Apologies from Afar in the Past, Brought to You from the Future, Currently in the Present.

So Conklederp and I were married 13 days ago and a honeymoon was followed shortly thereafter.  I also attempted my darndest to not fall behind on the schoolwork that I knew was due periodically throughout the last three weeks.  This is why there were intermittent posts the last couple of weeks as well as not having  the standard and MIDI Week Singles post for the last two weeks.  I promise that starting next week, everything will be back on track.

So in the spirit of our little Internet site and rather than subjugate everyone to pictures of the honeymoon, I will instead talk about games.  Specifically some game related gifts that Conklederp and I received because apparently publically declaring that you want to spend the rest of your life with someone means that people want to give you things; which is pretty awesome, by the way.

First off, coasters.  Yes coasters, but not just any coasters, these coasters.  I'm actually pretty good when it comes to using coasters, either at my own place or at the abode of another person who has them out and I hope that there will be at least a couple of people in the future who will, 1) Use coasters when we have them visibly put out, and 2) recognize that they're from Portal 2.  Part of me actually wants to see our friends fight over who gets their favorite coaster from the person who has never played/seen/experienced this masterpiece of a game.

If anyone else is interested, they can be acquired over at ThinkGeek.com.

Next we have a board game that until recently, neither Conklederp nor I had ever previously played.  Then we played with Chreekat and his mom, who told us that she played in a league with other people when she worked down in California with other fellow geeks.  I briefly talked about the experience back in July, but now Conklederp and I have no excuse to force our other friends to know the struggles of establishing a colony and society on an octogonal island with a finite amount of resources.

Even though the game says that it's designed for three to four players, I'm sure that there are rules somewhere that says how the game could be played with only two people.  Or Conklederp and I will have to break out of our proverbial gel capsules and play with other people, perhaps Salty Liver and her hubsband (yes, I intentionally spelled husband as "hubsband").

Next on the board game listing of greed is a game that I'm pretty sure I had seen played on Wil Wheaton's Table Top, but I might also be thinking of another game.  That game is Pandemic, a game that I have not played, but again, I love the concept.  Think of it like the film Contagion, but with less Matt Damon and Kate Winslet and more of your friend who only took that one biology class that one time, just because.  Although I will go on record to say that one of my friends, whom I'm sure I could convince to play, has a Ph.D. in immunology. On second thought, this might not be the best game to play with them as they might be tempted to talk about all the inaccuracies in the game.

Luckily, this game can be played with just two people so I think Conklederp and I could give this game a go before we unleash it upon our very suspecting, and potentially questioning friends.

Lastly is the newest expansion for Munchkin Apocalypse, the Sheep Impact collection of cards.  I was rather impressed when I read through some of the cards in this expansion and even more so with some of the Seal cards.  I won't say specifics, but there is one card that can eliminate all the cards in play.  Okay, I lied as that was very specific, but I won't say the name of that "singular" card as that would give some of the fun away.

Now all we have to do is convince our friends whom already play Munchkin that we need to play Munchkin Apocalypse even though the number of customization cards is limited to class as opposed to also including race.

In reality though, it's going to take a lot to go through all of these games and still go through Mansions of Madness, which I did have the pleasure of running a week-and-a-half ago with three other people.  Too many games and not enough time to play them all, but really, that's not a bad problem to have.

Oh, and I'll be factoring in my coursework somewhere in there as well.

Yes, we are those kinds of people with a lot of pretty awesome friends.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Would You Like To Buy A Carrot?

Packing Strategies for the Modern Gamer

I hope you didn't click this post hoping to find a list of smart and effective approaches to packing, with special attention to the subgroup sometimes known as the  'modern gamer.'  Because all this post is going to contain is my musings about packing.  Because I am faced with a game-related packing dilemma, and I thought I'd work it out on LIVE TV... I mean, on the internet.  On this blog.  Right now.  It's live as I'm typing it anyway!  Jaconian, I imagine you have thoughts on this subject, and I'm pretty sure you've shared them in the past.  Also, he is indirectly responsible for this dilemma as the trip I am packing for is his WEDDING  TO CONKLEDERP!  Hooray!!!

I have three portable gaming devices that get regular use.  In order of frequency of use, and in reverse order of portability, there is my laptop, my Nintendo DS and my cell phone.  I intend to bring all three.  However, for many games, my laptop requires* a funny, irregularly shaped device known as a game pad.  This is what is giving me pause.  Somehow, packing the game pad seems to push it all over the edge.  Maybe it's just because it doesn't fit nicely into anything, with its funny handle grips sticking out and power cable projecting from its midsection.  Anolog sticks catching on everything as it bounces around inside my backpack.  I just shouldn't bring it.

Yet, I find it hard letting go of my primary gaming device (laptop + controller).  Afterall, isn't it awesome that I can bring my primary gaming device with me on a four-day trip?  I think it's pretty great.   And it's pretty great that the same device is what I use for all of my computing and internet surfing.  Oh, the laptop is coming with me, there's no doubt about it.  But perhaps it comes with reduced gaming capacity, ie: without the controller.

Yes, I know this to be the right decision, but I am just really compelled to hem and to haw about it.  What I should do is use this as an opportunity to play some games that don't require a controller.  To play DS games, or some classic games on my DS emulator.  Maybe one of those Android games I bought in a Humble Bundle, but never play.  It turns out Mc Pixel is pretty fun!  God forbid - I could even read a book!

Okay, thank you for taking this time to skim this really dumb post from me.  Potts MD.

-D

*I say that the games require a controller because I really don't like using the keyboard for platformers.

Monthly Update: October 2014

Madd MS Paint Skilz Yo!

It's that time of the month again, and I'm pretty sure I've used that opening before. . . but you know what?  Neither do I.

This is going to be a hectic month.  First off, Conklederp and I are getting married on Saturday (11th) so some of the posts early in the month might be sporadic, depending on how much I am able to get accomplished ahead of time.  We are presently (at the time of posting) preparing to make our way to Nor*Cal tomorrow, with our goal being ultimately in the south (by California standards) and we'll be back about the middle of the month.  Goodtimes shall be had by all and yes, "goodtimes" is a legitimate word.

I spent a good amount of time during September playing both The Elder Scrolls: The Arena and Path of Exile.  It would seem that the Diablo type of play that is PoE is more enticing and engaging than what I found with DOTA 2, which makes me a little sad that I'm not as interested as I was hoping to be with the free-to-play MOBA, but I think solo game playing is too ingrained in my system.  I did play a session of PoE with Chreekat for an hour or so a few weeks back and since then I haven't seen him on Steam playing PoE, so I'm hoping that I didn't tarnish the 37 hours he's put into the game, but it looks like he was on yesterday.  I on the other hand, have only quested for a paltry 26 hours.  Oh the humanity!

And this just in, I am a Steam Stalking Creeper, but no, I still haven't played Minecraft in any of its many iterations.  Line me up to be stoned.  Again.

What the hell!  While writing today's post, music from Dead Island: Riptide (composed by Pawel Blaszczak) has come up a couple of times and it's a lot better than it has a right to be.  Now I've never played Dead Island: Riptide, yet anyway and I'll get to it eventually, but this soundtrack (acquired through the Humble Deep Silver Bundle) is really good.  I'm tempted to even say that it's "beautiful," but. . . you know what?  No buts.  The track that just played, "Let it be Haven," was indeed a beautiful simple piano piece.  There I said it.  Cue the onslaught of hate.  Maybe, but probably not.

Let's briefly take a look at October.  I restarted schooling a couple days ago so I'll be trying to get ahead for the first couple of weeks seeing as how doing school work during a honeymoon so video gaming and said activities will not be as prevalent as normal, at least for the first half of the month.  Game-wise though, October will probably be fairly similar to September with PoE, Arena and I might even delve into Fallen Earth, which I just spotted as being an open world free-to-play post-apocalyptic adventure game.  If I'm able to find time that is.  Although in the next week, I'll be hoping to play another round of Mansions of Madness with our friends so I'll have more tales to tell upon our return.

So have a happy October and I'll see y'all when I'm around.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental