WilfridWong.com – Where Good Things Are Meant To Be Shared

On Leave Today But I’m EXHAUSTED!

It all started with a dryer.

Our new home comes with a brand new washer-dryer. 7kg washer and 5kg dryer. Obviously, that isn’t going to work for a multitude of reasons. And since our awesome interior designer has managed to relocate our washer-dryer into the service bathroom, my wife and I have bought a dedicated dryer and have it stacked onto our washer-dryer.

Buying our dryer turns out to be a bit of a drama. The one we are using in our current home is a Bosch vented dryer. It has been a fantastic purchase. The clothes come out cupboard dry, nicely ‘ironed’ except work shirts of course. We wanted to buy a Bosch condenser dryer for our new home. But we were persuaded by the salesman to buy an Electrolux condenser dryer instead. It is cheaper and just as good – so said the salesman. At first, we bought an Electrolux. Then I checked the online reviews and was horrified by how bad it was. We quickly returned and happily paying extra for a Bosch. I hope that is a wise purchase. In any case, if someone tries very hard to sell you something – ahem … like the Samsung dryer in our last visit) – something fishy must be going on.

As it turns out, the team who delivers the dryer is not the same team who stacks the dryer on top of the washer-dryer. And the appointment for stacking was today between 1pm to 4pm. Since I am going to take leave today, why not … have my car serviced … have my teeth looked into by my dentist … have my balcony door looked into (again) …

This morning, it rained. Naturally and because today was a Monday, my wife didn’t want to get out of bed. By the time I dropped her to the office, it was 9.15am. My appointment with the car servicing company was at 9.30am. My next appointment with my dentist was at 10.30am. Though I was 10 minutes late, I was able to conclude my business at around 10am. Consider the fact that there was a customer making a huge complaint because he had waited too long, I was lucky.

As I stepped out of the service center ready to fast walk to the nearest train station 10 minutes away, a man stopped me asking me if I was heading to the station. He was a shuttle driver taking customers from the service center to the station. As far as I remember, the bus schedule is only twice an hour. So today was my lucky day. Next to the shuttle stood a woman with a tattoo on her back. I recognized her as a customer. I was wondering why the driver did not offer her a ride. Maybe he had.

From Queenstown to Tanjong Pagar, it was a four-station ride. I dashed into the plaza and as always, I got lost. The dentist is located somewhere on the second floor. I passed by a Thai restaurant that I didn’t notice before. There was a Thai woman having a meal outside and she smiled at me. She may work there, may even be the owner. I wish the locals are as friendly.

My dentist limped towards me as I entered the clinic. And he seems to have aged quite a bit. The last time I saw him was 18 months ago. The last time we have met, he has moved to Penang, Malaysia. We have chatted. He has sold off his apartment in Malaysia just before the market crashed, made a bit of money, and bought an apartment in New Zealand instead. My dentist really doesn’t want to retire in Singapore. Perhaps in New Zealand, he seldom meets people. We had such a good chat, look long lost friends.

My appointment with the team who stacked my dryer on top of my washer-dryer had been brought forward. So, after my dentist appointment, I rushed to my new home, which fortunately was only 2 stations away. The perk of living near the city center eh?

And of course, I have left my umbrella at the dentist’s office. I seldom bring an umbrella as I often drive. And that was not the only time I have forgotten to bring it along with me today.

In my new home, the carpenter and I presume his apprentice was working hard. It was rather noisy and dusty. The technicians arrived and have installed the bracket to the dryer. It was much simpler than I thought.

Woohoo! I am done for the day!

I ventured out looking for food, far. Then I remembered I still have one more appointment with the condo team to fix my balcony doors.

Ugh.

So I ran back to my new home – literally – and was 10 minutes late. The balcony doors were fixed in some unorthodox ways (that involved banging the doors hard onto a wooden rod … a couple of times). I doubt it was a permanent fix. But there was it for today.

Because it was 2.10pm – what’s up with all the 10-minute blocks today?! – I have decided to have Korean food opposite my new home.

That was the starter. And I had a beer. The restaurant’s name was Bigmama. Not sure if it is worth a return!

I was still having my beer when the cashier politely approached me at 3.10pm (no kidding, it was really 3.10pm) informing me that the restaurant was now closed. I downed my beer in one gulp and left. I felt being kicked out from the restaurant. But I guess the staffs would not get paid the overtime caused by one single customer taking his time enjoying his beer. The reviews at HungryGoWhere are spot on though. Service is pretty bad and the soup dish is so-so. A lot of tofu and onions. Not enough soup.

I was exhausted, still am. But it was a productive day.

Toggle.sg FIFA World Cup 2018 streaming experience is really terrible

Here in Singapore, if you are a soccer fan like my wife, you have to pay to watch World Cup. That is sort of fine because here in Singapore, we are used to paying for things that in other countries would have been free or much cheaper. The real problem is that even as we pay, the experience is terrible. It is so terrible that we are considering making a formal complaint against Toggle.sg via CASE.

Since we have long cut the cable and do not have a TV box at home, the only option besides watching World Cup live in some public commercial establishments is to sign up for an S$112.35 (or US$83.17) package and stream it through Toggle.sg.

Screen freeze during steaming through PC

My wife has signed up for an early bird package. On the first day and for the first match, she attempted to stream from her computer. All we have got was a screen freeze, or rather a ‘slideshow’ with pictures changing every 45 seconds (yes, I have timed it). You can’t watch a soccer game with still pictures, can you?

Could it be our network latency? I checked my Internet speed. It seems fine. And we were able to stream other videos in Toggle.sg. The only one we were unable to stream was the only video we wanted to watch – first match of World Cup 2018. The issue lies with Toggle.sg.

Immediately, I have downloaded and installed the Toggle app onto my Samsung Tab S3 tablet. My wife was able to watch the match live using my tablet and the same home network. But it was on a 9.7-inch screen. Our TV has a 42-inch screen connected to our PC via an HDMI cable.

During halftime, I managed to set up my Chromecast (that was still unopened) and have the live match cast onto my TV. The video quality is more like standard play. I don’t think my wife would mind at that point. What other options do we have?

Update: Support has contacted us. Basically, our Windows 10’s clock has to be synchronized with https://time.is/ to the exact second. For reasons beyond me, even though I set my Windows to set time automatically, it is not good enough. I have to set time manually!

Audio quality is terrible for video replay

One unique selling point of this Toggle.sg package is that we do not necessarily have to watch the matches live. We can watch the replay.

Again, video quality is more like a standard play. The sound quality is like a radio in the 50’s. Mono and muffled and full of white noise. It does give us a vintage feel though. Perhaps World Cup is timeless.

Update: Situation seems to have improved at the end of the group play. Still, we have put up with a lot of matches with very poor sound quality.

Error code 300001 while loading video replay

After work, my wife wanted to watch the Brazil versus Switzerland match replay. I fired up Toggle app on my Samsung Tab S3. The video was loaded but there was no option to cast to my TV (read: Chromecast icon was not enabled). So I restarted the Toggle app and the video could not be loaded!

I have tried my Sumsung Note 8 and it was the same error.

We then checked their FAQ and it was mentioned that we should minimize the number of registered devices – although the maximum is five (while we have registered four).

So I deregistered one of the devices and the video was loaded okay despite the usual re-cast issue!

You may think, so the FAQ works? Err … nope. How then can we explain why the video was able to load on my first attempt?

PS. I have restarted my mobile devices and force-stopped the Toggle app numerous time before even reading the FAQ (also one of the ways to get pass the issue). And nope, that didn’t work either.

Toggle app is not Chromecast friendly

On average, I need three attempts to cast Toggle onto my TV. And no, this is not a user issue. I had no problem with casting from YouTube videos on mobile devices to VLC videos on my PC.

Update: As it turns out, we need to Chromecast the app before watching the video (the opposite of YouTube). And the homepage of the Toggle.sg app does not have the Chromecast icon. We either have to re-login or head to another page for the Chromecast icon to appear. Very buggy and poorly designed app.

Toggle streaming can hang very often

We watched Portugal versus Morocco match live via the Toggle app cast to the TV. 20 minutes into the match, streaming started to hang. Each time it happened, I needed to disconnect the Chromecast and reconnect again (and yes, 3 attempts required to cast each time).

After a couple of minutes, it happened again, again, and again. Each time it hung, it took away at least one minute of the viewing experience.

Could it be my Chromecast issue?

The answer is no. We tried to watch the streaming on my Samsung Tab S3, the streaming quality was poor and was interrupted or hung every so often.

Toggle no longer works for Chromecast from knockout round onwards (replay)

After a long day at work, my wife and I would want to watch Belgium versus Japan in the comfort of our sofa.

Streaming played for half a minute before hanging for another half a minute. It was a very frustrating experience. We gave up in the end.

PS. Chromecast YouTube videos via my Samsung Tab S3 has no issue. My tablet is probably one of the highest end Android tablets in the market today.

The unavoidable spoiler for video replay

To be able to watch a replay – which by the way, the most likely reason for watching a replay is that you have yet to watch the match – in the Toggle app, you have to navigate to the World Cup page. The list of videos for the replay is at the bottom. On top is the featured story.

So you have guessed right. Unavoidable spoiler unless you have someone in the family who doesn’t really care about the match results.

In the case of my wife, she is lucky. Because I am the one who cast the video onto the TV for her.

Verdict

Toggle.sg is terrible. But here in Singapore, for those who have cut the cable, there isn’t any alternative if you wish to watch the matches in the comfort of your home.

Steam spring cleaning event 2018 is kind of meh

I was used to be a huge Steam fan. Mainly because I detest exclusive sites like EA’s Origin that sells games without letting people rate and review their games online. As though they have something to hide.

These days though, I am not that into Steam. Mainly because of the stupid censorship that they are imposing on games that have sexual content. In this time and ages, from Mass Effect franchise to The Witcher franchise, elements of sexual content are pretty common. Yet, Steam go after indie games that in my opinion, a good number in my game library produces some of the most tasteful artwork that has nudity. I wish there was a filter for children. And let grown-ups play what we want. I also wish there was an alternative platform like Steam for the grown-ups.

Anyways, I was sort of looking forward to Spring Cleaning Event. An event that on paper seems more fun than the daily voting in the past. There are projects to do and daily tasks to complete.

In reality, because there is a need to reinstall the games, I end up picking games with small installation footprint when I can.

I started with The Old Tree. It is a flash game and can be finished in less than 15 minutes. An adventure game that sets a baby alien free. I actually had fun with it.

To complete “Trusted Advisor”, I needed to follow a curator. I never have the desire to follow a curator. Now, I need to find out how to unfollow a curator!

The worst of it is that I have to play the first game I have added to my Steam account. It was Dirt 2. The game was so outdated that the installation has failed. On top of that, I have to manually uninstall a dated app that I had to install.

Ugh.

By the time I got to my daily tasks, I was bored. I actually got to play Bastion a bit. It seems like a decent game. If time permits, I may give this game another try.

Time, such a precious commodity.

Lastly, to make things worse, this event is not completable if you have missed the day 1 of the daily tasks – someone like me!

A Korean Odyssey – A Fine K-Drama But …

My wife and I are big fans of Korean TV dramas. A Korean Odyssey is possibly one of the finest out there. I have read the original Chinese version of Journey to the West. I enjoy the familiarities; I enjoy the Korean twists. What puzzles me most is the plot or rather, a special aspect of the plot. What follows would be classified as spoilers. If you intend to watch this TV-series, read no further (but do come back!).

Main characters are Son Oh-gong (the Monkey King) and his love interest Jin Seon-mi (the ‘female’ Buddist Monk). And then there is the Bull Demon King and his love interest Princess Iron Fan. Secretary Ma – a dog demon who is the faithful follower of Demon King. PK is the pig demon who has a rather intimate relationship with Richie – a human turned zombie and then possessed by an ancient priestess. I think PK sees Richie as a sister that he didn’t have while Richie sees PK as a boyfriend she never had.

We also have the previous incarnation of the Buddist Monk (who was actually a guy but did not make a lasting appearance) and his female guardian (who had been wanting to die but couldn’t). Last but not the least and onto the theme of body sharing, we have the siblings Summer Fairy and General Winter sharing a male body. And we have Jade Dragon (a ‘he’) taking possession of the body of Alice who was PK’s love interest.

So, what’s wrong with the script?

As it turns out, almost all female characters in A Korean Odyssey have to die at least once. Here is the breakdown.

Richie was murdered in a car accident and was resurrected by Jin Seon-mi or rather Sam-jang’s blood. Technically speaking, her name was Jung Se-ra.
Richie the zombie was killed numerous times, though she couldn’t quite die as a zombie.
Richie was possessed by a priestess who in the end, being vanquished willingly. That ended Richie the human, Richie the zombie, and Richie the priestess. All dead.
Princess Iron Fan – the love interest of Bull Demon King – has died many, many times throughout the cycle of incarnation. Until she has become … flowers.
Summer Fairy has to die in order to save General Winter. Technically speaking, she was dead before this story begins.
Jade Dragon has also died. Since all along, we the audience see ‘him’ as Alice and it was Alice who died in the show, I take the liberty of increasing the female body count by one.
The female guardian of the previous incarnation of Sam-jang has committed suicide using the sword that she killed the previous incarnation of Sam-jang (whom she loved) – the same sword that Son Oh-gong was supposed to use and kill his love interest Jin Seon-mi, which he did …
And Jin Seon-mi was killed and went to hell.
You could also count Secretary Ma the dog demon’s award-winning death faking scene as one.

The only female character that survives is the grandma of Bull Demon King’s son (and Secretary Ma of course). The rest of the female cast – all wiped.

Movies Lately – I, Tonya and Shape of Water

These days, I sort of dread having to answer how my weekends go. I wish it was something exotic. Like spending a weekend shopping/hiking/adventuring overseas. Or picked up a really cool hobby. Learned something useful.

In reality, I have been so worn out at work that the most satisfying thing to do for me is just to … sleep. Or stay up late catching up on some TV-series with my wife on Netflix. Or wake up slightly early to have a nice brunch somewhere.

My wife and I seldom visit a theater and watch a show these days. Because we have Netflix. And we have YouTube. Not too long ago, one of my wife’s colleagues/friends at work – let’s call her Y – has passed her a pair of tickets. Star Wars The Last Jedi. Y said that her husband has bought the tickets online at a wrong location. And that wrong location happened to be right next to where we live. I told my wife that Y must have wanted to buy us a gift. But my wife did not think that way …

… which is totally fine.

Normally we like to pick seats that are smacked right in the middle of the theater. We would count the rows from the front and the back. And we would count the seats to the left and the right. Right in the middle.

Y bought us lover seats. Lover seats here in Singapore are seats that are combined into one. Just like the ones in the airplane. Some love seat setups would allow the armrest to be lifted. Others may not even come with an armrest.

Lover seats are usually located at the very back of the theater. Why it is so, I would leave it to your imagination. Anyway, it was the first time we have experienced lover seats. And it was a pretty pleasant experience! It wasn’t as far away from the screen as we have imagined. There was no one behind kicking our seats or sticking their shoes right next to our faces. In short, we have started to like the lover seats.

I wanted to watch I, Tonya because I find the Australian actress Margot Robbie very charming. I have been watching her in Jimmy Fallon’s show on YouTube. In addition, my wife loves to watch Figure Skating. So that is perfect. We love the show. I hope Margot would win the Oscar.

I have picked Shape of Water because I like sci-fi. I also like the director Guillermo del Toro. Pan’s Labyrinth is one of my favorites. This show also did not disappoint. It reminds me of the video game Bioshock. The sea, the water, the vintage American feel, and the science and magic. I also hope that Shape would win some Oscar.

This pretty much sums up my weekends of late.

Marvel Heroes Omega – The Final Curtain 2017.12.31

This is a transcript for one of my YouTube videos on the final shutdown of Marvel Heroes Omega servers.

Hello Marvel Heroes fan, my name is Wilfrid and I have spent around 4,000 hours playing this game. I have also spent US$660 supporting Marvel Heroes. And once upon a time, I was a one-off game reviewer with Stuff magazine. I have written an article for Marvel Heroes 2015. In it, there was an interview piece with Mr. Brevik, the then-CEO of Gazillion. I have played Marvel Heroes since closed beta back in March 2013.

In the past few weeks after Gazillion has gone silent on their forum and social media, every morning I woke up, I would check my phone and read the news collated by Google based on my browsing preferences. I was expecting some news from Gazillion because they just could not stay silent for that long. I have speculated the various possible outcomes as I have shared with you in one of my recent videos. In the morning of November 17, the news has arrived. And the official statement from Gazillion says:

We’re sad to inform our players and our entire Marvel Heroes family that Marvel Heroes Omega will be shutting down. The Marvel Heroes servers will stay on until Dec 31, 2017, and we’ll be removing real money purchases as soon as possible. Players will be able to play the game entirely for free once this sunset period commences. We will share the exact date things go completely free as soon as we can.

We’ve had the privilege of entertaining and collaborating with our players for over four years. We’re extremely humbled by that privilege and wanted to get this message out: Thank you. Thank you to our players, our tireless employees, and everyone involved in the life of Marvel Heroes, Marvel Heroes 2015, Marvel Heroes 2016, and Marvel Heroes Omega.

In the past 36 hours, many of you contacted me through YouTube, Steam, Blizzard Battle.net chat and the official forum asking how I feel. Shocked, yes. Sad but not unexpected. The feeling is best described by the first thing that came into my mind when I read the news.

It is like this. You used to play with your neighbor’s dog a lot in the past, not because he is the most popular dog in the neighborhood. But rather, you have developed a bond with him that many cannot comprehend.

Not too long ago, the dog has grown sick. You don’t play with him as much, though occasionally you give him a rub on his tummy when you see him. You know dogs don’t live forever but you wouldn’t expect him to be gone anytime soon.

Then one day, you read the news from a vet saying that your neighbor’s dog is terminally ill. He has to be put down by this New Year’s Eve. You are shocked, yes. Sad but not unexpected.

And that was exactly how I felt.

According to Gazillion, from now till the server goes dark, we shall be able to play this game entirely free. I logged into the game late last evening after a long day at work. I scrolled through all the costumes that are now within my grasp and the rest of the team-ups that I now can unlock. That includes all the pay for power items that I now can afford as well. Instead of being happy, I felt even sadder. I looked at my heroes coming alive with voice-over and animation, all I could think of was ‘what it could have been’.

What it could have been had Gazillion not abandoned the PC platform?

What it could have been had Gazillion put the veterans first?

What it could have been had Gazillion listened and worked with us to make this game better?

I am not angry. Instead, I am disappointed with the wasted opportunities. I don’t regret the time and money I have put into the game for vast majority of that investment was made when the game was still fun to play. I don’t regret playing this game for there are many good takeaways.

Fond memories!

My first hero was Ms Marvel. I love her voice acting; I love her sparkling fists; and I love her agility. Besides, she has great legs. I did not know the character. But I read her up after playing this game. In a way, Marvel Heroes the game has over time introduced me into the Marvel Universe.

Fond memories!

I have left the game briefly after its launch. Emma Frost brought me back to this game. She has taught me that it is okay to be a villain turned hero. She has also shown me that it is okay to be naked in a superhero game so long as you look as good as a diamond. And she was totally fun to play, destroying everything that crossed her path.

Still, more fond memories!

I used to have a supergroup called Red Riding Hood with a local presence. They have followed me through World of Warcraft, Firefall, Diablo 3, and Guild Wars 2 – just to name a few. We would organize social outing whenever a Marvel movie hit town. When we met, we would call each other by our favorite in-game superhero names. There was a Dr. Strange and there was an Ironman. My wife was Rocket Raccoon and they just called me Lace since I couldn’t and still can’t decide on which my absolute favorite is. There were others too. And those were the good times. Looking back, everyone except me has left round about the time when Mr. Brevik left Gazillion as the CEO. Deep inside, I feel there is an unspoken connection on Brevik’s departure and the state of the game thereafter.

Motivated by the review piece that I have written for this game by serendipity, I have decided to put up videos on YouTube hoping that more would get to know this game. Back then, there were not a lot of online resources explaining how this game works. So I took the time to figure things out and I shared my findings on YouTube.

Over time, I think I have achieved what I have set out to do and I am blessed to have a passionate and caring community in my channel. Some of you have spoken in the past on how I can do better. And, unlike Gazillion, I have listened. Your support has been the sole motivation for me to continue even when the time is bad. That is another takeaway that I deeply treasure and will deeply treasure in time to come. I have learned so much from you and from this journey.

On a more personal note whereby I am not in the liberty to share the details, this game and the comic book heroes were with me through some of the most trying and difficult time of my work and life in the past couple of years. In my most recent trip to a hospital when someone I love lied on a bed in an operation theater, I drew strength from reading the Inhuman series in the waiting room while the operation went on beyond scheduled end time. A story whereby everyone is unique and abnormality to our eyes is just a feature to the Inhumans. A story whereby triumph shall unfold given time. A story on why sacrifices have to be made. And a story whereby love conquers everything in the end. During those days, I would log into the game and play Black Bolt and Medusa. Through them, I found comfort and inner joy.

The above is just my personal story. I am sure there are plenty that you have experienced in your life, through the comic book heroes and through this game.

What would I do from now till the end of this year? I have planned to continue covering this game till the server goes dark, as I have promised. Perhaps play a different hero each day. I will also continue making videos of different games and genres. I would love to continue our connection here in my YouTube channel. Because we are gamers at heart. Our path will cross.

The transcript of this video can be found in the link at the description below, in case my accent gets in the way. Thank you very much for watching this. My channel will go on. But you have already known that.

May Odin bless you in all that you do. See you!

It’s a Beautiful Sunday

Having a hectic work in the office these days makes me treasure my weekends much more. My wife and I slept late last night catching up on a Japanese drama series on Netflix (Good Morning Call). I slept throughout the night – which is rare nowadays though my Garmin watch says that I had very little deep sleep (and that’s not good). I woke up at nine. Normally I would go back to sleep. Today, I have plans.

We ran out of milk. Hence we could not make Nespresso in the morning. And hence, a perfect excuse for me to propose having breakfast outside. Besides, in this “early” hour, parking at the mall nearby would be much easier. I have been dreaming about this breakfast outing for months.

The cafe is along Upper Thomson Road called Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters. The coffee is pretty good. Food too. This place is always crowded regardless what time the day it is, for good reasons. Great ambiance. Plenty of sun from the glass panels. A bench full of very high-tech looking coffee and tea making machines. A hip place full of youngsters consuming very expensive food and drink. Among the crowd were my wife and me.

After our breakfast, grocery shopping at the mall where we parked our car was rather stressfree. Except for the unusual long queue at the fish counter. Apparently, well-to-do Singaporeans tend to wake up early on a Sunday and order a whole fresh salmon. One salmon costs around S$100. In front of me, five whole salmons were queued to be cut into filets. I have picked a red snapper and I was told that it would take fifteen minutes for it to be gutted and cleaned.

“Come back later,” said the guy who was handling all the fish orders.

“In that case, could you put some ice on my fish while I wait?” I asked.

In the end, I did not need to wait for fifteen minutes. I stood there and the guy just took my single red snapper and he jumped the queue for me – which totally made sense. In front of me, there were orders like a whole salmon or a plate full of fish. I am just a dude with one fish.

On our way back, I saw some big splash of water hitting my car’s windscreen. I did not pay much attention until when we were home, I saw a huge splash of bird poop on my car’s bonnet.

That was one mother-$%@#-huge bird!

It was great actually. I was looking for an excuse to have the car washed. And since we have spent so much money yesterday ordering food to be home delivered (I did hair henna for my wife – a very proud husband), we did not feel like paying S$8 for a car wash. Besides, I would need to drive out again.

I don’t mind car washing. It can be a rather good workout. And I love the results, always.

The car wash was good. Except, that somewhat spoilt my plan to set up my home music studio because I was exhausted after the car wash.

Time for Intenso on Ice! (Hint: Nespresso).

The biggest white elephant in our home is – actually we may have a few – a Zoom R24 Recorder. It is a multi-track recorder that can be acted as a mixer too. Right before my band No Eye Candy went into hiatus, I bought a Zoom R24 Recorder so as to replace my old USB Mixer. It was meant to be an upgrade because no longer would I need to operate the mixer with the PC (for recording).

Then, our drummer felt in love and has decided to leave Singapore. Our lead guitarist has a baby. That left my wife and me.

Fast forward to today, I have long wanted to set up my home music studio with this “new” toy that is not that new anymore. It took me a while to make it works with my electric guitar (stereo output through my VOX tube guitar effect box) and my mic. My wife has a new bass amp. For now and since I am not recording, I don’t need the bass input. For future though, I ought to think of micing her bass amp with an SM57.

And I have not got an SM57, yet.

PS. I just recall another white elephant in the house – a flat response monitor headset that I have yet to use. I shall start recording … one day.

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier – A Must-Read for Passionate Gamers

As an avid video gamer, this book has been an incredible read from start to finish. It is a collection of stories behind how videos games are made. The author – also the news editor at Kotaku.com where I visit on a daily basis – has interviewed hundreds of people. Some officially. Others unofficially. Some games are triumphant. Others not.

While each video games are created under very different circumstances, there are common themes within. It is art meets science where the scope, timeline, and cost is just as fluid. How much detail should be put into a video game? How large and how many maps should that be? How many times the storyline has to be rewritten? Is the game fun? Can the game afford another delay knowing that the extra time would help with the bug fixing but the company would miss the fiscal year financial target? And etc. Above all, I can feel the passion of the game developers within each game title. The various challenges they face.

This book features 10 games. Some are big-budget titles. One is very much a one-man show. Each has its own distinct ending. It is true blood, sweat, and pixels.

Pillars of Eternity – I have recently discovered that I have a copy in my Steam account!
Unchartered 4 – Heard about it. But I don’t have a next-gen console.
Stardew Valley – Never heard of before reading this game. I have added this to my Steam wishlist.
Diablo III – One of my favorite games of all time. I am still playing it. I have read this chapter twice.
Halo Wars – Heard about it. But I don’t have a XBox.
Dragon Age: Inquisition – I have played Dragon Age: Origin. Love it. But I read that Dragon Age 2 is a disappointment. So I have avoided Inquisition. Or BioWare in general.
Shovel Knight – I have seen it featured in Steam often. Still not really into its concept.
Destiny – Very interesting read. Mainly because I have planned to pre-purchase Destiny 2 (PC).
The Witcher 3 – Also a very interesting read. I have purchased the first two installments but still yet to find the time to play. Who knows? One day I may play The Witcher 3.
Star Wars 1313 – Never heard of. Because it was meant for consoles.

The Game Of Love

You know how it is like when you live through a certain stage of your life or pass a certain age, you don’t experience certain things in life anymore. Like the frustration of finding love, the thrill of falling in love, the insecurity of being in love, the worry of falling out of love, and the heartache and the path of self-destruction in the name of love. Thereafter, the road to recovery, trying so very hard not to think of the one, hardly any effort to forget someone until it has turned into a story of melancholy. You begin to forget the face, the scent, the touch, even the tone of the voice. It is as though all that you have gone through is relegated into nothingness.

So what’s the point?

I guess, it is the love experience and the journey that counts.

So for someone like me who has lived through a certain stage of my life, passed a certain age, I don’t get to experience the game of love anymore.

Except of course, when in a dream.

I had a dream last night. A vivid one. One that I can remember most of the story and especially from beginning to end.

There was this girl. Petit and fair. Not the pretty type. Certainly charming with her eccentric attitude. My dream character (a.k.a me) and she had become close. Since she was popular, she had many admirers. Now, I was rather casual as I did not think I had a shot. She has this aura that made me felt that she was into me. For all I knew, she could have this aura turned on for all the guys around her. Or to the least, the guys she wanted to attract.

We hang out. In parties. And in a casual setting. Most of the time, we were not alone. There were others. But she or rather we often found ways to have moments of light intimacy. Like the brushing of our hands. The occasional locking of eyes. That exchange of a secret smile. At one stage, I vividly remembered that I was in love. I looked forward to seeing her. I felt happy when we were together. Down when we were not.

Somewhere somehow like how most love stories unfold, the relationship had gone down south. Perhaps she was tired of me. Perhaps she was toying with my feeling. I had no idea. It was the classic case of a crash and burn. The sadness was overwhelming. The heartache was so intense that I must have woken up in the middle of the night.

Because there was a cut scene to the time I was supposed to have healed. Years later it must have been. There was this very old car that I drove. The same car that we were used to having when the girl and I were together. In my dream, I have revisited the places we have been to. I must have tried to regain some of the lost memories. No one wants to lose the entire journey experience just because of a bad heartbreak.

It was a school. Perhaps. And I met the new students there. A canteen. A large roundabout at the lobby. It was at night. I observed the sky with the new students. Such peace. The open sky. I could not help but wonder, where was the girl and how had she been? She had faded in my mind, a great deal.

The night was late and I was lying comfortably on a mat with three other students. Two guys and two girls. And we were chatting casually. The girls were in skimpy dresses. All of a sudden, one of the girls had started to … and I gasped …

I guess that was the time when things got erotic in my dream. In real life though, my wife has woken me up asking me what’s for breakfast.

My wife has impeccable timing.

This Year’s Easter Weekend

When people ask me what my plan is for the Easter long weekend, I can’t help but think that they are expecting some sort of exotic answers. Like getting out of town, hiking, movies, parties and more parties. While my wife and I have indeed watched a movie – The Fast and the Furious 8 – as Catholics, we spend time going to Church over the weekend.

Good Friday, it rained heavily. Our car barely made it out of estate when my wife Cynthia cringing in pain. So we made a U-turn and headed back to our condo. I dropped her off at our lobby and drove to Church after knowing that it was not a matter of emergency.

By the time I have reached the Church – pretty early in normal circumstances but Good Friday is by no means normal – it was packed. I managed to find a seat in the front row. This Mass participation was for me and for my wife. I can always pray for my wife too.

Easter Sunday, we have made it to the evening Mass. Father Mike was not the celebrant. Another Indian Priest instead. This Priest is good. He speaks with conviction and clarity. During the homily, he spoke of the presence of the Rising Christ. Since almost none of us have met Jesus in real life, it is really all down to faith. Having said that, where can we sense the presence of Jesus?

First is the Bible, which is a no-brainer. Second, is the Communion – one of the reasons why we have to go to Church at least every Sunday. Third, is the community because when two or more gather in His name, He is with us.

In the theme of Easter, the Priest talked about the three P’s too. First is Peace, the single most important tool to counter life’s ongoing challenges. Second, is not punishment – ha! – but power. The power of mercy so as to forgive. Third, is to proclaim Christ.

So there you have it. This is how my wife and I have spent the long weekend. At least the more significant bits.