Salacious Snake

That's an extra good episode description. edit: to add a little extra nuance to Nero Burning ROM: as FNB pointed out, Rome is spelled Rom in German, but it's also worth pointing out that Rom is pronounced basically the same as Rome in English. So it works pretty well if you read German and English, I guess. Still weird, because it doesn't fully work as a pun in any single language.

Just take a fucking shitload of pictures! One good thing to remind yourself of is that most people won't be that picky. This is partly because others won't be as critical of your stuff as you are, but also non-camera nerds just won't have strong feelings about image quality. Like, seriously, I don't think most people care if the subject is perfectly in focus. It's like mastering a record to sound amazing on super high quality studio monitors that the vast majority of listeners will experience through the earbuds that came with their phones. In fact, people will largely see your photos on phones with facebook compression. Note that this is just advice from a fellow amateur; I've done one whole wedding reception for friends. https://flic.kr/s/aHsko8cxnk But I totally relate to the feeling of pressure. My mouth was super dry from nerves the whole time I was taking those pictures. The kid's play seems like a great practice run, since people will probably be chill about it, and the play should be amply lit. (That reception was basically in a dungeon, and that does suck. I wish I'd at least had a flash diffuser or something.) In the end, though, the photos at a thing like that are about the people in them. If you can capture them having a good time, then you've done your job. edit: the best thing from that night was the video I got of people dancing... https://vimeo.com/145815871 edit 2: and this gif http://wieners.xxx/image/132885622610 People love gifs and continuous shooting is an easy way to make them!

Yeah, I'm super into all of these developments.

DSC02956 by J.D. Cohen, on Flickr

Speaking of which, I notice a lack of the Clance on your list. The earlier bunch of games (Rainbow Six, Rogue Spear and Ghost Recon) are great, tense games. Also, SWAT 3 and SWAT 4 are cool if you dig that kind of tactical junk. edit: you infiltrated another post in there!

Seriously. I finally played Baldur's Gate to completion sometime in the last couple of years (on an iPad, incidentally), and then I loaded my save into the sequel and was like, "Nope." I just can't.

Playtest signups are open for the new tabletop Star Trek RPG from Modiphius 9 (Mutant Chronicles). It could be neat! http://www.modiphius.com/star-trek.html

Playtest signups are open for the new tabletop Star Trek RPG from Modiphius (Mutant Chronicles). It could be neat! http://www.modiphius.com/star-trek.html

I just played that video and my son was way into it. We'll have to check out more of them!

Ouch! I've been trying to figure out how to edit and color correct video. It's certainly a new challenge!

Continuing this tangent on exploration-heavy space games, it's a crime that there hasn't been an actual Star Trek game in this vein. I want to fly around a (2D) alpha quadrant, interfering with alien cultures, murdering their gods and scanning for dilithium. Basically, I want a Captain Kirk simulator. I want to develop an attachment to my ship and my crew over a series of adventures. I like the Starfleet Command series (the realtime electronic adaptation of Star Fleet Battles), but there's not much interesting context for the space brawls. My dream game would have choose-your-own-adventure shit like EV/Space Rangers/Sunless Sea where you have to deal with the Prime Directive and crap like that. All of these games draw so much inspiration from Trek, but I don't think the real deal has been realized outside of mods. I guess the closest thing to a big, explorable Trek is Star Trek Online, but it's pretty poopy.

That's an understandable turn-off. Some games are a real bear to setup. Scenario-based card games sometimes have you sifting through decks to remove certain cards and stuff like that, which is totally annoying. I mean, it's better if you're more organized when you put shit away and separate everything out then, but when I'm done for the night, I just want to shove it all in the box and get on with my life. And that's assuming you can even fit it all in the box, which brings me to another thing that drives me crazy with board games: storage. I'm so tired of games where the box doesn't allow you to adequately organize things once it's all been punched out and used. And lord jesus forbid you get any expansions.

Oh God I love NOLF. 2's cool too.

It's one of the writers from Creed, Aaron Covington, who worked on the story mode in NBA 2K17.

She had some great moments. He came off like the lying, insane asshole that he is, but anyone who has supported him thus far obviously doesn't consider those qualities to be deal breakers. So, you know, no real effect.

I had to find that sad, dumpy basketbreckon https://twitter.com/nickbreckon/status/776883686545297408

I'm watching Voyager now, and it seems like the writers wanted a similar dynamic, but all the change and conflict that it seems like they're setting up is swept under the rug almost immediately. I'm on season 5 or something, and there has been no payoff. DS9 does actually go somewhere with all of that stuff. The characters and relationships evolve in interesting ways.I totally agree with your criticism of individual episodes, and it is present in all the series, thanks to the episodic storytelling (even in the semi-serialized DS9), where they fuck around for too much of the episode, and then have to resolve the big monster-of-the-week plot in like two seriously dumb minutes at the end. The added layer of character stuff makes it so much more forgiveable in DS9, though. Even the most pointless episode with the least satisfying A plot will at least have the characters learn something about themselves or each other in the B plot, and it will carry forward, unlike TOS or Voyager. TNG was kind of all over the place in that regard, with some things sticking, and others being reset or forgotten. That brings me to another criticism, which is that the A plot/B plot structure is way too obvious and slavishly followed, even in DS9, the most daring of the modern shows. I think that's a big problem with everything from TNG on. These Voyager episodes seem like they should be a half hour long; just cut out the whole Neelix's kitchen hijinks subplot, or whatever.

Clunky is a good word for it. It all feels like they just barely managed to kludge it together. That early Unreal engine ain't made for that.

I will check both of those out; thanks!

"Halo is awesome." - Remo Extremo I'll probably get an Xbox One of some flavor someday (if for no other reason than those blu-rays with the extra kays), and I'm going to play the heck out of Halo. It's the one exclusive thing I've felt like I'm missing out on from the Xbox.

That teaser was pretty neat. This new stuff makes me wish it were more of an RPG or adventure game, though. I want to, like, generate a galaxy and then commandeer a single ship and go find all the bullshit without having to manage an empire. Basically, I should be playing Star Control II, Escape Velocity, Space Rangers or Starflight.

Hell yeah.

Are you interested in physical games as well? There are a bunch of good solitaire card games in the physical space, but they do require a bit of setup and a playing surface (which can be a pain). On that front, I do have a few recommendations. They're all cooperative games with solo options, which can be nice. Once you learn the game on your own, it's easy to teach others if you find yourself in a social situation! -If you like the alien from Alien, there's Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game, which is fun with 1-4 players. It has scenarios based on all four movies during which you have to build your deck while doom steadily approaches. It's fun, and they did a pretty excellent job of incorporating the theme. With multiple people, there's an optional traitor mechanic, where you can end up with a company shill in the group, and players who are eliminated by chest-birthing an alien can come back as an adversary. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146652/legendary-encounters-alien-deck-building-game -If you like WarHams, there's Space Hulk: Death Angel, which boils down the Space Hulk experience to cards in a clever way. It's another one with kind of an impending doom element. A recurring theme in solo/coop games is failure, which can be a bummer, but you don't want a solo game to feel like it's been "solved" too quickly, because without living opponents to do unexpected things, it can get old. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71721/space-hulk-death-angel-card-game -If you like elves, lots of people enjoy The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, which is a deck-construction kinda thing with a zillion expansions. I've never played it, but it seems cool. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/77423/lord-rings-card-game -If you like abstracting the horrors of modern war to a ridiculous degree, check out Warfighter: The Tactical Special Forces Card Game. It involves equipping the individual members of a squad and sending them into a variety of missions against terrorists and drug cartels (and vaguely Eastern European military forces via expansion). It's not exactly packed with intriguing strategic decisions, but it's fun. There was recently a Kickstarter for a World War II version. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/149951/warfighter-tactical-special-forces-card-game Now, if you want to expand the conversation to solitaire board games, that's a huge conversation. If you're interested in solo wargames, I'd defer to Bruce Geryk's top 10, which can be found in his Wild Weasel podcast, episodes 4 and 5.