Best Games of 2013

2013 was another year for wide variety in my late night gaming. Miles wide in fact and mostly inches deep. I think I prefer it this way, even if my bank account is worse for wear because of it. I decided to separate out the games I played on the toilet tablet and keep them for another post on another day though. Below is my top 10 proper games of the year 2013. Below that is all the other stuff I played too.

1. The Last of Us
This year I finally realized what I value most in video games. I want story. The game play has to enjoyable enough to engage me, but mechanics never make me say wow. The Last of Us was somewhat flawed in it's combat mechanics and had puzzles that eventually grew tiresome, but the story never let up. Zombie stories The characters and their relationships were top notch. The arc that is told is a roller coaster of tragedy, but not without it's moments of hope. The ending was something I've rarely seen in any medium and certainly not a video game. 2013 had loads of great games, but Last of Us easily stood above them.

2. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Video game mechanics rarely are in support of their story. At best they do their damnedest to no detract from it, but many times they outright betray the story being told. Brothers was one of the first games I've seen where the two went hand in hand from start to finish. Controlling two characters (siblings) with a single controller is awkward at first. My thumbs learned to work in tandem though and as they did the two characters on screen also learned to work with and support each other. In a game without dialogue Starbreeze managed to tell one of the most enjoyable stories in a game this year.

3. BioShock Infinite
I was a bit skeptical about a third game in the Bioshock-o-verse after Bioshock 2 was such a let down. Infinite was by the same team as the original though.Would offer up very little in direct relation to the games setting and told a brand new tale with new characters. The story opening was incredibly strong. Slowly introducing it's world through character and environment. At some point the combat sequences became a bit dull and tedious though. The story lost it's way, but not for long. By the end it was back on the rails and presenting not only insights into Rapture, but the entire universe the game exist in. Really cool stuff.

4. Far Cry 3
In a year where I played more open world games than ever before, Farcry 3 stood above the rest. As with most open world games it's good story was not in the main plot, but in the tales concocted through it's "living" environment. "Oh man, I was sneaking up on this base. Cataloging it's defenses and plotting out my approach. When a pack of wild dogs burst from the trees and started attacking the guards. I threw out my plan and jumped into the three way fight". The game is jam packed with moments like that. All on a sprawling and beautiful island system. There is loads of meaningful side missions to go on, a crafting system worthy of emulation (see: Assassin's Creed 4) and one of the best acted villains video games have ever seen.

5. Gunpoint
I've been following allowing with Gunpoint's development since early 2011. Before it had great art and a smooth jazz soundtrack. The core concept stands up on it's own just fine. 2D stealth and puzzle mechanics. More specifically rewiring the electronics in the building you are infiltrating to remove obstacles. The light switch. You know, the one that turns on lights. Now it opens the door you wanted to sneak through or better yet short circuits a socket next to a guard and murder him.  If it was just that it would be a good time, but it also has the art and soundtrack mentioned earlier. Plus a story that is worth reading and interactive dialogue that is pretty damn humorous. It's a great game. I just wish there was more of it, I completed it right at three hours. What you get in that three hours though feels like a new experience in gaming. Maybe? Or maybe it is just Elevator Action evolved. It is a marvelous little game either way. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

6. GTA V
The single player in this game is far and above any other GTA story on offer to date. The up and coming criminal to king pin tale is out. They'd done it enough times and done it well where it would have been passable this time through. What they offered up instead was leaps and bounds beyond what they already did really well. Following three established characters from the start meant working with in the confines of their lives and personalities. You aren't meeting new NPCs every hour so you can play errand boy again. It works really well. The loses it's head of steam about 3-4 hours from the end, but the plot was still paced masterfully by comparison to the rest of the series. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

7. Don't Starve
Klei Entertainment, makers of Mark of the Ninja (ma jam!) made ma new jam too. Don't Starve is a 2D-ish (it's a 3D engine with 2D assets) open world game in the vein of Minecraft. That is to say it is a survival game where the environment you are in provides the materials you'll need to survive. What makes the game intriguing beyond being another open world survival game is the amount of trust placed in the player. The game opens with an unnamed man who instructs you to find food before night fall and poofs away. From that point on there are no instructions. The tool tips provided for left and right clicking different things in the world are all you have. What is good for you and what can kill is a trial by error process. The reward is mastering the consistent systems in the world, not starving and ultimately thriving. Bonus content: Great article and video about Klei. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

8. Tomb Raider
In 1996 my second computer or maybe third whirled up the original Tomb Raider on it's bite sized hard drive. It was the same time frame as the Nintendo 64, so polygonal platforming was still in it's larval state. I have great memories of that game. The new game is a reboot, but doesn't evoke memories of that past though. You don't raid any tombs per se, but that is because Crystal Dynamics is too busy doing their best Uncharted impression. Which, as it turns out I wanted way more Uncharted, so good job guys. It's an action movie in video game form, with better combat than the series it apes. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

9. The Stanley Parable
What this is, is hard to describe. It's a game for the PC that spawned from a source mod in 2011. That much is easy enough. What the game actually does though is much harder. It is not a puzzle game, as much as it is a mind fuck. Most "gamers" have played enough games to know the tropes, language and mechanics of a modern video game. This one turns all of that on it's ear. It constantly breaks the fourth wall and does so in clever and humorous ways. You explore the ins and outs a world that is masterfully narrated and never what you expect it to be. You should play it and will love it when you do. Very much like portal, but not like it at all, it's strange and wonderful. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

10. Saints Row IV
Earlier this year I caught up with Saints Row: The Third, a game that I should have made time for in 2011. It was an absolute blast. What started as a GTA clone turned into a goofy parody of the videogame world. Often breaking the 4th wall and throwing out reality and tired tropes in favor of fun. The fourth game in the series actually started as a DLC pack for the third and then ballooned into it's own game. It stands on the shoulders of the third (engine, mechanics and world) and then breaks all of it's rules. Your character is now super powered. Gliding through the air, sprinting at the speed of light and leaping over buildings. There is no need for a car or even guns later on, but the game manages to stay balanced and challenging even as it gives you loads of power. The humor is the main course still though. Eliciting consistent small giggles and even the occasional belly laugh. Totally worth a play through, though you may be better served playing the third installment first. (This write up was cribbed from my first post on this game)

11. Call of Duty: Ghost
12. Prison Architect
13. Sleeping Dogs
14. Metro: Last Light
15. Hotline Miami
16. Magicka
17. Orcs Must Die! 2
18. Spelunky
19. Card Hunter
20. Guacamelee*
21. Papers Please!*
22. Gone Home*
23. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
24. The Wolf Among Us*
25. Max Payne 3**

* played it once or twice and was not hooked enough to return to it
** actively disliked playing this piece of crap

Weekend Review: Post Thanksgiving 2013 Blow Out!

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Work has been hell of busy, but I've been doing a lot...Everything must go!

Games
Orcs Must Die! 2
I dig tower defense games, but they are usually top down, mobile and solo affairs. Orcs Must Die! takes the tower defense concept and puts into the third dimension. Instead of towers you place traps and control a war mage that is part of the battle as well. The controls are a lot like playing WoW and by that I mean I jump unnecessarily every two seconds. The later levels get hard and thankfully there is two player coop to solve for that.  It is part of the latest Humble Bundle (which tomorrow). You get the first game too, which I might up playing as well.

Magicka
I jumped on this game when it first came out in 2011. It was awkward to control (but fun), quirky in it's presentation and a good laugh to play coop.  The initial group didn't make it far. I'd call them casual gamers and mean it in the nicest way possible. I tried to continue playing it on my own, but the game gets brutally hard pretty quickly. Jump to this month in this year. The most recent Humble Bundle came with Magicka and all it's DLC. I got Skip and my brother to get copies and we've been playing it every night. The challenge for three players is perfect. We struggle through boss fights and laugh our asses off when we blow each other up.

COD: Ghost
This franchise feels like it is on it's last leg. It is the tenth proper game in the series that remains a cash cow, so they keep making one a year. The multiplayer is still fun, but it might as well be a map and gun pack DLC. Save the fact that the leap frogging developing cycle sees gaps in the feature set every year. They made a huge deal out of the pick ten system in BLOPs 2. It was going to revolutionize the game. So of course Ghost made their own watered down/less good version this year. I still enjoy playing COD with my buddies, but there is nothing new or special about it anymore. Titanfall can't get here soon enough.

Tilt to Live 2
Tilt to Live was the first mobile (smart phone) game I spent an extraordinary amount of time with. The longest a game would take, if you were really crushing it, was 3 minutes tops. You control an arrow that is trying to avoid and destroy red dots. It plays a lot like Geometry Wars, but replace the dual sticks with tilting your phone. Your next high score is only a game away so keep playing forever! Or as long as you are in the bathroom. Sadly the follow up game doesn't introduce enough new stuff to make me want to play it like the first. That or I had my fill the first time around. If you've never played it, give it a shot. If you played and liked the first, this is more of the same.

Max Payne 3
The matrix and more importantly the public's introduction to bullet time came in 1999. Sadly the movie tie in games that followed were shit. In 2001 Max Payne released with a gritty noir story and game mechanics that captured bullet time in a way that was fun. Not a small feat. The sequel that followed in 2003 only added to that formula. Nine years, a terrible movie and a troubled development cycle later and Max Payne 3 came out. Gone is the noir feel, the semi understandable story and the bullet time. Cover mechanics killed what made the first to games distinct. Now when you jump out from cover and slow down time you will very likely land on the ground and get shot to death. Without interesting game play one would hope the story did some heavy lifting. Nope, the story has got better things to do.

Music
Clipse 
After really digging the new Pusha T, I went and bought all three of the Clipse albums. I was late to the party, but now understand were all the admiration comes from. There is some incredible music to be unearthed here. A lot of Neptunes produced tracks that I was already familiar with, but didn't know were Clipse songs. Bravo!

Action Bronson - Blue Chips 2
My first listen to Action's new mixtape was mixed bag of good tracks and some stuff that was really off putting. I stuck with it though and it grew on me in the past month. Party Supplies produces tracks that are just plain fun. The result of which is Action taking that fun vibe and putting together raps that are creative and light in their flow. A great pairing. Starting out thinking I'd remove it from my phone and taking a turn to liking it has been great. It is somewhere in my mixtapes of the year now.

Reading
Storm Front (Dresden Files)
It is a bit daunting to start up long running fiction series. The Dresden Files will be up to fifteen books next year. Thankfully the first book is only 300+ pages, which for me is only 8 hours of audio. In audio Storm Front plays a bit like a radio narrative. The first person hardboiled P.I. story blended with the super natural (magic) world played great in 20-40 minute chunks. I can't wait to start the next one.

Avengers Arena
Another great comic recommendation from Ethan. AA stands on the shoulders of Lord of the Flies, Battle Royale, and Hunger Games to tell a similar story in the Marvel universe. It is a silly premise that is well executed. I wasn't familiar with any of the characters on offer, which I think made it better. The characters get quick, but meaningful introductions and then are set to surviving and killing each other. The writing is on point and it looks great too.

Weekend Review: Oct 26th & 27th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Gravity
I've never had a fear of space before. It is such a foreign concept, so abstract when presented through the lens of a book or television, that it never really occurred to me. Gravity is a fictional take on space that presents story first, but also uses visual effects and sound to make the vast emptiness of space tangible. Bullock and Clooney do a great job in their roles, but the third character is outer space. We saw the film in 3D and for the first time I felt like it actually added something. More stunning spectacle than zero calorie novelty. It was amazing and deserving of the stellar reviews it has received.

The Stanley Parable
What this is, is hard to describe. It's a game for the PC that spawned from a source mod in 2011. That much is easy enough. What the game actually does though is much harder. It is not a puzzle game, as much as it is a mind fuck. Most "gamers" have played enough to know the tropes, language and mechanics of a modern video game. This one turns all of that on it's ear. It constantly breaks the fourth wall and does so in clever and humorous ways. You explore the ins and outs a world that is masterfully narrated and never what you expect it to be. You should play it and will love it when you do. Very much like portal, but not like it at all, it's strange and wonderful.

Boson X
I've spent a surprising amount of time with the endless runner genre. Almost exclusively on mobile devices. Subway Surfers has been my on again off again sweetheart for a year now. So when a new kid shows up on the block I'm willing take a look. Boson X sets you running down the center of a particle accelerator, represented by swirling polygonal shapes. You jump left and right to keep moving and collecting enough research ("collisions") to discover a new particle and finish the level. It is harder than most runners and very akin to Super Hexagon in it's pace and sometimes brutal difficulty.

Weekend Review: Sep 7th & 8th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

The Wire
I've been waiting for most of the summer to talk about this show here. Crystal and I decided to give it a go and see if it lived up to the hype. Three seasons later and we can both confirm that it beats and exceeds the hype. We are still watching it at a regular clip (3-4 episodes a week) and we are consistently blown away by how good it is.

Saints Row IV
Earlier this year I caught up with Saints Row: The Third, a game that I should have made time for in 2011. It was an absolute blast. What started as a GTA clone turned into a goofy parody of the videogame world. Often breaking the 4th wall and throwing out reality and tired tropes in favor of fun. The fourth game in the series actually started as a DLC pack for the third and then ballooned into it's own game. It stands on the shoulders of the third (engine, mechanics and world) and then breaks all of it's rules. Your character is now super powered. Gliding through the air, sprinting at the speed of light and leaping over buildings. There is no need for a car or even guns later on, but the game manages to stay balanced and challenging even as it gives you loads of power. The humor is the main course still though. Eliciting consistent small giggles and even the occasional belly laugh. Totally worth a play through, though you may be better served playing the third installment first.

Putty & Paint
I think I've finally come to terms with the fact that I will never paint a 40k army. I like the idea of painting things to never play with them, but I've only ever painted two minis to completion (Mirado and Odarim) and they were for active tabletop characters I was playing. Seeing as I like the idea of painting and never actually paint. Putty and Paint is the perfect scratch to my itch. Professional level painters showing off their skills and wares in a better looking format than Cool Mini or Not.

Weekend Review: August 17th & 18th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Wool
I've been in a bit of fantasy/sci-fi rut since the last ASoIaF book if I'm being honest. Nothing has seemed to scratch that itch. So I turned to non-fiction for a bit and have now tried to read the Wool series twice.The first book was originally a stand alone short story. It's about a sheriff in an underground silo following a apocalyptic event that drives everyone underground. It is well written, concise and enjoyable. The rest of the books each follow a different character, but are kicked off from the events in book one. At book three I lost my head of steam and started to get bored. Crystal couldn't make it through book two. One and done is my advice. It is short and cheap.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Brothers is not like any game I've ever played. It is cooperative play, but played by one person. You control two brothers on a quest to save their father. You do so by controlling the older brother on the left thumbstick and trigger and the younger on the right. The world they explore is beautiful, it is an impressive display of art direction and level design. You are rewarded for exploring and the mechanics of controlling two characters progresses the story as you get better at doing so. I played a large portion of the game my 4 year old which turned out to be a mistake. While it is a story of two kid brothers, there are occasional adult themes that left him with questions I didn't have great answers for. That was my mistake though. The game was amazing. It is rare that you get something completely new in the world of video games. It was short, but for $15 it was worth every penny. Brothers will stick with me for a good while and makes me hopeful for what the future of video games might hold.

Sleeping Dogs
I picked up four new games during the Steam summer sale in July. Torchlight 2 got some play, but none stuck like Sleeping Dogs. I'd heard good things about it in the weeks after it came out, but was not looking for an open world game at the time. I was wrong to have waited. Sleeping Dogs doesn't add much to the GTA model of open world cops and robbers, but it does drip with style. The game takes place in Hong Kong and has tons to see and explore. The main story sees you taking on the role of an undercover cop trying to infiltrate the triads. It is serviceable and occasionally over the top, but held up by good driving and fighting mechanics.

Weekend Review: July 6th & 7th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Ginormous 4th of July long weekend wrap up incoming I've been heads down on work and home projects for two weeks now and dipped out on writing here as a result. So without further ado, the weekend review...and most of June too:

Games
Dead Ahead (iOS)
Another game I fell in love with in the endless runner genre. I get really wrapped up in the repetitive nature of "just one more run". Dead Ahead is a 2D side-scroller set in a zombie apocalypse. You play a protagonist on a dirt bike running from a zombie hoard. The only way to keep them back is to accelerate or shoot (risky) them (limited ammo). The obstacles ahead of you include more zombies (that will slow you down) and cars (that will end your run). The mechanics and controls are solid. The pixel art and animation has a chibi look and is quite pretty. All that and it is free. It is ad supported though, so I dropped the $0.99 required to remove them. Well worth the price.

Deep Dungeons of Doom (iOS)
Triple D looks a bit like the combat portion of a JRPG. You control a hero on the left side of the screen and the creatures you face appear opposite you. It is real time and all you can do is block and attack. That sounds basic and it is, but the beauty is in the timing. Creatures can block and attack as well and learning their tells is a big part of the game. That is made easier by the fantastic pixel art and animation (noticing a theme?). This is a another free one, but unlike Dead Ahead the model for profit is not based on ads. After 5-6 dungeons D3 presents a pay wall. Pay $1.99 for 6 additional dungeons in not one, but two instances. Each dungeon took me maybe 4-5 minutes to complete. At that rate, I was good with the hour I spent with the game, but did not continue.

Block, Block, Block (iOS)
Block x 3 is a simple and beautiful concept. It takes the match 3 puzzle genre and places a hard emphasis on the puzzle element. You presented with multiple squares in pastel tones and are asked to solve the puzzles by matching three. The challenge comes in when you are presented multiple colors and a limited set of moves to complete the puzzle. Crystal and I both spent multiple hours stumped on various puzzles over the weekend. Another free one by the way.

Don't Starve (PC)
Klei Entertainment, makers of Mark of the Ninja (ma jam!) made ma new jam too. Don't Starve is a 2D-ish (it's a 3D engine with 2D assets) open world game in the vein of Minecraft. That is to say it is a survival game where the environment you are in provides the materials you'll need to survive. What makes the game intriguing beyond being another open world survival game is the amount of trust placed in the player. The game opens with an unnamed man who instructs you to find food before night fall and poofs away. From that point on there are no instructions. The tool tips provided for left and right clicking different things in the world are all you have. What is good for you and what can kill is a trial by error process. The reward is mastering the consistent systems in the world, not starving and ultimately thriving. Bonus content: Great article and video about Klei

Card Hunter (PC)
I got into the beta of Card Hunter mid-last week and spent two plus hours with the tutorial and a handful of encounters. The game's concept is a novel one. RPG video games originated from the tabletop and quickly did away with any of the tangible elements related to it. Dice rolls where under the hood and the character sheets turned into UI elements. Card Hunter is a game that brings the tabletop back to the screen. Your powers are actual skeuomorphic cards and your party looks like character tokens stood up on a grided map. The narrator is a geeky DM who makes references to snacking while laying the story elements on really thick. It is great and the beta is free, after a short wait to get in of course. How long I play it will hinge on how much the multiplayer hooks me though. My kingdom for some co-op.

Music
Run the Jewels
Killer Mike and EL-P are two artist I can take in small doses most of the time. Too much and I go elsewhere with my musical taste. Combine the two though and you get a Reese's Cup of hip hop. Beats and raps from EL-P that are less experimental and a Killer Mike that is more consistent. I've listened to it on repeat for two weeks now and there is still a ton to love about nearly every part of this record.

Yeezus
My first listen to Kayne's much hyped and long anticipated new record was a good one. It was mostly listening to the beats and less so the lyrics. That is typical of how I usually consume music. I really liked what I heard at first. After three to four more plays though I started to focus in on the lyrics. What some might call controversial lyrics I found to be whiny. At this point he is a person of privilege. He certainly didn't start that way and he worked hard to make himself what he is now. There is a lot of complaining on this record for someone who has much more than probably 99% of those listening to it.

MMA
UFC 162 (Spoilers)
Anderson Silva finally got caught fucking around. He is an amazingly talented fighter. Arguably the GOAT in a very young sport, but he likes to openly mock his opponents. Most have no where near the talent as him, but instead of putting them away he sometimes extends rounds and whole fights just screwing around. It was disrespectful for sure, legitimately impressive and made for some awful main cards. Either age (he is  38), the level talent or luck caught up with him Saturday night. A moment after he pretended to be wobbled by a punch, he bobbed and weaved his way back into left hook from the young and talented Chris Weidman. The now former champ went limp to the mat, eyes rolled back in his head and saw an embarrassing end to his 10 fight title defense.

Weekend Review: June 8th & 9th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Gunpoint
I've been following allowing with Gunpoint's development since early 2011. Before it had great art and a smooth jazz soundtrack. The core concept stands up on it's own just fine. 2D stealth and puzzle mechanics. More specifically rewiring the electronics in the building you are infiltrating to remove obstacles. The light switch, you know, the one that turns on lights. Now it opens the door you wanted to sneak through or better yet short circuits the socket next to a guard and murders him.  If it was just that it would be a good time, but it also has the art and soundtrack mentioned earlier. Plus a story that is worth reading and interactive dialogue that is pretty damn humorous. It's a great game. I just wish there was more of it, I completed it right at three hours. What you get in that three hours though feels like a new experience in gaming. Maybe? Or maybe it is just Elevator Action evolved. It is a marvelous little game either way.

The Man with the Iron Fists
The Rza writing/directing/acting in his own movie, is a piece of information that would have created no pause in me in high school. I was in a full 36 Chambers spiral. I would have been there for the midnight release. Then came Bobby Digital and the downfall of the clan. When he (Rza) popped up producing the Kill Bill soundtrack though, it seemed like a perfect match. 9 years later, after studying under Tarantino, Rza put out his own film. A small part of me wanted to believe. Then the reviews came in and I knew in my heart of hearts that I shouldn't see it. Well over the weekend I did. It was not good. Bad writing, acting and editing. The only thing that kept me watching was decent fight choreography and illogical devotion to the Wu.

Kingdom Rush: Frontiers
A long anticipated sequel to a game I've probably logged near one hundred iPad hours with. I played through the regular game, then three all levels of difficulty and then finally through the DLC. I wrung it dry. So when Frontiers came out this week and was getting mixed reviews for being more of the same, I signed right up. More of the game I already loved, sure. There are slight changes to the formula and plenty of new towers and enemies, but at it's core is the game I wanted. Heroes now have persistent levels/skills and feel more useful on the map. The harder difficulties and challenges are still tough as hell. It is more like a Kingdom Rush expansion than sequel and I am perfectly happy with that.

Weekend Review: June 1st & 2nd

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
I dig unreliable narrators. Usually that comes in the form of a book, comic or movie. It is rarely executed well in a game. Gunslinger is the 4th game in a series that has had a rocky past. Thankfully it is uncoupled from the triple A story line. It follows a retired bounty hunter sitting at a bar recounting the tales of his past. He forgets details, occasionally exaggerates the truth or gets questioned by his audience. All of these elements play out in the game visually. Someone might jump in with a "the way I heard it..." and you play out that alternate past, then the game rewinds and you play what actually happened. The environment shifts and changes in real time to suit the story. All that and it looks pretty too for $15.

99% Invisible
The guys from Tested made a reference to a podcast they both listened to late last week. It was the story of how basketball went from peach baskets to an open net. I downloaded the episode of 99% Invisible and really enjoyed it. Like really really enjoyed it. I listened to a backlog of 15 old episodes over the weekend. They are short, think 15 to 25 minutes and they cover design. A lot of which is architecture focused,but there are many like the basketball episode too. Ten episodes in, to my random selection, the host (Roman Mars) made mention that his podcast was heavily influenced by The Memory Palace. Another podcast I love, that covers history in a very similar format. So consider that two recommendations.

Warhammer Quest
In the last year I've occasionally day dreamed of a mobile game that captured some of the joy that is table top gaming. Not dice rolls and beers with friends, but at least the dungeon crawling grid-ed maps. Then someone made just that. Warhammer Quest is a top down, turn based, dungeon crawler that lets you control a party of four. It dabbles a bit with a story, but the meat and potatoes is the tactical game play. Enter a dungeon, clear out the baddies and collect the loot. Of course there is an leveling system, loot upgrades and a handful of other mechanics too. It is pretty well rounded, but fells a bit repetitive already. Probably because I've spent too much time grinding on side quest. It is still worth $5 and your time.

Weekend Review: May 25th & 26th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

John Adams
Catching up on six to seven HBO series has been on my to-do list for ages. When I finally get around to one it is always worth it. John Adams is any easy pick. Seven parts that run an hour and a half each. It is not 100% historically accurate, but it gets the broad strokes right and gives opportunities to great actors to do their thing with the moments that founded this country. It is hard to steal an hour plus for TV these days, but this series seems like it will continue to be worth it.

Prison Architect
Sim City and EA shit the bed in March. Turns out I still wanted a deep building/management simulation. In steps Prison Architect. A small studio making a dense simulation of a prison. Build from the ground up, house minimum to maximum security prisoners, assign AI routines and try to prevent a riot or escape. The game has been in a public "alpha" for what seems like ages and is largely crowd funded without Kickstarter. At this point it is fun and feels close enough to a full game to warrant the risk of paying for and playing it in alpha.

Metro Last Light
In 2010 Metro 2033 sneaked in to my list of favorites. It was beautiful, dripped atmosphere and had a few bugs. It was flawed, but worthy of affection. Three years later I can say the same things of the sequel. It is prettier, plays in the same world as the original and has less bugs. All of that and some spark is gone. What was novel the first time through feels too more like an expansion than a innovation. Still worth the price of admission, but not worthy of the underground swell of support.

Weekend Review: Apr 6th & 7th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

BioShock Infinite
I never played System Shock, maybe I'd be going deeper into the origin of the Shocks if I had, but the first BioShock game holds a special place in my heart. It is nearly a perfect game. Great storytelling, both directly and through it's rich world, interesting game play and stellar art design. It had flaws, but they were easy to look past. So Infinite had a tall, as tall as can be, order looming over it. Be better than it's best in class big brother.

Thankfully it did, it took the depth and lived in world of BioShock and made it feel open. You are still mostly on a rail, literally in fact, but the open skies and floating world of Columbia create the illusion of an open environment you could go anywhere in. Some of the story is still delivered in recordings, but the major change is an ever present companion in Elizabeth. She has is not an escort quest, she pushes the story along and you can live through her well acted emotion (though thankfully your character has a voice too). The whole game is a masterpiece, high praise, but not hyperbole, it is seriously that good.

Ridiculous Fishing
The same day I picked up Super Stickman Golf 2 I also picked up Ridiculous Fishing. SSG2 has been a household (my brother, my 4 yr old and me) and trip (Pittsburgh last week) favorite, but Ridiculous Fishing is pretty good too. Part bullet hell, shooting gallery and all around weird, it is glued together with a minimalistic art style that just works. Like Super Hexagon you can start and end a round in under a minute usually, unlike Hexagon a less than world beating performance is still a net gain. Earning you cash toward gear upgrades that should make the next run just a little easier.

G.I. JOE: Cobra Civil War
If a future-me showed up in 2012 to let past-me know that I'd be burning through G.I. Joe comics at a ravenous pace and enjoying every moment. Past-me would first ask for the Super Bowl winner, but then he would walk away from future-me in disbelief. I am absolutely loving this run of Joe comics. Throw out the childhood memories and franchise recognition and it is just fantastic military and espionage writing. In this arc IDW used three different books (Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe and Cobra) to tell one huge story of multiple character arcs and overlapping story lines that ended in a new Cobra Commander being picked. The numbering was mildly confusing, but the whole thing was great.

Weekend Review: Mar 16th & 17th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Tomb Raider
In 1996 my second computer or maybe third whirled up the original Tomb Raider on it's bite sized hard drive. It was the same time frame as the Nintendo 64, so polygonal platforming was still in it's larval state. I have great memories of that game. The new game (reboot), released in February 2013, doesn't evoke memories of that past though. You don't raid any tombs per se, but that is because Crystal Dynamics is too busy doing their best Uncharted impression. Which, as it turns out I wanted way more Uncharted, so good job guys. It's an action movie in video game form, with better combat than the series it apes. Quality stuff, my game of the year currently, if you count Far Cry 3 as a 2012 game.

The Passage
On my new audio book odyssey I kicked off The Passage a few weeks ago and wrapped it up late last week. Fantastic wordsmithing from Cronin the whole way through. Making even the mundane bits feel like a part of a living world. I slept on this book for a long time, chalking it up as a vampire story. It is that, but one that it masterfully written and with not much in the way of tired tropes. It instead focuses on interesting characters, their relationships and the trials they face in a changed world. All that and the audio bit is great too.

Advanced 10k Training Team
Last year I trained for the Monument 10k on my own. Just running the YMCA training team schedule as best I could out of my house. Then I hurt my knee (dumb basketball) and was off my legs for a month. By the time I got back on them it was like I hadn't actually trained at all. I finished at 52 minutes and then went on to do the Carytown 10k with minimal training and a 51 minute finish. This year I decided to fully dedicate myself to the event. I was all set to join the YMCA group, when I heard about the advanced training team. Put on by the Richmond Road Runners at $65 a pop for members, it is worth every penny so far.

The team is broken up into goal times starting at sub-55 and down with two coaches to a team. I'm in the 49-47 minute bracket and really enjoy the company when pushing my running limits. Wednesday nights we have track training at Sports Backers Stadium. Intervals of 200m all the way up to 3200m this week. We sprint around the track at break neck speeds (7:10-7:00 pace) and it is great. Saturday mornings we run out of a church on Monument. Different loops each week for 6-7 miles. We start with a warm up mile or two, then run 3-5 miles of tempo (race pace) and cool down with what distance we have left. It is tough stuff.

Weekend Review: Feb 23rd & 24th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

The Cabin In The Woods
Horror movies are not my jam. Part of the draw for Cabin in the Woods though, was the buzz created around the film at it's release. Not the normal horror crowd. There were lots of people talking about how good the film was and why it was worth not spoiling he premise/reveal for yourself. Almost two years later I was still in he dark oddly enough. The film plays in the realm of classic horror tropes and then turns them on their head. Saying any more might ruin it. Seek it out and enjoy.

Crysis 2
Far Cry 3 was the last game I really bit my teeth into and that was back in early January. Some how I got it in my head that the folks that spawned the Far Cry series were worth revisiting. Crytek made the first Far Cry game, a technical marvel at the time and then moved on to make Crysis. Crysis at the time was too much game for any PC of it's era to run it at max settings. If you could run it at any level though it was beautiful.The story had very little substance though and the mechanics where akin to turning on a cheat mode. Crysis 2 took that boring ball and ran with it.

D&D Next
Friday night I played DM for 6 of my friends. After not sitting behind the screen since July of last year I felt rusty the whole night. I prepped too much again and by the time I was through the whole thing felt a bit too on the rails. Letting go and not over preparing has been the bane of my DM experience. I think I will eventually get there, but taking off what was pretty much a whole year didn't help. All that said and I still had fun. We rolled dice, drank beer and made dick jokes till midnight. Expect a bonus post later this week.

Weekend Review: Jan 5th & 6th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!


Far Cry 3
This game missed out on my gaming data love in for 2012. Through no fault of it's own it came out in early December, when I was already a prestige deep into Black Ops 2. That and I had very little expectation for the third entry in the series, despite being pleasantly surprised by the second. The third is the best parts of the seconds emergent open world with none of the fluff. I've described it as Skyrim with submachine guns, if your into that kind of shorthand. Far Cry 3 has more of an "A" plot and less, "B, C, D, E, F" plots than Skyrim did, but they both create great individual stories through their worlds and the systems that live in them.

Looper
It has been a solid three months since we saw a movie. Post kids we hardly see anything. So when we do carve out time, we hope with all our hopin' muscles that it is a good one. Looper is just that, a good one. Great even, if your into time travel brain puzzling, which we are. The trailers set up a great premise and the actual movie exceed it at every turn. Well acted, visually pleasing and an ending that makes good on all that led up to it.

Fitbit Zip
I've never written an Amazon review, I usually like what I get and do a fair amount of research before ordering things. That changed this past week:

"Out of the ten days I wore it, it tracked me at zero steps for two days and sub 100 for two more. The screen doubling as a whack-a-mole button is unreliable and a bit maddening. It was rarely responsive and when it did come on it was usually a emoticon sticking it's tongue out at me. Nothing about this device worked as I expected it too. I wanted to believe it was me. I slogged around Fitbit's site on two separate occasions for something I was doing wrong, but came away with no answers.

Returned it today."

Annual Report 2012: Gaming

(Click to Embiggen)

2012 may have seen a record number of games played by me. Certainly it didn't compete on hours, we had a second child and I used to play WoW. In terms of sheer number of games I tried and sometimes completed though, 20 seems like a lot. That total doesn't account for the ten trillion iOS games I played either. I tried to figure out a way to track them too, but there is no Steam on my iPad.

Speaking of Steam, 2012 was the year of the PC. Even for games I would have normally played on the console (e.g. Darksiders 2). I picked them up on the PC instead, piped them through to my office study TV via HDMI out and played them with a wireless controller. PC ports don't suck anymore and the hardware in my PC is not going on eight years old. It renewed my faith in the platform and even sold me on upgrading this coming Spring. Even with the looming 720 and PS4.

Most Disappointing Game: Diablo 3
I made my peace with the disappointment Diablo 3 brought on my house a while ago, but the after taste still lingers to this day. Considering I put 71.2 hours into it before finally settling on "this sucks", there must have been some merit right? Certainly the art direction was great, the nostalgia it preyed upon was welcoming and seeing old WoW friends again was fun times. Then it turned into a grind, maybe it was the same grind in Diablo 2, but in 2012 that shit don't fly. It was unbalanced in the late game, the auction house vs. crafting was junk and nothing about it screamed "play me more". Total bummer!
Honorable Mention: Assassin's Creed III

Best Broken Game: Hotline Miami
I wanted to love this game. Small indie developer with a vision for a game that it got right in some many aspects. A dope sound track that I spun in my car more than I heard it in game. Graphics that were retro because they felt right for the game, not just because they are easier and cheaper to do.Twitch game play that felt odd at first, but became crisp and tight over time. All the makings for a potential game of the year, but than it ran like shit on my modern personal computer. I was turning off print spool drivers and sacrificing goats over the keyboard, but nothing would raise the frame rates to a playable level. Boo hiss!

Game of the Year: Dishonored
Stealth gets me going. Good, bad or otherwise I gravitate towards the mechanics of sneaking. Dishonored is all the stealth I want from a first person perspective, but what makes it my game of the year is all the other stuff it does. It creates a world I want to return to, rich in implied and direct story telling. The art direction was unified, stylized and beautiful. It was all that and a great stealth game. Standing on the shoulders of games like Thief and Deus Ex and doing them one better. Making the stealth work and the fail state of having to fall back on combat not feel like a fail state. Heres to the story DLC that should be coming in the first quarter of 2013!
Honorable Mention: Mark of the Ninja

Best Multiplayer: Black Ops 2
Every year I tell myself I won't get the next annualized Call of Duty game. That it is a money grab, that the DLC situation on the PC is total bullshit, that it is a tired franchise that needs to be put out of it's misery. And then I end up buying it. I buy it because they make the same game every year, but that same game is a great one. The multiplayer is fast paced, quick and fun. If I die it was because of the poor decision I made in the split second I had to make one. Then I get to try again, over and over and then I usually get it right. If I was no good at them I would quit, but I usually log 100+ hours over the course of the year (post release) and I always get better. The class building, leveling and prestige systems are the added carrot to the stick.
Honorable Mention: Journey

Weekend Review: Dec 8th & 9th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Boardwalk Empire
The past week and this weekend I caught up on the third season of Boardwalk Empire. A show that has been one of my favorites since the drop. It keeps getting better and better. Slowly escalating along the same timeline prohibition did. From quiet inception to big time violent and organized crime. Old characters are still great and the new ones are meeting the same benchmarks. Gyp Rosetti as the new villain is flipping phenomenal. Equal parts crazy and humorous, excellently acted.

Thor: God of Thunder
I read more comics this year than any other. The more I do so, the more I am picking up cape and cowl books. A turn around for me, but the New 52 and Marvel Now events have made it very easy to dip my toe. A few different DC books have stuck with me and I have picked up the first two issues of Thor. The art is great and the writing is great. What I really enjoy though is three story lines each book covers. Past, present and future Thor. The plots all have ties to each other, but I feel like I get more story per book and it is really satisfying watching it all come together.

Stealth Bastard: Deluxe
Oddly, Stealth Bastard is not really a stealth game. It is a puzzle platformer with light and dark mechanics. What that means is there is no open world in which you are given tools and abilities to sneak through. There is one path (usually), but discovering that path is what makes the game really fun. The music is catchy and though pixelated the art looks superb. Funny enough, I was aware of this game before it was being sold. The none deluxe version was something I downloaded and never booted up. Charge ten dollars for it though and get a little internet buzz from sites I frequent and I'm your man. Apparently.

Weekend Review: Nov 17th & 18th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

BLOPs 2
Call of Duty is Call of Duty. I started playing the first COD that wasn't even a COD back in 2002. Made by the group that would eventually leave and form Infinity Ward. It is ten years later, Infinity Ward has left, but people are still making COD games. Black Ops 2 released this week and I have already put heavy hours into the multiplayer. The level of customization continues to get better. The future tech (the game is set in 2025) is fun to play with (Dragonfire) and/or super effective (Guardian) and I love party systems over dedicated servers.

Brave
Now that Kaden has crossed the threshold of watching an entire movie film we are watching more of them. Funny how that works. One day he could not sit still and then another and he sits enraptured. This summer I was hoping Brave might be his first, but we were not there yet. So instead we watched it this weekend. He loved the three younger brothers and all of the bears. Scary ones and otherwise. I loved the CG, stunning set pieces and crazy hair tech. It was a fantastic story that never left him worrying too much about the characters, a reoccurring theme lately, see below.

UFC 154
It had been 18 months since George St.Pierre stepped into the octagon Saturday night. To face a fighter in Carlos Condit that I actually root for as well. Being a long time St. Pierre fan it was tough to parse who I would be pulling for when this fight actually started. I ended up cheering for skill and technique as both fighters put on a grappling and striking clinic. It was a fantastic show from bell to bell. Lots of bloody violence throughout the show and some big knockouts too. Top notch MMA.

Up
Mid-week Kaden threw down two stars (our discipline and reward system) to watch a movie. He picked Up, a movie we have owned for a while, but he never watched. Crystal was concerned that the beginning (super sad) would get him worked up. I assumed he would be fine. He did not seem to comprehend what was going on at first, but then I could see the gears turning in his head:

Him: What happened to that old lady?
Me: His wife? She passed away.
Him: Why?
Me: She got old.
Him: [confused look] Why?
Me: When people get old they eventually die.
Him: [confusion turning to fear/sadness] Does that mean I will grow old and die?
Me: [panicked] Uh, no, no not at all buddy, you will be just fine.

After my three year old faced down him own mortality, the rest of the movie was all talking dogs, funny birds and flying houses.

Weekend Review: Oct 27th & 28th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Ninjago
Somewhere in the last two months my three year old's preschool class turned into ninjas. They make swords and throwing stars in the art center. They are all going as ninjas for Halloween and they are all obsessed with Ninjago. Lego's line of ninjas. The associated cartoon is not Adventure Time (nothing is), but it is not bad either. They toys are pretty great though. We have picked up three sets in the past two months. He puts together the minifigs and then takes off to play with them. While I build the ninja motorcycle or ancient cave of evil. I found out I still love building Lego. I have been tossing around the idea of dropping a ton of dough (relatively) on a big set just for me. That is silly right? Right? RIGHT?

Good Kid: M.A.A.D City
Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 has been getting a heavy rotation in my car all summer/fall. Dude is a wicked talented rapper and gets up on some fantastic tracks. His latest Good Kid: M.A.A.D City dropped this week and has usurped his previous outing in my heart of hearts. GKMC is pretty damn good work. Backseat Freestyle is the track I keep coming back to, but this is an album you can just play straight through. Rare in these days. Most of the time I hand pick a few tracks and eighty six the rest. Highly recommend this to folks who have not listened to a rap album in a long time and to the heads that never left.

Hotline Miami
2012 feels like the year of the small indie game or maybe just a continuation of that trend from 2011. I'm certainly playing more of them. Hotline Miami was made by two dudes and cost $10. I picked it up based on this and a small storm of game news hype that formed over the past three months. I was all geeked to play it and then the game was broken. Over the weekend I dealt with a frame rate that would start out slow and within 10 minutes seize to a crawl. The game is supposed to be really fast and twitchy, I never got any of that. At some point my install got corrupted. I played with deleting and re-installing it about six different times. When it finally came back, it was slow again. What I did play was great, albeit two to three times slower than it was supposed to be. The soundtrack is fantastic, I think I will pick up in the near future. As to my return to Miami, that won't be for a long time. After it is good and patched. It was a bummer, but I can't recommend getting this game.

Weekend Review: Oct 20th & 21st

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

XCOM: Enemy Unknown
After Dishonored wowed me last weekend I needed another game to play in my off hours. XCOM is that game. It is a tactical and turned based, top down strategy game. Rooted in it's predecessors mechanics from the mid nineties, but modernized for today. The story is simple. Earth is being invaded and it is on you to build a team to stop it. You do so in two parts. Putting troops on the ground and flanking and maneuvering your way across the battlefield. This part is the best. I can see the tabletop game gears spinning underneath it. Dice rolls for hits and all and I love it. The other part is the macro game. Returning to your base with the spoils of victory and spending those resources to upgrade your team and their capabilities. It is all pretty fantastic.

Moneyball
I have been pushing off on this film for months now. Mainly because it was something I thought Crystal would have no interest in. The premise was right up my alley though. Winning with data, not assumptions and gut feel. A subject I have been working on in my career for three years now. Thankfully it was more than just a good premise. The acting was great and it was shot beautifully. Baseball is not my deal, but love a good sports movie. It would have been nice if Billy Beane won a world series, but that is not how it played out. Now everyone is into sabermetrics. I was correct in assuming Crystal would not dig this by the way, just sayin'.

Hawkeye
On a recommendation from Ethan I picked up this book after the second issue was released. I picked up #3 this weekend based on the strength of one and two and was not disappointed. It is more about Clint Barton the man and less about his persona of Hawkeye. There are still loads of bow and arrow bits, but it is really a character piece that is really well written. In one issue Fraction developed a character I care about and want to read more about. From going up against the Russian mafia because his land lord is a jerk to rescuing and falling for a dog he has not interest in keeping. The art is rad too.

Weekend Review: Oct 13th & 14th

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Picking
We went and picked pumpkins Sunday with one of Kaden's friends from school and his parents. We have gone to Chesterfield Berry Farm for the last three years, after my childhood spent at Ashland's corresponding farm for berries. The boys had a great time. There is a lot more to do there for kids. Farm animals, hay rides, corn cannons (yup those are a thing), haunted houses, cook your own hot dogs  moon bounces and on it goes. We were there from 10a to 2p and if it were up to the kids we would have stayed another hour or two.

Dishonored
Stealthy games are occasionally my jam. Since the late 90's I've been playing what feels every note worthy title in the genre. I mentioned Mark of the Ninja a few weeks ago and I'm here again to toot the horn of another great game. Dishonored is first person stealth. Something you can royally screw up if not done with care. The short hand for describing this game goes as follows. They have built a world as fully realized as BioShock's Rapture or HL2's City 17. It owes much to Thief and the mechanics it established. Deus Ex and Hitman would be apt comparisons for the number of approaches to complete missions, but that only scratches the surface. Their are lethal and non-lethal options and usually 5-6 paths to pick from to sneak into a location  Or you could just go full combat, because that is damn fun too.

UFC 153
Mixed feelings on this one. Parts of it were an exhibition match. Pairing Bonnar and Silva together was like watching a bull fighter break out the blades. Until middle school I thought bull fighting was all red capes and olés. When I went to Spain in 7th grade I watched a real fight and saw how gruesome it really was. Seeing Silva pick apart Bonnar was more spectacle than competition, dude is other worldly. Nog's fight felt like the last breathes of a great career. Or put more negatively, tossing him a bone in his native country. Thankfully Fitch and Erick Silva put on a real show. Young talent versus the grind. Oh and Demian Maia choked a dude till his nose poured blood. So that was cool.

Weekend Review: Sept 22nd & 23rd

Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!

Apple Picking
For 4-5 years now we have been going up to Carter Mountain to haul down apples. The first time, pre-kids, it was a great mid-week date trip. Now it is a family tradition. After mountain biking all morning Sunday I got home and wanted a nap in the worst way. My pregnant wife and three year old son played their apple picking hand masterfully though. By noon we were on the road to Charlottesville. Every year it seems to get a little more crowded. We have not had a pickin' stick in 3 years, but there are always enough apples in tip toe range to fill your bags. Oh and apple doughnuts and cider are bomb. It's a good time, every time. Apple pies may be in next weeks review.

Borderlands 2
In 2009 I was pleasantly surprised by Borderlands the First. It was a game that at one point was marketed on it's trillion gun feature and that struggled to establish it's art direction. It turned out to be really good. One of the best coop games I ever played in fact. I bought it twice (PC and 360), I bought all the DLC and I played through it completely three times with three sets of friends. So buying Borderlands 2 was a given. Thankfully they recaptured most of the magic that got me the first time. The PC version got all the bells and whistles this time too. Tons of settings to tweak, menus that are not built for controllers (but work with them) and no port forwarding. It's great!

UFC 152
The main event was an incredible fight. Jones was the closest he has ever been to being finished, in the form of a first round arm bar attempt. I thought it was over. His arm popped, but did not break and he shook off Belfort. After that it was all Jones. In the stand up he had the reach and speed. When it went to the ground, Belfort started pulling guard oddly, he was defending the arm bar and beating up "The Phenom" in the process. The flyweight (125lbs) championship was not incredible. It pitted a heavy handed, but slower wrestler in Benavidez against an elusive, fast, volume puncher in Johnson. It was a formula made for a boring decision. If you gave them 5 more rounds you still wouldn't see the match up ended.

Satellite Dish
Apparently I have a creative man crush on Justin McElroy. From discovering his work at Joystiq, to following him to Polygon and everything in between. The Satellite Dish is a podcast about TV that he and his wife produce. Television usual falls to the very bottom rung of how I want to use my leisure time. A podcast about TV, that is funny leap frogs the leisure time competition though. Most of the shows they discuss hold little interest for me, but occasionally there is some overlap. Which makes those moments that much better. It is thanks to them that I forced my wife to watch an episode of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. A show she hated and that I delighted in watching her hate. So there is that. Thanks. I guess?