Leisurely Geeks

Sorry It’s been a while since any new posts, but real life gets in the way sometimes.

Anyway, Here is the teaser for the new Star Trek film Star Trek: Into Darkness. This looks as intense as J.J.  Abrams first Star Trek film. As dark as Wrath of Khan?? Well now I’m in the mood to watch the first one. This one is out May 17th 2013.

I recently ran into the series Walking the Panes on Daily MTG. Walking the Planes are a Wizards of the Coast hosted web videos about Magic the Gathering.  There are currently six episodes to check out. They are entertaining and informative about Magic the Gathering. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Kotaku‘s artictle by Jason Schreier  goes into great detail and includes some great screanshots of the Steam client in Big Picture mode. So, I will keep it simple. This will be a great way to game…Period. Yes having your PC hooked up to your  TV is the way to go with this service. But, even without doing that, it will be handy. I know that many games I play on PC through the Steam client work great with a controller. I’ve played Batman: Arkham City, Dead Island, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Saints Row:The Third, and a bunch more games using a controller. And even on my 24 inch monitor I lean back in my chair for lengthy sessions. It just feels right to do so with a controller in hand. So this is where this mode comes in. The UI design is fantastic. The client includes a browser and a great text input interface that should have happened years ago on consoles. Biggest thing might be the browser. 1. Having an easy browser to get into from the Steam Overlay is much better than Alt-Tabbing out of a game (even when not using a controller). 2. A full browser on a pc can access other services such as Hulu and Netflix. And lastly Steam will soon be supporting other apps through its client. So your PC hooked up to your TV could replace consoles as well as other media streaming options. All with an interface you can see from your couch. Even if you don’t want to do this for your big gaming PC, a semi-decent laptop will play more steam games than you think (especially many indie/older  titles) and likely fit into the living room better. Sounds fun and it’s nice to have options.

By all means, check out Kotaku’s article for a more in-depth look: http://kotaku.com/5941793/valve-is-bringing-steam-to-your-tv-today-watch-out-consoles

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• Valve Is Bringing Steam To Your TV Today. Watch Out, Consoles.

This game not only looks amazing for current generation hardware. It might be the last game worth buying on that hardware. Also the implication of heroes involved in an epic adventure who are not Jedi add a bit to the gravity of the story. I liken the vibe to Halo Reach; My favorite Halo game because I didn’t feel like a nearly invincible character like Master Chief. I can’t wait for this game.

Trailer courtesy Machinima:

It seems that Wizards of the Coast is following in the video game industries footsteps more and more. First we had Magic the Gathering becoming more approachable and playable especially for new players. Then we have received different iterations the past couple years of the Duels of the Planeswakers video game.  I stumbled upon an article on the mothersite about achievements being added to Magic the Gathering’s Planeswalker point system. For the unfamiliar the Planeswalker point system took place of the DCI rating system about a year ago. here is an article about the change. The achievement system is currently in Beta right now. It looks promising, giving pro’s and casual players something to look forward to. Hopefully this picks up steam and becomes a great part of Magic the Gathering.

Related articles

• Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 review

Steam logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’m surprised no one else here has picked this up yet.  Valve announced yesterday that on September 5th, they will begin selling non-game software on Steam.  No titles were mentioned in the Official Press Release, but of course there are plenty of rumors.  Titles “will range from creativity to productivity,” and many “ will take advantage of popular Steamworks features.”  See the full press release here.

The games we play are numerous here at Leisurely Geeks. For some of us, Magic The Gathering is one of the anchors of our gaming hobby. I remember a time when I was going to the local comic shop to get cards rather than comics. I have since fallen away from the hobby a bit due to expenses. However, hand me a deck and I will gladly play.

It was refreshing to read a great article by Travis Woo on Channel Fireball (Twoo’s Brews – Win at Magic Win at Life) that explains some of the life lessons he has taken from playing MTG (Nice Find Joe!). Yes, I know, many points made are universal and apply to many hobbies and games we play. But, explaining them within the confines of a highly competitive game shows a maturity many gamers notoriously lack.

Thanks Travis! Us Geeks will continue to recommend Channel Fireball as a great source for all things MTG. Now if only this article can convince my wife that I need a few boxes of cards to get my collection back up.

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/twoos-brews-win-at-magic-win-at-life/

Huzzah……………..A new Magic the Gathering Online Client is coming out. No longer when you boot up MOTO will you feel like it’s 1998. On July 16th their will be an open beta to try out the new client. From the screenshots it looks pretty slick. Here is an article from the mothership http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/203 explaining all the tidbits.

Nerdy spoof of Gotye‘s song Somebody that I used to Know. Made by Teddie Films. Great job guys! Hope to see more. Found this from listening to Kevin Smith and Ralph Garmin’s podcast Hollywood Babble-on. This song definitely speaks to the Star Wars fan in me. pretty cool

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Magic: The Gathering Online (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since its introduction in 1993, Magic: The Gathering has been a staple of geekdom. Collectible cards that aren’t sports-related AND there’s a game involving spells and monsters involved? The only way this could get better is if The Internet was involved! Us nerds sure love us some Internets! Then, in 2002, Wizards of the Coast released Magic: The Gathering Online. Members of a certain subset of parents’-basement-dwelling nerds were never seen again…

Anyway, I digress. I’m here today to review Magic Online. I’ll be rating various categories on a scale of 1(lowest) to 10(highest), with specific explanations for each rating.

User Friendliness: 6

I’m going to be frank here. Installation was borderline nightmarish. Took me an hour to download, which isn’t too bad considering my internet connection at the time was a bit spotty. However, the actual installation took about another hour and a half. After clicking to install, it seemed like nothing was happening. 15 minutes or so later, a screen finally popped up and installation continued. Slowly. Could it have been my system? Possible, I am running it on an older laptop. But, the system requirements are quite low, one of the saving graces in the User Friendliness department. Half a gig of RAM, and a P4 processor is supposed to be good enough, and even MY laptop isn’t THAT old. Also in the User Friendliness category, I’d like to discuss the User Interface. The UI is pretty awful. Finding game rooms other than the New Player room and Just for Fun room might take you a while on your first time through. The UI gets a little better when you actually are in a game. Playing with the more basic cards is rather intuitive, and the game notifies you every time you have priority for instants or abilities. More complex cards take some getting used to. I personally wasted Fireballs in at least 5 games before I figured out how to do it right, and I’ve had other players concede games when they realized they clicked something wrong for a card with multiple abilities.

Variety of Formats: 10

Nearly every format of Magic is included, including a few that are exclusive to Magic Online (mostly for mechanics reasons). Two Headed Giant, Three Headed Giant, all the DCI formats, even Elder Dragon Highlander, or Commander. They also include an interesting Vanguard format called Momir Basic, in which you use the Momir Vig avatar and a deck comprised of 60 basic lands. The Momir avatar allows you to pay X colorless mana and discard a card, and put a token that is a copy of a random creature card with converted mana cost X into play. Kind of a neat, random format.

Value: either 3 or 10, depending on what you want out of the game