So Hearthstone is really pretty fun, you guys.  It feels particularly RNG heavy this early in the game where I'm still unlocking the basic cards for most of the decks, but the quick nature of the games makes most losses not feel especially crushing.  I've only done the Arena one time thus far, and the less said about that the better.  I think it could be a fun draft mode, but it was definitely not the right choice to go in before I knew what the hell I was doing.     I haven't played around with card crafting too much, but it's looking like it's going to be pretty goddamn grindy to get gold and dust if you don't want to start chipping in money.  You get a daily quest to get 40 gold or so (win three matches, kill 40 minions over the games, that sort of thing), and it's 100 gold for a pack of 5 cards and 150 gold to enter the arena, where you can win crafting materials and card packs based on how many wins you get with a draft deck.  But the game is fun enough while learning at least that it's the fun kind of grinding.  I'm not looking forward to re-doing all the deck leveling and tutorial matches once the beta gets wiped but, eh, that's betas.

If anyone else is in, I'm at Niku#1251.  Let's cards.

David Tasselhoff

So for a brief time I was considering the rigamarole of building a MAME cabinet because I thought it would be kind of awesome before logistics set in about actually having a stand-up cab and the fact that I was never a huge arcade gamer to begin with, yadda yadda.  But the idea didn't really go away, so much as it just kinda festered under the surface.  So now I am strongly considering doing an NES PC mod to load it up with console emulators, and I've been cross referencing various guides and completed projects to try to steal my favorite things from each one to make a mod box.  Unfortunately, this is complicated by a few things, namely that I have no dremel or soldering experience at all, and most of the projects I've used for reference are anywhere between a year and four years old and so I'd feel like a heel e-mailing random people with YO HOW YOU DO THIS.

Anyway the basic idea as it stands is: mini itx motherboard with S-Video out, with the S-Video wired to the original A/V ports on the NES.  A SSD to keep down on heat and moving parts.  Some retro-zone USB converters to hack apart and wire up to the NES controller ports so original NES controllers and accessories can be used.  A flip out / hidden USB hub that I am totally stealing the idea of for plugging in other USB controllers for SNES or Genesis emulation and so on.  Jam the sucker open, cut out some stuff, maybe slide some holes into the grill on top for ventilation purposes, and then MAGIC and then it all works.  Mostly I am posting this so people can go HOLY FUCK SON YOU'RE RETARDED GET SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING or give me beginners tips on all of this stuff, but I'm still at the spitballing and poking around phase rather than the buying anything at all phase.  Load it up with a front end (I really like the Hyper-Spin front end which is kinda cheesy but also looks way nicer than a plain-ass menu) to boot to and have it putting out through S-Video to Composite cables and I think it would be a fun emu-box without the horror of actually having a full MAME cab.

Star Wars is coming out on Blu-Ray!

Obi-Wan's Krayt Dragon Call from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (Supposed Blu-Ray Clip)

Is everyone excited!? :D

http://ace-spades.com/

Ace of Spades is apparently Minecraft CTF deathmatch.  Build a fortress to protect your intelligence, while trying to dismantle the enemy's fortress and take theirs.  It's apparently a buggy beta which means I choose Not It for trying it out first, but hey, I figured someone might be interested.

i played for about twenty minutes and then deleted local content.

the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t4M1qsdCT4

So I pretty much want this game, though it is a cruel tease to have reviews popping up a month before it releases.

Luckily, playing around with making characters will help to pass the time.

I have not seen this newfangled movie thing, but on a whim I downloaded the first Percy Jackson book because I was feelin' like re-reading Harry Potter without actually re-reading Harry Potter.  And jeez louise

okay so yeah kid who is magic check
smart friend-who-is-a-girl check
goofy friend-who-is-a-boy check
mean rival at magical place of learning check
place of learning has house for smart people, for mean people, for everyday people check
cannot say names of powerful beings check
invisibility device check
obvious villain who is not the villain check
previous evil thought to be vanquished trying to come back check
required to stay with terrible not-real-parent every summer to stay safe check
i think that's all i can remember

It's easy to call shameless shenanigans on this shit, even with some of it just being general archetypes, except .. supposedly the manuscript was actually done in 1994, and was ready to be published in 1997.  It just didn't actually get out until 2005, making it look like the most horrible rip-off that ever ripped-off ever.

Anyway I just thought it was kind of funny, and it was an effortlessly breezy read and I am pretty amiable towards almost anything involving Greek mythology so I picked up the second one as well.  Barring some random flying off the rails I see myself just plowing through this entire series over the next several work shifts.

I sleep on a futon folded up into the couch position, as my general preference is to sleep on my side with my back to a wall, and that gives me a nice cushiony wall.