Queen’s Blade

Queen's Blade MellownaI don’t even know what this is nor where it’s from. I just know it’s frightenly awesome.  From Wikipeedia: ” is a series of visual combat books published by Hobby Japan, based on the licensed works from Lost Worlds. First published in 2005, it features only female characters in sexual art situations.”  And yes, if you were roaming around Hobby Horse in the early 80’s the Lost Worlds referenced are those strange little combat books that filled up the rack next to the microgames.

Gabe on the Pirates

Gabe on Piracy.  Focusing on the lack of service driving people to pirate, not the fact that they can get stuff for free.  This goes hand in hand with the iTunes model– why would any one buy an MP3 when they can get it for free almost as easily? The key is ALMOST as easy.  iTunes makes it horrifically convenient to spend your money and legitimately get a MP3.  A few less clicks without the guilt is the win– amazingly even though you have to play real money.

DICE is NICE

Despite the rather long acronym for the game(BFBC2), the first blush of both the single and multiplayer have proven to be absolutely over the top.  Particle effects, sound and lighting are all nothing short of amazing and in multi: the destructible environments fundamentally change the way the maps are played.   Sadly, I’m getting a lot of lag in multiplayer, but that will lessen as I find closer servers to play on.

The single player reminds me quite a bit of Far Cry– one section harkens back to my favorite level: River, but with sound and lighting that put Far Cry to shame.

If you haven’t picked this up, even if you have no interest in the multiplayer game, it’s time!

Amazon Diablo 3

Without even a published release date YEAR announced (I’ve heard from 2011 to 2013), Amazon has started selling pre-orders of Diablo 3 for ~60$.  Is that even the final price?  Is that the final box art?  Are you giving a giant company a chance to invest your money for up to 3 years and gain interest on it for a pre-order that has only imagined value and from the price is not any type of deal at all, especially since electronic delivery methods may be the only way the game files are actually delivered to the user by the time it comes out?

Talisman HIGHlands

HIGHLANDHearkening back to my mental state when I first became fanatical about Talisman (1991), Fantasy Flight has announced the newest BOARD expansion for Talisman 4th edition: HIGHLANDS.  This puts to rest for awhile the debate about the City expansion being released.  Included will be 6 characters– obviously one is the Highlander, and from the tiny pic of the box cover I see the Valkyrie (awesome!) , but I can’t pick out any of the others. I do see a total of three sets of boobs there though.

Mass Effect 2 x360 quick PUNCH

(SPOILERS AHEAD YOU BASTARDS)

My initial impression of ME2 after 4 hours of play.

– Character import – AHHAHAHAH you die and they bring you back to life to justify taking your lv’s away. GAY. Why even let me import shit. I like playing the “same” character but it just feels very forced and uncreative.

– Freedom’s Progress – It’s the first non-tutorial location you go. It’s a Alien’s(the movie) rip off for music and visual feel, very borrowed. Feels good, but it’s a rip off non the less.

– Sound – The cut scene sound is WEAK. Something just not right about it, it does not feel EPIC. just watch some space scenes from the original star wars triligy to see what i’m talking about when you compare the two.

– Graphics in the space cut scenes – The scale of ships seems off, but this was a weakness carried over from the first mass effect, the sci-fi space visuals are just average in my opinion.

– Sci-Fi – Science failure, talk of wireless networks with firewalls etc that Edi hacks? super gay FAIL. Complete 20th century earth tech/terminology just to make it “easy” for the audience to understand, or maybe the writers are the uncreative and lazy.

– Sci-Fi – SUCCESS – the data logs.  listening to the stuff the writers came up with the flesh out the ME2 universe is a great touch. It’s not Dune level awesome, but it’s the best thing out there sci-fi rpg wise on the x360

– AH hits of hot lesbian sex – Choose a female character, chat up your female crew, insinuate same sex loving. Catholics beware, it’s WONDERFUL STUFF!

COSMIC ANNIHILATION

With the arrival of the Cosmic Encounter expansion and with my stout-hearted board gaming group in tow,  we started what will end up being a year long Cosmic Encounter campaign I have dubbed the COSMIC ANNIHILATION!!!  The plan is quite simple:

  • Play games of Cosmic Encounter – this is a no brainer, but we are going for 4 Planet, 4 bases FTW to keep the games shorter.
  • After each game, Aliens that have lost are removed from campaign play and the winners continue.
  • Flares of eliminated Aliens are still used in the game, but may not be selected at start of play. (we will have a Live deck of flares and an eliminated deck to fill in the quota)

The idea was that there are Aliens that few people play, either because there is too much text on their cards or they have been blackballed after a few losing games (Citadel), so to give every Alien a go, it was time for the COSMIC ANNIHILATION.

Game 1

Tripler, Leviathan, Bully(W)

Notes: Leviathan had the Lunar Canon (!) and got 1 planet away from the win, Bully had the Prometheus ship, both Bully and Tripler lost their powers at least once each.

Game 2

Mirror(W), Deuce, Amoeba.

Notes: Deuce gained zero planets and the Amoeba was destroyed almost completely while allying.

Annihilated Aliens

Deuce, Amoeba, Leviathan, Tripler