I mean wordpress.

But as I’ve said, I don’t really have any right to demand anything from this guy, he doesn’t owe me anything, and of course the only reason I make myself irate over a lack of updates is because I used to be a vgcats fan, back in that wonderful grace period when you haven’t read all of a webcomics archive yet, and can have comics whenever you want them.

Enter Universal Fighting System, the card game for people who found Magic the Gathering too damn simple. I’ve never been the type to fall into these kind of games headfirst, mainly because I have a large base of friends who have little interest in my geekish hobbies, ensuring that I remember how to have fun without them. If things had been different, I would probably be the worst kind of social recluse, sorting my thousands upon thousands of cards into their little wax sleeves, and debating the meta on forums all night long. Not to say I’m above a little meta discussion. It’s important!
Anyway, Universal Fighting System is the most wantonly complicated card game I’ve ever come across, although perhaps that is just because I’m no expert. I picked up Magic fairly quickly, and am happy to play the occasional game with my brother, making a deck from the little plastic bag of spare cards we communaly own. We probably don’t have a single rare card, and have never bought a booster pack, and its never impeded our enjoyment – in fact, having played a couple of games in my life against the incredibly serious Magic the Gathering players, I suspect we have considerably more fun than they do. Anyway, the noticable difference with UFS cards are the, at first, worryingly confusing descriptions on many of the cards. Here’s a random example:

‘E: If this attack deals damage, cards with less than X control cannot block your attacks for the rest of the turn. X equals the damage this attack dealt.’

Ok, you think, after having read the rules that makes a certain amount of sense, but most cards specify scenarios considerably more specific than anything Magic ever did. But slowly, over many games, it all starts to make sense, and thus another part of my normal self drops away; when I look at the above, I think ‘Ooo, that’s useful’.

But then, I’ve always been a sucker for complicated rules. When I was little, I used to impose new rules on board games made up on the spot, and get angry at my parents for contravening the detailed rulebook I was building in my head. I think its a form of emergent gameplay - you impose a fairly simple set of rules on a game, and over the course of many games, certain methods and goals to win the game become clear, when there was little way of predicting them. So when I started to grow older, I needed more complicated games with more complicated rules. This is probably a similar reason to why I enjoy beat em ups so much.

But I recognise the need for simplicity sometimes too. Matthew bought me Zombies!!! a few Christmases ago, and it is great fun. The only drawback is that it is often hard for me to gather together enough people willing to sit down for the length of time needed to play. But there again, that isn’t true, because many people will happily sit in playing a more simple board game. But Zombies!!!, whilst simpler than a tabletop wargame, for instance, is considerably more complicated to learn and to play than a typical board game. It demands a little more of your attention, reducing the oppurtunity to just talk and have a laugh. This is why Neil has probably had the right idea all along with his recent Atmosfear binge, a set of games I remember only as what the older boys were doing in a room I wasn’t allowed in.

Some people seem to think this is good. I can hardly hear what the damn fool is saying. If you’re going to try to rip off Zero Punctuation, you could at least take that toffee out of your mouth! I know he sort of admits he’s ripping it off, but that doesn’t make it ok…some have told me that they find Yahtzee hard to follow during his quickfire rants, but I’ve never had that problem if I concentrate. Because he can damn well speak properly.

Also he seems to suggest that Advent Children is anything other than awesome.

Also, science is happening. Well done science!

A lot of people seem excited by Fallout 3, including some who never played the original games, which might make diehard fans grumble, but as far as the makers of this game can be concerned, that’s a very good thing.

Most of the coverage seems to push the combat elements (and certainly, bloody combat is an important part of the Fallout experience!), but these new gameplay videos hint that, just like the original, there’s a lot more to it than that. Of course, I can’t say for sure until I get my hands on the game itself, but these videos, along with lovely concept art and the many interviews with the developers, make me confident that Fallout’s transition into visceral, real-time combat isn’t at the expense of its depth and rpg elements.

We know that dogmeat is back, and that’s the main thing of course, so there’s just one other important question: Will the car be back? Where am I going to keep all my stuff if there isn’t a car?

‘This Animation is VERY GOOD, and most people who see it ENJOY IT.’

His angry capitalisation makes it sound like he has anticipated possible criticisms and come up with this rebuttal in advance. Anyway, just to be fair, here it is, titled ‘Incredible Animation’.

Yeah. It’s nice enough, but I’m not sure it’s incredible. Having had a brief glance at the rest of this guy’s videos, I notice he often uses strange choices of capitalisation. I also have a suspicion that he is a little strange. And perverse. (or arty, it is often hard to tell the difference)

My next post is going to be super positive. It’s going to be about something I think is lovely. Honest!

Should atheists commit mass suicide?

Here’s a hint – the creator of this video thinks they should!