Sunday, August 4, 2013

Employee arrested for taking $500,000 from Chester church

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT)- A Hopewell woman is behind bars after police say she stole $500,000 from a church she worked for. Chesterfield police arrested 39-year-old Jerri Hunter, accusing her of embezzling money over a period of several years.

Harold Crowder, spokesman with Chester United Methodist Church, first thought the lack of funds may have been due to a weak economy, but it quickly grew into something more. Crowder says the church is trying to seek justice -?but with compassion.?

"One of the things, being a community in faith, we are in prayer for all of those whose lives have been disrupted by these events," said Crowder.

It's a chain of events Crowder has never seen in his 30-some years at Chester United Methodist - $500,000 stolen from an organization that thrives off its giving and faithful spirit, as any church would.

State Police arrested and charged Jerri Hunter Monday on 11 counts of felony embezzlement.? Chesterfield Police Lieutenant Steve Grohowski says more charges are pending.??

"The accountants have gone back a few years, but they're going to have to go all the way back to 2008 to really determine what the total amount is," said Grohowski.?

According to the church's spokesman, Hunter worked as the Financial Administrator since May of 2007. She was let go this May.?

It wasn't until after her termination, staff and volunteers grew suspicious of her money-handling.?Crowder says Hunter performed a number of roles including managing checking and credit card accounts and electronic transfers.??

That half-a-million dollar shortfall could have funded much-needed renovations and missions work locally and globally according to Crowder.

"All of those things were impacted by the reduction of funds that we had to work with," Crowder noted.??

Now the church is working with police and specialized accountants to go back through all the records to figure exactly how much is still missing.???

Crowder says Hunter was not a member of the church.? Staff cannot confirm if they performed a background check before she was hired.?Hunter is being held at Riverside Regional Jail without bond. She's due in court Monday.???

Copyright 2013 WWBT NBC12. All rights reserved

Source: http://chesterfield.nbc12.com/news/news/146473-employee-arrested-taking-500000-chester-church

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Chinese Hackers Have Been Caught Hijacking a Decoy US Water Plant

Chinese Hackers Have Been Caught Hijacking a Decoy US Water Plant

Chinese hackers have been harassing the US in a series of cyberattacks, but we've started trying to talk it out and cool this all down. But in the meantime, a security researcher has just revealed that he caught a team of Chinese hackers hijacking a fake water plant he set up. And aside from spotting the fake, they knew exactly what they were doing.

Read more...

Source: http://gizmodo.com/chinese-hackers-just-got-caught-hijacking-a-decoy-water-1012520726

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Aviary for iOS update adds Instagram and email sharing options, extra magic

Aviary for iOS update adds Instagram and email sharing options

Aviary has certainly been busy over the past couple of months, having recently overhauled its photo-editing app for Android, as well as launching on Windows Phone 8. Fortunately, the industrious company has also found time to work on its iOS app, which has just been updated to allow picture sharing via Instagram and good old-fashioned email. The sharing menu now features two new buttons that'll push the selected image into Instagram's own app, or launch Mail and add it to the body of an email. According to the update changelog, the new version also has "a bonus extra dose of magic added." We asked the folks at Aviary exactly how they implemented this exciting feature, but frustratingly, they wouldn't tell us.

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Via: The Next Web

Source: iTunes store (Aviary)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/02/aviary-ios-update-instagram-email-sharing/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Saturday, August 3, 2013

OUYA Gaming Console Review - Android Game Console Reviews

To say the Ouya gaming console has lofty ambitions would be a monumental understatement. When the $99 gaming console began its crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter in 2012, the company set its sights on "cracking open the last closed platform: the TV." Ouya, which comes with an Xbox-like controller, lets you play Android games on your TV. With its low price and developer-friendly policies, does the Ouya have what it takes to spark the rise of Android gaming in the living room?

Design

OUYA Gaming ConsoleWe expected the Ouya console to have the plasticky, cheap feel often found in cheap Android smartphones. What we found, however, is exactly the opposite. Led by the same team that designed Jawbone's Jambox, Ouya feels like it belongs in a modern living room with its svelte, sleek design. The box itself is a 2.9 x 2.9 x 3.2-inch dark gray aluminum cube that tapers at the bottom into a rounded black plastic base. The top of the device houses the power button, the front panel has a simple etched Ouya logo, and the rear panel holds the HDMI, USB, MicroUSB, power and Ethernet ports.

Ouya's controller is as well designed as the console. It has the same black and dark gray two-toned design, and feels comfortable to hold. It weighs just 9.7 ounces, compared with 10.2 ounces for the Playstation 3 controller and 13.6 ounces for that of the Xbox 360. The center section contains a directional pad on the left, analog stick on the right, white indicator lights, and the Ouya button in the middle. The area right above the directional pad and analog stick can be used as a trackpad, though few games actually make use of this functionality and you'll probably never use it.

MORE: Best Gaming Laptop 2013

OUYA Gaming ConsoleThe left side of the controller houses a second analog stick, and the four action buttons sit on the right. Both the left and right sides of the controller are covered by removable dark gray aluminum plates, which you'll use to change the batteries. We found that the plates slid on and off without issue. On the top are four trigger buttons, two on each side, which are similar to controllers from other consoles.

But what the Ouya controller has in style, it lacks in execution. Occasionally, when in the middle of the game, we noticed a delay from the time we pressed a button until the action occurred on screen. It's a miniscule delay, granted, but one that you just don't get from console controllers and which takes away from the overall experience. The other glaring omission is that there is no pause or dedicated button to access menus, leaving developers to assign these functions to buttons at will, with no consistent approach to simplify these actions. The controller offers acceptable performance, but still has room for improvement in later iterations.

Fortunately, users aren't tied to the Ouya controller; Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 controllers can be used with the Ouya with compatible games, and work quite well with games that support these inputs. We didn't notice any of the lag experienced with the standard Ouya controller. If you do want additional Ouya controllers, they run $49 apiece.

Setup

OUYA Gaming ConsoleSetting up Ouya for the first time is a remarkably simple process. After you've plugged the Ouya into a power outlet and HDMI port on your TV, you'll be instructed on how to pair your controller via Bluetooth, connect to your Wi-Fi network and create a new Ouya account. Once your free account is created, you'll need to enter credit card information to purchase games or in-app content on your device. After you've completed these steps, you'll find yourself on Ouya's landing screen.

Interface

OUYA Gaming ConsoleOuya's landing screen is as simple as the console's design. Four menu options -- Play, Discover, Make and Manage -- are presented, each taking you deeper into what Ouya has to offer. Most users will spend their time in Play, which organizes your downloaded games into a side-scrolling collection so you can easily launch your game of choice. Discover functions as Ouya's game storefront. Make is reserved for developers to test their in-progress builds and for those who want to sideload applications, and Manage lets users control various aspects of their Ouya account, including implementing Parental Controls and managing connected controllers.

App Store

OUYA Gaming ConsoleA gaming system is only as good as the available games. While Ouya runs on Android, it does not have access to Google Play; rather, gamers must download titles through Ouya's Discover store.

Though Ouya has only been available to the public for a little over a month, it's already amassed more than 300 games, and that number is growing every day. While there are such titles as "Ravensword: Shadowlands," "Organ Trail" and "Vector," none of the top 10 most popular games in Google Play (such as "Minecraft" and "Plants vs. Zombies") are available in Ouya's store.

The store is organized into curated sections such as Featured, Only on Ouya, Trending Now, and hand-picked collections from people such as Ben Kuchera of the Penny Arcade Report and "Towerfall" Developer Matt Thorson. Users can help Ouya build its curated content lists by voting up games that they enjoy, which should help weed out the good games from the junk. Near the bottom of the store are the more typical Genre categories, where you can peruse Sports, Puzzle, Retro or any of Ouya's 18 other generic categories.

MORE: Best Apps 2013

Overall, we liked the way the store was laid out, and we found it very easy to find the more fun-to-play games on the Ouya console, which for us included "BombSquad" and "Towerfall."

Try Before You Buy

The game testing and purchasing system is where Ouya gets it right. Most games tend to fall between $2 and $10, though we've seen as high as about $20, and some offer the same "pay-what-you-want" system made popular by the Humble Bundles, which let gamers set a price for a handful of DRM-free games.

Ouya requires all developers to offer some portion of their game for free, letting users get a feel for the game before committing to a purchase. Most developers simply give access to the game for a set period of time, requiring a purchase once the timer runs out. Other developers let users play the first few levels of a game before deciding whether to purchase the full version. Regardless of method, letting gamers test a game before committing is a radical shift in the console gaming industry, and it's one we hope catches on.

No Google Play Integration

OUYA Gaming ConsoleUnfortunately, any games you've purchased in the Google Play store won't be available to you on the Ouya, even if that same game has been ported to the console. If you like "Shadowgun" and want to play it on Ouya, you'll have to pay the full $5 asking price in addition to the $5 you paid for the Android phone/tablet version. Of course, developers have to do a bit of work to make games compatible with Ouya's layout, but we'd have liked to see some Google Play integration.

You can sideload Android apps (you'll find a list of apps that work fairly well on ouyaforum.com), though you'll likely lose the controller customizations unless they're also included in the Android app.

MORE: Top 12 Android Games

Emulators

The Ouya store is filled with several emulators, programs that, when paired with a corresponding ROM, can play old games from consoles past like the NES and Super Nintendo. This is where Ouya walks a fine moral line, as there are a limited number of cases in which ROMs can be acquired in accordance with the law. More often, users obtain these files illegally, so if you choose to use an emulator we encourage you to follow the rules and only download ROMs for games you've purchased.

That said, emulators are an area in which Ouya shines, offering gamers the nostalgia of playing their favorite Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Playstation games. We successfully loaded and played a handful of such games, and found these types of games much better suited for Ouya and its physical controller than the on-screen controls found in smartphones and tablets.

Performance

OUYA Gaming ConsolePowering the Ouya gaming console are the types of specs you'd expect in a high-end Android smartphone or tablet...from late 2011. Ouya comes with a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of onboard flash storage, the latter of which can be expanded via USB. Despite its modest spec sheet, gameplay was generally smooth and we almost never noticed any lag or stuttering while playing.

On AnTuTu, the Ouya scored 13,833, which falls just below the category average of 13,968, but is also behind such devices as the Nexus 7 (19,572) and the Nvidia Shield (41,402). On Quadrant, the Ouya's score of 4,966 topped the average of 4,711 and the Nexus 7 (4,949), but was less than a quarter of the Shield's score of 18,280. However, both of these benchmarks ran in a small window on our TV, rather than filling the screen.

OUYA Gaming ConsoleWe downloaded "BombSquad" ($4.99), a third-person party fighting game where you must use bombs in your inventory to destroy any enemies that may appear. Power-ups include sticky bombs (the most useful tool ever), ice bombs, boxing gloves and trip mines, all of which can be strategically used to decimate your enemies. Gameplay in "BombSquad" was smooth, and the graphics were pretty good despite rendering only in 720p. Best of all, you can duel it out with up to three of your local friends, or team up against the computer. For under $5, it's a must-have game for those who own an Ouya.

MORE: 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Android Phone in Under 5 Minutes

We also tried "Towerfall," where you and up to three other friends take part in a lethal free-for-all, armed with bow and arrow with the goal of impaling your friends with your lethal archery skills. The graphics aren't stellar, but have a solid retro 8-bit feel, which play out well throughout the game. "Towerfall" is a bit expensive at $14.99, though it's arguably the most fun game on the store today.

Multiplayer Issues

Ouya's biggest drawback is the lack of a true online multiplayer component. The Ouya platform technically supports online multiplayer, but relies on each developer to have the infrastructure in place to support it on their own, which is an expensive venture for most smaller development studios. Because it's difficult to implement the feature, most developers have opted to instead build for local multiplayer only, and there are only a handful of online games available.

Ouya also hasn't yet built the same kind of social layer found on other consoles and mobile platforms, so there's no leaderboard or friends list anywhere to be found. The company has promised to build these components into the Ouya console by the end of 2013.

Video and Audio Content

OUYA Gaming ConsoleThe other major drawback is with streaming audio and video. Gaming consoles aren't just for games, and many Xbox and Playstation owners also use their consoles to stream video content from Netflix and YouTube or music from the likes of Spotify or Pandora. With Ouya, if you want to enjoy any of these services, you'll have to sideload them onto your device. Ouya has Plex, which in theory can support Netflix streaming and YouTube videos, but we couldn't get Netflix to work at all, and even very short YouTube videos wouldn't play all the way through without stopping to load while set to 1080p. There's also tune-in radio for your music needs, though the more popular streaming music services are nowhere to be found.

We were able to fairly easily sideload Netflix and Pandora on our Ouya unit, though we were quickly presented with another setback. Streaming initiated without a hitch, but once the controller turns itself off due to inactivity (typically after 10-15 minutes or so), your stream will stop playing. This renders Netflix, Pandora and all other streaming audio/video apps useless. If you want a gaming solution that can also serve your video and audio consumption needs, the Ouya isn't quite there yet.

Verdict

OUYA Gaming ConsoleAt $99, the Ouya is an inexpensive game console that shows potential, but falls flat in several key areas. The controller needs work, there's no online multiplayer, leaderboards, achievements or friends list, and the selection of must-play games is fairly limited. Fortunately, Ouya has committed to annual hardware refreshes, so we look forward to Ouya 2.0 next summer. Until then, we prefer the $49 MOGA Pro controller, which lets you use an Xbox-style controller with most Android tablets and smartphones. The Ouya provides a fun single and local multiplayer gaming experience, but we'd wait for better titles and more capabilities.

Source: http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/consoles/ouya-gaming-console.aspx

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Union screams bloody murder over report on TSA misconduct

WASHINGTON, DC - The union representing over 45,000 Transportation Security Officers today blasted TSA critics on Capitol Hill for "trying to sensationalize" the report's findings. The American Federation of Government Employees claims the report itself found that only a tiny fraction of the huge workforce was involved in any misconduct, and fewer still have been involved in misconduct that had any relation to security.

In a statement, AFGE National President J. David Cox, Sr. said:

"Efforts by Representative Mica and others on Capitol Hill to hype this report as evidence of widespread and scandalous misconduct by TSA employees run contrary to the facts of the report itself.

"The GAO study of allegations of misconduct on the part of TSA employees has been wildly misrepresented. TSA critics on Capitol Hill seize every opportunity to give the agency and its dedicated workforce a black eye, even when the facts to not support their arm-waving displays of false outrage. They want to drag us back, as a nation, to the pre-9/11 practice of using poorly trained, minimum wage rent-a-cops to protect the flying public from terrorists. Their theory that private, for-profit security is better than that provided by TSA is not borne out by the facts of this report. The data GAO analyzed show once again that the TSA workforce is doing a great job protecting the flying public, and that around 99% of the employees are never involved in security-related misconduct.

"In an agency with a workforce the size of a small city, spread out over more than 400 airports, misconduct numbers this small indicate success, not failure. No one condones any misconduct and TSA is diligent in investigating allegations that range from being a few minutes late to work to violating security protocol. Thanks to our union, the agency is required to evaluate evidence when charges of misconduct are made, and when the facts warrant discipline, tailor the punishment to the offense. Efforts to sensationalize these kinds of routine management functions in order to make the case for the return of the failed, for-profit model of airport screening are appalling and irresponsible."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Eturbonews-TravelAndTourismIndustryNews/~3/HY2yhHg6VgE/union-screams-bloody-murder-over-report-tsa-misconduct

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Friday, August 2, 2013

Cross of Jesus found? [VIDEO] Archaeologists claim discovery of crucifixion relic in ancient Balatlar church by the Black Sea in Turkey

NBC Video Screenshot

Archaeologists from Turkey believe that they have found a piece of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The archaeologists have been excavating an ancient 1,350-year-old church for four years in the country, and discovered a stone chest which contained a number of relics believed to be associated with the crucifixion of Jesus.

Professor G?lg?n K?ro?lu definitively stated, who headed the excavation, stated: " We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross, and we think it was [part of the cross on which Jesus was crucified]. This stone chest is very important to us. It has a history and is the most important artifact we have unearthed so far."

Christian Post reports that there is no reason as to why K?ro?lu believes that the piece of wood found in the site is related to Jesus Christ's crucifixion.

The ancient Balatlar Church is located in Sinop, Turkey, on the shores of the Black Sea.

After the recent discovery, the stone chest has been taken to labs for authentication testing. A stone with a cross carved into it was also found at the site. The team believe that the appearance of the chest suggests that it was a repository for the relics of a holy person.

Theologian John Calvin had once referred to the relics of the cross being found, saying that "if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load."

Balatlar Church was built in 660 and in addition to the stone chest being found, the ruins of an ancient Roman bath were found, including over 1,000 human skeletons since 2009.

Source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/cross.of.jesus.found.video.archaeologists.claim.discovery.crucifixion.relic.ancient.balatlar.church.black.sea.turkey/33478.htm

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Commissioner Bennett's resignation rocks Florida education system

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Source: http://www.news-press.com/article/20130802/NEWS0104/308020034/1002/RSS01

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U.S. SEC official says 'gratified' by Tourre trial verdict

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official said the agency was "gratified" by a jury's finding on Thursday that former Goldman Sachs Inc banker Fabrice Tourre was liable for fraud.

"We will continue to vigorously seek to hold accountable, and bring to trial when necessary, those who commit fraud on Wall Street," said Andrew Ceresney, the SEC's co-director of enforcement.

Tourre was found liable on six of seven counts by a Manhattan federal jury in a civil case brought by the SEC. He was found to have violated federal securities law with his role in a failed mortgage deal.

(Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Steve Orlosky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-sec-official-says-gratified-tourre-trial-verdict-204526776.html

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Prince William's Aunt Princess Anne Says The Baby Has 'Nothing To ...

princess anne baby reaction

Better believe it!

While the world waits to see Prince William and Kate Middleton's newborn, William's very own aunt, Princess Anne, seemingly prefers to stay as far away from the global baby fever as possible.

In regard to the royal birth, Anne said:

"Nothing to do with me, but it's very good news."

Love the enthusiasm, Anne! LOLz!

Then again, when you're in the monarchical game for so long, we imagine it could get tiresome.

Guess we'll just have to be excited for her!

[Image via WENN.]

Tags: family, kate middleton, newborn, prince william, princess anne, royal baby news, royal baby reaction, royals royce, tacky and true, wacky

Source: http://perezhilton.com/2013-07-23-prince-william-royal-baby-princess-anne-reaction

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DC's: 19 three dimensional board games

_________________

Waldschattenspiel
'Today we look at something very special. It?s a German family game called ?Waldschattenspiel?, sold here as ?Shadows In The Woods?. It?s a game designed for children and an adult, but I think any group would happily play this wonderful little thing. There is nothing else like it, and certainly nothing else that looks like it. Let me explain how the game plays. A board. Wooden trees of different sizes. Little wooden pawns. A candle. The child player takes one of the little wooden pawns (the dwarves) and hides it in the forest, in a patch of shadow. Once all the children have hidden their dwarves. The adult player, a giant with a bright lantern represented by a tea-light, rolls a die and moves that many paces through the trees. As the light source moves, the shadows dance and stretch. Any dwarf caught in the light is frozen, unable to move, until another dwarf can come to touch it and break the spell. The dwarves win the game by coming together in the same patch of shadow, under the same tree. The light-bringer wins if it freezes all the dwarves.'





___________________

Haunted Ruins
'I think it would be hard for any gamer with kids, especially one who appreciates the Ameritrash side of gaming, to look at a game like Haunted Ruins and not think, where was this game when I was growing up?? I mean, just look at the thing... It's a 3D pop-up board of a haunted graveyard, with moving obstacles and passageways, and you're being chased around by a ghost and a zombie. I saw this at a Toys R Us when it first came out a couple years ago, along with its Egyptian pyramid/mummy themed counterpart, Treasure of the Lost Pyramid, and it took all of my willpower to not just buy them both right then and there. But they were both about $25 and I couldn't really justify the purchase at the time. Well, fast forward to last week when I was bored and stopped into a Barnes & Noble in California... I had totally spaced the whole "Barnes & Noble game dumping sale" that happens every year around this time and so it was a pleasant surprise to see several copies of Haunted Ruins sitting there for 75% off. It was also kind of sad to see that, because really, this is a great game and a great production that deserves to be in the homes of many kids who will surely love it.'



__________________

The Settlers of Catan 3D Edition
'The Catan 3D Edition is a special treat indeed. In the big wooden chest you will find 19 3D terrain hexes, an illustrated, sturdy wooden frame andover 170 game pieces that have been painstakingly modeled in exquisite detail. All pieces have been hand painted. All the pieces are included for you to play The Settlers of Catan in 3D. Note: the 3D version of The Settlers of Catan was a limited production of 5,000 copies. It may be difficult to find an authentic set online, however, many merchants have come up with an ingenious way to bring the Catan 3D experience to everyone. Blank terrain pieces are often available, which can then be painted. Use your imagination and get yours today!'










____________________

Aapep 3D
'In Aapep you play either the demon Aapep, trying to swallow the sun, or the god Ra, fighting to escape the dark seas of the underworld. Players take turns placing pyramid tiles onto the board?Aapep swallows the sun if from any edge of the board he can "see" dark sides on the first pyramid tile that is visible from that direction while Ra escapes if from any edge of the board he can "see" light sides on the first pyramid tile visible from that direction.'




_____________________

Just William Game
'The first part of the game consists of constructing William's house and garden fence as per the diagram on the rules. Players are then given jobs to do around the built house & surrounds. There are two packs of cards - job cards and excuse cards. The object of the game is to get rid of all of your jobs, climb over the garden fence and land on the "William" spot. Designer (Uncredited). Artist: Thomas Henry Fisher. Publisher: Palitoy Ltd. Year Published: 1976. # of Players: 2 ? 6.'




____________________

Clue Premiere Edition
'After a steady decline after the video game boom, board games are regaining popularity, but only because the companies behind them are innovating. One such way is by upgrading from 2-Dimensional boards to 3D, pop-up ones. The Clue Premier Edition, retailing at $150, has a game board that is literally like a doll house. The board has nine sunken 3D rooms, each with detailed furnishing. The only thing that differentiates it from a doll house is that it has a non-removable, tempered glass lid placed on top, preventing tampering inside.'


____________________

3D Labyrinth
'Part of the Ravensburger Labyrinth Games series, This is a super-simplified version of The aMAZEing Labyrinth for the really younger set. Instead of the shifting tiles of the other versions, in this game, entire sections of the maze shift, as the modular 3-D board has a sliding center piece, which allows for different pathways through the maze. Players attempt to reach the items shown on their treasure cards by shifting the maze and moving through the corridors.'



____________________

Fireball Island Re-creation
'Here it is folks, the newly finished Fireball Island! What a trip it's been. What's been keeping me going is a guy out in CA who is going to be the proud owner of this piece. He's very worried about the shipment being damaged but I'm very confident in the strength of the object as well as my packing skills. Alain, the new owner, has really kept me interested in the project with his enthusiasm and excitement. We are both really into this whole thing and hope more comes from it. We talked the other night about Torpedo Run!, a very awesome game that puts Battleship to shame. I might be looking into recreating that game in the future, we'll have to see. But at the very least I am confident that I can make more Fireball Islands, and am taking offers to anyone who is interested in one. So check out the pics and stay on the look out for more boards to come.'




___________________

Caverns of the Dead
'Sometimes I'll see an interesting game at a convention, but it can be hard to get a good photo when excited players are pressing around the table... and I'm hesitant to interrupt their fun. I dodged to the other end of the table to get a better shot... (not so good...) ...and finally, a somewhat fuzzy zoom shot. It looks to be a portable gaming table, built around several box bottoms.'


___________________

Cranium Balloon Lagoon
'Spin the musical merry-go-round and start the timer, then race around the board trying to complete 4 fun-filled carnival games before the music ends. The 4 games utilize the same skills needed in the traditional Cranium categories: Word Worm, Star Performer, Data Head, and Creative Cat. Only this time, you're playing carnival games! In Letter Lake, you'll fish for letters to spell a word. In Frog Pong, you must hop the frogs from the lily pads back into their pond. In Snack Hut, try to collect 4 matching snacks, and in Tumble Tides, spin the picture wheels and try to match all 4 sections of the picture. It's based on the original Cranium game, but given a fun carnival twist that kids will love! Collect balloons as you play the 4 carnival games, and the first player to collect 15 balloons, wins.'





_____________________

Incursion
'Incursion is a board game set in the world of Secrets of the Third Reich. Armored troopers of the US ?Lucky Seventh? hurtle through underground bunkers and combat the monstrous forces of the German SWD in a furious race against time. The Doomsday Device is ticking and neither the Allies nor the Axis can fail. The mechanics for this two player game are simple to grasp allowing players to instantly focus on their tactical options. Play is incredibly fast-paced and tense and players choose their forces through a card-based Requisition Point system. The game may either be played with chipboard stand-ups that are included in the box or with highly detailed metal miniatures that are available from this site. Miniatures are NOT required to play this game but they are really cool!'




_____________________

Stalwart Dark Angels
'I've recently completed designing and building my first game board. Here are some pics. The whole board (almost, have 8 total 2'x2' tiles). And some pieces for laying over the lava board. I've got loads of hills and rocks, though right now working on a road network including intersections and bridges.'



_____________________

Smurfs, The Game
'The 3-D Smurf Game. Pick a Smurf character and play the 3D Smurf game! The 3-dimensional game takes place in the Smurf village. Each player has to follow the tricky Smurf path by climbing over bridges and traveling behind Smurf houses! Watch out for the spinning baddie cat, Azrael! Your goal is to be the first Smurf player to reach home with 4 different food baskets of apples, acorns, grapes and strawberries. "The Smurf Game". From 1981. Made by Milton Bradley.'



_____________________

Halo Interactive Strategy Game
'Featuring the same premise and characters as the video game - including Master Chief, A.I. and Covenant - the 'Halo Interactive Strategy Game' offers a modular board that can be re-configured to create a virtually limitless game play experience. In recreating the video game's signature three dimension graphic design, the game pulls fan-favorite elements from Halo 1, 2, and 3 along with music from the video game's award-winning soundtrack and features unseen exclusive DVD content to enhance game play.?In the game, players will command armies of three-dimensional collectible character pieces for two different levels of play: Heroic for faster, more casual game play and Legendary for more strategic advanced gamers. Fans can follow story lines that expand the Halo experience in Campaign mode or go head-to-head in interactive battle sequences with Slayer or Capture the Flag modes. The battle options are endless with future add-ons of new adventures, vehicles, characters and weapons to expand the experience.'





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The Scooby-Doo Haunted House Game
'The Scooby-Doo Haunted House 3D Board Game is action-packed! Move around the haunted house and try to make your way to the top. There are secret booby traps waiting to get you - a moving ghost knight, a creaky staircase, a haunted moose head, and more. There are seven traps in all, but if you make it past and you are the first to the top - uncover the villain and you win!'




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The Lost World Jurassic Park Game
'Based on the second movie, of course. This tri-lingual (English, Spanish, French) crowded MB box contains a whole bunch of thin cardboard 3D buildings; stand up cardboard pieces for the 12 humans and the helicopter, and a bunch of plastic miniatures of the dinosaurs (a T-Rex and some Velociraptors). This is played in teams, the human team trying to get 3 humans off the board via the chopper, and the dinosaur team trying to prevent this. When 3 play, the third player alternates teams. The humans can jump between building roofs or can run between them. Unfortunately, the dinosaurs move a lot faster on the ground than the humans (the humans move between marked spaces, the dinosaurs between zones). Buildings have several entry/exit points for the humans but only one for the raptors. Dice indicate how to move humans and dinosaurs; one of the dice has Stop/Go markings which control whether you may roll again or not -- making movement harder to predict. Jumping (for humans) and entering buildings (for dinosaurs) is also dice controlled. The T-Rex is confined to a single board edge area; its function is to flush the humans from the starting building -- once he reaches it, all remaining humans are devoured! Yes, unlike the first movie game, in this one there is death aplenty.'







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Heroscape
'Heroscape is turn-based miniature wargaming system played using miniature figures on a board made from interlocking hexagonal tiles that allow for construction of a large variety of 3D playing boards. It is a game of hit points, numerous dice, and attacking. It plays like a fantastic version of chess. Only instead of rooks and pawns, you have all manner of orcs, dragons, robots, assassins, etc. The board and character selection is vast if the host has enough expansion packs, and this was certainly the case over the weekend. The three playing boards sprawled out in full 3d upon a long banquet table and were surrounded by plastic containers full of various character pieces. The five other people playing for the most part knew the characters? stats without looking at the cards. It was a little intimidating, so I picked a pre-configured, defensive style army. After six hours of 45 minute long games, I had won two and lost the rest.'



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Scream Inn
'Bet you never knew there was a Scream Inn board game?! Well, neither did I? Released in the 1970s by Fisher Price, it's currently on eBay for about ?70 or thereabouts. Below I've snagged a few photos to give you an idea of the look and feel of the game. A standard board game with some cut-outs to give a 3d effect and a internal turntable for I presume turning various bits and bobs around? Comes with markers both of the ghost and human variety plus a die and rule book. Strange that no obvious characters from the strip appear aside from a generic ghost. Maybe the comic gave rights only to use the name of the strip. Still, a slice of forgotten comics history which probably went unnoticed by fans back in the day.'





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Mordheim: City of the Damned
'Mordheim does to Warhammer Fantasy what Necromunda does to Warhammer 40k. The game mechanics work in classic Games Workshop fashion. Instead of playing with hundreds of miniatures, you pick a warband of 1-20 models(Most average at 10-12 or so), and fight a skirmish with other warbands. If you play well, your warband gains money, levels, size, and new powers, but play badly and your warband slowly deteriorates as people die or otherwise get dismembered. Games actually play very similar to Necromunda but due to the fantasy setting you should see fewer long distance shots, and a lot more hand to hand fighting.'











*

p.s. Hey. Kind of quiet around here. ** David Ehrenstein, Hm, Cindy Sherman comparison, interesting. I need to think about that. I'm kind of curious about Shirley Jones' memoir for reasons that must be obvious to you and that, if obvious, I would ask you to keep between you and me, please, but I can't imagine actually sitting down and reading such a thing. Do they still release those 'Cliff Notes' books? ** S., Hey. I associate feeling/emotion with words because the two are such sworn enemies and because I like being confused to a certain degree. De-jading yourself is important, I think. Jadedness will age you faster than cigarettes. Art's a decent savior, I think, I hope. I'm okay. It rained yesterday. That was ultimately good. ** Mononoke Paradice, Oh, that's okay about the Day delay, no problem, gosh, just thank you! Which Robbe-Grillet do you want to read? Or should I wait and let the post fill me in and surprise me. That sounds fun. Yeah, the comments arena was a little echoey yesterday. Strange. It's hard to know what niceness is, which I guess is why I'm finding it interesting to write about. I do think you're nice. I guess it's like an instinctual reaction and opinion or something. Pieter Saenredam! Thank you! John Ashbery really loves his paintings, and I can see why. ** Heliotrope, Hi, Mark! Thanks about the posts. Me kind of too about the questionable translation offered to my thoughts by my mouth. No, I did think about going to watch the TdF finale, but it was murderously hot, and that plus the crowds made me do otherwise. I saw a bit on TV. Wow, really cool about finding those letters. That's amazing. My heart went boom. I don't think I had any experiences re: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, that I can remember anyway. It feels very vague when I think about it. I remember Sound Spectrum, of course. I'm getting a creeped out yet unillustrated memory when I think of that place. Dude, ouch, about the re-torn thing. Get better as close to this instant as possible. Andy Prieboy! I've met a couple of French people who are big fans of his. I'm not sure if he's one of the anointed American cult figures beloved by the French or whether encountering two French fans of his was pure coincidence. And Tony Kinman! Great bass player, yeah, and his voice is awesome too. The heat has broken, at least at the current, still early hour, and that is a fine thing. I love you guys so too! ** Sypha, Hi. Hm, maybe a scene where a guy has his back moles shaved by a doctor he's attracted to would make a good novel moment. Not in my current novel, but in something. Thanks for reading 'The Dream Police'. The Flintstones one ... oh, right. That one. I remember that. I wrote that for my friend Ziggy who was the model for Ziggy in 'Try'. Anyway, thanks, man. ** _Black_Acrylic, I'm so glad you thought it was okay, Ben! Thank you again so much! ** Grant Scicluna, Oh, rubbing it in, nice. I don't think I yell, or maybe once every few years, but that comment almost turned my typing's volume up a notch. Nah, kidding. Our heat broke, for now, so I'm cool. Internally, and kind of vaguely externally. That's interesting about the dilemma of the script or of your script. So, there really is a formula to such things that you have to stick to and finesse and try to subvert? Tough form. Or for me it would be. I can't do formulas. When I try, the writing just gets very artificial. Yeah, sounds tricky. Great about the readers report! The funding bodies, scary seeming. I guess you've probably sussed how to do that. Oh, as far as how the early stages of my novels look, it really depends on the strategy I have for the novel, and I try to take a different strategy with each one to keep myself challenged and pushing myself. A lot of the time, the novel-in-early-progress only looks like a novel the way a cloudy night sky looks like a starry sky. With this one right now, let's see... There's a notebook full of handwritten stuff that I started with. It contains ideas, formal graphs, some random sentences and paragraphs of prose, etc. There's the first chapter of what was going to be the George Miles novel, which I'm still considering keeping as the first chapter with changes. And, in any case, which I'm using a template for the new novel's form because there was something I liked going on there. Thus far, I'm writing the novel in a doc rather than by hand -- I normally write by hand -- because I wrote 'The Marbled Swarm' by typing in a doc, and it was interesting enough that I want to continue that experiment. What's in the doc is messy. A few scenes I'm working on. Some very personal self-examining stuff that might or might not stay. To see what I'm writing wouldn't make much sense yet. I leave lots and lots of gaps that I will fill in later because I can't write in a linear way. So, I guess that's a general picture of what exists right now. The heat went down last night. That isn't supposed to last, so I'm going to try to run as many errands that require metro rides early on today as I can. Best to you, and stay chilly in the good way. ** Steevee, See, I was just saying to James how the 'hot' dermatologist thing could be a good fictional conceit, and your story is proof positive. ** Misanthrope, You guys are pushing it with the Shirley talk. Cease and desist. Tim Law, that's him. I was brain dead yesterday, and my fingers proved it. Well, that's one way to think about escorting. Ugh, sorry, about your niece's mom's shit. Ugh. Your niece deserves so, so much better. As do you, of course. ** Rewritedept, Well, I would certainly hope you're enjoying 'Alien Lanes'. Otherwise, I would think you were clinically something bad. 'Do the Collapse': their big produced record. A record of controversy for that reason amongst the Pollard diehards. I like it a bunch. Not my favorite of theirs, but there are a lot of great, great songs on it as well as perhaps the only crappy song Pollard has ever written, a song which he has subsequently apologized for. 'Love It to Death' is maybe the best Alice Cooper album, yeah. But 'Killer' gives it at least a run for its money. I'll get the True Widow. Haven't yet. Thanks for giving the definitive on the candy. Thought something like that might be the case. Shows? The Paris Pitchfork Festival is coming up. I'll definitely see a day or two of that: Deerhunter, Iceage, Baths, Deafheaven, No Age, The Haxan Cloak, ... The novel is taking more shape, yes. I did work on it yesterday, yeah. My day was okay, weird, but okay. Thanks, pal, and later, gator. ** That's it. 3D boards games are on your blog plate today due to a short but intense spate of interest on my part in them the other day. See you tomorrow.

Source: http://denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com/2013/07/19-three-dimensional-board-games.html

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