Killer Deals

Relax, Guy

Intuition

So our work day was interrupted by a loud thud this afternoon, followed by a high pitched whirring noise that died out. Blake's initial guess that a helicopter had crashed nearby proved true when we all looked out the window to see some veritable carnage. The viaduct is hardly a good place to operate a chopper, what with all the pokey uppy things about, but if you want to know why someone would do such a thing there's info around.

Groundhog Day

While the comic may be work specific I think graphic designers in general should appreciate the situation.

Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed: Revelations sits and waits patiently on my desk. I preordered the game and have had it for 5 days now. I still haven't played a second of it. At Victor's suggestion I'm saving it for now, at least until my Skyrim buzz wears off. This way I won't be torn between two awesome games and trying to decide how to split my time. Plus when I stop playing Skyrim, or the play time winds down, I'll have a whole new game to enjoy!
I just have to stay away from certain spoiling parts of the internet.

Keep Calm And Fus Ro Dah

Today's comic is rather self-explanatory I believe.
But I am thinking about making up a Keep Calm and Fus Ro Dah poster. Anyone want one?

The Old 'One-Two'

So now that I've played Skyrim - and by that I mean 11 hours playtime on day one - I can tell you that there is in fact NO UNARMED skill. Sure you can punch people as much as you want but the kung-fu shenanigans from Oblivion have vanished. Also, the only resemblance to an UNARMOURED skill is one of the alteration perks which improves magical protection while not wearing armour. There goes my wandering monk archetype.

Here's a little story from my travels.
It didn't take me too long to reach Whiterun, but frankly by the time I saw its broken walls I was sick of plodding around. On my first night there I shelled out a solid thousand gold for my very own horse and we set off to solve the people's problems.
I soon discovered that wolves like to try and eat horses. Yet even as I drew my weapon to fend off the attackers the stallion kicked out with his own. Turns out he's not bad in a fight.
Jump forward to my most recent journey, a long and winding road through saber-cat-country, and I come across a man sitting by the side of the road. He warns me that there are bandits about and asks if I will escort him back to his camp. Reluctantly I agree, but as I follow him I grow suspicious. Sure enough, when he goes to fetch my "reward" he returns with four others, all intent on killing me. Needless to say I wasn't waiting were he thought I would be.
I fall upon them and one quickly falls to my blade. I look around for the others and am horrified to see them ganging up on my trusty steed. I wade into the melee but it is too late, my horse is dead. With fury in my heart I turn on the last standing bandit, the same one who lured me here, and drive both swords up into his ribcage.
I walk the rest of the journey.

So, everyone go play Skyrim now. It's stories like these that really excite me about the game. Everyone's story is going to be different and I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

One Dice Down

Does anyone else play the rule where unpainted figures roll a die less for attack and damage?

Apollo's Curse

The Many Faces Of Skyrim

People around here are starting to get excited about Skyrim. As in one-week-til-release excited.
I was thinking today about how the game trailers have set up this character, with his distinctive helmet, who isn't actually part of the game. Sure, you could go out of your way to recreate the warrior from these clips but the reality is that he won't exist in most people's games.
Today's comic covers one possible scenario which would cause the helmet to be prevalent in lots of games. You either make the player start with that helmet; make it the ultimate item, so everyone wants to get it eventually; or you just leave a shit-ton of them lying about in the game world.
It's also interesting how much of a symbol that helmet has become. It's more recognizable than the actual game logo itself, title omitted. I remember seeing people wandering around PAX Prime wearing those helmets and thinking, "Oh sweet, there's a Skyrim booth somewhere."

On another note, Victor and I have been planning our characters. He's got a fully-armoured battle mage in mind, who wields a strange pairing of tower shield and offensive magic. I'm thinking of something along the lines of a swordmage. Using defensive magicks to bolster my deadly melee skills. Anyone else starting to plan their character out?