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Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation

Blake J. Harris

6.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Following the success of The Accidental Billionaires and Moneyball comes Console Wars—a...

Pumpka (57 KP) rated Wingspan in Tabletop Games

Aug 15, 2019

Wingspan

2019 | Card Game

8.9

(20 Ratings)

Tabletop Game Rating Watch

Replayability (4 more)

Family friendly

Easy to learn

Stunning components

Fun engine building

Too short, I want more! (0 more)

Wingspan, blown away again!

Wingspan continues to blow me away with each play. It’s not only very easy to teach but brings an element of engine building in a way I wasn’t expecting. Creating combos of birds that help you to make an efficient board for gaining points and scoring those all important end of round bonuses. Which change from game to game, giving wingspan replayablility in more than one way, each game encouraging you to employ new tactics. This prevents any style of meta gaming where “if you play this certain way, you will always win”!

I had the pleasure of teaching a family of two parents and two children, ages 7 and 10. Who all thoroughly enjoyed playing, the children loved the components as well as figuring out the bird combos for themselves. Having fun feeding the birds to bring them into their tableaux, the theme is well done like this. Everything fits well and hasn’t been “tacked on”. Even if you’re no bird fanatic, this game just feels lovely to play, and is honestly worth a shot if you ever have the chance to play.

The game also plays in a nice timescale, when you first start playing the game seems as if it may take a while. Then before you know it you’ve only got one action left! And it’s all over :) leaving time for another go!

Overall, a magnificent game. Although I must mention it is a light-weight game at that. IF you’re style of game is more meaty than light to medium weight. This one might not be for you entirely, BUT as I mentioned before, for the unique style of engine building, I’d highly encourage you to give it a go anyway! :)

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (977 KP) rated Molly's Game (2017) in Movies

Jul 8, 2019

Perfectionism, pressure, drive, success – “Molly’s Game” tells the story of a woman pushed to achieve these qualities by her father (Kevin Costner) throughout her childhood and adolescence. The pressure to become perfect went far with Molly (Jessica Chastain), who grows up to become an Olympic-class skier and scores astronomically on the law school entrance exam.

But Molly doesn’t go to law school, and she doesn’t win the gold medal. She comes in fourth and slides into the seedy world of high stakes gambling, where her clever mind and charming appearance take her far. She becomes a leader of an underground world, filled with money, greed, and glamour.

Her gambling ring included players that were famous, wealthy, and in some cases criminal. She became the target of an FBI investigation, that revealed how little she was actually in the know about her own game.

Chastain does a great job in her role as Molly. Her striking features and strong demeanor exude a woman in charge. Particularly enjoyable is the performance by Michael Cera as Player X, a celebrity poker player who always plays in the big leagues. Cera, does a great job of making you wonder which celebrity Player X was, and why he was so heavily involved in the high stakes gaming world. It is a nice switch u for Cera into a more serious kind of role.

The consequences of Molly’s choices unfold rapidly. Making it fast paced and suspenseful, without a dull moment.

The style of the film paints a pretty picture of an ugly scene, with each shot appearing beautifully smooth and gliding transitions that grab a viewer’s focus.

“Molly’s Game” is a must see for anyone who loves a good crime-thriller, especially one based on a tell all of a real human experience in a wild reality.

Kudos

Dean (6925 KP) rated Mini Projector in Tech

Jan 23, 2020

Mini Projector

Home Audio & Theater > Projectors

7.0

(6 Ratings)

Tech Rating

Large picture area projection (0 more)

Noisy (2 more)

Sound quality

Some ports didn't work?

Disappointing

Well this is a shame I got this through the giveaway competition. I've tried to give it a good test but it didn't fare well.
The good thing is the projection area can be very large and still fairly sharp in focus. It recommends up to 60" but could easily get closer to 80" TV screen size equivalent. Any bigger and the image wouldn't be as sharp or colourful but if you don't mind that it could take up a whole wall. The HDMi port works so you could connect it to your sky box, xbox, dvd player. The sound quality from it isn't great though as it's only a small device, unless you also connect a speaker. It can be a little noisy as well during operation.
Unfortunately the microSD card and USB ports don't appear to be working on this unit? I tried a couple of cards and a USB card reader but nothing worked. This would be handy for viewing photos. It also has an AV port for music. It does come with a remote, HDMi cable and an adapter that would work with a camcorder or even a Wii console.
The power cable isn't particularly long but once charged it can be used cordless. It doesn't really have a stand to help if you wanted to project onto your ceiling.
So it really depends what you are going to use it for. Plug your xbox in for wall size gaming, or your phone via HDMi to watch Netflix, YouTube etc. I don't think it's something you would use for serious movie watching if you care about the sound quality as well unless you connect headphones or a speaker as well via the phonejack.