Okay I give up.

From now on I'm not even going to try working out which way t-shirts and things go on, it always ends up in failure and the time spent deciding is a waste.

From now on they're going straight on and I'lll swivel it round if necessary!

(image from http://store.xkcd.com/reddit/#Jawsbackwardstshirt)

Classic knock-off console :)

Saw this in a shop in Scarborough a few weeks back.

What I particularly liked about it, was the maker's audacity in not pretending that this was the next console in the series, but the next NEXT one.

Overall though I hate knock-offs like this. Not because someone out there is making a living off of some other persons brand, but because you know there's some poor kid out there that's the only one with a Wiii 3 instead of a Wii in his class.

Dusting off the CCGs

CCGs (Collectible Card Games) are something that I sunk a whole lot of time and money into at various points in the past.

• From 1995->1998 it was Vampire : The Eternal Struggle
• In 2001 it was Lord of the Rings and a bit of Harry Potter for something a bit lighter :)
  

They are horrible horrible evil things. I cannot stress this enough. Do not get involved with them! The amount of money you put into them is absolutely insane for the amount you play them. Don't even buy a starter deck. That's like a crack dealer giving you your first hit free.

Seriously, it's like if someone tried to sell you a car, but in order to get the most out of it you had to buy individually boxed extra parts, but you can only buy parts in identical looking sealed boxes containing a random part, and the best part can only be found in a few random garages in the UK... You'd just tell them to bugger off in that case, but for some reason in the shape of a CCG the concept is somehow really appealing.

Despite all this I found myself getting them out of the cupboard. At first the Vampire cards as there's talk of a few of the guys from Garforth Tabletop Gaming getting together for a game or two. Then I thought it would be fun to get the Potter cards out for a couple of games with Cat. They originally got put away around 2002/2003 when Cat developed an unbeatable Hermione deck and I got in a strop ;) . Luckily with my new gaming experience I managed to put together a better deck, and we're currently at 1 game each this time (plus I'm a much better loser now :D).

But still, I stand by my original opinion. I'm never buying another card again. These things are pure evil and should never be bought. There's so many great games out there that will cost you far less than getting into these things, there's really no justification for them! For those that really do love building decks try Dominion instead.

Back to work

Got some contract work this week, and I have to say I'm enjoying it. I think the break from work was really beneficial, as I'm feeling a new enthusiasm for the stuff that I was previously feeling fed-up and frustred with.

Been a little too efficient and have almost finished the project I was brought on to do in around half the estimated time, but luckily they've decided that it's worth keeping me on for the rest of the week to help out with some other projects. :)

I'm also hopefully going to be in again next week for another project, so that should help with my funds. I can probably consider going to Essen this year now... very tempting!