Frozen everywhere

On Thursday (Jan 8) night, I walked past a 759 store in the shopping mall nearby. They were having a special member discount for buying any regular price item, so I decided to go inside and see if anything worth buying. Then I saw this biscuit sticks with the famous Disney movie - Frozen printed on the box and it is called "Bourbon Elise Frozen Cast Stick - Double Choco".

Frozen and Hello Kitty together

As it is a regular price item, I got a 30% off discount for being a 759 store member. I used my special Xbox 759 member card which I got from the Xbox HK Christmas party for the discount. In the end, I could save HK$3.1 and only have to pay HK$8.1 for the snack. There is 8 biscuit sticks in total, so it is around HK$1 per stick.

Snowman at the back telling you the ingredients and nutrition information

There are some Japanese text written on top and I think it is related to the empty space next to the Snowman. Maybe Bourbon, the snack company, wants us to draw something there to match with the Snowman and background. Too bad I didn't have the time to draw that night.

The inside packing is same as the box

Time to open it and eat the stick

This Double Choco stick has two flavors inside, the top is filled with black chocolate while the end is white chocolate. You can choose which side to eat first but I personally like to eat it from the end.

White chocolate filling

Black chocolate filling

I like the white chocolate more as black chocolate is a very common flavor in similar product. But I don't understand the connect between the biscuit stick and Frozen. I guess the Double Choco is trying to represent the two main characters' hair color in Frozen. I think they can add more Frozen "flavor" to the snack like putting a sticker or pin inside. But of course it will definitely increases its production cost. Talking of money, I think the snack is kinda of expensive without the member discount and I don't think I would buy it with its original price.

Although I haven't finished the whole movie, I know Frozen is still very popular nowadays and it is on many different merchandises such as school bag, snack, toy, dress, book, pencil and notebook etc. I wonder how long will its popularity lasts.

Happy Birthday to Myself

Today is my birthday, so we have a family dinner outside and go back home for birthday cake. Unfortunately, we don't have a dinning table at the moment. A new table should be arrived around Jan 8, so we need to cut the cake on this small CD shelf.

The purple part is made with sweet potato, but something is missing ...

Of course a cake needs a "Happy Birthday" sign to become a birthday cake

 Now we are ready to make a wish and enjoy the cake

Although god already gave me the best present before 2015, I still received a "physical" present to celebrate my birthday.

As my old PSP (model 1000) is missing for a very long time, I decide to buy a PS Vita to replace it. I suspect my domestic helper has stolen it in my room but I don't have any evidence to prove it. But after I have cleared my whole room for the construction work, I still can't find my PSP in any of my drawers. So I think she must have taken it  but she didn't take the charger with her for some reasons.

There are a few colors available in my local game store. Originally I want to buy a blue PS Vita to match with my old PSP but there is only one blue color which is light blue/white. So I decide to choose a new color combination, lime green/white. It looks pretty good and I am very happy about the color.

Sony HK is having a Christmas and New Year promotion in these so called PlayStation® Platinum Shop. Every customer who bought a PS Vita will gets a free PS Vita soft case and 8GB memory card. That's why I don't have to pay extra to buy these essential items but I have pay HK$70 for the screen protector. As I am not a not PS Plus member, I think the free 8GB memory card is enough for saving the game data and I don't plan to buy a lot of digital Vita game on PSN.

Besides, I also pay HK$100 for the extend warranty for my PS Vita. Although my PSP doesn't have any problem for using over 5 years, I think it is a reasonable price to buy this extra 1 year insurance. But of course, I hope I don't need to use it in the future.

To celebrate the PlayStation 20th Anniversary, I receive a small prize for buying any PlayStation related product. At first, I think it is just a cute little decoration to put on my newly installed table.

But later I find out that there are actually four colorful masking tapes inside. The four colors, yellow, green, blue and red match with the traditional PlayStation logo which you can see on the previous picture. It even has the PlayStation mascot TORO cat printed on the tapes.

The game store owner also gives me a 3D Ubisoft Rabbids 2015 calendar as a bonus gift. I think this is some kind of gift for people who buy Ubisoft game such as the Rabbids series but I appreciate his offer anyway. Although the 3D calendar is pretty cute, it is very big and takes up a lot of space on my table. So hopefully I can find a good place to put it later.

One of the main reasons for me to buy a Vita instead of Nintendo 3DS is to play Persona 4 the Golden and this is the last Traditional Chinese copy in the game store. I am no problem playing the game in English but I definitely prefer Chinese version if it is available. After watching the Persona 4 Endurance Run on video game website Giantbomb years ago, I always want to experience this game by myself but I never have the chance. So I am very happy to finally able to play the enhanced edition of Persona 4 on my Vita.

Warning Warning !!!

The second Vita game I bought is Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus and it is the Hong Kong English version. Nowadays I usually like to buy the English version for most Japanese game as I don't have to guess what the Japanese text means. Unlike Persona 4 the Golden, I don't know much about the Senran Kagura series. So I think I will start playing this first and try out Persona 4 the Golden later.

The worst IKEA shopping experience ever

Yesterday (26 Dec, the Boxing Day), I went to the IKEA at Megabox with my mom and we found some gigantic plant pots on sale. They are very big and suitable for planting tree. The largest one is 56 cm x 60 cm. As we had to watch a movie (our first 3D IMAX movie - The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) later that night, we couldn't buy one and bought it into the cinema.

After careful consideration, today afternoon we decide to go there again and try to buy some for our rooftop garden. We have a lemon tree there and I think it may needs a new pot soon. So the largest pot we saw in IKEA will be a good new home for it.

When we arrive at the gardening department, there are a few of them left. As we want to buy 7 of them, it is very difficult for us to carry them home. So we decide to pay for the delivery service provided by IKEA. Moreover, it is impossible to put all of them into their largest shopping cart. I also don't expect IKEA will treat their customer in such manner.

Then we ask the staff at the garden department to see how can we place the order and the delivery, he directs us to the ordering counter near the checkout. He said the staff there will help us to place the order and we don't need to carry all these gigantic pots to checkout all by ourselves. So we continue our shopping through the many other departments and finally reach the ordering counter after half an hour later.

At the time we arrive, there is no customer waiting. So we quickly approach one of the staff at the counter who named Frankie. We said we want to order something and want IKEA to deliver them to our home. So I fill in the form for the address and said we want to order 7 of these gigantic pots. Then suddenly Frankie said we have to pay extra for the pot (HK$200 in total). Before we place our order, we have already calculate the delivery cost in advance based on the information provided. As the total amount of our order is less than HK$1000, we should only need to pay HK$100 for it. So we don't understand why he need to pay more for ordering pots. We ask Frankie kindly for the reason behind. But he starts to become impatient and talk to us in a very rude manner. Then he knocks rudely on the shipping cost board to answer our query. Moreover, he even claims that the counter here wouldn't help us to place order and we should to carry all these 56 cm x 60 cm pots to the checkout on our own. But as I have mentioned before, it is impossible to do it without any assistance and he clearly doesn't care about it. He doesn't bother to explain anything and just tell us to go back to the gardening department, which is very far away from the counter. Actually he can simply use the phone on his table to contact the staff there for us but he is too lazy to do so.

With such impolite attitude, we decided not to buy anything from IKEA today. So we go straight to the customer service counter and file a complaint about Frankie immediately. After we explain the incident to the staff, then we are greeted by the supervisor responsible for the ordering counter. First, he apologizes for Frankie's inappropriate behavior. Then he clarifies that we shouldn't have to pay extra for just ordering the pots and Frankie is wrong. Moreover, he also claims that Frankie is just a part time staff. He may not familiarize with the company's delivery service and lack the proper training. Although he offers free delivery service to compensate for our unhappy shopping experience, we kindly refuse his offer as we are not filing this complaint for any compensation.

No matter you are a part time or full time staff, the customer won't care and he is expected to have accurate information about the product. In my point of view, it is alright for having some unclear or misleading information as everyone will make mistake. But I definitely can't withstand any impolite attitude from the staff. I always favour the IKEA brand and think that they have good customer service. So I hope this is just a special case and doesn't reflect their overall service. But the damage has already been done and it may take some time to heal. After what happens today,  I guess we should stop going there for a while.

Received another package

 

Another thanks for shopping card

A quick update for the construction work at my home, unfortunately it can't be finished on time. They have to continue to work after Christmas. So I have to keep using my laptop and can't play any game on my consoles for one more week. Hopefully all work can be done before 2015.

Last week, I received another package from a Japanese online store. Unlike the previous one I oredered from Play-Asia, a postman delivered it to my front door and I had to sign for it. So it seems that their delivery is more secured and way more faster. Of course, the shipping cost is more expensive than Play-Asia but I think it is worth the money.

So what inside the cardboard box? First, there is my Zelda Amiibo figure I bought for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. She is my fourth Amiibo figure in my collection. The other three are Pit, Mario and Link and they are all bought from the same Japanese online store.

 

Check out my previous post (in Chinese) for their unboxing

But as there is dust everywhere and I can't play any Smash, I decied to unbox her later. The main reason I want to buy Zelda is that I can get extra weapons for an other Wii U game -  Hyrule Warriors. Although I still haven't bought the game yet, I think it is better to buy the figure first as she has already sold out in many Hong Kong game stores. With all four Amiibo, I can sit back and watch them fight in a normal Smash or work as a team in 8-Player Smash.

Besides Zelda, there is something more important inside the box and it doesn't belong to me.

It is the newly released Godzilla game for the PS3 with the pre-order bonus. As my good friend Oscar is a big Godzilla fans, I decided to help him to order the Japanese version online to make sure he gets the pre-order bonus. The pre-order bonus includes a mini-figure and a download code for early access to Godzilla 2014 (the one in the latest western movie).

Based on the gameplay, the game is all about Godzilla destroys buildings and fighting other giant monsters who stand against him. Moreover, it seems the players can level up Godzilla and learn new skills. So I hope Oscar will have a great time playing it and I bet he will since he is  the most diehard Godzilla fans I ever met. Unfortunately, both of us are busy recently (mine the construction work and work for him), so the game is still inside the box and we don't have time to see Godzilla in action.

At last for the pre-order mini-figure, it is really really small. Luckily I didn't drop it or I am afraid I couldn't find it in my crowded and dusty living room. There are three types of monster and the store will randomly give one out to the customer who pre-order the game. So I don't know which one Oscar will get. But judging by its shape, I think I know which one it is.

My first GameCube controller finally arrived

Last time, I mentioned about how hard to play Super Smash Bros. for Wii U on the Wii U GamePad. I decided to go online to buy a offical Super Smash Bros. themed GameCube controller from Play-Asia as I don't want to buy from my local game store due to the recent unhappy incidents. Moreover, the price of offical GC controller adapter is super expensive. Luckily, Play-Asia has a controller bundle which includes an adapter (of course it is unofficial one) on sales and its price is reasonable.

Although Play-Asia had notified me that my order has been shipped out last Saturday (13 Dec), I just received it yesterday (nearly a week later). As the website is based in Hong Kong, we, Hong Kong shopper, usually can enjoy a free shipping discount for spending certain amount like US$25. So I always try to reach the minimum amount by buying something extra. But it seems Play-Asia has canceled it and now we have to pay around HK$22 for local shipping no matter how much we spent. If you don't want to pay, then you can go to a physical game store in Sham Shui Po (SSP) to pick up your order. But unless you work or always hangout in SSP, I don't think this is a very good option. Take myself as an example, I have to spend over HK$22 to go there and I haven't calculate the time cost yet. That's why I never choose their store pickup option before and decide to pay the shipping cost for my GC controller.

If I have to pay for the shipping, I expect the delivery to be fast and reliable. But based on my recent shopping experience, their delivery service is getting much slower than before. Now with free shipping gone, I think I would consider much more carefully before placing the order.

Besides the controller bundle, I also ordered a copy of Monster Hunter 3G HD Ver. and it will become the 3rd Wii U game in my collection. The last and only MH game I played is Monster Hunter Portable 2nd on PSP. Although the Monster Hunter series is very popular in Asia Pacific regions, I never seem to be very interested in it. I think one of the main reasons is that  I don't have too many monster hunting buddies to play with, so I usually play the game alone.

The MH game is best to play cooperatively as different players can work together to take down the giant monster. Some may draw its attention while the others try to cut of his tail or some other parts. Anyway, I think I will play Monster Hunter 3G HD Ver. on my own again, but hopefully it will be more awesome to kill monster on my TV instead of the tiny screen on the PSP.

Back to the main dish, the Super Smash Bros. themed GameCube controller and the unoffical adapter. As my home is still under construction, I can't play any game and try out how the controller feels.

The controller has both black and white color. I chose the white one to match with my white Wii U console. I have never used a GC controller before, so I may need some times to get used to it. But judging by the positive response from the Smash fans, I still think it worths buying.

Based on the description on the back of the box, it seems the only Wii U game supports the controller is Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, so it is useless without Smash Bros. I hope Nintendo will update their games like Mario Kart 8 to add support for it. Well... at least I still have several Wii games that can make use of the new controller.

According to the box, the players have to use the offical adapter to connect the GC controller to the console. Thanks to this reason, everyone wants to buy one and it becomes very expensive. I also have heard people in US are willing to pay double for it. Originally the Japanese version of Smash Bros. has released a special bundle including the adapter, but the bundle is very limited and pricey (the extra cost is enough for me to buy the above Play-Asia order which has a game, a controller and an adapter). So I just bought the game only and ordered from Play-Asia instead.

I am pretty suprised this unoffical adapter has the Play-Asia brand on it, the manufacturer even used the website's main color for the adapter. There is a simple diagram to explain how its work. The player simply has to plug the adapter to a Wii Remote and connect it with the GC controller.

On the back, you can find a more indepth instruction and its feature list. The adapter also has turbo feature for players to use and customize. I may try it out later but I don't think it is useful in Smash Bro. They even added the line "This product is not designed, manufactured, licensed or endorsed by Nintendo" at the bottom to remind us this is not the offical adapter.

For anyone interested to order the bundle or just the adapter from Play-Asia, you can find them in the links below:
GC Controller Adapter for Wii/Wii U (PLAY-ASIA.COM Edition)
Controller Adapter for Wii U with White GameCube Controller (Play-Asia.com Bundle)
Controller Adapter for Wii U with Black GameCube Controller (Play-Asia.com Bundle)

Both black and white are in the same price, so just pick the color you like.

Celebrating Christmas with Pokemon

Yesterday afternoon, I walked past The ONE - a shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui and saw this giant “Pikachu 3D air-ship”. Although there are a few Pokemon figures there, Pikachu is always the most popular one. Everyone wants to take a photo with him. As I was in a hurry, I didn't have the time to wait for my turn.

Besides the air-ship, there is also a merchandise booth for you, the Pokemon fans, to buy souvenir. Inside the booth, I saw some offical Pokemon figures on sales. When I was a llittle kid, I used to buy a lot of Pokemon figures from my local toy store as it sold them with a really low price (like HK$20 for 3). But of course later I found out all these figures are bootlegs.

I think all my figures are still inside the plastic box I used many years ago. I liked to carry them around and have Pokemon figure battles with the neighborhood kids. First, each of us will select a Pokemon figure from the box and put them on a table. Then we take turns to move the figures with our tiny finger and try to knock the opponents' figures out of the table. The last Pokemon standing on the table wins the match. As the game is heavily depand on the figure's weight, so I usually like to select some heavyweight Pokemon.

Back to the mall, Nintendo HK has put a 3DS Game Kiosk next to the air-ship for visitors to play the latest Pokemon games. But it seems everyone is more interested in taking photo than playing the game. Although I don't think I can connect Pokemon with Christmas, it can really attract more people to the mall. So I guess it is a win-win situation for both parties.

If anyone who is a Pokemon fans has the chance to walk past Tsim Sha Tsui or The ONE, remember to go there to say Merry Christmas to Pikach and all the Pokemon there.

Super Rubbish Bag

 

 Super Rubbish Bag - Is it suitable for Super Big Rubbish?

Hello everyone, here is a quick update for the blog:

As there is construction work at my home, I can't use my desktop computer for a while. So now I am using one of my many laptops to work and I can't type Chinese here. I guess I will try to write a few entries using English for the time being.

Moreover, I may not be able to play any game on consoles for a few weeks due to construction. The dust makes me cough and sneeze a lot. When the workers are working, I usually just hide inside the master bedroom with a lot of stuff to avoid them. Hopefully the construction will be finished before Christmas, so that I can return to my room using a new custom-made table.

Recently I downloaded 2 new free mobile games on my phone and iPad, they seem pretty interesting. I should share them with you in the next post.