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Review: Chrono Trigger (Boss Fight Books, #2)
Chrono Trigger by Michael P. Williams My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is exactly what I hoped it would be. It is a deconstruction and reconstruction of the plot; it is an examination of what made the game so special. And it is a chunk of the author’s autobiography. Unlike the author, and…
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More Chrono Trigger Revealed
I wrote a long time ago in It’s A Binary World 1.0 about all of the symbolism in Chrono Trigger. That game was extremely deep for a video game, but Square (now Square-Enix) has been known to have some very intellectual aspects to their games. Before, I spoke of Massamune, the gurus of time, and…
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Review: Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 107, April 2019
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 107, April 2019 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars SCIENCE FICTIONThe Archronology of Love (Caroline M. Yoachim) – This short story involves an interesting idea where an alien race has created a VR history, but to make an analogy with archeology, when you view part of the history,…
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Review: Come Tumbling Down
Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book has a more straight-forward narrative style rather than the more poetic one of the last few stories. Chronologically, it takes place after the events of Beneath the Sugar Sky. Books 4 and 4.5 are prequel novellas. In addition to completing (maybe?)…
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Review: Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 105, February 2019
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 105, February 2019 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars Here are my reviews per story: SCIENCE FICTIONLife Sentence (Matthew Baker) – This story’s a real doozy. It’s about a potentially different way to handle criminal punishment. Because this is a well-written story, it’s not simple to decide which…
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2022 in Video Games and 2022 Video Game of the Year
1. Gwent (1 day, 5:50:44): Around May I found out that CD Projekt Red had changed the rules around the Gwent Journey, so that journeys were no longer time-bound. This meant I no longer felt pressured to play every day in order to progress. Freed from feeling forced to play, I once again caught the…
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2022 in Music (Last.FM and Spotify Listening Trends)
Another year, another look at my music trends for the year. It was another year of music acquisition (supporting the artists, ftw! – I knew Spotify wasn’t paying artists well, but Corey Doctorow’s book, Chokepoint Capitalism really brought home how much they’re screwing over artists), although I think things may slow down in 2023. Here…
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Review: Good Nintentions: A 30th Anniversary Tribute to the Nintendo Entertainment System
Good Nintentions: A 30th Anniversary Tribute to the Nintendo Entertainment System by Jeremy Parish My rating: 3 of 5 stars This repackaged magazine special was quite the stroll down memory lane. This is the system where I became a gamer. But it’s also the system where I was a very little kid and when games…
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2021 Video Games and 2021 Game of the Year
This year I played a LOT less; partly because I wasn’t home as much as I was in 2020 due to the COVID mitigations. Also, it was partly because I focused on programming with older Advent of Code challenges. Last year I wanted to make a list of games and go in order, but that…
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Review: The Poppy War
The Poppy War by R.F. KuangMy rating: 4 of 5 stars I recieved this book as part of the Hugo 2021 nominations packet This book was GREAT! I can definitely see why its series was up for a Hugo nom this year. I wasn’t able to get past the first book before it was time…
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Review: Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI by Sebastian Deken My rating: 3 of 5 stars I was a kickstarter backer on the campaign for this book I’ve been waiting for this book for a while. This game, along with Chrono Trigger, was very formative in my early gaming years. The book decides to focus on one of the…
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Programming Jan/Feb 2021
I was pretty busy programming at the start of 2021 across a few different languages. Let’s jump right in! C# I’m nearing the end of the GameDev.tv online RTS course, and it’s been a lot of fun. Since last time we added player colors to the units, a minimap that can be used to move…
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Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 127
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 127 by Neil Clarke My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is, as per usual, a great issue of Clarkesworld Magazine. Once again Clarke’s affinity for bringing Chinese SF to the fore gives us a great, fun story in The Robot who liked to tell tall tales. The non-fiction section also has…
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Review: A Mind Forever Voyaging: A History of Storytelling in Video Games
A Mind Forever Voyaging: A History of Storytelling in Video Games by Dylan Holmes My rating: 4 of 5 stars It was nice to take a break from fiction to read this analysis of the evolution of video game narratives through time. Chronologically, the game goes from text adventure games through point and click adventure…
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Review: Kingdom Hearts II (Boss Fight Books, #16)
Kingdom Hearts II by Alexa Ray Corriea My rating: 4 of 5 stars As with the best books in this series, Ms. Corriea has a deep passion for the game she’s writing about and it had a profound impact in her life. Over a number of chapters, she makes a great case for why this…