The Fireside

We are now days away from the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for both the wii u and the Switch. It is a game many have been looking forward to for a while. Heck, it’s the reason why some got a wii u to begin with. That wasn’t the only reason why I got mine, but it is definitely a reason. It has been in development for the wii u, however, it’s launching on both the wii u and the Switch. It’s unfortunate that the wii u does not have a Zelda game on it exclusively. There are actually a few unfortunate things about the wii u: - how multiplayer is handled. With the Gamepad, things got overly confusing in regards to how many extra controllers you need, etc. - reliance on wii motes. There are a few games that actually required wii motes. Here’s the thing: the wii motes are the controllers from the previous system, the wii. This is the wii u, a whole new console. It just got poorly named. Anyway, wii motes should have not been supported on this system, aside from...

There are a few updates on some fantasy books which I’ll mention in this post.   Assassin’s Fate , the finale of Robin Hobb’s latest Fitz-related trilogy, is due out in May. I’ve been trying to find out whether or not this is the final Fitz-related book, period. I’ve heard of Robin and her works going about as far back as when I discovered Tolkien, but have not read any – yet.   This spring also marks the beginning of the end of the Shannara series. The final Shannara series [which will be 4 books] is called “The Fall of Shannara.” The first of those four is titled The Black Elfstone .   I have also discovered another fantasy author, who seems quite promising. The author’s name is Michael J. Sullivan. I’ll be keeping a close eye on him and follow his publications. I say this because; George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss are the final authors that I’ll follow as their books come out. If an author is writing a fantasy series, I’ll wait until the series is compl...

2017 may already be set in stone for Harper Collins and their Tolkien publications. Assuming that it isn't , here are some things that would be neat to come out. There are a few events of note: Tolkien's 125th birthday, the 80th anniversary of The Hobbit  and the 40th anniversary of The Silmarillion . I've sort of made a "wishlist" or a "wouldn't it be nice?" post of some items I think would be neat to see, as well as what some items would contain. So let's get to it... The Hobbit: 80th anniversary edition illustrated by Alan Lee - transparent slipcase - re-scanned paintings - chalk-white paper (original text?) - unjacketed book: the iconic image of Smaug on the front cover, Gandalf leaving the company at Mirkwood on the back cover - Thror's map as front endpaper [reverse of board] and Map of Wilderland as rear endpaper [reverse of board] - 1/4 bound burgundy ["spine colourization"] - ribbon marker bound in [same...