn of the Dead caught me by surprise. I was ready to bashed the film when i set the disc inside the DVD player. Because, 1. It's a horror remade from the cult-classic George A Romero's Dawn of the Dead 2. This film was Zack Snyder's first and 3. The casts. No immediate charismatic star that attract this man's interests were listed in the bills. And so that's that. With a cup of coffee, dim light, and maximum volume, i watch the film.

To my surprise, i liked the film. I would put the film's up to top-half of my 'best-horror-films in the year 2004' and certainly, this film was on no.1 spot of my 'best-horror-films remake'. Mind you, i haven't seen The Hills Have Eyes yet. So, the statement still holds true at the time this post published.

Anyway, his next film, due 9 March 2007, was 300 which based on Frank Miller's graphic novel (see also: Sin City). And the first trailer is up. Go check it out. It's awesome. 300 told about the event of the Battle of Thermophylia where 300 Spartans held-off thousands of Persians in ancient Greek. Okay, that sounds a lot like Gladiator. But, uh, i dont know, check the trailer. The difference is evident. And the trailer has generated enough buzz for me to suredly stand in line coming next March.

This post, anyway, was about Zack. After 300, he was ready for Watchmen. Should the project really off-the-rumor-grounds, it would be yet another comic book adaptation. This time from an Englishman who is not friendly (as apparent with his disapprovals on films based on his works so far) with Hollywood, Alan Moore (see also: V for Vendetta). All geek who knows Alan Moore would surely loved the Watchmen, i'm not claimed my self as geek per se, but i've read Watchmen (of course), and comparing it to V for Vendetta, i prefered the latter. Watchmen was a little bit too phiplosophic for my taste. Though of course, to think about it as less than great pinnacle achievement in comic would be an understatement.

Up next, come Rainbow Six as his announced project. Rainbow Six had a distinction in my book of life as the only (yes, the only) Jack Ryan's story-line by Tom Clancy that i didn't own its paperback. It also spawns several self-titled video game in many platforms.

For a relatively new director, he has made an impressive filmography so far. Euh, and one more thing, he's seldomly used high-profile actors in his films (at least so far).

*PS: This is one lame post, i should ask for forgiveness as i wrote it in relative haste, in order to keep this blog updated.