My finals are over, and i gotta say, i'm glad it's over cos there's another game idea that's been stuck in my mind for too long. It's another SingStar idea, but i think it's the best SingStar idea i've ever had; i think it's a little better than my previous SingStar: Anime idea. Why? Because K-Pop, ranging from tearjerking ballads to heavily-electronic hook songs,has tons of fans from all over the world and it is rising at breakneck speeds to be the biggest Asian music genre in the world. And it's very close to reaching that goal. I can even say that K-Pop is gaining new fans by the hour. In a nutshell, K-Pop is a huge player in the Asian, scratch that, global music industry and it's a big moneymaker. I've learnt that K-Pop is the one music genre that can sell more phones than other music genres, something that i hadnoticed after watching Samsung and LG phone commercials for the Korean market. These two phone makers have really catchy songs written for certain phones, and some phone commercials areawesome music videos with phones starring alongside K-Pop idol stars. K-Pop is indeed gaining popularity, as more and more people are taking notice of this colourful genre. One example: My friend, who's a total stranger to K-Pop spotted a poster of a wildly popular 13-member male group (yes, THIRTEEN). She then said this: "Isn't that the group with like, a 100 members or something?". It wasn't a good remark, but at least she recognized them. K-Pop is now on a mission to gain more and more fans in North America, even though thereare already many of them. I think it's working, because popular K-Pop group, the Wonder Girls, have been on tour with The Jonas Brothers and the response has been great. Also, K-Pop star Se7en actually managed to appear on BET. There are two important factors to help a non-K-Pop fan understand why there are so many fans of the genre. One: Most, if not all K-Pop artistes are hot/cute. Two: The songs are really catchy, no matter how strange some parts of the lyrics are. Channel [V] and MTV have been quick to cash in on the current K-Pop craze. Nowadays when i change the channel to Channel [V], i see a K-Pop group instead of the usual rapper or Top 40s star. MTV has also come up with a 30-minute block that airs nothing but J-Pop and K-Pop. In Malaysia, this year saw the launch of a new K/J/T-Pop magazine in Malay. Although it claims to cover Taiwanese, Thai and Japanese pop, i observed that there were more pages on K-pop than other Asian pop genres after reading a copy of it. I saw only two measly pages on some Taiwanese pop star, no pages at all for the Thai pop scene, 4 or 5 pages for J-Pop and the rest went to K-Pop idol stars. There was also a "Learn to Speak Korean" section. Now, since those in the media are trying to cash in on K-Pop, should those in the gaming industry do so too? Yes, absolutely. And i think this is the best time for the gaming industry to merge with the world of K-Pop because i personally think that this year is the year of K-Pop. 2009 has seen some amazing things in the K-Pop world. This year,some of the most addictive songs in K-Pop were released ("Gee" is one of them), Jordin Sparks has taken notice of K-Pop (thanks to the Wonder Girls), and lots more. But i do feel that more and more people have been paying attention to K-Pop this year, than, say, the year before or even 2007. Okay, nowback to video games. Recently, members of two K-pop groups (Big Bang and 2NE1) were 'transformed' into playable characters in the online game Sudden Attack. But wouldn't it be great for all you K-Pop fans to sing your fave K-Pop tunes with romanized lyrics on the screen and score points while you're at it? And then you could use those points to unlock more K-pop songs and other stuff like those stages from the 4 big K-Chart countdown shows (kinda like the TRLs of K-pop, but with morelive performances). Songs can be divided into special categories (besides the usual songs) such as Drama OST Songs, CF (commercial) Songs, Timeless K-Pop (featuring earlier groups like Shinhwa and S.E.S) and Trot (a pretty retro Korean music genre which some say is the foundation of modern K-Pop). And multiplayer mode will be really awesome; since parts of the song are divided between members in all these bands/groups, the same can be applied when playing with friends. Let's take 2NE1's "Fire" as an example. One friend could be singing Dara's part, the other doing CL's rap and the other singing Bom's part: just like a real K-Pop group.I can see tons of K-Pop fans rushing to buy such a game. It'll be a really huge hit in Asia and the States, though i'm not so sure bout Europe. And it'll also be awesome if there was an option to have the lyrics shown in both Hangul and romanized versions. If those guys can make SingStar: Bollywood, then SingStar: K-Pop shouldn't be a problem. I just wish it was already a real game, i mean, K-Pop is like some sort of untapped resource now. So many fans rushed to their computers to play Sudden Attack with the hopes of unlocking Big Bang and 2NE1 (and also Rain, who was a character on the game before the two bands). It would make me so happy if i could turn on my Ps3 and belt out 2PM's "Again and Again". It's also a great game for wannabe idol stars who failed to make the cut at auditions held by companies like JYP and SM. Can't fulfill your dream of becoming a huge K-Pop star? No problemo, just play SingStar: K-Pop and you're a star in your virtual K-Pop world. I can imagine K-Pop fans camping out in front of a local game store just to be among the first to buy the game. And when the store opens at 10.00 a.m....piercing fangirl shrieks, glass windows all broken and smashed, anti-fans fighting other fans to the death (Hottests vs E.L.Fs, lol), bloodied game store employees, riot police attempting to stop the madness...and, at the end of it all, a cash register so full it's actually malfunctioning. Wow. That's a bit extreme, but toss out the whole riot police and bloodied employees bit, and everything else could happen, heheh. I've been talking about K-Pop like as if it's a money tree (but it is), but i didn't really think about the profitable part of it when the idea popped up in my mind. I'm a gamer and a K-Pop fan, so it's natural for me to have the desire to play a K-Pop game. Maybe a similar game has already been made; i dunno. If it has been released, then i might sound pretty dumb and clueless here, heheh. But the best way to really sell this game and make a huge profit: Include TVXQ songs in it. Ah, now another idea is hatching....what if there was another SingStar game called SingStar: TVXQ/DBSK/Tohoshinki? I can already hear my classmates and middle-aged Japanese aunties shrieking....

My last post, which was lightyears ago, was about an idea i had for the SingStar game franchise. But i think a few months ago i had another game idea involving The Sims 3 and various sports games from EA. Now that The Sims 3 is out, we all know that its an awesome game and all, but imagine if it collided head-on with various EA Sports games. I was thinking of a game that had a title like "The Sims 3: League Stars" or something like that, where one gets the chance to play as a star athlete from each of the world's best sports leagues, like the NBA, MLB, MLS, NFL in the U.S, the EPL (a.k.a BPL), Bundesliga, Ligue Une, LFP and Serie A (all are major soccer leagues) in Europe as well as the J-League and K-League (both soccer leagues too) in Asia. I guess it's a combination of the best of The Sims 3 and the best of EA Sports games, like the FIFA and Madden NFL games. In short, it's the best of living like a pro athlete and playing like a pro athlete, all in one video game. Gameplay features of The Sims 3 obviously make up the 'living like an athlete' part of the game, and the features of those EA Sports games undoubtedly make up the 'playing' part. Here's how I had imagined the gameplay of it: The gamer gets to play as a certain professional in a certain league, out of a selected number of playable pro sports stars. For example, if you were a playing an EPL version of the game, you could play as Ryan Giggs as well as a few other Manchester United players, but it's not a given that you get to play as all the other Manchester United players in The Sims mode (or 'living' mode) -- that only happens on the field, when you're playing in FIFA mode. And you surely can't play as the manager. In the 'living' mode, you get to control your athlete Sim like any other Sim. You can make him arrive early for a training session, or you can make him hook up with another Sim and miss the entire game. His virtual career as a virtual sports pro lies in your hands. Once you get to the sportier parts of the game, such as training and playing during matches, the gameplay changes as well. It's all about switiching seamlessly between a proper sports game and a life simulation game. But the fact that your Sim is now an ultra-popular, athlete Sim, there's a lot more fun in the living mode of the game. As a celebrity Sim of sorts, your Sim gets to do more stuff like punching photogs and signing autographs for fans. Your Sim could even get endorsement contracts in the game, but these sponsors have to be phoney, virtual ones since the Sims are virtual copies of real-life sports stars. Specifically, any sport star who's willing to do voice-overs in Simlish and to have his virtual Sim twin abused by sadistic gamers or anti-fans just for that purpose. Personally, i doubt any athlete on Earth would want to have a playable Sim version of him in a hybrid Sims game, especially high profile athletes, but then again, there are nice and easygoing athletes in this world too...like those who are in dire need of cash. Okay, back to the game...anyway, if you want your Sim to rise above all others in the big leagues, you've got to play the game well and take good care of your Sim. A typical non-game day would involve hours of training. To train with the team, you've got to drive the Sim over to the team grounds, and he needs to leave the house early too. Training at home is simple, just buy lots of high-tech training gear. Once your Sim is done training, he's got more time for his social life. Even this is tricky too, because there will be some neighbourhood Sims working undercover as photogs or the paparazzi as well as gold digger Sims and other washed out celeb Sims who are in need of a major publicity stunt. When your Sim has some free time, your Sim is also able to go into a few business ventures, like opening a restaurant or merchandise store. Remember, a higher income makes a happier Sim. On game days, however, your Sim is forced to face a few challenges. Because game days take place in other venues, your Sim has to travel with the whole team, like teams in real life. Whether by tour bus or by plane (rarely--no, never by ship), your Sim has to be a happy traveller. There are also minor bugs like pre-game jitters, especially if it's your Sim's debut. Post-game problems include possible squabbles with the coach/manager, teammates, referees and rival teams. But the game, the match, is the most important factor. Once you start heading out onto the field, it literally turns into a whole new game. Controls are different, the gameplay is different, almost everything is different. Your Sim's performance on the field shows how much your Sim has trained. Training sessions are basically mini-games, intense tutorials and practice matches. 'Training' also helps players to adapt to different controls and different gameplay, especially for gamers who don't really play sports titles. Anyway, after the big away game, your Sim gets to go home...or move on to another destination if the team is on tour. And when your Sim finally makes it to the top as the best of the very best, he will be a legend and you'd have completed the game. I think this game idea gives the lives of virtual athletes some depth, in a way. In some games, the most you can do to the life of a virtual athlete is to buy new shoes or furniture for a home that's rarely seen. It would be fun to have your fave athletes doing so much more than playing their hearts out on the field in a video game. This concept isn't just limited to team sports, it can be extended to golf as well, using gameplay features from EA's PGA Tour series. Convincing real pros to appear in the game as playable characters is really hard, so it's just a pipe dream. Here's an example of a title: "The Sims 3 League Stars: MLB". Hmmm.

After witnessing the rising popularity of music-based games such as Guitar Hero, SingStar and Rock Band, my brain suddenly hatched an idea: A karaoke game such as SingStar including only anime theme songs! Now, i don't know if such a game has already been made, whether it's a part of the SingStar franchise or not, but after i got this idea, i've been thinking a lot about it. As an anime fan, i was delighted with my cranium for formulating such an idea. I think i've always wanted to rock out to "Play The Game" by Road Of Major (or was it Road To Major?) on a USB microphone hooked up to my Slimline Ps2, with the lyrics appearing on my TV screen. If those guys at Sony can come up with SingStar: Bollywood, i don't think that they're gonna have much problems coming up with a SingStar game with only anime opening and ending themes in it. Mainly because it'll be very easy for Sony to get the tracks needed for the game, 'cos there are a LOT of anime series that has Sony Music as one of its main sponsors (Nodame Cantabile, Honey & Clover, just to name a few). In the typical Japan-only anime format, i think i've seen countless Sony Music logos appear just after the opening theme and before the intro of the anime episode (along with Procter & Gamble logos, and Bandai too). I also thought of how gameplay would be, for SingStar: Anime (let's just think of this as a "working title"). I suppose the format would be the same as all other SingStar games, and there really isn't much to change or impart. But there would be some little extra features, such as the option to play the full version of the anime theme, or the short 1-minute+ theme used in the episodes, before singing the selected song. And also the option to play the original music video of the song, or to play a clip from the anime. And, oh yeah, the themes would be categorized by genre (J-Rock, J-Pop, etc.), or by series, or by type of theme (e.g Opening Themes or Ending Themes). I guess the second option could be a little tough to work on. And i feel like i'm overseeing quite a number of flaws...Anyway, i guess that, since there's gazillions of anime series coming out each day, i do wonder how many SingStar: Anime games need to be released. Maybe it's once in 5 years...but when it comes to theme selection, there's no doubt that themes from the most popular animes would be exclusively chosen. Well, i've only got all this to say, so ciao...

My Fave Magazines (No, Wholphin's not in here):

1. Newsweek

2. Time

3. T3

4. DRUM! Magazine

5. Reader's Digest

6. People

7. Transworld Skateboarding

8. Tips & Tricks

9. CosmoGirl!

10. Teen People

11. Skateboarder

12. Us Weekly

While i was having tuition today, i was listening to my MP3 player and i was also thinking of cool snacks and drinks like Slim Jims, Mountain Dew, and, um, Minute Maid Lemonade. I guess that was cos i made a smart-butt decision to go watch soda and junk food (though i don't quite like that term) ads on YouTube just the other day. Besides Hayley Williams' awesome vocals and the sweetness of Mountain Dew, a new episode idea for the Foster's forum occupied my mind too. A few seconds later, i was also thinking of video games. So my mind had Paramore's "Pressure" as 'background music', and an image of Frankie Foster playing the PlayStation 3 while Mac and Bloo were in the background, eating Slim Jims from the SJ Dump Bag and drinking Diet Mountain Dew. And so, i decided to parody some of America's most popular snacks and drinks, while a new Foster's episode idea (involving the word "junkies") was conceived....without further ado, here's the not-so-good parody: Also, please see no.7!

Drinks:

1. Mountain Dew AMP - Hill Dew CRAMP (Carbonated, Refreshing, Amazing and Magnificent Powerlyzer)

2. Dr.Pepper - Dr.Salt ( Yeah, this is kinda obvious...heehee..ops

3. Rockstar Energy Drink - WarsStar Energy Drink ( You know, Mace Windu loved to drink this)

4. SoBe - SoFlee

5. Jones Soda - Clones Soda

6. Red Bull Energy Drink - Red Butt Energy Drink (With an image of a baboon showing off his bright red butt as tin can graphics)

7. Minute Maid Lemonade - Hour Butler Root Beer ( I think this is the best thing i've thought of all day!!)

Solids (okay, Snacks):

8. Slim Jims - Slim Tims ( My creative juice is running out!)

9. Oreos - Snoreos

10. Ritz Bitz - Spitz Shnitz

11. Doritos - 'FroRitos ( Awesome cheese-flavoured Afro shaped corn chips, guaranteed to bring back the 70's and cause total confusion! Only available in Your Head Supermarkets. The makers of 'FroRitos are not responsible for the lethal agrressive joy caused by the re-discovering of the Internet)

12. Lays - Gays ( Pink-colored, but still tasty, potato chips that come with images of Ken Paves and Lance Bass behind every pack!)

Anyway, by the time my tuition class was over, i didn't do my work, wound up being very tired, didn't gain any knowledge i was supposed to gain, and my teacher didn't catch me...