Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Empire (In Her Name: Redemption)

Book Review: Empire (In Her Name: Redemption)

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On March 22, 2016

In Book Review, Fantasy

Empire (In Her Name: Redemption, #1)Empire by Michael R. Hicks
My rating: [rating=4]
(Click here to see this review on Goodreads)

Empire is a classic example of trying out a book that I haven’t heard of before, written by an author I haven’t read before and enjoying every page. Fantasy books can often be a hit or miss but I think Empire is a definite hit. I follow Michael R. Hicks on Twitter and happened to notice he had a newsletter which I signed up for and that ultimately lead me to three free ebook downloads. Empire was one of those books.

Earth is all but destroyed. The humans are at war with an alien race of female warriors. Reza Gard survives an attack on his family, is transported to a planet for orphan children where he begins to emerge as a born leader and warrior. Then he is abducted by the same aliens that killed his family. Now he is on their home planet, where they are training him for combat, but to what end?

When you reach the end of this book you will be hooked. You will want to read more because you need to know the answers to all the questions in your mind.

The three free downloads were the first books of three of his trilogies. It was a great marketing idea because, after reading Empire, I will be picking up the two remaining books in this series. I will also, eventually pick up the other books as well (I only have so much money budgeted for books). He also just published a new book, Vulcan’s Fury: The Dark Lands, which is already getting 5 stars on Goodreads and Amazon. I think Michael R. Hicks will be another author that will be on my “read more” list.

View all my reviews

Going to the Circus

My First Time Going to the Circus

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On March 14, 2016

In General Cogitation

The circus seems like such a nostalgic pastime. It always makes me think of carnies, tents, clowns, Dumbo. I had never really considered going to the circus, despite the huge popularity of Ringling Brother’s and Barnum and Bailey Circus and its near century as “The Greatest Show on Earth”. It’s fascinating how your proclivities change once you have a child. You realize that not only do you want to expose them to the things that you did as a child, but also the things you didn’t do. I’ll be honest, when we were considering buying tickets to the show I wasn’t really interested but they are going to retire the elephants and we found front row seats so it seemed serendipitous. Now, in retrospect, I’m glad we went.

Going to the CircusIt’s like going to the zoo as an adult for the first time in years, you never realized how much fun it is to be so close to the animals. The literal death-defying acts of the performers is so visceral you can’t help but feel amazed and alive. I would never have the cajones to try any of those stunts, and I’m sure most of us don’t, which is why we are all holding our breath when we watch other human’s walking the tightrope or surrounded by a dozen tigers, cracking a whip so they perform. (Admit it though, there is some infinitesimal part of you hoping to see one of those tigers decide they’ve had enough whipping and go “Siegfried & Roy” on the trainer, just to say you were there when it happened; however that would have traumatized my daughter for life so I’m glad everything went according to plan). By the way, I didn’t find a single clown creepy. In fact they were quite entertaining. So all you coulrophobics shouldn’t avoid the circus just because of the clowns, just don’t sit too close to the ring.

I’d say what I disliked the most about the experience were concession options and prices. The only diet soda option available was Diet Rite. Diet Rite!!! I didn’t even know Diet Rite still existed. I haven’t had a Diet Rite since I was like 12 years old. Then we decided to get Bee a souvenir and since she was distracted by all the kids with the light-up wands, we bought her one hoping she would watch the show instead of the other kids. $24!! So not only do they give you the bottom of the barrel options for pop but they price gouge you on the souvenirs. It was totally worth it regardless, just watch out at the concession stands. You have all of these images in your mind of what a circus should be; huge tents, the crowds sitting on bleachers, trapeze artists (which we didn’t see) but the only feature about the circus that is still true, they still travel by train! If you have the means and the opportunity, you should definitely check it out!

Springing Forward

The MMO Times: Springing Forward!!!

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On March 10, 2016

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

spring-time-wowIssue 141: Greetings again, gamers!!! As we prepare to spring forward (March 13th DST starts) we start to see launch dates and beta announcements. Btw, is the US the only country that does the whole “spring forward/fall back” nonsense for Daylight Savings Time?? In any event, as the Daystar remains in the sky longer for us, we may only retire to our hovels later in the day (it is good to get outside sometimes) and when we do, we have a plethora of games we can play.

Obviously the big news is the launch day announcement for Overwatch so there are more details on that in this issue. While we are on the topic of Blizzard games, there is also interesting foreshadowing for Hearthstone. Valve is taking steps into the future and they are using Portal as the catalyst. Microsoft kills off another of its titles but a new multiplayer trailer for the New Doom is tearing some heads. KCGO

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Is Virtual Reality the Next Evolution in Gaming

Is Virtual Reality the Next Evolution in Gaming?

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On March 9, 2016

In Gaming, Technology

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year there was a rather predominate theme among some of the tech companies: Virtual Reality (VR). Microsoft’s Hololens, HTC’s Vive, the Oculus Rift are currently the big three in Virtual Reality. Gaming companies like Valve, are starting to experiment using VR in some of their titles (i.e. The Lab).

HTC Vive

HTC Vive

Activision, Id, etc have their R&D departments burning the midnight oil to find the next big breakthrough in gaming. So that begs the question: is Virtual Reality the next evolution in gaming?

I’ve had the unique opportunity to try out VR goggles, specifically the Oculus Rift and it’s not for these that are easily motion sick. It was really, really cool but it can make you sick rather quickly. Using that experience and my imagination, albeit limited, and injecting that into a game like Portal and an amazing world appears in my mind’s eye. I can only imagine what VR would be like in other titles (Doom, Halo, COD, etc). It makes me giddy like a school girl.

If you’ve read Ready Player One, it seems we are getting closer to living in a world where OASIS is reality but we are probably still decades away from strapping ourselves into full body gaming gear like Wade Watts and entering a virtual world to go to school, work and play games. (P.S. If you haven’t read Ready Player One, you need to read that now, especially if you were an 80’s kid).

So all the drooling and daydreaming aside, is VR where we really want gaming to go? We are all already pouring hundreds of dollars a year into subscriptions and expansions and new titles, do we really want to dole out a years worth of subscription payments to buy gear that might make you motion sick? Most of the time when I’m playing my games, I don’t want to be fully immersed. I prefer to be aware of what else is going on around me. I often have something playing on Netflix in the same room when I’m on my PC (assuming I’m not raiding or doing something else that requires my undivided attention). Also, being aware of my surroundings helps me remain aware of how much time has elapsed. My biggest fear of something like VR is losing complete track of time and space. I have a really bad habit of losing track of time just playing console games so the more immersive the game the easier it becomes to be negligent.

It’s the nerd-vs-the-pragmatist in me that leaves me wondering if VR will ever be worth the time and money investment. In fact, will VR even be viable for the average gamer instead of just the affluent gamer. I’m not going to be too quick to judge because if companies want it to be the next great thing then they will figure out how to make it more readily available for even the most frugal of gamers. Well, that and they have to figure out how to keep us all from throwing up after every boss fight.

What are your thoughts?

/cheers

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

The MMO Times: Another Bloody Fortnight!!

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On March 4, 2016

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

dh-headerIssue 140: Yes, it has been a while since we have had one of these. Quite honestly the MMO news and gaming news hasn’t been that interesting. We are in that stagnant waiting period during which, I assume, publishers are working on their budgets for the year and things are churning away in beta (i.e. Overwatch). I wish there had been more things to read about to take us all away from the frustrating weather and the hostile circus that is the 2016 Presidential Race. 

I apologize that this is actually a week later than I originally intended to post it but things became really busy at work. I have to admit, I didn’t keep the news limited just to MMO titles. There are a couple console and non-MMO titles mentioned in this issue but the reason is primarily because of their geek canon (such as classic 90’s games and iconic nerdy celebrities). Final Fantasy XIV has some new content live and so does Star Wars: Battlefront. KCGO.

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Gaming: Where Have The Times Gone??

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On February 23, 2016

In Gaming, MMORPG

Gaming: Where Have The Times Gone?

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] haven’t posted anything related to gaming in a couple of weeks. It hasn’t been a lack of interest, I still log in to my World of Warcraft account daily, its been a lack of interesting news articles. Perhaps the first quarter all the game makers are busy working on their respective products and don’t really have a lot they can share with the community right now. At least I certainly hope that is the reason for such a long silence. The only real tidbit of news that seemed remotely interesting was the return of the Overwatch beta, which started back on February 9th. I have said a few times, I won’t create an “MMO Times” just for the sake of creating an MMO Times post if there isn’t anything that is worth reading. I won’t waste your time like that.

I’ve also been quite busy with my recent “Biggs Lab” projects, which I will provide an update on that soon. In the meantime I will keep watching the gaming news and hopefully we will have something interesting to talk about soon. In the spirit of the WRUP (What R U Playing) articles often found on Blizzard Watch, what have you been doing to pass the time lately (in the gaming world)? Depending on what part of the world you live in, I know the weather hasn’t been conducive to much exterior entertainment. Obviously Star Wars The Force Awakens was the best form of entertainment in the recent months but that can get expensive (even for a die hard fan like myself). Are you hitting other MMOs? Are you playing some new console titles; perhaps ones you may have received for Christmas? Sadly all of my consoles are out of commission until I complete my work networking the house so I haven’t been able to play the XBox or Wii lately.

/cheers

minion_keboard_smI could get so much more accomplished if I only had minions!

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