The Zerg are Rushing Google!

 News, Starcraft, Video Games  No Responses »
Apr 272012
 

The Zerg are an iconic antagonistic species in the world of video gaming, and are known for their ability to swarm, infest, and destroy.

And today they’re swarming google and eating our search results. Don’t believe me? Type Zerg Rush in to Google’s search engine and watch what happens.

As you can see the Zerg have infected the O’s in Google and now they’re swarming and devouring our search results! Use your mouse to click and shoot the O’s as fast as you can. This feature keeps track of your score and allows you to share it once the swarm inevitably wins 🙂

Shapeways Prints Your Imagination

 Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 242012
 

If you’re talented in the ways of 3D Computer Modeling and find it to be a creative outlet for your artistic endeavors then perhaps it’s time you investigated the world of 3D printing.

I first came across this curious (and awesome) collection of Thorn Dice over a year ago. They were designed by artist “Wombat” and uploaded by him to Shapeways where they can be ordered in a variety of materials. They exist initially as a 3D image file, and each purchase made is individually printed using an Additive 3D Printing process, and then shipped to the buyer.


These aren’t Wombat’s only dice though…

There are many…

Yet the point of my article isn’t just a plug for purchasing some of the arguably coolest gaming dice ever. The point is that you can actually design your own! If you’re talented in 3D computer modeling or have the time and motivation to learn, then you could be designing your own sets of dice.

or game parts…

or miniatures…

Monday Meanderings: Warring Guilds and Misfit Pirates

 Monday Meanderings  No Responses »
Apr 232012
 

Monday Meanderings hopes to break up the Monday Morning Monotony by bringing you a quick run-down on notable things occurring in the various geek sub-cultures at large.

Guild Wars is Seven Years Old!
Frak! How did that happen? I remember buying that game after graduating college. Anyhow, there’s a huge in-game celebration to mark this memorable milestone of one of the MMO genre’s most enduring games.

Darknes Falls, Heroes Rise
Blizzard has unveiled the fourth class in its special launch event for Diablo III. This week we’re treated to a biography of the Witch Doctor. If you plan on playing Diablo III then consider stopping by their website for some exclusive in-game banner designs.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists
The premier of Aardman Studios latest movie about Pirates is happening this week on April 27th here in the States under the moniker of The Pirates! Band of Misfits. If you’re into hi-jinks involving Pirates then please give it a look-see and let us know your review 🙂

The Avengers
We’ve been waiting a long time for this. We’ve seen a lot of Marvel Movies leading up to this one. Finally this highly anticipated film is just around the corner, due out in theatres on May 4th (that’s only next week!). Now I’m a tiny bit of a philistine when it comes to the greater whole of the comic book industry, so if there’s anyone out there willing to write up an Avengers related article for the site, I’d be in your debt 🙂

Avacyn Restored
My coworker has been nudging me to get back in to Magic: The Gathering, and it’s a difficult temptation to resist when expansions as beautiful as Avacyn Restored keep coming out. This latest chapter in the Multiverse of Magic is due out on May 5th, and will conclude their current saga with an uncommonly large set of cards. Enjoy M:tG enthusiasts!

Also to the right side of the page is a list of upcoming events and releases. If you know of something geeky and noteworthy that should belong there or have a suggestion for something to post on Monday Meanderings please let us know!

Folding Paper and Folding Protein

 Consoles, News, PS3  No Responses »
Apr 222012
 

Here are two subjects I came across at the same time yesterday. Both involve folding, but each is very different.

The first is a little bit of levity. Phillip West is an origami enthusiast whom has folded some of the most incredible designs I’ve ever seen, including a fair number of Dragons and other geeky creations.

The other curious Folding related subject involves a Stanford University project whereby folks with Computers and PS3’s can help support cancer research by doing nothing more than simply donating their excess processing power when they aren’t using their devices.


Folding@Home is a joint effort between Stanford and nine laboratories around the world to try to advance their research into learning how Proteins Fold. The website has a better explanation on this, but basically proteins “fold” in a certain way depending upon what function they are meant to serve in the human body. If they fold the wrong way, it leads to cancer and many other types of illness and disorders. We don’t fully understand this behavior in proteins, so there’s a huge effort to research it in the hopes that as we learn more about why proteins behave this way, it could help pave a path to correcting various cancers and illnesses before they even start.

There are a lot of simulations and computer calculations needed to map out these behaviors, and that’s a heavy task for a lot of labs with limited resources. Folks however can help out by downloading some software which runs in the background of our computers when the system is idle, so that when we aren’t using our computers, our processors are still doing something good. PS3’s can also do the same thing, and the software comes loaded with the latest system software (although the info on the site is out of date. The Fold@Home feature is now subsumed under the Life with Playstation option).

So if you feel like helping a good cause, then please consider partaking in Folding@Home

TableTop: Settlers of Catan

 Board Games, Table Top, Web Shows  No Responses »
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 »

This Week in Ink!

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Apr 202012
 

The Punisher 10:

And the wonderful beginning of The Omega Effect takes a step down as in this issue Mark Waid drops off and Rucka’s usual grittiness takes hold and the life Waid breathed into both Daredevil and Spider-man is unfortunately absent. I suppose it makes sense. After all, this is a Punisher comic, so it shouldn’t exactly be smiles but it’s just not as fun as Avenging Spider-man last week. It should be said, though, that Marco Checchetto’s art is utterly beautiful.

Wolverine and the X-men 9:

God, I hate events. I hate when events I dislike bleed into otherwise good comics. This comic is basically Wolverine dillying around wondering if he’s going to side with the X-men (the crazy isolationist x-men, not the cool adventures in space x-men) There’s some fun moments (Captain America in the danger room) and a lot of funny stuff happens but this comic is filler and it’s a shame when such a strong book gets dragged down by editorial mandate.

Batman 8:

This comic continues to be DC’s best as the Court of Owls continues its war on Batman. It’s not quite as the fist-pumpingly exciting as issue 6 but it’s still undeniably awesome. Batman’s been repeatedly attacked and this book shows itself to be a turning point to show that just as Batman didn’t know Gotham, the Court of Owls doesn’t know Batman as well as they think they do. The biggest problem I have is that this comic has pushed up to $3.99 to insert an inconsequential story about the rest of the bat-family (which includes the murderous Red Hood, perplexingly) to defend Gotham from the court. The book is still worth your cash. It’s just not as good a deal as usual this month.

Hellblazer 290:

John Constantine’s in a feud with Lucifer and it’s been awhile. Striking through Constantine’s wife Lucifer works to get to him. If you know anything at all about Hellblazer, you’re probably already reading this. It’s certainly not on the level of Garth Ennis or Mike Carey but it’s still a solid story for anyone who loves occult intrigue.

Wonder Woman 8:

This is the best Wonder Woman has ever been. It’s also probably the best thing Brian Azzarello has ever written. Armed to the teeth, Wonder Woman and Hermes have gone down to Hades to rescue Zola, who is bearing Diana’s half-sibling. This comic is beautiful and is what I’m sure future students of literature will call ‘metal as fuck’. It’s also worth saying that I love the armor Wonder Woman wears going into Hell.

The Amazing Spider-man 684:

Last year Dan Slott used the event Spider-Island to ask ‘when everyone has the same powers as Spider-man what makes Spider-man special?’ and this year Ends of the Earth asks ‘in a team that has an unstoppable rage monster and a literal god what makes Spider-man so useful?’ and the comic answers ‘Peter Parker of course.’ Despite the goofy football-player costume (which is not featured on the cover. CAN’T THINK WHY) Ramos’ art is expressive and poppy and the action is creative. It’s been a good past year for Spider-man.

The Invincible Iron Man 515:

I beginning to see a repeated pattern in Fraction’s Iron Man. Considering this is the second friend of Iron Man’s in three years to need the repulsor tech installed into him, I’m beginning to feel a bit of a creative drain. This comic has a lot of action, but aside from Rhodey being nearly killed, not a lot happens. Hopefully, we’ll get a satisfying finale like with Thor, but I really wish the otherwise great Fraction would stop writing for the trade.

The Defenders 5:

See, this is what Fraction is truly capable of. This book is a lot of fun. It focuses on Namor the Sub-mariner and an adventure deep below as he and Red She-Hulk open a Pandora’s box deep below. Each issue seems to be focusing on a different of each of the characters and it’s been great each time.

Diablo III Open Beta Weekend

 Diablo, News  No Responses »
Apr 202012
 

Nearly twelve years ago Blizzard released Diablo II, and work began almost immediately on developing Diablo III. After over a decade the game is almost about to hit store shelves, so it seems like life can’t get any better for Diablo Fans. Then this morning Blizzard invited everyone to play an Open Beta for this weekend only, and suddenly life got a little more savory.

That’s right, this isn’t a Closed Beta (which ends on May 1st btw), but an open one. Anyone whom has registered a Battle.net account (it’s free) and created a BattleTag (also free) can go to their Account Management screen and the section under games and download the Beta client on to their computer to play this weekend.

The Beta will run from Today, April 20th starting at 3:01 p.m. EST, and will end on Monday, April 23rd at 1:00 p.m. EST. The client is already available for download. Heads up though, the Beta is a little over 15 Gigabytes, so be prepared for a long download.

The full details of the event can be found on Blizzard’s Diablo 3 site.

Of Daleks, Bottles, and Etsy

 Dr Who, Etsy  No Responses »
Apr 192012
 

So there is this thing. I found it in my social network feed and being a fan of Doctor Who I instantly squeed! It was really just a tiny little dalek made out of polymer clay and which was trapped inside a tiny glass jar plugged with a cork. Honestly, turning one of the most deadly creatures in the Whoverse and diminishing it down to the same level on which we relegate poor little suffocated fairies from Zelda was simply too hilarious and adorable to not investigate.

The picture came from a Deviant Art account but was in fact the product of an Etsy established craftsperson. Yes, our tiny little bottle trapped dalek was a creation that could be purchased from the notably popular handmade crafts online marketplace that is Etsy.

On top of that, it turns out that the craftsperson behind this little dalek is extraordinarily talented in using polymer clay to create tiny yet finely detailed geeky sculptures. Everything from Studio Ghibli characters also trapped in bottles, to tiny little gaming remotes that are worn as rings.

Well, after a couple of weeks I thought to myself that this person’s Etsy store might make for a fine Yachting Scryer article. Not only do I know that lots of geeks are creative and crafty people, but the subject matter of this store’s products is simply dead on for our sub-culture. Problem is, I couldn’t remember the name of the Esty Store. So I opened up Etsy and typed “Dalek” into the search field.

Whoah…

I was a little stunned. There were over nine-hundred freaking dalek related handmade products on this site at the time that I searched. I always knew Etsy was the mecha for Steampunk craftsfolk, but I hadn’t really credited Etsy with the depth to which their products insinuated themselves in to other genres. Clearly, there’s more geeky interests to be found on Etsy than a single article alone could cover.

So I’ve made a decision; I’m going to make cool and interesting stores on Etsy a recurring focus for future articles. Geeks have the capacity for CREATING things that should be heralded and applauded and shared. So I’m going to be keeping an eye out for Etsy stores that excel in making their visions into reality. In the next article I’ll be starting with the store that brought us this cutesy itsy bitsy adorable little death machine in a bottle, and then move on to other note worthy Etsy Sellers.

If you know of a store on Etsy worthy of being highlighted on the site, please let us know in the comments below.

Dalek Out!

The Game Crafter

 Board Games  No Responses »
Apr 182012
 

Here’s a query for you:
Have you ever thought you could design a better card game? Have you ever wondered if an RPG would work better with a different system? Have you created “House Rules” when playing board games?

To ask it bluntly, have you ever wanted to just make your own game?

In the past when I’ve been feeling creative I’ve basically been limited to going to the store, buying some index cards, writing on them, and hobbling together tokens, dice, and other odds & ends to create my own vision of a game.

This is totally fine for most of us, but if we ever wanted to take the process another step forward we were essentially blocked by the limitations of what home technology can produce; and if we consider actually getting our game printed professionally we find ourselves stymied by the costs of having to produce hundreds or thousands at once from a professional printer for cards and boards, and that doesn’t even include the cost of tracking down quality non-printed parts.

Then a few years ago there came along a small business with an ambitious plan. Some folks saw a niche were there was demand for Print-On-Demand games, and they decided to try to fill it. The result was The Game Crafter.


The premise is simple. You create the artwork and documents, and they’ll do the printing and assembling and provide the webstore for the sales. The maintain a warehouse of commonly used parts in eight standard colors, and do all of the printing on demand. This way, nothing has to be assembled and paid for prior to a sale actually coming in for a game. When someone buys your game that’s when The Game Crafter pulls the parts from their warehouse, prints out the cards and/or board, puts them all together in a nice box, and ships it out.

They can provide:
~ Completely Custom Printed decks of cards including ones that can have rarity assigned to the cards like real Trading Card Game decks.
~ Folding Printed Chipboards for custom Board Games.
~ Custom designed Playing Mats
~ Tokens with custom printed stickers
~ Wide variety of playing pieces from typical to pawns, to buildings, to vehicles, to resources, to a variety of pieces used in popular German Style Board Games.
~ and more.

So if you’ve ever considered making your own board or card game, I highly recommend giving their site a look see. I’ve used them myself in the past, and I can pass a grade of “A” on the quality of the printed cards and chip-boards.

Castle and Slaughter

 News, TV  Comments Off on Castle and Slaughter
Apr 172012
 

What would you give to see Malcolm Reynolds and Jayne Cobb back together on TV just once more? How about an hour of your time?

I totally forgot to add this in to Monday’s Meanderings, so I apologize for having not given you more advanced notice.

These last few years Nathan Fillion has been gracing the airwaves of ABC by starring in the titular role of the popular show “Castle”. For those whom aren’t in the know, “Castle” is a TV series that follows the crime-solving exploits of mystery novelist Rick Castle as he assists NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (portrayed by Stana Katic) as they solve homicide investigations in New York. The series is in its fourth season and last night we were treated to an episode with which Adam Baldwin of Jayne Cobb fame guest starred.

Now Castle is a brilliant series in and of itself, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a more comedic take on the genre of crime shows. So often Crime Investigation shows are heavy on the drama, but while Castle does include some tender elements of drama, its formula is greatly seasoned by light-hearted and comedic flavors, due in no small part to the playful nature of Nathan’s character. Quite seriously, if you loved Firefly because of Malcom Reynolds then you’ll love Castle.

The producers of the show seem to be acutely aware of this fact, and have taken the time to slip in the occasional reference to Nathan’s prior show which was so beloved by its fans. In one Halloween episode Nathan actually dresses up as a “Space Cowboy” essentially wearing the same outfit he wore as Malcom Reynolds. In another episode he speaks a couple lines of chinese, and when pressed if he learned it while studying abroad he replies he actually learned it from a show he used to watch. And last night fans were treated to watch an entire episode where Nathan gets to team up with his former co-star playing the role of Detective Ethan Slaughter (that is such a Jayne name).

Now the episode has already aired, but you can still catch it here on Hulu.

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