OH just a hunch.

I played a boardgame called Masters of venice yesterday. It took about 4 hours before we called it. We were about 80% done. The game mechanics included a stock market, commodity trading, and some quest fulfillment to obtain points. It was basically a big old market trading type game which I really enjoyed. And it was really well done in that regards with certain commodities soaring in value under high player demand while lesser commodities lagged. You had to anticipate which commodies players were going for and get in on it.

The biggest problem with the game though, is that there were a few balance issues that the developers could have spent a little more test play and time on to iron it out. Example, each player is supposed to select a job in the beginning (like puerto rico), but the jobs are definitely unequal in value. Some jobs are absolutely worthless to get. The first player ALWAYS selected the tax collector as that job was optimal in money intake/turn. The Wood commodity which was supposed to be a low-cost abundant commodity turned out to be the most rare. Which sucked because a lot of the quests that I GOT required wood and it was almost impossible to obtain.

I ended up winning the game because I monopolized a lot of the cheap stocks and then luckily the commodity prices drove up and made a huge profit windfall.

Masters of Venice
Gameplay: 8 stars/10 stars
Balance fixes: 4 stars/ 10 stars

What makes you think that? :P

I dub the Action team, officially the game Addict team.

Steam Sale day two has a gnarly Indie Story pack for $5 bucks that has Reccetear and Puzzle Agent in it - totally worth it for those two games alone.

| Holy Fudge!

Now's the time kids, get all 3 WoW expansions for $20, TOTAL. (Battle Pack + Wrath of the Lich King).

| teh internets

SMB (Super Meat Boy) is fantastic. I was just playing a level in the "dark world" (harder versions of the normal levels) and I kept getting a bandaid (hard to get collectables) but it seemed to be glitching out and not giving me credit for it. I said, fuck it, one more time, and blam - it froze up and then the screen flashed "you have unlocked teh internets", hahaha in a 8-bit looking matrix way. Then I was just back in the game - don't know if it did anything.

One of the coolest thing is that it's full of unlockable indie-games characters like the dude from Braid, Castle Crashers, and other games that are too indie for even me. The PC version has different unlockable dudes like a headcrab from Half-Life and the Minecraft dude. Pretty sweet.

| We like to dance the moshing

... what the heck was that from again? Last time I did any time "in da pit" was at the last NoFX show I went to. I went crowd surfing and promptly got dropped right on my knee. Grumble grumble stupid deceptively heavy frame mumble mumble.

Congrats on the nephew Ryan! Kids without having too much responsibility for them, yay! Let's hope for your sister's sake that the kid is not 6'15" or whatever at birth. If that were the case, a C-section would be warranted: fact.

Based on Rude's recommendation I picked up Super Meat Boy last week and hoo boy does it have me by the balls. Basically the premise is this. You are a cube of meat in a horrible, horrible world who is born to lose, but you are eternally optimistic in the face of the continuous bullshit thrown at you. It's a lot like me and my job. The game is a platformer, a bunch of levels that are really short (none take more than 15-30 seconds once you have them figured out), but very very hard (it might take you a few dozen tries to figure out how to do those 30 seconds). Really sadistically hard... although the game is "fair," in the sense that it doesn't kill you with bullshit out of the blue. Part of the fun is seeing the challenges before you and going, "fuuuuuuuuu...". So it's tough, but you can always go work on other levels if you are stuck, and there's a TON of secret bonus stuff. Bonus levels, secret characters, it's sort of awesome how many weird secrets there are to find, many of which are humorously retro or just plain weird takes on old-school gaming platform (there's a set of levels that looks like it's taking place on a gen 1 Gameboy, etc.).

Anyway, I like it! I think there's a demo, check it out!

| Mosh Dancing

- I don't think I have it in me anymore. Just too fragile and intolerant of others.

- Grats to Brandi and Drederick! And I will take it a step further and say that it is great to have a little one in the family, and EVEN BETTER if it's your own!

- Bottling my first batch of craptacular beer kit beer. Will let you know what I name it after another 9 days or so... if it's no good at all, then yes, 'Saint Ale' has my vote.

| BR in the house

Better him than Drederick Tatum, right? Haha... Honestly though, it was very strange when my sister had a kid. It's pretty cool though. A little squirt in the family. Especially one that isn't mine.

Is it lame that I would rather blog and browse the Internet while I am at a concert with Bouncing Souls playing? Just never got into their grooves. Now BR on the other hand? Well, I'll pull all the stops for that shit! They are on next. In the pit for me when that starts. Rule.

D>M>

| Update

Brandi, my sister, is having a baby with Tate McCallister, her husband. Weird.

She is due in May. More to come.

| just so ludicrous

Two shining examples of how you do an RPG special edition right:

One tabletop: Deathwatch

One CRPG: The Witcher 2

I'm down for beer making, although my time is pretty limited in the next month and a half due to the honeymoon. Maybe you guys should throw together the first batch and I'll swoop in for the tasting? :)

Also, apparently Australia is being swarmed by locusts right now.

What about St-Ale (stale)?

Thanks.

| No Sister Christian Ale?

How about "Boner In Ale"?

eLzar, I think your first mistake was booze. Then, no water was the second mistake. Oooof, you looked bad.

Not going to lie, that was a lot of beer. I was a tad rough around the edges in the AM.

Also, the kings are ridiculous. Every time I check the Hockey sites I am just stunned.

D>M>

| RB3

Not going to lie, my leg is KILLING me from playing drums all night in the wrong position. Jon, could you see about getting me a proper drummers seat, or throne as they are called, so that next time I invade your house my leg won't hurt so much? plz thx

My sore throat has returned for another round which I directly attribute to my 7.8 beers, gin and tonic, newcastle mini keg, and singing Sister Christian 5 or six times during our 5.5 hours of RB3.

I did not feel so good driving home Sunday morning.

And I sure as hell don't want to name our first brew 'Sister Christian Ale', either. Maybe 'Ol Swampy'....

| Odors Galore

eLzar "Swamp Ass" the Gozarian and Pump laid some serious evil on my apartment last night. eLzar destroyed the toilet and one or both of these jerks laid down some evil flavor mid-night. I got up about 4am and went into the hallway to find that it smelled like rotting meatballs. Uggg.

j0rn, you, eLzar and I polished off approx. 30 beers (not including the Newcastle) and 2 gin & tonics. eLzar looked real crappy when I saw him around 6:30am. I asked him how he felt and all I got from him was, "I am really tired." Also, I had several Rockband dreams last night. Eeesh...

I too enjoyed all of the games yesterday. Three-cheers to good gaming and bad diets.

Rude: The directions for getting from Japan to China were worth a real good chortle. Jet Ski across the Pacific Ocean indeed.

eLzar and I decided we are definitely going to brew some beer in the coming months. That will rule. I think jr0n was interested too. Do it!

D>M>