Recent Games People Play

Board Games

Don’t forget about the classics.

• My friends and I finally got around to playing Smallworld. Round one was just about the most hollow victory I’ve ever seen in a board game and I wasn’t even the winner. We had so badly jumbled and confused the rules that the final win was really more the result of our 10 turns being up than it was any strategic advantage. I may be bitter because my Seafaring Amazons failed to see their full potential in their +4 conquest bonus. (The game seems ripe for band name generation: “Hordes of Dwarves”, “Marauding Priestesses,” etc.) The text of special abilities isn’t always clear on the shortcut cards or in the rule book. For example, the Amazons had that +4 conquest bonus but their special ability of “seafaring” meant that they could keep collecting coins after going into decline. What does this mean? We don’t know either because every group could keep collecting coins after going into decline. It’s not enough to destroy game play, by any means (and we played with expansions so we had additional fun race and ability cards) but it’s frustrating all the same. Especially since those Days of Wonder games are expensive. Side note: Why does everyone at Days of Wonder hate Android and Windows users? It’s great that they’ve developed games for the iPad but seriously, we’re not all iOS users. I’d happily take a downloadable game for Windows if you don’t want to make one for Android. That’s fine. But please, create something other than iPad apps. Please? Please?
• Then there was my first A Touch of Evil. Somebody had referred to this game as being a “mini Arkham Horror.” I think there’s some truth in that. We had the Coastal Expansion included in our game so I can’t really speak to the base game alone. One of the most annoying things about Arkham Horror (to me, anyway) is how long it takes to get through a full turn, especially with combat involved. I think the difference to ATOE is that the turns move very quickly. Three actions per turn, smaller board, etc. Not that there’s anything wrong with the involved complication of Arkham Horror and its epic game play; I just tend to lose focus if I’m forced to sit still for more than four hours. In any case, combat moved quickly as well, especially once we were all sucked into the final showdown with the villain. I’d like more clarification on some of the supply and trading rules (since you can trade items among players when you share space, but who knows if you can trade currency?) but that’s what house rules are supposed to be for, I suppose. Oddly, my one complaint of any note is the fact that there are so, so, so many cards and it’s virtually impossible to reach them without having to constantly ask another player or to stand up and reach across the board space. I know it was designed so that the location cards would be adjacent their locations (e.g. “The Manor” cards are stored next to “The Manor”) but perhaps a tray that could be passed from player to player would be helpful? Otherwise as your number of players expands, you run the risk of never actually being able to reach what you need in order to take your turn.

Video Games

I curse the fall sale on Steam.  Goodbye Christmas gifts for other people! Hello video game goodness for me!

• While I’m enjoying it, it turns out that I kind of suck at Awesomenauts.  I blame this on the fact that I haven’t adjusted to the Apple style touchpad on my laptop more than I blame it on anything else. Whatever. It’s still a fun (if also ostentatious and sensory killing) game. Destroy the other team’s base. That’s the only real objective. Makes it easy. (This, of course, is also why I feel bad when I can’t destroys things in game.)
• A friend showed me Eufloria via PS3. I played the demo on PS3 but ultimately ended up installing the PC version. Others who were watching the game said it was boring. Playing it, however, was not. There’s something to be said for calm and relaxing slow-paced games. The most action-oriented times of Eufloria are when enemy seedlings invade your planets and you have to send seedlings to fight them off. (The tiny lasers are adorable, by the way.) Apparently it was part of the last Humble Bundle, which I didn’t download, but I guess that’s because I’m a terrible person.
• Being two years behind is not a big deal, right? I hope not since I finally got a copy of Portal 2 with the Steam sale. I’ve wanted to play it for a really long time but never had a mechanism to do it, by which I mean, I had a really buggy piece of crap computer that rejected practically anything I tried to play through Steam. And then I just kept forgetting to get it because $20 for a game you can’t play right now still seemed to be a silly purchase. With it being $4.99, though, and with having a brand new computer, it was time. I haven’t even had a chance to play it yet, though.
• The Adventures of P.B. Winterbottom is cute and kitschy. It’s also fun. I’m fond of the fazing pie-eating men who kick one another and who basically have to survive a pie puzzle. It’s entirely black and white (at least so far) and very simple to play. (No mouse controls on PC. Everything is keyboard-based.)
• I had to re-download Star Trek Online. Oh wait. Do I play that? Yes, I think I admitted to it elsewhere on this blog anyway. I don’t know why I’m embarrassed, actually. I haven’t had the occasion to play in months, and I attribute that to having a bad computer for the past four months. So logging in again was an interesting feat. I think it’s because it’s a Star Trek game. (This did not stop me from buying the How to Host a Mystery Star Trek The Next Generation board game back in the summer though, so I don’t know what my problem is.)

 

Android Apps (Because You Have to Play on Your Phone, Too)

I know they’re still technically video games. I’m just distinguishing for the sheer reason that these are things I play on a very small screen.

• I’m angry that I’ve been sucked into both Ayakashi and Deity Wars. I’ve had a long-standing rule against card-trading games. (Ahem, Magic.) That rule originated a long, long time ago because I just didn’t understand the point. Since understanding the point, the rule was really based on some stupid dork pride issue. “I’m the kind of dork who doesn’t play those sorts of games.” Whatever point or purpose this has, I haven’t got a clue anymore since I’m clearly past that stupid phase of my life. Fine. Fine. Fine. Build a deck. Pretend it’s just a straight-up RPG. Go on.
• And lastly, I’m horribly, horribly hooked on playing Flow. (Not to be confused with the PS3 game, which is also addicting and awesome.) I ended up spending about $10 for in-app purchases to get all of the packs and hints. The tablet packs, which are designed for larger blocks, probably would be a whole lot more fun if you were to play on a tablet rather than a regular Android phone screen. The game touts itself as being simple but addicting, and I think they’ve got their marketing dead on.

I’ve Seen Everything

I’ve watched most of the second series of Downton Abbey and I think I understand the widespread appeal now. Don’t misunderstand me, because I liked the first series but I did not comprehend why so many people said it was amongst the best television they’d ever seen. The second series, which deals with wartime events and more convoluted relationships is a far more interesting character piece. I suppose the first series was a setup for this level of critique but it could be too much compared to a French novel of the late 19th/early 20th centuries: far too much redundant information. Okay, that’s actually a bit too harsh. Really, I think it was a wonderfully done story but it lacked the spark that would allow me to label it “amazing.” The second series, though, really has the glamorous grittiness that I so completely love about war stories. (This may explain some of my love of M*A*S*H, maybe.)

Now to turn to yet another dorky Star Trek discussion. You know you love it. That’s why you come here.

TNG turned 25 this year. Feeling old yet? Let me give you life advice from the Admiral Dr. Leonard McCoy, who stated in “Encounter at Farpoint”: “What’s so damn troublesome about not having died?” In any case, yes, the still surviving crew of the Enterprises NCC-1701D- and E have reached the quarter century mark. Topless Robot had a fun write-up on 25 Years of Star Trek Conventions that I’d like to direct you to read. It’s not a long read but it does have video and it’s fun if you’re a ST dork.

Naturally, this segues to a number of other Star Trek news items. Come on, I like other things, too, I swear. It just seems that this blog, titled with a Star Wars reference used in an hilarious context in Futurama has an awful lot of Star Trek news. Yeah, yeah. Don’t care. I’m going to talk about it anyway because despite being surrounded by massively nerdy friends, most of them aren’t very up on the Trek lifestyle.

• The Star Trek proposal image from Reddit actually made me realize how well most of the cast of TNG has done since the show ended. Most of them have had successful careers beyond ST (or even within it as directors, producers, etc.) and they’re generally still very attractive looking people. It’s impressive, actually. (Of course, Patrick Stewart still wins my vote.)
• I have determined that you are not allowed to say “I have seen every episode of Star Trek” if you do not watch the Animated Series in its entirety. This is probably going to enrage some folks but hey, the AS is now on Netflix streaming so you don’t even have to go out and buy the DVDs. Don’t you feel better now? Also it has, furries. (You know, if you’re into that sort of thing, I guess.)
• I re-watched a couple of episodes from the first season of TNG, as something of a nostalgic walk. Good lord, most of the early episodes are just awful. Especially when you compare them to the quality that the show delivered in later seasons. This also helps to affirm the reasons why I love DS9 so much. It starts with a bang, ends with a whimper. TNG starts and ends on a frame story (which is a good one) about the exploration of humanity, and it’s just not as instantly powerful. I like dystopian fiction. What can I say? (I like Utopian fiction, too, but DS9 managed to blend those together really well.)
• Watching TNG from the outset also gave me cause to realize just how many of the key cast have doubles of some kind in the ST universe. It’s kind of surprising. I realize that TOS had the mirror universe and DS9 had the mirror universe (and changeling Bashir) and Voyager had the Species 8472 residual selves, etc. but TNG has a strange variety of “other selves.”
• • Picard has Shinzon, a clone engineered by Romulans (but why exactly?)
  • William Riker has Thomas Riker, created by a transporter accident.
  • Data has Lore and B4. (Sigh all you want at B4; it’s allowed.) Lore and B4 may not be “exactly” other selves but given their positronic brains and the fact that they are created  Androids pretty much puts them in this category. (Especially since B4 is supposed to be the Data mirror to Picard’s Shinzon experience in Nemesis.)
  • Worf has mirror universe Worf. The one who’s hanging out with Intendant Kira and Garak in their alliance against the Terrans.
  • Miles O’Brien, though not specifically a “key” cast member was regular enough to warrant my mentioning of his mirror universe self, Smiley.
  • Tasha Yar has her alternate past self aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701-C  who spawns her half-Romulan daughter Sela. (I don’t think Denise Crosby ever found satisfaction with leaving that show.)
• And shockingly, only Data and Tasha Yar are dead. All the other key characters survive. (I’ve always liked that Dexter Morgan killed Tasha Yar… er, I mean a nurse played by Denise Crosby. My version is better, if not sounding oddly of fanfic. Also, I have to put a kibash on too many meta references, even if I am friends with someone who has referred to The Prestige as “Wolverine versus Batman” since the trailer first appeared. To be fair, I called This Means War “Kirk Versus Picard at the same time this friend referred to it as “Kirk Versus Bane” because duh, Chris Pine = Kirk and Tom Hardy = Shinzon = Picard.

DS9 turns 20 in January. What was that advice about not feeling old?

Also, I finally had an opportunity to watch the last few episodes of Futurama’s most recent season. Yes, it’s an excuse to call out Patrick Stewart again as the awesome, awesome fox hunter in “31st Century Fox.” I’m sorry, but when the creators behind dorky shows are also huge dorks, they tend to do things that create meta awesome for their fans. The “Where No Fan Has Gone Before” episode of Futurama nearly destroyed me with awesomeness when it aired. (So very long ago…) The fact that Patrick Stewart showed up as a traditional Englishman and chased around a derpy robotic fox while interacting with the characters of my all-time favorite television show… well, that’s just a nerd’s paradise.

And now, much as Patrick Stewart has done, I’ve seen everything!

What to Watch When You’re Watching Watching

It’s so nice to have a laptop that doesn’t fight with my Steam account. Especially since I ended up playing the free Awesomenauts preview this weekend (and getting the game). Maybe I can also finally finish playing Limbo. (To be fair, though, I started that one on XBOX, but still, the portability of being able to play things on my laptop is just insanely nice.)

I was very ill this weekend and all I could do for most of it was lie in bed watching TV. Somehow this led to my watching Neverland. This is the 2011 “prequel” to Peter Pan. I’m a big J.M. Barrie fan (and for works beyond Peter Pan, actually) so I tend to get a little bristly at all things that try to revisit that world without much consideration to the overall meanings. This is, unfortunately, what we call nerd rage. Nonetheless, I wanted to give this movie a fair try. I don’t think it’s bad. What I do think it is is somewhat careless and not always that interesting. The dates and times are accurate enough but you’re going to have a hard time convincing me that a woman commanded a pirate crew in the 1700s and also lived through an additional 200 years in Neverland. This is not because I think women are not qualified but rather because all known information about pirates suggests that they were overwhelmingly male and rejecting of women on their ships. Not to mention that their average captain’s reign was less than two years long. (Typically ending in mutiny, capture, or death.) I don’t think the background story given is as well thought-out as it should have been. Still, it’s pretty and well shot, so it’s not a bad way to kill three hours. (Especially if you cannot move in the slightest from your bed.)

Last weekend it was Skyfall. Skyfall is a little bit boring. Mainly at points when it involves James Bond. Javier Bardem’s character is the best acted and most interesting and scenes with him were far more exciting than scenes with our favorite 007 Daniel Craig. (Sorry to say it.) Also, the film bends over backward to tell us how the “old ways” are dying out and we have to cope with change. This went way too far, often steering into preachy territory. While I really enjoyed the scenes with “Q” there is at least one moment of utter stupidity on his part that unfortunately totally unravels his entire premise of being a technological genius. (Or at least makes it seem exaggerated.) Still, it’s a fun movie to watch and enjoyable enough for an action movie. I just would suggest that you watch it at home when it comes out on DVD rather than spending the money to see it in theaters. Unfortunately for my friends, I also kept asking (far too often) why anyone would trust Voldemort to lead MI6 anyway. (Ralph Fiennes probably would find this irritating too.)

Ticket to Ride Halloween Expansion

It’s so silly but I just had to invest the $12.99 into buying the Ticket to Ride Halloween expansion trains. For a while now I’ve been scooping up expansions and add-ons every time I go in my local nerd game haven. I like my trains. Since this is my first blog entry from a brand new ultrabook as well, I can also add that I had to re-install (or properly, update this new computer) all of the Ticket to Ride software for my online play with Steam. I learned recently that I have the standard American board completely memorized. Every path, width, color, and number of spaces is committed to memory. Most of the routes and their points in the standard game and the chief expansion (1910) are up there also. I even drew out segments in a MS-Paint document just to see if it was possible. Turns out that it is. I’m still desperate for the Android mobile game, though. We’re not all iOS users. Ostensibly the Halloween expansion could also allow you to add a sixth player to the game but I imagine this isn’t the primary purpose of said expansion. And a friend finally bought Smallworld so I don’t have to.

The Armored Adventures of Angst-Ridden Iron Men

I have no idea why I’ve been watching Iron Man: Armored Adventures. Even for a Marvel cartoon show marketed to kids, it’s really not very good (see the quality of Avatar: The Last Airbender as a point of comparison for excellent children’s programming) what with the bad teenage angst and the obnoxiousness of Pepper Potts.  Mostly, it seems an excuse to have a regular kid’s cartoon show with random appearances of Iron Man and related characters. So totally not worth watching. I’ve finished 19 episodes. What is wrong with me?

Ralph Can’t Relax

Am I permitted to go on and on about how much I enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph? Of course I am. This is a blog devoted to being a huge nerd, so I get to say whatever I want about being a huge nerd. Ta-da!

Rich Moore is a little bit of an idol for me.  He worked on some of the best early Simpsons and Futurama episodes and since he’s the directorial brains behind Wreck-It Ralph, I have to mention him in this gushing. (He worked on a number of other animated productions as well, and this just further endears him to me since I have a bit of a soft spot for animated series and movies.) In any case, major props to him for this movie because it was awesome. And also one of the few times when I’ve gone to see a movie in a theater and actually haven’t been the slightest bit disconcerted by the throngs of <10 year old children who were also in the theater watching. (This is what you get for weekend matinees, though, I suppose.)

The movie is such a good blend of affirmative and silly vignettes. I was expecting a few more retro references than I got but it was cute to see so many 8/16 bit game allusions all the same. I was also happy with the depth of detail in the modern game (Sugar Rush!) including the in-film joke about “double stripes.” What really sold me on this were the overlapping backdrops and stylistic elements. Jack McBrayer killed me with his portrayal of Fix-It Felix. (Of course, I’ve yet to see Jack McBrayer in anything where he didn’t play a semi-innocent good-guy character so I don’t know that this isn’t just his personality. Ha.) Also, Alan Tudyk!

Dorks, you MUST see this.

I’m Voting for Scorpius & Other Silly Updates

So, I thought I’d do NaNoWriMo this year.  This would be my 7th or 8th attempt at actually trying to do the whole 50K in 30 days. I’ve never been able to finish writing before because my self-censoring kicks in and I decide “This is the stupidest thing ever put down in words and there’s no point in continuing it just to say ‘I wrote a crappy novel.'”  I think I prefer to deal in characters than I do in stories most of the time. I’m more interested in dissecting what already exists than in creating something new.  What would probably be an ideal effort for November would be to take an old partially written story and revamp it into something else. National Novel Editing Month would be more my speed.

I thought it was awesome to find the Best of Tor.com as a free Barnes & Noble ebook.  In the fantasy-versus-scifi debate, I’ll come down generically on the side of sci-fi. Not that I necessarily think sci-fi is always better but I’m more inclined to find interest in science and technology than in magic and other kin. I’ve been hanging out on Tor a lot more recently.  Unfortunately there’s never enough time to keep up with all media I want to follow (and I actually blame this on not being able to multitask more while I’m working) so I still don’t get to do as much as I want with information on Tor.  Of course, the best thing I’ve found to do is to lump it all into my Google Reader RSS feed and just not deviate from the stream. Don’t click on that other article on the website! You’ll never make it back! (This isn’t really how I operate; it’s just how my brain tells me to operate.)

Lastly, I bought a Roku player.  These things are so remarkably simple and wonderful at the same time.  So instead of trying to finish the last season of Farscape on my laptop while I switch to other tabs to check e-mail, etc. I can actually stream it from my TV. This excites me… and also leads me to my proclamation that I’m voting for Scorpius.