New Reuters articles written by Leaf

Oldboy Reuters article

Back in December, I’ve posted ten direct links to Reuters, one of the leading online news agencies. It was an honour to have my articles written exclusively for eMagi appearing as web links to the news site.

I thought this was a one-off, but it proves that my news stories on eMagi are truly special. In total, I have twenty articles on Reuters ranging from the best of entertainment, video games and technology. I certainly have the knack of writing something appealing!

Anyway, see the ten headlines listed below for the link to Reuters.

Indiana Jones ready by 2008

Jack Bauer returns this weekend

European delay for PSP’s Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops

WarioWare: Smooth Moves review

Jack Bauer burned to death by Kiefer Sutherland!

Guitar Hero switching developers

Oldboy review

Windows Vista is launched

CSI: NY season 3 preview

Party lifestyle used to promote Sony’s PlayStation 3

Autosport International 2007

Autosport International 2007 images

Wow! What a fantastic event with a huge range of gorgeous models on display – racing cars and promotional girls including! This year’s Autosport International show at Birmingham’s NEC was truly spectacular and the obvious highlight was the 75th anniversary of the Le Mans 24-Hour race. The cars that took part in the legendary endurance race was on display and to see the likes of the Ford GT40 alongside a Jaguar D-Type, McLaren F1 GTR and the Audi R8 was breathtaking.

It was also nice to meet up with my friends, in particular Mike and Yas. I have managed to convince them both to see this show the last time we met (back in October for the anime show in London’s Docklands). Both said it was a wonderful experience to see racing cars up close, especially the Live Action Arena.

The Live Action Arena is a 45-minute performance featuring stock cars, rally cars and the awesome Aston Martin DBR9. These massively powerful racing cars sounded great and despite suffering a lack of grip on the slippery surface, each driver drove these cars with great care not to hit the wall and yet entertaining the crowd.

At the end of a tiring and long day (most of us got up really early to attend the show), we left with a range of photographs stored on our digital cameras and fantastic memories of racing cars in action.

Motor racing action in Birmingham

Autosport International

This weekend is the Autosport International held annually at Birmingham’s NEC. It’s the place to go and see the best of motor racing.

I have been to the Autosport show several times over the past few years and even though it can get quite busy during the public days, it’s worth the trip alone to see the range of racing cars on display.

The opportunity to meet the drivers from the world of Formula One, Touring Cars and Sportcars is also great, especially as it is becoming more difficult to meet face-to-face with your racing heroes.

The best part is the Live Action Arena, where the sound and sights of these awesome racing machines are put to test right in front of you! Seeing the Subaru World Rally Car performing some ‘donuts’ is truly spectacular and the noise is simply unbelievable!

This year, I will be meeting up with my old University friends as well as Mike and Yas (I have managed to convince them to come). It should be a fun day out and I look forward to seeing the special Le Mans 24-Hour display arranged for this year.

Apple’s new electronic toy

Apple iPhone
When Steve Jobs announced to the world’s press the Apple iPhone on January 9th, it ended the on-going and never-ending rumours of the Apple-branded cell phone. This new product looks highly desirable and even though I was disappointed by the fact that there wasn’t any mention on a ‘true’ video iPod, the iPhone does look something truly special.

I do like the feature that it uses Mac OS X as its operating system, as I consider this better than Microsoft’s Windows.

In addition, the way the different functions can be access by moving your fingers on the scratch-resisted screen is a nice touch (pun intended!).

And yet, the sad part is the iPhone won’t be out until the end of the year. But for those lucky Americans, they will have the unique opportunity to purchase one in June. As for importing one, I won’t bother to be honest. I can imagine what the prices on eBay will be…

Would I buy one? Yes, of course! It looks beautiful and I love the way Safari works when viewing web pages. The new widescreen mode when viewing movies is also a welcome feature.

But if Apple releases a proper iPod sometime this year with the same functions as the iPhone (touch screen for example) then I will purchase that item instead. I would prefer to listen to my vast amount of tracks on a dedicated music player than having an expensive multimedia mini handheld Macintosh.

Gaming overload

As we enter the New Year, my sister and I are still recovering from playing far too many video games during the Christmas break (the best way other than watching the usual drivel on TV).

I am still playing Animal Crossing: Wild World determined to collect all the fishes in Leaftown, so that I can get that elusive golden fishing rod! (Only one fish left now)

Meanwhile my sister was convinced that she can finish two Zelda games before starting work at Nintendo Europe in January. She just completed the epic Twilight Princess after a mammoth 39-hour ‘two-dungeons-a-day’ session and was impressed by how beautiful the game playing experience was in this latest Link adventure.

As for Ocarina of Time, she can play this on the GameCube in another time…

Besides playing these, we also had fantastic fun playing in co-operative mode with Guitar Hero II. I recently brought a limited edition cherry red Gibson SG guitar controller and together we were ‘The Noelling’ (named after the television host of Deal Or No Deal – Noel Edmonds)! The two-player mode worked great as it feels like you were performing as the bass and rhythm guitar leads.

But alas, our rock band will be split up as she begins work in Germany working for Nintendo. I am going through some mixed emotions at the moment… I’m happy for her to get a dream job play testing all DS and Wii games, but at the same time sad as we are very close. Anyway, I wish her the best of luck in the new role.

Leaf’s articles on Reuters

Reuters

As a writer on eMagi, I have the ability to contribute some articles that are relevant to the website’s audiences and myself. The features that I write cover a wide range of subjects including entertainment, sport and video games.

Even though eMagi hasn’t grown that much since its format was moved from the original concept on the PSP to the Net (initially, it was to appear as a screen-based magazine that can viewed on the PlayStation Portable). It is surprising to see how much interest and coverage the website magazine is getting despite a lack of online promotion.

And the most impressive aspects are that some of the articles I have written for eMagi only have been linked to Reuters, a leading online news agency. To my amazement, not one but ten news articles in total!

It certainly pays off writing appealing and fun articles based on my favourite interests.

See the ten headlines listed below for the link to Reuters. Click on the eMagi part to ‘track back’ to the original source material.

Nintendo are delighted with Wii sales success

24 Season 6 Preview

Jackie Chan injured on movie set

Jack Bauer is calling

Nintendo Wii launches in the UK with great success

Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston planning ‘Friends’ reunion?

Desperate Housewives season 3 preview

Eva Longoria celebrates engagement with Housewives stars

Can’t afford the next-gen consoles? Buy a retro instead

European Nintendo Wii sales hit 350,000

Family fun with the Wii

Mii Character

After purchasing my new electronic toy on Friday, I wasted no time setting up the Nintendo Wii and playing the four great games all weekend.

My sister and I created a series of Mii characters including Noel Edmonds from TV’s Deal Or No Deal! The look of these cartoon-like figures is very cute and my Mii character (above) can be seen ready for bowling.

Wii Sports proves to be the most popular with my family as we had enormous fun in bowling and tennis. Even though my parents are not fans of video games in general, it was surprising to see them having fun and enjoying the experience.

As for stories regarding ‘Wii damaged’ due to the controller flying out of the player’s hand and breaking something expensive, this has happened in our household! My sister got too excited when she bowled a 10-pin strike in Wii Bowling that she raised her two hands in the air in triumph and ‘accidentally’ breaking the chandelier!

The Wiimote still works but the tell-tale signs of the destruction can be seen by two dent marks near the ‘B’ trigger…

Anyway, back to the games. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz proved to be more challenging to play than the original GameCube version, as you had to tilt and twist the Wiimote to move the gorgeous monkey around the stage. At first, it was quite tricky to control, but after a while, you become more confident with your wrist action in the single player mode.

As for the 50 party games in the new Super Monkey, some of them seem to be ‘hit and miss’ in terms of game play. Monkey Race, one of my favourites in Super Monkey Ball 1 and 2 has now lost it’s ‘magic’ in the new Wii version. It doesn’t feel the same as you rotate the controller left and right to move in those directions. And what have they done to Monkey Target? It’s feel more complicated with the added bonus ball…

The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the best-looking game currently on the Wii and even though I haven’t played a single Zelda game on the past Nintendo system (yes, shame on me really), I am intrigued by this new Link adventure game.

My sister adores the Zelda series and she feels very excited by Twilight Princess. It will take her quite a while to play this epic RPG I reckon.

And the last game we played over the weekend was the disappointing Wii Play. I had to buy this game to get the extra Wiimote as no shops (online and on the high street) sell the controller as a standalone product.

Wii Play is a series of short mini games introducing key functions on the Wiimote. The games are quite basic focusing on your ability to point, twist and turn the motion-sensor controller.

Meeting the stars at the Autosport Awards

Signed Cap

Last Sunday (December 3rd), I had the unique opportunity to meet some of my motor racing stars at London. That night, a special awards evening was held at the Gosvenor House Hotel near Park Lane.

I meet up with my friends who braved the December cold as we waited to get our autographs from the famous racing drivers.

We stood outside the hotel for around three hours and despite the bitterly cold weather, we managed to get our personal books and items signed by the motor racing celebrities.

As you tell by the photograph, I’ve collected a whole range of signatures on my red Dekra (Michael Schumacher’s personal sponsored) cap. Here you can see me wearing a woolly hat with scarf getting my cap signed by Honda’s racing sporting director Gil de Ferran!

Meeting the drivers was a great honour and it was a friendly atmosphere as I chatted to some familiar faces like Murray Walker, Jason Plato, Matt Neal and Nick Fry. The highlight was meeting the two future British stars, McLaren’s new driver Lewis Hamilton and Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson.

Leaf’s Nintendo Wii

Nintendo Wii

Yes! I finally got myself a Nintendo Wii today along with three games for my new video game system – Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wii Play.

I was not surprised to hear that all the Wii units were sold out on Friday as it proves to be the ‘must have’ Christmas gift this year.

Finding the accessories for the Wii proved more difficult than getting the console itself for those who didn’t pre-ordered… There were no stocks of the Wiimote or the Nunchuk controller, but luckily I managed to get one against the odds during my shopping trip in Central London.

Can’t wait to play the multiplayer games against my sister and family in Wii Sports!