Sunday, March 15, 2020

Feeling Guilty About Gaming Deaths!!!?

I just finished Mass Effect 2 for PS3, I am years behind current games! But being years behind has the advantage of getting an awesome title like ME2 for only £2 in CeX.

I was wondering if anyone else out there couldn't help feeling a bit guilty about the fate of certain characters in this game....

If you don't know, in Mass Effect 2, depending on how you play the game and how much time you pump into the game characters will either live or die in the final chapter of the story and all at a pretty rapid succession!

For me, I felt bad when Mordin died, and again, of all things, when Garrus died, I even had a twinge of guilt at seeing Jack's mangled face.... am I disclosing here how little I put into the game, here...?

I think to be honest only Grunt, the black guy, Miranda and the DLC girl survived for me... this was surprising as I thought if you did the side quests for each character they basically would survive... this was not the case, I used Garrus all the time in pretty much every quest.... but still... he didn't make it.... any I felt a little guilty for it......

As for Grunt, I had no sympathy towards him, I had read a few minor spoiler hints and I was under the impression that you had to choose one character to kill off, to send on a suicide mission..... I had Grunt in mind for this because I figured he was the least human and most animal like..... and yet, Grunt survived!

I went down to CeX and saw Mass Effect 3 for £2, so have just bought it, I understand that characters that lived can get carried over, but those who died, they are gone forever.

There is something refreshing about this. In most games death is something that can be corrected with loading up an old save, or using a phoenix down or whatever.... but here, death is death and we have to live with the consequences of our failings to protect the characters in our team. That's something I really like because its true to life, and whilst we play games as a form of escape, I like games to have some moral teaching in them, or something to help make me a better person. Being reminded of my mortality and the mortality of my friends, and the permanence of death... they are all good things from a Catholic world view.

Remember Mordin, thou art bits, and unto bits thou hast returned.
Remember Fr Higgins you are dust and unto dust you shall return.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Goodbye To Chess

Chess was important growing up. When I finally got my own room as a kid, it was the former den, filled with my father's chess trophies and books from his time on the Penn State chess team. I wasn't terribly into chess, but I read all the books in the den, mostly sports novels (ugh), chess strategy and how-to books. For a while in high school, I brought my chess set and played in science class, where the game was socially acceptable. My player's handbook stayed at home. I was a solid, thinking several moves ahead kinda kid, so the chess books were mostly aspirational. I felt like I wasn't quite smart enough to go full chess, like a wannabe wizard with an eight intelligence. Magic missile was just out of my grasp.

When I opened the store in 2004, I had a very respectable collection of chess sets, amazing really, for a 940 square foot store (amazing equals dumb for non retailers). These were all on full display, and about once a week, I would remove the pieces of each set, dust the board, and put them back on. My father was impressed when he visited. When it came to chess, I knew how to represent. This was all incredibly time consuming and eventually I lost several boxes, making selling them pretty difficult. Oh, and then there were the missing pieces. Realizing the queen is missing from a $250 Egyptian chess set will make you seek out boxed chess sets pretty fast.

As the display sets sold, their replacements tended not to get re-opened, and eventually not re-ordered as the plain white box did nothing to help move them. Chess sets sold poorly. They have always sold poorly. They sell poorly now. Stores in the region who do much better with chess, who dominate with chess? They sell poorly there too. It's a legacy item, an item that says "games" to the general public. It's a touchstone for me and my father. But chess, to be honest, is a complete waste of space.

That's not true everywhere. There are stores in the Midwest that do gangbusters with chess. But here? The serious players buy their sets online, often through chess organizations or just Amazon. In the store, I think it's enough to have a tournament size Staunton set and a roll up travel set, but beyond that there are hundreds of themed chess sets that will make you crazy as customer seek them out. Civil War? Simpsons? Harry Potter? You could stock an entire store with what's out there ... and promptly go out of business.

I used to special order sets and it was time consuming and unrewarding, unlike the work with other types of games. Help a board game customer and you may have created a regular board game customer and maybe even a board game hobbyist. Help someone with a chess set and you've sold them a chess set and you'll never seem them again.

I've watched my classic games numbers stagnate, even when I double or triple my selection. I've tried more and less and different and boxes with pictures and on display and nope, none of it works. It's dead here. I've been foolish not to drop it sooner. I would look at the corner where our "classic" games reside and fantasize about what I would put there. Frisbee golf. A coffee kiosk. Anything but chess.

With 25% Chinese tariffs, I'm extremely concerned about board games. But then there's chess. All those classic games come from China, really. I had forgotten. It's not even on my radar anymore. We just didn't re-order classic games after the holidays and nobody seemed to mind, except the occasional random customer who has clearly never been here before. We send them to the regional store that has a better selection and also doesn't make money selling them. Then that classic game space got taken up with profitable stuff. So with tariffs on the way, a better use of that space, and performance numbers that I use an example at trade shows of what you should drop, I think it's time to say goodbye to chess. Sorry dad.

PUBG Mobile Added To All MSSA's Student Championships.

North West University is an active participant in MSSA events.

Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) is the only body in South Africa that currently runs official esports championships for students.

It should be noted that International Esports Federation (IESF), the only global esports body in the world is in partnership with International University Sports Federation (FISU) in order to have esports recognized as a true sport at university level.

Thus while MSSA also has awards for students at all of its Premier Provincial and National Championships, MSSA also runs additional championships for students which allows MSSA to host those esports titles that are only for mature audiences.

Since most students at tertiary education level are of the age of majority, students in these dedicated championships are able to play esports titles which would, otherwise, require additional logistics.

It should be noted that persons who are under age, by law, are not allowed to even watch titles which are not appropriate.

The championships shall allow players not only to earn medals, but also enable students to earn student provincial colours.

The colours shall be based upon residency, so even if a Registered Player is originally from Louis Trichardt, but is studying at Stellenbosch as a boarder, such player may earn Western Cape student provincial colours.

Thus, it is at MSSA's Student Championships that students are able to play esports titles which have 18 age restrictions.

A huge change has been made to the line-up of game titles with the introduction of PUBG Mobile which will open the award of provincial colours to a whole new group of esports athletes.

The titles to be played at all MSSA student specific championships are as follows:

Period/genre	Title	Platform	Age restriction	Players
Shooter	CS GO	PC,	16	5 v 5
	Call of Duty – Modern Warfare	PS4	18	5 v 5
	Paladins	PC/console	12	5 v 5
	PUBG Mobile	Mobile	13	Battleground
Sport	FIFA '20	PC	3	1 v 1
Sport	PES 2020	PC	3	1 v 1
MOBA	Clash Royale	Mobile	12	1 v 1
	Dota 2	PC	12	5 v 5
	League of Legends	PC	12	5 v 5
Fighting	Tekken 7	Console	16	1 v 1

Austrian Economics, Money And Finance - Fox eBook

Austrian Economics, Money and Finance

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Bonus Track - Toys R Us

The closing of Toys R Us has been rolling around in my head for months, I finally had some time to sit down and record it. I guess it's appropriate since it's Christmas time. I hope you enjoy it, thank you for listening!

Toys R Us bankruptcy press release
Vintage Toys R Us on Retro Junk
Sunnyvale Toys R Us on Computer History Museum (thumbnail photo)
Doug McCoy's Nintendo Get With It Kit video
Jean Shepherd's Route 22

Pillars Of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition Available Now On PlayStation 4 And Xbox One

Independent games publisher Versus Evil and developer Obsidian Entertainment today announced that Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition is now available on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a Nintendo Switch version following later in the year. Originally released for PC and Mac, Deadfire received universal critical acclaim and picked up numerous awards.

Priced at $59.99, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition features all the major updates and expansions available for the PC version made up of Beast of Winter, Seeker, Slayer, Survivor and Forgotten Sanctum.

With an enormous open world to explore and comprehensive cast of characters, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition builds on the foundation of classic tabletop gameplay more than ever before, providing players with a deeper single player RPG game experience with either Turn-Based Mode or Classic Real-Time with Pause.

Players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can now experience and craft their very own sprawling RPG adventure and explore the infinite possibilities that await them from detailed character customization to the individual meaningful choices they make in-game.

"Console gamers can fully immerse themselves in an RPG adventure of exploration and discovery in what will be one of the definitive tabletop role-playing experiences available in 2020," said Steve Escalante, General Manager of Versus Evil.

Consumers can digitally purchase the Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Ultimate Edition through the Microsoft Store and PlayStation Store fronts today. Deadfire is also available as a physical release from today in the form of a Standard Edition and the Ultimate Collector's Edition courtesy of THQ Nordic for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 at an SRP of €59.99 | $59.99 | £49.99 and €129.99 | $129.99 | £119.99, respectively. The Ultimate Collector's Edition will contain the following items.

Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire [including the 5.0 PC patch], and all DLCs: Beast of Winter, The Forgotten Sanctum, Seeker, Slayer, Survivor
10"/25cm Od Nua Statue
Spacepig Keychain
Metal-optic 3D Sticker
Premium Box