Andy Wood

This was something that I had the cards for and borrowed some other ideas.

I got a new gaming setup and I decided to go with the SteelSeries 5H v2 USB Headset. 

 

It fits nicely to my head and had a cool feature too, a retractable microphone!  I ran into some problems, even asked Amazon to send me a replacement.  Only to have the same problem with the replacement.  This sent me down the ‘google’ path to see solutions.

It turns out that by default the mic is set to 48 KHz vs 44.1 KHz, so by changing that setting.  Problem is now gone.

Myself and a couple of friends sat down with this game today and played, in fact we were able to play 2 games in the allotted time.

The rules take perhaps 15-20 mins to learn, pretty simple (the simplicity was along the same lines as Ticket to Ride), but not to simple, as there is still plenty of room for strategy.

The are basically two phases to the game:

Pre-bomb phase & Post-bomb phase, the game token/pogs are color coded on the back for each phase.  At the beginning of each phase, the tokens are placed randomly on the board. (we found it best to flip the tokens/pogs over with the color side up to help with random placing)  Each turn, a player is allowed to move their piece two spaces.  When you leave a space, you take the token/pog from that hex.

Eventually the available places to move becomes harder and hard to navigate as there are some ‘random’ obstables that prevent movement.  The goal is to move around and collect different items for points.  There is food, enemies (mutants/zombies & humans), or provisions.  There are also weapons that you can collect and use to enter a hex with a bad guy.

During the pre-bomb phase, you are basically delivering the tokens/pogs and making way for post-bomb phase and hopefully your survival.

The game was a blast!  Fast paced and with 3 people were were able to get 2 games in under 90mins.  If you like post-apocalyptic themed games, but you will love the simply and easy to learn game play.

Battle.net has relaunched with a new look and feel, and StarcraftWire.net reports that not only does registering automatically opt you into applying to beta testing Blizzard’s sci-fi RTS sequel, but that the first invites are already going out (though only to randomly selected members, not everyone gets invited). In other StarCraft II news, some new screenshots are online showing off the new replay functionality, and the StarCraft II Q&A Batch #50 is now online

Makes me wonder if there are support groups for folks like this:

Don’t get me wrong, I can be competitive, but even when I worked for fortune 500 companies, using the computer wasn’t that important.

Boss, “Why is your report wet?!!!”

Me, “Ummmm”

I saw this on GameSpot and based on what I have played so far, the review is dead on.  I have yet to play a “perfect” game, so I will take any faults that DOW II has to offer until the perfect game does surface.

I got the game yesterday, installed it (I think a patch is on the way), logged into both my steam and Microsoft Live accounts. (which btw, this the first game that I have ever had to do this for, but okay.)

Started a solo campaign and well, I am having fun!  I have yet to try out any Multiplayer or CO-Op stuff.

Empire: Total War -

Command the seas, control the land, forge a new nation, and conquer the globe. Empire: Total War takes the Total War franchise to the eighteenth century Age of Enlightenment — a time of political upheaval, military advancements, and radical thought, captured in stunning detail in Empire: Total War.

Call the shots in epic battles all over the world and expand your realm of influence throughout the tumultuous eighteenth century with Empire: Total War for your PC. Set against the bold intellectual landscape of the Enlightenment, this extension of the Total War franchise brings you out of the middle ages and into a realm where guns, gunpowder, and naval warfare have a dramatic influence on the face of combat.

Warhammer Dawn of War II -

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II transports players into Games Workshop’s vast Warhammer 40,000 universe, where an intergalactic war between ancient races has raged on for countless millennia. Featuring vicious front-line combat, destructible environments, a fully cooperative multiplayer mode, four unique playable races and an epic single-player campaign, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II delivers the ultimate sci-fi fantasy Real-Time Strategy (RTS) experience.

Now, I cannot test this out yet as the MTGO will not have conflux until 2/23/2009

This is a new deck idea I have been playing around with. It is missing something, haven’t been able to put my finger on it though.