Category Archives: Video Games

Pokémon GO (Update)

June 30, 2018 mhuffman Leave a comment

So Pokémon Go just added the ability to add friends and allow for Pokémon trading… It’s been needed for a long time. There are some Pokémon we realize that we’ll never be able to collect — we’d have to be world travelers and do lots of raid battles to catch legendary Pokémon. What’s funny is that now I have enough Pokémon Go friends, but they’re scattered across the globe — meet through our interaction with the LEGO fan community.

The other exciting news is that Pokémon Go will interact with the new Pokémon Nintendo Switch game. It sounds very limited and a little lame, but I know I’m not the target audience…

The wife and I started watching season 16 or Pokémon XY. We about 2-3 generations of Pokémon ahead of PokéGo… so can’t wait until the game catches up to our viewing… to be honest, we’ve caught a few episodes of Pokémon Sun & Moon via Netflix in between bingeing on other shows…

Anime, Geek, Video Games

Pokémon GO

August 17, 2016 mhuffman Leave a comment

A few days ago, I wanted to post my status on Facebook as “So my evening conversation with my wife has become, ‘which Pokémon have you caught today?’.” Which is funny because it’s been so true…

I didn’t grow up on Pokémon. As a matter of fact, I didn’t start watching it until after college — I caught it on Cartoon Network as I was getting ready for work in the mornings… Don’t know which season, or where in the story line I started… And I barely remember the episodes I caught. I just remember that the show wasn’t bad, and I could see the appeal.

I’ve also never collected any of the cards. And I’ve never played any of the Pokémon video games, although I’m playing Pokémon GO… I’ve even got my wife playing it.

The game itself is pretty interesting. And having downloaded a few of the first episodes of Pokémon, it stays true to the story line. I did read an article saying that the game lacks the heart of the show — pfft, whatever. It’s about beating your opponent and building your Pokémon army, friendships are secondary, dude!

So if I had to look ahead 5 years, I’d think Niantic would create a convention, and at the convention, hold live gaming tournaments. Only people at the conventions could catch super-rare Pokémon and collect convention medals. And then, and only then… after about 5 of these happening, will this fad die out. Until then, Pikachu, I choose you!

Anime, Geek, Video Games

No Game No Life

August 13, 2015 mhuffman Leave a comment

Finished another anime called No Game No Life. I like it because it’s smartly written and there’s many layers to the story. For instance, “__” or Blank is the names of urban legend characters in the video gaming world — they are undefeated. The two main characters in the story, the brother and sister team, Shiro and Sora, are those characters IRL. However, if you combined their name in Japanese, if forms the word “Blank”. The strength of the two main story characters comes from combining their talents, and their absolute trust in one-another.

The story itself is set in an imaginary world, inhabited by 16 races and where conflict is resolved by games, and the set of 10 “gaming” rules that govern conflict resolution. Shiro and Sora are forced into this world, where they set out to win against “Tet”, the god-like being that pull them into this new imaginary world. And along the way, we learn about game theory, Japanese bathing culture, creepy brother/sister relationship (toned down for the TV show, I understand), and strength coming from weakness. For the few outlandish and “anime” moments it has, there’s a intelligence and well thought out strategies behind every game the main characters take on. The only disappointment about the series, is that it’s too short and leave you wanting the story to continue.

Video Games

Minecraft

August 11, 2015 mhuffman Leave a comment

I’ve been playing Minecraft for a few years now, mostly in survival mode. Because I’m a fan of LEGO, most of the time, I collect resources so I can build stuff… safe houses, castles, etc. And the virtual creations do help with physical creations in LEGO, although I’m more limited in the physical.

A while back, I started a blog where I posted screen shots from the game and some of the creations, called The King’s Road. The idea was, I’d adventure around, building garrisons or forts and connect them all back to a central castle by a road; written from the perspective of the adventurer doing the work. And I’d post some of the wonderful terrains that the game generates, or the things I build along the way… Nothing too elaborate or flashy, since with almost every major upgrade, I tend to start all over again with a new world; I seem to never find the time to do something as elaborate as build a full scale Enterprise ship or Kings’ Landing. I respect the people who can have the time and ability to coordinate such builds.

Geek, Video Games

MineCon 2013

August 7, 2015 mhuffman Leave a comment

So after sharing photos from Tampa Bay ComicCon the other day, I figured I share another geek-achievements. Back in 2013, a friend of mine and I decided to pick up tickets for MineCon. Until then, we had been playing on a server he set up — occasionally play as a team with friends, or just alone when we had time… Survival of course. I mainly focused on building, while he focused on exploring.

Anyway, I got talked into volunteering for MineCon, where basically I wore a shirt and did line/crowd control for a vendor booth. Not grueling work, but it did teach me how unorganized the convention was. Now keep in mind, I’ve volunteer/helped organize a few LEGO conventions in the past; although not nearly the attendance nor size of MineCon. In the end, volunteering was more of an excuse to meet the people of Mojang up close and personal. Some guys from the Mojang team were friendly enough & thanked everyone for their hard work, but they weren’t as popular as Notch or Jeb.

I even got to see Notch as he made his way through the crowd of volunteers. He briefly stopped to talk to a few families, then was whisked away quickly.

So this plugin I’m using only displays 20 pictures in its free state. If you want to see the rest of my Flickr album of pictures, it’s here: 2013.11 – MineCon