Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

The Ace Attorney series was always an interesting concept for me. And I had zero plans of taking up law to understand it better. But the thought of playing as a lawyer and doing some investigations to uncover the truth was pretty fantastic.

Now that I'm working in the game development industry, it puts things in a better perspective on how the game comes to be. Since this is mostly text-based, I can already picture the huge web that it has to pass through when a player selects a certain evidence or choice. One big mucho headache.

That being said, I sometimes plague my keen eyes for picking up on things I would usually ignore while playing. Or that's just the grammar Nazi embedded in me when I spot grammatical flaws in the English translations.

The latest game, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies is an eShop exclusive game (at least the localized English version anyway) that continues the story of Phoenix Wright and his return to the courtoom after the events of Apollo Justice. We see a slew of old characters that bring back just the right level of nostalgia, as well as a bunch of new ones to appreciate.

The universe created by Shu Takumi is where Kai and I enjoy writing stories in. And this latest installment could not contribute any better. Of the new bunch of characters, there is one I wanted to flesh out on and study for better development. His name? Prosecutor Simon Blackquill.

He's the Prosecutor for 4 and a half cases in the game, but what's so intriguing about him is his back story. I won't point it out here 'cause it'll spoil the plot, but all I will say is that he's definitely a character that needs a second look at. Plus there's plenty to go on beyond the courtroom.

Christmas

It's a few days past Christmas, and find myself inkling to do a quick post on some of the stuff I got and put them in a better light.

Let's start with this one! At the office, we still managed to have ourselves a simpler celebration of the season, and that included the Christmas Exchange Gift which was done through Elfster. So it was a simple matter of making our wishlists.

The one who drew my name (Lee), anonymously told me through the site that he couldn't find it, so I had to point him in the right direction to get the book I wanted. Happy to see that he found the 9th Doctor Who book, and even threw in a Lego figure of Loki. :) Thanks Lee! That was a little Christmas celebration well spent.

Next we have a little room improvement with my parents' gifts for both my birthday and Christmas. This actually started out when my mom and I cleaned out my closets together the day before my birthday. I voiced out that it was time to find another shelf to accommodate the books that I had in my room, and it was high time to replace the bedside table I had been using for the longest time.

So we sought out a nice compact shelf (the one on the left), with a plastic shoe rack shelf (not seen in the photo) and a new table lamp too. What followed sometime later was the garment stand for all my stray jackets and hats. Funnily enough, every time I come into the room, I jump thinking that its someone hiding in the shadows. I got to get used to that.

Finally we come our family Christmas Eve celebrations! Let's start things off from the top right and work our way around clockwise.

• Power Bank from my parents. It's funny how they can think up of the most opportune time to get us one of these! Since we often need to charge our phones while we're out, this will easily come in handy when there isn't an outlet in sight.
• Bench Socks from my Auntie Shiony. Quite the irony how I'm slowly shifting my undergarments in the direction of this brand. It's a definite sign!
• Boxes from my mom. I actually picked these out from Saizen when we were doing some last minute shopping earlier that day to help keep my stuff more organized. 
• Books!
• Warp by Eoin Colfer and Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres were from my aunt.
• Festival of Death, Fear of the Dark and Players (books 4-6) of the Doctor Who series from the exchange gift from Uncle Cesar. Adding that to my current collection below, here's where we stand! 

Just 3 more to go before I have all 11 books. Then I can start reading this properly. :)

Snape's Wand

It's been quite some time since I've come across shops selling Harry Potter Wands. The first time I believe was when I was on one of my family trips abroad (San Francisco I believe) when I stumbled across some wands on sale at Barnes and Noble. The flame re-ignited itself when they were encountered again while Kai and I were browsing GreatToysOnline's Annapolis branch, which was selling for around P2000 or thereabouts.

Yesterday, my mom and my sister picked me up after I stayed the night with Kai at the hospital before she was discharged, and we headed straight to TriNoma. While I was taking my time walking around, I decided to drop by the stall for The Perfect White Shirt, and to my surprise, I saw them selling wands! I doubled back after passing by National Book Store and Fully Booked and inquired. They were selling them for P500! I literally looked through all their products since the wands were all different, and searched the net to try and find the reference codes. For the longest time, I've wanted Severus Snape's wand, so you would believe me inner Potterhead squealing when I found a box that had that exact reference number! I bought it without a second thought.

An early Christmas gift to myself, because wands are so cool and I've always dreamed of owning my own. :3

Reading List

So the latter half of my year has been spent getting quite a handful of books and putting them aside to read later on. After Kai supplied me with "The Cuckoo's Calling" by JK Rowling (under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith), I decided to gather together the rest of the books that was left on my reading list. Not surprisingly, it turns out that I've found myself quite a pile, and looking to increase when my birthday and Christmas exchanges are done and over with.

Here's to hoping I can get to some of these in the next coming months!

November 26

Again, for those who may not decipher my handwriting.

11/26/13
5 more days. Today I started looking into a bit of javascript for work- related issues. Coding has been a rusty topic for me lately, if you exclude HTML at least. A little something for Google Docs I guess. This is the problem when you restrict CONDITIONAL FORMATTING!

...

In other news, we meet again Google Forms! It's been ages since I made one. If you end up forgetting some of its finger features (like I did), chances are you'd end giving yourself a facepalm when you finally rediscover it. In my case,  it was the summary of responses. Silly me.

Anyway,  I still haven't been able to find the best grip for my pen writing with my right hand. Hopefully time and practice will make it better.

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Tidbit #15: Ambidexterity

Just a quick post on here before I head to bed. Earlier this year, I started a little side-project where I was trying to write with my right hand. I started with the alphabet dozens of times over, then stopped for quite a while. These past few weeks, I decided to rekindle that project and give my right hand the needed exercise to train it to write once more. If there's one thing I would like to be able to do in the coming years, it's to become ambidextrous.

The task may be daunting, but I'd like to say I'm getting some progress done as the days go by. In time, I'd be surprised if I passed a slip of paper to someone with a decent-looking handwriting, only to surprise them when I mention that I wrote it with my non-dominant hand.

So much like my post yesterday, I'll probably be populating my blog with my little journal entries as the year comes to a close, just to see if there actually is potential to get better. As long as it's legible, I want it to reach a point when it feels as natural and fluid as I would write with my dominant hand, without much of a hitch.

Ambidexterity, have at thee!

November 23

A quick entry I wrote on my Moleskine last Saturday afternoon with my right hand. Enjoy!

EDIT: On the off-chance my readers can't read it properly, I've prepared a digital copy below.

11/23/13

Today is the Day of the Doctor. It looks to be another ordinary Saturday. Not that taking Kai to a doctor is anything close to ordinary. After writing that last sentence, I realized how ironic it is that we're seeing a doctor today. Go figure. Here's a happy 50th to Doctor Who today!

Sincerely, Trish's right hand

P.S. ALL CAPS IS SO MUCH EASIER

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November Updates

I always seem to find a need to psyche myself up to making blog entries, but whenever I end up staring at the blank space I just buzz out. But November has come, and it's brought along a few topics that are screaming to be talked about, at least in passing.

Tragedy
Disaster struck the Philippines when Typhoon Haiyan touched down with all its monstrous power in Tacloban, Leyte last Friday, November 8. Up until now, the news is still booming with updates on the aftermath. Thousands of families have been displaced and a large death toll count hasn't even capped yet, so it's normal feel remorse for them.

In this time of need, we all need to band together to help out in whatever way we can, but more news of groups looting the relief goods intended for the victims is just despicable. I just abhor hearing that these type of people exist and not have the decency to do the right thing and let what's intended for others actually get there. It's great to see the efforts people are taking to do what they can, and the international assistance we've received from other countries is very much appreciated. I tip my hat to everyone pitching in, doing and giving what they can.

Love
My girlfriend and I celebrated our 5th anniversary together as a couple last Saturday, November 9. We didn't plan anything extravagant, but decided to go someplace nostalgic and dine at a restaurant we frequented in college - the newly renovated Teriyaki Boy along Katipunan. The rest of the day, funnily enough, was spent playing Pokemon X / Y.

Success
Lots of activity in the office. Since my last update work-related, there have been some transitions and I find myself climbing up the career ladder a few more rungs. At present I'm carrying two positions, both as a Lead QA Analyst (QA3), as well as an OIC QA Director. The load is definitely larger, but I'm prepared to plow into it and make things work. Hopefully, I'll be able to get that coveted designation as director of the department (scratching off the officer-in-charge) with a bit more people to handle. Fingers crossed.

November sure has been eventful, and we haven't even reached the halfway mark. I've got a few more topics in mind, but that'll have to wait until next time. For now, we work.

Wishlist

So since my birthday and Christmas are just around the corner, I wanted to make an early wishlist of what I'd like to have. 'Course, budget aside, I'll find some way to get to them. One way or another.

1. Laptop bag (something less bulky than what I have now. The ones from Halo or Targus look appealing. Jarvis (my 12" Acer Windows 8 lappy) could use the space.
2. HDMI to VGA adapter. I can't make presentations using my laptop without one! I really need to find this since I don't want to have to rely on the projector having an HDMI input (since it isn't a staple so much).
3. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 3DS game. I told myself that Pokemon X/Y is one of the last games I'd get for myself for a while since I have other priorities to save up for. This would be a great bonus to have, especially because of Stan Lee.
4. iPod 7th gen. My 4th gen iPod's screen is starting to conk out due to my careless drops, and it's been displaying the wrong cover album art for as long as I can remember. Maybe that's to be expected of an 8gb device and cram 7gb of its storage with music. The poor thing.
5. Computer Table & Chair. I don't utilize my desk in my room so much since the bed is more inviting. And since I'm at home, I do sort of want to relax a little and literally lay low with a down-to-earth coffee-table like table (and maybe copy off of my siblings). A floor chair would be neat too!
6. A Kamen Rider Belt. Either W, OOO, Fourze or Wizard would be awesomesauce. :)
7. iPad Mini. It'd be neat to have a tablet of my own. I can end up saving up for one myself, but this is just to put it up here so I have a running list of what I actually want to have.
8. Deadly Heat. The fifth installment of the Nikki Heat series based off the ABC series Castle. It was released last month, and I'm wondering when it'll be available locally so I can finally get past that cliffhanger from the previous book.
9. Nintendo Points Card. So many digital downloadable games, downloadable content requires money! And an easier way to that is by getting point cards to get them. :)

One can dream right? v(^.^)v

Pokémon Origins

So for anyone who's a fan of the Pokémon franchise, the Pokémon Origins should definitely be on your must-watch list. While it's only a four-part adaptation that follows the game and manga more faithfully, it will plummet you into a wave of nostalgia.

This follows Red's story, and the evolution of his bond with his Pokémon. This includes appearances (and actual speaking lines) by his rival Green, Professor Oak, Mr. Fuji, Brock, Giovanni and Lance among others.

While a lot of the game's aspects are retained as opposed to how the series turned out with Ash as the hero, we only see glimpses of the events we end up having to do throughout the game, like obtaining fishing rods, getting a free bike, battling Team Rocket thugs and gym leaders of the Kanto region and the like.

This post won't be a review so much as an advertisement to find time to watch it, especially since it helps promote one of the new features to come when Pokémon X & Y debut to the 3DS console! Of course, I won't want to spoil anything, so if you're an old soul looking to find some nostalgia with the first batch of Pokémon we came to love, then go ahead and watch it!

Full movie uploaded by YouTube user dbzgamerKingCold

AnimeUltima alternate: Pokemon Origins Online

Blake-ify It!

So today is a new month. One of the reasons why I chose to make a quick blog today was because it was Aiba Hiroki's birthday today! This entry's topic is somewhat hilarious in its own right, but might only make sense to me and my girlfriend.

But anyway, yesterday we passed by Data Blitz to pre-order Pokemon X & Y for the 3DS (since you know, we both have one) after a satisfying dinner at Ha Yuan Spring, a chinese restaurant along the back road of my office.

We went exploring a bit in Glorietta to look for some stuff before calling it quits and just headed off to Timezone to sing some songs. I had the mic for most of the time, and just like the fangirls we are, we usually enjoyed singing songs of Maroon 5 (because Adam Levine). One Maroon 5 song in particular would always have a "version 2" so to speak because of the different manner in singing it. The song? She Will Be Loved. The version? Blakeified!

As the term suggests, it's singing the song a Blake might have sung it. So the lower key, and just to add spice to the whole Shevine chemistry, flip the words around.

Another song she asked me to Blakeify was Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles.

Needless to say, it worked.

I should find some more songs like that.

Personality Types

I really need to start jotting down topics for my blog, else I'll only end up making posts when I'm in the mood or when the gap has widened considerably to feel like I've been inactive to start back up again. For the month's topic (since I doubt I'd be getting any more posts out in the next two days), I wanted to talk about personality types.

Last Monday, the entire office was scheduled to attend this Whole Brain Seminar which touched on finding your personality type. The whole Typology Text if you will. Of course, I'm not here to talk about that since... well, I didn't exactly get to attend it to begin with. The weather was dreary, and while I was already in the office rearing to go, one of our projects needed to do some overtime work and get it done that day, so I stayed with the team to help out.

After a few days, our CEO sent us a link, telling us to just take the full test (since apparently they had some exercise of determining their personality but never got around to doing the full thing) and email the results to our HR for profiling. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the link and took it. And what did I get?

ISFJ

Intuitive, Sensing, Feeling, Judging

I scavenged the internet for a profile on this particular personality, and to my surprise, it was quite spot on. Here's a link to one of my favorite descriptions, but feel free to browse the site further to find your own (and take the test there while you're at it): ISFJ Personality

Promotion!

It's been a while since I've talked about work here in my blog, hasn't it? I guess now would be the best time to actually sit down and give you a little update. We had our mid-year evaluations last June-July, and as I was sitting down with JD our QA Director, he handed me a copy of my evaluation. As I was reading through it, he told me (verbatim): "QA2 ka na. (for my foreign readers: You're now a QA2.) Yay pizza! *applause*"

QA2 is a job code, the title of which is equivalent to Senior Quality Assurance Analyst.

In some ways, I had already anticipated it. Coming into the company for my internship, I sorta took it upon myself to step into those shoes early on, especially when Nikka wasn't around who assumed that position. And JD solemnly agreed with me and told me to "just keep doing what you're doing". Gives you the notion that I'm being more than proactive in my job don't you think? Well, with that said, this sort of gives me a little more authority within the department of oh-so-little (currently there are two more QA's under me), with an official title status to back me up.

JD told me to wait for the official memo, so I just carried on doing what I was doing. August came and still nada, so I didn't really feel any different until I got my payslip last August 15. To my surprise, my gross income increased, and our HR, Miss Jane, congratulated me on the promotion as well. This just had me wearing a goofy smile as I stared at it. It took 8 days before our Operations Manager Sir Mac invited me to his office where we had a long discussion about this and that until handing me the memo regarding my promotion. Apparently it was in effect at the start of the month, so that's pretty awesome. :)

I know it'll take a while before we get our company going in the direction we want to go to, but I sure wanna be around to be one of the catalysts who instigate that movement. To do that, I'll make like a Sanada (Tenipuri/Prince of Tennis reference) and play the "vice-captain" of the QA Department and get the train moving.

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Doctor Who Party

Last July 19, Kai and I attended a Doctor Who Party. Why? No particular reason. I guess you could say that it was a way we could appease our curiosity and interest of meeting up with other Whovians. Admittedly, I haven't been as immersed in the series as the rest of those who attended. They are hands down some of the timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly bunch of hardcore Whovians I've chanced upon meeting.

But I guess in some way, it's a self-boost to try and watch more of the series to better understand everything, especially with the onset of the 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi and the exit of Matt Smith.

So let's get back to the party a little bit. To mine and Kai's convenience, the venue was doable, hence our confirmation of attending said party. Where? The Residences at Greenbelt which, ironically, sits just a few minutes walking distance from my office! It was a little "social hall" or function room, which was quaint but spacious enough to shelter at least 50 people for a few hours to have some fun (which we did). So in a way the space was perfect for a get-together.

To prepare for the occasion, I dressed up a bit with a little crossover-inspired wardrobe: grey Chucks to represent the 10th Doctor, a bowtie for the 11th, and a trench coat that reminded people of the 1st Doctor. Paired with my 11th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver, I couldn't possibly get lost at the party! The trench coat was actually recycled from my Sebastian Michaelis cosplay a few years ago, so I'm just happy it still fit me the way it did. 

Of course I wouldn't be the only one in "costume" at the party! We had ourselves a nice round of Elevens present, a stray Tenth, a Queen Victoria, some Rose Tylers and some Donna Nobles. And a Tardis!

And yes, there was a Sherlock present! Meet my friend Vinni (right). He's got a british accent down pat, mostly because he reads lots of Shakespeare out loud it's fun.

Since there was a Tenth and Eleventh doctor present, I bugged them into recreating this scene Vinni showed me on his phone with their Sonic Screwdrivers. Thanks to Dan (left) and Adrian (right) for obliging my request! Not as accurate, but so worth it!

 

Flat Tires and Good Samaritans

Yesterday was an interesting show of Filipino pride. After Kai and I finished up at Healthway in SM North, we were on our way down from the top level parking when I skid into the gutter. Moments later I eased into hazard mode and realized that my left front tire was flat. The rubber was torn so a simple pump (or Dad's fix- a-flat) wouldn't solve the issue.

If that wasn't enough, I had zero knowledge on how to change a tire. Luckily, one of the guards came over and offered to help me out. If things couldn't get any more ironic, I had absolutely NO idea where the tools and jack were in the car I was using. Again the guard was kind enough to help me locate them. Once we were starting our attempts at getting the spare tire from under the car, two other good souls stopped by (a dad and a driver) to lend their car expertise. I guess one of the issues was because they had the same car so their knowledge in the matter helped.

Together,  the four of us started figuring out why the spare tire wasn't falling smoothly as it should have. We realized then that the chain got stuck, preventing us from getting the tire down. The dad was kind enough to offer to lend his spare tire until I got the flat one vulcanized but considering the wear and tear of the flat,  that option was quickly crossed off the list.

It took some team effort but we finally managed to get the spare tire off. By the time this happened, another car stopped behind us and its driver and one of his friends came down and offered to help change the tire. Once again it was a combined effort for them; where to position the jack and getting the bolts loosened. Of course there I was not knowing what was happening but inwardly I had to be thankful. When all was said and done, the spare tire in place and the flat dumped in the back, they wished me well, I said my thanks and we all went our separate ways.

To my good Samaritans yesterday, you have my undying gratitude for offering your time, brawn and patience. My faith in humanity was definitely restored!

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Zachary Quinto and Character Study

I apologize for the lack of activity lately. I've been at work doing work and work causes a stress I find to be a little bit more difficult to control these weeks. Of course, that's mostly because juggling a few number of projects in one go with a small number of QAs in a game development company of around 50 people really will become stressful. But to get back on track, here's a little entry I wanted to pen regarding an actor I've neglected to appreciate until recently, when Kai and I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness together.

Who is this actor?

ZACHARY QUINTO

Yup, he was the talented actor who played Mr. Spock in the 2009 and 2013 Star Trek films by J.J. Abrams. Because of his stellar performance, I found it imperative, like what I usually do with most actors I admire, to dig into their filmography and see where he's been. Most often than not, I always find one or two titles that I've already seen before but just never knew it was him, and called for a second look to confirm.

Such a title was What's Your Number?, a romantic comedy starring Chris Evans that I primarily watched it for. Having recognized Martin Freeman as well there, I never remembered Zach until I watched back. And there he was!

Other titles that caught my interest was that he was in the American Horror Story franchise. While he played a recurring role in season one, he played a main character in season two, Asylum. 

Dr. Oliver Thredson / Bloody Face

Maroon 5's lead singer Adam Levine is a budding actor and makes his debut in this TV series, recounting the horrors of Briarcliff in present day 2012, while most of the story takes place 50 years ago in 1964, where Zach's character appears. Thredson is a psychiatrist who comes into the madhouse to help with therapy of one inmate: a man by the name of Kit Walker, who was accused of the crimes of Thredson's "alter ego", Bloody Face. 

Now why do I talk about this? Kai and I often spend our time throwing scenarios at each other as opposed to the stories we type up in tandem. Whenever I find a character I enjoy watching, I begin a little process of understanding them better; a character study if you will to get into their head and grasp their train of thoughts and actions in order to adjust to scenarios. 

A strange little hobby, but I find that doing it gives me a better sense of embodying a character like most actors do. Sounds like I'm interested in acting if I go through all this, right? People can dream. :P

Canada: Winnipeg

(My apologies for the late post, but I never managed to finish typing up this entry before I came back to the hustle and bustle of coming back.)

Finally, the feature presentation! Our final destination and the entire reason for our Canada trip (going through all the trouble of procuring a single entry Canadian Visa) was to visit Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the Asuncion family migrated to back in August 2008. After nearly 5 years, this will be the first time that our entire family has come to visit them, so it was truly an experience to look forward to. Our flight was at around 8 in the morning, and were already in the airport at around 7-ish. The flight took roughly 4 hours, adding an hour to the clock due to timezone discrepancy of around an hour.

Upon our arrival, dad was taking pictures as we descended the escalators to the baggage claim area before we spotted some familiar faces hiding near the Tim Horton's nearby! Running, hugging, glomping and general greetings were exchanged when the entire Asuncion family came out to greet us, along with Ate Joan's boyfriend JR. After some obligatory pictures and more hugs, we made our way to their humble abode some 20-30 minutes away from the airport. Much of the reason why they all came out to meet with us as mostly because we needed all the space we could afford. With three cars, however, that didn't pose much of a problem.

What greeted us when we arrived was a welcome message that read: Bienvenue Monsods! I already expected this to happen, but it was endearing and it affirmed that we were actually there! We took some time to relax, let our feet rest and just chill for a while after all the travelling. For us cousins, we each end up with our own little partners from childhood, mostly because we were the ones who became so tight-knit. So I spent most of my time with Jostin, who had a grand lair in the basement that was just so awesome I wish I took a picture of it!

To unwind, he and I broke our his Rockband set, did I Spy with the drum adapter before proceeding to play some Rock Band 2 songs while our siblings went out. After a while, we joined my parents and his mom (my godmother) to see the sights and visit The Forks, the only "tourist spot" in Winnipeg, according to Jostin. Loved the bonding time with him, catching up with our age-old Xhevix conceptualzation for a while and spending the rest of the time enjoying their Netflix subscription and finish the first 2 seasons of Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman) and some random episodes of Doctor Who.

Of course, as a big group, we went to various malls and restaurants, and engaged in several fun activities, which I'll break down below!

Sunday, June 9, marked my parents' 29th Wedding Anniversary. We all came up with an itinerary for them, and our first stop was making reservations at Montana's Grill. The food was delicious, and my parents initially offered to pay for dinner, but in the end, we ended up surprising them by paying the bill instead! We capped off the day proceeding to go play Five-Pin Bowling. Separating into a boys vs girls groups of 5, we played two games, and I must say, it was a lot of fun! The alleys resembled the usual ten-pin bowling lanes, but this just had five, a smaller ball and a points system to cap it all off. My first game was a sweet success, but I couldn't boast the same for the second one though, haha!

One of the more memorable shopping escapades we went to was to a little place called Kildonan Place. Much of the reason we headed off there was to scout for the HMV branch that had a stock of the Eleventh Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver. And yeah, my uncle got it for me so it was a very, very sweet deal! Funny thing was, I only had one remark. "I need a screwdriver for my screwdriver!" Yeah, I needed an actual one to pop in the batteries before I could play Doctor. But once that was set it was such a dream.

Quite often, we spent late nights staying up and watching movies (this was mostly due to my cousin Joan and her boyfriend JR), so Jostin and I couldn't sleep right away even if we wanted to since that would have meant commandeering the PS3 and Netflix. So there was a little Cabin in the Woods with splashes of old cartoon shows like Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack to keep us entertained!

For another fun activity we headed off to a little place called Lazer Runner where we engaged in a rowdy game of Laser Tag! We were a big group of 15 or thereabouts, so we started off a convoy to head out to where the place was (which was outside the main city) where we met up with a few more of my cousin's friends. We played three various games - a Regular one to warm up, a Vampire and Eliminator game. Sad to say I wasn't in the best of ways at the start of it all since I literally ran into a wall trying to escape being aimed at, and let's not forget that running causes tripping every now and again. So bumps and aches followed, but it was a hell of a lot of fun!

My family and I were even around to attend my cousin Jostin's graduation! He's finished 2 years of Digital Arts at Red River College, so he received a certificate for it. This spring, he'll be pursuing another year where he'll focus on 3D work. Really proud of him too!

As my sister and I were flying back to Manila early, Thursday was our last day in Winnipeg. It was decided that we'd spend the last day (Thursday), throwing a barbecue over at my cousin Jaimee and her boyfriend Josh's house, where we met Josh's side of the family. Jostin and I ended up babysitting Josh's nephews, playing through Guitar Hero down in the basement and had a nice Father's Day presentation once evening had settled in. We presented the dads with cards and little gifts, and they were more than amused, which was the overall point of it. It ended with a cousin sleepover, since we needed to head to the airport for an early morning flight.

The morning after, I realized that I never got my passport from my mom, so she and Uncle Joey had to drive back to the house to get it, and we were worried that they wouldn't be able to make it in time the flight was leaving. But they managed to get back, so my sister and I flew off to Toronto, and spent the next 11 hours at the terminal for an evening flight back to Manila.

It was a crazy adventure, but I am grateful for everything that's happened. I'll post pictures soon enough, so do sit tight!

Canada: More Downtown Toronto

Our second full day in Canada had us making like tourists! With the Day Passes dad purchased the day before, we took a series of buses and subway trains to Downtown, locating the Toronto branch of my brother's company. After some frequent map consulting, we finally managed to locate it. We waited a few minutes before he came down before we went about on our way again. After some exploring, we bumped into a couple of elderly Taiwanese and their grandchildren who asked us to take a picture of them, and they kindly offered to take a picture of us in return.

Quite close to this, we spotted the restaurant we had reservations for later that evening: Marche restaurant which I'll talk about a bit more later. We did a bit more walking around before realizing that it was high time for lunch, and so we stopped at a building where a food court was located. Welcome to the First Canadian Place. After ordering separate meals (with a lot to choose from anyway), another of Mom'sold officemates, Tita Louie, met up with us. Ironically, we were dining in her building, which was crazy because she mentioned that she reported that she'd be leaving for a doctor's appointment to meet with us. Whoops!

She took us underground travel from building to building. There were a lot of people here, which explained the complete lack of any up in the streets or so my dad had observed. She took us to a huge bargain store called Honest Ed's, where I found myself a nice red bowtie! It was a neat place full of clothes, tools, knickknacks and food! We spent the rest of the afternoon taking a Streetcar to see more of the sites before finally retracing our steps back to Marche for dinner.

The interesting thing about this particular restaurant was it had various stalls for different cuisines! Their system had a cash card that would total up everything you ordered so you'd pay for any drinks you order and meals for that matter when you were done eating. After looking around the place, I finally settled on trying out a Smoked Salmon Savory Crepe, with cheese and mixed greens and a pesto sauce. And might I say, it was delicious! We stayed there for about three hours since several others of Mom's officemates joined us, so trip down memory lane took a long while that my siblings and I dozed off for a while, haha!

We were finally brought back to our hotel to prepare for our early morning flight to Winnipeg, which I'll talk about in my next post!

Again, pictures to follow.

Layovers

So here I am in Toronto Pearson with my sister. We had an early morning flight from Winnipeg that arrived at around 11 in the morning, and a scheduled flight home to Manila later this evening at 10 in the evening. So in the meantime, we're being hermits somewhere or another to help time move a bit faster for the 11 hour layover period.

I've been delaying any posts of the latter parts of our family vacation here in Canada mostly because I was trying to make the most of the limited time to spend with the family and relatives. While my parents and brother will be spending another extra week in Canada, it's back to regular programming for me and my sister, having to go back to work.

Hopefully I can use this time to catch up on backlogged posts, while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind, but as I have a few other activities to carry out, fingers crossed at least the time spent becomes productive.

I'll leave it here for now, but you're sure to expect more free-flowing posts about my trip in the coming days if not hours. See you soon Manila!

Canada: Niagara Falls and Downtown

Let this blog entry be a little reminder for myself before my trip ends up half-forgotten at the back of my mind at the end of everything. I believe this will be a great way to chronicle the trip and expound on some of the details I may end up overlooking later on when I type up an abridged version sorta like my US trip.

The pictures will follow, but for now here's what happened so far:

We awoke to breakfast at the hotel, before preparing for the travels of the day. We were picked up by my mom's former officemates Tito Abet and Tita Ena, who brought us to Niagara Falls. Weather forecast said there was 60% chance of rain, and on the long drive over there from Mississauga all the way to Niagara Falls, rain hath no fury. It poured down pretty much how it would back in Manila, which was a pretty unwelcoming gesture from nature considering we were planning to see the Falls.

Upon our arrival, rain was still coming down, but only got stronger, causing us to get limited time outside exposed to the elements, admiring the Falls on Canada's side. This perpetually cancelled our Maid of the Mist voyage, and instead went to see the Flower Clock and have lunch at the Swiss Chalet. This was soon followed by a trip to the Outlet, were my dad and I managed to get shoes for ourselves! I got myself a pair of Raintrek shoes from the Adidas Outlet Store. :)

Afterwards, we headed downtown to see the CN Tower, but with the weather pretty much the same, the fog covered much of the view from afar. Nevertheless, we still managed to head in and have a look around, passing by Rogers Centre before heading off to Union Station, a Grand Central equivalent from New York. From there, we headed off to the Toronto Eaton Centre, a mall of shorts to look around some more shops and off to the Urban Eatery below, a food court of sorts for dinner before heading back to the hotel.

Overall, it was an eventful first full day in Toronto. The weather was cold and the rain most unwelcoming, but here's to hoping the day ahead will yield more interesting sites! :)

EDIT: Outtake shots from our first full day in Canada added!

Review: Now You See Me

Last May 31, Kai and I had plans of watching a movie. It was a Friday, Mom would be finishing up work late, we had all the time in the world. With all the hype for Star Trek: Into Darkness going on for the past few weeks, we wanted to see if we could still catch it in theaters before it fazed out. Much to our dismay, none of the Ayala Malls (those prominent in Makati anyway) were showing it anymore. The trade-off for that, however, was a new movie had just opened: Now You See Me.

Just like before, I had my own personal reasons why I wanted to watch this:

1. I'm a sucker for magic-themed movies (i.e. The Prestige)
2. I'm a major Mark Ruffalo fan

Kai and I saw the trailer for this movie a while back, and the plot itself was enough to pull in interest. The clincher, of course, was finding out who the cast was, with Mark Ruffalo and Morgan Freeman among them. That being said, it was a real treat and an absolute must to watch it! I immediately reserved us seats for the 6:20 showing. Below is my review. My apologies for any spoilers this might cause. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The movie starts off with a magic trick. I mean, it has to. Not surprisingly, the audience was baffled by how it happened, and that I guess is one of the great parlor tricks that lures the audience into a continuous suspension of disbelief. As the movie continues on, we are introduced to the four magicians who make up The Four Horsemen, a super group who are guided by some mysterious benefactor later revealed to be a character portrayed by Michael Caine.

When they pull off a big bank heist, this gets the attention of the FBI, where a detective Dylan Rhodes played by Mark Ruffalo is assigned to handle the case. Annoyed at first, he finds himself paired up with an Interpol agent as they chase down the Horsemen. After all is said and done, the greatest twist is revealed at the end of the movie, which I won't bother spoiling since it's just too epic to describe.

One thing is for certain though: Mark Ruffalo is the star of the show. He might as well have been dubbed a magician in his own right, and the pacing of the movie itself never left a niche to get bored, at least in my book. You'll just have to watch the movie for yourself. :) Overall, I highly recommend the movie!

US Trip Abridged 2.0

So after many, many, many months of procrastinating, here's part 2! This tackles the second half of our US Trip last August, and I wanted to get his done and out of the way considering we have another upcoming trip to Canada in a few days and I didn't want them to clash. Besides, the longer it takes for me to delay this, the more I'll forget to type anything decent to owe the experience any justice at all.

My family's second half of the vacation had us leaving the busy city of New York City to the very hot place that was the country' capital, Washington D.C.! But that includes a side-trip (at least for me and my folks) to New Jersey while my siblings opted to stay an extra day in New York for their own personal reasons.

My internet was acting up so I'll have to upload the rest of the pictures another day.

14. Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City! This was where the firsts started, though technically not my first casino area since Las Vegas during one of our previous US trips. And before you ask, NO I didn't end up gambling, but I do remember spotting an American Idol game. My parents had some friends in New Jersey, and we stayed with one of them for an evening before they helpfully dropped us off at the train station to take the Amtrak in Pennsylvania to Washington where we'd be reuniting with my siblings. 

15. Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

The capital city was hot, but the travel there was worthwhile with the Old Town Trolley service that was the nice, rustic equivalent of bustling New York's HOHO (Hop On-Hop Off) tour buses. One of our first stops off the trolley was visiting the Lincoln Memorial. And boy was it a beaut! Considering we've seen this on many different occasions in the movies is a big fulfillment on its own.

16. US Capitol, Washington D.C.

The drop-off point of the trolley at the US Capitol was on the other side of the entrance of the inside tour, so we found ourselves making the LONG trek around. And in that heat? I was just depressed that I had to empty out my canister due to security protocol of touring the Capitol. The cool part though was that there was an awesome room we were in that could bounce off sound (even whispers) off the floor from one side of the room to another.

Oh, and did I mention that the area we toured was underground? Check out this high ceiling!

17. White House, Washington D.C.

The iconic White House beyond the perimeter was about as close as we could get to the structure, but that didn't really stop us from getting any pictures taken!

18. American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

A gaming exhibit is always a grand adventure, so we were able to head in and have a quick look around. Funnily enough, there were several exhibits that let you play some games. Pacman, Super Mario Brothers, Flower and Monkey Island to name a few.

19. Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington D.C.

If you've seen Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Transformers 2, then you'll recognize the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The museum space itself is pretty big, considering the amount of exhibits you'd find there. I wanted to go on the Flight Simulator but I couldn't coax anyone to go with me, so I settled for taking a little tour around instead. Funnily enough, Dad found this picture of one of the Philippine Airlines plane models.

20. Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C.

Another of the featured museums in the Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. This one played up my alley much better since I enjoyed looking at wildlife, getting lost a bit to venture around and learn about some thing or another.

Mother's Day 2013

This weekend, my mother and siblings flew off with the rest of the Monsods for Bali, Indonesia for a short vacation. I chose not to go so I could utilize my vacation leaves fully for our upcoming family vacation to Canada to visit our relatives in Winnipeg. Because of that, Dad and I are home alone during Mother's Day weekend. 

So to commemorate the day, I decided to do a little celebration of my own! Here's a picture of my Mom and I in the Philadelphia train station, waiting for the Amtrak to head to Washington during our August 2012 trip to the US.

And since I was in the area, I also took the liberty of paying a visit to my grandparents at Loyola Memorial Park. While the gesture isn't that spectacular, I'm glad I was able to get some roses for grandma despite the dreary weather conditions of rainfall in the area. :)

Typograph Layout

Theme Name: Typograph

Source: BTemplates.com

Link: Typograph_Template

Shirts and Headphones

To further commemorate my new laptop dubbed Jarvis, here's my first "official" picture taken with his trusty internal webcam, sponsored by Acer Crystal Eye. What's so special about this particular picture, you ask? Two things, so technically speaking, the peace sign I'm making has its double meanings.

The first is to chronicle the lilac polo t-shirt I got as a souvenir from my Auntie Lynda, who was visiting from Los Angeles for a few weeks here in Manila. This particular shade of purple reminds me fondly of a shirt that one of my favorite college professors often wore (shout-out to Ma'am Jess!). And considering Kai's favorite color is purple, it helps to have one that's easier on the eyes. I'm starting to see a pattern inthe polo t-shirts I acquire; they're all pastel or dark.  

The second is to chronicle (and put into perspective), one of my more personal but very much worth it purchases to date: an Elephant Masterpiece Headphone from Data Blitz!


Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz
Impedance: 60ohms
Sensitivity: 115dB
Max Input Power: 5mW
Technical Specs:
Audio: 40 mm handmade drivers
Don't worry if the technical stuff confuses you. The sound is awesome and is pretty well priced at Php595. Pretty good too since it's collapsible into a nice neat soft case that comes with it. And the cord is durable, so it's sure to last.

My New Lappy

My first post using my new laptop! After the whole escapade of my desktop laptop Tony dying, I was already on the hunt for a new one. Owing to the need to help with the capabilities of my return to the coding scene (no, not professionally, just as a hobby surprisingly enough), I began scavenging around for a powerful laptop from a reliable brand.

After browsing several electronic and PC-related shops, and even the Best Buy websites, I finally decided on one. Another factor that came into my decision was geared more on how much I can pay in a span of around one to two years.

If I've learned anything about the value of a good laptop, is looking at the reviews and seeing if it's cheaper abroad. Luckily enough, my dad was due for a San Francisco flight a few weeks back so I took the chance and asked him to get it for me.

And so, lo and behold, my new laptop! My new Acer Aspire M5-481PT-6644 Ultrabook!

Here's the specs:

• Intel Core-i5 processor
• 6GB RAM
• 500GB HDD
• Windows 8 65-bit OS
• Touch screen

Bench

After several trips to the department store to purchase a good number of jeans, I still find myself with a great deficiency of them in my closet. Sometimes they get misplaced in other closets, or sometimes they may even be gone as far as I'm concerned. But it's that time again when a Sunday afternoon of 40 degrees Celsius calls for a trip to the mall to leech on airconditioning and get new jeans.

For quite a while, my mom and I have been supporters of Jag for all the comfort, but I decided to go a different route this time around and browse at HerBench instead. Now, there are probably two reasons why I wanted to try it out: 1) Adam Levine is a model for Bench and 2) my girlfriend owns a pair. So I thought, "What the heck?"

To my sweet surprise, the price of their jeans were easier on the eyes than the other brands, so it helped with coaxing my mom to try some as well. So with my two pairs of jeans purchased for a good price of roughly Php900 each, I came away happy.

5 Year Buddy

My first laptop (not including the hand-me-down Compaq laptop I used until high school) was a 14 inch HP dv2000 laptop. It was my chosen graduation gift from high school in the whole threshold to college, and with a course like Computer Science, it sort of demanded me to have a laptop of my own with better capabilities. At the time, it seemed to have been a decent choice, but it quickly became a let-down, what with its default OS to be Windows Vista, and had I known that it would end up causing me problems down the line, I would have chosen a different brand or model altogether. But, needless to say, it served it purpose well.

Of course, you'd imagine why I'd be writing up an entry like this. Well, the answer to that is simple: I've laid it to rest due to its inability to boot up after 5 years of servitude and neglect. I guess part of the reason why it died on me was the fact that it got demoted to being a mere desktop laptop that stayed home, was constantly plugged and hardly ever rested (yeah probably my fault) ever since I got my little Acer Aspire One netbook for more convenient portability in my final year of college. AND considering I've gone through three batteries for said HP laptop, I wouldn't be surprised it failed me over time.

But to commemorate how it still means something to me, I wanted to give you a little glimpse of the good and bad times I had with my 5-year-old HP that I originally named Roy, but just recently named Tony. Because it's Tony (yes, named after Tony Stark), I can be a sadistic little ass and point out that his Arc Reactor gave out and couldn't revive him or that he didn't have a Jarvis to do any repairs. Phrasing things like that puts me more at ease about the loss, at the very least.

Tony has been my reliable buddy throughout my first three years of college, when coding assignments were rampant. He helped me out of a dozen pickles, but that came with the consequence of lugging him to school, and he wasn't exactly the lightest laptop around. It was for that purpose that my mom bought a special backpack for me (with its separate laptop compartment) to transport my laptop to and from school as I frequented commuting rather than driving (since I wouldn't be driving until second year). Yeah it put pressure on my body for the extra weight, but well worth it considering my need for it half the time.

I suited Tony up with a few other armaments, including several OS upgrades to Windows 7 and Ubuntu to help me out whenever and wherever necessary. Because he had an optical drive, I managed to burn DVDs as necessary, and even play some PC games for a time with him. He definitely gave me the best and easiest time with things, until I up and decided that I needed less weight to carry. Yeah he ended up staying home after that, but that didn't mean I discarded him completely. He still had much more to offer me and I'm just glad that he was able to provide for me the needed help whenever he could. I'm happy to have had Tony to support me, but now I'm ready to say goodbye (which I already have) and move on with my netbook Bruce (yes, after Bruce Banner. Ain't I creative?) until I can save up for a more powerful unit. Until then, pocket netbooks FTW!

Pet-Project: Website Coding

So before March comes to a close, I decided to share one of the little activities I've been busying myself lately (that has little to do with work mind you). This is actually a little pet-project I do, though the goal isn't so much as publishing it to the web but still shows up on a web browser. Forgive the irony, but I'll get to answering that weird quip in a second.

I don't often mention that one of my absolutely favorite hobbies is to write stories in the form of roleplays, but when I do, it's always in relation to Kai and we do take some pride and effort to doing it whenever time allows us. Since we've expanded our repertoire of story worlds and universes real and fiction alike in which to portray characters and weave a story of our own, I have this little (okay, maybe not so little) tendency to keep things to some order, so I wanted to have a little space, even just internally, to keep things on record.

While we have the luxury of Dropbox and Evernote besides Blogger (duh) to keep track of some stuff, I wanted to actually apply some of the things I learned (okay fine, mostly self-study) to good use. But then again, there was just that excuse to make the experience a bit more interactive than just clicking on files that probably didn't make as much sense without visual prompts and stuff. Haha.

At the end of it all, I might end up inspired to make my own site again, to which I owe myself of nearly 4 years ago a pat on the back for chronicling this entry else I would have forgotten that title.

Counting to 12

Somehow I wonder a year is really about to pass. The frequent hours I spend in my job testing games (the misconception is still thrust in there somewhere) has accumulated to 11 months and counting. Before I know it, May 2 arrives and I'm back at square one, with a year of experience under my belt. Around this time, I start looking back on the months that were, and wonder if I did everything I set out to do before I reached the 1 year mark.

My first job at Anino Games is turning out to be well worth the decision. I have a blast coming to work everyday, despite having to wake up super early than I would prefer. I get to chat up with old and new friends, at times working alongside them on the projects I get assigned to. I learn new things as more days fly by, and in turn I teach what I know to those who need to know. I work my "Excel magic" where applicable and help out in the processes wherever applicable, which is always a great feeling.

I guess I can give myself a pat on the back for the great evaluations that made me a regular last November, but I also have to thank the people around me for inspiring me to always be at my best to keep my neck over water. Here's to a few more years testing games and (hopefully) climbing the career ladder in time!

Tactical Decisions

Over time, I think the longer games take to get from start to end, the more I get immersed and enticed by the story and gameplay to effectively enjoy it. Needless to say, I still have much to expose myself to, but the experience I take away from coming across such titles and playing them has not been such a waste of gaming time (at least in my opinion).

This post will give you an overview of the titles that I've managed to have the privilege of playing over the years, and maybe when time permits me, I'll come back to this topic every now and again to talk about them more in detail. We'll see.

RPG-Strategy games always give me the best thrill, since it puts your skill and tactical sense (at least in the sense of decision-making) to the test whenever you make a particular action or move to advance. Grinding levels and coming up with effective strategies to win are the kind of stuff I humbly enjoy indulging myself with. It keeps my brain active, so to speak.


1. Pokemon (Nintendo - GB, GBA, DS)


I've been a fan of the series for the longest time, and I always made it a point to take the effort of playing several versions whenever I could just to re-live the experience of at least pretending to be a Pokemon Trainer, catch and train Pokemon and rise through the ranks.

Found on your left is a little collage of the titles I've personally played through. You'll notice I haven't even touched on the 5th generation titles (Black and White), but maybe someday I'll get to that. Someday.

This spread of titles should give you a rough idea how young I started playing games too actually! I remember playing Pokemon Blue on a Pink Gameboy Pocket, Pokemon Yellow on a Yellow Gameboy Advance, Pokemon Sapphire on a Gameboy Advance SP, and Pokemon Diamond, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Platinum and Pokemon Soul Silver on a Blue Nintendo DS Lite.


 2. Suikoden II (Sony - PS1)

For the longest time, my family owned a little Playstation 1 console. I think I was in 6th grade or so when we had our parents buy this game for us. I tried it out and found myself hooked.

The story, collecting the Stars of Destiny, it was a fantastic RPG-Strategy that I believe to be the best in its series, even outclassing its successors Suikoden III-V.

Funny tidbit about this game though. The long cutscene with the credits that comes a little after the Hero and Jowy jump off the cliff together made me think the game was done. How silly was I as a kid?

 3. Breath of Fire IV (Sony - PS1)

This was another title that seemed to have been gathering dust in our little pile of games before I pulled it out and set the CD into the console. Not really aware of the previous titles before it, I played it blindly, as I did most every game.

This one, however, I got some help from my cousin Dabz. He and I were both playing it at the same time and he took the liberty of printing out (yes, printing out an entire booklet) the walkthrough. Oh the thickness of that.

But all the same, this gave me the same awesome sense of uber awesomeness that Suikoden II had, and the many possibilities the story held was something I wasn't ever gonna forget anytime soon.

4. Fire Emblem Awakening (Nintendo - 3DS)

My latest fix. To be completely honest, I never followed the Fire Emblem series until now (then again if you consider the previous two games, I seem to be charting my own course of loving sequels to beginnings). So when I tried out the Game Demo on my 3DS I just knew I had to get it once it was released.

Currently I'm well into playing the game, and at this point in time I find it worth every cent of the price I paid for it. The graphics are stunning, the story is epic, the tactical gameplay is a breath of fresh air and the grinding is always so fun!

So that wraps up my post of RPG-Strategy Games brought to you by yours truly. Maybe someday I'll go into more detail about them and give my reviews. :) Who knows?

That Same Old Testing Thing

I actually typed up a quick entry about this some time ago but I decided to take it down. But since it's gone online (this was a different article altogether), guess now would be the best time to promote it!

So Sir Mac (our Operations Manager) invited us developers to submit any blog entries to post to the website whenever we wanted. Since a tester-themed entry was long overdue (and that was about the only topic I could deliver anyway), I decided to give it a shot.

And it got approved! If you guys wanna have a read (and see my smug picture to boot):

That Same Old Testing Thing

Samsung Galaxy S Duos

Since I started blogging, I've been through 4 phones that barely last a year. Let's have a quick recap, shall we?

• 9/5/2009 - Blue Nokia 2680 (9 months, 1 day)
• My New Gadgets
• 6/6/2010 - Black Nokia 2690 (1 year, 11 days)
• Atarashii Denwa
• 7/17/2011 - Black Samsung Champ Duos (1 year)
• New Phone
• 8/17/2012 - Black Samsung Galaxy Ace (6 months)
• New Phone (Yet Again)
• 2/16/2013 - White Samsung Galaxy S Duos 

This is the first time I've applied for a Data Plan and paying for it at my own expense, so it was pretty important to me that I got a phone that would last me longer than a year without fail. This was one of the phones that came free with my plan, and I'm quite happy with my decision!

This is my first white phone ever, so it couples well with my current White iPod 4th Gen Touch. 

When I obtained this phone, I was on a current shipping fixation that will probably last for the next few months as long as I live. If you don't know what the term Shevine stands for, it's basically a pair-up of two coaches from NBC's reality singing competition, The Voice. Which two artists you may ask? Blake Shelton and Maroon 5's front man Adam Levine! 

(Get it? Shelton-Levine? Shevine? Yeah, of course you do)

So it felt appropriate that to celebrate my fandom of their awesome bromantic pair-up, I decided to dub my phone Shevine. I will love this phone to death and enjoy the many wonders of it in the coming year(s). Data plans FTW!

New Layout

The new year called for an overhaul of the blog layout, so I went searching and decided to go to more simplistic ones and chose this one. Moving forward, I may or may not revert to some previous ones, if only to chronicle them much like this so that when I want to jump back to a layout it'll be easy to retrieve. :)

Theme Name: Mad

Source: BTemplates.com

Link: Mad_Template

Grave Mania: Pandemic Pandemonium

I would be lying if I mentioned the fact that this entry is just an addition to the raving reviews of this game already out on the web. Of course it would not be as simple as that. Not when I'm part of the development team that brought this game to fruition.

So to salvage what sanity I still have after divulging that fact, let's move on to the (hopefully) impartial review of the game!

Grave Mania: Pandemic Pandemonium is the second game in the series following Grave Mania: Undead Fever. This time around the resident Locas (that's actually their last name!) Bonnie and Johnny expand their zombie-subduing and whacking-to-unconsciousness expertise to a global scale as the zombie pandemic spreads overseas. This time management game is fast-paced, catering to both novices and expert players where difficulty is concerned. The zombie theme is depicted in a less-than-gruesome tone, right up to the finger puppet cutscenes that move the story along.

This second installment tackles the search for the source of what started it all: the cake that turned people into zombies! While it maintains much of the first game in terms of gameplay, it attempts to bring some subtle, welcome changes that is sure to keep you coming back for more.

On a technical note, succeeding porting is under way, so expect the game to come out on the Mac, iOS and Android devices, as well as localized into several languages. Towards the end of PC development, I found myself taking over where Jamie had left off. That included cinematics (where I had close to little knowledge about but managed to survive thanks to her workshop and my badgering while she was working her stuff) as well as QA lead for the project, but it wasn't a job I couldn't handle. Now with the game finally released (and managing to remain on the Top 10 Time Management Games and Top 100 Games (#2 and #25 respectively as of 2/12) on Big Fish Games!), it's all about looking ahead, finishing strong and pave the way for a hopeful trilogy or third in the series! Team Loca fight!

Try it out/Download it here!