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Kublacon: Board Games, with Dollop of RPG on the Side

For the past few years, I’ve made a pilgrimage of sorts to Kublacon, a local tabletop gaming convention that runs over Memorial Day weekend. This year was no different, except that I managed to get in even more gaming than usual. Most of the weekend was spent immersed in board games, but also had some …

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Quick Gaming Hits

Relic’s Space Marine (four player co-op Warhammer 40K game) is available for pre-order on Steam for $44.99 ($5 off the launch price.) It will include a copy of the Blood Ravens DLC. Note that it’s not actually shipping until September. Been playing some Brink. It’s actually pretty good, surprisingly good given all the negativity surrounding …

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Recent Articles

Not much time today for a lengthy post, but here’s some stuff I’ve written for a couple of different publications recently. My roundup of DirectX11 graphics cards appeared recently in Maximum PC and also at Maximum PC Online. In addition to the roundup, which was actually written in December, I wrote reviews of several of …

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A Workout to Remember

It’s a warm spring afternoon in 1979. Well, it’s a warm spring afternoon in Bellingham, Washington, which means it’s mostly sunny and around 62 degrees (F). I’ve just wrapped up my final varsity track season. I was always a middling-average runner, the seventh guy on the cross country team. Being the guy who could only …

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William Gibson was a Prophet

The headline in the San Jose Mercury was stark: “Hackers Instigate Internet Warfare” We’re not quite to the era where hackers jack into their decks, creating avatars that cruise the net doing battle with rogue AIs. But given the nature of what’s going on these days, the lack of direct neural interfaces is a minor …

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Kublacon: Board Games, with Dollop of RPG on the SideQuick Gaming HitsRecent ArticlesA Workout to RememberWilliam Gibson was a Prophet

May
31

Kublacon: Board Games, with Dollop of RPG on the Side

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A few of Loyd's games

Just a small fraction of Loyd's game collection

For the past few years, I’ve made a pilgrimage of sorts to Kublacon, a local tabletop gaming convention that runs over Memorial Day weekend. This year was no different, except that I managed to get in even more gaming than usual. Most of the weekend was spent immersed in board games, but also had some fun with Dark Heresy, a tabletop RPG based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

I’ll split this into two posts, one covering Friday night and Saturday of the con, and the other Sunday. The focus here is on the games played, not so much the atmosphere or people.

More after the jump.

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Tags: board games, Gaming, Kublacon, RPG

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May
26

Quick Gaming Hits

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Relic’s Space Marine (four player co-op Warhammer 40K game) is available for pre-order on Steam for $44.99 ($5 off the launch price.) It will include a copy of the Blood Ravens DLC. Note that it’s not actually shipping until September.

Been playing some Brink. It’s actually pretty good, surprisingly good given all the negativity surrounding it. I particularly love the art design, although I do agree with the reviews: where are the female characters? But I’m all for anything this good that supports co-op through the storyline.

Also, if any of you are interested, but Shogun 2: Total War is on sale at Steam for $33.95 this week; don’t know how long that’s gong to last.

For your entertainment, check out the video for an odd steam-punkish game called Naval Warfare. It’s an indie title, and the gameplay doesn’t look all that interesting. But the video is entertaining, with even relatively decent voice acting.

Finally, here’s a comprehensive list of PC games (including a number of PC exclusives) coming out this year.

One potentially interesting title is Northstar (an SF RPG from Kerberos). The world needs more SF RPGs.

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Tags: games, PC

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Feb
18

Recent Articles

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Not much time today for a lengthy post, but here’s some stuff I’ve written for a couple of different publications recently.

My roundup of DirectX11 graphics cards appeared recently in Maximum PC and also at Maximum PC Online. In addition to the roundup, which was actually written in December, I wrote reviews of several of the spiffy new GeForce GTX 560 Ti cards, including the MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II, which I liked very much.

My column on Tested runs twice a month, and recent columns have been on my experiences with SSDs and my thoughts on DSLR lens choices. Just go to Tested and search for “Living with Tech.”

Finally, I’ve got a feature on building a home theater PC capable of running 3D Blu-ray movies at PC World.

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Feb
12

A Workout to Remember

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It’s a warm spring afternoon in 1979. Well, it’s a warm spring afternoon in Bellingham, Washington, which means it’s mostly sunny and around 62 degrees (F). I’ve just wrapped up my final varsity track season. I was always a middling-average runner, the seventh guy on the cross country team. Being the guy who could only deny other runners from scoring doesn’t make for strong motivation.

My final track season at Western Washington University had been great fun, but since my personal best for 10,000 meters was only 32:15, there would be no trip to nationals for me. There’s only one more postseason meet left, which is a non-scoring, multiple college affair in Bellingham’s Civic Field stadium.

My regular running buddy, Jeff Sherman, had prodded me into running the 1500 at the meet. I never run 1500s, having mostly focused on 5,000 and 10,000 meters. But the season is over, and it seemed like an oddly fitting way to end my varsity long distance running career.

So on this warm spring afternoon, I show up at the track to do speed workouts.

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Tags: nostalgia, Running, workouts

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Dec
09

William Gibson was a Prophet

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The headline in the San Jose Mercury was stark:

“Hackers Instigate Internet Warfare”

We’re not quite to the era where hackers jack into their decks, creating avatars that cruise the net doing battle with rogue AIs. But given the nature of what’s going on these days, the lack of direct neural interfaces is a minor obstacle. The dueling and posturing of various internet factions supporting or opposing Julian Assange seems to be the catalyst.

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Tags: 4chan, Assange, cyberpunk, Gibson, Neuromancer, Wikileaks

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Dec
06

The Tension Between Marketing and Reviewers

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I write a lot of product reviews. It’s part of what I do for a living. Product reviews require a lot of upfront work, including testing and analysis, and it’s not necessarily a cost effective way to make a living. My bread and butter lies elsewhere, but I continue to write reviews. It’s through the review process that the real strengths and flaws of a product – and the company behind it – are revealed.

Companies don’t really want you to know those things. What they really want is positive coverage, so a review is always, always a risk. So companies launching new products shower reviewers with vast amounts of carefully tailored information, hoping the reviewer will become fully assimilated into their way of thinking.

It’s not overt brainwashing, but the goal is the same: co-opt reviewers’ hearts and minds.

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Tags: Hardware, Marketing, PR, Reviews, Writing

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Dec
02

Where are the PC Science Fiction RPGs?

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Of all the electronic gaming genres on the computer, RPGs are easily my favorite. While I can get sucked into a first person shooter, and have lost countless hours on all the various iterations of Civilization, it’s RPGs that grab me the most. I recently wrapped up Fallout: New Vegas, and may dive into the latest, updated version of Divinity II.

But what I want to know is: where are the science fiction RPGs?

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Tags: Gaming, RPGs, SF

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Dec
01

Two Case Daughters and Their Tech

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“Dad, I need a Blackberry.”

Emily and Elizabeth Case

So the conversation with my oldest daughter began. This happened in late October, just after Elizabeth began a gig as a reporter for the Daily Bruin, UCLA’s well-regarded daily student-run newspaper. Until then, she’d never been interested in a smartphone of any type – in fact, she actively avoided them.

“Dad, I’d like Borderlands for my birthday.”

And that’s how a conversation started with my younger daughter, Emily.

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Tags: daughters, Elizabeth, Emily, millenials, tech

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Nov
30

Recent Articles

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I’ve been a busy boy.

Not that you could tell from this blog. The reason this blog isn’t updated as frequently as I’d like is because I’ve been busy writing for other sites and publications. Most of my work these days appears in Maximum PC or PC World (online). I’ve also got a twice-monthly column on Tested.com, and write some custom content for other folks.

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Oct
29

Morning Ride

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I pull the Giant OCR1 off the rack, attach the iPhone case to the handlebars. After checking the tire pressure, I pump both tires up to about 105PSI. After snapping in the frame pump, I jump on the bike and head out. It’s about 8AM, but it’s the end of October, and the sun hasn’t really fully risen above the houses yet. I turn on the rear flashing LED lamp, just for a little added safety.

The weather report suggest rain later in the day, but it’s a beautiful, partly-cloudy autumn morning as I head down Hollenbeck Avenue. By the time I make the left turn onto Fremont, I’m spinning along at around 27-28 km/hour.

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Tags: Bicycling

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