Since we’re less than three weeks from Christmas, I thought it was time to get into the spirit of the season. I’ve turned the fake snow on (though you’re probably seeing more than enough outside) and I have a Star Trek: The Next Generation Christmas carol for you. A Christmas classic sung by Patrick Stewart? Make it so!
Author: Steve Murray
Saturday Link-Off: A Tale of Two Leaders
Happy weekend denizens of the interweb! It’s Saturday which means that it’s time for the links. As you might expect given the news this week, we’re talking about two very different types of people in the news this week. Anyhow, let’s start with Deborah Mace.
Nelson Mandela died this week so we’re going to start with a few Mandela links. First, here’s a timeline look at his life. (New York Times)
And here’s a look at Mandela’s life in pictures rather than words. (National Geographic)
While Nelson Mandela is now thought of as a hero for the freedom of South African, for a long time, he was thought of as a terrorist and vilified by the same folks who are now praising him. (The Daily Beast)
7 Best Games of the 7th Generation: Mass Effect Trilogy
Last week, when talking about Skyrim, I mentioned that a number of games outside the RPG genre incorporated elements of RPGs into their games. These included things like skill points, customization, inventory systems, questing, deep stories, dialogue tree and more of the classic RPG tricks.
This week’s entry into the 7 Best may have started life as being a bit more of an RPG than a third-person shooter but evolved into a third-person shooter that retained the strong influence of RPGs. Of course, if I boiled down the Mass Effect Trilogy to a series of gameplay mechanics and the evolution of the mechanics, I’d be missing the whole point of the franchise. Mass Effect’s strong suit and its claim to fame is the story.
2013 VGX Nominations And Predictions
Every year, I give you my picks for the annual Spike TV Video Game Awards and predict the winners. Now that the rechristened VGX have gone to always online, I considered dropping the whole thing. However, this post is an annual tradition around here and who am I to argue with tradition?
While I’m not a fan of the VGX format of shameless promotion interrupted by the occasional award and burning through 80% of the awards either in a big list before a commercial or a big list when announcing that a given game won another award, it is probably the most mainstream of award shows (even if it’s been pulled from TV) so it’s probably worth giving a bit of attention to.
So let’s take a look at the 2013 group of VGX nominees and pick out some winners intermixed with a few rants about this awards show.
Wednesday Link-Off: ‘Tis The Season
It’s the first linkdump of December. WordPress turned on the Christmas decorations so the falling snow isn’t a problem with the site or your monitor but our little piece of Christmas spirit… Unless we manage to do a Christmas podcast. Then that’s our contribution to Christmas.
Anyway, let’s get started with Xenia Deli.
You would think that Justin Trudeau might be a radical for wanting to legalize marijuana but he’s only following the recommendation of a forty-year-old study that said there was no scientific basis for the ban. In fact, Canada’s drug bans are all rooted in racism. (Toronto Star)
Without ad revenue from Hockey Night In Canada, the CBC’s current business model is broken but no one is rushing to fix it. (National Post)
Could Russell Brand be the smartest man occasionally in Hollywood? His op-ed about Rupert Murdoch and NewsCorp is epic. (The Guardian)
Man Lab: Ten Manliest Cocktails 2013
Don’t look now but snow is starting to stay and that means that office Christmas parties (or holiday parties for the overly politically correct) are soon to be underway. And since it’s still slightly frowned upon to down beer after beer at suit-and-tie social functions like your Christmas party, we’re here again to help non-cocktail drinkers choose fancy drinks for their parties.
As we do every year, here is our list of the top ten manliest drinks that aren’t beer or wine that you get away with drinking at a formal function.
Facebook Fails of the Week
Every so often, we look at the most spectacular fails that the internet has to offer. Well today, we look at the most spectacular fails that Facebook has to offer. This week, we have five of the best fails Facebook has to offer.
Assassin’s Creed IV Glitch Causes The Rapture
Given the religious undertones of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, it probably wouldn’t surprise you if the game dealt with The Rapture. However, I didn’t expect it to happen accidentally.
A glitch in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag not only causes the parting of the sea but your ship’s crew to ascend into heaven. Mind you, I’m not sure if that’s a bug or a feature of this game.
Saturday Link-Off: Tryptophan Hangover
It’s the final day of November and WordPress hasn’t let us turn on the Christmas lights yet. I thought they’d turn on the Christmas decorations for the blog come Thanksgiving but they seemed to miss that. Oh well. I guess that means that we just carry on with the links. Since there was an Ultimate Fighter episode on last night, let’s start with Miesha Tate.
There really isn’t anyone or anywhere the NSA won’t spy. They even conspired with the Canadian government to spy on the 2012 G20 summit in Toronto. We can’t trust any government now, can we? (The Globe & Mail)
Edward Snowden also let us in on the fact that the NSA spies on porn watching to discredit targeted persons. (Huffington Post)
Ever wonder if Black Friday acts as any sort of economic indicator about consumer spending? There’s a chart to answer that. (Washington Post)
7 Best Games of the 7th Generation: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
If there’s one genre of games that seemed to take of the last generation of consoles, it was the role-playing game. The RPG genre has been around for almost as long as video games thanks to the popularity of the pen-and-paper RPGs, like Dungeons and Dragons. It was really this generation that saw the proliferation of RPGs and the incorporation of RPG elements into a number of games in other genres.
At the top of the class in this generation is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The fifth entry into Bethesda’s hit action RPG series re-set the bar for Western RPGs thanks to gorgeous graphics, a spectacular soundtrack and seemingly limitless gameplay throughout the open world of Skyrim.
The Lowdown 