红酒·绿茶 / Red Wine & Green Tea / Vin Rouge et Thé Vert

这两天病休在家，乘机把游戏债还了不少。今天终于打完了 Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker 。 我有一个陋习：一个游戏开打一会儿，失去了兴趣或者老过不了一个boss，就把它搁在一边，而且一搁就是一两年！ 比如这个Peace Walker，当年是为了这个游戏才买了个PSP Bundle。结果半途而废，一废至今。 这一次我决心改掉这个坏毛病，所以第一时间打完了 Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes 。然后乘胜追击，依次打完了 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots ， Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty ， Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 和今天这个Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker。后三个都是在PS3上打的HD Edition，只有MGS3是第二次打（第一次在PS2上，最后一个boss打到吐血才侥幸过）。 这样，这个系列还剩第一部 Metal Gear Solid （打到最后，最后一个boss老打不过，又搁置快半年了）和一个小插曲 Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops 。"革命尚未成功，同志仍须努力！" 还有，年底出货的 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain 已经预定了。

I have been playing Dynasty Warriors 5 , a beat-'em-up PS2 game about the Three Kingdoms , created by the legendary Japanese game-maker Koei . Now I can barely type this post because my thumb hurt from smashing the buttons. Due to its heavy references to Chinese history, literature and culture, this game received a relatively low rating in US. (Probably the same reason that I could never understand why Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was hailed as "the greatest video game ever" by US gamers.) I had to order it online because it wasn't available in most stores. "Three Kingdoms" is one of the most turbulent periods in the history of China. Partly due to its incomplete historical documentation, it sparked a great amount of imagination among story-tellers and novelists of the latter day. Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" became the most famous of all. In the Asian gaming world, games based on this novel have such a great cult follow...

Finished the story mode of the game, "Rayman: Raving Rabbids" , in less than two weeks - a personal record! It was a hysterically fun game and I just couldn't wait to see the rest of it once I started playing. Originally created for Wii, its PS2 version would not be as fun as the Wii version with the famous Wii remote controller but the rabbids still win me over with their unique personalities. Check out the following video compilation from youtube: My personal favorite is the one that they created for Valentine's Day:

Got my Guitar Hero II today. (Yeah, I know I am ALWAYS living one year behind in the world of gaming.) Totally AWESOME! Loved it. Now that's what I call a Thanksgiving!

Went to Anime USA 2007, a Japanese anime/manga fan conference in Arlington, VA. It was a fun experience when you were surrounded by people dressing up like comic characters or cosplaying . There was one girl who worn a nice costume of Lulu from Final Fantasy X. A large exhibition hall called "dealer's room" was the place where people buy some rarely seen Japanese anime, manga, video games, costume and accessories. It was a real treat for American fans but not much exciting for me. Because in a densely populated area like China or Japan, big cities would almost inevitably have a "Japanese anime/manga street". So we are used to things like that and we can go there whenever we want. There was another section for artists to sell their drawings. Some of them were pretty good. Five video rooms played Japanese animations nonstop. You can drop in whichever you like. One room for video game fans. All consoles were represented and many hot new games. It was covered by y...

There are only two kinds of people in EE/CS: those who were allured to this field by video games and those who were not. And I am not one of the latter. But I am a bad gamer; there are few games in which I excel. If you played any video games, you would know that only when your opponent is a human, things become really competitive, exciting and emotional. Back in college, everyone has to have a game to brag about. And people are identified with the game they are good at. For example, F.R.F. was good at racing games like "Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit" ; O.Y. was a competitive Tetris guru (It's "competitive" in that every time you clear a row, your opponent will be punished by raising a row.); J.H.J. was a master of fighting games like "Samurai Shodown II" ; L.X.M., nickname "moden", was and still is the invincible "StarCraft" legend. (Granted, their excellencies were at various levels with most of them being just good enough for...

Tidus in FFX Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Finally finished the fabulous Final Fantasy X. (Wow, that's a lot of "F"''s in one sentence.) Costed me more than 70 hours of life but it was worth it. Found tons of fan sites on the web and this one is particularly good. My favorite quote: "Pitiful mortal... your hope ends here... and your meaningless existence with it!" -Seymour Flux

Final Fantasy X - Lulu Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I brought Final Fantasy X the game almost three years ago but couldn't even finish the first chapter until recently I found this wonderful walkthrough. I am not a RPG fan at all but this game is beyond amazing. I spent the whole weekend playing it, like the old college time, but could only finish everything except the final chapter, which I have to wait till my final exams are done.

Snake Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . Finished it today. What a great game!

"Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater" has totally blown my mind away. Fantastic!

Rumble Roses Originally uploaded by nuance1979 . I've been waiting for this game for a long time: "Rumble Roses" , an all-female wrestling game featuring a mud pool where two chicks get very very dirty fighting.

Finally finished Division 1 Leauge and Cup and ML Champion Cup. My Real Madrid now is an all-star team: CF: Nuno Gomes, Raul, Kily Gonzalez, Morientes, Chiesa MF: Ronaldihno, Figo, Gerrand, Simone, Emerson, Nakata, Babangida, Miranda DF: Maldini, Roberto Carlos, Hierro, Kohler, Ayala, Nadal, Valery GK: Van Der Sar, Perruzi Formation: 4-5-1A Caption: Maldini Kicker: Ronaldihno (Free), Figo (Corner), Nuno Gomes (Penalty) However, we couldn't get the Best Shooter and Best Assist because in an all-star team like this, everybody can score and/or assist. (Roberto Carlos has 3 goals!) My last game was ML Champion Final vs Arsenal. Nuno Gomes scored the only goal of the game finishing his fantastic season.

Addicted to World Soccer: Winning Eleven 6 International, the best soccer game in the world. In its master league mode, you have to compete in an imaginary league of world's best soccer clubs, starting from an ordinary division 3 team, by aggressive playing and thoughtful management. A lot of decision-making and coaching makes you more involved in this game and finally becomes addicted. My first major player purchase was Nuno Gomes (CF), an underestimated Portugual forward, which turned out to be very successful. With his unstopable goals, I finished division 3. Then I purchase Klos (GK) from German, Kohler (CBT) from German, Simone (DMF) from Argentine and Ronaldhino (OMF) from Brazil, making my team strong in both defense and attack. Recent purchase was Kily Gonzalez (OMF) from Argentine, with whom I changed my formation from 4-5-1 to 4-3-3. Terminology: GK - Goalkeeper CBW - Sweeper CBT - Central Defender SB - Full Back/Wingback DMF - Defensive Midfielder OMF - Attacking Mid...