Another Review by our Special Guest, Samael Statue from Darksiders!

Delayed a bit but I did that on purpose.. I wasn't expecting this review from Alexander but I guess he did it just to taunt me... Like the Death and Despair Statue, I don't have Samael as well..

So here it is.. The Review of Darksiders Samael Statue by my good friend, Alexander Hauge! The stage is yours, Alexander!

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Samael is the 2nd statue of the Darksiders series made by Sota Toys. The statue comes in a very nice box with artwork by Joe Maduera showing Samael holding the heart of one of the chosen. The box is the largest of all the three Darksiders statues. Maybe thats why Samael arrived with without a single fault or scratch. The most important things is that it was well packed. The statue comes in 2 parts. The base and Samael. Putting it together is self explanatary and very easy.

Just like the Death Statue, Samael has a much better paint-job than War and Ruin. He has details on his face down to the smallest detail. His claws, his armor all show details with great accuracy from the game. His wings are gigantic, and surprisingly strong quality to it. Since this was my second statue from State of the Art Toys, I was astonished for how much they had improved after the War statue. 

Don't get me wrong. I really love the War and Ruin statue. But compared to Samael and Death, it stands out as dark with less details.

Like the other statues, this one also has LED function. On their website, Sota Toys says that the Heart of the Chosen is glowing with a hella bright light, and a second function is to use this statue as a night light. My own opinion; The LED effects could have been much more. The LED effects is not bright enough to show Samael's face looking at the Heart in the dark. Although the lights is a gimmick for many collectors, I think they could have made the effects stronger. Maybe some lights behind his wings.

It's still on sale and with 350 copies made. 150 less then War and Death statues. Would I recommend it? Yes absolutely, but If you have to choose between Samael or Death the answer is simple. Choose the Second Horseman! 

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Fantastic Review once again, Alexander! Thank you for your time. I got to say his collection looks fantastic! I'm kind of tempted to get the Samael statue as well now. Looks fascinating!

(All pics courtesy of Alexander himself)

Assassin's Creed 3 PC Give-away with SGamers.org!

Hello Hello!

I have a spare, sealed PC Copy of Assassin's Creed 3 to give away! 

Of course, if you didn't already know.. Assassin's Creed 3 is the 5th installment in this popular series.. One of my favourite franchises as well. I already have the PS3 version of the game so had no use for the PC copy and I'm giving all of you a chance to win it. I'm trying to start my own Assassin Brotherhood so I would like you to learn more about being an Assassin. ;)

I will be doing this give-away together with SGamers.org. SGamers is a new Singapore gaming forum which started sometime, late last year. The community is still small but growing. Do join us as we talk about gaming news, games, trophy-hunting, chit-chat about everything under the sun. We also have a special "I want to Rant!" thread for you to let off some steam! 

So some Simple Rules..
1) You got to be SGamers.org forum member - If you haven't joined yet, just register with them. I will need your forum IDs to let you participate in this give-away!
2) Answer the Question - Nothing too difficult, just some general knowledge on the game.
3) You must be living in Singapore - Sorry everyone else!
4) Submit your entry by 27th May 2013, 11.59am - Three weeks! Plenty of time!

Edit: Give-away has been officially closed! Winner has been announced! Head over to SGamers to find out who won!

So how do you participate?
1. Register at SGamers Forums if you haven't already done so.

2. PM me the answer this Question: "Who is the Assassin that you will be playing as in Assassin's Creed 3?" at the forum, my ID is Dr_Jengo.

3. To Double your chances of winning this give-away, share this post on Facebook. Do let me know in your PM that you have done so, with your Facebook link. Share must be made public so I can see it :)

4. You must be living in Singapore as I will be mailing the game to the winner.

5. Closing date for this Give-away is 27th May 2013, 11.59am. All entries must be submitted by then.

Good Luck Everyone!

Darksiders Franchise has been bought!

Should have heard the news by now but the Darksiders franchise has been bought over by Nordic Games. Definitely a surprise to many as everyone was thinking Crytek would be bidding and probably win the bid.

So what does this mean for the franchise in the future? Initially I was a bit sceptical about Nordic Games getting the franchise... Wasn't sure, in which direction this new company will take my beloved Darksiders. With Crytek, the Darksiders will be back with the original developers since many of the developers from Vigil Games have moved there now. 

However, this article has given some hope that Nordic Games is heading in the right track.. Basically they are  open to the idea about working with Crytek USA to develop any future Darksiders Sequels, which is great news.

However, I was also thinking.. "What about the storyline?" The storyline is what I loved about Darksiders. While a large core of the original developers have stuck together and moved to Crytek USA, I'm sure there are many others who have left, including a certain Joe Mad, who had a huge and critical role in the creative aspect. So my question is, "Whose idea was Darksiders in the first place?" Will any sequels continue on the original storyline that was meant to be, or will someone else be taking over to create his own vision of the Darksiders franchise?

Hope you guys know what I mean, it's like me telling a long story to you but for some reason, I had to leave half-way and someone else takes over to complete the story for me. Will he tell the same story that I meant to tell or will he create his own version?

I am very happy with the news that the Darksiders franchise is still alive, no doubt about that and am excited to see what Nordic Games has in store for us, relating to Darksiders. However, I'm still a little disappointed and worried that Darksiders will not be what it was meant to be.

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Keeping in topic with Darksiders, I have another review coming up soon by our Special Guest, Alexander! Stay tuned!

New Trailer for GTA V coming soon!

Rockstar just put up a pic on their Facebook Page.

Looks like there's going to be a new trailer or rather new trailers that will come out this 30th April. Presumably showcasing each of the 3 characters in detail. Stay tuned! It is starting!

FireFigures- Legit or not? Not!

Quick update..

The question on a lot of people's minds were "Are FireFigures Legit?"

So I decided to try and ask a few Ubisoft branches in Asia to see if they had any info and here's Ubisoft Singapore's reply.. 

(I covered their names just in case they weren't comfortable with it, and mine too as I'm paranoid like that.. haha!)

So there you have it, they aren't licensed to make these products. Our fears were right.

Your friendly blogger doing his part for the community! :D Will update more info if there updates in the next few days so watch this space!

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Edit: I was thinking of adding some comments to clarify why I posted this in the first place, but it seems there are some people who are very unhappy with what I did..

Anyway..

I'm not saying Fire Figures are a scam. They have not shown any evidence of that so as the saying goes, they are innocent until proven guilty. 

My question was, "Are these figures licensed by Ubisoft?" as there has been no mention of the agreement by Ubisoft to my knowledge. Many others were also asking the same questions on Facebook as well as forums. Since there was no confirmation of this, I decided to ask Ubisoft Singapore and Ubisoft South East Asia if they had any info. Why them and not other branches? Firstly I'm from Singapore so I asked my local Ubisoft branch and I believe seeing somewhere that Fire Figures were based in Asia so why not ask those who are closer to the source?

Ubisoft Singapore replied while Ubisoft SEA did not. My intention was to get more info, not to get Ubisoft to shut them down. Of course by bringing this to their awareness, I'm indirectly doing the latter but in this day and age, are you telling me that Ubisoft won't find out about this sooner or later?

However, the figures are not licensed whether Fire Figures are a scam or not. There's no 2 ways about that and informing people was my intention. I never told anyone not to buy these figures nor do I plan to. Unlicensed stuff are everywhere, I'm aware of that. It's your money, your choice. I have no say in that. I'm not going to condemn you or judge you in any manner if you decide to continue buying the figures. For all I know, I might even buy them someday. That's how good the figures look! But the fact remains that these figures are not licensed.

Why do I keep harping on the fact that they aren't licensed since I already know there are so many unlicensed stuff out there. Based on the screenshot, Ubisoft apparently will attempt to close their FB page which means they aren't happy about it. If Ubisoft decides to crack down 

on Fire Figures, then what?

There's always a possibility that a new company that no one knows about could be a scam, like it or not but that's the worse case scenario which hopefully and I believe won't happen. PayPal has a window of 45 days to open a dispute should such a thing happen and we can and should make use of that in case the worse happens. What I'm more concerned about is, if Ubisoft shuts them down, what happens to the orders? It could take days, months or never.. that is impossible to tell. Do we get a refund then or do we get just 1 or 2 of the Assassin figures and the rest never get produced? It's hard to say but if I'm going to put down that much money on their products, I would like to be assured I wouldn't have to worry about this. Basically by having a legit license, I will be more confident in the company.

So go ahead and buy their products if you wish, it's your call but be aware of the possibilities mentioned. As I was typing this out, I read on their FB page that they are in talks with Ubisoft so it may all end well. As a collector myself, I do want to see Fire Figures do well with the Assassin's Creed figures, of course preferably with a proper license. As much as I'm concerned about the lack of the license, I too am impressed with the figures. As much as everyone else, I too want these wonderful 1/6 scale figures..

US PSN's $10 back promo!

The US PSN recently had a promotion.. $10 back for every $50 you spent!!

 

Awesome stuff! Thought I could buy all the DLCs and Season Passes I was missing but then I realised there was nothing left for me to buy! I already bought most of the stuff I needed.. But there's always a 100 other reasons to spend your cash so... This is what I bought..

Darksiders 2 Season Pass & All DLCs - With the fate of the Darksiders franchise in the balance, I'm not sure if the DLC will be up on the PSN store for long. Better to get it now before it's gone for good. Hopefully I won't regret the purchase, considering there were many complaints on bugs in the Season Pass content.. Still one of my favourite games of all time.

Infamous: Festival of Blood - Was postponing this purchase until I have time for this but bought this to add to the $50 I need to spend.. Come to think of it, I need to start on Infamous 2 so I can check out the Infamous: Second Son trailer..

At this point, I didn't know what else to buy...

Then..

GTA III, GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas - Bang! Bang! Bang! Awesome games that I wanna play again. Planning to get Vice City Stories & Liberty City Stories when I get a PS Vita as well. Would have gotten Bully as well but I ran out of cash. Maybe I'll get it with the $10 cashback!

Of course feeling a bit shitty now as all GTA games are on sale this week..
 

Army of Two: Devil's Cartel Replica Masks

Was thinking it was going to be a quiet few months in terms of purchases but boy was I wrong.. Unexpected releases and sales made me go buying stuff.. lots of stuff..

Will have several updates over the next few weeks.

First up are these replica masks from the latest Army of Two game..

Really awesome stuff! There were some hints some time back that there will be replica masks but I didn't expect them to be out so soon. Once they were announced, I had to get these. No two ways about that.

I have the two masks from the previous TWO operatives, Tyson Rios and Salem Elliot. They look great but those were not official stuff. I found them on eBay from a custom-mask maker in Thailand. So I was definitely excited to get these official replicas of the new guys, Alpha and Bravo from the new Army of Two game.

Alpha Mask

Looks pretty similar to the actual in-game mask except the design on the 3 stripes are more prominent. The in-game mask's design was very faded and I had to check again to see if it was accurate. 

One small issue with the mask is that the 3 stripes aren't painted/air-brushed onto the mask. They are actually stickers pasted onto it. Could have issues with them peeling off if not taken care of properly. Other than that, it's a really awesome mask.

Bravo Mask

A lot more detail on this mask... Got no complaints on this... They really nailed it with the Bravo mask. No stickers on this one.

A pic of all the masks for comparison..

As much as I love the custom-masks, these professional ones done by Evike.com are the real deal. The original ones have the worn-out look while the new ones have the polished, shiny look. I will always like the custom ones but it will be nice to see EA bringing out official masks of the first two guys. Still like their mask designs more than the new ones.

You can find these masks at the EA gear store by the way.

Apart from the sticker issue on the Alpha Mask, I'm really happy with these. Glad to see EA getting some official merchandise for the Army of Two series out. Too cool to take them off the display but tempted to try them out for real. Airsoft anyone?

Injustice: Gods Among Us Launch Event in Singapore

Today sees the launch of the Injustice: Gods Among Us game in Singapore.

Fans of the game will also be pleased to know that there will be a launch event happening right here in Singapore. Unlike in other countries, launch events for games are a rarity. So for those who enjoy these events, don't miss it!

 

To celebrate the launch of the game, New Era has invited Batman and Wonder Woman. They will be at 3 locations on Friday, 19 April 2013.

- Funan DigitaLife Mall - 5th Floor (12.00pm - 1.00pm)

- Ang Mo Kio Hub - Funzcentre (2.00pm - 2.45pm)

- Bishan Junction 8 - Gamemartz & Comics Connection (3.15pm - 4.00pm)

They will be giving out an exclusive poster and all you have to do is to take a photo with the superheroes.

Cool Poster! If that's not enough, bring along your copy of the game or your pre-order card and you take part in their lucky dip for sure-win prizes.

It's a pity they are having it on a work day so don't think I will be able to attend but don't be surprised if the poster turns up in a future blog post ;)

Review of the Death and Despair Statue by a Special Guest.

Something different today..

A good friend of mine is going to share some pics and his review of the Death and Despair Statue from SOTA Toys.

Alexander Hauge is a guy I met on Facebook while commenting on SOTA Toys' Facebook Page. Both of us are big fans of the Darksiders games as well as the Darksiders Statues from SOTA Toys. We have been chatting for quite a while and we seem to have more in common than just Darksiders. Very glad to have a met a new friend through collecting..

While I only have the War and Ruin Statue at the moment, Alexander has all 3 including the Samael and Death & Despair statues. Since I wasn't getting the Death statue for now, Alexander so kindly volunteered to share his pics for the blog. He also did up a short review on it.

So put your hands together for Alexander! All the way from Norway!

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Death and Despair is the 3rd statue of the Darksiders series made by Sota Toys. The statue comes in a very nice box with artwork by Joe Maduera showing Death and Despair. Just by the looks of the box you can get a good taste of the quality the statue has.

It comes in 3 parts. The Base, Despair and Death himself. The parts are very good packed. Death himself is wrapped up tightly and is very secure.

Putting the statue together is very easy. Despair goes into the base, and Death goes onto Despair. It can be a little hard to place Death firmly and hit the hole.

By comparing this to the War and Ruin statue you can right away tell that this statue has a better quality feel to it. The base is very well painted and looks very good. I only found one paint error on the side, but its so small you have to look for it. The base almost look like real stone so the paint job couldnt be better in my opinion.

Despair is highly detailed. Taking on all the details from the game it couldn't be better. The paint job here is also very good. I have read that some owners of the statue says the paint job is thin on Despair, and looking on pictures from other Despair there's clearly some differences. What this means is that when lit up you can see through despair and that is really not that cool. For my own statue this isn't a issue. Despair looks twice as good with the LED on. You can see so much details. The ribs, the eyes and the green effects is damn awesome. I was worried for some time that Despair's head didn't light up properly, because on the pictures of him on Sota toys website it's more lights on him. It also says clearly on sota website that product may vary. I actually found Despair as he is much better when he is darker like mine statue. It makes the smaller details so much clearer. 

Finally we have death. He is very detailed as well. When comparing him to War he is much better detailed. His armor looks, his boots and his weapons all display excactly like he looks in the game. Also the soulkeepers that he has on his chest lights up.

All in all this makes for one really nice statue and is worth every penny.

A few last words. My statue arrived almost flawless, but I did find one little error. The chain that goes around despair is made of Flex resin. This seem to be very fragile. On one side of Despair it was actually a little piece of it that had fell of. Making the chain not going around the whole bit. It was still in its fixed position though and is easily fixed with a glue pistol. Its really hard to see, but I think fixing it protects it from more damages.

All in all I give this staue a 9/10.

I think you would love this statue Juan. It really is so much nicer than the War and Ruin.

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Thank you for rubbing it in at the end, Alexander. Sucks that I don't have it yet. Really love how the lighting gives the smokey-effect on the statue. It's a fantastic looking statue and I definitely plan to get it. Hoping to see the last 2 horsemen made as statues as well. Also seeing Samael together with the first 2 horsemen makes me want to get Samael as well..

Here are more pics from Alexander..

  

 Fantastic review Alexander, many thanks for this!

Something New has Captured my Interest..

I recently saw a trailer of a new game that has got me excited as well as interested..Which led me to think.. When was the last time I have bought a game which isn't a sequel of games that I already own?

I looked through my game purchases and something has got me concerned.. My last dozen or so purchases have all been sequels.. So what's wrong with me? Are there really no new games that I have caught my interested or am I doomed to sequels of the same old games..

The games that I am looking forward to and plan to get in 2013 are Army of Two: Devil's Cartel (Haven't bought it yet even though it's released), Dead Island Riptide, GTA V.. All sequels!

Granted.. One of the main reasons I don't get other games are due to the lack of time. I have heard some good stuff about games like Dishonoured, Walking Dead, Far Cry 3 but I don't even have time to complete the current games I have. Even then, I wouldn't say these games are a must-buy for me. I would probably get them if they are available on a good sale. This will mean just adding to my already large backlog and trying to fit them in between releases. There hasn't been a game from a new IP that's a day-one purchase for me in a long while.

However, something might change this.. Thief.. a simple name from a long-running series that I have never heard about. Initially I thought it was a new IP but there have been other Thief games in the past, a long time ago. Personally I never knew such a series even existed, but the trailer has me drooling..


Looks very interesting and the main character looks very stylish even though the hooded character reminds me of Assassin's Creed and the game-play is a little like Dishonoured. Still a very cool-looking character named Garrett.. Already thinking how cool a statue or figurine of him would look.. haha.

It's going to be for next-gen consoles so PS4 for me.. Still a long way to go but I'll be keeping track of this one..

Assassin's Creed Collection Updates

Got in a couple of Assassin's Creed stuff recently and managed to get some photos up..

First was the "Feather Pen" from Assassin's Creed Revelations. Not sure what it's exactly called? Plume?

It's supposed to be a replica of the feather pen that Ezio used to write to his sister, Claudia in the AC Revelations game. Not sure why it's red though, could have been white to make it more realistic.

Pic of the feather-pen in the game (Source: Assassin's Creed Wikia)

More pics..

It isn't of very high quality but for the price I paid, it was still worth it. Would be nice to see some real high-quality replicas of items in the Assassin's Creed Universe.

Next up are the lithographs from the Assassin's Creed Anthology. I had put off buying the Anthology edition for quite a while... always thought the lithographs were really nice especially as there are 1 from each Assassin's Creed game. I have always been an advocate of consistency and collections so nice to see 1 lithograph for each game rather than getting several different lithographs.

So here they are..

Really really nice stuff. Got to get them all framed up and lined up in the background of my AC collectables someday. With AC IV coming out later this year, I'm hoping for a similar lithograph to match these.

Personally I haven't actually bought any lithographs other than the ones included in the Collectors' Editions even though I have really admired the artwork from the AC games. The artwork is one of the reasons why I have bought all their LE guidebooks. If I had more space (and of course lots more money), I would definitely consider some of the other rare lithographs..

More art stuff from the Assassin's Creed games, this promo poster for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flags..

Don't really collect posters as well but I thought I should get this one. Why?

Because this cover art was done by Todd McFarlane. Wouldn't say I'm a big fan of him but felt it would be nice to own this poster art done by him. Who knows? This could be the first of many pieces especially with the collaboration between McFarlane and Ubisoft for Assassin's Creed figure. Comics maybe?

His signature on the poster.. Very nice!

A video of Todd McFarlane working on the cover art

I actually got 2 pieces of the poster. As it was double-sided, I thought of having 2 in case I framed them up so I could see both sides. But after seeing some of the stuff coming out in the AC IV Collectors' Editions, I don't think I will need the map side framed up as well. So if anyone wants a spare, I have one for sale at SGD$25. Drop me PM on Facebook if you are interested!

Spec Ops Finally!

Back in July last year, I won some wonderful swag from 2k Games Asia for Spec Ops: The Line. Up till then, I haven't heard much about the game. Winning the contest definitely perked my interest in that game and I tried out the demo. Some fantastic stuff! Ever since the game got released, I have been hearing all things good about the game and I promised myself I will eventually get it.

So I did..

 

Helped a friend get a copy too and I'm going to this soon enough. Really badass cover-art I must say..

Can't wait to play this. Seeing this just got me reminded how awesome the demo was.. 

It's on sale at PlayAsia by the way at just US$19.90. Anyone planning to get this, can take a look at the affiliate link below

Buy Spec Ops: The Line (PS3)

My prize from Ubisoft Singapore!

I shared a while back that I won a contest from Ubisoft Singapore..

And here it is..

 

Came in a nicely wrapped Ubisoft Wrapping Paper which I have tucked away nicely for now. I'm grateful for it, but to be honest I have no use for it as I already have the game on PS3. A little something special as an extra would have really been awesome for memory sake :)

Still not sure what I'll be doing with this copy though, probably give it to a friend to encourage him to play the Assassin's Creed games..

Thanks Ubisoft Singapore! But don't forget I still want to visit!

Weekly PlayAsia Deals (Apr 9 - Apr 16)

PlayAsia Deals just out for this week!

Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (US $21.90) - Buy Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (PS3)
Never played these games but I heard it was pretty popular.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Bonus Edition) (US $24.90)
- Buy Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Bonus Edition) (PS3)
- Buy Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Bonus Edition) (Xbox360)
- Buy Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (Bonus Edition) (Wii U)
Worth checking out if you like Sonic & Racing

Killzone 3 (US$17.90) - Buy Killzone 3 (PS3)
Another of those "must-try" games of our generation

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Game of the Year) (US$21.90) - Buy Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Game of the Year) (PS3)
"Must-have" game for all PS3 owners!

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Not too bad deals for this week, just some games at a discount if you haven't already gotten them. I got a spare US$5 off voucher code if anyone needs it. However you will need to spend a min. of US$60 to redeem it. (PlayAsia's terms! Not mine!). Drop me a comment if you need it.

Of course do check back for their Daily Deals! Some nice stuff went on sale last week.

More Updates from McFarlane's Assassin Creed Figures

Seems like every time I search for Assassins Creed stuff on BidBadToyStore, I see something new..

This new one popped out when I did a search earlier..

Some Assassin's Creed IV figures..

We have already seen Edward Kenway previously but now there's Captain BlackBeard who will presumably be playing a vital role in the Assassin's Creed IV game. Then there are two more pirate figures who according to the BBTS site are "legendary pirate figures from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. We don't want to reveal who they are until they've been given a proper introduction by Assassin's Creed developer Ubisoft, but we're sure that you'll recognize both of these notorious characters once they're revealed!"

BBTS is selling these four as a 4-pack and should be available to purchase individually as well.. But.. (There's always a but..) If you get the 4-pack set there is a bonus.

According to the site, "In addition to the four legendary pirate figures, our Pirate 4-pack also includes an exclusive bonus item: a Skull Buckle! Only available in this boxed set, this unique accessory is a replica of the skull-shaped buckle on Edward Kenway's bandolier."

Still a bit undecided about the non-Assassin figures that McFarlane are bringing out. Usually I only get figures of the main characters and with NECA's AC figure line, I didn't have a problem. Hard to reject the non-Assassins figures though, as some of them look to be characters who are important to the plot and if they are giving away DLC content, like they said, and the bonus Skull Buckle as mentioned above, these will be very tempting to get. I'll have some thinking to do while waiting for their release..

Source: BigBadToyStore

GTA V Cover Art Revealed!

The long-awaited cover art for GTA V has been revealed..

 

Great to see Rockstar keeping it consistent with past Grand Theft Auto games. This style has been synonymous with the Grand Theft Auto series thus far.

Would be nice to have a full collection of posters with each GTA game's cover art... Hmmm...