The Fireside

Last weekend I had the priveledge of demo-ing Mario Maker at Best Buy. The Nintendo reps had their demo configured so in your time slot you could either ‘make’ a level, or play through one. Since I had a couple of questions in regards to game mechanics and small things on the creation side, I opted to ‘make’ a level. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I chose the Mario 3 theme, and made a basic underground level. It was a demo I was doing, so not all the features were present. Some questions were, if I’m building a level in Mario 3 style, but swap it to Mario World , will all the Racoon Leaves transform into Cape Feathers? Can I use Yoshi in game modes that he doesn’t appear in? Things like that. Anyway, I was quite impressed by what I was able to do, and I know I’m going to be spending lots of the time with the tools available at launch. Heck, I have a few ideas [which you may find online once I post them through the game] I won’t do anything too nuts [I was never ...

Wow. I, like others, was disappointed with Nintendo’s recent E3 presentation. There were a few good surprises, but not quite what the majority of fans were looking forward to, or hoping. The Legend of Zelda (on wii u) is that console’s most-anticipated title. It is coming in 2016 sometime (my money’s on ‘sometime in November’.), so that was a no-show. That wasn’t surprising though. Here’s hoping that Nintendo doesn’t drastically change the game too much. There was no sign of F Zero , be it a new game on 3DS or wii u, or even an HD / remake. There was no Pikmin on 3DS.  No ‘proper’ Paper Mario . Not even a Captain Toad on 3DS. The Animal Crossing game that’s coming to wii u is a spin-off. Basically, it’s not what a lot of people were expecting. Hopefully that won’t hurt Nintendo too much. However, Nintendo is great at announcing, and launching titles throughout the year, as well as the Nintendo Directs.  Some of stuff was great though, but nothing in ...

Wow, what a season! I am of the mind that a TV show is best viewed once all the episodes in a season are available at once, as opposed to waiting for bits and pieces of the season. Yes, I watched it week-by-week [the only show I do so]. But this method of watching TV needs to stop. All I'm saying is that some episodes were better than others, possibly due to this format. The season as a whole had great aspects, and twists and turns (how about the last 5 minutes of the finale eh?). There are some weak, and questionable moments. This may be in part to me being a book reader and scratching my head at some diversions. for the non-readers, I doubt anything 'huh?' will be going on. Dorne is so much better in the books, it feels like i could have, and should have, been much better. I said this review is spoiler free, and I'll stick by that. This season covers mostly the most recent book in the series of "A Song of Ice and Fire"; A Dance With Dragons . The rest ...

Well, it happened. The last episode of Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 10, marks the end of the published material being brought to the screen. Here and there, there could have been a few spots out of A Song of Ice and Fire: Book 6, The Winds of Winter ; but the show is so different from the books now, does that count? George seems to be doing everything he can to get that book out before Season 6 starts next March/April. If the book is not ready by then, fear not: the show won’t ‘ruin’ anything. As mentioned before, the show is so different from the books at this point, it matters not. Though it would be nice to READ ‘what happens next’ as opposed to SEEING it, no matter how similar it is or not. The show is going to last until AT LEAST Season 7. I’m hoping for a two-part season, like Breaking Bad and others, with Season 7 being two parts, of 7 episodes each; with the final episode being 2 hours long. No ‘movies’. Game of Thrones is a TV show, and it should stay on ...

Beau's has finally announced the final 4, aka the winners, of the Best of Beau's. Here is what they had to say, including one of the beers which will be in the Oktoberfest. Take it away, Beau's..... Beau’s Brewery has announced the selections for the 2015 “Best of Beau’s” Holiday 4-pack, which will launch into LCBO stores this November. Once again, Beau’s let fans of its beer drive the process of deciding what brands would be included, through online voting. The 2015 pack will include two bold, dark offerings (Screamin’ Beaver Oak-aged Double IPA, & Matt’s Sleepytime Belgian-Style Imperial Stout) and two flavourful wheat beers (Fous Alliés Mango Saison, & Patio Saison). Nearly 3,500 votes were cast over the past three weeks to choose the winning beers, up from 2,000 in 2014. This was the fourth consecutive year the brewery let Best of Beau’s voting determine which of the beers produced in the last 9 years would go into the 2015 Mix-pack. Here’s a sum...

I’ve often spoken about my dislike of the present state of TV programming and how it needs to evolve. Please note: I’m not talking the shows themselves, but in how they ‘brought’ to us. Home phone. Cursive writing. “TV” [not the display unit itself but TV via satellite, cable etc.]. these are all things that are either not being used on a wide basis, or phasing out. So what’s wrong with TV providers? They don’t change or offer any incentive to stay. With the debut, and success, of streaming services (Apple TV, Netflix…) watching shows/movies has seen a great window of opportunity, as well as the next phase in how we watch things as well. Some providers have taken a few steps in that direction with ‘On Demand’. Without ranting, complaining or telling you about ‘the wave of the future’ or other long windedness, I’m going to propose my ideal out-come for ‘the future of TV’. When you load up Apple TV, Netflix, etc…you get to choose WHAT you want to watch, as opposed ...

1`| This post was initially written by Shaun Gunner of the Tolkien Society. Since 2007's The Children of Hurin, many, myself, included, have wondered if that could be our journey into Tolkien's realms of Middle-earth / Numenor / Beleriand; barring anniversary, illustrated or deluxe publications of currently existing material. Here's hoping that some of this material could eventually get published, either as a compilation ( Unfinished Tales: Volume 2 ??), or a a dedicated book. Here, Mr. Gunner writes which could very well be publish-worthy: [source: http://www.tolkiensociety.org/blog/2015/06/9-tolkien-stories-we-can-only-dream-of/ ] Tolkien is not exactly known for his brevity: The Lord of the Ring ranks with War and Peace , The Count of Monte Cristo and Gone With The Wind as the butt of jokes for its length; whilst Tolkien beats the Bard in terms of word-count. Without even including The History of Middle-earth or academic texts, the works of the Professor surpass...

To celebrate the 20 th anniversary edition of The Settlers of Catan, Mayfair has produced a 5 th edition of the game, as well as its expansions and extensions. I finished completing my Catan collection early this year, so I consider myself fortunate that I have a nice complete set. The following, from Mayfair: The die lines and die cut remain identical, meaning you could mix and match a 4th copy of Settlers with a 5th edition copy of Seafarers without difficulty or compatibility issues. The card backs are similarly identical, allowing you to mix cards from different editions of the game. Similarly the rules remain consistent, though there was an extensive balance and readability pass, meaning numerous rules are clarified with input from designer Klaus Teuber and numerous rare "corner cases" in the rules are explained. These new clarified rules will become the official tournament canon and for those looking to brush up on the clarifications, the rule...