A Green Mushroom

In my sickness last week I got around to finishing the second season of the Clone Wars TV Show. I had mostly given up on this show but I really love Star Wars Rebels and it seems to be pulling some key characters straight from Clone Wars who were never in the books or movies.  I'm trying to do my due diligence as a crazy Star Wars fan by going back and watching Clone Wars on Netflix. Season 2 is a definite improvement over season one, but it's still not that good.  Everyone has told me that it gets better in the later seasons and I'm really hoping to see that when I start season 3. Most of the episodes in season 2 were disconnected random fights in the clone wars time period.  A lot of the characters are consistent but there's no real character development at all. There's also a severe lack of overall plot.  There will be two or three episodes in a row that are directly connected but none of it ever ties back in to an overarching story. Again, this is ...

Along with watching a bunch of TV while I was sick last week I also picked up Dragon Quest Heroes.  It's a game in the same style as Hyrule Warriors or Dynasty Warriors. Basically it's a game with giant waves of super weak enemies that you get to hack and slash your way through.  It's super low key, doesn't use much of my brain power, and has a fun Dragon Quest style. This game doesn't offer much new to the genre, but it was perfect for being sick.  I could just put on some podcasts to listen to while slashing my way through wave after wave of enemy.  It was easy progression and fun over-the-top combat. It's not a game I was sure I would pick up, but it was the perfect game to play while sick.  I'll probably work my way through the whole game eventually, but now that I'm feeling better I'm excited to jump into the games I was really looking forward to this Fall.  Triforce Heroes and Assassin's Creed Syndicate came out last week and I...

Being sick last week gave me a bunch of time to catch up on TV.  Normally I don't just sit and watch TV passively, it takes a really good show to get me to sit down and watch, but resting while sick is the perfect TV watching opportunity. The announcement last week that Mythbusters is cancelled and their final season will air next year reminded me that I hadn't watched last season yet.  So, I marathoned it. It was a really good season.  It's a return to form for the Mythbusters.  Instead of having five people in two teams doing five or six myths per episode this season just has Jamie and Adam.  Typically they do two or three myths in an episode.  It's much more like the early seasons of the show. I love that they take the time to actually walk through the process of trial and error again.  In the most recent seasons it seems like they always jump to full scale and going over the top.  In this season there's a lot more about the process o...

I picked up Yoshi's Wooly World mostly for my kids, but I'm really glad I did.  I've been playing it too and it's a lot of fun. A huge portion of the enjoyment in this game is the style.  Everything is made of yarn or fabrics.  It all has a handmade crafty quality to it that sets it apart from any other game I've seen.  It's not hyper-realistic graphics, but it's perfectly styled to fit the game. The game itself is still very much a Yoshi's Island game.  Yoshi is trying to explore levels while collecting various objects throughout.  Clearing the level is rarely the challenge, instead the challenge comes from finding and collecting everything in the levels. I've had some fun with it, but my daughter is really the one who has latched onto the game.  My wife knits so our kids are around yarn all the time.  My daughter thinks the yarn style of the game is just  amazing.  She's having a ton of fun with yarn Yoshi and just exploring ...

Remember a couple months ago when I was trying out a bunch of new shows and couldn't seem to get any of them to stick?  Killjoys one of the only shows that did.  I was sick last week so I had a lot of time just sitting in bed to catch up on shows. I watched all of Killjoys season 1 and I loved it.  In a way, Killjoys gives off a Firefly vibe.  It's set in a solar system with four major planets, a ruling body called the nine, and "the company" that runs almost everything.  The planets all have a different feel and socioeconomic status.  This leads to a lot of strife between the populations of different planets. Into the middle of this comes the RAC.  It's an independent organization that doesn't take sides in any conflict.  Instead, they take contracts to find and transport goods or people.  They're basically a giant coalition of bounty hunters that are government approved and get all sorts of unique access.  The members of RAC ar...

I picked up subterfuge on iOS (for free) after reading some interesting reactions.  It's a game of real time decisions, base capturing, alliances, backstabbing, and underwater mining. At least that's what it is supposed to be. What I've actually found is a game where no one talks, no alliances are formed, people make some moves in the game then get sick of waiting for the real time aspect to happen so they resign. Subterfuge is a game that's supposed to take place in real time over the course of about a week.  What this means in reality is that you can set some orders to move your drillers around to new bases and then wait for most of a day before making any other meaningful decision.  I think the game would be more fun if it were just faster. The few games I played I won just because everyone else got bored and resigned.  They walked away from the games mid-progress and I don't really blame them.  There's not enough here to keep a person engaged. ...

I finally got around to finishing the next book in the Star Wars Legends timeline that I'm reading through.  This is the third X-Wing book in the X-Wing series. This book is still very close to the events of Return of the Jedi in the old expanded universe.  The empire is torn into different factions, but they're still big enough to be a threat to the New Republic. This is the worst X-Wing book so far, and if I remember correctly, it might be the weakest overall.  It's not a horrible book but it lacks the pacing and excitement of the other two leading up to it.  The majority of the book is about the trial of a member of Rogue Squadron who may or may not be an imperial agent (he's not).  The other major event is the capture, imprisonment, and attempted brainwashing of another member of the squadron. The problem is that these events are 90% of the book.  There's a little bit of X-Wing action thrown in at the end but it feels forced and misplaced. ...

I played 80 Days when it first came out on iOS but a recent update to the game put it in the news again and inspired me to replay it. I still love this game.  It's half way between a game and interactive fiction.  You are the valet for an English gentleman who has accepted a wager to go around the world in 80 days.  He essentially leaves all the decisions to you. You are in charge of picking the route, discovering new routes, handling money, and dealing with key decisions. It starts out as a race out of London but quickly turns into more of an adventure than a race.  The first time I finished the game I completed it in 85 days and failed the wager... but it didn't matter, I had a ton of fun.  And you always have the option to go around the world again. I heard they had patched in the North Pole, the Moon, and the Center of the Earth since I last played.  I set my sights on the North Pole and.... wow.  I was amazed with the narrative I got. ...

I've enjoyed most of the Telltale adventure games I've played in the past few years.  The Walking Dead Season 1, Tales from the Borderlands, and Game of Thrones have been my favorites. So when I saw that they were releasing a Telltale adventure game in the world of Minecraft I knew I had to check it out.  I played Minecraft heavily when it was in Alpha and Beta, and while I seldom play it these days it still has a special place in my heart. Episode 1 is the setup for the rest of the season of Story Mode.  You are a builder who is going to attend Endercon, a convention in the Minecraft world.  By the end of the episode things have gone wrong and you're tasked with seeking out four legendary heroes. It's the same Telltale formula as their other games.  You make decisions that impact and change the story.  It's very story focused but captures the fun of building things and interacting with the world of Minecraft.  This one is much more kid-frien...

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective is a game I picked up on the recommendation of Shut Up and Sit Down , my favorite board game reviewers. In it you take on the role of Sherlock Holmes' assistants.  You're a member of the group he uses as his eyes and ear around the city.  He has you working on the same cases he is working on, so in essence you get to solve the same mystery as Sherlock Holmes. The gameplay is what really makes this game shine.  You get a case, read the intro, and then you have the freedom to go anywhere in the city of London to investigate.  There's also a newspaper for the day that may or may not have anything related to the case, but it's always worth looking through.  You have a map, a London directory, locations of your regular contacts, and the case book.  You're left to your own devices to decide where to go and who to investigate. When you think you've finally learned enough about the case you flip back to the solution sectio...

This past weekend I found myself in possession of a Steam Link and Steam Controller.  I had pre-ordered them right when they were announced, so mine got shipped out with the very first batches. I have to say, I'm super impressed with the Steam Link.  It's a streaming device for those of us who already have a good gaming PC.  There's no need to drop hundreds or thousands of dollars for one of the Steam Machines that are being made.  If you're like me, you already have all the computing power you need in your desktop PC.  That's why I grabbed this little guy for $50 instead. I plugged it in and it just works.  It's fantastic.  As long as I have my gaming PC turned on all I have to do is boot this up and Steam will stream to my living room TV.  It boots into Steam Big Picture mode which is ideal for controlling it with a gamepad of some kind.  But, it has a bunch of USB ports so you can easily hook up a wireless keyboard/mouse or any oth...

If you haven't followed my journey, after recently giving Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, and Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes a try I eventually came to the conclusion that Metal Gear Solid V might actually be a game I would have fun with.  This is despite the fact that I haven't had fun with a MGS game since MGS2. Ground Zeroes was what eventually convinced me to take the dive and purchase MGSV. I jumped in and almost immediately was struck with dread that I had wasted my money.  The first sixty or ninety minutes of the game is the prologue and it's everything I hate about the Metal Gear Solid series.  There are long boring cutscenes, unintelligible story, characters I don't care about, and railroaded gameplay that can only be completed in one way. Some friends on Twitter told me to stick with it and get past the first mission after the prologue.  They were so right. As soon as you get out of the prologue and past the first "real...

I'm starting to lose my current drive to play Hearthstone. I've been playing it daily ever since the Grand Tournament released in late August.  I've done my daily quests, weekly brawls, and monthly ladder.  At this point I've gotten a deck I like for most of the classes in the game and I have all the cards that I want. I'm kind of just in a holding pattern until the next expansion or adventure gets released for the game. And while I'm in this holding pattern the same old thing is starting to bug me, the quest structure.  The daily quests in Hearthstone aren't about playing  the game, they're about winning  in the game.  Most of the daily quests that are given out are win a certain number of games with a certain class. I hate this structure. My favorite days of Hearthstone are when I get quests about playing  the game.  Quests like "Do 100 damage to enemy heroes" or "Play 20 minions that cost 5 or more mana."  I love thes...

Earlier this month my brother bought me a copy of The Beginner's Guide because he had just played it and then saw that it was on my Steam wishlist. He warned me that I should carve out some time to play it in one sitting, so a few days later I did. I've been thinking about it a bunch since then and I'm not sure how to write about it.  It seems like I'm not the only one.  Almost every video and article I've seen has had the same problem.  It's hard to put this game into words. But I can say this, it was an experience that was worth the time and pricetag.  Steam says that I played it a total of 80 minutes.  I feel like I got so much experience out of that 80 minutes that I can easily recommend it at it's current price. I'm still not sure what to tell you about the game.  The basic premise is that there's a narrator who is going to walk you through a series of short games that were made by one of his acquaintances.  Telling you anything more...

I've been watching a lot of Marvel lately and getting into the new Star Wars stuff and it's gotten me thinking about Disney. Disney is a company that has been through some good times and some questionable times.  I feel like the content they were putting out in the 90s when I was a kid was amazing.  Movies like The Lion King, Aladin, Mulan, Hercules, Pocohantas, and so many more came out of that era.  They had hit their stride for classically animated movies and it was great. Then in the 2000s it seems like they faded a bit.  I know they were never in trouble as a company, but their output just wasn't of the same quality as it once was. Recently I feel like they've finally turned this around.  The acquired Pixar and started making amazing animated movies again, although this time CG movies.  Then they started buying licenses like Marvel and Star Wars.  So far they're doing amazing things with the Marvel universe and I'm so excited to see what...

My recent infatuation with the Agent Carter TV show led me to rewatching the two Captain America movies.  They're a mixed bag. The first movie isn't all that great.  I don't think the Marvel movies had hit their stride yet and Chris Evans was still figuring out how to fit into the role of Captain America.  It's also all about World War II and Nazis which has been done to death in so many movies.  It's an entirely predictable movie that is often simply going through the motions so that we can see Captain America's origin story. It has some fun action scenes and it has it's good moments.  But overall Captain America: The First Avenger isn't a movie I'll go back and watch often. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a much better movie.  It takes place after the first Avengers movie, Chris Evans has hit his stride, Captain America has been brought to the modern times and has finally stopped being naive to the world around him.  It also stars ...

Agent Carter is one of the expanding line of Marvel shows on TV and streaming lately.  It passed me by when it came out last year, but I saw a mention of it recently in an article and decided to check out the show. I had fairly low expectations because both the Agents of Shield and Daredevil shows had lost my attention during their first seasons. Agent Carter blows them out of the water. It's set just after World War II and it follows Agent Carter, the woman who was Captain America's liaison and love interest during Captain America: The First Avenger.  It deals with post-war events, being a woman in that time period, being an agent of the U.S. government, Howard Stark, and so much more. The basic premise to kick off the season is that Howard Stark had a bunch of inventions stolen and the agency that Carter works for is trying to find them and get them back. One of my favorite parts about the show is that it's all about humans in a world that has had superheroe...

I've been playing the Star Wars Battlefront Beta and I need to say this game fulfills the fantasy of being in the Star Wars universe. That doesn't seem like a big statement by itself so I'm going to say it again. This game fulfills the fantasy of being in the Star Wars universe. And that's all I really wanted. The gameplay is acceptable.  It doesn't feel super slick or modern.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles we're used to in our shooters these days.  But it's not bad.  It's just fine. The graphics are beautiful.  I typically don't even think about graphics these days but I immediately noticed how gorgeous this game is.  This is the prettiest game I've ever seen.  I've been wracking my brain trying to think of anything that surpasses Battlefront in terms of graphics and I just can't think of anything.  It's amazing eye candy everywhere.  For the first time in years I found myself stopping to just watch thi...

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is the PSP game that released after Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4.  From what I can tell it was the most recent game in the franchise until last month's release of Metal Gear Solid 5.  I think chronologically the story takes place between MGS 3 and MGS 1. I was out about $5 after the other day's failed attempt at Metal Gear Solid 3, and Peace Walker was only $4.  So, if these didn't work out I wasn't going to feel too bad.  I just wanted to sample what the series had done over the most recent entries. I found Peace Walker to be a mixed bag, but not in the way I expected.  It had a clear tutorial and taught the gameplay very well.  I also liked the characters, setting, and mood right from the outset.  It had some cutscenes but they weren't overbearing in the way that MGS 3 was. I generally liked where they were going with the series.  The only downfall were the controls.  But this time I coul...

Have you ever had a series that is widely loved and talked about that has completely failed to connect with you? I've had it happen a few times, but the most recent event that brought it to mind was the release of the Uncharted collection.  I've had chances to get into the Uncharted series before and every single time I've picked up the controller and played the game I get bored within ten minutes. The Uncharted Collection on PS4 would be the perfect time to jump back into the series and get caught up since it has the first three games in one package. Which is why I downloaded the demo to check it out.  And again, within 10 minutes I was bored with it. I should like this series.  I love a good platformer and good shooters.  It looks like a blend of a decent third person shooter and the platforming of Tomb Raider or Assassin's Creed, both games that I've liked. But it simply fails to connect. I'm not sure why this happens, but it seems like most g...

I've been reading to my daughter for as long as she could sit in my lap while I flip through pages.  She's 5 now and she's an avid reader. We've gone from baby books, to little kid books, to kid chapter books.  Last month she asked me when she could start reading "grown up books like Daddy".  And I said, "Right now!  Let's start!" So I've been reading The Hobbit to her.  It's the quintessential starter book for adult novels in my mind, probably because I remember my mom reading it to me. It's a book that I can read while she listens and just lets it wash over her.  When we sit down to read for the night we always talk about what happened the night before, and she seems to be keeping up with the story just fine... even though Tolkien's prose isn't all that approachable.  I'm thinking next up might be something more modern and easy to read, like Harry Potter, but the jury is still out on that decision. After finis...

One of my friends on Twitter said, "Life is too short to play something that doesn't make you happy."  And when I read that I realized that's the philosophy I've been living by this past year. Last December I got the desire to start working through my giant backlog of games.  And this is the one trick that allowed me to do it: If a game doesn't make me happy, I stop playing it. It sounds so simple, but in practice... it's difficult.  Once you get involved in the daily grind of a game it's hard to extricate yourself.  What if there are daily quests?  What if it's an MMO with a community of people you interact with?  What if you're half way through the story of a massive RPG? What if there are so many forces driving you to keep playing the game that you're currently playing... but you stop having fun with it? This last year, after 25+ years of playing games, I was finally able to get my head into a place where I can walk away from a...

With all this talk about Metal Gear Solid 5 lately it caught my eye the other week when MGS 3 and MGS Peace Walker were on sale on PSN.  I got both of them for my Playstation Vita for less than $9 total. My history with Metal Gear basically went like this: MGS: I loved this game, it was amazing at the time. MGS 2: Um... weird... but still impressive for the time. MGS 3: Utter frustration at controls and story. Then I gave up on the series.  I thought I would pick up the story where I left off with MGS 3 and see what I thought of it now that I've had years of distance between me and the series. I started up MGS3 and instantly felt frustrated.  The game kept yanking control away from me.  It was full of cutscenes and dumb radio dialog.  I mean, they tell Snake that it's a super secret stealth mission and time is of the essence but then immediately spend 30 minutes on the radio with him just introducing each other, making jokes, and shooting the s...

My wife and I have been going out to more movies lately and we recently discovered that one of the theaters near us has been completely renovated into an awesome modern movie theater. We now refuse to go anywhere else. What is it about this theater that makes it so great?  Well, let me tell you. The biggest thing is assigned seating.  I can pick out two good seats online days ahead of time, buy my tickets, and know that I'm going to get those exact seats.  There's no need to show up early or wait in line.  We can show up five minutes before the movie starts and be in our chosen seats. The seats themselves are all basically giant lazyboy recliners.  They're probably three or four times the size of a typical movie theater seat and they're super plush.  Plus, every other one has an armrest that goes up and turns the pair of seats into one big loveseat which is perfect for date night. These seats are seriously awesome. The rows are all super stag...

I picked up Disney Infinity last month, mostly for my kids.  The real tipping point for me was that it had both Star Wars (for me) and Inside Out (for my kids).  Star Wars, as you well know, is my favorite fictional universe.  And Inside Out has been my kids' favorite movie ever since they saw it. Since my September was crazy I barely got to touch this game until a few nights ago. Mostly my kids have just been playing in the "Toy Box" section of the game while swapping out characters and making up their own games with each other.  That's exactly why I got the game for them and they seem to be having a ton of fun with all the characters they love. The Toy Box is great for kids, but I find it kind of underwhelming as an adult.  There's a ton of stuff to see and do, but none of it is directed enough to really drive me to do it.  That's where "Playsets" come in. In Disney Infinity Playsets are much more of a traditional video game.  They hav...

One of the items on my Gaming To-Do List the other week was the generic "Fall Releases".  It's a big category and I'd like to dig into it more. The reason I didn't list specific games is because I'm not sure what I'm going to pick up yet.  For one of the first times ever I'm near the end of my gaming backlog, so I'm really excited for the new Fall releases.  The release season has already started with games like Metal Gear Solid 5 and Super Mario Maker but it always seems like things truly get crazy in October and November. Here are the games I know I'm going to get for sure.  I either have these pre-ordered or I plan on picking them up day one: Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes (October 22nd) Fallout 4 (November 10th) StarCraft 2: Legacy of the Void (November 10th) Star Wars Battlefront (November 17th) Two of those I already have paid in full and the other two I'll grab digitally right when they release.  But, that's no...

In my household we've been having a lot of fun making Mario levels in Super Mario Maker.  My daughter has been making levels based on whatever her 5-year-old mind desires.  I've been trying to make themed levels.  My wife is having a lot of fun making super challenging levels and then making me play test them... and when I eventually figure out a way to finish the level she just makes it harder.  The other day my brother stopped by and made a level too. It's been so much fun! If you have Mario Maker come check out our levels! My levels: 36C6-0000-004B-BEBF 7563-0000-004D-E3F3 5E55-0000-0031-5D85 My 5-year-old's level: E7CC-0000-0059-A20D My wife's levels: 027C-0000-0031-D43D 8943-0000-0048-D0C3 My brother's level: 2B0A-0000-0072-B6BA If you've been making Mario levels please share them in the comments below.  I'd love to check them out! Also... Nintendo really needs to find a better way of sharing and linking...

Have you ever had a bad game that sucked you in and you willingly spent hours and hours of your time on?  But all along you know it's a bad game? Star Wars Uprising is a bad game. I've also put more than 8 hours into it already. I knew it was a bad game after about 20 minutes with it.  After playing through about 3 missions you've basically seen everything the game has to offer. Star Wars Uprising is a mobile game set in the Star Wars universe that is essentially trying to be a mobile version of Diablo gameplay.  It does not succeed very well. The game is riddled with bugs, crashes, horrible loading times, and just oddities. There are currency systems on top of currency systems in dumb overcomplicated ways.  Get some gear?  You should upgrade it.  But to upgrade it you need to level it up first.  But to level it up you need materials.  But after it's leveled up to max you should upgrade it.  No, don't use materials for that, u...

At this point I've come to realize that I like comics in small doses.  I'm probably never going to be someone that has a pull list, buys a physical comic, or even keeps up to date on the series I'm interested in. Instead, I like reading a bunch of related comics in short bursts. Last week I picked up all the current Star Wars comics and played catch-up.  The series that I've been reading and am now up to date with are: Star Wars (2015) Vader Leia Kanan (the last padawan) I also heard there's a Lando comic coming out soon.  I'll probably check that out eventually, but I haven't yet.  He was never one of those characters I found especially interesting. Of the four series I still feel like Star Wars is the weakest one.  It doesn't introduce new characters and since all the characters are big names from the movies you know they have plot immunity.  That makes every confrontation and obstacle less interesting. Leia was a short concise...

I've been following Poorly Drawn Lines the webcomic for awhile now.  It took a little bit for the style of comic to grow on me, but ever since then I look forward to every time a new comic gets posted.  It's usually hilarious. So I was super excited to get to read the Poorly Drawn Lines book early.  It's a collection of webcomics, original comics for the book, and a series of written passages by the same writer.  And it comes out tomorrow! The comics are still as hilarious as ever.  It was rare for me to go more than two pages without actually laughing out loud.  I love the author's style of humor. The written passages were a little bit of a letdown.  The author uses a lot of visual humor in the comics and once it's lost the impact of the writing is much less.  They were interesting diversions but the reason I liked this book was definitely for the comics, not the written passages. I really appreciate that they included original conte...

Over the past few years Twitter has become my main social media channel.  And it just dawned on me that Twitter has changed the way I think about the world. It wasn't in some revolutionary moment of social media championing or seeing a social movement spread.  It's been much simpler and more subtle than that. What was the key that changed my worldview? Timezones. It sounds silly.  I mean, I've always known there were Timezones, right?  I've known how they've worked and I've traveled to other countries enough in my life to experience serious jet lag (most countries are across an ocean from the U.S.) But Twitter is what finally made Timezones sink in.  When my typical work day is starting to wind down all my Western European friends are going to bed.  When I wake up in the morning I get to see what my Australian and New Zealand friends are doing with their leisure hours the next night.  I have friends around the world that wrap up their wor...