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askroahmmythril · 4 years

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Smash Universe Experience

So I’ve been in a bit of a bad mental state the last few days, lots of personal stress and such, the tropics won’t shut up, various current year events, etc. So trying to distract self with various things, and figured I��d try figuring out what my personal history is with the various Smash Bros. franchises. Note, we’re only counting actual fighters here, not Mii Costume inclusions. Distraction tactics go! :

Super Mario : I’ve played a lot of Mario games definitely. I think I missed some of the “New” SMB games, like I never played the one on DS where there were things like the Gold Flower and it was all about getting as many coins as possible. Also some side games, like I... at least don’t THINK I’ve played any of the “sports” type games like the golf, tennis, baseball, or soccer ones. Also never really got into the Paper Mario series, only played Super Paper Mario and never finished it. Also Superstar Saga is the only one of the “Mario & Luigi” RPGs I ever played. Want to say there are a few Party games I skipped as well. If we count Luigi’s Mansion under the Mario blanket, I haven’t played 2 (but have a copy) or 3 (want to get a copy). Still, fairly solid Mario experience under my belt.

Donkey Kong : There are a number of DK games I have played, but probably more that I missed. I played the original, DK Jr., pretty sure I’ve at least played DK3 on things like Virtual Console or such? As far as the Country games, I’ve... only really played the first two and part of the third. I tried DKC3 while I was at Full Sail, but could just never really get into it. I did play the GBC Donkey Kong game, that one’s good... I want to try the DKCR games, I’ve heard good things. Definitely would like to at least get the Switch port of Tropical Freeze and give that a go.

Legend of Zelda : As far as officially sanctioned and remembered Zelda games (we don’t talk about the CDi games, which I never had that system so never played them anyway), I want to say the only mainline Zelda game I never played was Skyward Sword. I never had a Wii Motion Plus, so couldn’t play that one. Keep hoping we get a port on Switch so I can try it. There are some side games I never played though, like never played Crossbow Training, or the Tingle game. Oh, actually I guess I never played Tri Force Heroes, admittedly not sure how well that one plays as a single-player experience.

Metroid : I’ve played most of the Metroid series I would say. I think my main gaps are Metroid Prime Pinball, Hunters, haven’t gotten around to playing Prime 3 but I do have the Wii version of Trilogy. Kinda hoping Trilogy gets a Switch port. I haven’t played Other M or Federation Force either. I’m also admittedly a weirdo what preferred the original Metroid to Zero Mission, and probably preferred the original Metroid II to Samus Returns.

Yoshi : I never did finish playing Yoshi’s Story, but I have played Yoshi’s Island to 100% completion, as well as Woolly World. Also need to finish Crafted World sometime. I want to say there’s some motion control Yoshi game I know of but never played, but I think I also might be mixing it up with a Kirby game...?

Kirby : I’ve played a lot of Kirby games, though I know I never played Mass Attack, Squeak Squad, Epic Yarn, Canvas Curse, or Rainbow Curse. I want to say there might have been another one as well...? Well I know I never played Super Star Deluxe, and there are some of those mini side games on 3DS I never played. I think there was also one with a clay aesthetic I never played? Unless that was already one of the ones I mentioned...

Star Fox : The only ones I’ve ever played are the original and 64. I do have SNES Online, so I can give 2 a try sometime. I’m... really bad at Star Fox games though, haha.

Pokémon : ......Considering I have an alternate blog for all my Pokémon nicknames, yeah, I think we’re covered here. I’ve played all main series games and most side games by this point. I did not play Dash, and there were those three Mystery Dungeon games on Wii eShop that never got released here. I never played Masters, nor the new Cafe game, and only really played Go long enough to get Meltan and Melmetal. But yes, pretty solid Pokémon experience.

Mother : Earthbound is the only one I played. I tried on multiple occasions to really get into it, but just... couldn’t really. It just never really reeled me in and kept my interest. I think the furthest I ever made it before quitting was the desert area near Fourside, and I just ran out of steam.

F-Zero : I’ve only played the original and I think maybe the one on GBA a little? I can’t say it’s a series I’m good at, haha. And yet the crazy part of me would kinda like to get the infamously difficult Gamecube one.

Ice Climbers : Yep, I’ve played it.... That’s pretty much all we got for that one, just the one game, and yes I’ve played it.

Fire Emblem : The only FE game I’ve played is Fire Emblem Warriors, so... not exactly the real FE experience. Granted I can’t say I really feel all that interested. Turn based strategy games like FE, Advance Wars, Wargroove, they don’t tend to keep me interested all that long. I also have a feeling the permadeath aspect would drive me batty.

Game & Watch : I don’t know if I ever had a legitimate Game & Watch, as in, the actual machines. However I played the heck out of the Game & Watch Gallery games. I loved those things.

Kid Icarus : I’ve played the original and Uprising all the way through. The GB one, Of Myths & Monsters, I’ve only gotten to try that one via an emulation, and it glitched during a boss fight, so I was never able to finish it.

Wario : On the Wario Land side of things, I’ve played most of them I think. I never played Master of Disguise, not sure if that counts as a “Land” game. As for WarioWare, that too, I’ve played most of them, though I never played Smooth Moves I think, the Wii one? I know I’ve played the original, Twisted, Touched, and Gold.

Metal Gear : I haven’t played much of this series. I played a little of the original NES game, never beat it, and watched my uncle play the original Metal Gear Solid, and..... honestly I think that’s about it. So not a lot of Metal Gear experience.

Sonic the Hedgehog : I’ve played a lot of Sonics. I didn’t play 4 or either of the “Storybook” games, haven’t really had access to most of the side games though, like I never played Shuffle, the Game Gear ones, also never played things like the Sega All Stars Racing games, not sure if those count for Sonic or just Sega in general really though to be fair. I do have a weird choice of favorite Sonic game though, I unironically really enjoyed the 360 version of Unleashed.

Pikmin : Unless you count things like the Gamecube and Wii versions of Pikmin as separate entities, I think I’ve played all Pikmin games : 1-3 and Hey Pikmin. I have 3 Deluxe pre-ordered as I felt it would be an easier one to record for an eventual project.

ROB : Played one out of the two games he had. I played Gyromite, never had Stack Up. Sadly my ROB was stolen long ago from storage.

Animal Crossing : I want to say the only ones I never played were Wild World and Happy Home Designer. Well, unless you count ones that weren’t released here.

Mega Man : Yeah, kinda think I got this one covered. I never played the Game Gear one, which.... yeah, looks pretty bad, so I don’t feel I missed out there. Played 1 - 11 of the Classic series, as well as Powered Up and MM & Bass. Played X1 - X5, Zero 1 - 3, all the Battle Network games (aside from mobile ones that I don’t think were released here), Starforce 1 and 2 (got 3, just never got around to it, and never quite finished 2), and a small bit of Legends 1 (want to give that another try sometime). Heck, even played the PC Mega Man 1 and 3. Think I’m pretty set with this one, haha.

Wii Fit : I.... played Wii Sports, does that actually count? Probably not. I never played one of the proper Wii Fit games with the balance board and all that.

Punch-Out!! : I played the NES and Wii games. I... honestly don’t remember if I ever played Super Punch-Out!! or not... I know I never beat the Wii game, I stalled out at Soda Popinski.

Pac-Man : I’ve played a lot of Pac-Man games, as well as other retro Namco games. I had all the Namco Museum games on PS1, loved those. There were a ton of different Pac-Man games though, so there are likely some I missed along the way. Probably mostly in the vein of Pac-Man World type games, I don’t think I got to play a lot of those.

Xenoblade : I never played any of the Xenoblade games. I’m kind of intrigued by maybe wanting to get the Switch port of Xenoblade Chronicles, but RPGs tend to be intimidating for me to get into, the whole time commitment thing. Still seems like something I might be interested in trying sometime.

Duck Hunt : Indeed, I played it. I know well the trauma of dog ridicule. As far as other light-gun games on NES, I did play Hogan’s Alley and Gumshoe.

Street Fighter : I think the only one I ever played was the SNES version of Street Fighter 2 that had the four extra characters, I want to say it added Cammy, Dee Jay, T. Hawk, and Fei Long I want to say?

Final Fantasy : The main ones I played a lot of were 7 and 9. I did play a bit of the one with Kefka as a kid, but didn’t really get too into it.

Bayonetta : I’ve played both 1 and 2 all the way though, and am interested in hearing more about 3 when we get some new info there. I can’t say I’m that GOOD at them, but I could at least beat them, haha. Still find them fun.

Splatoon : I played the original, but can’t play online, so just the single player stuff. Still need to do that on Splatoon 2, I do have a copy, just haven’t really gotten around to playing it.

Castlevania : I’ve played MOST of the series I want to say? Mainly some of the 3D ones I missed on, never played the Lord of Shadows games, 64, also notably never had access to the actual Rondo of Blood, only Dracula X.

Persona : The only one I ever played is Persona 4. I’d be tempted to give 5 a shot if it got a Switch port. Admittedly I kinda shied away from this series for awhile due to Persona 3 being the main one I’d heard about, and mostly it was hearing about how they invoked their Personas, which was... not something I liked due to personal squick with that sort of thing. I had the mistaken impression that was how it was in ALL the games as such.

Dragon Quest : I’ve played a bit of some of the NES ones as a kid, but never really could get too into them. Always liked the monster designs though, so I did like the Dragon Quest Monsters games. Only got to play the two on GBC though. I tried the demo for DQ 11... just didn’t really pull me in. Turn based RPGs are just hard for me to get into admittedly.

Banjo-Kazooie : I played and loved the original and Tooie, as well as the GBA game (don’t remember much about that one though). I never played Nuts & Bolts.

Fatal Fury : I don’t THINK I’ve ever played a Fatal Fury game. If so, I have no real memories of doing so. Still familiar with Terry though, just never really had much SNK / Neo Geo access growing up.

ARMS : I only ever played the demo of the game, not the full one.

Minecraft : I’ve never played it. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like my kind of game. Just total open world sandbox / survival type stuff, not usually something that pulls me in, and admittedly I don’t really like the Minecraft aesthetic too much. Nothing against anyone that likes it, just not really my thing.

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mysideblogofsurveys · 4 years

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Survey 7.

1. if you have any pets, were they adopted from the humane society? I don’t have my cat anymore (I had to give him to my parents when I moved in with my husband because he is allergic) but I had adopted him from the humane society. 2. what kind of cheese is your favorite, or no cheese at all? Honestly, all of the cheese. I love it all haha 3. do you like home design, like picking out paint colors and furniture? Not really, I’m horrible at it. 4. have you seen any of the old james bond movies? No, just the new ones 5. do you chew gum on a regular basis? No, I actually don’t even remember the last time I had any.

6. do you think mitchell musso is hot, like all the magazines say? I didn’t know who that was so I looked it up and nope. I don’t find him attractive at all.

7. list all of your features that you have ever got compliments on: How small I am (I’m like 5′0), I don’t look like I”m 32 so I get treated like I”m a lot younger, my eyes

8. do you play ps, ps2, or ps3? I haven’t in a while (been too busy playing my Nintendo Switch) but I have quite a few games for it. My husband plays it more than I do. 9. have you ever been in a hot air balloon? and if not, would you ever want to go in one? I think it’d be kinda cool but getting my courage together to go on it is another thing lol 10. do your parents buy you something on a daily basis? No, I buy everything myself. 11. what type of computer do you have? Well, my laptop is from like 2015, its an HP. I bought it to help me study for my Licensing exams for my career (not college related) My desktop is from 2012 that my Husband helped me build. It was like $1000 but had all the best equipment at the time and still works great today. Expensive but so worth it. 12. do you like old, black and white movies? The only black and white show I’ve watched were old cartoons or 3 Stooges 13. is anyone else in the room with you right now? Not exactly? We have an open floor plan so my husband is technically in the dining room (I’m in the living room) but I can see him if I move my head slightly, he’s just around the corner. 14. do you watch john and kate plus 8? No but I’ve seen one or two episodes. 15. do you whiten your teeth with crest white strips? No 16. do you listen to local bands? No, well we went to a Fair in January, not too far away from us that had local kids playing and they weren’t too bad (obviously haven’t heard them since then). I hung out with a lot of guys that were in bands when I was in highschool though.

17. do you collect anything? Video games, I guess. I prefer to buy the physical versions for several reasons 18. have you seen the movie, thirteen? I don’t think so. 19. do you watch vh1? I Haven’t in a long time but I did when I lived with my parents 20. have you ever said “fergalicious”, but changed it to your name instead of fergie’s? What? No. I only liked one song from her 21. do you have a pool in your back yard? No, but I did growing up (my parents asked if we wanted a trampoline or a pool and we wanted a pool) 22. do you watch youtube videos often? No, well not really. I don’t like follow any YouTubers except Tim Pool (Liberal) and Steven Crowder (Conservative). Mostly because I believe they try to sift through the shit the news/media either doesn’t focus on or skips completely and try to get the truth. I like listening to both Liberals and Conservatives then form my own opinion. 23. do you wear mascara? Yeah but the only make up I wear is eyeliner and mascara.

24. do your parents fight? do they even talk at all? I’m sure they have like arguments but I’ve never seen them have huge ones.

25. have you ever watched a movie that’s in a completely different language, so you had to read sub-titles? All the time! I’m actually binge-watching “Dark” on Netflix (its a German time travel show. Its SO GOOD but also fucked up. It has English voice-overs but it just doesn’t feel right. Sounds much better in the native German). I also watch a lot of anime in Japanese (with subtitles). I’m trying to learn both languages. 26. do people with yellow teeth disgust you? Thats kinda mean 27. do you drink alcohol on new year’s eve? Yes 28. do you wear rings? Only my engagement and wedding ring 29. are you hungry right now? Yeah, a little 30. would you like to have a universal remote, like in the movie, Click? I don’t thinks so, only because going back to fix something would change the future and as I’ve seen from “Dark” (mentioned above), time traveling is nothing I want to deal with lol

31. have you ever tried smoking a cigarette? Yeah. I socially smoked (had one when I drank) when I was younger but haven’t had one in over 10 years. I never bought any or got addicted, just had one when everyone else went out for a smoke (if that makes sense) 32. do you get any magazines in the mail? Yeah, I get Game Informer because I’m a member of GameStop’s membership. I get all of my video games there.

33. don’t you just wanna stab someone with a fire poker? No, wtf! 34. do you wear baseball caps? No, I’m not a hat person except when we go to the beach. Then I wear a floppy one to shield me from the sun

35. what was the last memory you thought about that instantly brought a smile to your face? I’m not sure 36. has anyone inflicted physical pain on you today? No but myself is beating me up from the inside (I started my period last night so I’m all cramp-y :/ ) 37. are there any restaurants in walking distance to your house? Yeah, I suppose. Its like a 15 min walk though. 38. what was the last store that you went into when you were at the mall? I haven’t been to the mall in months but it was probably GameStop. 39. do you currently have any coupons for stores right now, which stores specifically? I don’t have coupons but I have a bunch of gift cards. To Kohls, Panera Bread, BoneFish restaurant and some others I can’t think of right now

40. what was the last picture you uploaded to your facebook? Its been a long time, I don’t post anything to FaceBook anymore (I don’t trust it. If it wasn’t for keeping up with family on it, I would delete it. 41. when was the last time that you were so tired that everything was funny to you? A long time, I normally fall asleep before I get to the giggly stage. 42. what’s something that you do that you know hurts people close to you? Probably not call them as much as I should. I suck at keeping in contact with those further away. 43. what was the last board game that you played? It was probably some form of Dungeons and Dragons, we’re super nerdy lol 44. the next time you will be going on vacation, where will you be heading too? Well, we were supposed to go to Germany in September for Okoberfest but since that is cancelled, we probably won’t be going (International flights are still undecided on. But honestly, it’ll probably all get canceled.) Aside from that, I’m still flying to my hometown in early Sept for my cousin’s wedding (and hopefully the Renaissance Festival with my sibling-in-laws but I’m not sure if that will be canceled either.) 45. do you get bloated at all after you eat? It depends on what I eat, so sometimes. 46. have you read the book lovely bones? No, I tend to read Sci-Fi/Fantasy books. I briefly looked up what that book is about and definitely not something I would read. 47. are you mad that this survey is over now? No, I’ll probably do another one lol

#survey #surveys #questionnaire #about me

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fab-bingo · 4 years

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Fic Appreciation Bingo - Squares Transcription

Here's the transcription of the Fic Appreciation Bingo cards squares. I've included links/explanations where possible or necessary. If you still have questions about it, just ask me and I'll do my best to help you. 😄

Default Squares

These squares will be present in all cards, to give more space to under represented/appreciated fics.

1 - WIP

Work in progress. Many of us wait until a fic is complete before we read it - I do this most of the time. It's understandable; who hasn't been burned by a fic we loved but was abandoned or never finished?

For this square, we're going to take risks!

Comments on a WIP encourage the author to keep going and finish their fic; or maybe to go back to a project they haven't worked on for some time.

You can even tell a writer that you really love their fic, even if it was never finished or they've abandoned it. 😊

2 - PODFIC

Podfic is an audio recording of fanfic, read aloud by a fan (or several). Podfics are not as popular as written fics, and that's a shame. There are some truly amazing podfics out there, lots of different styles, and they're all made with heart.

If you really dislike audio content, or can't listen to it for any reason, to fill this square you can find the podfic version of a fic you like, and leave a comment thanking the podficcer for making a story you like, accessible to more people. :)

3 - "Less than 50 kudos" & "Less than 30 comments"

These are there to assure we also pay attention to less known, under-appreciated works.

And the necessary Free square, of course. 🙂

Keep in mind that most of these are only guidelines & suggestions. Use your creativity and have fun! If a fill makes sense to you, it makes sense to me . 😉

Let's get to the first card transcription: the General Card!

General Card

Favorite fic

Your favorite fic. That's it, that's the square.

Multi-chapter

A fic with more than one chapter. That wasn't as hard as I thought!

LGBTQ+ QUILTBAG

One or more protagonists of the fic identify as members of the LGBTQ+QUILTBAG community. Any identity counts, as longs as **it is clear in the text**.

This doesn't have to be through romantic pairing; the character can be trans, ace, intersex, etc.

Fantasy & Sci-fi

Lord of the Rings and Star Trek vibes. Androids. Wizards. You know this stuff, so why am I still talking?

Angst

The dictionary defines angst as "a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about..." Yeah, no. Sorry!

In fic, angst usually is about the characters and their feelings - about their romantic interest, their past, their past & errors, the challenges they face... They're uncertain about all of hose things, and probably their own worth.

Except, it also means the angst you, the reader, feel as you read about the character's trials and travails. Are they sad? You're wailing. That sort of thing.

On a second thought, yeah, deep anxiety and dread checks out. 😶

Oldest fic you've read

By publication date. If you read it yesterday, but it was published in 1997 and you haven't read anything published before that, it counts. 😉

Fluff

The opposite of angst! Everything is beautiful and nothing hurts. Sweet, happy stories with happy endings.

Animals

Dogs. Cats. Horses. Unicorns. Lizards.

Dog-walkers, cat-wranglers, unicorn-wrestlers.

If there are animals in it, it fits.

Favorite author

I know, I know. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO CHOOSE?!

You love them all, and so do I. But this is a hard game, my peeps. Hard, difficult choices must be made for the good of our fanfic bingo nation.

At least until you decide to fill this card again. 😉

Under 5k

Which means, no more than 4.999 words.

Nope, you can't go higher than that.

Nope, 5.000 words doesn't count.

Okay, how about this: if you find a fic with exactly 5.000 words, I'll give you a pass. 😜

Humor

A fic that successfully accomplishes what I've been trying to do with this text, I guess? 🤔🙈😂

Alright, alright. Anything that makes you laugh is good.

Food

All and any things related to food, cooking and eating! This is the square for those fics that made you hungry and burn with desire for a personal chef or cooking lessons.

Food bloggers. Cooking channel on Youtube. Bucky is an amazing baker. Steve is an stress baker. Chefs. Sommeliers. Dinners. Even pizza take-out counts!

First fic you ever read

I bet this is going to take you down memory lane, isn't it? 😄

If you don't remember it, or it's not available anymore, go for the first you remember that's still accessible.

Music

Millions of fics have titles based on songs, and sure, you can go that route. But there are other options! Bands. Musicians. Singers. Fics based entirely on a song, not only the title.

Stories where a song is really important to the plot or the characters. The protagonist works on an instrument shop or is a music teacher. So many possibilities!

Historical AU

Any period of time is valid: Victorian, Medieval, Middle Ages, Ancient Egypt... you get the idea.

Fair warning, though: if you come and say a fic set in the 80's is historical, I will hate you. The 80's were the last decade, you heathen! 🤨

Other topics discussed

Mario Party 10 (party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Wii U.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Party_10

ZombiU ((known as Zombi on platforms other than the Wii U) is a first-person survival horror video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft. It was released for the Wii U as one of its launch games in November 2012.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZombiU

Pokemon Snap (first-person simulation video game with rail shooter style gameplay mechanics co-developed by HAL Laboratory and Pax Softnica and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was first released in Japan in March 1999, and was later released in June 1999 in North America and in September 2000 for PAL regions.A sequel called New Pokémon Snap was announced in 2020 and is in development for Nintendo Switch.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Snap

New Pokémon Snap (first-person rail shooter and simulation video game in development by Bandai Namco Studios, planned to be published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. It is a sequel to the 1999 game Pokémon Snap. In New Pokémon Snap, the player visits a variety of island locations, including jungles and beaches, where they research Pokémon in their natural habitats, photographing them while traveling in an on-rails hovercraft, to build a "Photodex".)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Pok%C3%A9mon_Snap

Voltorb (Electric-type Pokémon introduced in Generation I.)

- https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Voltorb_(Pok%C3%A9mon)

Pokemon Unite (upcoming free-to-start,multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed by TiMi Studios and published by Tencent in partnership with The Pokémon Company for Android,iOS, and Nintendo Switch.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Unite

- https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-unite/

Super Mario Odyssey (platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch on October 27, 2017. An entry in the Super Mario series, it follows Mario and Cappy, a sentient hat that allows Mario to control other characters and objects, as they journey across various worlds to save Princess Peach from his nemesis Bowser, who plans to forcibly marry her.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Odyssey

The 25 Highest-Grossing Media Franchises of All Time. Pokémon being the highest grossing media in global history.

- https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/money-finance/the-25-highest-grossing-media-franchises-of-all-time/

Joe Camel (the advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes from late 1987 to July 12, 1997, appearing in magazine advertisements, billboards, and other print media.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Camel

Apple parental control feature stops microtransactions and other activites

- https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/10/apples-new-parental-controls-can-limit-who-kids-can-call-text-and-facetime-and-when/

Youtube’s COPPA Child-Directed Content Rules

- https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/ftc-rules-child-directed-content-youtube-1203454167/

80’s Cartoons that were created to sell toys

- https://www.eightieskids.com/12-classic-80s-cartoons-that-were-created-just-to-sell-toys/

J. Michael Straczynski (American television and film screenwriter, producer and director, and comic book writer. He is the founder of Studio JMS and is best known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 and its spinoff Crusade, as well as the series Jeremiah and Sense8. Straczynski wrote Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man, followed by runs on Thor and Fantastic Four.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Michael_Straczynski

Why Blizzard Doesn’t Allow Trading in Hearthstone

- https://esportsedition.com/hearthstone/hearthtsone-trading/

L.O.L Surprise

- https://lolsurprise.mgae.com/

EA Legal and Government Affairs VP Kerry Hopkins : We look at lootboxes as 'surprise mechanics

- https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/06/ea-loot-boxes-actually-surprise-mechanics-that-are-ethical-and-fun/

EA CEO Andrew Wilson : Lootboxes are like collecting baseball cards

- https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2019/06/20/ea-loot-boxes-discussed-by-the-companys-ceo-andrew-wilson/

Kinder Surprise were banned in USA because of the small toys in the eggs

- https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/04/why-are-kinder-eggs-banned-in-the-usa-6976543/

Diablo Immortal (upcoming action role-playing hack and slash video game in the Diablo series designed for online multiplayer play on mobile devices.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_Immortal

Blizzard Entertainment principal game designer Wyatt Cheng : Do You Guys Not Have Phones (Said during the presentation of mobile game Diablo Immortal at BlizzCon in November 2018. The remark, which was said as an answer to the crowd's disappointment reaction to Diablo Immortal being strictly mobile, has since been used to mock both Blizzard Entertainment and video game publishers acting disconnected from gaming audiences in general.)

- https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/do-you-guys-not-have-phones

Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) (American self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association, in response to criticism of controversial video games with excessively violent or sexual content.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board

ESRB ratings will begin warning players of loot boxes in games. The Entertainment Software Rating Board announced its plans today, stating it would be adding the description “Includes Random Items” in its rating of games that allow players to makein-game purchases of random items.

- https://www.vg247.com/2020/04/13/esrb-ratings-loot-boxes/

China's new law forces Dota, League of Legends, and other games to reveal odds of scoring good loot

- https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/2/15517962/china-new-law-dota-league-of-legends-odds-loot-box-random

Loot box warnings to be added to video games

- https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52281573

PEGI Introduces Notice To Inform About Presence of Paid Random Items

- https://pegi.info/news/pegi-introduces-feature-notice

Auction House (The Auction House was a feature of the PC version of Diablo III. This allowed players to put items up for auction, bid and buyout. Two versions of the auction house existed.One used gold earned in-game while the second used real-world currency. Sales and purchases from the Real Money Auction House (RMAH) could be funded by either the players Battle.net account balance or a separate e-commerce service such as PayPal.)

- https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Auction_House

Budget of NASA (As a federal agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) receives its funding from the annual federal budget passed by the United States Congress.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA

CSIRO Budget 2019-2020

- https://www.science.org.au/news-and-events/news-and-media-releases/mixed-news-science-2019-20-budget

Avatar: Last Airbender comics (visual publications that depict events and situations unseen during the series' run. Most of the first comics released occur during and between episodes as a means of supplementing the series, while comics released following the conclusion of the show's official run pertain to events after the end of the Hundred Year War.)

- https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender_comics

Bionicle (a line of Lego construction toys marketed primarily towards 8-to-16 year-olds. Over the following decade, it became one of Lego's biggest-selling properties; spawning into a franchise and playing a part in saving the company from its financial crisis of the late 1990s.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionicle

- https://bionicle.fandom.com/wiki/The_Bionicle_Wiki

Terralympus (by Stephen Kok, Earth is a distant memory and the remnants of humanity now live aboard the space station, Terralympus.)

- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43181637-terralympus

Transhumanism (a philosophical movement that advocates for the transformation of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies to greatly enhance human intellect and physiology.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism

The Legend of Korra ((also known as Avatar: The Legend of Korra) is an American animated television series created by Bryan Konietzko andMichael Dante DiMartino for Nickelodeon that aired from April 14, 2012 to December 19, 2014. A sequel to Konietzko and DiMartino's previous series Avatar: The Last Airbender, which aired from 2005 to 2008.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Korra

The Legend of Korra comics (visual publications that depict events and situations unseen before and after the series' run.)

- https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_The_Legend_of_Korra_comics

Assassin’s Creed Comics

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin%27s_Creed#Comics

- https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/112978.Assassin_s_Creed_Comics

J. Michael Straczynski’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: A Retrospective

- https://comicsverse.com/straczynski-amazing-spider-man/

Spider-Man: One More Day (four-part 2007comic book crossover storyline, connecting the three main Spider-Man series concurrently published by Marvel Comics at the time. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man%3A_One_More_Day

The Witcher (a Polish-American fantasy drama series produced by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. It stars Henry Cavill, Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra. The show initially follows the three main protagonists at different points of time, exploring formative events that shaped their characters, before eventually merging into a single timeline.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witcher_(TV_series)

Bat-Credit Card (The infamous Bat-Credit Card was a credit card that Batman used when he needed to make monetary transactions. Batman used it in Batman & Robin to offer $7 million for Poison Ivy.)

- https://batman.fandom.com/wiki/Bat-Credit_Card

Batman: Year One (American comic book story arc published byDC Comics which recounts the superhero Batman's first year as a crime-fighter. It was written by Frank Miller, illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, colored by Richmond Lewis, and lettered by Todd Klein.)

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Year_One

Check out more stuff from Stephen Kok

- https://sigmatestudio.com/

Check out more stuff from Comics2Movies including XCT & Terralympus

- https://www.comics2movies.com.au/

Shout Outs

20 June 2020 – Aya and the Witch: Official Stills From Studio Ghibli's First Fully CG Film are released - https://www.ign.com/articles/aya-and-the-witch-studio-ghibli-cg-film-stills

Studio Ghibli is doing a long-form adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones’ novel Earwig and the Witch. Titled Aya to Majo (Aya and the Witch), the movie will air on NHK in Japan this winter. Earwig is an orphan girl who has lived at St. Morwald's Home for Children ever since she was a baby, but all of that changes the day that she is adopted by a mysterious woman named Bella Yaga, who turns out to be a terrible witch and brings Earwig to live in her home of supernatural trinkets. With help from a talking cat, Earwig must use her wits to survive in her new magical surroundings. The colourful carousel of images sees a digression from the traditional, hand-drawn animation that Studio Ghibli is well-renowned for. Instead, this feature has opted for a new kind of art style with an entirely 3D computer-generated story that centres around Earwig, the young girl with the broomstick. Hayao Miyazaki is overseeing the adaptation’s planning, while his son Goro, who helmed From Up On Poppy Hill, is directing. Toshio Suzuki is producing.

21 June 2020 – Lilo & Stitch turns 18 - https://comicbook.com/movies/news/lilo-and-stitch-fans-celebrate-anniversary-twitter-trend/

18 years ago, Lilo & Stitch hit theaters, spawning a franchise still beloved by Disney fans all these years later. After grossing $273.1 million at the box office for Walt Disney animation, the fan-favorite animated feature went on to introduce three more movies and a television series. A year after its release, the Stitch-centric Stitch! The Movie hit theaters and two years after that, Lilo & Stich 2: Stitch Has a Glitch made its way to the masses. The franchise then ended with Leroy & Stitch and Lilo & Stitch: The Series, both of which set sail in 2006. More recently, however, new reports have surfaced that say Disney+ is now developing a hybrid live-action/CGI remake for the platform. Prior to any coronavirus shutdowns, the film was reported to start production later this year. No further information has been released about the project as of now.

22 June 2020 – Kurt Cobain's MTV Unplugged guitar sells to Australian for record $9m - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-22/kurt-cobains-guitar-bought-by-australian-for-9-million/12379316

An Australian businessman hopes his purchase of music icon Kurt Cobain's acoustic guitar could help boost the struggling global music industry. The 1959 Martin D-18E guitar was played by Cobain during his 1993 MTV Unplugged performance in New York. It now holds the record for being the most expensive guitar in the world after being purchased by the founder of Rode Microphones, Peter Freedman, for $US6 million ($8.8 million). Mr Freedman plans to display the guitar on a worldwide tour, the proceeds of which will go back to the performing arts sector. "I did it to highlight the massive crisis in the arts," he told ABC Radio Brisbane. "I've got the attention of government, I've got the attention of everyone asking me why I did it." "Musos and entertainers get nothing — it's as though they don't exist," he said. His main motivation is to lobby on behalf of musicians in countries like as Germany, the UK and Australia. "The money that comes from it mightn't be much, but it's the focus on governments, and the effects of this will last forever if I do it right," Mr Freedman."It's not the money we need, it's the people, the support.

23 June 2020 – Joel Schumacher passes away at 80 - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-23/filmmaker-joel-schumacher-dies-at-80/12383008

The man behind the flamboyant reinvention of Hollywood's Batman franchise, Joel Schumacher has died. From a job dressing department store windows to costume design for Woody Allen's 1970s movies Interiors and Sleeper, the New Yorker made his mark on the big screen in 1985 with the coming-of-age movie St Elmo's Fire. That project launched the careers of the Brat Pack — Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy — and had the movie industry clamouring for more of Schumacher's brilliance. The Lost Boys, Flatliners, John Grisham adaptations The Client and A Time to Kill and the critically acclaimed Falling Down followed. Audiences loved Schumacher's overly dramatic and exuberant Batman Forever in 1995, but panned its follow-up, Batman & Robin in 1997. After theBatman films, Schumacher pulled back from blockbusters and returned to making minimalist films such as Tigerland and Phone Booth, both earning positive reviews. He also directed The Phantom of the Opera , The Number 23, and two episodes of House of Cards. He died from cancer in New York City.

24 June 2020 – Segway ends production - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-24/segway-ends-production-of-vehicle-falls/12386530

Segway is ending the production of its namesake vehicle. The two-wheeled personal transporter, which the company boldly claimed would revolutionise the way people got around, will be retired on July 15. While used by tourists and some police forces, the vehicle also became known for high-profile crashes. It even resulted in the death of a former Segway company president, who drove one off a cliff in 2009. The company said 21 employees would be laid off, another 12 employees would stay on for two months to a year, and five would remain at the Bedford, New Hampshire facility. The transportation revolution that inventor Dean Kamen envisioned when he founded the company in 1999 never took off. The Segway's original price tag of around $US5,000 was a hurdle for many customers. It was also challenging to ride, because the rider had to be balanced at a specific angle for the vehicle to move forward. If the rider's weight shifted too much in any direction, it could easily spin out of control and throw the rider off. They were banned in some cities because users could easily lose control if they were not balanced properly. In 2017, Segway got into the scooter business, just as the light, inexpensive and easy-to-ride two-wheelers took over urban streets. It comes after decades of high-profile falls, viral videos and even the death of a former company owner.

23 June 2020 – Deus Ex turns 20

- https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/deus-ex-20th-anniversary-nameless-mod-retrospective

- https://www.techradar.com/au/news/deus-ex-20th-anniversary-programmer-scott-martin-talks-about-working-on-the-pc-gaming-masterpiece

If a game came out today that depicted a world ravaged by a viral outbreak, dehumanized by capitalism, in the throes of mass public riots, gripped by anti-government sentiment, and witnessing the progressive breakdown of American society amid the rise of China as an autonomous superpower, you might think it was too on-the-nose. Twenty years ago however, it was simply the setting of a radical, and somewhat prophetic video game, called Deus Ex. Directed by System Shock producer Warren Spector and designed by future Dishonored creative director Harvey Smith, Deus Ex represented a profound leap in both storytelling and mechanical depth for first-person video games. The game placed players in the role of J.C. Denton, a cybernetically augmented United Nations Anti-Terrorism agent who gradually unravels a web of conspiracies gripping the dark cyberpunk future of 2052. Its sprawling world was dense with philosophical questions, conflicted morality, deep characters, and all the ingredients that make an instant classic; its character customization system and resulting player freedom is still imitated today. It’s success spawned a lukewarm sequel in 2003 withInvisible War, and then a successful revival in 2011 with the prequel Human Revolution and its own sequel in 2016,Mankind Divided. The original game is fondly remembered in PC gaming communities with the meme, “every time you mention it, someone will install it.”. Seven years after its release, Deus Ex served as the basis for one of the most impressive mods of its generation, known only as The Nameless Mod. Reflecting on the original Deus Ex's revered place in PC gaming history, Scott Martin one of the only three programmers tasked with coding the entire game using the very first Unreal Engine, keeps it humble. "I feel honored and privileged to have worked on the game," he said, "and happy that so many people still remember it fondly after all this time!"

Remembrances

22 June 1965 – David O. Selznick - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_O._Selznick

American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive. He is best known for producing Gone with the Wind (1939) and Rebecca (1940), each earning him an Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1926, Selznick moved to Hollywood, and with the help of his father's connections, he gained a job as an assistant story editor at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He left MGM for Paramount Pictures in 1928, where he worked until 1931, when he joined RKO as Head of Production. His years at RKO were fruitful, and he worked on many films, including A Bill of Divorcement , Rockabye,Bird of Paradise, and King Kong. Despite his output of successful movies at MGM,Paramount Pictures, and RKO Pictures, Selznick longed to be an independent producer with his own studio. In 1935 he formed Selznick International Pictures, and distributed his films through United Artists. His successes continued with classics such as, A Star Is Born , The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Gone with the Wind , which remains the highest-grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation). Gone with the Wind won eight Oscars and two special awards. He produced his second Best Picture Oscar winner in a row, Rebecca , the first Hollywood production of British director Alfred Hitchcock. Selznick had brought Hitchcock over from England, launching the director's American career. Rebecca was Hitchcock's only film to win Best Picture. Gone with the Wind overshadowed the rest of Selznick's career. Later, he was convinced that he had wasted his life trying to outdo it. The closest he came to matching the film was with Duel in the Sun. With a huge budget, the film is known for causing moral upheaval because of the then risqué script written by Selznick. The film would be a major success. The film was the second highest-grossing film of 1947 and was the first movie that Martin Scorsese saw, inspiring Scorsese's own directorial career. He died from heart attack at the age of 63 in Hollywood, California.

22 June 1969 – Judy Garland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland

Born Frances Ethel Gumm, American actress, singer, and dancer. During a career that spanned 45 years, she attained international stardom as an actress in both musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Garland began performing in vaudeville as a child with her two older sisters and was later signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She appeared in more than two dozen films for MGM and is remembered for portraying Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. Garland was a frequent on-screen partner of both Mickey Rooney and Gene Kelly. Although her film career became intermittent thereafter, two of Garland's most critically acclaimed performances came later in her career: she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in A Star Is Born (1954) and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Judgment at Nuremberg. At age 39, Garland became the youngest and first female recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the film industry. In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the 10 greatest female stars of classic American cinema. She died from Barbiturate overdose at the age of 47 in London.

22 June 1990 – Ilya Frank - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Frank

Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, Soviet winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1958 jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm, also of the Soviet Union. He received the award for his work in explaining the phenomenon of Cherenkov radiation. In 1934, Frank moved to the Institute of Physics and Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences . Here he started working on nuclear physics, a new field for him. He became interested in the effect discovered by Pavel Cherenkov, that charged particles moving through water at high speeds emit light. Together with Igor Tamm, he developed a theoretical explanation: the effect occurs when charged particles travel through an optically transparent medium at speeds greater than the speed of light in that medium, causing a shock wave in the electromagnetic field. The amount of energy radiated in this process is given by the Frank–Tamm formula. The discovery and explanation of the effect resulted in the development of new methods for detecting and measuring the velocity of high-speed nuclear particles and became of great importance for research in nuclear physics. Cherenkov radiation is also widely used in biomedical research for detection of radioactive isotopes. He died at the age of 81 in Moscow.

Famous Birthdays

22 June 1834 – William Chester Minor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Chester_Minor

Also known as W. C. Minor, American army surgeon and one of the largest contributors of quotations to the Oxford English Dictionary. He was also held in a psychiatric hospital from 1872 to 1910 after he murdered George Merrett. It was probably through his correspondence with the London booksellers that he heard of the call for volunteers for what was to become the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). He devoted most of the remainder of his life to that work. He became one of the project's most effective volunteers, reading through his large personal library of antiquarian books and compiling quotations that illustrated the way particular words were used. He was often visited by the widow of the man he had killed, and she provided him with further books. The compilers of the dictionary published lists of words for which they wanted examples of usage. Minor provided these, with increasing ease as the lists grew. It was many years before the OED's editor, Dr. James Murray, learned Minor's background history, and visited him in January 1891. In 1899 Murray paid compliment to Minor's enormous contributions to the dictionary, stating, "we could easily illustrate the last four centuries from his quotations alone." He was born in Ceylon

22 June 1898 – Erich Maria Remarque - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Maria_Remarque

Born Erich Paul Remark, 20th-century German novelist. His landmark novel All Quiet on the Western Front (1928), about the German military experience of World War I, was an international best-seller which created a new literary genre, and was subsequently made into the film All Quiet on the Western Front. Remarque had made his first attempts at writing at the age of 16. Among them were essays, poems, and the beginnings of a novel that was finished later and published in 1920 as The Dream Room (Die Traumbude). All Quiet on the Western Front (Im Westen nichts Neues) (1929), his career defining work, was written in 1927. Remarque was at first unable to find a publisher for it. Its text described the experiences of German soldiers during World War I. On publication it became an international bestseller and a landmark work in twentieth-century literature. It inspired a new genre of veterans writing about conflict, and the commercial publication of a wide variety of war memoirs. It also inspired dramatic representations of the war in theatre and cinema, in Germany as well as in countries that had fought in the conflict against the German Empire, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Remarque continued to write about the German experience after WWI. His next novel, Three Comrades (Drei Kameraden), spans the years of the Weimar Republic, from the hyperinflation of 1923 to the end of the decade. His fourth novel, Flotsam (in German titled Liebe deinen Nächsten, or Love Thy Neighbour), first appeared in a serial version in English in 1939. His next work, the novel Arch of Triumph, was first published in 1945 in English, and the next year in German as Arc de Triomphe. Another instant bestseller, it reached worldwide sales of nearly five million. His final novel was Shadows in Paradise. He as born in Osnabrück,German Empire.

22 June 1899 – Richard Gurley Drew - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Gurley_Drew

American inventor who worked for Johnson and Johnson, Permacel Co., and 3M in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he invented masking tape and cellophane tape. While testing their new Wetordry sandpaper at auto shops, Drew was intrigued to learn that the two-tone auto paint jobs so popular in the Roaring Twenties were difficult to manage at the border between the two colors. In response, after two years of work in 3M's labs, Drew invented the first masking tape, a two-inch-wide tan paper strip backed with a light, pressure-sensitive adhesive. The first tape had adhesive along its edges but not in the middle. In its first trial run, it fell off the car and the frustrated auto painter growled at Drew, "take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!" (By "Scotch," he meant "cheap".) The nickname stuck, both to Drew's improved masking tape, and to his 1930 invention, Scotch Brand cellulose tape. In 1930 he came up with the world's first transparent cellophane adhesive tape (called sellotape in the UK and Scotch tape in the United States). During the Great Depression, people began using Scotch tape to repair items rather than replace them. This was the beginning of 3M’s diversification into all manner of marketplaces and helped them to flourish in spite of the Great Depression. He was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

22 June 1958 – Bruce Campbell - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Campbell

Bruce Lorne Campbell, American actor, voice actor, producer, writer and director. One of his best-known roles is Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film Within the Woods. He has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Maniac Cop , Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, and Bubba Ho-Tep . In television, Campbell had lead roles in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Jack of All Trades , and a recurring role as Autolycus,King of Thieves, in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess . He played Sam Axe on the USA Network series Burn Notice and reprised his role as Ash Williams on the Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead. Campbell started his directing career with Fanalysis and A Community Speaks, and then with the horror comedy feature films Man with the Screaming Brain and My Name Is Bruce, the latter being a spoof of his career. Campbell is featured as a voice actor in several video game titles. He provides the voice of Ash in the three games based on the Evil Dead film series: Evil Dead: Hail to the King,Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick and Evil Dead: Regeneration. In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, starting with an autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, published on August 24, 2002. The autobiography was a successful New York Times Best Seller.If Chins Could Kill follows Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget films and television, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood". He was born in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Events of Interest

22 June 1633 – The Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe in the form he presented it in, after heated controversy. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair#Trial_and_second_judgment,_1633

Galileo was interrogated while threatened with physical torture. A panel of theologians, consisting of Melchior Inchofer, Agostino Oreggi and Zaccaria Pasqualigo, reported on the Dialogue. Their opinions were strongly argued in favour of the view that the Dialogue taught the Copernican theory. Galileo was found guilty, and the sentence of the Inquisition, issued on 22 June 1633, was in three essential parts:

Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy", namely of having held the opinions that the Sun lies motionless at the center of the universe, that the Earth is not at its centre and moves, and that one may hold and defend an opinion as probable after it has been declared contrary to Holy Scripture. He was required to "abjure, curse, and detest" those opinions.

He was sentenced to formal imprisonment at the pleasure of the Inquisition. On the following day this was commuted to house arrest, which he remained under for the rest of his life.

His offending Dialogue was banned; and in an action not announced at the trial, publication of any of his works was forbidden, including any he might write in the future.

22 June 1978 – End of the World came in theatres in Columbia - https://www.scifihistory.net/june-22.html

On this day in 1978 (in Colombia), End of the World served up yet one Apocalyptic-themed SciFi/Thriller. The feature film starred Christopher Lee (in a dual role) and Sue Lyon, and here's the premise as cited "After witnessing a man's death in a bizarre accident, Father Pergado goes on a spiritual retreat, where he encounters his alien double bent on world conquest." For no apparent reason, French distributors cut the movie down to one hour and fifteen minutes for its French theatrical release, Sir Christopher Lee only appearing in its prologue and its conclusion. Sir Christopher Lee has said about this movie: "Some of the films I've been in I regret making. I got conned into making these pictures in almost every case by people who lied to me. Some years ago, I got a call from my producers saying that they were sending me a script and that five very distinguished American actors were also going to be in the film. Actors like José Ferrer, Dean Jagger, and John Carradine. So I thought "Well, that's all right by me". But it turned out it was a complete lie. Appropriately, the film was called End Of The World."

22 June 1978 – Charon, the first of Pluto's satellites to be discovered, was first seen at the United States Naval Observatory by James W. Christy. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_(moon)#Discovery

On June 22, 1978, he had been examining highly magnified images of Pluto on photographic plates taken with the telescope two months prior. Christy noticed that a slight elongation appeared periodically. The blob seemed to move around Pluto. The direction of elongation cycled back and forth over 6.39 days―Pluto's rotation period. Searching through their archives of Pluto images taken years before, Christy found more cases where Pluto appeared elongated. Additional images confirmed he had discovered the first known moon of Pluto. The International Astronomical Union formally announced Christy's discovery to the world on July 7, 1978. After its discovery, Charon was originally known by the temporary designation S/1978 P 1, according to the then recently instituted convention. On June 24, 1978, Christy first suggested the name Charon as a scientific-sounding version of his wife Charlene's nickname, "Char".

Intro

Artist – Goblins from Mars

Song Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)

Song Link -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJ

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valiantcatgoatee-blog · 5 years

Text

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waynekelton · 5 years

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The Most Exciting iOS & Android Games of 2019

The mobile gamer can look back at 2018 with an affectionate and misty eye, secure in the knowledge that gaming on mobile devices gets more diverse, sophisticated and polished with each year. In this respect, 2019 also is shaping up to be a banner year on this front.

Roughly speaking, the most exciting upcoming games can be split into three groups: the name-brand megahits-in-waiting, boardgame adaptations, and indie projects. Read on to see what the who’s who of mobile gaming are cooking up for this year’s treats.

Quick Mentions

Fluxx - Playdek are bringing back their digital adaptation of iconic card game Fluxx, which was lost in the iOS 11 Appocalypse. It's due out on July 17th and provided you still have access to the original account you purchased it on, existing owners won't need to 're-purchase' the game again.

League of Legends Mobile - Riot are another company trying to port their heavy-hitter game to mobile. We've only had vague reports so far, and we're not even sure it's coming out this year, so it gets a quick mention for now pending further information.

Dead Cells - Being an action/platformer, this isn't something we usually cover, but the mobile port of this critically acclaimed indie game will be arriving on August 28th. Here's a trailer.

Commandos 2 HD (Real Time Tactics)

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If you're a reader of our sister website, Strategy Gamer, you may have spotted at some point us mentioning that Kalypso Media (on mobile you'd know them for Project Highrise & Crowntakers) are doing HD remasters of Commandos 2 and Praetorians, two classic RTS games from the "good 'ol days". What you might not have spotted is that, in addition to PC & consoles, Commandos 2 specifically is being ported to mobile platforms - so iOS, Android and Switch (including the Switch Lite, we assume). One of E3's more surprising announcements, especially from a mobile perspective, and we can't wait to see how it takes to being on handheld. If you've never played Commandos 2 (or any Commandos game) here's the official blurb to help you along:

In Commandos 2 HD Remastered, take control of an elite group of commandos who must venture deep into enemy territory and utilize their combined expertise to complete a series of notoriously demanding missions set in World War II. In this genre-defining classic, explore interactive environments and use your commandos’ unique skillsets to complete your mission against seemingly impossible odds.

The PC/Console version at least is probably landing in Q4 2019, but we're not sure if they're aiming to have mobile release at the same time. If not, this one could actually slip to our inevitable 2020 list, but we're happy it's coming either way.

Phantom Doctrine (Turn-based Strategy)

Phantom Doctrine ... mobile version, are you ready for the change.#indiegame #gamedev #mobile #PhantomDoctrine pic.twitter.com/fKM4RAVqkN

— CreativeForge Games (@CFGmain) June 7, 2019

Another one a few of us here are really looking forward to. Phantom Doctrine was an attempt to make an XCOM-like game set during the Cold War. You run an international spy agency and you must train up your agents, develop their cover and embed them in locations, as well as engaging in other acts of espionage and intrigue. There's a 'base/strategic' part, and then a turn-based tactical part. What stops this from just being a token nod towards Bond-style espionage is that most turn-based tactical battles can start off peacefully, and even end without a shot being fired provided you do your job well enough.

It's pretty good, although it was a bit glitchy when it first launched, but provided how well XCOM fits on tablet and mobile, I have no doubt the mobile version of Phantom Doctrine is going to be right up our alley. Considering there was no word of an actual release window, perhaps a 2019 release is a bit ambitious but what the heck, we're excited!

Tom Clancy's Elite Squad (Collectable RPG/Battler Thing)

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Not sure if this is turn-based or real-time thing - there's not much information beyond the E3 2019 trailer. Ubisoft will be offering players the chance to assemble a 5-person squad with characters from across their franchises, where you need to collect and upgrade characters and fight in 5v5 battles against either the AI or other players. There's going to be a single-player story + guild vs. guild warfare.

No release date, but pre-registration is already live so I'm expecting at least a beta or something this year, with perhaps the full release early next year if not by Christmas. I stand by what I said when we originally reported on this though - I think Ubisoft are missing a trick by not making this an Auto Chess game.

Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall (As Above)

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Behavoir Interactive (them what made Fallout Shelter) had their own announcement as this year's E3. In the same vein as Ubisoft's Elite Squad, BE are working with HBO on Beyond the Wall, another RPG/Strategy/Squad Battler thing. Usually, separate new games sharing the same basic DNA signifies an emerging trend but, again, I think the guys have completely missed the fact that Auto Chess is happening.

Still, all the parts are there to make this a potentially compelling experience - you've got to recruit people into the Night's Watch, go on rangings beyond the Wall and defend said Wall from wildlings. This trying to cash-in on the recently finished television show, there will be some magical based mumbo-jumbo reason to recruit, or collect, famous people from the TV series as well (this game is officially set half a decade before Book 1, so you can imagine there'll be a bit creative license going on here). Pre-registration is live on both iOS & Android, so hopefully we'll learn more about this soon.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Tactical RPG)

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This is a tactical RPG inspired by Final Fantasy and its ilk, but made by a western studio. It was incredibly well received on PC/consoles when it released in 2017, and now we're finally getting a mobile port. It'll feature featuring deep dungeon diving, turn-based combat presented in a classic JRPG format, and a rich story driven by exploration of the world and will release on August 1st. We've seen that there's info on minimum device specs around, so make sure you've got the right tech.

Final Fantasy (Tactical RPG)

We're lumping two Final Fantasy games into one entry because there's not much to say on them at the moment. At E3 it was announced that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle's Remaster will also be hitting tablets and smartphones. We're expecting that to drop in the Winter. Here's the trailer:

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Meanwhile, Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius is getting a tactical RPG spin-off, War of the Visions. We're not 100% on details or release window yet, but it's also got a trailer:

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Minecraft Earth (AR)

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It seems 2019 is the year people finally try and jump on to the Pokemon GO craze. It's only been three year! Minecraft Earth is Microsoft & Mojang's answer to the likes of Ingress Prime and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Different from the existing Minecraft experience on mobile, this AR-fuelled game comes with a number of key concepts. First and foremost, people can explore the world in real-life, checking into locations on their phone much like how Pokestops work. These locations net them resources which can be used in the building mode, which is reported to be just as free-form as the original game. Finally, those constructions can then be placed in the real-world, so anyone with their phone can explore and interact with them.

This seems like a pretty decent marriage of Pokemon GO-style AR and a popular IP. Say what you want about Microsoft, none of their various Minecraft versions have felt like cynical cash-ins, so it'll be interesting to see how this one turns out. A beta of some kind is expected later this summer.

GWENT: The Witcher Card Game (Card Game)

One can never have too many card games in their lives, or at least, that's what the makers of all of the Hearthstone wannabes like to tell themselves every night before going to sleep. GWENT started life a a mini-game within The Witcher 3, but it proved so popular CDPR decided to spin it to create their own take on a digital card game. It's been out on PC for a little while already, and is now officially due to make its leap to mobile later this year. No details as to when yet, but we'll keep you posted.

Out of the Park GO! (Sports/Management)

While not the all-father of sports sims that is Football Manager, the OOTP Baseball series holds just a firm a place in baseball fans hearts. The mobile incarnation of OOTP has been a series of games called MLB Manager, the most recent of which we reviewed last year. It seems the developer is starting from scratch for the next iteration, even re-branding it to become OOTP GO! Here's what they have to say about it:

OOTP Go! will be free to play, which includes full access to Perfect Team and the ability to create and play fictional solo leagues. The current MLB rosters are a $4.99 in-app purchase, international leagues will be $1.99 each and historical MLB seasons will be (as usual) $0.99 (plus there will be bundles available for a reduced price).

Last thing we knew, it was due for release sometime this summer on iOS & Android.

Dire Wolf Digital (Board Game)

This isn't the name of a game, but the name of a company that announced this year they're making a bucket-load of digital board game adaptations. Because we only have the announcement text to go on, we've decided to keep the new games all in one place until we know more. The games Direwolf are bringing to digital (which afawk also includes mobile devices) are:

Mage Knights – It's worth noting this is the first step in a bigger agreement with WizKids, so it's likely we'll be seeing more announcements this year.

Wings of Glory – A popular table-top aerial skirmish game.

Raiders of the North Sea – An excellent worker placement game themed around the 8th and 9th century viking raids (pictured).

Yellow & Yangtze – a Reiner Knizia tile placement game of civilization building.

Sagrada – A dice drafting game about creating works of art.

Root – the recent Kickstarter sensation about asymmetrical warfare in the woods.

We're not sure which project is due to appear first - possible WizKids & Mage Knights, given the importance that project has within the announcement? We'll update as we learn more.

Call of Duty Mobile (Shooter/Battle Royale)

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Announced at GDC 2019, this latest Call of Duty-on-mobile spin-off is the latest in a long series of mobile adaptations of the hugely popular FPS franchise. This latest attempt appears to be following in the vein of games like Fortnite & ARK - offering a fully 3D, fully-developed version of the main franchise that can run on phones and tablets. From what we know so far, it's going to be a kind of 'greatest hits' compilation of modes, maps, characters etc... and may even feature a Battle Royale mode (putting it in direct competition with Fortnite, which is popular on mobile as well as desktop). We've not had official confirmation its coming this year, but pre-registration is open and we'd be surprised if Activision allow too long a lead time on this.

Mario Kart Tour (Racing)

It’s been practically a year since this title was first announced and outlined with few concrete details added between now and then. Nintendo’s mobile offerings have run the gamut, from the premium Mario Run, the Miitomo social & style app everyone tried and forgot about, to the successful and generally great Fire Emblem: Warriors. Mario Kart is a treasured and classic franchise, even amongst Nintendo offerings, so that reputation guarantees some level of careful handling. It remains an open question whether the game will be a premium or freemium model, but the launch date is still projected to be March.

Diablo Immortal (Action RPG)

Diablo Immortal will draw some side-eye and mockery, having been already made notorious because of its horribly mistimed announcement. (Yes, we have phones, but read the room, Activision-Blizzard). Even more puzzlingly, the game is being created in partnership with NetEase, a Chinese developer whose resume already includes ‘Eternal Realm’ (无尽神域) itself essentially a Diablo clone. Weird stuff: the official license merging with a pretender to the throne to make a hybrid project together. Concerns about endless grind or re-skinning of Eternal Realm are well-founded, but while most of us will be as judge-y as possible we’ll also probably still give the final product a try. Good action RPGs live or die by loot, character progression and above all, delicate-yet-accurate controls, so it will be interesting to see if Diablo Immortal will be a good game as well as the inevitable cash cow.

Five Tribes (Boardgame)

Five Tribes, oldie but goodie, will make its digital debut this year. Days of Wonder has been updating and digitising its catalogue at a steady pace and with fantastic results. Five Tribes central mechanic is just like mancala. Pick a space and drop the meeples one by one along the path. Dead simple, but if you think it makes the game easy, you’d be dead wrong. The Five Tribes each possess unique scoring criteria and effects, and the turn-order bid means timing depends on correctly valuing the current layout. Many simple bits add up to make a nigh-perfect game.

Scythe: Digital Edition (Boardgame)

In another history, the Great War also ruined Europe and annihilated a generation, but its nations and technologies faced the blight and devastation quite differently. With large mechs, steampunk agricultural combines and faux-Eurasian player nations, Scythe gives each player a unique entity to steer to victory. Engine building games are always efficiency races, conversion puzzles, but Scythe’s unique setting, eye-catching miniatures and indirect player confrontation quickly made a it a fan favorite amongst the gaming community. Its rollout on Steam has been smooth experience, with decent AI and a robust tutorial. The assets and UI will translate well to mobile and what used to cost near three figures will be available to most anyone for a fraction of the price.

Terraforming Mars (Boardgame)

Terraforming Mars sounds like a noble goal for all of humanity. In reality, the game is a push-and-pull competition for corporations to garner by prestige by...terraforming Mars. Three categories: oxygen, temperature and ocean coverage dictate the endgame, but to get there, players will reshape the red planet into a bright blue hope. It’s a Euro though-and-though: precisely balanced, intricately co-dependent and inevitably point-based. But the close match between theme and mechanic makes this game deeply satisfying and intuitive to learn and explain, and the action selection mechanic is uniquely innovative and inspired. Just when I think boardgame design is tapped out, something truly exceptional rises to the top.

A limited beta is already in progress on mobile, so hopefully it's not too much longer before we can get our hands on this one.

Mew-Genics (Sim)

This one has been incubating forever but should be worth it when it finally gets here. Ed McMillen (of Binding of Isaac fame) has been teasing this cat-breeding simulator for ages. The game has been described as a mix of Tamagotchi, Pokemon and the Sims, with its signature art style courtesy of McMillen. All bets for a playful wild game about the weirdness, sweetness, malice and all-around havoc of cat-raising seem to be right on the money. The ideas are there, the premise is promising, the only question remaining is when it will get here.

Overland (Finji) (TBS/Survival)

Overland is tactical turn-based survival meets cross-country road trip (from hell). Each waypoint is a battle, a flashpoint conflict over some minor life-extending objective. Its overland map and procedural generation seem reminiscent of FTL (or its follow-up Into the Beach) but the setting here is familiar people struggling with post-apocalyptic daily hardship. Water, medicine, gas, weapons: the items are banal but vital. The game uses minimalism and scarcity to great effect, sketching characters and strategic scenarios alike with the barest elements.

Impossible Bottles (Rhythm/Action)

Various robots move about in their bottles and raging about like a bull in a china shop. Each level presents one of these Impossible Bottles for the player to fix by manipulating the environment and repairing the situation, or at the very least soothing its sole occupant. A scientist built these robots as part of a perpetual motion machine for unlimited energy, but they don’t quite work as is. The secret to fixing everything is music, or in gameplay terms: rhythm. One-touch gameplay and lush, fantastic art, with a slated mid-year release.

Nowhere Prophet (Card Game)

Nowhere Prophet (Pictured): this one is a doozy and a little secretive. The dark horse of this race, if you will. In the game, post-apocalyptic leaders trek across a scabrous landscape to gather supporters and supplies, occasionally clashing with foes or environmental dangers. This card game has grid-based combat as well procedurally generated encounters. It’s a card-battler roguelike, essentially, with a unique setting and what seems to be a robust battle system. Current indications state it's due to release this Summer.

Heaven’s Vault (Interactive Fiction)

Inkle (of 80 Days interactive fiction fame) has been teasing their mechanically ambitious Heaven’s Vault for some time now. An archaeologist-slash-xenolinguist explores the dusty remains of an alien civilization on an unknown planet, with a vivid backdrop of sienna sand and celestial blue. There’s some pretty nifty procedural tricks behind the code-breaking and translation, and while its approach to storytelling is a little less handcrafted, it has the potential to have even more surprises and replayability than the globe-trotting 80 Days.

Other Missing Games From 2018

As a reminder, here is a quick list of some other games we were expecting last year, but never turned up:

Bad North (RTS)

Exodus: Proxima Centauri (Boardgame)

Epic Card Game (Card Game)

Lord of the Rings Living Card Game (Card Game)

Monster Slayers (Card Game)

EVE: War of Ascension (MMO)

Best 2019 Mobile Releases So far

There's already been some excellent releases this year, and not all of them were expected/on this list. If you haven't already, check these games out:

Astrologaster (??)

Tharsis (Turn-Based Strategy)

Shards of Infinity (Card Game)

Fort Sumter (Boardgame)

Dungeon Warfare 2 (RTS)

Cultist Simulator (Card Game/Sim)

Necrodancer AMPLIFIED (Roguelike)

The Castles of Burgundy (Boardgame)

Star Traders: Frontiers (RPG)

Legends of Andor (Boardgame)

Evolution: The Video Game (Boardgame)

The Escapists 2: Pocket Breakout (Simulation)

Seen any other games coming out this year you're excited about? Let us know in the comments.

The Most Exciting iOS & Android Games of 2019 published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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travelonlinetips-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on https://travelonlinetips.com/10-reasons-why-adults-need-to-go-on-a-disney-cruise-with-no-kids/

10 reasons why adults need to go on a Disney cruise with no kids

Does this enchanting Atrium look like it’s meant solely for children? — Photo courtesy of Matt Stroshane

Let’s face it. Peter Pan might have been more willing to grow up if he realized he would still be able to enjoy a Disney Cruise as an adult.

Despite its childlike Disney theme – or maybe because of it – almost a quarter of Disney Cruise passengers actually travel without kids, and that number continues to grow.

Why?

Here are 10 reasons to channel your inner child and be their guest.

Characters

Mickey and Minnie are great traveling companions — Photo courtesy of Matt Stroshane

Above all, Disney is about those beloved characters, and it’s impossible to resist them no matter how old you are – as evidenced by all the adults waiting on line to get their picture taken with Mickey, Minnie and the gang during meet-and-greets. Getting a hug from them will make you feel that same sense of joy you experienced as a little kid.

The characters make lots of appearances aboard the ship, and you can check the daily schedule to see who’ll be where and when. Whether you re-enact childhood photos, or don a pair of ears or princess gown, you’ll create great new memories – and an enviable Instagram feed.

Quiet Cove pool

The Quiet Cove pool area is a sanctuary for adults — Photo courtesy of Todd Anderson

Like its name suggests, this adults-only area is located in a calm corner of the ship, and has its own pool and hot tub so you can soak your weary muscles or simply stretch out on a lounge chair.

When you’ve had enough sun, head inside to Cove Cafe, an adults-only lounge serving drinks and snacks.

Adult beverages

Drink a toast to Dumbo, who inspired the bubbly decorations in Pink, an elegant adults-only lounge on Disney Dream — Photo courtesy of Matt Stroshane

Raise a glass to your magical vacation at one of the many bars and lounges that serve specialty cocktails, fine wines and spirits, champagne and an eclectic array of domestic and imported beers.

You can even take a mixology class or experience From Stem to Stern, a tasting led by one of the ship’s sommeliers, where you get to sample wines from around the world.

Rainforest Room

The Rainforest Room is an oasis on the ship — Photo courtesy of Diana Zalucky

This oasis in the Senses Spa & Salon is a hidden gem, and you should do yourself a favor and buy a length-of-cruise pass as soon as you board the ship because there are only a limited number available and they sell out quickly.

The Rainforest Room features heated ceramic loungers overlooking the sea, and they’re so comfortable, you could happily pass the day in one. But be sure to get up and test the saunas, steam rooms and delightful hot and cold open shower experiences that mimic everything from tropical storms to waterfalls.

Speaking of showers: those in the spa are much bigger than the ones in the staterooms, and a Rainforest Room pass gives you access to them, as well as more space to dry your hair.

Castaway Cay

Castaway Cay is a private 1000-acre island exclusively for Disney Cruise Line guests — Photo courtesy of David Roark

Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line’s private island in the Bahamas, is a huge selling point for their Caribbean cruises, and at the end of the island, there’s another private space called Serenity Bay. Exclusively for adults, this pristine stretch of beach is located almost a mile from the main family beach, and is dotted with lounge chairs and two-person hammocks for ultimate relaxation.

You can even enjoy your own adults-only buffet lunch here (it’s included with the cruise), and Bahamian specialty drinks, beer and cocktails are available at the nearby Castaway Air Bar.

Opt for the 3-in-1 Castaway Cay rental package that includes all-day snorkeling equipment and a float or tube for those gorgeous turquoise waters, as well as a one-hour bike rental to explore the island’s two trails and observation tower.

If you want to work off some of those cruise calories, enter the one-of-a-kind runDisney Castaway Cay 5K. Participation is free, and you’re rewarded at the finish line with a collectible medal that changes each year.

Nightclubs

The windows of Skyline are constantly changing to showcase some of the world’s most iconic skylines — Photo courtesy of Preston Mack

Although adults seem to enjoy the regular entertainment as much as the kids, there are also plenty of nightclubs meant just for them.

Depending on the ship, look for Europa, The District or After Hours, all of which offer a variety of sophisticated bars and lounges, casual pubs and trendy clubs. These are the spots for cabaret shows, dancing, competitive (but friendly!) games, live satellite sports broadcasts and live nighttime entertainment.

Goofy’s Sports Deck

Test your skill on one of the simulators on Goofy’s Sports Deck — Photo courtesy of Chloe Rice

Deck 13 on the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy is all about fun and games, and is home to a nine-hole miniature golf course as well as ping pong tables and a basketball court.

Tucked inside a nice shady room are two sports simulators. One is devoted solely to golf, offering you the opportunity to virtually play one of 60 different courses. The other lets you choose from half a dozen sports, including baseball, football and hockey. These are both very popular and require reservations, which you should make as soon as possible since they do book up quickly.

Palo

Disney’s signature specialty restaurant, Palo, serves delicious Italian food — Photo courtesy of Disney

Named after the signature poles used by gondoliers in Venice, Palo is Disney Cruise Line’s adults-only signature specialty restaurant.

Serving delicious Italian food in an intimate and upscale setting, Palo features seaside views and beautiful decor that will make you feel like you’re in Italy, wherever you’re sailing. Don’t miss the stunning, pasta-inspired glass chandelier – and, of course, the actual pasta dishes like penne arrabbiata and pillowy potato gnocchi piennolo in tomato sauce with kale. Delizioso!

Broadway-style shows

Disney’s onboard production of Beauty and the Beast rivals Broadway — Photo courtesy of Steven Diaz

You can spend hundreds of dollars to see a Disney show like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin or Frozen on Broadway or, depending on which ship you’re sailing, you can enjoy one of them on a Disney cruise.

These productions are not your standard cruise ship fare. They are true theater, with all the creativity you expect from Disney. They will give you all the feels and make you nostalgic about the first time you saw them.

Port Adventures

Embark on your choice of Port Adventures — Photo courtesy of Matt Stroshane

Although it’s tempting to stay on the ship, you should get off to discover the new places you’ve traveled so far to see.

Disney offers dozens of port adventures, including adults-only excursions where you can go whale watching in Alaska, enjoy a rum tasting in Puerto Rico or Jamaica, or explore the Hermitage Museum in Russia. As you immerse yourself in other cultures and experience the local traditions, you’ll come to understand that we’re all more alike than we are different and that it really is a small world after all.

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mikebrackett · 7 years

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Great Games for Young Gamers

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I’m just going to get this out of the way upfront. I love video games! They can do so many great things, including letting us escape into other worlds and do all sorts of feats we would never be able to accomplish in real life.

Cerebral palsy has made it impossible for me to be a Major League Baseball player, but with a couple of joysticks, I can lead the Detroit Tigers to the World Series. In other games, the player has the chance to control a character with superhuman abilities and possibly even save the world.

Kids in this day and age are exposed to screens and technology earlier than ever. If you have children who are starting to get into gaming, what games should you take a look at for them?

The goal of this post is to go over several options that will jog both your child’s brain and their interests. Hopefully, we find a little something for every interest.

Level 0: Before You Shop

Before we go any further, there are a couple of things we need to go over to make sure your child has the best possible gaming experience. This section will discuss system compatibility and content ratings.

System Compatibility

The first thing you need to think about when you’re shopping for your child is what system they’ll be playing on. If they’ll be playing on an iPad, apps designed for an iPod Touch or for the iPhone may not look as good when they’re scaled up, and apps designed for the iPad may or may not work on the smaller screen common to phones.

Similarly, games are only designed to work on one platform in most cases. Games for iOS won’t work on Android because the underlying code has to be different. You don’t want to get a game that will only work on the Nintendo Switch for someone that has a PlayStation 4. Unfortunately, the systems aren’t always backward compatible with the older versions of games, either. In other words, you can’t assume your new Xbox One will play every one of your old Xbox 360 games. The major console manufacturers maintain a backwards compatibility list, so be sure to check it.

Finally, lots of people play games on the computer because computers have access to the most cutting-edge components in terms of graphics and performance, etc. However, it’s important to check the system requirements on games before buying. Not only do you have to think about the operating system, you also want to be aware of your graphics card, available hard drive space and system memory. If your computer is above the minimum specifications but below the developer’s recommended guidelines, you may notice the performance leaves a little something to be desired.

Of course, if you’re like me and you notice your PC is sluggish running a kids’ game you’re researching in preparation for this article, you may make the decision to either not play on a PC or get a new computer altogether. As you can see, PC gaming can be expensive. Computers tend to have a shorter lifecycle than console hardware like the Xbox or PlayStation.

Parental Content Ratings

Games also have content ratings based around age levels to give parents guidance if they’re looking for appropriate content for their children. There are a couple of different ways this is handled.

For all games put out by the major console manufacturers – Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo – a rating is assigned by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ESRB is a nonprofit, self-regulatory organization started by the video game industry to assign ratings for games and apps. The ratings run from “Early Childhood” through “Adults Only.” Android also uses ESRB ratings for some of its apps and games. Content descriptors are also given so that you can see why a game was given the rating it has. You may decide, for instance, that you’re OK with cartoonish violence but not vulgar language.

Apple uses its own rating system for the age-appropriateness of iOS apps, but age recommendations can be found next to the name of the app on the download page.

Image: iOS Ratings

Whether you’re on a console, PC or mobile device, your device documentation should come with info on how to set up parental controls so you can control the type of content your children have access to as well as whether they can make in-app purchases.

Level 1: Adventure and World Building

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get to the games. We’ll start with a couple that are all about adventure and letting your children unleash their creativity by building their own creations.

Minecraft

Image: Minecraft

Platform: Too many to list (It runs on almost any PC, including Linux, as well as Mac computers, modern smartphones, and mobile and console gaming platforms

Content Rating: Everyone 10+, iOS: ages 9+

Content Descriptors: Varies by edition, but fantasy violence and some mild language

Price: $26.95 (PC and Mac), $20 – $30 (console and Apple TV editions), $6.99 (all mobile and Samsung Gear VR edition)

Minecraft is huge with kids right now. It lets the player build their own worlds and go on quests as well as compete in cartoony battles with other players. If you’re a bit tech savvy, you can help your children host their own servers with their worlds and take advantage of modifications and game content created by other players, but the game stands up well on its own, too.

Another big advantage of this game is that because it was originally coded in Java, it’s been easy for the game’s developers to make a version available on almost any platform you can think of. Linux compatibility especially is a rarity. There’s also a version for the Samsung Gear VR. If you’re on the cutting edge, your children can play in full virtual reality.

Little Big Planet 3

Image: Little Big Planet

Platform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3

Content Rating: Everyone

Content Descriptors: Comic mischief, mild cartoon violence, tobacco reference

Price: $19.99 (PlayStation 4 digital download), $9.99 (PlayStation 3 digital download)

Little Big Planet 3 is Sony’s latest edition of its popular platformer series. The gameplay functions similarly to other platform games, like Mario Bros. and the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The character has to hop around the levels avoiding obstacles, sometimes at a high speed, in order to accomplish their goal.

What sets the series apart is the opportunity for players to create their own levels for the character to navigate. They can then share these with other players.

Level 2: Logic Games

Video games can be powerful teachers of logic as well. The best part is that by playing these fun puzzle games, your child may not even feel like they’re learning – but they are.

Number Puzzles: Threes and 2048

Platforms: iOS, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox One, Android, Windows Phone

Content Rating: Everyone

Content Descriptors: Not applicable

Price: Xbox One ($4.99), Nintendo 3DS ($1.99), free with ads on mobile platforms (can be removed by purchasing the paid version for a few bucks)

These games are incredibly similar to one another. The only difference is whether you prefer to start the game with a base of 2 or 3. For the purposes of explaining the game mechanic, I’m going to use Threes. You start with a game board like the one below.

Image: Threes

Ones and twos turn into threes when combined. From there, you’re looking to match up threes with other threes to become sixes, sixes to become 12, and so on. You keep applying until you run out of moves with a full board. It gets harder the further you get in the game. The best I’ve managed is to combine 192 and 192 to get 384, but this game is quite catchy. 2048 relies on the exact same concept and gameplay mechanics.

Circuitry

Image: Circuitry

Platforms: iPad

Content Rating: Ages 4+ (Realistically, this game seems aimed at junior high students and high schoolers, given the difficulty level)

Content Descriptors: Not applicable

Price: Free

This is a great app for teaching students about Boolean logic and the way circuitry works when wired together. It starts with basic “and” logic. “And” logic tests whether two or more things are all true. If they are, then an action is taken. In this case, circuits are connected through an “and” gate in order to turn on lights. Then it gets into “or” gates, where the circuit works if it’s properly connected to one terminal or the other. And it goes from there. It doesn’t take very long to get into complex problems that will really help to flesh out your child’s understanding of how the circuitry works. As they master the different logic gates, they can use them in a playground mode to create their own circuits.

Right now, it’s only available for iPad, although there’s a reference on the website that they’re looking for developers, so maybe there are plans to expand to other platforms. The site also says it’s available for free for a limited time only.

Level 3: Physics Puzzlers

Now it’s time for a few games that are great little physics puzzles. Your child can get the basics without having to get out paper and pencil and struggle for hours like we did.

Angry Birds

Image: Angry Birds 2

Platforms: iOS, Android, PC and Mac (varies depending on the version)

Content Rating: Ages 4+

Content Descriptors: Not applicable

Price: Free

I know, I know. This is a little played out, and there was an awful movie and 67 sequel games and spinoffs, but Angry Birds remains a great way for your child to learn about vector-based physics. I don’t care how many special powers these birds have, they won’t be able to get rid of the evil piggies (it’s a little thin on plot) unless your children launch the birds at the right angle with the right momentum.

Rube Goldberg Machines

Image: Crazy Machines 3

As a kid, did you ever put together one of those crazy Rube Goldberg machines? These were crazy contraptions that set off a chain reaction of complex events in order to accomplish a simple task, like dunking a basketball or starting the toaster.

When I was younger, there was a game called The Incredible Machine that I really enjoyed. It would challenge you to create these types of insane domino effect chain reactions on the computer. That game is no longer being made, but plenty of software developers are picking up where that game left off. One I particularly like is Crazy Machines 3. For $20, kids can solve a variety of fun challenges spanning several physics disciplines.

It’s worth noting that there are a lot of games like this. A quick search of your PC or phone app store will bring up a ton of options spanning a variety of price points. You’ll want to check out the reviews, but there are lots of awesome choices.

Level 4: Just for Fun

Image: Sonic the Hedgehog

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about how games can help your child’s development so far, but I definitely don’t want to lose the fun here. It’s important to balance your desire for something that’s both fun and educational with your child’s interests.

If your child is into sports, you might consider letting them play an NBA game. Mario and Sonic have even made their way to the phone now.

Plants vs. Zombies is an excellent series of turn-based strategy games your child will thoroughly enjoy. Pokémon GO is a really fun game that has re-energized the urge in many to “catch ‘em all.” It also has the added benefit of getting your kids off the couch and out of the house.

The video game universe is huge, and we’ve just scratched the surface. Do you have any games you like to play with your children that we haven’t mentioned? Share them with us in the comments below.

The post Great Games for Young Gamers appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/top-10-games-gamers-12-review-expert

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swimmingexpertcollective-blog · 7 years

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flauntpage · 7 years

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How Dr. J and Larry Bird Helped Build a Video Game Empire

Growing up, Trip Hawkins was a big fan of strategy board games; he's been a paying Strat-O-Matic customer for more than 50 years. While a student at Harvard University in the mid 1970s, he created AccuStat Football, blowing $5,000 of his father's money on a few hundred copies of a board game that found hardcore fans but not a larger audience. He loved his simulated pigskin creation, but for his friends it lacked a certain visual pizzazz.

"It was basically a computer game without a computer, and my friends didn't find it all that fun. They gravitated toward watching TV," says Hawkins. "I enjoyed the idea of a sports game that involved thinking, making choices, and living with the outcomes. When I first heard about computers, I thought, Someday, if I can combine the simulated gameplay with the pretty pictures of television, everyone will want to play it."

His first business venture may have been a flop, but he already had a plan to turn his beloved geeky football game into something bigger. Hawkins designed his own major with a focus on game design, and after the first retail store to rent microprocessors opened in Massachusetts in 1975, he began conceptualizing what his video-game company might look like.

After graduating from Harvard in 1976 and getting an MBA at Stanford, Hawkins spent a few years working for a small startup called Apple, eventually rising to Director of Strategy and Marketing before leaving to start his own company. Electronic Arts was officially founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982, with one major goal in mind: Hawkins, a sports nerd going back to his childhood, wanted to change the way sports games were played.

"It was hard to see the football game I poured myself into fail, but I realized two things. I loved being an entrepreneur, and I had a lot to learn about running a business," he says. "I'm not an engineer, but I was working with some of the best software developers in the world, who weren't seen as artists. The angle I decided to take was to embrace them as the creative divas that they were and treat video games as the new Hollywood."

As the company celebrates its 35th anniversary this week, it's worth noting one early title that proved to be especially pivotal in EA's transformation into the $4.4 billion juggernaut it is today, and did, in fact, fulfill Hawkins' dream.

The 1983 release of One-on-One: Dr. J. vs. Larry Bird brought professional athletes into the video-game realm for the first time. It was a big leap forward for the company, and for the industry. There had been games like MLB Baseball for Intellivision that slapped the logo on a box, but there had never been a video game that allowed people to play as the athletes they watched.

"Dr. J. vs. Larry Bird was a major breakthrough for us, and it held up really well over time," says Hawkins. "The all-time best games have mechanics players don't get tired of. One-on-One has that design elegance, and it stayed alive even past Dr. J's retirement when we brought Michael Jordan on board."

Over its lifespan, the game was a huge financial boon for EA Sports, but the biggest payoff was in how it shaped the company. Hawkins says One-on-One gave him the confidence to further develop team sports games, letting players live out their athletic dreams from the couch.

EA Sports now boasts best-selling Madden, NHL and FIFA franchises, but One-on-One was first.

"It's a fantasy streetball version of basketball, instantly appealing because as a fan, you know who Larry Bird and Julius Erving are," says Jeremy Saucier, assistant director for the International Center for the History of Electronic Games in Rochester, New York. "I grew up in Massachusetts, and in the early 1980s, it seemed like the Celtics and 76ers met in the Eastern Conference Finals every year. EA took the cultural currency of the rivalry to create a best-selling game the likes of which hadn't been seen before."

One-on-One was more than just a bridge from the rudimentary video games of yore to today's technical marvels. It was a unique gaming experience that's remembered fondly by kids of the short-shorts era. In a warm tribute to the game at the website Kill Screen, writer Abe Stein says One-on-One can be seen as "a piece of surrealist art" and "absurdist basketball" in comparison to naturalistic gaming experiences like NBA 2k17.

"I'm sure the game looks ancient now—today's games are almost like real life—but I'm proud I got to be part of an early success," Larry Bird told VICE Sports. "Knowing that Julius and I were the first guys ever involved in something like it is pretty cool."

Julius Erving and Larry Bird's on-the-court rivalry helped sell popularize the video game. Photo Dick Raphael-USA TODAY Sports

Other factors helped lay the groundwork for EA's success. One-on-One came out in the same year that the great video-game crash of 1983 decimated the home console market. Some blamed the catastrophic release of Atari's E.T. the Extraterrestrial, thousands of copies of which were infamously buried in a New Mexico landfill. But E.T. was far from the only phoned-in title, and the glut of consoles and games flooding the market is widely believed to be the main culprit.

The Atari 2600 had been instantly popular since its release in 1977, but the company's glory days were over. EA came on to fill the gaming void.

"I considered the 2600 a toy, played for amusement, destined to be an electronic hula hoop that was dead in a few years," says Hawkins. "It only had 128 bytes of memory—notice I didn't say 'K'—so you couldn't do anything with it. What I was interested in was simulation, so we leapfrogged the 2600 and went to home computers. At the time, they cost around a thousand dollars, but were so much more powerful and allowed EA to do real software development."

Originally released for the Apple II, One-on-One would also become available for ColecoVision, Atari 800, Tandy TRS-80, and, crucially, as a floppy-disc game for the Commodore 64, the most popular computer in history. EA envisioned sports games as a staple from the outset, but Hawkins admits that baseball and football came before hoops in his hierarchy. His early focus was on the gridiron. He knew there wasn't enough processing power at the time to do a full 11-on-11 football game, but he had an idea based on his personal fandom.

"I'm a 49ers fan and EA launched the year of their first Super Bowl win, which followed 'The Catch,' Joe Montana to Dwight Clark. I thought maybe we could animate a quarterback, a receiver, and a couple of defensive players," says Hawkins. "The one thing I was certain of was that the game had to have the actual players in it, real-life heroes in a box. As it turned out, Atari made a deal with Montana to be an endorser of its entire product line, so I had to go a different route."

In considering how best to create a mano-a-mano game, Hawkins recalled a one-on-one basketball tournament sponsored by the hair-care product Vitalis. (Hawkins says he saw short black-and-white clips when he was a kid, but the only reference we found to the competition dates it to 1972, when Hawkins would have been 19. Check out the amazing title match between Bob Lanier and Jo Jo White. To honor the concept, the winner was paid $15,000 in singles!) Hawkins believed that a two-player basketball game could work because it would reflect a version of the sport people played in real life. Once he decided on the concept, he knew he wanted his favorite player in the game: Dr. J.

Julius Erving flew to the company's original headquarters in San Mateo, California, for principal photography and to give Hawkins and his team pointers. That was great, but Hawkins also needed to find the perfect stylistic foil to Erving, a sharp-shooting yin to Dr. J's sky-walking yang. And it would help if they were already NBA rivals.

"I played pinball as a kid, wasn't much for video games, but I remember when my agents explained what the concept was, I thought it was a great idea," Bird says. "I specifically remember the cover, it turned out great, really looked like Dr. J. and I just finished working out on a New York City playground… I can't remember if we shot it in New York. We must have. Sure looks like it."

Actually, both men had attended an event at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. EA photographers went to Massachusetts and grabbed Bird and Erving for a quick shoot afterwards. EA didn't have license to use Sixers or Celtics jerseys in the game, but luckily NBA jerseys wouldn't have fit with the playground motif, anyway.

Instead, EA told both players to wear street clothes for the cover shoot. They also instructed Erving to go shirtless and socks-up, and for both men to give their hardest-ass glare. It wasn't the Rucker, but it didn't really matter. It's not like they would've played an actual game.

"The photo features sprayed-on sweat," Hawkins says. "They both had lucrative professional basketball contracts, so they're not actually going to play one-on-one. If one of them got injured, EA would've had major issues."

Even the way the game shipped out to consumers was unique. Previously, floppy disc games were delivered in standard plastic baggies, no style whatsoever. Hawkins upped the flavor by going with a custom-sized cardboard record-album package. The 8-inch-square gatefold, with a sleeve for the game, was an entirely new presentation.

(For the record, Hawkins' favorite version was for the Commodore Amega, which included ambient sounds he and producer Joe Ybarra recorded live at a Warriors game. The hot dog and beer vendor sound samples were legit.)

The cover for the game was shot in Springfield, Massachusetts. Courtesy Electronic Arts

For all of its early-80s technological innovation, One-on-One would've had all the lasting cultural cachet of Double Dunk had it not been a monster hit. The game starts, like so many amazing basketball careers, with two competitors, one ball, and a playground. It was as cool as Dr. J. from the jump, opening with a Mooged-out version of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" with options to play against the computer, and four levels ranging from "Park and Rec" to "Pro." Or, of course, the version that whiled away many a sunny afternoon indoors, the head-to-head showdown, played either timed or to a certain score. Players even got to choose "Winner's Outs" or "Loser's Outs" on the possessions. (Law of the hooping land: half-court games are winner's outs.)

" One-on-One hit at a time that allowed it to be successful, but it wouldn't have had the same impact if it didn't have such great playability," says Saucier, one of the early video-game historians. "It was only six years after the introduction of Pong, the original sports game, but One-on-One seems like decades ahead in graphic advancement. Compared to Atari Basketball, which also featured two players, the game play of One-on-One has sophisticated movement. It's an extraordinary upgrade."

One-on-One didn't miss a trick. It features "Hacking" fouls called by a diminutive ref, traveling, 24-second shot-clock violations, instant replays (believed to be a video game debut), turnaround over-the-head baseline jumpers, 360-degree pirouettes in the lane, fallaways, putbacks, plus the sartorially correct vintage kneepads, accurate non-NBA jersey numbers, and, depending on your vantage point, rec-specs. There were also nifty audio details: dribbles that sound like a metronome, swishes that sound like rustling leaves, and a referee's whistle that sounds like nails on a blacktop.

"I'm an entertainment designer, it's what I do. I knew if we got Erving and Bird you already have built-in dramatic tension," says Hawkins, who currently teaches entrepreneurship and leadership at UC-Santa Barbara, and mentors men in recovery at his local rescue mission. "We kept the layout simple, half-court with a three-point line, so we could use all our animating power on these two spindly guys and their advanced moves. We wanted the shooting to be realistic, the matchup to have organic flow, and to have the attacking and defending be authentic, so you couldn't just run into a player and nothing happens. Physics had to be accurate. We also added the feature of making the jump and the release of the ball, at its apex, two separate motions. It was the game's most beautiful feature. I used it later with the John Madden 'Oomph' button."

As smooth as the gameplay was, there is one glitch that runs contrary to the popular collective memory of One-on-One. As it was being created, a young undisciplined developer was tasked with using accurate shooting percentages for Bird and Erving to highlight their individual skillsets. He failed to do so, which means they both have the same moves. It's true. Dr. J. didn't dunk more than Larry; Bird didn't make more threes than Erving.

Still, the legacy of One-on-One endures. Sure, it's graphically antiquated when stacked up next to the just-released NBA Playgrounds (which, side note, looks awesome as hell), but its hip-hop vibe is as relevant as ever. EA's statement game dropped right as rap records moved beyond the simple party songs that defined the genre's early years. It was released the same year as Kurtis Blow's "Basketball," which named-checked both Erving and Bird, and came hard on the heels of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's classic "The Message." One-on-One's packaging shared the gritty graffiti-strewn, baked-asphalt Rucker Park ethos of the song that took hip-hop in an entirely new direction, capturing the hard realities of urban living. The lettering looks just like the chalk scribblings on Gotham's streetball meccas. You could totally see The Get Down crew playing it at Shaolin Fantastic's crib.

Electronic Arts cleaned up. In 1983, One-on-One sold for $40 and reached No. 2 on the Softalk magazine bestseller list. (Over the long tail, it kept selling at annual sales cycle reductions to $30, $20, $10.) Hawkins estimates the original version sold more than a million units, with sales numbers of several million over its lifespan. It paid off for the Atlantic Division foes, as well. Both Erving and Bird signed deals for $25,000, and a 2.5 percent royalty rate, according to Hawkins. Dr. J. also got a bit of company stock, a perk not offered to his Indiana counterpart.

In return, the Larry Bird and Dr. J helped turn EA into a powerhouse.

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