Review of Timestreams from Bucephalus Games

 

Designed by Jeremy Holcomb and K. Joseph Huber

The Spin:  Manipulate Time for fun and glory

The Story:  Players play time travelers working their way through multiple eras seeding each with technology designed to shape the world in their image.  Two two-player sets (Medieval vs. Modern Day and Stone Age vs. Future Tech) are currently available and at least one more two-player set and some smaller expansions are advertised as on the way.  The two-player sets can be combined to expand the game to up to six players.

The Play:  Each player is given a deck of cards themed to a particular era.  These cards are divided between Inventions and Actions.  The Invention cards are worth points at the end of the game while the action cards, mostly, are discarded after their effect takes place. 

Before play begins, the players form a tableau consisting of timeline cards representing six eras (Stone Age through Future Tech). Players will begin playing cards one at a time below the Stone Age card.  When both players have no more plays they want to make, they move on to the next period.  This process continues until the last play in the Future Tech era, at which time scoring it resolved.

When and where Invention cards are played is very important.  Inventions have one of two types of effects: Play or Score.  Play effects resolve when the card is put into the tableau.  Score effects do not occur until the end of the game.  Both the Play and the Score effects can destroy inventions, move inventions, alter the values of inventions, and manipulate the players’ hands, decks and discard piles.

When the Future Tech era is complete, players move to the end of game scoring phase.  One at a time each era is scored from top to bottom (first six slots only, by default).  Again, here cards can be destroyed and values altered.  Each era is scored in turn and scores are totaled.  Highest score wins.  Like many collectable card games, the complexity of Timestreams is in the card interactions not in the game rules.

My Take:  I played a lot of CCGs when they first hit the gaming scene in the mid 90s.  Magic:TG, Wyvern, On the Edge, Middle Earth, Mythos, INWO—really most of the games released in the first half-decade of the genre.  Eventually, I tired of the constant flood of new sets, wonky rule interpretations, and a gaming scene full of over-competitive players.  The whole scene was both costly and annoying and I quit pretty much cold turkey (if you will allow me to exclude my brief flirtation with Collectable Miniatures Games).  Timestreams fulfills what is left of my CCG craving without the collectible element or the driving force of a tournament scene.  Like a CCG, the cards represent tiny alterations to the game’s simple rules and the interaction between the cards and the rules provides plenty of opportunity for tactical play.   Though the game is not collectible or (currently) customizable, it does a good job of scratching the CCG itch without giving me a gaming rash.  I’d happily lump it in with Blue Moon and Dominion as games that ignore certain CCG elements while playing up others.

Components:  Well, it is a card game folks.  No wooden bits, no plastic soldiers, no resin tanks.  Unfortunately, the card quality is a bit below-average.  The cards are too glossy and become hard to read under direct light (hard to photograph also, but that isn’t a problem for you guys).  The cards are thick and the glossy coating seems to protect them well from the wear of handling, but the cards do not stand up to a bend test.  The card art is solid, but often obscured by the text boxes.  I also despised the fonts.  The difference between the game text font and the flavor text font is very unattractive. 

I also would like to have a board for the timeline instead of using cards.  Using cards makes it more portable and likely less expensive, but something like the board for Kosmos/Rio Grande’s Lost Cities would have gone a long way toward making the game more attractive on the table and made the game state easier  to see at a glance. 

A side note:  the flavor text is consistently funny and interesting.  Easily the best I’ve seen in a while. 

The Verdict.  The quibbles with card quality aside (and ultimately they are pretty minor), Timestreams is an enjoyable, highly interactive card game with a fun sci-fi theme and solid mechanics.  I recommend it without reservation and could easily raise this score half a point when the final set is released.

7.5/10

New Contest--Win a Copy of Vegas Showdown, baby!

Nerdbloggers is giving away a new-in-shrinkwrap copy of Vegas Showdown for this month's contest. The contest will run through the end of the month with the winner being chosen at-random from a list of all entries. To enter, do the following:

1. Follow us on twitter ( http://twitter.com/nerdbloggers) to get one entry in the contest.
2. Get one additional entry every time you retweet one of our tweets.
3. Get one additional entry every time you tweet about on of our stories (board game related or otherwise)

That's all it takes. Enter now and tweet often. 

Goodluck from the Nerdbloggers crew!

Netflix comes to Wii: For Parents, it is a mixed blessing...

We've finally got some time with the Wii version of Netflix streaming. Despite the fact that I have four devices in my home that can stream Netflix content, the Wii release is exciting for a few reasons.  First, like many families, our Wii is not hooked up to our main television.  The Wii doesn't support HD and doesn't benefit from being on our main setup, so it is in the little home theater area we set up in the children's playroom.  This meant that if Netflix worked smoothly, my daughter could take in an episode of iCarly or whatever while we watched other things on the big screen.  We don't have a sattelite receiver on that set because we strictly monitor what our children are allowed to watch.  This brings me to my second reason for anticipating the Wii release.  Since the Wii is a family-friendly console, I had hoped that the parental controls for the Netflix software would be more flexible and utilitarian than they are on the competing consoles.  Unfortunately, though the interface, controls, and streaming work really well in the Wii version, Netflix Wii features no additional parental controls beyond those built into the console.  Overall, this is a successful release, but there are some improvements I'd like to see in later releases.

If you have used Netflix streaming on the Xbox and PS3, you will notice that the Wii versiion more closely resembles the PS3 software.  The most obvious similarity is the need to load the software off disc each time you use it.  This is clunky and means the kids (or adults) have to keep up with a disc and keep it scratch free.  Speculation (though nothing official has been released) is that the disc is a way around an exclusivity agreement signed with Microsoft when Netflix first appeared on the Xbox 360.  Whatever the reason, the disc-based method is clumsy and I'd like to see a workaround as soon as possible.

Once the software is installed, there is little difference in the service.  The interface resembles that of the PS3.  The Wii-mote is fine for selecting the drop-down category menu and for scrolling through the available films and televison shows.  Once a program has been selected, it loads a bit quicker than the other versions, perhaps because it doesn't require a test for connection quality that the others use to scale the quality of the picture.  The max quality here is roughly the equivalent of the mid-range quality on the PS3, PC, and Xbox streams.  I watched a variety of programs and the only noticeably bad quality was on the Starz branded films.  Otherwise, the picture quality looked pretty much like standard definition cable television.  I really can't say I miss the HD since the television we have the Wii on is an old, standard definition CRT.  I can't imagine too many people own HD sets yet only have the Wii as an option for streaming Netflix.  Obviously, if you have HD and an Xbox, PS3, or supported Blu-ray player, those are a better option.  Otherwise, the Wii does a solid job delivering the content.

(If you don't have kids, or don't care what they watch, you can skip the next section) 

Before I watched a single program, I played around with the parental controls.  I had hoped to have flexible parental controls built in to the Netflix program itself.  Unfortunately, there are none.  Instead, parents only have the option to turn on the network parental controls on the Wii.  Anyone who has used that to block network access will know that it is an all or nothing feature.  If it is on, a password must be entered before the Netflix program will launch.  Once that password is entered, parents can't set a rating level for the films that can be watched.  This seems like a huge oversight.  I would have liked to have seen it on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, but I actually expected it for the Wii--a system that sees lots of its base installed in children's bedrooms and playrooms.  So be warned, if you leave your kid watching Angelina the Ballerina, you can return to them watching Spartacus: Blood and Sand, assuming your kid has no taste in television shows whatsoever.

Overall, Netflix streaming for the Wii is a welcome product.  I have a one-year old passed out on the couch at the moment and my daughter is watching Angelina Ballerina in the toy room, far enough away to not wake the little one.  The fact that so many Wiis see installation away from the main entertainment center means this release give families more flexibility in their entertainment options.  The fact that it works well and is easy to navigate makes the release even better.  Only the lack of parental controls keeps me from being completely satisfied with the release.  So, Netflix and Nintendo, if you could get on with that, I'm sure lots of parents would appreciate it.

I'll leave it at that and wait for the snarky comments about how it is not Nintendo or Netflix's job to monitor my kids.  As always, I'll assume those comments are coming from 15 year-old Nintendo fanboys with no children of their own.

Lost Boys Star Corey Haim Dead at 38

The LAPD is reporting that actor Corey Haim has been found dead of an accidental overdose.  Haim was very familiar to genre fans, having starred in the popular vampire film The Lost Boys.  Haim's struggles with substance abuse were well chronicled over the past decade and it is sad to hear he has lost his battle.  Here is a brief look at his genre work over the years.

We first got to know Haim in Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys.  Haim played Sam, younger brother of Jason Patrick's Mike.  After Mike gets himself involved with a local vampire "gang", Sam and a couple of young classmates turn themselves into vampire hunters complete with water guns filled with holy water.  One of the actors playing his buddy was Corey Feldman who would become linked with Haim throughout their careers.

 Haim also starred in two horror films based on works by two legends of the field.  First, Silver Bullet, an adaptation of Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf.  This is a highly underrated horror film that you should really check out if you haven't seen it.  The film shares some similarities with The Lost Boys as Haim once again plays a young boy who feels like something supernatural is going on and has to fight to be believed.  In this case, a small town is home to a number of unsolved killings.  Haim, playing the paraplegic Marty, believes a werewolf is responsible.  He is, of course, correct.

Haim continued his horror work in a less successful adaptation of Dean Koontz's Watchers.  He plays a young boy who finds a genetically modified, super intelligent dog.  It also isn't long before he discovers that the dog isn't the only genetically modified creature that is on the loose as they begin to be stalked by a fearsome (and cheesy) beast.  It isn't the best horror film, but it is watchable and not in a so-bad-it-is-good way.  It is actually a solid low budget horror film. 

Haim had some other genre work that I'm not familiar with including a upcoming zombie movie called The Dead Sea.  At first, I thought that The Dead Sea might be an adaptation of Brian Keene's Dead Sea which is also a zombie film set on a boat, but apparently it is a separate project.  The Dead Sea had finished primary filming and was in post-production, so I expect we will get a chance to see it despite Haim's death.  

It is always sad to lose someone who enriched our lives with their creative work.  Our thoughts are with Haim's friends and family in this sad moment.

Nerdiest.Oscars.Ever.

...and that is a good thing.

One would be forgiven for thinking the Academy Awards could not get any nerdier than they did in 2004 when Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King one eleven Oscars.  And, yes, that was a nerdtastic year.  Last night, however, trumped it in a number of ways.  Other than some technical nominations for Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, LOTR:ROTK stood alone as the only nominated genre fiction that year.  This year, genre fiction and its creators abounded.  Here is a nerd's eye look at the 2010 Academy Awards:

The Producer of A Bucket of Blood clearly has made a great contribution to the Arts and Sciences.

Roger Corman received the Honorary Award at the Governors Awards for exceptional contribution to motion picture arts and sciences.  Feel free to read that again.  He also got some recognition in the horror tribute (I'll get to that) and got named checked by the Best Editing winner later in the night.  Check out this amazing tribute to the legend on The Academy website.   

Speaking of the horror tribute--hey, there was a tribute to the horror film.  The montage of great horror moments was actually pretty darn good.  They worked some connections to the night's festivities (Corman's Little Shop of Horrors was clipped and was the musical re-make which featured the night's co-host Steve Martin).  The montage ran the gamut from Nosferatu through the Universal monsters era and all the way to the slasher era.  Good stuff.  It is interesting that they introduced the clips by saying no horror film had won an Oscar since The Exorcist took home two in the 70's but included The Silence of the Lambs in the montage.  If I recall correctly, that baby took home a few awards, including the rare sweep of the big four--Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress.  

Forgot my Oscar, did you? Prepare to served up with some Fava beans.

Speaking of Best Film Editing, the winner was none other than Bob Murawski and Chris Innis.  Murawski is Sam Raimi's go to editor and editied the Spider-man movies, Army of Darkness, and The Gift.  Good to see the guy that got his start editing direct-to-video Skinemax fair like Animal Instincts 2 work his way to the top of his profession.

The expansion of Best Picture nominees to 73 meant that two science fiction films joined the small list of sci-fi Best Picture candidates.  Of course, like Star Wars, A Clockwork Orange and E.T. before them, Avatar and District 9 both failed to take home the big prize.

But, genre people still did well.  Best Director Kathryn Bigelow is well known to genre fans as the director of the wonderful horror film Near Dark and a pretty good sci-fi movie Strange Days.  

Revisionist vampire fiction at its best.

Best Director and Best Picture are big deals in the industry and it is great to see a horror veteran pulling down those huge awards.  Genre films are usually relegated to the technical awards (which happened again this year to Avatar.  Cameron will just have to lick his wounds with the nearly 3 Billion dollars the film has pulled in to date.  On a happier note, even the Best Acting awards had genre connections this year.  Best Actor winner Jeff Bridges has a huge genre role in his past...

No...wait.  Wrong guy.  Here we go...

and...

Oooh! Where'd you find that lens flare?

Bridges also has been cast in the re-launch of the Tron franchise, so he has genre work in his past and future.  And, finally, how cool is it that the cute young cop from Demolition Man just won a Best Actress Oscar?

Looks like there's a new shepherd in town.