The Zone

You know you'll want one. The culmination of Philips.LG technologies and over eight million pixels, this Zenview Powerscape Ultra HD system lets you watch your Hi-Def p0rn many times more efficiently. Not to mention, it gives power users a kick in their pants when their friends' jaws go-a-dropping.

Yours, from USD5499

It's neat concept - a combination of Xbox Live's options and Nintendo Mii's customization. It will probably take off in North America, but how well will it do in this region, especially Malaysia? It still doesn't help that the console is expensive and there is a lack of good exclusive titles. And as far as Malaysian gamers who buy pirated games are concerned, if the PS3 can't play 'backups', then it's a dud.

Still, this is a formidable concept that challenges both Microsoft and Nintendo...especially Nintendo. They need to get their WiiConnect24 system up and running, and allow more freedom to third-party publishers and developers to include multiplayer in their games. If they want, Nintendo could always come up with a new channel for Wii users to decorate their room with items achieved or won from their titles ala Animal Crossing; I'm sure the Wii is capable of doing that.

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I've 30 Granado Espada Closed Beta invites to give away, courtesy of Sendi Mutiara Multimedia and GameAxis. That's right. THIRTY. The requirement is simple. All you have to do is email me at fatcatlim@yahoo.com and if you're one of the first 30, I'll send you the ID and password. Only 1 invite per email/person. 30 emails don't count. :p

To download the game client, you can check out the download page here for the download links. Keep in mind that the game is a whopping 2.5GB download, so make sure you have enough space on your hard drive.

Granado Espada download links

Happy gaming~

Nope, it's not a Photoshop edit. It's a real Burnout Dominator screenshot for the PS2, featuring the streets of KL! I'm soooooooooo gonna get this game if it features virtual Mat Rempits to mow down! I just found out the game doesn't have the 'Traffic Checking' feature anymore. Aww...but still, racing down KL streets with no traffic jam should be a plus. ;)

Hahaha, its time for you 'gamers' to show what you're made of....check out the reaction time tester, and see how well your training has come along (especially if you are a hardcore DOTA-er who loves changing directions within a few nanoseconds from each other)

Chek this out @ Iconinteractive.com and see how well you fared. That score is mine btw, and I'm an old fart.

Maxis is holding an Anime & Games Festival down in Sungei Wang Plaza, which will last till tomorrow. So if you're around the area, go check it out: there're a few activities and promotions going on. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the pics. :)

It's pretty much confirmed, even though Microsoft refuses to comment on the rumors: the Xbox 360 Elite is on its way. That's the name of the new Xbox 360 with the 120GB HDD and HDMI port, which both <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/20/xbox-360-elite-new-black-limited-edition-xbox-with-hdmi-and-120gb-drive/">Engadget</a> and April Issue of Game Informer has gotten from their sources. The black color will be released in limited quantities, eventually replacing the current Xbox Premium.

They're expected to be available sometime late April, though Microsoft will apparently churn out an official press release in early April. Price? US$479 (RM1600...though expect the price to be jacked up when it comes to Malaysia). 

To be honest, the Xbox 360 Elite looks like sex. I'd get one, if not for my limited budget. If the price is too high when it comes down over here, I'll just stick to the regular white Xbox Premium.  

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GameAxis Malaysia is going to do a feature story on female gamers in an upcoming issue. What games do you play? Why do you like video games? What do you have to say about video games as a local female gamer? These are but a few questions that we'd like to ask you as part of our upcoming special feature on female gamers.

We're looking for female gamers who are willing to volunteer their time to speak to us about their hobby. Maybe you're a hardcore DotA player, or even a casual O2Jam player; it doesn't matter. If you're passionate about video games, be it PC, console, or arcade, we want to know what makes you tick.

Successful applicants will have their share of fame in the Malaysian gaming community by having their words and pictures printed in GameAxis Malaysia for all posterity.

Interested volunteers will need to write a brief intro about themselves, how long they've been playing games, what games they play, and provide a recent photo of themselves. Email me at fatcatlim@yahoo.com for more details. If you've any enquiries, feel free to post them here or email me!

Cool! Microsoft has finally revealed the best thing that happened to the Xbox 360 EVAR (yes, we have included the Elite model in our considerations) and that is this=

A keyboard (addon, we hope) delivers true texting capabilities to your console and grants you the power to type 'joo suxxors!' instead of shouting into that headset and potentially making a fool out of yourself with that childish voice of yours.

This morning I wasn't able to listen to the NVIDIA's GeForce update briefing, so I missed out on some good stuff ;_; However, DailyTech has a summary of the launch dates and prices. Some sites have apparently gotten their review units of the latest cards, so we should get ours soon.

Check out Hardware Zone's 8600GTS preview, which they posted a couple days ago. Not exactly mind-blowing results, though, but they should prove to be a decent card for mid-range consumers who want to brag of owning a DirectX 10 card...even though no games at the moment supports DirectX 10. Still, I'd rather go for an X1950Pro for now.

Still crossing my fingers for ATI's R600 though. :3

It's back! The MSC Malaysia IP Creators Challenge Series 2007 is now on for local budding animators, artists, and game developers! Last year IP Creators Challenge saw up to nearly RM900,000 in grants given away to 25 winners. If you missed out last year, now's your chance to win grants to expand your creative idea into a marketable product!

The closing dates for the proposals (just the proposals, not the finished product) is 28 June 2007, so get cracking! During this time, MDEC will be holding a number of workshops for people new to pitching ideas and proposals to interested publishers, as well as talks on IP.

For more info, check out the following link.

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Heya, how’s everyone? Hope you guys enjoyed the long May Day weekend break. We’re all back in the office and it’s back to work, work, work.

I wanted to update the blog last Thursday about my trip to China but due to technical errors I was unable to do so. I’ll later update that day with part 1 of the trip, so don’t be surprised to find a new backdated entry when browsing the blog entry archives later. :3

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of NVIDIA’s latest high-priced big boy card to rule all current video cards in the market – the NVIDIA 8800 Ultra. It’s basically an overclocked 8800GTX with a slightly higher overclock of 615MHz for its core clock and 2.15GHz memory clock (effective).

So how much will it cost you? Well, pretty much nearly a whole new desktop system. The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) is US$829. That’s right, a whopping US$829 for a slight bump in clock speed and readjusted fan cooler. Sure it may boast better overclockability but for a reported increase of only just 10% – 15% over the standard 8800GTX, the 8800 Ultra doesn’t really sound like it offers much value for money, considering that when it arrives in Malaysia it'll probably cost more than RM3K.

But if you absolutely want the best performing card in the market and/or you live in a gold-plated mansion, the cost of an 8800 Ultra may seem like peanuts to you.  Expect availability of the 8800 Ultra card by May 15th 2007 in limited quantities.  

Are you a Xbox 360 gamer? If you are, we want you. Consoul 2007 is Malaysia's first and largest "Bring Your Own Xbox 360" LAN Party ever and its gonna be one hell of a party! 

Organized by Gamer's Hideout and GameAxis, it's going to take place on the 26th and 27th May 2007 at the Lower Ground Floor of Cineleisure Damansara. The event is all about getting to play with your like minded fellow 360 gamers in the flesh and having a good time. But wait, that's not all. There will be a Gears of War and Command & Conquer 3 tournament as well, with cool prizes obviously for grabs. If that's not enough, there will be a crazy Lucky Draw with tons of great prizes on offer too. So, what are you waiting for?

Details of the event can be obtained from www.gamershideout.com.my

I'm now at the HP Mobility Summit in Shanghai, where HP is now showing off their latest lineup of notebooks, iPAQs, and mobile video solutions. One of the main stars of the show were their new HP Pavilion HDX notebook, aka "The Dragon". More pics after the jump!

 (pix from raise.flavert.com)

For all you fellow muslims that can't go anywhere without your treasured PSP, here's an interesting app that you'll probably find very useful - Al-Quran for the PSP! According to Kotaku, the developer of the app is a one student named Ikhwan Nazri Mohamad Asran from the Information and Promotion Bureau of Usrah Institution, Multimedia University Cyberjaya.  

Al-Quran for the PSP is still in the Beta stage, but apparently you can pm momochi zabuza from the pspfans.net forums to get your hands on a copy. (Link here). According the official website, the app should be available for free download after the 19th of May 2007.

Now, who said that all game consoles/portables are evil? If it takes a portable game console for the kids today to not neglect their religious duties, then we're definitely up for it. For once, it's nice to see the PSP being put to good use with noble deeds. (The PSP homebrew scene in Malaysia is really all about software piracy. Period.) 

PS: The same folks behind the nifty Al-Quran for the PSP app also have a Islamic PSP-zine that you can download for free. The Raise (now in its 3rd edition) can be downloaded from raise.flavert.com