Gone, but Gaming

I’ve been gone for quite some time. It’s difficult to run a one man website when you hit those busy periods in other parts of your life.

I’ve been playing games, though. I want to talk about all of these in time, and I will. I will ask for your patience for just a little bit longer.

I might do some audio things or something, to keep things ticking over. It also looks like I have something exciting lined up for September, in the old RPG area, with other exciting people. I’m basically asking for your input. In these periods when it’s hard to find the time to do the video stuff, should I write more or do something else? Audio perhaps?

Let me know.

My E3 Thoughts – MONDAY

Thought I’d blast down some of my thoughts on this year’s E3, just so I can look back one day and realise what a load of shit I talk.

1. Kinect is a terrible, terrible name. Just terrible.

2. The Microsoft Conference was a total bust. If you’re only showing a few sequels, a (brilliant looking) multiformat game, and a load of Wii retreads, you’re in trouble.

3. Using Kinect to navigate the Xbox dashboard looks r e a l l y s l o w

4. A Need for Speed Hot Pursuit game, developed by Criterion is GREAT NEWS.

5. Also great news is a VIETNAM expansion for Battlefield 2: Bad Company

6. Giving new Xboxes to every paid journo in the audience of the Microsoft Conference felt a bit crass. If I was one of those journos, I’d be gifting it to a children’s hospital or something.

That’s it so far!

What I Am Playing

Here’s an update on what I’m playing right now.

On the video game front:

Red Dead Redemption (360)
Resonance of Fate (360)
Modnation Racers (PS3)

On the board game front:

Warhammer: Invasion
Cosmic Encounter
TOP SECRET THING

On Sunday just there, I saw a game of Cosmic Encounter finish in fifteen minutes, when Kenny just crushed the opposition with some crafty early diplomacy and good card strength. Still one of my favourite games of ALL TIME.

Tomorrow, Mario Galaxy 2 arrives. Exciting.

Next week, a new episode of DowntimeTown, and ALL MY THOUGHTS ON E3!

ZOZ!

Magic: Archenemy

You might remember that in the past I did an episode of the show looking at Planechase, a new way to play Magic: The Gathering. I loved it then, and I still love it now.

So it’s exciting to see that there’s a new multiplayer variant for Magic coming out this month. It’s called “Archenemy”, and lets one player play a Big Bad who is tasked with destroying all of his opponents.

You can read all about it HERE, but you can be sure I’ll be looking at it in more detail if I get my hands on it.

CHOOSE, WEAKLING! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Looks amazing, no?

I Heart Tom Vasel

Tom Vasel is my hero. Just wanted to say.

See, Tom Vasel is also a board game reviewer. If there’s a game out there, he’s reviewed it. And he’s brilliant at it. He also seems to be a lovely man. A family man.

I love him. Here’s one of the reasons.

A couple of months ago he reviewed a terribly dry Eurogame called Vasco da Gama, and he didn’t like it. This meant that he incurred the wrath of fans of that game. You know the kind of thing. That ridiculous internet outrage that we so often see when someone has the balls to speak their own mind.

Here’s Tom’s brilliant, beautiful response:

Updates for YOU

New things on the site. A few words about the bold Frank Frazetta. A good…oh…nearly fifteen minutes about Dixit.

Are we all playing Red Dead Redemption? Have we all saddled up?

I’ll be talking about that this week too.

See you then!

ZOZ!

DowntimeTown – Dixit

The bold Dixit!

DowntimeTown – Dixit from Robert Florence on Vimeo.

ZOZ!

Thank Frazetta

Sigh.

Frank Frazetta passed away recently.

I first became familiar with Frazetta’s work when I saw the cover of a fantasy novel my sister’s boyfriend was reading. I must have been nine or ten years old. I can’t remember the name of the book, but the image is fresh in my mind. A muscular hero, under a strange sky. A beautiful woman, almost naked, on her knees beside him. Her arms around his waist. Her eyes turned to him with longing. A serpent of some kind rearing up behind them. Lush, wet jungle all around.

That’s how I remember the image. But I can’t find it anywhere. I think my mind has maybe created a new image over the years, filling in the blanks, working purely on a memory of eroticism and wonder. The image was something like that, though. I can feel it.

I remember the name. Frazetta. “Who painted THIS?” I needed to know. Frazetta. Frank Frazetta. A manly name. A hero’s name. Frazetta. A sexy name. I remember thinking that Frank Frazetta must have spent a lot of time with beautiful women. I remember thinking “Wow”.

I remember trying to read the book. The words couldn’t live up to that cover. The words were dry and sexless. They say “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” They could just as easily say “Don’t let Frazetta fool you.” We’d know what it means. Frazetta could make anything look good.

When I was a teenager, and every day was an awkward climb out of a pit full of hard-ons, it was Frazetta’s women I had fantasies about. There was no internet back then, to give us disposable videos and jpegs of worried, lost, bruised women to misguidedly lust over. What I had was books. Books that fell open to special pages. Book covers that filled my head with incredible, strong women. Savage women who could fight jungle beasts. Women with lumps and bumps and curves and huge hair.

I remember thinking “Wow”.

BOOM! Nae danger!

I think Frazetta’s women were probably the main reason why I got so heavily into Fantasy fiction. Frazetta’s women led me into roleplaying games, and eventually down the path into board games, and here. I would have followed Frazetta’s women anywhere.

Frazetta showed me the truth. He showed me that women are strong, and didn’t need saved. Frazetta is the reason why I’ve been with the same girl for fourteen years now. She’s strong, too. And a bit savage. I worry for the young guys out there today, who form fantasies based on what they find on porn websites. I worry for the women they will meet.

Some say that Frazetta’s work is sexist. The words above are my response.

Thanks, Frank.

Just...sigh.

Flying Blind

The website just moved server, so there’s a few glitches needing ironed out. For one thing, I can’t upload any images. Can’t even thumbnail this post! It’s a Wordpress thing and I know what the problem is. Once I get on the computer properly I can fix it.

Once I do, I can get my little piece on Frank Frazetta up, and introduce more of the videogaming aspect of the site.

New DowntimeTown episode is ready to roll out, so that’ll be up shortly too.

Thanks for your patience!

DowntimeTown Zombie Special Upcoming

Zombies. Everywhere.

Just popping in to let you know that I’m working on a Zombie special of DowntimeTown.

This will be an extra-long episode, looking at zombie themed board games.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people are drawn to zombie themed games as their first board game, so this will hopefully serve as some advice for those people.

Also, blood.

(Before then, a new DowntimeTown in the week ahead, about a wonderful, special game)

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