Some Games in 2014

2014 was a bit a stinker, not just for games and rap, but on many fronts. Not sad to see it go, but I did play some fun things along the way...

1. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

The evolution of the open world game. The best of Assassin's Creed and Batman: Arkham Asylum series coupled with an incredibly creative new AI system. I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end.

2. Hearthstone

I've tried and failed to enjoy Magic the Gathering on three separate occasions in my life. Hearthstone makes collectible card games simple, fun and beautiful. Not an easy feat.

3. Wolfenstein: The New Order

Best story I played all year long and it was in a throw back first person shooter Nazi killing game. Weird.

4. WoW: Warlords of Draenor

How, no, why? I swore off WoW back in 2011, after it appeared to be ruining my life. Well raiding specifically, but I did away with all of it. Then Blizzard put out their best expansion since WotLK this fall and I'm still playing it. No raiding though.

5. Titanfall

I thought this was going to be the game that would stake Call of Duty right in it's cold black heart. Before and after it came out. I loved the titans weight and the pilot's mobility, still do. No one else agreed with me.

6. Divinity: Original Sin

Classic top down party based RPG mechanics in a mostly modern package. It didn't hold my hand and it let me creatively solve most every situation. Thank you D:OS.

7. Rogue Legacy (2013)

I didn't catch this one till the tail end of 2013, but then I played it on and off again until mid-summer. 2D side scrolling, retro, precise controlling fun. And repeatable and interesting to the last drop.

8. Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag (2013)

Assassins Creed games are done right? They need to be taken behind the old barn and put out of their misery. Well, unless they are a pirate sim, that lets you sail the open seas to the tune of collectible sea shanties.

9. South Park: The Stick of Truth

A fully realized video game version of South Park. Funny, creative and super vulgar. In the best way possible.

10. Crossy Roads
The best pass and play game our family played all year. All four of us sat on the coach for hours trying to best each others high score. It is just endless Frogger, dead simple controls and beautiful voxel like graphics.

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: Oct 19th & 20th

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!

American Gods
Loved this book. I got a recommendation from Ethan a while back. Then I went looking for a new book last month on the NPR list of Top 100 science fiction/fantasy and saw it again at number ten. #10 seems like a lot of hype and thankfully American Gods lives up to it. The premise, story and prose are all top notch. Fantasy in a modern setting is more of a genre Crystal enjoys, but this hit on all cylinders for me. I really enjoyed guessing at who the Gods were before they were revealed. I listened to this in audio and it was a full cast production. It add even more to the tale. Best book I've read this year.

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 life already live, not meeting new NPCs every hour so you could play errand boy again. It worked really well. It lost it's head of steam about 3-4 hours from the end, but the plot was still paced masterfully.

GTA Online also came two weeks after the single player. It was much less polished. There is a lot not to like. Poor UI design, lots of loading screens and tons of grinding. If you can peel away the bitter rind though, there is a juicy center worth playing. The co-op is good, but really short and not repeatable. The racing is really fun and earning XP and cash to put into nicer car mods is rewarding.

Tabata
In late Spring of this year I heard about a type of high-intensity interval training called tabata. It boils down to eight exercises (e.g. planks, burpees, etc.) performed for 20-25 seconds with 10 second breaks in between. A set of eight is called a tabata and you usually do 4 to 5 tabata in a session. A full session will kick your ass. I've never wanted to quit something physically more than I tabata every week. I introduced it to Crystal in June. We were into it for three weeks till a knee injury at Jumpology put me out of commission. Last month I signed up for a tabata class at work. It was like starting all over again and now I wasn't hand picking the exercises that made it easier. I love and hate it. It is challenging in a way that cycling and running have never been. When I finish it is massive sense of accomplishment.

Handmade Titan

A handmade/fanmade titan from next years Titanfall a.k.a. the only game I would buy an Xbone for. Except that it is coming to the PC too. Yeah, no new consoles for me. Not yet at least.

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: Aug 24th & 25th

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!

Theft of Swords (redux)
I wrote briefly about this series (The Riyria Revelations) back in 2012. I finished book one and was a bit underwhelmed by it. I'm pretty green when it comes to fantasy novels. I spent high school reading classics for class and John Grisham for me. A bit of Redwall in 6th grade, but when I actually picked them up I started with ASoIaF and then Name of the Wind. Heavy ass hitters in the genre. So my expectations were fairly high. Seen through that lens ToS feels more like a dungeon master turning his pen and paper game into a novel. I gave up on reading book two on my kindle, but recent saw the series on sale at Audible and picked it up. This time I approached it by taking it for what it is, not what I wanted it to be, which was Rothfuss or Martin's next work. I enjoyed it. The characters are too black and white and the plot leaves nothing to the imagination, but it is great motivation for my own pen and paper planning (Dungeon World).

Spark Master Tape
Spark Master Tape is an enigma. He's dropped two fantastic mixtapes (Syrup Splash  & Swoup Serengeti) in the past year and no knows who he is.  He rhymes over really grimy beats with vocals that are chopped and screwed into anonymity. I've been listening to both tapes for going on three weeks now and Swoup is right up there with Run the Jewels for mixtape of the year. Give it a listen.

Plants vs Zombies 2
When I wrapped up the original PvZ I was a bit surprised at how abruptly it ended. It felt like it was just becoming a challenge and I expected and wanted it to go on for 2-3 more hours. That was three years ago and for three years I've operated under the assumption that I wanted more plants and zombies. In that time though I've played some stellar tower defense games (e.g. Kingdom Rush) and got slightly burnt out on the genre. So when PvZ 2 dropped last week and was almost entirely the same game play wrapped in new aesthetics I was disappointed. I don't want to start from the beginning of the difficulty curve and build my way up again. I have a skill set that makes these early levels tedious and joyless. No thanks.

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.

R.I.P. Ryan Davis

I've made mention of the Giant Bombcast more than a number of times here in the past. I love it. By far my favorite gaming podcast and easily in my top three overall. Over the weekend the host, Ryan Davis, passed away. After spending nearly three hours a week since early 2009 with his voice and the rest of the GB crew it was a bit of a shock to see the news of his death. No clue how it happened, nor is it relevant, but he was 34 and I felt like I knew him just a bit. Sad times.

I got to meet him once in 2010 on the show floor at PAX East. He was clearly working. Moving fast, sweating and being followed by Vinny with a camera. When I called out his name and introduced myself he stopped and gave me his full attention. Chatted for and bit shook my hand and was on his way. He will be missed dearly by his friends and family for sure, but also by the hundreds of thousands of readers and listeners.

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: May 4th & 5th

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!

Assassination Vacation
On a weekend where my body was riddle with sickness, it was nice to catch a few moments to myself and listen to a new book. Sarah Vowell's work is not new to me, I read Unfamiliar Fishes last summer and The Partly Cloudy Patriot ages ago. I've been meaning to catch up on the rest for a while, so when my new Audible credit dinged it was an easy pick. Though probably not the most efficient use of my subscription. It is short, but full of the humor, interesting facts and true tales that I love about her writing. It covers the three assassinated presidents (Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley) and admittedly I knew nothing of them, save Lincoln of course. Fun Gruesome fact: Robert Lincoln (the oldest son) was present at all three assassinations.

Star Command
FTL was fantastic little indie game that came out last Fall. It was a roguelike in space, with pixel graphics that was fun to replay over and over again. All that and I put in for maybe four hours of it. It was a PC game that should have been a mobile game. Every time I sat down to play there were a handle full of more substantial games waiting to be played. Star Command beat them to the punch. Making their own pixel game in space. It is not a roguelike, it actually has a story, but the game play mechanics feel very similar. How much replay value there is I have yet to see, but all it takes is 10-15 free minutes on the couch to have a go at it.

Guacamelee!
Another indie game and another piece of gaming vocabulary for you dear reader: metroidvania. Guacamelee is just that with 2D vector art that pops off the screen. A labyrinth to explore and conquer with a hero brought back from the grave by a magical luchador mask. It has a certain charm that my four year old son and I love. You learn new combinations from a giant chicken and get new powers from an elderly man disguised as a goat. Plus the controls are tight and the difficulty is hard, but not bone crushing. Worth a play if you have a PS3 sitting around collecting dust.

Weekend Review: Apr 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!

Django Unchained
Another film we didn't make time for in 2012. What a shame, because I love 99% of Tarantino's work and this one was no exception. It was violent, dealt with race in sometimes uncomfortable, but direct ways and was crammed full of humor to take the edge off. The dialogue is top tier work, Waltz and Sam Jackson execute it masterfully. The soundtrack was killer. Evoking an audible cheer of glee (from me) when a Rick Ross track came on half way through the film, that was otherwise full of great spaghetti western style tracks.

Fire Pit
We had a new patio put in last weekend. We've spent nearly every night the past week hanging out and grilling on it. This weekend we sprung for a fire pit to add to our new outdoor living area. I like a good camp fire and this is a great alternative to building an actual stone pit (which was a consideration). Plus I get to secretly burn up all the branches that I end up piling up over the course of a year. Like a prisoner dumping dirt in the yard. Plus, burning stuff is totally cool.

D&D Podcast: Mines of Madness
Post Eberron game night, I haven't quite been feeling table top gaming. Nothing has gotten me excited to do it again this year or at least go through the preparation time. I needed a muse and got one this weekend. Like the Penny Arcade episodes of the past I wanted to grab some friends, dice and a table and throw down right then and there. The Mines of Madness is an adventure written by Chris Perkins and Scott Kurtz for this years PAX East. The podcast is Kurtz and friends playing through the adventure and it is pretty great.

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 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!

Skyfall
It is rare that we get to catch movies these days (I repeat this a lot). 2012 is a laundry list of movies we missed on top of the stuff I have not seen from 2011. I decided to tackle Bond first, because I love Bond. After swooning over Casino Royale and taking a swift gut punch from Quantum of Solace, I was ready for another great one. Skyfall is that by a mile. The story moves, but not without giving itself room to breathe. Javier Bardem is an ultra creepy villain, though I already knew that. All around it is a fantastic movie and also a great addition to the Bond series.

Super Stickman Golf 2
I never got down with the first game from Noodlecake Studios. Nothing against them, but "stickman" games are usually throw away flash novelties and just the word golf makes my eyes do back flips. Luckily a drought of iOS games had me looking last week for something new. SSG2 just so happened to come out and get great reviews. It is a golf game, but it is a golf game with a complete disregard for reality. Upside-down swinging from a rotating platform with a magnetized ball kind of disregard. It is great, a perfect fit for the iPad and a lazy afternoon of March Madness watching. There is asynchronous multiplayer too, but I have yet to try it. Get at me!

G.I. Joe: COBRA
My childhood was filled with G.I. Joe toys, shows and pajamas. Outside of the rare return from the past though, I don't have much time for dem Joes these days. Nor would I think to read a comic series about them. The COBRA series is barely Joe story though. After five trade paperbacks I can't remember one red or blue laser. It is set in the world of G.I. Joe, but the story is fully self serious. It focuses on Joes going undercover to infiltrate Cobra and the messed up twist and turns that they face along the way. It is superb writing laid on top of great art, definitely worth a read.

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.

How I DM: Feb 2013 - Eberron Ed.

As mentioned earlier this week, I ran a game last Friday night for six friends. The D&D Next play test was the rule set of choice, but we would have had fun no matter what. We play at most once a month and we don't always run campaigns with a through line. Friday I decided I would kick off a brand new campaign though. A fun exercise, but a lot more leg work than continuing an ongoing campaign or running a one shot. World building is probably the hardest part, but couple that with encounter building, group dynamics, character backgrounds and it takes a lot of work to get a new campaign off the ground.

Eberron Next
Setting as it turns out is hard to convey. The burden of world building is a heavy one, so relying on a campaign setting is a nice short cut. Previously I ran a Dark Sun campaign that mostly felt Dark Sun-ish, but also occasionally presented problems. This time around I decided to try out Eberron. The linchpin behind it being a fantasy world that has gained technology through magic. That means airships powered by ancient elementals and automatons birthed from eldritch machines. Sounds great, but how do you fit it all in one night and not make the story feel cramped? I don't know that I did a great job or that any campaign setting can ever do a great job. Maybe it is me.

In any case I started out the night with a letter for each player on parchment and sealed with a wax skull (below). Each one bought the players together in the cloud city of Sharn. From their they escaped the city on an airship as it was destroyed by a vortex in the sky. Pirates attacked and blew up their elemental. The ship crashed in a jungle and they dungeon crawled their way to midnight.

 3D Terrain
For Friday night I took a decent portion of my prep time to put together 3D terrain. I have openly loved the idea of war gaming for almost a decade now, but hated it in practice. I like painting minis and would build a big permanent battlefield covered in flock in my sun room, but I don't want to regularly play a war game. So when I get a chance to work on terrain for my campaigns I jump at it. I work quick and sloppy, knowing that I will use it once and never again. The steps are as follows, I wish I had taken pictures along the way:

1. Materials: Purchase polystyrene insulated sheathing from a local hardware store. It is cheap and comes in lots of sizes and thicknesses. I bought a 4' x 8' sheet a year ago and still have plenty of it.
2. Cut and prep: I use a mix of tools for this work. A box cutter and x-acto knife for the basic shape, occasionally a medium sized bumpy stone to add texture and the back of a pen to slightly engrave a grid once I layout 1" dashes with a long ruler.
3. Prime: I have used a big brush and cheap acrylic paint in the past to do a quick base coat. I used a spray acrylic this time and in light passes it was fine. When I went hard in the paint though it started to melt the polystyrene. Which was not the intended result.
4. Dry brush and/or flock: I have done both, but dry brushing is easier/faster and gets great results. It makes the engraved grid stand out so the terrain does not impede the mechanical nature of combat resolution. Flocking does impede things a bit, but looks way cooler.