May 102012
 


The most recent episode of Table Top was an intriguing one for they departed from the standard format of playing a large box game in favor of playing through three quick but different games. Tsuro, Zombie Dice, and Get Bit.

Tsuro is a tile laying game whereby players create paths on a game board which their Dragon Stones follow. The more tiles that are laid the more difficult it becomes to keep the paths from leading the stones off the edge of the board so the challenge is to become the last player remaining.

Zombie Dice is, as the name suggests, a dice game where players take on the role of brain munching zombies. The dice represent The Living whom the Zombies are chasing and rolling the dice determines whether that particular surviving human gets their brains eaten, shoots the zombie in the face, or manages to temporarily run away.

Get Bit is a simple yet devious game where the objective isn’t just avoiding getting eaten by the Shark, but more about letting your friends get eaten. You play one of several (apparently waterproof) robots swimming in the ocean when a shark starts chasing all of you. You play cards to see who is outswimming whom and the slowest robot loses a limb as it gets chomped by the cusinart-like jaws of a shark with an apparent iron deficiency.

Watch the Full Episode Here!

For me I found this episode truly delightful. Each of the games were delightful little gems, though your mileage may vary in regards to which one you enjoy most. I personally favored Tsuro so perhaps I am biased towards the episode because I felt it started off with the game that caught my attention most. The demos of the three games were timed very well and gave the pacing of the entire episode a very good feel.

But of course the entertainment value of the episode would be nothing without Wil Wheaton’s guests! This week we were treated to the likes of Ryan Higa, Rod Roddenberry, and Freddie Wong.

Continue reading for the extended TableTop Interviews.

Apr 212012
 

The Settlers of Catan is, as Wil Wheaton notes, a Modern Day Classic. He also notes how it is an Infection Vector and honestly I must say this is also an accurate description. For many gamers The Settlers of Catan has served as a gateway drug to the world of German Style Board Games. It is an iconic example of just how great well-designed board games can be compared to many of the ones that a lot of us Americans grew up on. So I have been looking forward to this week’s episode of Table Top with great anticipation.

Watch the Full Episode Here!

I would rate this episode favorably but it does lack a bit of the charm from the SmallWorld episode because the game is heavily dependant upon Trading with other players, and the thought processes that go into this trading strategy is a little more difficult to bring across to a spectating audience. In many ways though this is made up for by the numerous jokes involving trading wood for sheep, and of course the pun on Wheaton’s own name when the Wheat Resource is brought up as the focus of trading.

Now I feel slightly remiss in that in my previous article highlighting the joys of Tabletop’s first episode I failed to give proper coverage regarding the various celebrities that joined Wheaton. So for this article here’s a brief rundown on the folks that have graciously joined Wheaton for a night of building roads and playing with sheep…

Continue reading for more info on our celebrities and their related TableTop Interviews.
Continue reading »

Apr 132012
 

What’s Friday the 13th without a little bit of… F E A R ?

Luckily, I’ve got a handful of fear filled treats for you my friends.

THE SECRET

Dark Horse has teamed up with Geek & Sundry to bring us a variety of motion comics. Basically, the artwork of the books has been animated to a certain degree and voice overs added so that the comics are essential cartoons that retain their original graphic novel ‘feel’. This can be a sort of hit or miss proposition for some comics, but The Secret is a wonderful example of just how good it can work when done right.

Meet Tommy. His life is on the fast track to awesome. He’s graduating High School, ready to attend college, and has a hot girlfriend who’s completely into him. All that changes when a childish party prank leads to a disaster that tears to shreds his life and the lives of those around him. He’ll fight and claw his way to find answers and set things right. Suspense is the flavor of this frightful saga.




There are four total chapters in this comic with the first one presented above. The other three can be found here:
The Secret: Chapter 2
The Secret: Chapter 3
The Secret: Chapter 4

Next, something for Manga Enthusiasts.

THE ENIGMA OF AMIGARA FAULT


The Enigma of Amigara Fault by Junji Ito is a 32 page Nightmare. I mean that with loving praise. If you love horror, especially the unusual and unconventional kind, then this story may be right up your alley. It’s a quick read and is a stand alone story, and after reading it I felt truly unsettled which for me is the mark of a good horror story.

The story begins after an earthquake rips through Japan, and in one mountain range the fault line has exposed a previously buried ledge wall of rock with… unusual… stone formations that stretch for miles. After television crews broadcast images of the ledge wall hundreds of Japanese citizens begin hiking into the mountains to see it for themselves.

Why would hundreds of people hike into the mountains to see a wall of rock? You’ll have to read to find out.

SPIRIT CAMERA: THE CURSED MEMOIR

And last but not least, Nintendo has released a new game for the 3DS. A japanese horror augmented reality game which is a spin-off from the successful Fatal Frame series. For me this is a pretty terrifying concept. Japanese Horror games in 2D are frightening enough, but 3D???

Even worse, this isn’t just 3D but augmented reality so your own real world will be portrayed as haunted as well. You’ll be playing the game and suddenly ghosts will be floating out of the walls that you live in. You can even take pictures of your real life friends, and watch them become vengeful spirits in the game, hunting you through your real world surroundings. Yeah. That won’t make things awkward at your next gaming session. :p

Here’s a delightful little live action promotion for the game from the fine folks at Nintendo:




Well that’s it. I hope your world is a little more… uneasy… this Friday the 13th 🙂

Apr 052012
 

Wil Wheaton brings us a surprisingly delightful twist on board game reviews and web-based television through his new show, Table Top.

When I first clicked this link I was mired in a few layers of doubt.  The clip length read as 30 min.  Half hour TV shows aren’t even a full thirty minutes due to commercials, yet somehow I was expected to buy in to the premise that Wil Wheaton could deliver to me a 30 min segment in which he and three other celebrities would introduce us to a single board game… without getting bored (no pun intended).

I love Wil Wheaton so I decided to at least chisel off five minutes of my life to see if he could hook my interest, and by the time those handful of minutes were up I had been thoroughly snagged.  He reeled me in slowly, and when at last I realized that half the segment was over, I was already wishing it could be longer.

With new episodes coming out every other Friday on the brand new geeky website “Geek and Sundry”, it feels as if I’ll be breaking my life down into two-week segments of eager waiting as I anxiously look forward to each new episode of this delightful web-show. Due out April 20th is Episode 2, Settlers of Catan, and I can’t wait to see him and three more of his compatriots delve into the wonderful past time of board games 🙂

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