LEGO Minifigure Roundup

This morning we started the LEGO minifigure roundup.

The little LEGO figures that come with most LEGO kits these days get played with more than any other aspect of our LEGO collection.

However, because of this, they do tend to get scattered about the house.  They also get taken apart and assembled in new and unique ways.  So the roundup was attempt to both find minifigures and to get them back to their original state.

After about two hours of rummaging around I was able to collect all of these minifugures and associated parts on the table.

Minifigure Mania!

If you look at the full size version of that picture, it can be seen as something of a “Where’s Waldo” game.

Among the figures you can spot are:

• Harry Potter
• Indiana Jones and his father
• Squidward Tentacles
• Grand Moff Tarkin
• Darth Vader
• Lando Calrissian
• Batman
• Greedo
• Boba Fett
• C-3P0 (golden version)
• Aang, The Avatar
• Pops Racer

I managed to get this mess mostly sorted, put back together, and stored away by theme.  But there were a lot of missing pieces.  We’ll have to go back in for round 2 at some point.

Good Gaming Vietnam!

That favorite blogs post over at Massively is the gift that keeps on giving.

I noticed some traffic today from a Vietnamese gaming site, Gamek.vn, which appears to have picked up the favorite blogs post and reworked it into Vietnamese.  Of course, they didn’t mention Massively.  But then they didn’t copy the article verbatim either.  Maybe it was just an amazing parallel list.

Here is what they said about this site:

If I trust Google Translate, it says that I get much sympathy from my ant-like readership.  Not exactly a winning endorsement for either you or me.

This is, of course, why I do not trust Google Translate.

Still, that translation is better that what it says for West Karana, which Google suggests focuses uniquely on exploiting new online games.  Haxors!

And poor Syp,  all they could say about Bio Break is that it once had a series of articles about Warhammer. I think Google Translate actually rendered that one okay, along with the Hardcore Casual being all about Darkfall.

Anyway, if you found your way here from Gamek.vn, hello and welcome!  Maybe you can give me a more accurate translation of what was written, since they did not appear to copy the Massively text directly.

My Demands for 2011

It is the new year, and with that comes predictions.  You can find plenty of them out there.  Lots of people have them, like Tipa, Spinks, Lum (those were predictions, right?), Green Armadillo and Keen. (More linked as I find them.)

Me?  I’m done with predictions.  Predictions come from a position of weakness!  I think my 2008, 2009, and 2010 predictions pretty much prove that.

For 2011 I am making demands!

And if my demands are not met, there will be consequences!  Consequences I tell you!

You have until December 15th to meet these demands!

Blizzard:

Stop looking so damn smug.  Tell us what Titan is,  ship Diablo III, and add some more content to the top end of World of Warcraft.  I swear half the game is already level 85.  Oh, and another sparkle pony, but something a little less frou-frou this time.  And an expansion for StarCraft II.  Somebody has to sell some PC games this year.

Sony Online Entertainment:

Smedley? SMEDLEY!  Pull yourself together.  I know those PlayStation people are bossing you around, but you make money.  Certainly more than they make on hardware.  Refine what you have.  More server merges.  Reconcile EverQuest II Live and EverQuest II Extended.  Work on the PC controls for DC Universe Online because I am NOT hooking up a console controller to my PC just to play it.  And finish with the Agency already, you’re starting to embarrass us all.

Cryptic:

Just go free to play across the board already.  Champions and Star Trek Online.  Everybody else is doing it.  But don’t screw over the lifetime subscribers.  And when you go free to play, make sure you have something shiny and new to bring people back.  Oh, and Neverwinter, get it out this year and don’t screw it up!

BioWare:

Everybody is watching you.  You’re not making some single player game.  You’re making an engine, an engine that is supposed to take in money and deliver the joy of being in the Star Wars universe.  Don’t let those wankers in San Mateo make you ship early.  Meanwhile, since you guys seem to be in the MMO driver’s seat at EA, for now, don’t screw around with Ultima Online, but do something about Warhammer Online.  You’re bright guys, you’ll figure something out.

CCP:

Will you put that drink down already?  EVE is still going, still making money, still popular, still unique, I get it.  And you are improving it over time.  But really, you’re starting to look like a one-trick pony.  What are all those people in Atlanta doing?  You don’t have to ship something new this year, but at least make us believe you’re really working on something new.  We’re starting to think you’re spending all that money you make on akvavit and exotic dancers.

NCsoft:

Aion, City of Whatever, and Guild Wars.  Is that really all you have going in North America?  Well, there is Lineage II I suppose.  And what do you have on your to do list?  Blade & Soul?  Really?  Don’t bother.  And let Guild Wars 2 gestate to full term, which means don’t ship it in 2011.

Trion Worlds:

Your big opportunity is coming.  Ship Rift at just about the time when WoW Players have finally wrapped up the high-end content and you could get… a stable half a million subscribers.  Okay, that isn’t WoW numbers, but history shows that most people just stick with their favorite MMO forever due to the social network they develop.  Hrmm… that is sounding like a prediction, not a demand.  Okay, go and get a half a million subscribers already!  By June!  With your shield or on it and all that!

Other MMO Studios:

Which of you is even poised to do anything in 2011?  TERA is going to be another Asian oddity, soon forgotten by the mainstream.  It was all that Aventurine could do to ship Darkfall, they won’t be doing anything else. Funcom won’t get The Secret World out in 2011, they’re more likely to cut more staff.  All of you other studios, select a champion and send it out to do battle.  Yes, it can be TERA if you cannot find anything else, but I’m telling you it is going to be completely forgettable.

Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw:

When Star Wars: The Old Republic ships this year, review it.  I know, it is a muh-more-puh-gah, but this is Star Wars and BioWare.  I demand it.  We all demand it!

Dr. Richard Bartle:

You were awfully quiet in 2010.  And you’ve got your three level 85s in WoW now. (A very common claim these days.)  Go say something controversial.  Declare WoW dead.  Predict SWTOR will be a failure as a virtual world.  Make some news.  Do an interview with those people at Massively.  They’ll print anything you say.

Points?

I suppose you expect me to assign points to these, and to score my success at the end of the year?  Screw that.  If my demands are not met, I will just sit back and announce the consequences.  And I have 11 or so months to work on that.  Remember, you have until December 15th!