Bashing in Minds » Playing

Play Like a Pirate and get the 1st ep. of Tales of Monkey Island free

cabridges — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:53:32 +0000

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Well, for some people. Sept. 19 started at midnight GMT, and that's when Telltale Games began giving away free copies of the first episode of Tales of Monkey Island, the new installment in LucasArts' classic Monkey Island franchise.

Telltale's latest episodic series is Tales of Monkey Island, a five-episode saga featuring mighty pirate Guybrush Threepwood and his motley crew. Tales of Monkey Island pulls the legendary franchise thundering and plundering into the modern era with an epic storyline conceived by some of the same team that dreamed up the original games. So polish up your swashbuckles and start practicing your Aaaarrrrr!, because this brand new Monkey Island adventure is available now!

And the first episode is free, until midnight Sept. 19 GMT (8 p.m. EST, or 4 p.m. PST), so get going!

Check here for more details.

Serenity RPG "Big Damn Heroes Handbook" coming soon

cabridges — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:09:56 +0000

The latest expansion to the award-winning Serenity role-playing game is coming soon.

For fans of Joss Whedon’s Serenity, the long-awaited Big Damn Heroes Handbook sourcebook, by Cam Banks, will be released this fall. (We’ll post an exact release date soon!) Everything a big damn hero needs to be a big damn hero, including stats for both minor and major nefarious villains, is in this book, along with rules for spaceship-to-spaceship combat, descriptions of Chinese communities, and new ideas for running Assets and Complications. (And, of course, more ways for your big damn hero to cuss in Chinese!)

TFAW says it's coming October 28, Amazon thinks it'll be out December 31. But all of Margaret Weis Productions' materials have been well done with plenty of info presented in a very stylistic manner, and I've no doubt this will be a worthy addition to your fantasizin'. Eitehr way, order early for a better price.

Happy birthday, Tetris! You evil, time-sucking bastard, you

cabridges — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:13:51 +0000

It's so simple. Brightly colored shapes of different sizes lazily drop down into your box or whatever and you have the time they fall to rotate and move them so they fit snugly into the openings below. No problem. Anyone can play it, even if they've never played a video game before.

And then it gets faster. And then you realize you've been playing it for 7 hours and you're hungry and tired and slightly dizzy and your hands are cramping and you still can't stop playing.

Tetris was invented on June 6, 1984, by Russian mathematician Alexey Pajitnov as a hobby away from his actual field, which was artificial intelligence. Which just makes me suspicious, of course. Was this the first step towards AI? Was my computer somehow learning me through my block choices? Was I being subtly manipulated, maybe with harder games thrown at me on key dates, making me frustrated and irritable for a job interview or security briefing? Or throwing me easy games, making me smug and overconfident and possibly a little bit lax?

I've never actually had any sort of security position, but I think the principle is sound. Either way, I wasted a lot of time playing this damn game. So did a lot of people.

It's the second most popular video game of all time, selling over 70 million copies. 25 years later, it's still everywhere. It's available on just about every PC and video game platform there is, and also on mobile phones, PDAs, graphical calculators, even hidden on electronic devices that aren't meant to have games on them, like oscilloscopes.

From a Russian guy who was working on artificial intelligence.

I'm just sayin'. Don't blame me when our new tetrominoid overlords rise up and take over to the strains of tinny Russian folk music.

Also, today's Google logo is cool.

Fear and Loathing… the board game?

cabridges — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:21:40 +0000

Artist Jonathan Baldwin has created an extremely limited edition (i.e. 1 of 1) board game based loosely on Hunter S. Thompson's immortal tome, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Packed in a suitcase, you get rows of phenethylamines, game cards, stimulants, a board, hallucinogens, game pieces, petri dishes, adventure cards, a shot glass, and much more.

OK, the drugs are lookalike fakes, but still, this is an amazing work that you'll never, ever get through airport security. Apparently designed to be played over a weekend of debauchery, gameplay includes "activities" such as going to a fair and inquiring about the price of one of the apes "with the most serious face you can manage," and challenges such as catching two of three things hurled at you while someone flicks the lights on and off. There are also dosage cards letting you know what all the fake drugs do.

Just add some grapefruit and a few bats and you've got the makings of a great game for the whole family for just $3,500! Which is certainly cheaper than assembling an actual suitcase full of drugs, plus hotel room repair charges. Check out lots of pics here.

(thanks to boingboing.net)

At last! New Star Trek toys to bash

cabridges — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:40:29 +0000

Courtesy Playmates Toys

New Star Trek movie? New Star Trek toys. It's a fact of life, a universal constant, a law of brightly-colored, polypropylene nature.

"Thou shalt exalt every franchise movie, yea, unto the seventh generation, with a full line of toys, dishware, tie-in novels, comics, and commemorative plates, all of them limited-edition-collectible-first-run-mint artifacts to be treasured from a distance behind velvet ropes and saved for future generations to also not touch."

That's the way it's been for toys from Star Trek, Star Wars, and superheroes of all stripes for years now. Ever since some enterprising geek sold his pristine childhood memory for more than the one with chew marks and its head missing, new toys have been carefully removed from the peghooks at Walmart and Toys-R-Us and lovingly transported to their new and permanent home in a storage locker while the new owner enjoys the smug satisfaction of knowing it's there, somewhere.

I've never been a good collector. I open my stuff. I sort of always thought that was the point. When I was a kid if someone told me my toys were collectible I'd have thought they meant finding all the pieces again. Back in the 70s I asked for and received the original line of Star Trek dolls from Mego ($2.87 each, any two for $5.50), complete with vinyl-and-cardboard Bridge set ($12.97, with working transporter!). And I can guarantee that the crew of the Enterprise never had a more harrowing mission than the ones they experienced daily in my backyard.

They fought. They were buried. They were miraculously saved, when I remembered. They swam. They swung. They flew, often into really hard objects (or surprisingly breakable ones). At least once every other day or so I had to haul out the ladder and make the nerve-wracking trip up to the roof to rescue a hapless landing party member who had landed a bit farther away than I intended. My Star Trek dolls totally whupped my friend David's squadron of G.I. Joes, which, I'm sorry to say, suffered terrible, lighter-fluid-induced losses.

My other Star Trek toys faired similarly. My plastic tricorder lasted about a month. My "Phaser Gun" — an unwieldy phaser-shaped flashlight the size of a hair dryer that projected shadows of the Enterprise, a Klingon ship, and, oddly, a traditional flying saucer — was far too large to tuck into my belt so it suffered a great deal of knocking around before ultimately being dismantled and rewired into a torture device for superhero dolls to narrowly escape from, sometimes. My communicator… I don't know what happened to it. I suspect arson.

Years later while visiting, I climbed up on my mom's roof to get something down for her and found my 20-year-old Spock doll. Shirtless, chest bleached a kind-of-cool pearly white, he seemed to be reproaching me for my actions. "It is illogical to mistreat your possessions in this manner," he seemed to say. "Weren't you aware you could have gotten $90 for me on eBay?"

Thing is, it's that very rambunctious activity that made the toys valuable in the first place. A virgin Kirk, in his box, is worth what its worth precisely because kids like me had been busy recreating Viking funerals in the Halifax River with ours. Tearing and trashing and bashing, we unknowingly created a market.

It was in the 80s, early 90s that action-figure collecting really took off. "People started paying a lot more attention to the condition of their packaging," said Gareb Shamus, publisher of Toy Wishes Magazine. "Which is why nearly all of the most valuable toys are from before then – people used to take them out and play with them, so there are far fewer in-package copies in existence."

You're welcome.

And even though every single character — and variation of a character — in the universes of Star Trek, Star Wars, DC Comics, Marvel Comics and more have received their own action figure, it ain't over yet. "Many smaller companies have emerged over the last decade and at the same time you've seen the major companies having a renewed focus on collectors," Shamus said. "We're going into a very exciting period of time where Mattel will be launching a new WWE line and Hasbro will have a big year with hits like Transformers, GI Joe, Star Wars and Wolverine (along with the entire Marvel franchise)."

Which brings us to the new Star Trek toys coming from Playmates Toys in advance of the new J.J. Abrams-directed film opening May 8. But, get this: the manufacturers actually want kids to play with them. They're priced to sell, not to collect, and are durable enough for some serious boldly-going. Action figures in a variety of sizes. Phasers, tricorders and communicators, $15 a pop, ready for your abuse. Bridge set with vinyl placemat deck, $25 bucks. The idea seems to be that Star Trek fans are getting a bit on in years, and it might be a good idea to appeal to the next generation, as it were.

Will it work? "This will definitely catch on with kids," Shamus said. "As kids are introduced to the Star Trek franchise for the first time, they'll want to immerse themselves in the action, which means ripping open the Bridge and putting Kirk in charge of the Enterprise."

I'm so there. And I look forward to personally increasing the value of every one of your collectible, untouched, mint-in-the-box versions.

You're welcome.

"Serenity Adventures" for the Serenity RPG now on sale

cabridges — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:08:13 +0000

New from Margaret Weis Productions, a new expansion for the award-winning Serenity RPG.

"Serenity Adventures" is an anthology-style collection of five complete RPG games written by both new and established authors in the game industry. In it, you'll find "Ghosts of the Rebellion" by James Davenport (Serenity RPG), "The Best Things Get Better With Age" by Alana Abbot ("Into the Reach"), "Freedoms Flight" by Ted Reed, "Seven Arks of Cibola" by Billy Aguiar, and "Mother Load" by James M. Ward ("Metamorphosis Alpha"). Like the original book the interior graphics design is by 11th Hour, but there's lots of artwork by other artists in there as well and a cover by Digger Hayes.

On shelves now at TFAW and other retail stores. It's not in the store at Margaret Weis Productions yet, but you can preorder a copy signed by Margaret Weis and jamie Chambers (link goes to the store; search for "Serenity"). Or you can build a downloadable PDf immediately by going here.

In the meantime, the folks at MW have been producing little add-ons and extras for free download, such as Sam's Smuggler Emporium and a cortex newsfeed with some interesting info.

Buffy MMO game announced, Firefly game on backburner

cabridges — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:38:09 +0000

Remember how excited we all were when Multiverse announced they were doing a Firefly MMO game?

Remember how we really haven't heard much about it since then?

FOX and Multiverse have announced they're coming out with an online Buffy game, which is all well and good, and oh, by the way, the Firefly game is on hold.

Fox is delaying further development and release of the announced-in-2006 MMO, Firefly. Originally set to be released in 2008, the game has yet to have any major presence; no screenshots, trailers, or betas have hit the scene, and now it seems none will until the Buffy game is completed.

This is because vampires are in again, isn'rt it? I blame Facebook.

FireflyRPG's Map of the Verse

cabridges — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:38:39 +0000

There a couple of different people/groups currently working on different 'verse maps that I know of, and it's gonna be fun watching them get sorted out. But in the meantime Josh Awtry of the incredible FireflyRPG site — where all the extra stuff you need to make your Serenity RPG amazing are there, for free — has produced a couple of great ones.

Shown above is the new Habitable Worlds map, depicting some of the notable worlds in the Core, Border, and Rim areas, with details. Even more astounding to me is the Astral Navigation chart to help you figure out how long it'll take for your characters to get from here to there in a moving universe. That's one you'll want to have printed as a poster, it's that good. And, like everything else at FireflyRPG, it's free!

Doll-sized Big… um, Small Damn Weapons

cabridges — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:53:44 +0000

I've mentioned Stevo's Toys (formerly The Toy Smith) here before, but he's been adding more stuff. If you're making your own set of Firefly dolls or if you just want Ken and Barbie to have some protection against those shady Bratz girls, you definitely need to stop by.

Stevo designs sci-fi and movie-inspired weapons and accessories in 1:6 scale, perfect for 12" figures. First up, Mal's gun.

It's got the familiar outline and, being made of pewter, it's got some heft. Way better than G.I. Joe's plastic stuff. It's sold separately or as a set with the custom holster rig.

We wouldn't want Zoe going around unarmed, so her modified Winchester Carbine is ready to go. Again, it's available separately or with her very distinctive holster rig with that unique leather coloring.

So far, Jayne's just got a knife. But it's a really nice one, complete with tooled leather sheath. I can only hope that Vera is on her way…

As someone who has been working on a set of Firefly Barbies for some time — or rather, watching in amazement as my wife creates them — I have to say these are easily the finest replica weapons I've seen. We had to make do with close-enough versions from other toy dealers, but I'm thinking we'll be upgrading.

Stevo also had a wide range of other items including Dirty Harry's .357 magnum, pirate gear, a wide range of classic and modern weaponry, even a selection of felt hats. Check it out!

SerenityMUSH

cabridges — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 17:54:59 +0000

> Chris says "Want to jump into the 'Verse and start roleplaying your own Serenity games, but you don't have people handy to play with?"
> Chris says "No problem! Just get into the SerenityMUSH and get started!"
> Chris points to www.serenitymush.com for more information.
> You are welcomed into an online, text-based, multi-user world of Browncoats, purplebellies, Companions, Shephered, Reavers, Readers, and more, all laid out and ready for you to play.
> You log in to telnet://serenitymush.com:2020 with your free MUSH software client, available from several sources such as PennMUSH, and you create your character by choosing your archetype (think "character class," but not as limiting) and generating your stats, feats, skills, background, appearance, etc. Your brand new character will get dropped at the Persephone spaceport and then it's time to get going, you've got a life to live and it ain't easy, out in the black.
> Chris says "SerenityMUSH" puts a heavy emphasis on roleplaying, to the point where you have to get permission to be Alliance or a Companion (since they both require higher-than-average RPing skills) and you can't be a Reader without Admin invitation, and then only after you've proven yourself for awhile. There's a wide variety of settings, planets, situations, and other people to interact with, and the system uses HSpace for 3D ship navigation, combat, repairs, etc."
> Chris smiles wryly. "That said, I've never played a MUSH, including this one, so I can't speak from experience, although I'm sure that like any RP game a lot depends on getting the right group of people together. However, there's a nice review of the game here, and according to this reviewer the SerenityMUSH, like most Browncoat endeavors, seems to attract good people."
> Chris spread his hands and asks "Anyone out there tried it? What did you think?"