Video Games

Been playing the facebook game songpop on my phone
Its a blast
Playing with friends and strangers

Just downloaded FEZ
Its an old game that has gotten really great reviews
Looks kind of neat
just downloaded it :-)

Always been a chess fan
I am not very good but enjoy playing
Just found a new phone app game

Really Bad Chess

You start out with like 3 queens, several rooks, several bishops and knights and a few pawns
Other side is the phone app computer with no queens but has a bunch of bishops, knights and pawns

Clearly I have the advantage
If I win, next game, computer may get a queen and I may go from 3 queens to 2
After every win or loss, the game makes to appropriate to make the game easier or harder

Having a lot of fun with this :-)

There was a game I played as a younger,.... Battle Chess? It was for a 16bit console, either Genesis or SNES. It was standard chess but when a piece was taken there was an animated battle. I was so enthralled with it, the cut scenes sort of forcing you to understand the game, acting as a reward for good play. It was corny, the battles humorous as opposed to graphic, but it was a ton of fun. Better than playing a packaged chess game like the free stuff that comes with pay programs.

For both you and Cess, wherever he is, did you hear? Age of Empires IV announced! I haven't checked for details, reckon it's still a fair way off, but I for one just about came out of my skin =D

Quote: Face

For both you and Cess, wherever he is, did you hear? Age of Empires IV announced! I haven't checked for details, reckon it's still a fair way off, but I for one just about came out of my skin =D

I'm a Civ guy, not a Age guy
By the way, getting back into Civilization 5
Usually I grind out the slow dependable win with science building the spaceship 1st.
This time taking a shot winning by world domination, capturing all major world capitols. Playing as Japan as the game gives their military units a slight boost due Samurai warrior philosophy.

There was a game for the Commodore 64 called Archon I think.

It was a bit like chess in that it had different pieces on a chess like board, but you had to fight the pieces head to head to win a square. The pieces had different abilities, so the fights took different strategies.

Just bought the Nintendo Switch
Got 2 games
Mario Kart 8 and Legend of Zelda Breath of the wild
Having a blast with Mario Kart
48 unique tracks
And if you get tired, you can race on all the tracks reversed. that's 96 tracks. wow
Plus other types of games using the karts.
Zelda is a ton of fun. A gigantic virtual world where you partake in all kinds of adventures and dungeons discovering treasures and battling monsters in any order or pace.
Got to hand it to Nintendo, they design really fun games

I've become a fan of speed running. Here is the schedule for the upcoming Awesome Games Done Quick marathon starting January 7th:

https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule

You can find virtually any speed run of any game imaginable on YouTube. It's amazing how some of these games can be broken.

Cities: Skylines = A+

It's hard for me to find something bad to say about it. If you got burned as I did buying the latest SimCity, you'll find this game so familiar it feels like this team broke off and took the code with them, intent on making a proper SimCity. It's everything SC should have been.

The game is huge. Vanilla mode allows for some 234 square km of space to build. One easy to install and stable mod bumps that up to a whopping 2,500 s/km, with attempts being made to increase that to a maddening 26,244. Even vanilla will give you hundreds of hours of play as the fine tuning abilities always give you a hundred things to do.

It seems just about everything is adjustable. Forget just zoning commercial / industrial, you can now zone tiles into specializations. Want your commerce to be touristy stops and hotels as opposed to simple stores? Specialize! Want renewable logging instead of general dirty industry? Specialize! Want night clubs and bars instead of business offices? Specialize! You have much more control over how your city grows and how it looks, allowing for your own look as well as the ability to take advantage of the many natural resources found on maps.

The transportation network options are equally as insane. You'll find the familiar choices between gravel roads, quiet streets, wide boulevards, all the way up to 4 lane, one way highways, sure. Trains, subways, bike paths, hiking paths? All those, too. On-street trams? Got em. Elevated monorail? Got em. Ferrys, buses, taxis? Yup. And all can be used in concert with another to effectively manage your traffic. Manage traffic, you say? Not only can different modes be connected (bus to train, sub to ferry, etc), but you can manage flow all the way down to the signs and lights on the streets. 1-2-4 way stops? Traffic lights? Looptyvrooms? You pick what roads get priority, what method keeps your people on the go and out of traffic tie ups. It is quite easy to have one intersection be a little funky and blow 2hrs trying to maximize its efficiency. And with all the options, the realistic look of laying roads, and an decent algorithm handling the flow, it becomes a joyful art.

Anyone who ever partially enjoyed SimCity would enjoy this, and if you're a fan, I'd rate this as a MUST BUY. In looking for a flaw or something missed by being outside the franchise, I'm almost at a lost to post anything. After 100hrs+, I have but these few gripes...

It's not SimCity, and as such, you lose the bits of flavor you might be accustomed to. There's no mention of llamas, for instance, so you lose those little bits of canon. But in-game, that's really the single thing I could find to complain about. It really is one of those games you cannot be disappointed by.

The only warning/negative is due to the times we live in. This like most new games this is a bit modular. The base game runs $30 and the DLC is almost a necessity to play the game properly. Some very important functions (garbage management, for one) is stuck behind a paywall of another DLC. To experience the full game, I think you're looking to spend somewhere between $100 and $120. Of course, 'tis the season and Steam sales abound, so I got all but the latest DLC for a tick over $40.

Buy it and don't look back. The best city builder out there.

Been playing Zelda Breath of the Wild on Switch
What a game
I am fully addicted
Cant wait to play tonight
The world to explore in this game is huge and I have barely scratched the surface
One of the most fun video games I have ever played