New Brickboy Brothers Shop @ Sunway Pyramid!

Brickboy, the only Lego shop in Malaysia, now has a new shop under the Brickboy Brothers name in Sunway Pyramid, located on the 1st floor of the Old Wing, near the bowling area. This new shop also carries Collectibles, which are not found in the Brickboy Toys shop in The Gardens at MidValley. To see what Legos (and Collectibles) the new shop has, check out the link to the Forum.

What sword are you carrying?

The thing about multi-gaming universes crossing the chief antagonist is that...expect it to be nerfed (dumbed) down to a playable level wherever it appears - accuracy to fluffies (non-serious users) is almost always secondary!

Brick Gamers 28 - When Games Collide

The past few months have been a pretty busy gaming season with big titles being released, and BrickGamers wanted to do a comic with a "What If" scenario. So this is how it might look like...

As usual, these comics were converted from the printed magazine GameAxis, and wasn't designed to fit computer screens. So you'll have to click and view it in a new tab/window that opens.

Loyal Fans

As the decades went by, some mega-franchise on gaming have established themselves as Titans on the industry, constantly churning out titles after titles of the series, and in the process, gaining legions of loyal fans.

As long they don't screw up the game too much with their status! It is just hard to fail if you keep the formula right. You can screw up sometime but people will forgive you if you do the next one right - case in point a certain Tiberium Wars!

BrickGamers Hits 6000!

2013 - Legoland Malaysia!

That's right all fellow Malaysian Lego fans (and even those Internationally!) - Legoland is going to open their first Asian theme park in the State of Johor! Slated to be opened in 5 years time, it will be located in Nusajaya, the new administrative city of Johor (think of it as Johor's Putrajaya).

Nusajaya is located in the Iskandar Development Region, kinda like the Southern Malaysia version of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in Central Malaysia. Its located off the E3 (Expressway 3) highway, and is under construction. There are plans to include other theme parks in the same region, like Universal Studios and Disneyland, to attract Singaporeans (and International tourists) via the Second Link Causeway to come and stay over for the weekend.

View Larger Map
Sources : The Star Online and Brothers Brick

Gears of War 2 customs

If you like Lego and you like Gears of War (GoW), chances are it crossed your mind how cool it would be if Lego releases such sets, from the chainsaw-attached-to-gun franchise.

Though the odds of that happening is about as slim as Marcus Fenix getting a light saber as a melee weapon since Lego doesn't do military as a policy. However, Lego customiser Hazel shows us what the minifigs (Lego Mini Figurines) might look like if it was ever released!

Source : Brothers Brick

Professional Gaming

It is sad that gaming is seen as a just a...well...game, to people who don't understand and who aren't into it - which usually means people who aren't geeky enough or consider themselves too cool to be seen associated with playing games. So much so the term "Professional Gaming" has to be created to differentiate between standard playing games for fun, and seriously playing games, which leads to it being a job, either for beta testing new games, or as a form of sport.

However, even Pro Gaming is not seriously seen as an avenue of work, and will take time to be accepted as a norm, and until then, while pro gamers rake in the money winning electronic sports for their quick reflexes, sharp thinking, and keen analysis, the older generation will have a tough time believing what was once just a waste of time is the future of income and survival.

Gradius's Vic Vipers

Remember those frantic moments of avoiding incoming fire and shooting at central cores of huge bosses in Gradius series? Well here are some amazing works by Peter Morris to remind us of the golden era of side-scrolling shoot-the-core series!

Source : Brothers Brick

Power Leveling

Power leveling is the reason why some people can make money online by selling high-level characters for online games. This is easily done if you have a lot of time to spare, like say if you're a student (as opposed to busy working people - not that students aren't busy), and you spend your free time creating powerful characters, and then selling them off to people who want to play the game - but don't have time to build up a character.

If you put 2 and 2 together, you have an Internet economy where students sell powerful characters to working adults. Since governments aren't savvy enough yet about the Net economy, you can easily get away without being taxed yet!

Of course, you can always develop your character yourself, but if you're working AND spending time to level-up your character, chances are you'll end up like our friend Jack above...like how some of us are suffering from Fallout 3...or Dead Space...or...well, you get the idea!

Lego @ Toys Flea Market

That's right, there was a table selling Lego at the recent Toys Flea Market (check out this post for reference - it will open in a new tab/window) by E-Toyz:

If you still can't see the Lego boxes - it's on the left

Well, okay, they also had other toys, but they had Lego as well, so hopefully this will grow to become a popular spot for Lego trading, so we'll let you know when (and where!) the next Toys Flea Market is happening - and if there's Lego there again by E-Toyz (or others!). Thanks Joujou and Shugi for the pictures!

Monsoon Season

This is a common problem with Malaysians. Having their modem (and sometimes even more) fried by lightning during rain and thunderstorms, thanks to our tropical location! More so during the monsoon season now which rains almost everyday! So much so some companies like Aztech (and now Belkin) are known to replace your modems or routers should they get struck by lightning, since many new users are unaware they should remove their phone line from their modem or router during thunderstorms - as phones work just fine! However, it does help if you live in a location with tall structures around you, as the lightning will go for those instead of you!

New Header Bars!

After being almost a year in existence, we at BrickGamers have now begun to change our header bar (that's the first image you see at the top with all those minifigs trading in a market!) to reflect themes based on current times. For our first theme, we're going with the Fallout 3, so for our next update, maybe we'll do a Christmas one, or another popular game - we'll see how it goes!

Brick Gamers 27 - Malaysia PlayStation3 Launch

The below comic might be too small to read because it has been converted from a print publication (GameAxis - see our box on the right). Hence clicking it will load a larger image.

While this happened sometime back, it was nevertheless a hallmark event in the Malaysian gaming scene to have Sony finally launch their much-awaited cheap Blu-ray Disc (BD) player PlayStation 3 console which was already being enjoyed in other places around the world. So it was expected that gamers would make a line (pun not intended) for the launch, so much so many even camped overnight for it in teams so someone would always be in line!

Of course, that wasn't the only reason people came for the launch. It would be expected of Sony to have CosPlay girls as well, in-line with all things Japanese and Anime, and indeed there were!

Lego Counter-Strike

We know Counter-Strike is a pretty old game, but the fact remains it's one of the earliest user-generated game content that started the Web 2.0 phenomenon where users began creating what they wanted with a platform that was given to them. In homage to a fan who asked us about a Lego Counter-Strike in our Chat Box on the right, we present to you, for your viewing pleasure:

Toys Flea Market!

That's right Lego fans! There's a Toys Flea Market (and Collectibles as well as Crafts) happening this weekend (29th and 30th Nov 2008) at the SoHo (Solaris Hot-Spot) KL (a new mall), located along Solaris Road, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, from 12PM to 9PM. It's called the Joujou and Shugi (Joujou is French for Toys, while Shugi is Japanese for Craft), and it's run by The Kraft Store. Click the image below to see a larger version of the map on SoHo's site for directions there (will open a new window/tab):

It's open to the public but if you're interested to open a table there (there's 30 allocated and 10 have been booked so far), the charge is RM100 per table (6 by 3 feet) for the weekend (both days, RM50 per day). UPDATE! Unforunately there will only be those 10 booked tables this round due to lack of space to offer more for now.

We're not sure if anyone will be selling any Lego there, but there might be, so if you're free and keen to check it out, do go and let us know, as this flea market aims to be a monthly event, so it might turn into a popular spot to both buy and sell Lego (in the Valley at least)!

Contact them at joujouandshugi@gmail.com or visit their site at joujouandshugis.blogspot.com

BrickGamers was contacted by Joujou and Shugis Toys Flea Market about this event. Have a Lego or gaming-related event you want us to shout about? Contact us at bricklives@gmail.com (also available on our profile box on the right) but do mention our post on your side as well - with a link if you have a Web site.

Fallout 3

Fallout 3 is probably no stranger by now, being a popular game this period to be played by console (both Xbox 360 and PlayStation3) and desktop PC gamers. While the hardcore and Fallout 2 gamers might have reasons to hate F3, due to the change from a CRPG to mostly FPS (with exception from the VATS mode), there are gamers who welcome F3 as well.

These gamers could be either new to the Fallout series, or they're enjoying the fun and mayhem they can have in F3 which they couldn't in the previous Fallout series. Although, it's worth mentioning you can't kill kids now in F3, which, unless you're a kid hater, there's probably no real reason to hate F3 for this!

Regardless of which, or even if it may be an "Oblivion with guns", F3 is still one of the strong games this busy gaming season, taking its place next to titans like Dead Space. Best of all, where else can you blow off someone's head with just a standard gun?

Virtual Tour Guide

When you travel, it's advisable to listen to a tour guide, unless you've been there before, or you like unexpected adventures. This applies to the virtual world of online games as well, especially in MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), as our Lego Mini-Fig will illustrate below...

Yes we're sure you can recognise Uberhammer Online is referring to Warhammer Online, but BrickGamers doesn't want to open itself to being sued by Mythic Entertainment, and so let's hope you gamers reading this out there are smart enough to understand! After all, if you don't get it, then you're probably not a gamer! Nevertheless, there's always a chance to start being one!

Boss! I'm sick! Cannot go to work!

Okay, how many of your gamers here are guilty of this? Relax, BrickGamers won't report you to your boss! It's no news that the common excuse used by Malaysians not to come to work is that they're sick, and so they have to take an MC (Medical Certificate to apply for leave).

However, this used to be for other issues - not gaming. Are gamers using the same tactic now?

Obama in Lego and Games

With all the hype and hope for Barack Obama (Democrat Party) to be the next President of the United States of America, both for Americans and the world due to how America is the sole Superpower, it's no surprise to find him in games as well as Lego.

In tribute to his success in winning the US elections, and proving that the world has indeed changed - so that things can change - BrickGamers wanted to highlight the game Mercenaries 2 - World in Flames, by Electronic Arts, which has both Obama and Sarah Palin (Republican Party Vice President candidate) as playable characters in an update by EA in this Third-Person Shooter game:

As for Lego, nothing better captures the situation other than this scene by David on Flickr:

Sources : G4TV and BroBrick

Brickboy Toys Forum Update!

For all you Malaysian Lego fans who have been a part of the Brickboy Toys Lego Forum and wondered what suddenly happened to the forum one day (not to mention the local Vig contest!), take heart that we have contacted Alan for Brickboy Toys, and due to some problems hosting with the previous server, the forum went down.

Since it's not owned but only managed by BrickGamers, we are unfortunate that we couldn't do much to salvage it. Nevertheless, we're working on a new forum, and it'll be up and running soon, on a new server, and this time there'll be improvements like better protection against spam/junk! Stay tuned and we'll let you know when it's up!


In the meantime, this is also a double-post to announce that you can now contact BrickGamers (that's us!) at bricklives@gmail.com. Our contact is also available at our profile box on the right.

Lagging?

Sounds familiar? Especially if you game? Hey if you're not a gamer then what are you doing here? Just kidding! BrickGamers welcomes gamers and non alike! After all, you don't have to be a pro gamer to be a gamer! Playing Bejewelled makes you a gamer too!

With slow Internet bandwidth connections, especially here in Malaysia due to monopolised domination by Telekom Malaysia, most gamers have to share their online gaming experience with other users, and if others do too much Internet bandwidth-demanding activities, like video streaming (like YouTube), then expect your game to be a slow experience - or worse, be cut off!

Brick Gamers 26 - Spore

...and that is why Electronic Arts' (EA) latest simulation game, Spore, doesn't have a multi-player option - at least to BrickGamers! Sure it has a quasi/pseudo multi feature, where it interacts with other players creations in the Spore universe, but you don't directly interact with another player - perhaps to avoid the above scenario from happening! Well, not literally maybe, but not many kids are going to be happy being assaulted by the dreaded phallus creatures!

Scrap that, make it their parents aren't going to be happy! We're pretty sure EA doesn't want to be sued! However, they are getting problems from their DRM (Digital Rights Management) issues used in Spore to prevent piracy - so much so it has resulted in the cracked (hacked) version of Spore being available as a torrent to download! Talk about in-your-face protest!

Gaming Is A Skill

A lot of new wannabe gamers think they can be gamers just by buying the best gaming hardware, but the truth is that, all the money in the world can't make you a good gamer if you lack the leet skills to be one. It takes passion to succeed, and many pro gamers are such not because of the hardware they can afford, but because of the time and effort they put into it to become a pro gamer today.

If you want to earn the big bucks and respect pro gamers get, don't start by getting expensive hardware to show off, start by honing your skills in gaming - you can afford the hardware later once you start to make it big. Or, you could always stick to the tried and true hardware you've used that made you a success! Spend the money elsewhere!

For the die-hard gamers who have yet to be recognised, it's good to know rich noobs can be upstaged by your hardcore skills and truly, not always money can buy everything!

Good Games Distract?

There's a certain saying that goes in the gaming community that if the game is good enough, it should distract you from everything else. While this sounds stupidly insane, it's just as stupid if a game is so boring, you get easily distracted by other things too!

So the onus lies on the player to be in control of him or herself - when playing a really good game that can distract you. You know what they say - it's not guns or bullets which kill people - it's people. In this case, the gamer missed his stop!

A Brick is Missing!

Brick Boy Toys (brickboytoys.com.my/forums) Lego Forumers might have noticed the Forum has gone offline - this is because the BBT site itself is temporary off the air. While Brick Gamers manages the Forum, we're not sure why the site itself has gone missing so we're trying to get in touch with Alan of BBT to find out. Till then, hang in there!

Please note that The Malaysian Lego Vignette Contest (a short descriptive Lego assembly focusing on a particular local scene), organised by BG and sponsored by BBT, is still on - we haven't packed up and ran off with the prizes - yet! Just kidding! Stay tuned and we'll update!

The PS3 - Cheap Bluray Player?

You have to admit it, when Sony released the PlayStation 3 (PS3) with Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive, it was more than just a next-generation gaming console, it was also a cheap BD player !

Considering most BD players are more expensive - and they don't play games - this makes the PS3 not only a cheap BD player - it's also offers extra value by being able to play games too!

The PS3 is now available in Malaysia for RM1600 (yeah it's RM1,599 but we all know that it means it's RM1600 but reduced for the psychological effect) with 80GB of hard drive storage (which you can actually upgrade to 120GB - or more - if you know how).

If you didn't know about the recent launch - or go for it to win cash and prizes - you can buy your own "cheap BD player which plays games as well" from Sony shops.

Left 4 Dead Lego billboard

Left 4 Dead is an upcoming zombie game from Valve and this Lego billboard in a Lego City at the recent BrickCon (conference) 2008 in Seattle captured gaming into the world of Lego! The scene is part of a Zombie Apocafest group project - a giant urban zombie apocalypse made from Lego! See more pictures of this game-turned-Lego world on the Left 4 Dead Blog.

Yes, that is a Lego Starbucks cafe you see there!

Source : Brothers Brick

The Working Gamer

If you're like us, chances are you're a working gamer who juggles between work and play. Which means there are times when new games come out (we can think of the upcoming anticipated Fallout 3, and Halloween's Red Alert 3, before the titan StarCraft 2 comes out!) and we have to start sacrificing out work for the later hours of play...in which case...this might happen to you...

Anyone out there guilty of this as well? Anyone anticipating Fallout 3 or Red Alert 3 to have this effect? It goes without saying StarCraft 2 (when it's out depending on Blizzard Entertainment's fancy!) might have this effect!

Open Sesame...anywhere!

Harrison's work will remind the folks who bought Valve's Orange Box about the time they spent running through DIY man-made Portals. The trans-dimensional fun! If you haven't played Portal, try the free (albeit 2D) Flash-based version here. It's about 8MB so it will take some time to load over a slow connection.

Source : Brothers Brick

Halo 3 Rat's Nest Map

If you've played Halo 3 (only on the Xbox 360 gaming console sadly), then you might have come across this before - it's the Rat's Nest (not literally!) multi-player map, in Lego-style of course!

It's space-age marines blasting aliens in the eternal struggle of humanity's survival! This awesome scene by Vidgamer838 about the Rat’s Nest (Halo Wiki) map captures this scene.

Source : Brothers Brick

Vidgamer838 earlier did a Halo Mongoose ATV earlier, which we featured here

Brick Gamers 25 - Multi-Tasking

For Brick Gamers 25, we wanted to highlight both a possibility and downfall of gamers who multi-task in our modern fast-paced world. With gobs of RAM in today's PCs, we can spawn multiple programs and windows while playing games, but while this increases our productivity and multi-tasking ability...it might also affect our gaming!

As always, click the comic to open it in a new tab/window as these were converted from comics meant for print in GameAxis Unwired magazine.

Warhammer Online

If you don't know by now, the online game Warhammer has been launched. Like any other online game, you either have to get the client CD or DVD to install on your computer and then connect to the server to play, or download the client files yourself directly over the Internet.

However, WO is a whopping nearly 10GB download! That's more than even a dual-layer DVD9 (8GB)! Since Malaysia isn't well known for our Internet speeds - no thanks to Telekom Malaysia's (TM) broadband Streamyx service running at 1Mbps with the 2 and 4Mbps being unstable - it seems futile to download that much if you're just going to try it or if you're a Beta user for test. Until the TM HSBB (High-Speed Broadband) takes off in the country, get ready for this:

Cyber Bully

Some of you gamers might have come across this before - be it in cybercafes or at home. Let's take a cafe for example. You get gamers who start to cyber bully thinking they're that great, but then boy are they in for a surprise when they discover later they should have eaten their words! Sometimes it's just not worth being a cyber bully due to the virtual unseen factor...

The Cost of Gaming

This is sadly, the truth about computers. While they're great for gaming, movies, messaging, and of course, work - they also come with a cost to our eyes. This is mostly due to the fact that computers rely on a screen and since it's a 2D surface, focusing our eyes on something flat ruins our eyes over time - just like how bookworms tend to suffer the same fate. As our world is in 3D, our eyes get used to near and far exercises, but at the computer, so such thing happens. Perhaps when we have 3D holographic monitors, then this will be solved! In the meantime...the below is indeed a quandry! So gamers, if you want to have good eyes, take breaks in between!

Why Games Expo?

At a glance, a game expo might be seen to attract gamers due to the showcase of games, but these days, with the way games and gaming hardware (usually graphic cards) are being marketed, BrickGamers feel we know why gamers go to such an expo...

Yes, it's the age-old marketing tactic of using sex to sell. In this case, promoting gaming via girls and women to attract gamers to either buy such hardware, or play such games! While some might question this approach, we say - if gamers aren't complaining and the models aren't either - then game on! If anything, it gives gamers a chance to pose with those sexy models!

Who can resist models dressed up like fantasy characters like below? In order not to be sexist and balance both sides, we bring you both guy and gal fantasy gaming models for you to view!

Have you done this before?

Anyone guilty of this? More importantly, anyone got caught in this situation before? We can say we at BG, have proudly done this before - and got away with it! Of course, you have to ensure your work computer has enough memory or a fast enough processor to respond that quickly too! We might add, it takes a certain amount of skill to pull this trick off with the boss around!

Is This The Solution?

Right. So how many of you here who have a girlfriend (or wife) is guilty of this? For that matter, how many girls who have a boyfriend (or husband) is guilty of this? Don't say the latter doesn't exist, for we have heard stories of female players being caught up in online games as well as offline ones like the popular Sims! So, it this the right solution when one partner is an avid gamer? After all, at least both are spending time together - except it's online! We guess that depends if the gamer manages to convert their partner into a gamer as well!

Brick Gamers 24 - Then and Now

Some things don't really change...or do they? In Brick Gamers 24, we wanted to show how modern online games is in some ways, similiar to ancient ways of 'games', but it's different in how it has evolved into. With online games mushrooming, now gamers worldwide can experience exactly what they saw in the movies - and to some extent, what they see in life too!

As always, please click the comic to open it in a new window/tab, as these comics are converted from the published pages in GameAxis Unwired, and wasn't designed for the Web as compared to our Web comics, so they can't fit on our site unless viewed in a bigger format.

Lego Warehouse Sale!

For all you Malaysian Klang Valley Lego fans out there, if you want to hunt for some good bargains of Lego set goodies, then head over to the 2nd Floor of Dataran Hamodal, along Jalan Section 13/4 (near Jaya Section 14), Petaling Jaya, as there will be a Lego Warehouse Sale going on!

That's right, from the 27th August to the 7th of September 2008, open from 10AM to 6PM daily!

So you have under 2 weeks to visit this Lego Sale but as we have seen before in other Lego Sales, most good sets are gone in the first few hours - speak nothing of days! However, the local Lego distributor have been wise to this problem and these days tend to release sets in batches, so if you're only free on the weekend or next week, don't worry too much, you might still have chance!

BrickGamers Honours The Olympics!

The recent 29th Olympiad, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is over, and all Malaysia got was a Silver Medal, but Malaysians feel Lee Chong Wei, our badminton player which got us our only medal - and a Silver one at least - deserves recognition. Therefore BrickGamers decided to make this strip in honour of our star sportsman who managed to make it to the finals of the Olympics!

Yes gaming doesn't exactly fit with the Olympics even though both are games, and that's why we came up with the below concept to be considered by console gamers for that extra exercise!

Let no one say gamers are a bunch of lazy fat people! Show them you can exercise with games!

The PSP - Boon or Bane?

The Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) has been a boon for gamers to have gaming on the go, but it seems sometimes kids can be too addicted to gaming, that even the PSP becomes a bane for parents, as BG explores this flip side. Those who saw the movie Inside Man will remember how the 'hero' criminal sat with a hostage kid in the bank vault while he was playing Grand Theft Auto a fictional Grand Theft Auto-like game on his PSP and the guy said he needs to have a talk with the kid's father about this later...

It's the Whole Package

How many of us have been trapped in this situation before? You save up for some expensive hardware (or even software) to enhance your gaming life, and then you realise you need to spend on other things to make it complete!

BrickGamers is in the Malay Mail paper!

That's right! Your favourite Malaysian Lego Comic is now in the newspapers as well! We're in the Malay Mail every Monday, and the same comic will be up here on Saturdays. That makes at least 7 updates every month - every 7th, 21st, 28th and now...every weekends as well! Do we hear Woot?