And so it begins... Comcast tries its hand at gatekeeping

Comcast and Level 3 Communications are getting into a pissing match over Internet traffic, and who pays how much to let Netflix-streamed content get to your eyeballs. I've seen a few brief news items about the mess, but this link to an Ars Technica article is the best, most thorough walkthrough of what the issues are, based on publicly-available information, that I've seen. Even so, it's not as clear-cut as I might care for... but it sure has the whiff of Comcast trying to charge Netflix for the data I've already paid Comcast and Netflix for. As usual, here's hoping somebody works out a decent alternative to Comcast for Internet access in my neck of the woods, soonest. Heck, I might even have to look into what I can get through commercial channels, once the car's paid off.

Kirby's Epic Yarn

If you're looking for some truly innocent fun in a game, especially something to play with younger children, you could do far worse than Kirby's Epic Yarn on the Wii. Visually, it's a wonderful game, and a fine entry for the debate on "are video games art", with every element defined by the concept of a world made entirely of fabric and yarn (well, and the occasional button or zipper, but you get the idea). Gameplay-wise, it's that rarest of game types, a relaxing platformer... I suppose there might be some challenge for the youngest of players early on, but I'd put it about a notch down from the various Lego games, maintaining the "you can't really die" feel while eliminating the odd camera angles that sometimes result in your untimely demise. Story-wise... well, that's pretty straight-forward, your basic "rise of the villain looking to take over the world, until you stop him cold" line, as told by a narrator with a definite reading-to-children bent. I played through the story line in single player mode, and had a fair deal of fun, but there is also a two-player simultaneous mode that could be quite fun, again especially for younger children. All in all, I'd say it's a worthwhile play for all gamers under 10, and any older gamers that can don't think a game has to have a BFG to be worth playing... but it's only about 10 hours to get through, so whether it's worth full-price to you, well, that's entirely up to you.

Imperfect, but worth a shot... Hulu Plus

I've been wanting something resembling Internet TV for a while now... movies I've got covered by Netflix instant streaming, and sports, what little I watch of them, I can get over the air or through ESPN's widget on my Xbox360, but recent, episodic content has been a dead space to date. That changed today, with Hulu Plus going live on my Roku box, with a price drop to $8/month. Mind you, the vast majority of what they offer is of little to no interest to me, and much of the content I do care about is already available to me through Netflix streaming... but I did see a couple of longish anime series in the mix which are available only by disc through Netflix, at least one of which I'm part-way into already, so it's not a total waste of time to give it a go. Still, I'll probably hold off until just before Thanksgiving to start the week-long free trial period... nothing like a long, holiday weekend to get some serious vegetation out of the way... :)

We now interrupt your regularly-scheduled shooter...

Looking back, April's the last time I talked about Activision... the short reason being that, by and large, their style of games aren't the ones that make me reach for my wallet. Add to that the ongoing legal mess with their past developers, and my urge to buy is that much less. However, just because I'm sworn off their software for now, doesn't mean that I can't recognize their developers' good works... such as the recently-released Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Mind you, I'm still not a huge shooter fan... but, last I looked, it rated over 90 at Metacritic, which is unusually good for starters. More interesting to me, though, is a little "easter egg" they hid in the menu screen... allowing you to play Zork, a text-adventure game from the last century, and even earn an achievement for doing so (link). Oh well, I guess I'll have to check it out at some point down the road, likely used by then, and cheaper to boot.

DVD pick: Stardust

Wow... this movie's only three years old, so I don't know how I didn't notice it come through the theaters. Maybe I did, and dismissed it as kiddie fare, but the PG-13 gives the lie to that.

So, what's it like? Well, it's a "cross-worlds" fantasy tale about a young English land entering a magical realm in pursuit of a gift for the girl he thinks he loves. It's also a tale of the remaining scions of a newly-dead king vying for the throne. It's also the tale of a lady escaping the clutches of a group of evil witches who want to sacrifice her for their own ends. It's all these, intertwined, plus a couple of side stories, nigh-on-perfectly meshed, sprinkled with dark, wry humor, with some great actors in key roles to boot. Particularly memorable to my mind are Robert de Niro as Captain Shakespeare, whose position and circumstances are difficult to describe at best, and Peter O'Toole as the dying King of Stormhold, deliciously wicked and somewhat disappointed that his sons haven't "worked out" the succession yet... oh, and of course, the ghosts of the sons that died, who serve a great spectator/color commentary role on the whole proceedings.

I enjoyed this movie immensely, and I can think of very few people that I wouldn't recommend it to... if you're not sure, here's a link to the IMDb page for more details.

What's Cookin': Belgian Stew

OK, so this isn't one of those "OMG it's so tasty, you need to make it right now" sort of recipes, but it's one I go back to at least a few times a year... which is to say, posting this recipe here is as much for me as it is for you. As far as the question of "what makes it Belgian?" goes, I'm going to have to guess it's primarily the beer. Now, on to the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/4c. flour
• 1T salt
• Fresh-ground pepper
• 2lb. stew meat, appx. 1" cubes
• 1/2 large onion, diced
  
• 1/4c. cooking oil
  
• 2 cloves garlic, whole
  
• 1lb. mushrooms, sliced
• 12oz. "dark" beer (you may need to experiment here for taste... I find stouts leave a bitter aftertaste when cooked, but most darker/more flavorful beers will work for this)
• 1T Soy Sauce
• 1T Worcestershire Sauce
• 1T Steak Sauce
• 2t. Thyme
• 1 bay leaf

Equipment

• Shallow bowl or similar for dredging meat
  
• Dutch Oven
  
• Wooden spoon, suitable for stirring/sauteing

Procedure

• Combine flour, salt, and pepper in the shallow bowl.
• Dredge the stew meat in the flour mixture, to evenly coat the meat cubes, discarding any excess flour mixture.
  
• Heat the cooking oil over medium heat in your dutch oven.
• Add stew meat and onion, until the meat is browned and the onion has softened.
• Add remaining ingredients, stir to combine.
• Bring the contents of the dutch oven to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 hours.

The source recipe I'm working from suggests boiling up some potatoes, tossing them in butter and parsley, and serving the stew with a little ring of potato bits around them... but, for my purposes, it's just fine to quarter and boil a potato, drop it in a serving bowl, and cover with stewy goodness. Either way, this recipe should handily serve 6-8 people... personally, I tend to just cook a half-batch, portion it out, and refrigerate or freeze what I'm not using that night.

Out with the old shinies, in with the new

So, it's been a while since my last post... too much fun being had both at work and at play, I suppose. At any rate, here's a quick run-down of my gaming changes, and their effects on this site:

• I've dropped playing my PS3 entirely of late... it's main use now is as my DVD/Blu-Ray player. Maybe, someday, Sony will make good on their sins... until then, well, they're pretty well dead to me.
• My Wii use is slacking off, too... as I guessed earlier, it's pretty well just some exercise equipment for me now. I know that because I switched to a backup wireless router after some odd behavior from my most recent router, which broke its Internet connection... and I just haven't been motivated enough to troubleshoot that problem. Maybe, when Kirby's Epic Yarn comes out, I'll give it some "real" use again, but we'll see.
• The Xbox360 has been good to me, but it's going to get less use for a little while... I finished the storyline on Viva Pinata and Just Cause 2 (both decent enough games... the story line on Just Cause 2 is good in a MST3K-meets-James-Bond sort of way, but the gameplay will keep me coming back for a bit longer), and I don't have any really consuming game needing played there. I suppose I would have gone for Fallout: New Vegas on that box, but...
• Just got me a new gaming computer. As a by-the-by, this is the first time I've bought a system pre-built, because I was able to find it online for less than the individual components would have cost me. "Shout out" to NewEgg and iBuyPower on this one... good price, and no issues beyond my own blindness... :)
• Of course, with a new computer, there must be a new game... so, I finally snagged Civilization 5. Interesting, what I've played of it so far... definitely a heavier tweak of the base mechanics since, well, Civ3, I believe, but I think we're going to get on just fine, based on the 7-8 hours of "just one more turn" that I endured last night.
• And, since I've got a new compy, and new games that Xfire hasn't updated to track, I've got a new widget on the sidebar from a group called Raptr. It should track not only my PC gaming, but any XBox360 stuff as well, in theory (heck, it could do PS3 as well, but, well, Sony and all that). If I were so inclined, I could rig it into Facebook, Twitter or the like... but I'm not quite up to that level of integration of online personalities at this point.

So, there's the quick/huge update... 'til next time!