- He uses a regular point and shoot camera on regular tripod but he’s added a panorama tripod head mount (similar to these)

- He takes on average 40 shots depending on the scene. He prefers to have a tall structure nearby so that the majority of the panorama doesn’t result in just a plain blue sky. To get a clear shot of the ground below the camera without the camera shadow, he cheats and moves the camera back a bit and then takes the shot

- He uses the photo stitching software PTGui to stitch the photos all together. You can get that software from [Here]

- As a last step he uploads the final stitched image to his 360 Cities account where it is then reviewed by their council of reviewers. If they don’t find any stitching errors or other problems, the panorama gets published to their website and it can then be placed in Google Earth (360 Cities is the only panorama site that is partnered with Google)

Here are some other Kuwait panoramas Eric has taken:
Behind the Kuwait Towers
The Scientific Center of Kuwait
Mutla Ridge

Here are some Kuwait panoramas taken by other photographers:
Onboard Al-Boom Dhow
Hawally Park
Dhow in Souk Sharq
360 Mall
Kuwait Seaside Sunset
Heritage Souk
Salhia Complex
Water Clock in Souk Sharq Kuwait
Rooftop Swimming Pool

According to the blog 965Malls, the international french fries chain New York Fries is opening up at Marina Mall. New York Fries shouldn’t be confused with the already open New York Friez who tried to convince me poutine was made with chili and cheese and not gravy and cheese. Hopefully these guys will be able to do it right.

I was invited by X-Cite and Sony to attend a preview of the Playstation Vita in Dubai. The even would give us an intro on their new portable gaming console as well as preview some games and more importantly allows to play with the device.

Introduction
The GM of Sony MENA, Robert Fisser stated that the Vita will have the strongest line up of launch games for a Sony console which is possible since the first party and third party games lined up for the Vita’s February 22nd launch is fairly strong.

When you purchase a Vita among the included items will be 56 WAAR (Wide-Area Augmented Reality) cards that you’ll be able to use with AR (augmented reality) games which you’ll be able to download for free from the PSN store. What differentiates these AR games from others is that these games will be a lot more advanced, sophisticated and use a big area for game play. There are also two social services that Sony are pushing in Vita called Party and Near. Party lets you voice chat with friends on the Vita at anytime, even if you’re playing different games while near lets you see all your Playstation Network friends status’s and what they’re playing (or have played). You will also be able to see if their are other Vita gamers in your proximity and invite them to play a game. Finally you can also unlock gifts, or give gifts to your PSN friends.

Another big feature Sony talked about was sharing save files between your Vita and the PS3 and cross-platform play which basically mean you’ll be able to play head-to-head between the Vita and PS3. They showed us a demonstration when one of their Wipeout 2048 game designer who was using a Vita raced against a producer who used a PS3.

Reality Fighters
Sony previewed a game called Reality Fighters, which is an AR fighting game that uses real world environments as the levels in the game. Mitsuo Hirakawa, who is a producer on the game, stated that the game doesn’t use a card marker (like the 3DS AR cards or the WAAR cards), which has never been done before; he also stated that characters scale up depending on where you are. So if you’re standing on a roof of a building and point your Vita downwards to the streets, your characters scale up to you, so you can have massive characters, Godzilla size fighting each other. The game will also come pre-loaded with 360-degree panoramas of popular areas around the world, like the Pyramids which you can use as your game environment. The game also features over 400 character customizations including costumes, over 50 different kinds of weapons and various fighting styles. You can also take a picture of your face so your character looks just like you.

My Experience
I was able to spend some time with the Vita and it was pretty impressive. I played Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Wipeout 2048, Everybody’s Golf, Little Deviants, Super Stardust.

First thing I noticed just as I held the Vita in my hand is that it’s not very portable so don’t expect to be able to put this in your pocket. Besides the fact that it’s pretty big for a portable device, the analogue controllers stick out. Both those factors make it impossible to store this device in your jeans pocket. The second thing I noticed is how surprisingly light it was. It’s quite deceiving because when you look at it you expect it to be slightly heavy while it felt nearly as light as an iPhone.

You navigate through the Vita menus by touch-screen swiping left-right, up or down and pressing on the icon you want. It’s quick and responsive. I tried Uncharted: Golden Abyss first since I had just beaten Uncharted 3 on the PS3 and was curious to see how different the game would look visually and I wasn’t disappointed. There were two chapters to choose from, the first showed off how crisp and detailed the visuals were with pretty impressive lighting effects. The game is visually as close to HD as you can get on a portable device. The character animations are pretty great as you could expect from Uncharted. The level featured climbing and jumping over things while showing off the gyroscope since I had to balance myself on a wooden beam.

The second chapter I played was called “That Makes Three of Us” and it featured more of the shooting aspect of the game. Without spoiling it too much, I had to save my companion from a bunch of enemies by sniping them before they shot my friend. Sniping in the game is pretty fun especially with the use of the touch screen. You zoom in and aim by holding the L1 button and you can adjust how close you want to zoom in using the sniper-scope via the touch screen. Sliding your finger up brings you closer while sliding your finger down zooms you out. This is basically the perfect portable version of the Uncharted franchise.

I wanted to test out the second touch-pad on the back of the device because I was curious to see how comfortable it would be to use so I started playing Little Deviants. In Little Deviants you have to help your character roll around by deforming the environment (using the back touch-pad) to collect stars and other items. It took a few minutes to get used to the back touch pad but when I got the hang of it this game was a lot of fun. The back touch pad was very responsive and it was very weird to visually see how the land responded to your touches. It’s difficult to describe and impossible to take a video of since I needed to hold the Vita with both my hands. The closest thing I can think of to describing it is that it’s like molding clay in your hands.

I really wanted to play Wipeout 2048 because it was a favorite franchise of mine back when I owned the Playstation 1 and I when I did get my hands on it I wasn’t disappointed. The races are fast, intense and enjoyable, visually the game is really nice to look at and the developers obviously focused on the little details because everything in the game looked good from the small details on vehicles to the environments and the explosions. I was only able to choose from a few tracks but the full game will have 10 new tracks and 20 vehicles to choose.

Super Stardust is a game that mixes gamplay elements from Geometry Wars and Asteroids, it was a nice little game to try out. Another game I tried was Everybody’s Golf which was nice looking but a sport I’m not into even though it was fun.

At the end of my game time with the Vita I was pretty impressed, I liked what I saw and what I played. Surprisingly the screen was pretty much free of my finger prints and there were no smudges. The AR features are also great and more advanced than what Nintendo has shown us with the 3DS. Graphically it’s a pretty powerful little system, more powerful than the Wii, but obviously not as good as a PS3 or 360 (but pretty close). The quality of the OLED screen was also great, there was glare from the lighting in the event hall and even with all the glare, I could easily see what I was doing on the screen. The Vita felt great in my hands as well but I would imagine someone with smaller hands might have trouble playing comfortably. The launch line-up suits the North American and European audiences and if Sony and third-party developers continue to support the Vita, I can see it being very successful, a lot more than the PSP.

First-party launch games:

Third-party launch titles:

Pre-Ordering in Kuwait & Pricing
You’ll be able to pre-order the Vita from the X-Cite website probably by this week (if not, definitely next week) and after the first week of online pre-orders you will be able to pre-order from their stores. When you pre-order the Vita online or at the store, it will come bundled with a memory card and a game. There is an incentive for pre-ordering it online from X-Cite, most probably a discount and the incentive for pre-ordering it in-store will be Vita merchandise, a bag or something of the sort.

The pricing of the Vita is as follows:

Wifi price: 1,149 AED (87 KD)
Wifi & 3G: 1,499 AED (114 KD)
SW Titles: 129 AED – 199 AED (10 KD – 15 KD)
Memory Card: 99 AED – 349 AED (7 KD – 26 KD)

The prices were listed in Emirati Dirham but I was told the prices in Kuwait will be very similar, the release date will be February 22.

Posted by Patrick

The Gulf Run 7 car show is going to take place this weekend. This year there will be around 60 cars taking place at Gulf Run and you’ll be able to check out most of them at 360 Mall where they will be on display for everyone to see. So make sure you pass by this weekend, they’re going to be there for two days, Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th. For more information on the event and Gulf Run click [Here]

To check out the full list of cars participating this year follow the link below.

2011 Ariel Atom
2009 Audi R8
2012 Audi R8 GT
2010 Audi R8 v10
2010 Audi R8 v10
2006 Back Draft A C Cobra
2008 BMW M3
2006 BMW M6
2007 Catarham G7
2007 Caterham G7
2010 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2007 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2008 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2009 Chevy Corvette ZR1
2012 Ferrari 458
2010 Ferrari 599 GTB
2006 Ford GT
2002 Honda S2000
2007 Lamborghini LP640
2010 Lamborghini LP670-SV
2008 Lexus IS-F
2000 Lotus 340R
1997 Lotus Exige S
2009 Mercedes C 63
2009 Mercedes C 63
2012 Mercedes C 63 coupe
2011 Mercedes E 63
2009 Mercedes SLR 722s
2009 Mercedes SLS 63
2011 Mercedes SLS 63
2005 Mitsubishi Evo VIII
2006 Mitsubishi Evo VIII
2006 Mitsubishi Evo VIII
2008 Mitsubishi Evo VIII
2009 Mitsubishi Evo X
2009 Mitsubishi Evo X
2009 Mitsubishi Evo X
2004 Mitsubishi Evo X
2005 Nissan 350Z TT
2004 Nissan 350Z TT
2009 Nissan GTR R35
2010 Nissan GTR R35
2010 Nissan GTR R35
2010 Nissan GTR R35
2006 Porsche Carrera S
2011 Porsche cayman r
1995 Porsche Gemballa GTR 600
2008 Porsche GT2 (997)
2008 Porsche GT3RS (997.1)
2011 Porsche Panamera Turbo
2008 Porsche Turbo (997.2)
2010 Porsche Turbo (997.2)
2008 Porsche Turbo 911
- Radical SR8
2009 Westfield Aerorace
2009 Westfield Aerorace
2009 Westfield Aerorace
2009 Westfield Aerorace
2009 Westfield Aerorace

Earlier today I passed by the newly revamped Kuwait Science Club RC track near 360 Mall. I was the only one there so I managed to take the picture above of the track completely empty. It’s really huge and pretty difficult to race around at least for a newbie like me. There are some very cool jumps that had my car flying off the ground except the jumps usually ended with a sharp right turn so my car would end up flying off the course. Still lots of fun and I didn’t damage anything. I shot a video which I’ll try to post later tonight but for now you can check out a large panorama of the track by visiting this [Link]

I remember Tommy being open in Marina Mall around 7 years back but they weren’t doing good (I heard) and they shut down. Now it looks like they’re reopening again but this time at 360 Mall. Their new location is right next to Signor Sassi in place of Yo Sushi! and also right next to Mango.

Interestingly the brand doesn’t seem to be owned by Alshaya anymore. When Tommy was previously open in Kuwait Alshaya had the brand but, I just checked out the Alshaya website and there is no sign of Tommy Hilfiger so it looks like it’s opening under new ownership.

The new Kuwait Science Club offroad RC track just got completed and it looks incredible. I’m going to be out of the country this weekend so I’m only going to get to try it out next week. Only 1/8 scale truggies and buggies are allowed on the track which is located near the Kuwait Science Club behind 360 Mall. [Link]

Kuwait Black Market spotted the Walls brand ice cream at Geant in 360 Mall. I remember someone telling me ages ago that Walls ice cream was banned in Kuwait because the Walls logo upside down read as “Allah” in Arabic. Kinda like those Nike Air shoes back in the 90′s that were also banned because the way “Air” was written also looked like “Allah”.

I guess the Walls thing was just an urban legend and now we can all enjoy our Magnum ice cream. [Link]

The Radio Control Car Club of Kuwait track next to 360 Mall is one of the largest offroad tracks in the world and it’s currently getting a makeover in preparation for the new season.

They’re changing the layout and rebuilding the whole thing to make it even better than it was before. I can’t wait till it’s done so I could race my car there.

If you’re interested in becoming a member it’s just KD20 a year but you need to have a car and it needs to be 1/8 scale. The weather is becoming a lot better so if you’re interested in getting a car there are four shops I know of that sell the best 1/8 scale cars:

Extreme Hobby – 24348123
Pro Hobbies – 24313277 (where I got mine from)
Hobby Time – 24346744
Al Hamar – 22431989

You can check out more pictures of the track underconstruction on the RCCCK Facebook page [Here]

Diesel at Marina Mall is closing down since they’re opening up at 360 Mall so they’ve got a major sale going right now. They’ve got 70% off on some jeans and they also have a large collection of jeans for just KD10. The store is pretty empty right now and they only have women’s jeans left so if you’re interested hurry up.

Prada and Miu Miu are finally coming back to Kuwait again and this time they’re opening up at 360 Mall. Both brands were previously located at Villa Moda but ended up closing down along with the other brands.

Note: I think the location of the Prada store will be in front of Bottega Veneta near Burberry. That location seems big enough and it would be located in a strip that’s currently occupied by Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent as well.

Update: Got some more information regarding this. Prada signed a regional partnership with UAE based Al-Tayer Group and they are the ones who are bringing Prada and Miu Miu to Kuwait. As I predicted the Prada branch is going to open opposite Bottega Veneta while Miu Miu is going to open next to Marni. My guess is they might be open by the end of the year or early 2012.