I am from Bangladesh, for those who don't know it is a small country east of india and relatively one of the poorest developing countries of the world. Many laws and infrastructures are outdated, such that there is no law for piracy. Not only that, the shops over here sell far more pirated software than few legitimate ones.

Gaming population have increased over the years and keeps on increasing steadily. As you can imagine, the majority of the gamers are PC gamers with the platform very much easy to pirate. Although, there is a recent trend which sees console gaming increasing more and more thanks to Xbox 360's failure to stop piracy and became the go-to game system for pirates...in other words...for pretty much everyone over here. Because of such demand, xbox 360 actually costs much more than the PS3 because only legitimate gamers play the PS3. Where the 360 costs about 550$ for a high end SKU, the PS3 320GB costs 320$ or so.

One very important thing to note: We don't have official support from any of the console manufacturers. Meaning, not only the consoles aren't officially launched here, but we don't get any warranty or any kind of support. So because of this, there is no control in place and retailers are free to choose from whichever region they want to bring the games and consoles. So, we end up getting games from North America, Europe and Hong Kong. Now...if you're a 360 owner you know there is a big problem here; the console is region locked so it becomes a game of chance whether the right region of a particular game ended up in the store shelf...if not then you can't buy it. This played a huge role in pushing Microsoft's console away from legitimate purposes while solidifying the PS3's foundation to stick around for legit games. So only a few years after launch, genuine xbox 360 retail games stopped coming while shipment of PS3 retail games increased.

There are still problems posed by region lock, basically involving around the PSN store. Even though the games are region free, the DLCs aren't and basically tied to the region of your account. For my case, I have a US PSN account and got the European edition of Arkham City, however I am locked out of playing the dlc for the game because my US account will only allow me to download the US edition of the DLC which is not compatible with my European game. Of course you can create a UK account and drop some money in it, but that is too much of a hassle.

So as you can see how important a region free console is in places where we live. Here is hoping the PS4 and the next Xbox are not only region free, but so are their online stores.

So, where do I fall in, well...I'm a mostly a legitimate gamer. Yes...mostly, whether its something to be proud of considering how piracy is welcome in open arms...or something to be ashamed of, knowing how much work and money go into the games for which I'm basically stealing. I game on the PS3 and sometimes on the PC. I enjoy playing legitimately on my PS3 system than pirating over at my Desktop. Reality is, as much as I want to stay 100% legit, I simply can't. As I stated earlier, I live in a very poor country and it is hard for us to pay 60$ a game all the time, also note games don't drop below 50$ no matter how old they are. So what I do, for games I am not sure whether I will like it or not, I pirate it on the PC. If I like it, I usually end up getting it on the PS3 at some point.

Thanks for reading, please do share the state of gaming in your country as well

Welcome to the first edition of my Gaming Flashback. It is basically a series where I briefly talk about some of the most amazing moments in my gaming life. Some of these games may have been long forgotten by the world, but they are forever imprinted in my memory. 

PS2 era gave birth to a lot of memorable action adventure games, one of the series of games was the legendary franchise, Prince of Persia. When we came to this gen and with another reboot looming ahead; with drastic changes planned like less combat and cellshaded color...I was skeptical. After playing the game, I fell in love with it: The visuals looked like a painting came to life and the heavy contrast that occurs when you usher life into the dead dark barren lands is striking, the cellshaded art was stroke of genius in my opinion and worked perfectly to convey this contrast.

Finally, the main reason why the game had won a special place in my heart is because of the Elika, the AI character that accompanied the nameless Prince. She was not only very capable when it came to helping out the Prince during combat, but she was also charming, beautiful, adorable one of my favorite moments were when these two of completely different backgrounds and ideologies, would converse and slowly, fall in love with each other...like real people. To sum it up, Elika is easily one of the best AI companions I had the pleasure to play with, why? Because she didn't feel like one.

Also posted in my blogsite

This month has been utterly amazing ride for PlayStation fans. I am one of the early adopters of PlayStation Plus. I subscribed the service for a year and 3 months for only 50$. Being an early adopter of the service, I was not sure whether I will get my money's worth of content by the end of the subscription, well I got my answer by the end of the 1st month. The first month alone I got 30$ out of my 50$ deposited for Plus, and I had like 14 more months worth of content left to go! You don't need to complete any complicated equation to find out the value. So basically I can be confident of PlayStation Plus to offer a steady stream of content delivered straight to my PS3 each month. It doesn't even stop there, what is even more awesome? Well, I noticed the quality of the content and amount of free stuff steadily increased over the months since it's initial introduction. Plus had some really stellar months, but I think its a safe bet to say the month of September was the best yet for the service. Just look at the amount of stuff I got from this month:

• Resident Evil 1+2+3+4 HD for only 10$! (Along with tons of free avatars and theme)
• Plants vs Zombies for free!
• Uncharted 2 - All DLCs! (Along with tons of free avatars and theme)

And lots more! These are just tip of the iceberg this month. Really whichever way you see it, 50$ a year for content like this every now then is a steal in my book. I doubt Sony can make much profit out of this service, it is more of their way of giving back to us loyal fans that have been supporting them in all the good times, as well as the bad times.

It doesn't even end there, early this month PlayStation held a contest, that they were "looking for a few good gamers to help us with a special assignment related to our new Long Live Play campaign". The contest required you to post a decent quality picture of yourself in your gaming room and submit it along with a write up on why they should choose you, in 30 words or less.

After 2 days I got back an email from them and told me I was in! They sent me some legal papers which gives them the right to use my photograph in their commercial. I printed the papers, signed and scanned them before sending them back. A day after that I got the reply that confirms me to be part of this marketing campaign. The details of the campaign were vague, but it did mention the commercial was called 'Michael', yeah...still very vague!

So all in all, a great month. Even though, same couldn't be said in my personal life as my best friend *foreva* left me to study in UK, best of luck to Miss Nova and love you lots!

A small 3 minute video. What do you guys think?

"Sir, Justin Bieber was murdered before the concert"

"Wel I guess the killer..."

*puts on sunglasses*

"was Justin time"

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHH

Lets take the recent PSN/XBLA game Bloodrayne Betrayal as an example.

The reviews are all over the place, there is absolutely no trend. This is a perfect example why you should never ever take review seriously, poor bloodrayne...sorry. The only person you should trust by the end of the day is your judgement.

Hello friends, most of you are from the West and so I thought I post a picture from a wedding I recently attended to show how weddings are held here in the Indian subcontinent, or specifically my country Bangladesh. I am the guy on the back and the bride is at

the middle.

Also posted in my blogsite

Wish I was there, 15th century Italy was a very romantic time

There are many reasons why one would love the Assassin's Creed series. For some it is the captivating story full of conspiracy that fantastically links several decades apart. For others it is the fluid controls that makes jumping from roof to roof and assassinating your target in clever ways with a press of a few buttons; no small thanks to how open ended the gameplay is.Most of the time your creating your own adventure instead of following a linear method to accomplish it like most games do.

I asked the same question last night, why I love Assassin's Creed? I love the way the series does a great job holding your hand and taking you to a different timeline. I decided to close my eyes at one point in the game; I could hear the soothing music of 15th century Rome providing the backdrop for the entire experience, then I heard a horse gallop past by, a thief picked the horse man's pocket and ran. The man yelled and several guards went after the chase; I could tell all those just from the sound and its a testament of the great job Ubisoft did creating such a beautiful city.

One powerful moment came later that night: I was playing Brotherhood in the city of Rome, it was night and as I just started to make my way towards a mission...I stopped climbing for a moment when I saw something really special. Right below me was a couple gazing at the stars, holding each others arms while the man looked into his beloved's eyes and sang to her. She was shy, but you can sense how deeply in love they were. Even the moon realized the beauty of the scene as she casts her silver veil over couple to protect them from all brutality taking place elsewhere in Rome. I came back to my senses and then I spotted my target, and to my surprise he was standing near to the couple by the ledge. So I made my way around them, shimmied by the ledge and put my blade through his back and pulled him down, as silently as I could so I didn't disturb their moment. Sure it made things a lot longer than it could have been but... it was worth it. I consider myself a romantic guy and even though the character polygons and facial details were very low for the couple, the soothing music and the calm light made it look all so real and beautiful.

Peace

Long time ago after finishing highschool, I was bored, tired and it was too hot outside. So to keep us entertained a friend and I created or tried to create a MGS fan flick. It turned out more like a trial or a demo because we needed more people as two guys just don't cut it. I directed and edited, oh yeah i was fat back then

Teaser

Full video

Hey guys its been a long time, been busy with college work and getting game time in between now and then. I hopefully to will comment as much blogs as possible now. Today I decided to blog about the modding community of GTA. Mods can be be anything, from a small tweak, to new weapons, armor, levels and now apparently even entirely new generation. Apparently modders now have the ability to speed dial the clock forward a couple of years for existing games and make them look even better than most games on the horizon. That is right, modders of GTA IV went bit over cuckoo and turned GTA IV from a good looking game to Photo-realistic. Forget Crysis, Battlefield, etc; this is the real deal. Don't believe me, just check it out.

VIDEO

Just look at the visual fidelity at display. From the quality of the lighting to the sheer detail of the textures that no longer looks like simple 2D textures but stuff that simply pops out! Rockstar is really in a tight spot now as there is no doubt GTA V won't be able to fill in the shoes of this epic mod in the making.

Lets turn back the clock to 80's hair metal style! Although it might be too difficult to see from this photo, I actually have a bullet like solid snake!

Whats on the belt? Motorhead?! OMG!!! m/

Motorhead - Get back in Line!

Also posted in my blogsite: http://headbangers-helm.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post.html

Gimme a HELL **** YES!

O_O

Also posted in my blogsite, please check it out its really neat, I need feedback for that aswell!

1985, the American Nosy Parents Association The Musical called themselves the PMRC complained to the Congress to stop Heavy Metal as it's 'poising' young minds with strong lyrics and such. Congress, being a pushover they are, put heavy metal under the squeeze. However, legions of metal heads won't go without a fight: lead by Dee Snider (lead of Twisted Sisters) and many other key metal figures of the time marched right to the Congress. Dee Snider grabbed the Congress by the balls and put a squeeze until they let they let metal go!

VIDEO

Also posted in my blogsite: http://headbangers-helm.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-like-good-old-days.html

My favorite installment in the series, either this or Porsche Unleashed.

During my early days into gaming, I could associate myself with some of the franchises which initially pulled me towards gaming, and one of them was none other than the Need For Speed series. I am a huge fan, at least I was for most of it's lifetime until the series lots its way with the more recent installments. It tried to add a story, open-world and what not and not only failed to make those new additions or changes interesting, but at the same time forgot what the series was all about. The series drifted & 'shifted' out of it's track and ended up on a completely new road which felt very unfamiliar to me and long time fans alike.

Then came a latest in the series to date, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. As with the namesake, the game from the creators of Burnout series was clearly focused to drive the franchise back to it's original lane, and by God they succeeded!

It feels soooo good to be back!

No more **** storyline to worry about, it's just you, your car and the road and nothing else. The game features less Honda and more of the car's you really want to drive but can't in your lifetime. It goes with some of the most beautiful racing environments in any racing game, some of them a clear homage to the previous NFS titles. Also the Autolog can be so addicting, just a message on the upper right corner blinking that your friend has beaten your time by .89 seconds really punches the manly hood inside you.

I'm really glad that one of my oldest favorite franchises gone back to it's roots, even if for a short '*cough* Run *cough*.

Also fans of Assassin's Creed might want to check out this interesting article from New Scientist, recent advancements in genetic memory may lead to an animus near you.

Here I am having an off day :\

Close to my dream, not exactly.

I had a dream that day did come true. This was one afternoon under the golden sun, as I was walking through; there was this this sermon, for Death. Death was crucified; a lot of people were there... the chairs stretched into the horizon. I looked across and I saw people digging, I was intrigued and thought it was for those who didn't made it, but it was something else entirely...they were digging people out. I saw this one senior giving his hand to help out a young man. The old man asked, 'are you my...' before the young man interrupted him and said 'yes...I am your great great grandpa, can you help me look for my father's grave?' Wives were crying to see their love once more standing right in front of them, orphans no longer had to carry that title... it was scary...but it was so beautiful.

Sudden gush of wind pulled me out of that trance, felt like something was coming really fast. I looked left and right but I couldn't see anything coming by. Then I saw people looking up in the sky and some started to cheer, as I looked up and saw horses flying across the sky extremely fast, one of the horses was at blaze with fire. I asked the nearest person what were those, the man replied 'Why, those are the horses of the apocalypse,freed from their masters (four horsemen)'.

It ended...when I saw...a certain person I lost long ago... I looked at her...at first... I couldn't believe she was standing right in front of me…as beautiful as the day I saw her. I shed a tear, I wanted to rush and lift her up and kiss her, but it all felt too good to be true. As I turned my back and tried to walk away, she held my hand stopped me. I turned and still not convinced…then she whispered something to me "You + me = happy ending", she told me that before she died of cancer 5 years ago. I took her hand, and kissed her, it just felt just like the first time.

Then I heard a woman shout, "Come on you two! We are celebrating the end time with a grand feast, go grab the best seats while you can!". We looked at each other, smiled…took her hand and as we went over there…my dream started to fade away slowly.

We met at a golden beach, perhaps that influenced my dream?

Will it have a happy ending or will it be a depressing end to everything?

I got into it and while its all neat, its kinda empty : So anyone wants one, I can invite people. Send me a PM or write your email address below in the comments.

Note: Due to the overwhelming demand, google has been throttling invites. So you might need to wait for a few days