Monsters vs Aliens vs PC upgrade vs Warhammer

It was a long weekend for us in Malaysia, because of Monday being a holiday; The Prophet's birthday. It certainly was a most activity filled weekend for me.

1. Core i7 mania

Saturday was PC buying day. Not for myself of course but I helped and advised on a PC specs for my friend's new computer and it is without doubt the first Core i7 PC I have ever seen. Awesome. Next I need one for myself. But we have in a way imposed a restriction on ourselves with our current OS (operating system). It is said that most of us use 32-bit OS, which means we can't have a total RAM of 4GB or higher. I'm not sure if that is the exact thing, but I do recall my own failure to use 4GB RAMs on my 32bit Vista system to have among other things, that particular thing listed as one of the causes for the problem.

So top of my PC item list will be a Core i7 Processor, Motherboard, triple channel RAMs and if it's beyond 4GB or so, a new 64-bit OS.

2. Fighting for the Imperium of Man

Dawn of War II rocks. I had my doubts when I saw they really downsized the combat scale, but I'm happy enough that despite that much regretable choice by the designers, the gameplay is still awesome. And it didn't feel as much as the button tapping orchestra I saw typical in Warcraft 3.

True enough, the slightly larger scale and all makes multiplayer somewhat more to my liking than the single player campaign, which in its own right is thoroughly enjoyable. Orks are very colorful enough, in manner as well as some physical traits, Eldar seems cooler than previously, and Space Marines are more awesome. I only regret the lack of Imperial Guards and the minimal vehicular combat.

And yes, Tyranids, scary things those critters are.

For the record, I bought a special edition original copy of Dawn of War II which includes bonus content and a free DoW II T-shirt.

3. MONSTERS VS ALIENS~!

Dig this.

Yeah I bought that. The Art of DreamWork's Monsters vs. Aliens. Don't let the cheesy title fool you. Based on what I see in the book this is quite the quality production.

Yeah, yeah I know, the chick is the central character and she's hot, for a cartoon. I like, true enough but that's not the sole reason for advocating this. The amount of design work and studies poured into this production is very inspiring and the style and architecture of locales, props etc are very nicely done. I so love the attention to detail of the military vehicles and the San Francisco locale, including the Golden Gate Bridge.

And yes, the chick is hot.

Finally, I think, chick characters are getting a central role. Even in writings like the Hero's Journey, female characters are typical as support figures to a central male figure. Look, I'm not into the who feminist thing, I hate female supremacy anyways. But I do not find subservient women attractive either. For a female character to take the lead (as I always make it so for my single player Role Playing PC Games...:P) is something of an inspired choice. I find the market being saturated by heroic alpha male types really do need this change of focus.