{Video}

Damn.. I wanna go home and play some more video games… looking forward to the holiday season… means more games…. games…. games… gotta have em…..

This Entry Has: (1) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]

So you think you’ve been practicing your Rock, Paper, Scissors 25 enough? Maybe you haven’t had enough friends around to actually get good at it.

Doncha worry. The problem has been solved with a flash version which allows you play against the computer.

I fully expect Steve and I to bring hand outs again for Kingdom Crusades, if not other events. So get practicing!

This Entry Has: (0) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]

I’m a big fan of Puzzle Pirates. I was a beta tester and really enjoyed the game, even though I chose not to renew my subscription. They have a different payment model available now for some servers, where you get to play for free, but you need to purchase in-game currency to play certain “pay for” portions, or for items. I know that several of my friends have played Puzzle Pirates before, including Jeremy who’s currently playing. The developer, Three Rings Design, has been working on another game called Bang!Howdy.

Bang!Howdy is fast paced tactical strategy fun in a wacky Wild West world.

When I first heard about this, I thought about giving it a try. It looks like the beta is now available.

From Evil Avatar:

Bang! Howdy Beta Opens
Three Rings, developers of Puzzle Pirates, opened the Bang! Howdy beta to the public yesterday. Players face off in the steam-powered Wild West, using traditional strategy game mechanics in a variety of gameplay modes like Claim Jumping, Cattle Herding and Steam Mustang Hockey!
Quote:

Introducing a hybrid between turn-based and realtime strategy gameplay, Bang! Howdy is played in short fast-paced rounds. The players use winnings earned as they play, along with a microcurrency system, to purchase and customize persistent Big Shot units, which influence their play-style and strategies in future games. As the player progresses through five unique Wild West settings, new units, gameplay scenarios, arenas, customizations and game features are introduced.”We’re happier than a coyote in the chuckwagon to let y’all know what we’ve been working on back at the ranch,” said Michael Bayne, project lead for Bang! and Three Rings’ CTO. “We think strategy fans will appreciate our fresh perspective on the genre and plumb everybody will enjoy our fun and accessible Wild West antics.” Bang! Howdy will be distributed online and free to play, with optional purchase of micro-currency to obtain upgrades and additional content. “The ‘free to play, pay for items’ business model has proven very successful in the Korean market with games like Kart Rider, and is already offered as an alternative to subscription for Puzzle Pirates players on ‘Doubloon’ servers,” said Daniel James, Three Rings’ CEO. Mosey on down to http://www.banghowdy.com for more information and sign up to hear more as development progresses.

This Entry Has: (0) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]

This is a great website for creating your own graph paper. Just pick the kind you want, enter all the parameters and get the result as a PDF. What’s cleaner than that? Now the next time my zombie hordes attack you, you can be sure that they know the size of the room more accurately.

This Entry Has: (0) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]

Been a while since I posted about anything. Life’s been kicking me in the shins (repeatedly). So I caught a link to an Xbox 360 commercial this morning over on Evil Avatar. I’ve watched it three times now, and laughed my ass off (repeatedly). It’s actually getting some airplay in the US on Spike TV and a few others, but it’s been pulled from the UK and Europe because of “local sensitivities”. I can understand that the Menezes shooting had an impact on folks, but it still baffles me when I hear things like that.

Here’s actually two links. The first goes directly to a higher resolution WMV file that some guy is rehosting. You can at least resize this down in Windows Media Player since it’s a local copy and get a better appearance. If you follow this Google Video link, you can still watch it, just not see as much of the finer details.

Current Mood:  hopeful

This Entry Has: (1) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Sudoku (Japanese: 数独, sūdoku), sometimes spelled Su Doku, is a logic based placement puzzle, also known as Number Place in the United States. The aim of the canonical puzzle is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell of a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called "regions"), starting with various digits given in some cells (the "givens").

I learned about Su Doku earlier in the year. I must have caught an article on it somewhere. At that time, it was very popular in Europe but still hadn’t made major inroads into the US. I wound up buying Jean a book of puzzles (Su Doku for Dummies I think), and then solving some of them myself! She was forced to get me my own puzzle book so that I’d stop solving hers. It’s a great way to pass some free time, and for her, during the day with the kids, its perfect.

Now, she’s far enough through the book that she’s into the really hard puzzles. I dunno when she’ll be done, but I wanted to mention that there are web-based alternatives, such as Websudoku. I prefer that site to the one on USA Today. I guess it’s a personally preference, but I like the ability to use pencil marks (under options) on Websudoku. This makes it more similar to the traditional approach.

I’d recommend reading the Wiki first and getting a good grasp on the game. It’s about logic, not about math. Understanding how the solve for unknown values from known values, or process of potential elimination.

Current Mood:  indifferent

This Entry Has: (0) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]

Joi Ito discusses a Funeral in World of Warcraft

[004] Snowly of The World of Warcraft (Xinhua) A young girl nicknamed "Snowly" died last month after playing the online game "World of Warcraft" for several continuous days during the national day holiday. Several days before Snowly’s death, the girl was said to be preparing for a relatively difficult part of the game (namely, to kill the Black Dragon Prince) and had very little rest. She told her friends that she felt very tired. A big online funeral was held for Snowly one week after her death (see photo from The Mirror).

 

<snip>

With 4.5M users there are bound to be deaths in the World of Warcraft and gauging by the relationships I’m building with fellow gamers I can definitely see how an online funeral would be a very big deal. I often see players playing until they pass out, especially when they are questing in a group where their participation is required for the group to hold together as a team. (I’ve passed out a few times as well.) There is also a lot of pressure to catch up if you drop behind a group of friends in order to play your role in the quests.

However, I don’t see this as a reason to bash these games. Clearly the addictive nature of these games are a risk from a productivity and health perspective, but I think that the sense of responsibility and teamwork that is built by the games exceeds this cost.
<snip>

I have to take a different stance than Joi on this. While I wholeheartedly agree that the relationships and teamwork building is a good thing, it’s the extreme that it’s taken to. As Joi himself says, “I’ve passed out a few times as well.”. See, this is where the problem lies. You shouldn’t have to play for that long that you pass out. This actually goes against the spirit of teamwork. It’s one thing to push yourself to your limit, but it’s another to know what that limit is and not put your team in a position of depending on you, and then having you not be there.

Play for hours at a time if you want. Have marathon sessions with lot’s of Mountain Dew or Bawls. But, don’t do it all the time. Don’t force yourself beyond what you can handle. Don’t become so absorbed in the game that the rest of the world ceases to exist.

Current Mood:  aggravated

This Entry Has: (2) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]

I betcha this guy didn’t have to remember all 25 combinations. If he did, then he’d truly be deserving of the $7k first prize.

T.O. lawyer crowned Rock Paper Scissors champion

By the way, Murray…—->>>> Lightning…. damn.. I lost again…
As a reminder, here’s a previous topic concerning the ongoing saga of RPS25.

Current Mood:  stressed

This Entry Has: (1) Comments ~ (0) Trackbacks ~ [Leave a Comment]