Videos from my past: Minecraft Mondays 001

 With 2023 I am looking to do more with video content.  This has had me reminiscing about my past video endeavors.  There are some videos lost to time from when I published to Google Video (before they bought YouTube).  I am hoping to find those on old hard drives and resurrecting what I can.  With that said there are some videos on my YouTube channel so I figured a trip down nostalgia road would be neat.  Below is my first Minecraft Monday video and I share some thoughts after.

 The first thing that jumped back at me was the silence of the video.  No music or sound?  As best I can remember this was during a time of YouTube uncertainty around using music and getting your videos kicked off the site and I just wasn't ready at the time to share my voice with the world.

 As far as the content of the video it warmed my heart to see our old Minecraft server and my mountain base (still my all time favorite build).  This was a server we played on from our work PCs before workplaces got so hardcore about locking users away from the Internet.  I remember how difficult these minecart stations were to make and relying on glitches like minecart launchers where two carts get stuck together and glitch to move the cart forward (this was before powered rails)

 It is also crazy to me that this was 11 freaking years ago!  Even more amazing is the staying power of the game that is Minecraft.  This game is still one of my all time favorites.

 If memory serves me this video was captured using Fraps and edited using whatever came with Windows at the time.

Sunday 1/8/2023 Post

 Well at least I get my weekends back.  Such a fraud of a team last week.

2023 Blogging Stuff

 I wanted to avoid doing the cliche "what are my 2023 goals" or "2023 predictions" posts, but wanted to share some of my blogging plans.  I want to adjust the rate at which I blog and have a slightly different look to the content.

 In 2022 I got the bug to get back into blogging.  I set a goal to post once a day, every day.  I pretty much did it including weekends and holidays.  Most posts were made the day of but I had a few queued up to schedule on days I knew I'd be busy.

 For 2023 I want to adjust my goal for posting: 5 posts a week (basically give myself the weekend off).  Yes this will include posts from simple "hey look at the Packers score" to more in depth gaming discussion.

 There are a couple posts I look fondly at from 2022.  The best representation of these "fond" posts is http://www.heartlessgamer.com/2022/10/some-screenshots-from-brimstone-sands.html where I shared screenshots from my adventures in New World.  I realized after stumbling back accross that post that I don't share that type of content often.  

 For 2023 I want to get more into sharing the memories of my gaming sessions instead of just dropping opinions or sharing something I found.  More screenshots are really the key here.  Not sure if y'all will find it interesting but this blog has always been sort of for me so I'll enjoy it and maybe one of you out there will as well.

 And lastly for 2023 I want to get into some video content.  No guarantees on this but I enjoy editing video for work and for other personal use.  I did videos back before YouTube was a thing (sadly did not save all my Google Videos content... need to scan the old hard drives at some point), but haven't done anything since.

 

Why are my posts with no content the most visited?

 Just an inside-blogging question that boggles me.  Since returning to blogging daily I've noticed that the posts I put the most effort into get the least traffic and those that I put no effort in get the most.

 For example; yesterday's post just to have a post has already seen twice the traffic than any of my recent posts with actual content.  Going back further my "Cold. No Power." post with nothing in it is the highest trafficed post from December.

 Why?  I don't know but I needed a post for today and I had nothing else on hand so here it is.  What do you think?

Post a day!

 This counts right?  Sorry, first day back to work after a long holiday break and I am pooped.

Sunday 1/1/2023 Post

Just getting around to posting this (a couple days late).

Beat the Lions this weekend and we're in the play offs!

Narrator: They did not beat the Lions.

New Year New Keyboard

 Ordered a Wooting 60HE a while ago and it finally got shipped to me.  So far love the keyboard; especially setting the lekkar switches actuation point (you can customize how far you need to press the key to activate it).  More thoughts to come as I get some gaming time with it.

Happy New Year and some Axis & Allies & Zombies

 Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2023.  One of our household traditions is to play Axis & Allies & Zombies .... and... I wanted to share my Axis victory image from last night. As my son would annotate his version of the picture "w for dad"!

 This should teach him not to get greedy with the Soviets in future games.  Moscow can fall quickly and is the most reasonable target for the Axis to win.  In the picture you will see black (Germany/Axis) in Moscow where a hard fought battle was won after a northern blitz move.  

 It was looking pretty bleak for the Axis before this which is why my son tried to start pushing into eastern Europe with the Soviets.  A move he certainly regretted when the tanks rolled into Moscow.

 What a great way to start off 2023 (for me at least)!

My Steam Replay 2022

Public link: https://s.team/y22/pkfwgv?l=english

 

Reviewed: Santorini: New York

 Santorini: New York is another game from the pile of new stuff this holiday season.  As avid fans of the original we were very excited to give this one a try.  Read on for some more thoughts.

 The first aspect of this updated version that catches your eye are the skyscrapers: giant golden buildings!  These beefy golden components not only look awesome but they play a key role in the game and we were excited to get to place them on the board!

 Gone from the original is the perfectly square map and in it's place is a New York shaped map.  This fits the theme but I feel like it gives up a bit of the "chess like" feeling of the original.  There are nooks on the board that a player will get stuck on (or at least did in our first couple of games).

 Also added to this version as a required feature are role cards that are played each turn that require/allow a player to take a unique action.  The twist is that if the card says "must" the player "must" take the action or lose a worker.  Simple to start but later in games this can be a real problem if, for example, you only have Subway Operators left and there is no free spaces to move to... goodbye worker (of which you only get two!).  

 The roles add some variety to the game and unlike the original where the cards were optional rules they are a core part of New York.  This makes the game a little harder to teach to anyone that has never played Santorini but for our family who are Santorini veterans it took no time to pick up.

Grrrrr... Statue of Liberty!!!!

 One annoying mechanic in New York is the Statue of Liberty.  The player that plays the highest numbered card that turn gets the statue.  You MUST have the statue in order to take a winning move.  If you can take a winning move (of which there are multiple in this version of the game) but don't have the statue you can't win.  I don't feel this really works and in our experience elongated games and punished players who were unlucky in the cards they were dealt.

 In summary the game is fun, but would not be one I recommend someone get if they don't have the original.  The original is superior; mostly for the "no god/role cards: version that is easy to teach/hard to master.  With that said, if you own the original and enjoy it, then New York is worth getting as it kicks it up a notch.