Fanvid: See You Again

First new fan creation from me since I started this blog. It's a Doctor Who video, centred around the relationship of the Doctor and River Song, set to the song "See You Again" by Carrie Underwood. It was a request from the poster SaraBahama on the Doctor/River thread at the Gateworld forum. Enjoy, and leave a comment below if you liked it.

First Time Playing: 7 Wonders

So, I have briefly heard of 7 Wonders, seen it pop up in various gaming videos, and noticed it on the shelf at my gaming group, it just never came up as a suggestion until now. I didn't feel it was all that well explained to me. And I have mostly avoided looking up further information on this game. Because not every game you are introduced to will be thoroughly explained, and since this column is all about that first time experience, and not specifically a review of the game itself, I think it's just as important to capture and express that confusion as it is to explain the actual game.

Top 10 Reasons I Love Doctor Who

It's the 23rd of November, a date that many Doctor Who fans have had marked on their calendars for months on end. It's the date of the highly anticipated 50th Anniversary Episode for the series, airing precisely 50 years after the original series premiere aired on television screens all over Britain. I may only have been a whovian for little over a year, but in that year I've been quite the busy beaver, not only covering all of the modern series (and repeatedly re-watching most of it), but also made it halfway through the classics as well, I've been to my first ever full-weekend Doctor Who convention, and even managed to fit in a couple of classic who encounters as well. Now that this day is upon us, I thought it would be fitting to do my top ten reasons why I love this show as much as I do, and essentially why I'm so eagerly looking forward to this bound-to-be-epic episodes.

Conventions and Me

Some of you might have read the guide to conventions that I wrote about two months ago, in which I gave a general explanation of the phenomenon, what to expect, recommendations based on interests and so forth. That was primarily intended for the uninitiated, those who might have an interest for conventions, but just doesn't know it yet - or they know it, and they just don't know where to start. I didn't really talk all that much about my own personal experiences, so that is what I intend to talk about this time. It's been part of my life for nearly a decade, and I hope to continue for many years to come, maybe even introduce new generations to it (I can hope, at least).

First Time Playing: Kemet

In our gaming group we generally try to decide by majority on what games we want to play, but we also try to make sure there is at least one player in the mix that knows the game and is able to teach it to the rest of the group. Sometimes that can lead to a logistical problem, like when two games hold the majority of votes, and only one member knows both. That happened this week, but since I was in the mood to try out a new game, and the other players were more keen on Kemet than the one I initially voted for, I just went with the flow. And one of the first thoughts that came to mind as the box was opened and I got a good look at the pieces was that this game looked absolutely gorgeous.

First Time Playing: Dixit

This is a game that made its appearance one game night with some of my friends. I had heard of Dixit before, and had an idea what it was all about, but I had never played it or seen it being played before. It's an association game, where players play cards with beautiful, not to mention colourful illustrations on them, trying to fit whatever theme the 'storyteller' has picked, then attempt to figure out which card they believe was played by the 'storyteller'.

First Time Playing: Discworld: Ankh-Morpork

Discworld: Ankh-Morpork is a game that caught my eye at my table top group a while ago, and I've wanted to try it out for ages, because with such a crazy world like Discworld, how can a game based on it not be a ton of fun, right? However, it just took forever before the game finally became a suggestion, and even then we got really close to not picking it. Such is life sometimes in a gaming group. But thankfully things went my way in the end, and I was finally given the opportunity to try this game out.

Why Amazon just lost a customer (and should lose more)

I'll have to admit, the first time I ever heard about the issue of pirated books, I scratched my head in confusion. I didn't understand how that was even a thing, because the way I saw it books have always been a non-restricted medium (no shipping restrictions, no customs charge), and I saw no reason why e-books should be any different - if any, they should only improve the situation as you could read the book instantly after purchase. The only restriction I could foresee was that not all books would make it to the e-book format, but then again, those books wouldn't be available to pirate either - so I saw no issue. Until I had a lovely chat with Kindle Customer Support about why a recently published book was not appearing in my Kindle store...

First Time Playing: "Mascarade" & "Jamaica"

I got introduced to two games the same evening in my table top group, but since the first one was just a quick one, I've decided to do another double feature (despite the games not really having anything in common). The first game is a quick trickster game, where your agenda is to confuse the other players while also trying to make enough money to win the game. The other game I was introduced to is my first ever introduction to a racing game, which just happens to have fun pirate theme attached to it.

First Time Playing: Space Cadets

I was introduced to co-operative games some months ago, and I've enjoyed having the occasional game where either everyone wins or no one does. This game definitely gave a twist on the mechanic, for better and for worse. Because Space Cadets is a game where no one can ride along for free. You play as a crew of a space ship, and each crew member have tasks that have to be completed simultaneously. Each part of a given round is timed very specifically with an hourglass. It's not a game for people who get easily stressed, but for those who can handle it, it can actually be a lot of fun.