It's my LIFE!

Final Fantasy Dissidia will be the very first PSP-exclusive (and original, Crisis Core is a prequel) Final Fantasy title. On the outside, the game features characters from different Final Fantasy games participating in one-on-one battles. On the inside, it’s a game that feels looks and feels like a Kingdom Hearts portable. Dissidia: Final Fantasy will be a 3D action fighting hybrid although Square Enix describes the game to fall under the unique genre of dramatic progressive action. Updated with more information on the game.

And NO, it’s not just a fighting game with all the characters and has no storyline! Final Fantasy Dissidia HAS a storyline, and a good one!

Cosmos, the goddess of harmony. Chaos, the god of discord. Reigning from distant realms, the two gods had gathered warriors from all lands to lead them in savage war.

Cosmos and Chaos were of equal strength. It was believed the conflict would last forever. However, the balance is now broken.

Those who answered Chaos’s call created an inexhaustible force. And under vicious attack without relent, the warriors fighting for Cosmos started to fall one by one. The conflict that has continued for eons is now about to end in Chaos’s favor.

The world has been torn asunder, sinking into a vortex of disorder. As for the few surviving warriors … their fates have yet to be determined.

Are you not interested? Let’s look at its features.

— Legacy: Experience the high-quality world and gameplay mechanics of FINAL FANTASY presented in an action-packed environment where players can glide through the air and dash along walls.

— All-new battle system: Action-based battle system combines all-out brawling alongside RPG-based character development in an original system developed by the creators of the KINGDOM HEARTS series.

— Ultimate cast of characters: Fan-favorite heroes and villains from the entire FINAL FANTASY series come together in one game for the first time in a remarkable new tale with fully-voiced CG movies and real-time events.

— Fantasy match: Players select their favorite FINAL FANTASY characters, sided with either Cosmos or Chaos, to set the stage for their fantasy match.

— Series staple battle features: Accessible through “EX Burst”, players can experience gameplay faithful to the originals through memorable battle features such as “Limit Break” and “Overdrive”. In addition, longtime fans of the series can enjoy the ability to summon Aeons and options such as the “command battle” system.

— Community: Continue the experience by trading Friend Cards, creating items and sharing AI characters with other players and even engage in virtual AI battles made possible by the PSP system ad hoc mode

What are you waiting for? Let’s go grab it now!

P.S. - Currently only Japanese version is available.

Tags: Game Reviews, General by Wen Bin
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All along when I’m creating web pages using ASP.NET, and trying out anything, I use the default database – ASPNETDB.mdf database.

This time, I’m using an external database. I thought it would most probably be the same just that I would need to do some manual coding to check the roles and stuffs like that, to ensure restriction.

However, things are not as simple as it seems to be. Without the use of ASPNETDB.mdf database, it increases so much level of difficulty to the project – I couldn’t use the .NET controls!

For example, one of the most common (also the most basic) .NET control, the LoginView control.

Without ASPNETDB.mdf database, I could use this control. I didn’t expect it to have so much coding being coded behind the control.

The same goes to the Login control. I read from MSDN Library on regarding the authentication, and here’s the information/sample which I found:

The above coding came from the following source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.login.authenticate.aspx

What puzzled me was… what’s with all these authentication functions? Normally, I just click on the User Interface and select what is the user role, and there you go!

This really demoralized me a lot. There’s still so much for me to learn – I really don’t have much time left.

I really doubt I am able to finish my project.

A quick look at how many things did I “lost” for not using ASPNETDB.mdf database:

Someone please save me…

Tags: General by Wen Bin
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Indeed, an award should go to the Virgin Airlines gate attendant in Sydney some months ago for being customer focused, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.

A crowded Virgin flight was cancelled after Virgin’s 767 had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travellers.

Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be NOW”.

The attendant replied, “I’m sorry sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these people first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”

The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”

Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: “May I have your attention please! May I have your attention please!” she began – her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”

With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the Virgin attendant, gritted his teeth and said, “F…k You!”

Without flinching, she smiled and said, “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to get in line for that too.”

Tags: Story by Wen Bin
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Hello all, please advice me on my NAPFA Training Schedule:

Monday – Upper Body training @ Gym (Focus on Pull-Up)

Tuesday – NAPFA training (conducted by school) (Focus on all stations)

Wednesday – Upper Body training @ Gym (Focus on Pull-Up)

Thursday – NAPFA training (conducted by school) (Focus on all stations)

Friday – Upper Body training @ Gym (Focus on Pull-Up)

Saturday – 6 km slow jog (Focus on 2.4 km run)

Sunday – 6 km slow jog (Focus on 2.4 km run)

Please feel free to comment and share your two cents worth!~ I would appreciate it~

Thank you!

Tags: General by Wen Bin
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A flock of wild ducks were flying in formation, heading south for the winter. They formed a beautiful V in the sky, and were admired by everyone who saw them from below. One day, Wally, one of the wild ducks in the formation, spotted something on the ground that caught his eye. It was a barnyard with a flock of tame ducks who lived on the farm.

They were waddling around on the ground, quacking merrily and eating corn that was thrown on the ground for them every day. Wally liked what he saw. “It sure would be nice to have some of that corn,” he thought to himself. “And all this flying is very tiring. I’d like to just waddle around for a while.”

So after thinking it over a while, Wally left the formation of wild ducks, made a sharp dive to the left, and headed for the barnyard. He landed among the tame ducks, and began to waddle around and quack merrily. He also started eating corn. The formation of wild ducks continued their journey South, but Wally didn’t care. “I’ll rejoin them when they come back North in a few months, he said to himself.

Several months went by and sure enough, Wally looked up and spotted the flock of wild ducks in formation, heading north. They looked beautiful up there. And Wally was tired of the barnyard. It was muddy and everywhere he waddled, nothing but duck doo. “It’s time to leave,” said Wally.

So Wally flapped his wings furiously and tried to get airborne. But he had gained some weight from all his corn-eating, and he hadn’t exercised his wings much either. He finally got off the ground, but he was flying too low and slammed into the side of the barn.

He fell to the ground with a thud and said to himself, “Oh, well, I’ll just wait until they fly south in a few months. Then I’ll rejoin them and become a wild duck again.”

But when the flock flew overhead once more, Wally again tried to lift himself out of the barnyard. He simply didn’t have the strength. Every winter and every spring, he saw his wild duck friends flying overhead, and they would call out to him.

But his attempts to leave were all in vain. Eventually Wally no longer paid any attention to the wild ducks flying overhead. He hardly even noticed them. He had, after all, become a barnyard duck.

Look what happened to Wally. He thought he would just “check-it-out” for awhile and then leave when he wanted to. But he couldn’t do it. Sin and bad habits are like that. It is a trap, and it has a way of changing us into people we don’t even want to become. Eventually we lose touch with who we really are . We become barnyard ducks.

Tags: Story by Wen Bin
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“Take time to appreciate what you have now.” – Don’t miss reading this one

On the last day before Christmas, I hurried to go to the supermarket to buy the remaining of the gift I didn’t manage to buy earlier.

When I saw all the people there, I started to complain to myself, “It is going to take forever here and I still have so many other places to go.

Christmas really is getting more and more annoying every year. How I wish I could just lie down, go to sleep and only wake up after it…”

Nonetheless, I made my way to the toy section, and there I started to curse the prices, wondering if after all kids really play with such expensive toys.

While looking in the toy section, I noticed a small boy of about 5 years old, pressing a doll against his chest. He kept on touching the hair of the doll and looked so sad. I wondered who was this doll for. Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him, “Granny, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”

The old lady replied, “You know that you don’t have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.”

Then she asked him to stay here for 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.

Finally, I started to walk toward him and I asked him who he wanted to give this doll to.

“It is the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for this Christmas. She was so sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.”

I replied to him that may be Santa Claus will bring it to her, after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me sadly.

“No, Santa Claus cannot bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mother so that she can give it to her when she goes there.”

His eyes were so sad while saying this.

“My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mummy will also go to see God very soon, so I thought that she could bring the doll with her to give it to my sister.”

My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said, “I told daddy to tell mummy not to go yet. I asked him to wait until I come back from the supermarket.”

Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me, “I also want mummy to take this photo with her so that she will not forget me.”

I love my mummy and I wish she doesn’t have to leave me but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.”

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and took a few notes and said to the boy, “What if we checked again, just in case if you have enough money?”

“Ok,” he said. “I hope that I have enough.”

I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it.

There was enough for the doll, and even some spare money.

The little boy said, “Thank you God for giving me enough money.”

Then he looked at me and added,

“I asked yesterday before I slept for God to make sure I have enough money to buy this doll so that mummy can give it to my sister. He heard me.”

“I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mummy, but I didn’t dare to ask God too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and the white rose.”

“You know, my mummy loves white rose.”

A few minutes later, the old lady came again and I left with my trolley. I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn’t get the little boy out of my mind.

Then I remembered a local newspaper article 2 days ago, which mentioned of a drunk man in a truck who hit a car where there was one young lady and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-assisting machine, because the young lady would not be able to get out of the coma.

Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young lady had passed away. I couldn’t stop myself and went to buy a bunch of white roses and I went to the mortuary where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wish before burial.

She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place crying, feeling that my life had been changed forever. The love that this little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to that day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunken man had taken all this away from him.

Tags: Story by Wen Bin
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Yay! JLPT4 is finally over! Looking back now, I have been studying japanese for, erm, since the end of 2006? have it been 2 years already? Cool~

Everything seems to be like just yesterday that I just started learning Japanese Language. Time really flies! I just took a internationally recognised examination which is taken by everyone in the world whom studies Japanese!

Japanese Language is really easy to learn at the start – the basic. However, when you go further and further into it, it gets more and more complicated, so complicated that you can’t imagine! UNLESS you’re actively moving on by yourself, not just from classes held.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hope I pass the examination with flying colours! No, not just me. Hope all my friends whom took the JLPT4 test will pass the examination with flying colours – Wei Kiang, Mui Khim, Poh Teck, Sandy, Matthias, and all others!

Cheers!!

Tags: General by Wen Bin
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Tomorrow I’m going to take my Japanese Language Proficiency Test 4 (日本語能力試験4), in short, JLPT4.

It is my first time taking a Japanese international examination, I’m so so so~~~ nervous! It’s like as though I’m taking my O levels examination again! Aww!

JLPT4 is the lowest level of the 4 levels of examination, however, it is going to change to 5 levels next year, due to the oh-my-god-so-big-gap between JLPT3 and JLPT2 (well, that’s of what I heard)

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (日本語能力試験, nihongo nōryoku shiken^?), or JLPT, is a standardized test to evaluate and certify the language proficiency of non-native Japanese speakers. It is held once every year, on the first Sunday of December. The JLPT has four levels beginning at level 4 and progressing to level 1—the most difficult. The Japan Foundation estimates that level 4 is reached after approximately 150 hours of study and level 1 after approximately 900 hours of study.

To find out more information about JLPT, please read them up here.

Do wish me luck for tomorrow’s examination! Let’s do it! (:

Tags: General by Wen Bin
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As a year 3 student in polytechnic, I’m going to serve National Service (NS) next year, so as other year 3 students. Guess what? Poly students tend to neglect their fitness, especially those who are in non-exercising CCAs or worst still, no CCAs.

Here are some small little tips which I could share with you, they are simple and convenient to do, and could aid you in your NAPFA training:

1. Pretend that your school has no lift - this is what I’m doing now. Every morning I have to go to level 6 to look for my supervisor to sign my attendance (as I’m having my final year project now). I walk up the stairs from level 2 to level 6 to sign, then walk all the way down to level 3 and go to my lab.

2. Control your diet – this is not going to be another “diet meal” or ask-you-not-to-eat-anything tip. It’s very simple. Just avoid eating fast food such as mac donalds everyday. Or rather, don’t eat them so often! I got friends who eat macdonalds 3 to 4 times a week. That’s just going to hurt your stamina.

3. Do a bit of simple work out during your break, before having your lunch - NO! This is not asking you to sweat like holy hell and then go and eat. It’s just a simple workout. For example, if you’re in Nanyang Polytechnic like I do, there are pull-up bar outside most of the lecture theatres. When I walk past one of them during break & before I have my lunch, I’ll go and do some pull ups and try my best to do as many as possible; that’s it! So simple ;D

4. Exercise - if jogging alone is too boring for you, find your friends and play some games! Be it badminton, basketball, soccer, whatever it is! As long as it could make you sweat and you put in effort to make yourself sweat, it will do.

5. Do a number of push ups daily - this is obvious, I believe that most people are doing that already.

By following all these small little tips, you’ll be really surprised when you see the outcome after you actually take the NAPFA test. ;p

If you guys find that there are actually more things that we could do to aid us in training our NAPFA, please feel free to share it with all others by putting the contents in the “COMMENTS” section. I will go and approve it, of course. (:

Cheerios!

Tags: General by Wen Bin
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