On Sunday, I had some friends over, and we played Heat. It was my first time with the game, and I found it to be a lot of fun.

There's just enough strategy in managing your car's "heat" level. Take on too much, and you'll stall out. Don't take enough risk, and the other players will pull ahead. I accurately captured the tension of racing video games. "Do I floor it and come into the turn quickly, risking spinning out? Or do I brake and take it safely but lose my place?"

This just seems odd to me. I know it’s a competitive game, and most folks will be playing with a mouse and keyboard, but it feels weird for Valve to put out a brand new game (built from scratch, at that) and not plan for this.

My friend and I were discussing this over the weekend. Games are inherently different than movies, books, and music. They’re tied to specific hardware and operating systems that may not be available anymore.

I argue that if a game is no longer legally purchasable from the publishers or developer, it should be legally permitted to pirate it. Even EA agrees! They do not pursue copyright claims against LOTR games, as they lost the publishing license from New Line Cinemas years ago.

I really love the original video game. It’s so relaxing and has a great soundtrack. I love playing for a bit on my lunch break or when I need to unwind.

That being said, my main concern is that the management and tracking needed for a tabletop version might take away from that aspect of it. I’m a sucker though, and might get it anyway…

Update: I bought it 🤓

I've noticed a trend (among TT games and other product categories), of established companies using Kickstarter. Mostly I think they use it as a hype machine/pre-order system, but that doesn't quite feel like the ethos behind Kickstarter. Full disclosure, I have backed some of these myself!

A few examples (some are on Kickstarter-adjacent sites)

• Railroad Ink by Horrible Guild
• Daybreak by CMYK
• Frosthaven
• Everdell expansions

I just wanted to share this since it can sometimes be hard to find communities on other servers. It’s still picking up steam (ha ha), but growing!

First of all, that final battle was a wild ride! One of the phases took me a minute to figure out, but it was so much fun, and really connected with some of the unique themes of this entry.

I didn’t get nearly as close to 100% as I did in BotW. In the first game, I did every shrine and all of the side quests, but there is just so much more content to this game. I worried that if I tried to complete everything before the final battle, the game would overstay its welcome, and I would finish with a feeling of “just get it over with.”

I’ve actually found that sentiment to be true with a lot of larger games recently. I want to end on a high emotional note, even if it means completing less side content.

For those who are interested in building iOS apps for Lemmy, I found really nice package for interfacing with the API. I’ve been playing around with it, and it’s very easy to use!