Where have I been? Why I’m on Jury Duty!Because I am on Jury Duty I have been unable to blog this week. The trial should end before Thanksgiving so I’ll be back on-line then!
Month: November 2006
Top Three Movies for Gamers
The holidays are fast approaching, what do you get the gamer in your life? If you are thinking of movies than you know they probably already have enough copies of Star Wars! why not try a different movie for once? Show them you appreciate the “gamer” side of their life by giving them one of…
Day Break – The mid-season Lost replacement
Today I’m going to take a quick look at the mid-season replacement for Lost, Day Break.This new show features the talents of Taye Diggs, Rita Shelton and Adam Baldwin (from Firefly.)Detective Brett Hopper (Diggs) is having a real bad day, a day where nothing goes right. A day that never ends as after going to…
ArtistWar!!!
Calling all artists! I’m working on a new website called Artist War. In the fine tradition of Kitten War this will be a website that allows artists to upload their work to see how they do against other artists.Artist War will also feature an Artist Alley with information on participating artists including links and contact…
Two Westerns Worth Watching
When I want to sit back, relax, and watch a good western movie a long list of titles comes to mind. Most anything with Clint Eastwood or John Wayne would make the list. What if someone were to ask me to suggest two western movies?Well, I have looked over my personal collection of DVDs and…
Democrats may have won the House, but they did not win the Senate
Yes, I know the media is reporting that the Democrats have won the Senate with a 51-49 majority but it simply is not true.The Senate is made up of 100 Senators, two from each state.Yes, there are only 49 Republican Senators left in office after the 2006 mid-term election but there are also only 49…
A Steak, A Steak, My Kingdom For A Steak!
I used to be the biggest steak eater around. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, it did not matter what meal, steak was on the menu. That all changed one day…I used to be in the military, where at least one meal a day contained meat. I was loving life then.Then, almost overnight, I went into the chow…
Game Review: Quadrovex
Here is another game review by the great Tom Vasel. This time tom reviews a game of my own design: Quadrovex!Carabande is the heaviest game I own, with several boxes full of chunky wooden pieces. Quadrovex (Stephen de Chellis, 2005 – self published) which is a smaller game, still comes close to challenging Carabande in…
Game Design: What comes first, theme or mechanics? Part 2
In my previous article I talked about designing a game around a theme, this time I will talk about the designing a game around mechanics.Quadrovex is a game I designed based on mechanics. I have always enjoyed abstract games that focus on skill and strategic thinking. Games such as Go, Othello and Dominoes fall into…
Why I lie to pollsters
Tomorrow, November 7th, is election day in the USA. for the past two weeks I’ve been getting pounded with canned calls and surveys from “news” organizations all wanting to know or change my vote.I hang up on the canned calls and I lie to the pollsters. Now I’m going to tell you why.Does anyone remember…
Game Review: Run for Your Life, Candyman!
When the concept of Run For Your Life, Candyman! (Smirk & Dagger Games, 2005 – Curt Covert) was explained to me, I just started to laugh. During my first game of it everyone was laughing pretty much the entire time. It’s not like Candyman is a great game. In fact, it’s not even a good…
Game Design: What comes first, theme or mechanics? Part 1
I’ve been designing games for a long time, I don’t have many published but I have designed a lot.One question I often get is, “what do you do first, pick a theme or design a mechanic?” I hope to use this article to answer that question.Theme vs. mechanics is one of those “chicken and the…