UrbanWire got a sneak peek of the 2010 Spring/ Summer Collection at Ocean Minded’s concept store at VivoCity on Nov 18.

The new range contains several capsule collections to appeal to various tastes, such as stylish leather sandals, sporty sandals and casual shoes. The products on display showed a refreshing change from the current range.

^{Image Meilani Yellow Plumeria
(All images from Ocean Minded)}

An example is the Image Meilani. It’s an update to the very popular Meilani sandals by adding loud and colourful prints. The Meilani collection is American surfer Bethany Hamilton’s signature sandal and named after her middle name, Meilani, which means “Heavenly Flower” in Hawaiian. Make a statement with the print that suits your personality best.

^{Image Meilani Yellow Green}

The new Image Meilani collection will be available in January 2010 in Yellow Plumeria and Kiwi colours at a recommended retail price of S$39.95.

There’s also the Cheyna collection for women which features premium leather straps. It’s a very versatile selection with its streamlined and simple design, going well with almost every outfit. Sore feet will never be a problem as the midsole is made from the special recycled Ocean Minded foam containing Ethylene Vinyl Acetate to guarantee comfort with every step.

^{Cheyna Red}

The Cheyna collection will be available from February 2010 in Red, Black and Yellow at a recommended retail price of S$49.95.

Not forgetting the guys, there’s the Seaweed collection that’s created with recycled Croslite material to keep the weight to a minimum. It also features a pliable nylon toe post made from recycled plastic bottles that prevents abrasions between toes.

^{Seaweed Charcoal/Lime}

The Seaweed collection will be available in January 2010 in Rasta and Charcoal/Lime at a recommended retail price of S$54.95.

The Durbo collection by Bede Durbridge is another very surfer-inspired sandal and is surprisingly comfortable thanks to its Croslite DNA. Wear the Durbo with extra pride as it has a specially crafted message on its outsole such as “Keep our beaches clean. Be part of the solution” and “Live. Protect. Respect.”

^{Durbo Rasta}

With great attention to details in the stitching and labels, plus the use of materials such as Croslite which makes the footwear non-slip and odour resistant, Ocean Minded promises comfort, durability and environmental responsibility while still being fashionable.

Trail, sand, gravel and road were soaked with more than 10, 000 people’s blood, sweat and tears during the New Balance REAL RUN 2009 on Nov 8.

The ultimate X-terrain challenge pushed even the most seasoned of runners to the brink of exhaustion. Even Dev Kumar Rai, a Gurkha (they’re known for their courage and stamina), admitted that the race route was harsh.

“I think that the race is very challenging, especially the muddy area. It’s lucky that it didn’t rain before the race, or it would have been very difficult.”

Held at the Changi Exhibition Centre, the enthusiastic joggers were flagged off by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State for Law & Home Affairs and current president of HomeTeamNS.

He provided words of encouragement to the runners like, “You can do this!” before waving the starting flag and was waiting at the end to cheer on the runners as Alex Melly breezed past the finishing line.

Alex, at a prime age of 26, proved to everyone why Kenya is dominant in long distance athletics with a convincing finish time of 32:48 minutes in the 10 km Men’s Open Category, more than 2 minutes faster than the second placed runner.

When asked about the race, he said, “I like the route, its very good.”

Up and coming runner, Rui Yong Soh, second year student from Raffles Institution is promising to be the next Mok Ying Ren with his first place finish in the 10 km Men’s Junior Category.

Call it déjà vu, but there are similarities between the 2 mentioned runners. Both have won the same running category and are sponsored by Nike.

Just 2 words from this young talented runner summed up the New Balance REAL RUN 2009, “Very tough”.

(All images taken by Pramod Gurung)

The latest installation of the popular game franchise by NAMCO BANDAI GAMES Inc., Tekken 6, certainly didn’t disappoint. It can’t afford to, especially since 2009 is a good year for gamers, with the release of major fighting games such as King Of Fighters XII, Street Fighter IV and Blazblue just to name a few.

So why should anyone play Tekken 6? With 41 unique characters to choose from, Tekken 6 has the largest fighting roster ever seen in the series (Street Fighter IV only has a measly 19). This means that technically, one shouldn’t get bored with the game due to the abundance of characters available.

The game features a scenario campaign that’s basically a story mode with 2 of the game’s new characters, Alisa and Lars. I’d recommend playing this only if you’re interested in the storyline, if not, just head on to the all-important arcade mode.

The scenario campaign isn’t bad, but it’s just not my cup of tea. I pay good money to play a great fighting game to smash buttons and have fun. The only thing about the scenario campaign that I liked was the amazing cut scenes with the highest level of detail.

Onward to the main course in the game – the arcade mode. It’s where gamers, the young and old, the good and the not-so-good excel in. One might even say it’s where the spirit of Tekken lies.

Getting the hang of the controls to execute a special 10-hit combo will take a while, but in the meantime, the basic fight mechanics are surprisingly simple, with each button controlling a specific limb of your character.

Unfortunately I had trouble completing stage 5 of the arcade mode, against a blonde fighter, Lili. I got 4 of my friends to have a go at her, but she shot all of them down like a cleaner swatting flies. The fighting level of the artificially-intelligent (AI) opponent increases after each stage and she was surprisingly strong.

After much button-mashing and cheering from our motley gang, we finally defeated her. Tekken 6 offers not only a rich fighting experience but also allows users to customize the characters, enhancing the incredible gameplay as the players go fisticuff.

If you are bored of playing against AI, you can go online and pit your skills against other players all over the world via Xbox Live® in the online versus mode. You can also create and upload your own characters as ghost characters, which can be downloaded as AI opponents. The ‘ghosts’ will have all the battle data of the player who uploaded them. This allows you to practise with the best gamers in the globe without having to suffer the agony of losing to them in real time.

Tekken 6 was released on end of last month for Xbox 360® and PlayStation® 3 consoles, and will be available for PlayStation®Portable on Nov 27.