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Topics - Fellfrosch

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46
Writing Group / Booyah!
« on: November 07, 2006, 12:59:46 PM »
As you may remember, I met an editor at WorldCon who asked for the first three chapters of my book. Well, yesterday I got an email from her requesting the entire manuscript! Apparently she really liked the first three chapters. Hooray! We'll see how it goes from here, but let it be known that I'm mucho excited.

47
Movies and TV / Heroes ***spoilers***
« on: October 11, 2006, 04:52:05 PM »
I didn't want to get sucked into this show, but it's pretty good and I find myself getting caught up in it. The characters are interesting (except for Ali Larter's single Mom), and the story is pretty cool and well-written. The Japanese guy completely runs away with the show, and I admire them for having the guts to run all of his segments entirely in Japanese with subtitles.

The thing that got me really hooked, though, were the endings. I missed the first episode and only saw portions of the second, but then at the end we watched a huge nuclear explosion destroy New York, and we learned (thanks to some time travel shenanigans) that they have three or four weeks to stop it. Very unexpected, very ambitious, and very cool. The third episode ending was possibly even better, as the cheerleader with super Wolverine regeneration powers was assumed dead, and woke up during her own open-chest autopsy. The show has guts, I'll give them that. I'm very interested to see where it goes.

48
Video Games / Pox Nora
« on: September 29, 2006, 01:44:08 PM »
Read the interview here: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1463

Let me reiterate in case you missed it: this game is awesome.

49
Movies and TV / Studio 60
« on: September 19, 2006, 04:20:05 PM »
This is a new show on NBC which just debuted last night, and it was amazingly good.  The commercials have been painting it as a funny little backstage comedy about an SNL-style skit show, and then it turned out to be a very compelling drama about media politics. I heartily recommend it.

50
Everything Else / Can you jam with the console cowboys?
« on: August 22, 2006, 06:38:58 PM »
Julia Stiles as a 12-year-old hacker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7tazcxWUwk

51
Table-Top Games / Wizkids' Pirates game to go online
« on: August 17, 2006, 05:31:21 PM »
I find this news to be very cool:


AVAST! SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT TO COLLABORATE WITH WIZKIDS INCORPORATED TO BRING PIRATESâ„¢ CONSTRUCTIBLE STRATEGY GAME ONLINE
Newly-Acquired SOE-Denver to Develop Online Version of Popular “Build-And-Battle” Strategy Game


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GENCON, Indianapolis, IN – August 11, 2006 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online games industry, today announced a joint venture with Bellevue, WA-based WizKids Incorporated to develop an online version of their popular Pirates™ Constructible Strategy Game (CSG). Developed by SOE’s new Denver studio (also known as Worlds Apart Productions), SOE will bring all of the fun, strategy and excitement of this new and rapidly growing game to computer desktops everywhere.

“As the newest member of the SOE family, the SOE-Denver team is very excited about working with WizKids to bring the world of Pirates online,” said Scott Martins, director of development SOE-Denver. “Our Collect! Trade! Play! Platform is a proven means of translating the CSG experience to a digital medium, and gamers of all types will have a blast playing Pirates on their PCs.”

WizKids introduced the CSG genre with the launch of Pirates in 2004. Packaged like a collectible card game, players use die-cut parts from each card to construct 3D galleons, schooners and pirate ships, seeking treasure on the high seas while fending off enemy attacks.

The game is easy to learn and fast to play. Each game pack contains everything a person needs to play, including two ships, crew and treasure, an island, complete rules, and a die. Initial production runs, planned for a two-year lifespan, sold out one month before the product released. Following a successful launch into the hobby games market, Pirates expanded into the mass market in March 2005, and was supported by a national television advertising campaign. Pirates can be found in stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Toys ‘R Us, 7-11 as well as gaming, comic, and hobby stores everywhere.

“WizKids couldn’t be happier working with SOE to bring the Pirates CSG game to the online masses,” said Joe Hauck, Executive Vice President Sales, Marketing and Product Development. “The enormous success of this property combined with fast and easy game-play will translate well to this format.”

The Pirates CSG Online is expected to launch this fall, featuring sea monsters and the supernatural with the Pirates of Davy Jones Curse and an online version of WizKid’s upcoming Pirates board game, The Quest for Davy Jones Gold.

The online game will feature tools to manage offline and online Pirates CSG collections, as well as quick and easy match-making for a variety of two-player and multiplayer game formats and scenarios, a robust fleet-building utility, secure ship trading, league and tournament play, and great promotional tie-ins between the offline and online versions of the game.

Games in the Pirates franchise have received critical acclaim and awards from publications such as InQuest, Creative Child and Playthings Magazine, as well as and endorsement from the well respected Dr. Toy and the prestigious Vanguard award from the Game Manufacturers Association. Since the original game’s release in 2004, there have been four sequels plus a booster pack that incorporates new features into the base game.

About WizKids
WizKids is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination. Its HeroClix® and Pirates brands are among the most successful games on the market today, and the company has sold hundreds of millions of game pieces worldwide. For additional information, visit www.wizkidsgames.com.

About Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) is a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online games, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers around the globe. SOE creates, develops and provides compelling entertainment for the personal computer, online, game console and wireless markets. Known for its blockbuster franchises and hit titles including EverQuest®, EverQuest® II, Champions of Norrath®, Untold Legends™, and PlanetSide®, as well as for developing Star Wars Galaxies™, SOE continues to redefine the business of online gaming and the creation of active player communities while introducing new genres on various entertainment platforms. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, with additional development studios in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, and Taiwan, SOE has an array of cutting-edge games in development. SOE is owned by Sony Pictures Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

SOE, the SOE logo, EverQuest and PlanetSide are registered trademarks of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. Untold Legends is a trademark of Sony Online Entertainment LLC. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

©2006 WizKids Inc. All rights reserved. MechWarrior, HeroClix, Tsuro, Oshi and WizKids are trademarks of WizKids Inc.

52
CCGs / Magic party
« on: August 11, 2006, 07:13:27 PM »
We will be meeting for Magic: The Gathering this Sunday evening at my house, 8:30. Anyone is welcome, except that guy who came that one time and whined for three hours. Sorry, guy. Everyone else, please come! PM me if you need directions.

53
Video Games / Guild Wars: Factions
« on: August 04, 2006, 07:21:36 PM »
The review has arrived: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1441

I would have posted it sooner, but I was too busy playing the dang thing. Hooray for game addiction!

54
Table-Top Games / Settlers Scenario Design Contest
« on: July 27, 2006, 01:16:08 PM »
Mayfair Games, makers of Settlers of Catan, are holding a Scenario Design Contest.

http://www.mayfairgames.com/flyers/scenario_contest_catanh.pdf

Most of the prizes are pretty lame, but the grand prize is the hand-painted 3D Settlers set, and I can tell you from personal experience that it is a thing of exquisite awesomeness.

They're accepting submissions all the way through October, so get cracking!

55
Movies and TV / Watchmen movie might be alive again
« on: June 23, 2006, 07:53:49 PM »
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=337178

It's the director of Dawn of the Dead, which doesn't inspire much confidence, but he's also the director of 300, a comicbook adaptation coming out soon that I've heard a lot of good things about.

56
Site News / Downtime
« on: June 20, 2006, 08:34:46 PM »
We're sorry for the downtime we've been experiencing recently. Our new servers are on Bluehost, and they have this to say about it:

Today we experienced several MAJOR distributed denial
of service attacks against our network. We regret that
you experienced some downtime today. We have worked
diligently today to further protect our network from
these types of attacks. The attack today came from
MANY different computers at the same time. This makes
it difficult to block and resolve the issue.

Please know that we are working as hard and efficiently
as we can to make sure interruptions are brief and rare.
The shared hosting environment lends itself to outages
and occassional downed servers. We will recommit ourselves
to make sure that we not only provide a hosting service
with remarkable packages, but also with the service
and support that you have come to expect with your Bluehost
experience.

57
Movies and TV / World of Warcraft movie
« on: June 19, 2006, 06:01:20 PM »
So the latest news on this is that Spielburg (yes, that Spielburg) will be directing it:
http://joblo.com/index.php?id=11769
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=335931

This is crazy, and largely unbelievable but for the fairly reliable sources involved. The one thing that makes this somewhat reasonable is that Spielburg has never made a fantasy epic (except Willow, I guess), and Warcraft is unquestionably the hottest property to grab right now if that's what you want to do. If one of the greatest living directors decides he wants to, in essence, steal back the adventure movie crown from Peter Jackson, this is the ideal way to do it.

58
Everything Else / Run for your Life! June 16-17
« on: June 02, 2006, 02:26:48 PM »
Every year they do an all-night charity run in downtown Salt Lake City called "Relay for Life;" you set up camps in the Gallivan center, walk around in circles, and gain empathy for cancer patients by suffering through the abysmal entertainment. Mustard and I have done it the past two years, but no matter how often we walk around that track we can't seem to find a cure for cancer. I think the event organizers are hiding it a little too well.

What we have found, however, is fun--we take a barbecue, drinks, and a crapload of games, and we stay up all night playing and walking. It's a blast, and it's for a good cause, and this year we want to turn it into a full-blown TWG nerdfest.

The actual charity portion is a little odd--Mustard's company makes a very large donation to cancer research, and we all go walk around the block all night. The connection between these two factors is tenuous at best, since there's always supposed to be at least one person walking, but the donation was made without regard to this; it's not a pledge, the way most charity runs are, where someone promises to pay if you promise to run a certain distance or time. So mostly I think we're walking for moral support, or to make a good news story. Whatever. Last year we didn't walk at all, because we got into a heavy game of Monsters Menace America.

Mustard's company provides a lot of food, including bratwurst and a grill, but if we get a lot of people I think it would be nice to bring some of our own. Very few people from his office are participating at all this year,so we essentially have it all to ourselves (plus, of course, several hundred other people from other companies, but they have their own grills and tables).

Our last nerdfest had more than twenty people playing five or six games at once, and I'd like to see as many of you (and more) come out to this event. It starts on the evening of Friday, June 16, and ends the next morning--you can come whenever, stay as long as you want, and leave whenever. Let this be the official planning thread, and let's do this thing.

59
Suggestions Box / More More Current Poll
« on: May 31, 2006, 01:30:35 PM »
Now that poll functionality has been restored, we have a new poll. Long live the revolution!

60
Role-Playing Games / Power of Faerun
« on: May 30, 2006, 06:08:29 PM »
Read the review here: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=1408

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