More Cooler

Chris and Matt, I don’t think I ever got a check for either of you for this year’s hosting. $300, please. Let me know if you need my address.

Just a warning: If you’re sitting outside a restaurant in Brussels next to your suitcases and a random Gypsy walks up, holds out some money, and asks you something unintelligible in French, DON’T TURN TO TALK TO HIM - even for a second. He’s distracting you while his worthless Gypsy friend is stealing your goddamn laptop case. Y’know, the one with your keys, phone, PSP, DS, laptop, driver’s license, Eurailpass, souvenirs, etc. etc.
Europe blows.

My brother and I are thinking of traveling overseas for a few weeks sometime next month, but we’re having trouble figure out where to get started.  I know some of you - Matt in particular - have done this before, so I was wondering: any advice?  Is it better to plan it yourself or use an agent?  We’re looking at either Europe or Japan, mainly.

Heads-up to you SoCal dwellers. I’m going to be in San Diego from March 10-17. My friend Rachel is going to be down there for a conference, so I’m going to invade her hotel room and hang out for the week. I’ll be working during the day M-Th (yay for being able to work remotely), but can otherwise be available to socialize, and also to jump out of a plane, as there is a skydiving excursion in the works.

Discuss.

http://gamepolitics.com/2007/02/03/jack-thompson-faces-florida-bar-disciplinary-hearing/

Everyone, do the Mario dance!

Happy Birthday! We celebrated this weekend by playing Arkham Horror for some 9 hours! I have used too many exclamation points!

In case y’all are looking for a good board game for a weekend when you’ve got 2-4 hours to devote to playing, I strongly recommend Arkham Horror. I picked it up a week ago to have something to play with my brother and step siblings over their xmas break, and we’ve already played the hell out of it, so much so that I went back yesterday to pick up the (also excellent) Dunwich Horror expansion.

Based on H. P. Lovecraft’s (as well as many other authors’) Cthulhu Mythos, it’s unusual in that it’s a cooperative game, much like (I think) that Lord of the Rings game some of you played in college. 1-8 players can play, and the game scales its difficulty based on the current number of players. Basically, your goal in the game is to prevent the awakening of a an ancient creature of incredible power and evil, the identity of which is determined by a random draw. Every turn gates to other dimensions open in random spots around Arkham town, and you and your fellow investigators have to enter these portals, survive the horrors waiting beyond, return to Arkham, and seal the gate behind you, all while researching strange events in town, collecting items, spells, and allies to help your quest, fighting strange monsters, and just generally trying very hard not to be torn asunder or driven insane. There’s an incredible number of cards included in the base game (and augmented further by the expansions), meaning that you’ll need to play 10+ games before you’ve a good chance of having seen all the cards. And even then, since you typically pull a card and then only follow instructions based on what area of the board you’re on, you’ve probably not read even half of the actual card text you could possibly encounter.

I wasn’t too impressed with the idea of a cooperative board game at first, I have to admit, since I assumed we’d pretty much always win and it would be pointless, like those stupid games we played in preschool where “everybody wins.” Not so: last night we played our fifth game, and it was the first time we actually managed to finish off the Elder God, and even then it was only possible because we’d drawn Ithaqua, one of the weaker dieties (in my opinion; it’s arguable).

Anyway, figured I’d pass on the info. Also picked up games called Puerto Rico and Memior ‘44, though I’ve yet to play ‘em. I love that Board Game Geek site I linked above; so much info!

Found this on Something Awful. I don’t know _what_ to say…..

Just logged into one of my servers and noticed it had an uptime of 450 days

Hey all, I’ve got a few console questions since I’m never exactly on top of all that. I just picked up an XBOX 360 for myself (Toysrus has a $100 gift card they give you when you purchase) and managed to snag a Wii off eBay for my brother (yeah, yeah, paid more, but damn if that machine isn’t going to be fun.)

Anyway, I’m curious about the PS3. With the 360 I can play most of my old games (they have to make patches for each one (pffft..) but will be doing the entire catalog) and they play in HD. My biggest prob with the PS2 was that it didn’t do high-def.. does anyone know if the PS3 plays PS2 games in HD? I would assume so, but it seems to be hard to find info about that. Also, does anyone have a clue on the MSRP for the two PS3 models? It seems new ones are going on eBay at a loss since people aren’t buying them for a gazillion dollars anymore.. don’t know if its wise to snag one now or wait..