When games and all things related go mainstream...

Ok ok I know gaming is now a main stream activity and we have people of all ages playing games, from the hard core gamers spending up to 10 hours per day in MMORPGs, to the casual 10 minutes gamers dropping by their Facebook accounts once every few days.

But do you know that even the library has stocked up many books about gaming? Barely a year ago, there were only 2-3 books on the book shelves about gaming. Today the National Library (near Bugis) actually stocks up many shelf sections about computer gaming and related materials.

We have books like Wii for Dummies, Massively Multiplayer for Dummies, many books about Second Life, Pac-man, virtual world books ...etc. Amazing. I am actually not sure if there is indeed such a huge demand for these books. I mean, many of the information could be found online, and most of the gamers should know how to get these ever-changing info online? No?

Other than just books about gaming itself, there are also other books about games development and programming. There are books about .NET development, games programming on Python, games level design, PSP hacks ...etc. I agree there is an increasing demand for these more specialised books since it is much harder to read and find information about games development and programming online. If anything there are just FAQs on some websites and forums, and not full chapters of in-depth discussions and info.

Oh well, now that there are many shelves of books about games in the library, aspiring game designers could borrow a few and try it out. :)

World of Warcraft Expansion 3: Cataclysm

World of Warcraft 3rd Expansion: Cataclysm was announced last week at BlizzCon 2009. The official website could be found here. Of course, the huge number of hits by fans all over the world means that you could experience slowness in accessing the site. The details of this new expansion seem interesting.

There is also this slashdot discussion about this new Cataclysm expansion with all the funny / insightful comments as usual.

Basically there is a new level cap of 85 (yeah just 5 levels instead of 10 levels as before), and the world of Azeroth has been (will be) changed cos' of Deathwing the Destroyer. There are also two new classes, Horde Goblin and Alliance Worgen. Not sure how they will look like but I can't think well of a goblin player. I am sure the voice will sound funny. Not sure how this goblin player's stats stacked with the existing game materials, especially the existing Booty Bay related reputation. Will they have special race stats bonus on engineering? Hmm.

Further descriptions of the changes can be found on the WoW site. Somehow I am not as excited about the new classes, but rather I am more intrigued by the new profession of Archaeology. Hopefully it will not be too difficult to level up (remember jewel crafting anyone?). The description on the new mastery system is interesting, but let's see how it actually turn out in game play.

Actually I am not sure if I will continue to be so interested in WoW. WoW has been great. However, when there are too many end game players focusing on the end game materials, the game sort of get boring after a while. I'm not those who spend many hours per day to play WoW, and so it is quite hard to find that many casual players in towns, and yes the guild I once belonged to is also no longer around. Going into BGs and pitting yourselve against the fully geared enemies seem demoralising.

Hmm perhaps I should look forward to the Diablo III instead. Here's the Diablo III monk trailer. Impressive right?

Singapore Toys Games Comics Convention 2009 @ Suntec Part 2

Here's the photos for Part 2 of the Singapore Toys Games Comics Convention 2009. Following the same practice as last year, the various artists painted on the blank boards just outside the convention halls.

Star Wars items (toys, comics...etc) have always been a popular draw for the crowd. This year we had a number of 'life size' troopers walkign around in the costumes, which made it quite interesting. They even had a 'dressed up as Star Wars characters' for a fee that is donated to charity.

What I liked was this robotic R2D2 (life sized) that moved around the place. Quite cool! Imagine having one such toy at home. I guess I could fix a vacuum machine to this toy and have it move around the house. That should make housecleaning more fun.

Besides Star Wars, the other popular games / toys with the crowd are the World of Warcraft (WoW) items. Want to make your own WoW figurines? Here's a photo that shows the different stage of crafting the figurines.

Not forgetting the free posters (and collar pin, & fake tattoos) , and even life sized figure boards for people to take photos!

Of course, there were also transformers, 'Revenge of the Fallen' (a movie where I think the plot sucks).

Ok that is about all I have for STGCC '09. I guess next year there will be equally interesting toys / comics / games for the STGCC 2010!

See also:
- Singapore Toys Games Comics Convention 2009 @ Suntec Part 1

Singapore Toys Games Comics Convention 2009 @ Suntec Part 1

Singapore Toys Games Comics Convention 2009 (STGCC) was held at Suntec Convention Centre (level 4) this past weekend. I think it was a great event! :) It is always fun to see many displays of figurines, toys, games, comics... etc at one place, and see the many people ogling at their favourite toys.

Like last year, the Devilrobots designer was here to sign autographs and 'drew' something for those who purchase the toys. I was quite amazed by the variety of the To-Fu toys actually.

What was equally amazing is that To-Fu toys have invaded the stamps collecting circle! Thus there are now stamps sets (with competition organised by SingPost)and related game board sets for To-Fu Oyako.

Of course, the cute toys are not limited to To-Fu, and others like ugly dolls also made their appearance. It is weird to see so many of the ugly dolls piled up in the container. Mass ugliness? Lolz.

For those who are gachapon fans, there are plenty of capsules to choose from. Visitors can even change their notes for coins at the event.

Beside the collectible toys, there were also huge 'toys' walking around. Yupz, it was really fun to take pictures together with this pair of Mario Brothers. I didn't go to the event on the last day where the cosplay competition was held, or else there would be other more interesting photos. Nonetheless, there is a part 2 coming with more photos.

See also:
- Singapore Toys Games Comics Convention 2009 @ Suntec Part 2

Finally, I have my own domain name!

I haven't been blogging for the past couple of days because I was trying to get Blogger to work on my own customised domain names. It was not that easy for someone without any knowledge of the domain name stuff.

Well, the whole thing started when a friend alerted me to the current August promotion of $5 for a .sg domain name. You can get the list of participating registrars from SgNIC site. I got curious, and decided to get one, i.e. shadow.sg. I thought that is all about it, since Blogger's "publishing tab' stated clearly that

You're publishing on blogspot.com

Switch to: • Custom Domain (Point your own registered domain name to your blog)

Oh well, it was only after I got the domain name that I realised that no one host my DNS for me. The Blogger Help post about this subject is also not very helpful. After much searching I finally found this site, 'Setting Up a Custom Domain? Here's Advice'.

There is truly good advice on that site. :)

So yes, I finally got my own domain name!

Restaurant City - High Score of 50!

Yes I finally got the high score of 50 for ratings in Restaurant City, and it is done without the use of arcade machines!

Initially I only managed to have a score of 46.5. After some juggling of the employees (rotating 1 chef to be a waiter), and occasionally cleaning the toilet, I managed to get the score of 50 (second picture below).

The score is maintained or quite a while and not just a 'touch and go' rating. I guess the inclusion of the drinsk and fridge help, since there is no need to wait for the chef to cook up the dish when the drinks can be served instantly.

Ok, now the trick or next achievement is to get more dishes to level 20, including some drinks recipes!

Restaurant City - New 'Drinks' recipes & option to serve more dishes

Playfish's Restaurant City has just introduced a new drinks recipes, and thus the customers will now want drinks as well!

The drinks recipes currently available are
1) Glass of water
2) Expresso
3) Coffee
4) Tea (yes they introduce coffee beans and tea leaves!)
5) Chocolate milkshake
6) Strawberry milkshake
7) Lemonade (they introduce water and ice ingredients too!)
8) Peach ice tea (yes, you are right, peach too!)
9) Bubble tea
10) Fruit smoothie

The drinks are not served from stoves, i.e. unlike the traditional category of foods. The drinks are 'dispense' from new functional furniture, i.e. the drinks fridge and soda dispenser (shown below). The waiter and waitress will need access to the fridge or dispenser in order to get the drinks for the customers.

Other than drinks, Playfish has also allowed for more than 1 dish to be served per category. Thus those who have more than 1 dish at level 10, can enjoy more gourmet points while seeing more varieties of food served in the restaurant!

Yeah, the good thing about Playfish games is that there are constant updates, that makes the game more fun to play with.

See also:
- Restaurant City is up! Added Photo Feed and Gourmet Street