Froosh. Stuff.

I’ve developed a new addiction, or perhaps merely a new obsession: Pokemon.  Specifically, Pokemon Pearl on Nintendo DS.  This is probably not news to the geeks out there, but it’s good!

Mrs Froosh and the Kiddo have been playing the Diamond and Pearl versions for some time, but Mrs Froosh recently abandoned her Pearl copy and released it to me (yes, I’m the last in the family pecking order ).

And I’m in deep now.

I’ve always avoided the Pokemon games on the presumption that they are too childish.  While that may be true for some of the older versions (Can’t know, never played them), and the marketing is heavily geared towards the pre-teens, the Diamond/Pearl versions are incredibly complex with many engaging mini-games.  I’m a big fan of the FInal Fantasy games series, but I think I have a new favourite game…  Pokemon is likely to keep me going for hundreds and hundreds of hours.

One of the features I’m looking forward to using more effectively and widely are the ‘collaborative play’ experiences.  At present, 8 y.o. Kiddo is the only challenger I have, and he’s mopping the floor with me.  His Pokemon are bigger, faster, stronger, and vastly more experienced than mine, and yet we can still have an exciting and engaging play experience.  The mini-games offer local wireless interaction options at every turn and I’d love to see how well it works in a much larger group.  Internet-based ‘Wi-Fi Connect’ options are a much more limited offering: only trades, voice-chat, or battles with integrated voice-chat.  The latter works surprisingly well, far exceeding my expectations.  I’m really looking forward to finding more Pokemon geeks to interact with this way!

With that in mind, I offer up my Pokemon Pearl Friend Code.  Add me to your Pal Pad and e-mail me your Friend Code and we’ll see what comes of it.  I’d love to see how I fare against new opponents – the gloating my my son is getting a bit much!

Pokemon Pearl Friend Code: “Froosh” 0559-8316-8401

Update [18-08-2008]: I bought a new DS Lite, and so my friend code has changed. It is now: 0817-5963-3131

It’s Retrocon time!

Retrocon is Melbourne’s newest games convention and it’s still smallish. This means two things:

1. Retrocon needs you!
2. If you’re new to gaming or interested in getting into gaming (of a Role Playing nature more than Roll Playing ), then small is good.

If you’re even slightly interested, I recommend you at least register now as a visitor. It’s $2 per day or $5 for three days (allows you to play free demonstration games) and you can upgrade to a Player at anytime (yes, more fees required).

Oh? When is it? A little over a week from now: The “Queens Birthday” long week-end Saturday 10th – Monday 12th June 2006.

Be there!

Ok, so Conquest was on over the Easter weekend and it was fantastic as usual. Of course I’ve actually only been twice now…

For me, it was four intense days of gaming and helping out and even two days later I’m feeling exhausted but happy about it. I may have a problem though: I’ve bought some miniatures and become addicted to a 9 book series.

The miniatures: Urban War – a reasonably new 1-inch base miniature game. The Junkers (Gladiators) are my chosen faction. I bought mine from Olympian Games who are the only Australian distributors for the Urban War kit at present. It’s been so long since I’ve painted miniatures or played a miniatures game … I’m quite excited!

The book: Second Pass by Ken Ludden. This is where it gets really bad. It’s a 9 book series. Only 1 book has been released! We were lucky to have the author as special guest at Conquest along with the designer of the SIL RPG, Andy Toy. I got to play one of the RPG playtests, and spend more time with both Ken and Andy – as a result, I’ve become addicted.

I’ve also been drafted into the organisation team for Conquest and associated conventions – could be fun, definitely a lot of hard work, and if I’m really lucky maybe some free stuff

And to top it off, I feel the need to attend more conventions now – Retrocon in particular. Current plans include playing a very retro Dungeons and Dragons module: The Keep on the Borderlands! (If you’re confused, Basic D&D was released in the early ’70s and evolved several times after that)

Note: I’m playing with the Amazom Associates program more as an experiment and professional training than the desire to scam you all for profit. If you do happen to buy something though my links, I will make a very small amount. Any links I do make are made solely because of my personal interests and own choices and I will/would post them without the Associates program anyway.

Update: I appear to have been insanely lucky and missed the con-fluenza this time around. w00t!

Well, it does if you live in Melbourne that is!

That’s because it’s time for Conquest again. w00t!

We haven’t signed up for the same “Get Wrecked” plan that we did last year with Andrew – but we’ll being helping out at the rego desk amid the rest of the con-fusion.