God of War II is a sequel of the revolutionary God of War game, developed by the SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.) team. The game is available for Sony Playstation 2.

In this sequel the bad man Kratos will be back, and will be fighting with beasts like three-headed dog cerebus, one-eyed giant cyclops and the flying gryphon. Kratos will also be seen riding on the eagle griffon. The God of war II is set in Greece & has better looks and appeal than its predecessor. The game will be easily accessible to anyone who has played the original game, as the sequel many of the gameplay qualities of the original game.

Story of this game is Kratos is the new God of War, after defeating Ares in the first game, and he is taking over city-by-city and Athena and the other Gods are worried that he is abusing his power over the world. Athena tells Kratos not to do any more bad things but he ignores her and as Kratos descends from the heavens to aid his army in battle over the city Rhodes, Athena takes away his powers as a God (but not all of them) and implants them into a giant statue nearby. Kratos destroys it, eventually, and meets up with Zues. Zues tricks Kratos into becoming a mortal and that’s where the main story starts.

There actually aren’t that many characters in this game, although there are quite a lot of bosses that you will have to battle, which are mostly all based on ancient Greek mythology. I quite like the gameplay in this game, it’s just basic button mashing. It’s just the simple attacks that you do, but it’s fun because you can chain them together. You have basic combos, then longer combos to dispatch your enemies and it’s always fun to watch what brutal attacks Kratos unleashes.

The game is a must play for anyone who thinks themselves a gamer or realy just anyone who thinks themselves human, would be crazy not to enjoy themselves while playing god of war. It will make you jump in your seat, and exclaim “how could they do that!” Or “thats was soooo awsome!” you will find yourself wowed at every corner … the greatest god of war to date, and one of the best games that are on the PS2, it’s just great!

American Michael Phelps achieved what many thought impossible on the ninth and final day of Swimming on Sunday at the National Aquatics Center landing his eighth gold medal in the Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay.

The win brought Phelps’ 14th career Olympic gold, five more than any other athlete in Olympic history. The 23-year-old swimmer also surpassed the record set by Mark Spitz (USA) in Munich 1972 for the most gold medals won at a single Olympic Games.

The US team of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Phelps and Jason Lezak finished in a world record time of 3:29.34. They had gone into the race as defending Olympic champions, world record holders and fastest qualifiers.

Australia set an Oceania record finishing just 0.70 seconds behind to collect the silver medal in 3:30.04. Japan finished with the bronze medal in 3:31.18.

There are some factors that make blogs much better than normal WebPages which blogs are indexed, ability to submit to blog directories & normal directories, pings and track backs. All these little things can help drive more traffic to blogs. Here some techniques you can use:

a. Create at least four keyword posts per day. Publish an average of 30 small 100-150 word posts per day.

b. Submit to My Yahoo! When you submit your own RSS to My Yahoo it is indexed by Yahoo. And also submit to Google’s Reader. When you submit your own blog RSS to Google’s Reader the Google Blog Search will index your site. Also submit to as many RSS Directories and Search Engines as possible.

c. Add a relevant link directory to your blog and trade links like a demon possessed! Although it may take more time than simply submitting to a search engine one time, this method is perhaps the best way to drive traffic to your site.

d. Use ping sites like ping-o-matic. Ping your site every time you add a new post.

e. Submit your blog to traditional search engines such as AltaVista, and MSN.  Submit your blog to traditional directories such as DMOZ. Directories (particularly DMOZ) increase relevance with Google. DMOZ is very picky, but what do you have to lose by trying?

f. Comment on other blogs. Do not just leave short, lazy comments like “I agree.” Leave well thought out replies that will force readers to wonder “who wrote this?”

g. Use track backs. If there is a blog that you refer to or quote and it is highly relevant to your subject, leave a track back. It increases your link popularity and may even score a few interested readers from the linked site.

h. Go offline. Use newspaper ads, public bulletin boards, business cards, even stickers to let as many people as possible know your blog exists.

i. Add a link to your blog in your e-mail signature block.

j. Use Miling List and find a relevant group on Google groups, Yahoo groups, MSN groups or any of the thousands of other FREE group services and find like minded people and talk with them. Make sure to use your blog URL like it is your name.

k. Use Forums. Forums are one of the best places to go for advice. Go to forums and find problems to solve. Make sure you leave your blog name, but be tactful about it; some forums get annoyed with those who selfishly drop a few links to their own site and leave.

l. Tag your website. Tagging is a new idea that has erupted across the web. Sites like Del.icio.us, Technorati and many others have a social feature that allows you to place your article under keywords or “tags” that everyone interested in that tag can see.

Indonesia reclaimed the Badminton Men’s Doubles gold medal after eight years, thanks to Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido, who defeated Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China in the final on August 16.

“We happier to be able to give present gold medal for Indonesia in Beijing olympic games. This gift for Indonesian independence day, also the gift that was sweet for the two of us, because together was born in August,”said Kido in the press conference after the giving ceremony of the medal.

Ranking No. 1 in the world, the Indonesian pair only conceded one game in their first three matches. Their opponents, World No. 3 Cai and Fu, however, were in even better form in this tournament, sweeping three matches without losing a single game.

Powered by a phenomenal home crowed, Cai and Fu continued their streak in the first game, winning comfortably 21-12. Setiawan and Kido couldn’t locate their offensive touch in game and spent most of their time on defense.

The World No. 1 pair made a quick adjustment to their tactics, though, and started the second game with a 9-3 run. They sped up their own rhythm in attack and caused disturbance to the Chinese pair’s rhythm. Without much of a struggle, Setiawan and Kido took the second game 21-11.

The last game was a repeat of the second game. Setiawan and Kido held on to their momentum and led the game from start to finish. With a return from the Chinese going out, Setiawan and Kido won the game 21-16 and collapsed onto the floor in jubilation.

This gold medal is not only the Indonesian pair’s best achievement, but also their team’s first Badminton gold in Beijing.

Merdeka…!!! Merdeka…!!! Merdeka…!!! (Merdeka = freedom)

Today, 63 years ago Mr. Soekarno (our first president) was proclaimed our independence day. That was an important day for our country. The Indonesian Declaration of Independence was officially proclaimed at 10.00 a.m. sharp on Friday, August 17, 1945. The declaration marked the start of the five year diplomatic and armed-resistance of the Indonesian National Revolution, fighting against the forces of the Netherlands until the latter officially acknowledged Indonesia’s independence in 1949. In 2005, the Netherlands declared that they recognised Indonesian independence is in 1945, not 1949.

What does it really mean to be 63 years old, anyway? What should the government do to energize the people and make them appreciate their country a little bit more? There are so many questions to answer. But we don’t have much time to answer them because while we are puzzling over these questions, other nations are racing to improve.

Those of you who watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games know exactly what I mean. I’m sure you were as amazed as I was to witness the best opening ceremony in the history of the Games from a country whose primary mode of transportation 20 years ago was the bicycle.

In school, teachers always used to tell our independence was fought and won with blood and tears by our grandfathers and grandmothers. The lesson from today’s trend and our grand-father/mother is that we have a different enemy but we have the same purpose. We don’t need to fight a war against an occupying force but we do have another kind of enemy we need to fight. We have to fight against the problems in our economy and education and health systems. But we still have the same purpose that was once used by our grandfathers and grandmothers — to enable our families to have a better place to live.

What we can learn from new emerging countries such as China and India is no matter how poor and inexperienced you are, there is always a chance to be better if you have a strong motivation to work hard and make your dreams come true.

Let celebrate the anniversary of our independence day. I hope the country will be better next year. Dirgahayu RI-ku!!! (Long live my Indonesia!!!)

These is several thing to remind us when surfing in the internet, like:

DON’T click on a link that is contained in an e-mail, instant message, especially from unknown sender and also DON’T open attachments that you receive by e-mail. If in doubt, save the attachment to the hard disk, scan it with your anti-virus software, and only then, if it is clean, open it. Try to read all your e-mail messages in text format, rather than HTML.

DON’T enter any personal details in forms on unknown sites and DON’T type your User ID or password unless you see the LOCK icon at the bottom of the screen and the Web address starts with https:// and CHANGE your passwords frequently; use complex passwords (example: 7Yby89IfD); never give your passwords to anyone

DON’T open or install a program directly from the Internet. First, download it to your hard disk, scan it with your anti-virus software, and only then, if it is clean, install it and also DON’T open or install a program directly from a CD-ROM or DVD. First, scan it with your anti-virus software, and only then, if it is clean, install it.

DON’T click on a pop-up, no matter what it says! Don’t click on it even if you want to close it and DON’T visit unfamiliar Websites. First, go to Google (www.google.com) and check whether the site is legitimate and does not carry malware. Only if it is clean, visit it for the first time using the Opera browser.

In the last, UPDATE your Operating System, Antivirus, Firewall, Antispyware, and computer manufacturer’s utilities DAILY and SCAN your computer for malware every time you use the computer, after you have used it. If ANYTHING SUSPICIOUS? Stop everything you are doing, disconnect from the Internet, and scan the computer for malware. Examples of suspicious behavior: persistent pop-ups; the computer or connection slow down considerably; repeated re-boots; mouse or keyboard freeze; strange messages and alerts.