Darkness into Dawn

EEEEEEEEEEE! The next civ expansion is upon us! They made the mediocre V near perfect and Rise and Fall just might make Civ VI one of the best TBS games ever made. I may be broke as a joke at the moment. I may have balked at even half off The new Wolfenstein. But if this came out tomorrow at $60 they would have it. The notes on R&F are massive and have made me massively giddy in turn.

Golden ages aren't coming back alone we will have dark ages to contend with. Civilization is a great series but  a perfect realization of history it is not. Governments aren't ruled by autocratic immortals, for one. But no single civilization has actually stood the test of time yet. Rome's got a solid couple hundred years on this globalization thingy we're trying out now.

What I'm most excited about, and what I've wanted for years, is that you must now actually GOVERN your cities. They are no longer wind up toys blindly loyal to your cause. You must curry favor and earn their trust. I love a good peasant revolt, can't wait to stamp a few out. Also 9 new leaders! That's neat. Governor  units with thier own skill trees... cool... cool... some new world wonders... and there we go. Those are the main bullet points but there's a hefty blog post about it for your reading pleasure. And a snazzy new CGI trailer for your viewing one:

Who wants my turnips?

...showoff.

Stardew Valley has been on my radar for over a year. Everyone who plays it can't shut up about it. But for some reason I could never justify the $15 price tag for what is ostensibly an SNES game. But over the steam black Friday sale it fell to $10 for the first time I can recall. Fine, I said to myself, you got me.

So far so good. Watering crops everyday is somehow not tedious as all crap. Getting a hefty payday for your prize winning beans feels amazing. Then you go into town and realize everything is more Earthbound than Harvest Moon.

There's an ancient race of aliens that want you to restore a community center, a wizard who gives you magic earth powers, and a sleepy general store that thinks it can close on Wednesdays and still compete with the JoJaMart next door. Ridiculous. So ridiculous I want to keep peeling back it's layers. At least until I get to the monster hunting stage... of this farming game.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

No Julie, you can have the rest of the wild rice. I'm fine with the brussel sprouts. Just. FINE.

My fellow introverted Americans we must give thanks on this, our most holy of holidays. Leftover Day. All of the gluttony of thanksgiving with total TV autonomy and none of the social obligation. I love Thanksgiving, don't get me wrong. I'm more than happy to spend 5 hours catching up with friends and family then pitching in to clean mountains of china plates.

But I love today MORE.

A Fresh Perspective

I've been combing the mods for Civ VI lately and struck gold. The core game's perceptive is maddeningly ridged. You can spin the map around but only in place and only for as long as you hold the ALT button down. The free camera mod isn't something I'd want on all the time... but for a victory lap in the end game of a particularly solid empire? Hell yes.

A giant in the perfume industry...

The Civ VI half off deal no longer is. It was.

Civ VI was half off 2 days ago, but no longer. Almost got a bud to jump on it in time and now he's miffed at me, I think. Personally, $60 is more than fair for the only game from 2016 I'm still playing every other month.

And if that title is bothering you... source!

An apology from EA.

We know you're upset. We can tell. Star Wars was meant to be a refuge from your daily struggle between the haves and have-nots. So we've gotten rid of Battlefront's micro-transaction service. Temporarily.

You've managed to really hit us where it hurts, initial sales. So we'll play nice. Until we've hit our projections. Then we'll go right back to pressuring 11 year olds to guess their parent's pin number. This is a free loader ceasefire and nothing more. $60 just gets you in the club, chumps. Drinks ain't free.

-With love, EA.

The squeaky wheel

Recently my original ps4 controller's right stick got dull and after 3 years of loyal service it was time to get a new one. Problem was/is I'm super broke. Luckily google shop was more than happy to find me a store I'd never heard of willing to sell me one for $35 with free shipping. That was more than 2 weeks ago.

Shot them an email a week afterwards to the effect of "hey, how 'bout you actually ship that thing you said would be here 3 days ago?" No response. It was time to talk to the bank. I got my refund a week later and then 4 days after that... my controller shipped. I think I got it for free. Better not make a habit of this.