World War Z novel - halfway through report.

Hey all,

The World War Z by Max Brooks is fantastic, I am about halfway through it and love how the fictional story is told of world wide devastation by the living dead from many different points of view and the social commentary associated with hitting the mark.

It ranges from a Middle Eastern family escaping something terrifying, but not know what exactly; but are wary of the asylum other countries are offering due to religious conflicts of the past.  American soldiers on the ground know what they face but know the military's tactics & weapons are useless against an undead horde.  Or a little girls account of their family uprooting from the family home to head North to Canada away from the undead plague only to witness and experience changes within themselves and others when winter closes shut it's jaws and bites hard the survivors.

I am only halfway through the novel and I can only describe it as epic.  The scene is set, the theme is thick with the stench of zombies and humanity must undergo a metamorphosis of its own to overcome the staggering armies of the undead.

Australian Highway Speed Limits & 110km/hour zones

Why is it that people get done for speeding?.  From not adhering to the speed posted... And usually in 100km an hour zone, hell I do it, an extra 10km an hour doesn't hurt, doesn't really cut the trip time dramatically, but it makes you feel better nonetheless, also to make up that time lost in the highway purgatory called "roadworks".  Where usually there is a whole lot of nothing going on except for a collection of vehicles and schizophrenic fury.

This brings me to the government privilege of 110km zones and how some motorists treat it like it's forbidden fruit, not unlike a shy yo-yo.  Speeding up and slowing down and then stand all over the brakes that if god forbid, another motorist appears over the hill in front or behind them.  All their courage and tenacity that once flourished in 100km zones is vanquished, leaving some confused and wary of the white and red sign of 110, like it's a cult of the satanic motorist, 110 must appear to be 666 to these people who've heard that if you dabble in the black arts your fingers will get burnt.

Any who, just put your foot on the far right pedal and stop treating these zones as novelty.  They are put there because the stretch of road is boring and anonymous like a shy person is to a strangers party... And if your excuse is because you have kids in the car, either be a parent, take control and restrain them or wake up to yourself as there wont be much of a happy family left having a car accident at anything over 60km an hour. so doing 10 under the speed limit is not going to do much in the way protecting anybody from car bonnet decapitation or internal organs trying to find away out of your bones, sinew and skin upon impact.

Titanfall has dropped, will it hold gamer's attention?

Titanfall just dropped it's load in Australia, a few friends of mine have snaffled it up via pre-orders I am yet to hear their opinion on the game.  The real test is to see if it will have any longevity.  Don't get me wrong, I played the beta which really was more of a demo than anything and it played great, fast, fluid and accurate. A relief from the Battlefield 4 cluster fuck it seems to be cultivating with each patch.

When playing Titanfall beta it only had a few game modes and 2 maps.  That's fine for a beta but now the full version is out and there are a tonne of maps; which is good, but literally only a couple more game modes 5 to be exact which aren't really that exciting and have seen before.  Here they are as follows...

• Attrition - Team Deathmatch
• Last Titan Standing - Last Man Standing
• Hardpoint - Domination/Conquest
• Capture the Flag
• Pilot Hunter - Kill enemy teams pilots to a predetermined score limit
• Variety mode - All the above mixed together

Add that with virtually no single player campaign, it what seems to be a tacked on effort of campaign scenarios around the multiplayer modes.

For a modded source engine, it looks great, the theme is fantastic and game play is wonderful.  Slick controls anyone who has played Call of Duty multiplayer will be well at home.  Just the lackluster array of game modes is a let down.  To put it simply they are very basic and no real complicated modes to be found and at an asking price of $79.00 from JB Hi Fi. this won't be in my collection for anytime soon.  I've heard it's not modder friendly so it will be test to see if there is any core community around after 6 months or so of gameplay that haven't gone back to Battlefield and/or Call of Duty.

If you are in Australia and want to pick it up cheaper and a physical copy of the game go to DungeonCrawl Titan Fall $61.00.

Me and Magic: The Gathering (A quick look)

I've recently started playing Magic: The Gathering.  A game I had seen advertised back in the day when I used to play Warhammer 40k, but being young I never really had the funds or was in the right location to check it out.  (The dilemmas of a nerdy kid living in a small country town)

So what got me into MTG, Apart from the general interest gained from when I was a kid?  What pushed me over the edge after literally hand over fist with cash (fist over hand?) on board games? This is what did it

The MTG From The Vault Twenty Boxset
Yes that is me :o)

That bloody MTG box set, I had won it over last Xmas via a competition held by Australian Tabletop Gaming Network.  Thus sparking me to embark on a MTG journey and enjoying every minute of it.
What's in the MTG From The Vault Twenty?  20 rare cards such as Jace, The Mind Sculptor apparently worth $120.00 aud on Ebay (the most expensive in this box set).  However, I won't be opening it anytime soon, lets just say I am hoping it will appreciate in value over time.

I haven't played many games and I ended up buying the Magic 2014 game from Steam which helped me along with the rules and nuances of the different coloured decks White, Blue, Black, Red and Green.  White being protection and order, Blue being manipulation and illusion, Black is death and darkness, Red being freedom and impulse, Green is growth and instinct.  Build your decks up purchasing pre-built decks such as Heroes Vs Monsters which give you two playable decks of 60 cards each to get you going straight away for a minimal cost.

Heroes Vs Monsters Duel Decks

You can scour ebay for singles of rare/mythic rare cards to bolster your ranks but be prepared to pay a small fortune for the rarities (some well into the thousands of dollars).  Or you can literally buy hundreds of common cards of multiple colours to build your decks with.  There are intro decks to get you into the fray immediately with a core set of 60 cards and 2 booster packs, booster packs consist of 15 cards at random which if you're lucky may get a rare or mythic rare card.

It really is an easy game to learn and quite a lot of fun, it isn't really an expensive or time consuming hobby as compared to say Warhammer 40k, no assembly or painting required either and easier to find opponents as you could teach the basics in an afternoon.  You can make it as expensive as you like depending on how serious you take it or even make money off it if you get lucky in a few booster pack openings or make some good trades.  Websites such as MTG Price will help you keep track of how much your collection is worth.

All in all, I don't regret stepping into the realm of Magic: The Gathering with rich art work and lore it'll keep me entertained for years to come and possibly retire on my MTG: From the Vault: Twenty box set... dream on dreamer.

Love Letter - Board Game Review

A Board Game Review

Love Letter by Alderac Entertainment Group

Players - 2 to 4 (best with 3 and 4 players)
Playtime - 20 to 30 minutes
Type - Deduction

This is literally the game.
(not pictured. The cool velvet Love Letter game bag)

An extremely portable game powered by 16 cards, yes, 16 cards are what's in this game along with 13 wooden cubes for counters, rule book and reference cards.  The idea of the game is that you are candidate to sweep the princess off of her feet via a letter, a love letter if you will.  To do this you will pass your letter onto the people around her so that they will pass it onto the princess.  You are not the only one so you must strategize and deduce your way on getting your letter to her first.

It's a simple game of 'Pickup one card and play one card' so you will always have a card in your hand.  When you play a card you will follow the rules assigned to that card, for instance if you played a Priest that will enable you to look at one players hand.  However, this can also happen to you and ruin any strategy you may have had.  Once the draw pile has dwindled down to nothing, players will reveal the card in there hand, the player with the highest ranked card wins as this particular person was closest to the princess.  In case of a tie, players discarded cards are counted up and the highest value wins the round.

A very simple game that really shines when 4 players are vying for the princesses heart and that will stop at nothing to get their letter to her. It is a good, solid, filler game that would appeal to most (the theme may put some people off) and could possibly be the gateway game to get your girlfriend into board gaming (fingers crossed hey?)  But I found it really enjoyable due to it's quick play, portability and how fast the rules can be picked up by gamers and non board gamers alike.

I picked up my copy at the The Wicked Goblin for a sum of $16.00

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Things I find in the local newspaper

This one I found late last year.
I'd like to know at what point when this activity was considered a good idea?

Note the time.

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Anonymity, the internet and dickheads

Been thinking today about a few sessions of Counter Strike: GO I played over the weekend and why it's a good idea to have comms turned off all together in any multiplayer game.

1.  The pre pubescent, entitled know it all barking orders with his high pitch whiny voice and getting upset as no one is paying him any attention. Devolves into a frenzy of abuse as some others on the server cannot help but to bait the kid into a more frenzied reaction. Prompting a door kicking by his Mum telling the kid she will 'throw that infernal machine out the window' if he keeps it up.

2. The apparent grizzled veteran of a particular game does the same as the pre pubescent, but has a larger vocabulary; but less frontal lobe capacity to understand what they are actually saying to anyone, leading them down the path of 'I'm capturing this point, go somewhere else, hurr durr' or random 'ptfo' messages via text.

3. Fantasy land man is the guy who probably gets bullied or is just a pushover in the real world. Working a menial job because he possesses no intestinal fortitude to confront his problems thus wallows in self loathing and pity.  However, give him an adsl connection and a headset and we have Fuckwit Man! Huzz zaaah!! This guy will berate you and call you out by username and abuse you and switch teams just to team kill you. All this while telling the whole server he is better than anyone else.

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