Archive for the 'Singapore' Category

Updated NUS/NTU Laptops (March)

Published
by
GameBlogger
on March 29, 2008
in Singapore
. 2 Comments

There are several changes to to specifications of the laptop lineup after 7 months since the last update. Most of the 2.0GHz laptops have upgraded to 2.2 Ghz. However, I will highlight the biggest changes in the lineup.

Top of the list is the Fujitsu E8410U, featuring the new Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.5 GHz with 6MB cache, previously was 2.0 Ghz with 4MB Cache. This laptop runs on the new Intel Santa Rosa platform with the new 45nm mobile processor. This is currently the fastest laptop available in the list. On top of the change of processor, there will be 2GB of RAM and 250 GB HDD, instead of 1 GB RAM and 160 GB HDD.

What is disappointing is the missing of the ultraportable Macbook Air. Although the Macbooks are generally more expensive than the retail/online price from Apple, it is still worthwhile to get as Adobe CS3 and Microsoft Office (2008, hopefully) are bundled together. If you are a Mac fan, you will have to wait.

For the incoming Freshies in AY08/09, you might find this a small preview to what you can expect when you matriculate in July.

If you refer back to the old tender list (or rather, outdated list), the price of the various laptops remains roughly the same, which is a good thing!

Xedo Holocaust

Published
by
GameBlogger
on August 19, 2007
in Singapore
. 0 Comments

If you have keep up with the news regarding the crackdown on anime downloaders via the popular Bittorrent protocol, you will have seen horror news such as a 9 years old kid with his parent paying a huge payout to avoid court case.

The online communities such as Hardwarezone, VR-Zone and SGCafe, have exciting discussions on this issue.

Just recently, NCH Production has made a video on this issue.

Well, we all know that downloading copyrighted materials off the Internet is against the laws. Japanese animations, anime in short, are not available to the Singapore public or the anime community as readily as possible due to time lag in language translation and importing issues.

One of the companies here in Singapore, which holds the licenses to many animes, has started their operation to crackdown anime downloaders (most of them are young children and teenagers).

In my knowledge, anime has not infested this small red dot a decade ago. But in recent years, anime has become one of the hottest stuffs among the teenagers. In today’s broadband technology, it will take about an hour or less to get hold of the latest episode of anime just few days after the actual airing of the anime in Japan. All these are the commendable efforts from the fansubbers. Most of them works without monetary gains.

Official license holder in the country, usually produces the same anime with subtitles, in series. That means, the release might lag up to few months. Another concern is the quality of the videos and the accuracy of the translation. Many complained that the subtitles from the local distributor is of sub standard. There are a few examples published online.

The distributor need to consider the fact the anime can propagate into Singapore community is not due to chance. It is through words-to-words, man-to-man, over several years. If the distributor is taking this chance to earn quick bucks from the community, instead of building a strong long-term plan to satisfy the anime community, the short-sightedness of the company is really very short. What a company should do is to build a long term relationship with the community, instead of squeezing money out of the community. The aftermath of this incident is certainly to be a nasty one.

Lineage II Short Review

Published
by
GameBlogger
on August 19, 2007
in Game Reviews, MMORPG and Singapore
. 0 Comments

I just touched on the open beta of Lineage II for South East Asia, and I will give a short review on the game.

Since this game was developed in year 2004, graphics technology was outdated. With your GeForce 6 series or Radeon 9000 series, I guess you can turn on all the details.

Secondly, the interface of Lineage II was similar to many “free” MMORPGs such as Silkroad Online. You can get used to the interface straight away if you are a WoWer before. The interface also lacks the attractiveness, the buttons do not have colours.

Game experience is ok, as they are not many players currently, the latency is not very high.

Overall, it is a game that might attract the non-WoWer. However, it is still on a beta stage, things can be improved.

Lineage II Open Beta in SE Asia

Published
by
GameBlogger
on August 16, 2007
in Beta, MMORPG and Singapore
. 0 Comments

This may be a old news, but I have just encountered it.

Lineage II is currently on open beta in the South East Asia Region. Lineage II is a MMORPG that was available in the western countries in year 2004, only a few Asians play it.

In case you do not know about Lineage II, check this out. It will give you some brief ideas of Lineage II.

If you want to try out, you can proceed to download the installation files, 5 parts in total, weighs about 3 GB.

Then you need to register yourself with a Lineage II account here.

I going to try it out. I will post some screenshots and my review.

World Cyber Games Asian Championship 2007

Published
by
GameBlogger
on July 25, 2007
in DotA, Singapore, Warcraft, World Cyber Games and Xbox 360
. 0 Comments

The World Cyber Games Asian Championship 2007 is hosted by Singapore this year. 12 countries are involved in this year’s event from 2nd August to 5th August.

The official games for WCG Asian Championship 2007 are Dead of Alive 4 (Xbox 360), FIFA 07, Warcraft III : Frozen Throne, Age of Empires III : The War Chiefs and the popular map mods of Warcraft, Defense of the Ancient (DotA).

Last year, Singapore crowned the top country with 2 golds and 2 bronzes medal, ahead of China (1 gold, 3 silvers). We will look forward to this year WCG, to see how the gamers of each country fare this year.

World Cyber Games Asian Championship 2007 Poster

NUS and NTU laptop recommendations

Published
by
GameBlogger
on July 23, 2007
in Singapore
. 9 Comments

If you are a varsity student going to NUS, NTU and SMU (this laptops on sale in SMU are different), here is the recommendations from me.

If you are the mobile warrior, where you move as you work with your laptop, the light and handy laptop will be the best choice for you. Look no further, cause Toshiba R500-E260 will the the choice. If you go for the looks too, Lifebook S6410U will be it.

E6410U R500-E260
Faster Processor, 2Ghz Power Saving CPU, 1.2GHz
2 GB RAM 1.5GB RAM
13.3″ Display 12.1″ Display
Better graphics chipset Average Integrated Graphics
2.08kg 1.09kg

Like scribbling your notes on the laptop, tablet PC is the only choice. No other choice, other than the Lifebook T4220U.

Feeling on a tight budget, TM6292 is for you. For less than 2,000, you can get a laptop so similar specification as other brand.

T61 E8410U
2 GB RAM 1 GB RAM
160 GB HDD 120 GB HDD
Intel Integrated Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8400M
14.1″ Display 15.4″ Display
2.32kg 2.45kg

If you are going for the cool and stylish Apple, I suggest you halt the plan, because while waiting for the Mac OS X Leopard, the price of MacBooks in this offer is not attractive. (The prices of the laptop are most probably tentative prices as the official website has not been updated yet, so keep the finger crossed.)

*UPDATE - For the Macbooks and Macbook Pros, free upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard is available from the tender. they also come with Microsft Office 2004 and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium.

Apple offer online for student

Apple Online Store offer the same Macbook Pro 15″ 2.2Ghz for only SGD$3106 while the price on NUS is SGD$3318. If you want a Mac desperately, go for the online store. However, if you need the Microsft Office and Adobe CS3, taking the tender is a reasonable one.

If you are thinking of a Macbook (not Pro), do consider the Macbook Pro 15″. For 0.14kg, you get to enjoy a faster processor, dedicated graphics chipset, double the amount of RAM and a larger screen. If you are unable to fork out the extra 900 bucks, settle for the Macbook.

And if you want to play games like Company of Heroes and Command and Conquer with decent graphics, only Lifebook E8410U has a decent GPU and not forgetting the Macbook Pros.

Hopefully the prices of Macbooks drop.

Prices of the new laptops may change these few days, so watch out.