Battlefield 3 rant

This is just a short rant about Battlefield 3. Not about the game, but about how hard it is to actually get to play it.
I picked it up as a the giveaway from Origin. I had not noticed myself, but picked up the news about the offer from some blog. My bad for not remembering the link :-(.
This is were the fun started. First Origin was required. I already had it installed from the Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age II days, but otherwise I would have to install this piece of ... software from scratch. But I was greeted with an update, which was not any better. Why is it that after every update I have to enter my details again to log in? Steam manages updates without the need for the user to log in back into a software that is mainly used to play single-player games on a local machine.
When I finally found the well-hidden offer I commenced the download, but that was taking ages. It was certainly not my end of the connection that was slow. EA should really invest into their servers and make sure that their upload can match players' download speeds. I do not like having to wait all night for a game to finish downloading. At least the install went without problems.
But then the insult happened: A game developed for EA, distributed by EA's Origin platform, opened a browser window and demanded from me that I download a plugin to play the game. I do not want to go via my browser just to play a shooter! This only introduces security issues into the browser that do absolutely not be there. Why did they not implement the game activation and multiplayer matches with that piece of cr*p Origin? Why force everyone to install Origin as means for DRM control if EA is not actually using it for their own games? Why on earth do they want me to run a browser in the background? Even worse, I am not interested in the multiplayer, I just want to play the campaign on some quiet evenings!

EA, you have seriously fucked up!

Card game: Smash Up

Smash Up is a hilarious game for 2 to 4 players. The main feature of the game is that each player's powers are assigned at random based on a combination of two factions that have varying strengths (and a few weaknesses). Unfortunately, there are some balancing issues, and some combinations of factions are quite weak in comparison, but usually everyone can have a stab at winning.
Aim of the game is to reach 15 or more victory points. The players compete for bases by spawning minions and using actions. Victory points are assigned in ranking order to the players with the strongest force (in form of minions and enhancing effects) on the base. Unless someone interferes with that ...

The Smash Up box in all its glory. 

Also nice is that one can each of the extensions of the base game as 2v2 games. We have not tried that option yet, but it should make for some very quick and action-packed games.
We tried to play with more than 4 players once, but it turned out that there is a reason for the player limit: The turns were too long to keep everyone invested in the game, and the table became too messy with all the bases. It was nearly impossible to follow the game and see who had which minions on which base.

The contents of the box, holding three sets of rules (the same rules each time, really), 16 factions, and 2 sets of bases (some were duplicated for unknown reasons). Oh, and there are some victory point counters, but a piece of paper works quite well as an alternative.

Setting

Pure craziness. Fight the Pirate-Cthulu Worshippers with your Alien-Plants while keeping an eye on the Dinosaur-Robots.

Timing

If I can remember correctly, we needed a 3/4 hour for a 4 player game, and considerably longer a 6 player game, which we cancelled in the end because it was taking too long. Well, house rules can suck.

Space Requirements

Each player has a deck, a discard pile, and a hand, but the bases and the cards surrounding them will easily take up a medium-sized table for a 4 player game.

Conclusion

Go wreck them with whatever faction combination you get!

Smash Up on Board Game Geeks. And Awesome Level 9000. And of course the Obligatory Cthulu Set.

Kindle 3 (with keyboard) vs. Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle 3 (the one with a keyboard) was my original kindle device. I had it for several years, but it died an honourable death during the Wilderness festival last year. Initially I thought that only the screen was bust, but the device was not reacting to restarts, resets, and USB connection any more. So I had to get a new reading device in order to be able to get access to the Kindle books I bought on Amazon. The disadvantage of being locked into a single service :-(

My broken Kindle 3: The screen is just a symptom of a completely broken system. Note the physical buttons to the side of the screen used to switch pages.

At least the replacement was much, much cheaper than a Crapple CrapPad. Delivery from Amazon was swift and reliable as usual. Nothing to complain about. Time for a short comparison of the devices.

Size

Both devices have the same screen size, and I cannot feel a huge difference in weight. The Paperweight is a bit thicker around the edges, which actually makes it for me a bit easier to grip, but the difference is not huge.

Light

The backlight of the Paperwhite improves contrast between letters and background. At full brightness the background becomes white, while the Kindle 3 background is always greyish-yellow (like the Paperwhite with the light off). At maximum intensity the backlight is too strong to comfortably read in the dark, I prefer a medium level then (and a reading light somewhere in the background).

Buttons

The physical buttons for page-switching are gone on the Paperwhite. I am missing them because holding the Paperwhite in one hand and turning pages using the touch-screen is more tedious than doing the same with the Kindle 3 using the physical buttons. I just find it easier to move a thumb slightly to press down on one of the rocker switches than tapping the screen.
I do not miss the physical keyboard of the Kindle 3. I was not and am not typing a lot of things on the kindle, only a few short notes here and there. The on-screen touch keyboard of the Paperwhite is working well; there is not much I can say about it.

Marking up words or sentences is more intuitive using the touch-screen of the Paperwhite, but in the end the D-pad of the Kindle 3 worked equally well. If you are just looking up a single word in the dictionary a long-tap with a finger is quicker than doing the navigation and marking with the D-pad,

Cover

The cover for the Kindle 3 had two hooks that clamped into corresponding nooks on the device to hold it in place. Release was simple using a spring mechanism. The cover is held shut by a rubber band, which seems quite flimsy and gets in the way of holding the device comfortably.

The cover for the Kindle 3.

The Kindle 3 cover with the device.

The closed cover of the Kindle 3.

The cover for the Kindle Paperwhite does not require the little plastic hooks to capture the device, but instead uses a tight-fitting mould. It is quite difficult to get the device out of there again. The lid protects the screen and also locks and unlocks it upon closing and opening the cover. The flimsy rubber band to hold it shut is gone.

The cover for the Kindle Paperwhite.

The Cover for Kindle Paperwhite with the device.

The closed cover of the Kindle Paperwhite. Closing the cover also locks the screen of the device.

Other Essentials

Unlike the Kindle 3 the Paperwhite comes without a charger. This was not a problem for me because I still had the old one, and there are several other micro-USB chargers around that I accumulated from several phones and my Raspberry Pi.