Other Games

Restoring Heaven just means it's ready to be destroyed again We started playing Diablo 3 at the beginning of July, Spode, Stingite, Calrain and I. We finally finished killing Diablo in Inferno mode last Sunday. In between we all played a bunch of classes, played a lot of solo stuff, did hardcore, did the auction house, did Whimsyshire, and killed Diablo so, so many times. Blizzard kept changing the game as well, adding things like Nephalem Valor, Paragon Levels and Monster Level to keep the game challenging. I never did finish the Hellfire Ring from the Infernal Device in Act II; every time I’d run through the Device, I’d gain another level, and I was really trying to not get that far ahead of everyone else (though once we all hit 60, Spode and Sting moved way ahead on Paragon levels). The forthcoming patch 1.0.7 introduces PvP, buffs my class (wizard, and may I say, finally?) and fixes reflect damage so that it isn’t a sure-fire way to kill a wizard character. ...

You've Defeated Diablo III As hellspawn go, Diablo has to be feeling pretty useless. We didn’t beat Diablo 3 last night; we beat Diablo #412. He dies so often, and it’s not exaggerating to say that he was the wimpiest boss we faced in Inferno mode. Once we dropped to Monster Level 0, the run was no different than it had been in Normal, or Nightmare, or Hell – it’s always the same game. ...

I exaggerate a little. We probably won’t be slaying a dragon, which I think it a little bit of false advertising, if you ask me. I know darn well there are going to be dungeons. Each dungeon should be equipped with at least one dragon, and that dragon should be informed that its lifespan shall be among the shortest. Not kobold short, but short enough. An ancient dragon should be one that has managed to see two years come and go before the party of steadfast adventurers fed it its own scaly tail. ...

At the Start of Act II Our Barbarian was missing again this week, leaving us a Gang of Three as we moved into Act II, Inferno, Diablo 3. You may remember that we’d flown through Hell mode in Monster Level 10, which made the game just a little more difficult, while adding loads and loads more loot and cash to the monster drops. This being Diablo 3, the vast majority of the loot was trash, differing really only in the background color (clear, blue, yellow) that determined how much it would sell for to its only buyer, the merchant at the camp. ...

Docked in Munar orbit It’s not that there’s not a lot to do in Kerbal Space Program; it’s that it takes so long to do. Just like real space flight. I’ve been doing work on my heavy lifter, the Munar Exploder. My goal here is to get into Kerbin orbit with a full stage of fuel left. I was hoping to ease the need for fuel by skipping the Kerbin orbit and just burning straight for Mun, but the necessary burn took too long and pushed me past the apoapsis, sending me on an inescapable trip back to the ground, strapped to a hundred ton bomb. ...

Rescue! There’s this movie that used to come on TV occasionally when I was a kid called “Marooned” – stars Richard Crenna, Gene Hackman and other famous people. Three Apollo astronauts are trapped in orbit with air running out. A desperate rescue mission on a military rocket that is in no way ready for launch is proposed. It’s a really great movie. I didn’t set out to remake this movie in Kerbal Space Program…. ...

Moon shot It’s a tense day for the Kerbal Space Program. Three intrepid explorers have been strapped into the Super Booster 3, charitably described in the Kerb press as a “flying bomb”. In actuality, there’s an excellent chance it will explode right on the launch pad, like the regular kind of bomb. That’s all in the past, though. The mess has been cleared away. Again. The space program has nearly run out of Kerbonauts, though – these are the last three. It is more important than ever, that they not die. ...

The Fab Four and the 70,000,000 hit point trash mobs We’ve been trundling forward with Monster Level set to 10 for awhile now. This gives the most monsters with the most hit points, but it was doable, and so much loot dropped that we were skipping picking up blues and only picked up yellows, and were still forced to return to the Bastion to sell every few minutes. Even at the maximum power, neither Azmodan nor Diablo gave us much trouble, though with our paragon levels, monster power and max stacks of Nephalem Valor, you’d have expected one of us would see a legendary or set item, but no. Diablo 3 was tuned to give you piles and piles and piles of useless loot. D2 would give you the occasional set item, but I am absolutely unsure how so many set items and legendaries can be on the auction house when we have been playing throughout the entire game, normal, nightmare, hell and now inferno, and not one has dropped during our regular sessions over the past six months or so. ...

Shoulderpads! I tell ya, Blizzard loves shoulder pads more than Joan Crawford. I knew it would be only a matter of time before my Diablo 3 wizard grew a pair. Of shoulder pads. Started off small, buds almost, and now they’re as proud as deer antlers. I can only imagine Typhus clashing shoulders with other young wizards out on the tundra somewhere when I’m not having him kill demon lords in some lost dungeon. ...

Who built those mysterious ruins, anyway? From the moment I first saw them, I’ve been blown away by Pirate101’s cinematics. These aren’t 3D rendered with lots of dramatic camera angles and explosions. They’re little puppet shows. HILARIOUS puppet shows, as in this one, where the monkey prelate Bishop Hidalgo is telling the story of how the gorilla Gortez went all Lord Jim/Heart of Darkness in these mysterious ruins and is now using a giant golden statue as his seat of power. ...