Between the Jeffsea xmas sweater party and being recruited to photo a couple of Christmas cards, seasonal garb has been in full effect.



Derrick +1ed me to the Good Beer Company holiday shindig. They primarily do sours and saisons, but had some other stuff on tap.


Idaho has been cold. Like down to 2-fahrenheit cold. Didn't stop Shane from grilling up some sausages though. It also helps to be killing it on the project and thereby having a hefty dinner budget.


Of course there was the annual xmas trip to NorCal - with a brunch stopover in La Crescenta. The Grapevine had received a dusting, so of course a bunch of people came up from the city and parked on the I-5 shoulder to marvel. Otherwise the drive went pretty smooth.


Rob shot some StD photos for us. I took a hack at the graphics work...


We also played a couple rounds of Dead of Winter. It's a cooperative Arkham Horror-like game but with zombies. Each game also has the potential for a traitor, though unlike Betrayal you're it from the start.


Randy hooked it up with tickets to the Raiders game in SD. It was a good game.


Santa brought Jes a couple sound systems so she doesn't have to rock out on the iphone speaker. There's a 2.1 system in the bedroom that goes with the Roku and a two-zone set of speakers in the kitchen/common area.



J and I have jumped into loading simulator or, as it is affectionately known, Battlefield 1.


The case as been made elsewhere that it's basically Battlefront in early-20th century garb (I hear wearing an onion on your belt was the style at the time). This isn't too far from my experience. Both games are gorgeous, well-tested, and extremely difficult as a casual.


As usual with a AAA multiplayer title there are a handful of game modes, unlockables, skins, single player segments, etc.





The franchise was practically founded on destructible terrain, it's no different here. The maps change over the course of a 30-ish minute battle, from destroyed buildings to weather to scarred earth.





Of course, vehicles serve a more tactical purpose. Firepower and protection. There's a good variety of armored vehicles and glorified cars to choose from, alongwith aircraft, boats, and stationary weapons.


The coolest mechanic has to be the behemoths that spawn when one side is in bad shape. A zeppelin, armored train, or battleship can help turn the tide - although in practice if you're getting one of these your team is too crap for it to matter. Yes, the matchmaking isn't great, but at least you get to drive a blimp!









More Witcher! Like tons more. The Skellige Isles are enormous. And I got the DLCs on Cyber Moday so there's plenty to be done.



I finally have the Mirage/Synoid Simulor combination going on. It's pretty great.

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