Hot Heart

This was Paul Thomas Anderson, so it's always gonna be upwards of 140 minutes

I think they would probably prefer to do smaller expansion-style releases, but they have a contract with Activision for a big release every couple of years or something (hooray for creative freedom!) Currently, all I've been doing is joining my regular group for the Raid (+Challenge) each week. And even that's getting tedious when RNG fucks you over. There are all sorts of things I "could" do like try and get exotic swords and other such exotic weapons, but they're all completely unnecessary or rubbish, so I'd only be doing it for collecting's sake. At the moment, I've just thrown myself back into The Witcher 3 but I'll always be around if people want help getting Black Spindle or, against all odds, we manage to find a time and group big enough to go through the raids.

C'est la vie.

If you like King of Tokyo, you might also like Bang: The Dice Game or if you want something a bit more complex, with a civ-game/engine-building theme there is Roll for the Galaxy. It's hard to recommend stuff because it really comes down to group dynamics and taste. There are so many different mechanics and themes these days. Colt Express, I find, works with most people. Firstly, it's got straight up visual appeal in that it's a 3D goddamn train. (Train track mat not included ) And the basic concept is an easy sell: you're a bunch of bandits who've jumped on a train to try and grab as much loot as you can. The game takes place over a number of rounds where you "program" actions by taking it in turns playing cards into a stack that then gets flipped over at the end and resolves in that order. So, for example, you might have planned on jumping into the next carriage and grabbing a diamond lying there... except the person there played a "punch" action, making you drop some of your own loot and get pushed back into your original carriage... except someone in there got punched since, so your "grab loot" action resolves there instead and you snatch up their dropped loot. You can also shoot people or move the marshall to mess up their day. It's easy to grasp and there's laughs to be had when people's carefully laid plans get completely ruined and shots or punches end up going towards unintended targets as mentioned above. Dead of Winter is quite popular in the gaming community as well. It's a heavily thematic game about surviving a zombie apocalypse in a harsh winter climate, with the emphasis more on the human element of tense alliances and potential betrayals. The rules are a little more complex than other games of that ilk, but it creates an immersive atmosphere and if you're a fan of the "story" element of how a game transpires then it should be for you. Here's an amusing review: Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game is a popular example of the "deck-building" mechanic first found in Dominion (zzzzzz) whereby you have cards that provide currencies (attack and recruit, in this case) which get cycled through in different hands. With those cards you then acquire more powerful cards, and try to eliminate weaker cards, so you build a more efficient deck since the better cards will cycle round more often. With Legendary it has some twists on the genre in that there is an overall mastermind and plot, with different combinations altering your priorities from game to game. There's also a deck of villains and henchmen who stomp across the city (who need fighting) and the central "market" is a hero HQ made up of certain heroes you choose beforehand (for recruiting). Different heroes will complement each other in various ways and the (semi-)cooperative nature means you coordinate with who gets what, who fights what or whether it's worth letting a villain escape. It's fairly easy and quick to play once you've got the set up sorted (there are a lot of cards). If you're into miniatures games then there are very popular and high quality D&D-a-like things like Descent and Star Wars: Imperial Assault or other ones I hear mixed things about like Arcadia Quest and Zombicide. I'll stop there, and like others have said, it might be worth seeking out local groups if you're interested in trying games. Otherwise, many people have gotten into the hobby via Wil Wheaton's TableTop show in which he gets together celebrities to play all sorts of games. Because of the nature of it, they have to play things that aren't too complex and, therefore, are accessible to newcomers. Here's some people playing Libertalia, which is a game I've seen played and looks pretty interesting (I have Dogs of War by the same designer, which is really good).

An eBay win that ended today unchallenged. Smash Up and one of the good expansions (people tend to think the Cthulhu one is bad). It's used but the cards were all sleeved and it looks like new in the photos. Bargain at £24.

Haven't been playing many new boardgames recently (been really enjoying Pathfinder sessions) but there have been a few, so I figure it's worth an update. Crazy Coconuts (or just "Coconuts" depending on your region) I mentioned this in the Games You've Bought thread because I've grabbed my own copy. You have a set of cups in the middle. Everyone takes turns firing a coconut, claiming any cup in which the projectile lands (and stays). Red cups mean you get an extra shot. You win by building a pyramid of 6 cups out of those you've claimed (you can win them off other players, so there's a "catch-up" mechanic). Alternatively, if all 32 coconuts have been used up (possible with the aforementioned back and forward of "cup-stealing"), then the player with the most coconuts in the cups on their board wins. There are also cards you can play which make players take shots blind or just miss a turn, but I don't think they're really needed. Fun, simple game that should amuse almost anyone. Codenames A sort of party game where you split into teams (red and blue), with each having a "spymaster" The theme of the game is that the spymaster must help their fellow agents identify some codenamed agents on a grid of words (the codenames, presumably?) It is a 5x5 grid that looks something like this. These are all randomly dealt from a stack of all sorts of words (plus, they're double-sided so can just flip after one game). The spymasters will have a "key" in front of them, which basically determines which bits of the grid are blue agents, red agents, bystanders or the assassin. It's up to the spymasters to help their team find the right words on the grid by giving them one word clues and then a number (indicating how many words the clue might link). For example, if they related to all the same colour, that spymaster could try and link "smuggler" "thief" and "racket" by saying "Criminals 3". Their team would then point to words, one-by-one, being allowed to guess 1 more than the number given (useful for when the team might have played safe and passed earlier, or just missed an earlier clue that now makes sense with more of the grid scored). In this example, it might just so happen that the team points to "smuggler" and then thinks, "Criminals might use poison. That's not too much of a stretch, right?" This is when the spymaster has to keep a blank expression despite their brain fighting to say, "No! That's the assassin! AAAAARRRRGGH!" See, if the team points to a bystander or a rival agent, their turn ends; nothing more (although, unmasking a rival agent is pretty bad). However, if a team points to the assassin, this one deadly thing in that 5x5 grid, then that team instantly loses. So, not only are you as spymaster trying to think of clever ways to link up your team's words, you have to be mindful of that one word which you could accidentally hint at. And if you're not the spymaster, you've still got to be paying attention to the other team's clues which might help narrow down what your own spymaster is telling you. It's a really smart and simple game that gets you thinking about how other people's minds might work, and you get these great moments as a spymaster when you pull off a 3+ combo. In other spy-related party games, had a go at Spyfall with a visiting friend, which can be played on smartphones via this site: http://spyfall.meteor.com/ Honestly, though, it's probably my least favourite of the social deduction/party games. Among the group, there will be a shared location and then each player will have different roles related to there. One player, however, will be the spy who has no idea where they are. The spy's job is to figure out the location (from a list of about 25 possible ones like church, hospital, school, submarine, arctic research base, etc.) while everyone else is trying to catch the spy. Gameplay progresses as simply posing questions to other players; which is itself kind of neat, because the spy knows fuck all, while the others want to identify each other but don't want to give too much away in the process. First game, I was the spy and it was a fucking daunting task. I sort of fumbled through it and got lucky with some answers. Someone asked, "How old are we?" and I shrugged, "Not very". As it would turn out, the location was "A WWII Squad". Funniest bit was when I'd started getting inklings of what it might be and asked someone how they got "here" and they said, "Uh, a motorised vehicle" so when I was asked what I had on me, I just hazarded a guess at, "I've just got a bag of equipment." "Just generic equipment?" "Yes." I was kind of playing it off as being someone who knew where they were without giving too much away to the spy. I probably waited too long before making a guess, but I had concrete information with "What are you doing for Christmas?" "Probably seeking a truce" moments before someone wanted to call a vote, so I just blurted out, "Well, we're in a World War Two Squad." I suppose once you get the hang of it, you'll get a little more creative with your questions and answers, but I'm not hankering to play it again. ...and on the subject of deduction games, gave Entropy a whirl. A KS game I got for something like £15. Each player has a "reality" which is made up of 4 cards (known as "fragments") that form a tableau, these are all shuffled into a main stack along with 3 wild fragments. The aim is to claim and reveal all four of your own fragments. This is done by going through rounds of playing an action card that has a resolving order on it; any numbers that clash don't get to resolve. These actions will see you drawing cards from the stack, taking them from the discard or another player, revealing (and therefore "locking") one of your own fragments, etc. There's a catch-up mechanic for if you clash too much in a round (4 actions = 1 round) but the way it works can be a bit too random in higher player counts. Each player has a unique "1" priority action too, which can make for some interesting twitsts. Basically, you're trying to identify where your fragments are (in the stack or face-down in front of another player) and get them in front of you and face-up as quickly as possible. Because your actions can be blocked, there is an element of figuring out what others are likely to do or spend an action to claim the "anchor" token which allows a one-time-use override where your next clashed action still gets to resolve. I think it might work better with 3-4 players and is an okay-ish filler. The artwork is really nice though.

I'm sort of interested in this, but it looks like it's "three-man fireteams" again, which is the problem with most of Destiny's content. I've tried finding some clarification, but can't see if there is anything about allowing four-man teams.

I've started watching Mr. Robot. Not sure what to make of it so far, since I'm only a couple of episodes in. Some of the writing's a little clunky. For some reason, the Amazon version has some weird censoring. The first time he says "Fuck society" it mutes the swearing (although, I figured in retrospect maybe that was intentional because of fsociety) but then every other "fuck" was fine and then I swear he's talking about "choice between two shitty options" and it silences the "itty" part. It's kinda distracting now, because I'm expecting some awkward muting at certain bits.

Not really a fan of Kuchera, but this is a good, little article I stumbled across http://www.polygon.com/2015/11/20/9769302/star-wars-the-force-awakens-trailers-daisy-ridley

Agents of SHIELD feels a little like the red-headed stepchild of the MCU (no offence to redheads or stepchildren) in that they must hate trying to fit it in with all the other stuff going on. Compared to the Netflix series, there are so many moving parts and it's an ongoing production rather than a standalone release. It has the most direct ties to the films out of all the Marvel shows, but you get the sense that they're not allowed to do too much or get too involved. I always want more Lady Sif though. I hear they're now going ahead with the spin-off, with Morse and Hunter. I like those guys.

Paaaahahahahaha. But then how would you guys know all about the hottest new releases in the world of cardboard?! Anyway, I actually bought a video game. Everyone was raving about that Tales from the Borderlands and it was £6.49 in the PSN sale so I went for it. HAPPY?!?!?

Inherent Vice Actually watched this over Christmas. I thought I would really like it and maybe the watching circumstances weren't the best (with family), but I couldn't really get into it. Maybe the book's better? Because to me it was mostly Incoherent Vice and was I just left thinking, "So what?"

Watched all of Making a Murderer after everyone was raving about it. It seems a little one-sided... except, boy, does it all add up. It's a weird documentary where the "good guys" are defence lawyers, the "bad guys" are cops, and characters you initially disliked (Ken Kratz) become ones... you strongly hate. An absolute fucking mess that undermines the whole justice system.

Here, all you guys are talking about Dragon's Dogma and showing off all these things and I just bought, uh... Crazy Coconuts You use your monkey catapult thing to fling poop...uh, coconuts into cups in order to build a pyramid and win. Not really language dependent (I bought the German version) and I've played my friend's copy. Now I have my own for other friends and family gatherings, plus it means we can do up to 6 player games now (I'm not sure it's supported/recommended beyond that...)

You're at the stage where you can begin to look at optimisation/min-maxing. Obviously, you don't have the gluttony of stuff that longtime players will have, but you'll have an idea of what classes and loadouts you like best for certain activities. As a general guide, for most TTK content, you'll want a strong sniper and heavy machinegun. If you don't have the Black Spindle (which was that daily heroic story "secret" to which Ethan never responded) then the 1,000 Yard Stare being sold by the vanguard quartermaster robot (in the hangar, off to the right as soon as you land in the tower) is a good shout. As for machinegun, I tend to favour the high impact/slow rate of fire models just because they're also more stable over long distances. I've never bought one, but I have managed to get decryptions of Ruin Wake, which is the crucible machinegun being sold by the quartermaster robot down the stairs and off to the left just before the "Hall of Guardians" where Mal, Zoe and Lt. Daniels hang out. With legendary gear, then you're just looking at stuff like which gloves increase your reload speed for your favoured weapon (usually a primary), which helmet has stuff that helps you earn super energy faster and which boots let you carry more ammo for your favoured heavy weapon. On top of that, you might then favour certain stat builds (intellect, discipline, strength) based on which abilities you rely on the most (super, grenade, melee). Keep in mind that these stat values will also increase with that armour's light level. Into that mix, you've probably seen exotics, of which you can only equip one weapon and one armour piece at a time. If you've got some strange coins, it might be worth visiting Xur (around from Friday reset until Sunday reset) to either look at the exotics he sells or grab things called "Three of Coin". The exotics he sells are only 280, but if you really want something he's got there's infusion... which is probably a fucking pain if you're new and don't have a surfeit of strange coins or exotic shards. Now you've actually got gear to get you above 300 light, it might be worth getting some "Three of Coins". They're cheaper than straight up buying an exotic, but you are at the mercy of RNGsus. Firstly, you activate one like other consumables and a little IX should appear on your character screen. This "buff" then stays active (even if you log out) until you kill an ultra (yellow health bar enemies with names... but without shields, i.e. not the psion flayers from that nightfall). Then it gives you a chance for an exotic engram to drop from them. I'd say, personally, the odds seem about 1/5 so in paying 7 strange coins for 5 of them, you "should" wind up with one exotic. Whether it's a weapon or armour piece, you have no control. Take that to the cryptarch and make sure you have stuff equipped to get you above 300 light. This is because decrypting an exotic while you're below 300 light will mean it can only drop with a 290 value, whereas if you are above 300 light, there is a chance it will decrypt into a 310 instead of 290. This guy goes over Xur's location and inventory every week, making his own assessments and recommendations. He also just did a breakdown of what's available to Warlocks and his rating for each in PvE and PvP

Not many people remember Oscar Isaac was in Drive either. Domnhall (pronunciation rhymes with "tonal") Gleeson is indeed Brendan Gleeson's son. He acts opposite him in Calvary and was also the weird hacker kid in Dredd.

Have you guys played the Oscar Pistorius drinking game?

Onto S2 of Agents of SHIELD and I'm liking it. It's got a completely different feel to S1; it's actually got proper character arcs and the serialised storytelling comes to the forefront (which is the same switch that "improved" Dollhouse). Can't help feel that the main cast is getting a little too bloated though, which makes me suspect there's a few "departures" on the horizon.

Most games I've played, the outcomes are pretty telegraphed anyway so you just steer the course and there you go. In games where it isn't so cut and dry (TWD S2, for example), I just go with my gut and then look it up afterwards. Sometimes with regret...

That is a "week-long" bounty you're meant to chip away at, so 4/13 is pretty good progress for the first couple of days. I usually find myself in the same situation as you and always missing the heavy ammo (hence, why I've still not even done the 25 sword kills in crucible bit of the exotic sword quest). Honestly, the amount of people you can kill with heavy (or the amount of easy kills you might give the other team) it's probably worth foregoing a cap just to make sure you get it. The number of times I've died just before it comes up and spawned far away though... argh! Iron Banner is always Control... except for last time when they tried out Clash. It was probably better as Control, since they had a bounty they never adjusted which was "Win with 2500 points" and that is a bitch to get in Clash (although, I did manage it but the fucking thing was bugged because I'd held the bounty from days before). I think Control is better for team-building and you can get some surprise turnarounds, but there are so many idiots who try and capture all three zones, ruining everything for your team. I usually leave playing Iron Banner until the weekend because there is a reputation boost that increases as the week goes on (starts at like 10% and goes up to 200% or something insane). Either way, you can hold those golden weekly bounties until Sunday/Monday then turn them in and fly through the ranks. That said, being a higher rank earlier on should net you better endgame drops... I might actually skip doing it this time because there's nothing I really want. I already have all the IB gear and it's easier to get 320 light gear from doing the raid challenges now. I've still got a nightfall to do if you want to give that a crack when Ethan's on or something. There's a slim chance that'll get you something useful...

But he's only fucking with audience perception, which itself is too "written". Plus, he loves old stuff like the watch and the car and the *sniff* Captain America trading cards.

So I've been watching a bunch of Agents of SHIELD since I've heard it gets better and it's leaving Amazon Video on 6th Jan... and I have some free time. It is nice in that there are some little twists and surprises and neat moments in there, but there is also such terrible dialogue and plotting. And Clark Gregg is distractingly wooden. As an example of this weird mixture, there is a scene where Coulson remarks about modern technology making people less appreciative of the old tricks, while twiddling a business card for a fake identity. A couple of scenes later, Agent Ward is portraying this false person in order to approach the family member of the person they're tracking. He does this by some made-up story about a lottery win that he needs to contact them about, leaving this business card with the woman. Ward returns to Coulson and says that the lottery choice is a hard sell. Coulson replies with something along the lines of, "Exactly. It's enough to make anyone suspicious." Nevertheless, this family member leaps straight on the phone seconds later and calls the target. Turns out this "old trick" business card is a fucking phone-tracking thing that hacks the line and pinpoints the receiver's location almost immediately. And to make matters worse, despite saying that the whole cover story was suspicious, Coulson charges to this location with the team as if it isn't going to be a trap. (But it was a trap). Also, the subtitles they're using must be done by auto-caption or just a lazy person. Numerous missed bits and conjoined sentences as well as a few cases of "Skye" being put as "this guy"