Things Seen On A Recent Visit To A Government Facility

• A series of four cubicles (half height) which bad been cleared out to create a faux conference room.

• Three (3) offices built around support columns (doric) which ostensibly hold up the building. The columns moved through the offices directly where the chair would go, such that the wrap-around desks effectively surrounded the columns. The chair was placed to the side of the column or behind it, rendering the desk ultimately useless.

• One (1) vent drywall-screwed to a wall. The vent did not cover a ventilation system. It was screwed to a blank section of wall. In the past someone had painted around the vent rather than take it down, such that the old wall color (yellow) could be seen underneath.

• Asbestos floor tile. Everywhere.

First Impressions - Spec Ops: The Line

Picked this gem up for a steal at $15 the other week on Steam. It's been on my list for some time, especially with ties to Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now, both works I studied a bit in college. Mix in my love of modern warfare, as well as the promise of 50k words from Brendon Keogh (download, interview) at the end, it was just too much. So I (ahem) pulled the trigger.

I sat down to play the other night and was almost immediately disappointed.

Spanky

It was a stinking hot August day in Dekalb, Illinois. The six of us were sitting in the dusty grass up the left field line just behind the bullpen. I had my mask and helmet off and was working at a sore spot where the buckle of my chest protector dug into my side. Assistant coach Pete was standing over us, casually leaning the mid-part of his thigh against a Fungo bat to steady himself. Three pitchers sipped at their water jugs while three catchers sat or lay trying to coax some of the dead air into cooling them off.

You could hear the corn rustling against the right field fence, the aluminum bleachers ringing with the impact of batting practice across the field. Pete was slacking just a bit, killing time between drills. He was staring off into the distance, trying to catch a glimpse of head coach Joe “Spanky” MacFarland, to trade some nod or hand signal about what to do next with his charges. Summer baseball camp at Northern Illinois University in a nutshell. I was maybe 13.

Playlist: Nov. 5 through Nov. 18

Yeah, I know... I didn't post last week. I also did not live up to my promise of continuing my Combat Mission AAR. I've been a bad person. 

It's not that it was busy for me though, that's the thing. I'm really in this very odd in-between-projects-thing with my freelance work, while at the same time just waiting for the other shoe to drop at the day job on a multi-year project. That's put me in a big tense knot creatively. It's very frustrating, but I'm working through it.

I have a few board game reviews pending for Armchair General and Paste, and those are all fine and good. But the feature-length things are eluding me, as they usually do, coming into the holiday season. That's usually AAA reviews season, and I am not as inclined to play in that space. I just don't have the time to commit to solid play throughs prior to general release of a AAA game. That's just a fact.

Playlist: Oct. 29 through Nov. 4

Over the weekend I had the absolute pleasure of participating in International Gamers With Jobs Day (IGWJ Day) at Penguin Con. Named for community member and organizer OilyPenguin (who I now know is named Brian), it is a chance for GWJrs to gather under one roof in the midwest, roll some dice, play some 8-bit games, and generally share in our hobbies together over a homebrew or four. And this year it was held in a castle, owned by another community member.

It was flat out phenomenal.

Playlist: Oct. 22 through Oct. 28

Slow week last week. Feels like when the day job is slow that my freelance work slows as well.

I did get some stick time with War of the Roses. For the first hour I was beginning to wonder why the hell that I'd asked to review this broken, shitty game. By the end of the second hour I was white knuckling my mouse, fully engrossed and locked in mortal combat with a claymore-wielding warrior in red enameled armor. The game is deceptively complex, requires more than a little bit of skill, and the only thing I think it is lacking is an enemy lock-on button. As it stands it's a bit dizzying to play. More soon in my review for ArmchairGeneral.com.

The WarZ Alpha

Spent a few hours inside The WarZ last night.

That pause was a big long sigh while I gather my thoughts and organize my words carefully in my mind.