News
Normally I list the games I'm playing first, but the Supreme Court decision on Assembly Bill 1179 is probably more important. :P They decided that games have the same first amendment protection as other media. Yay.
They also decided that the "evidence" for a causal link between violent games and violent behavior in children was insufficient. Considering that California had eight years to find proof, I hope we can put that particular argument to bed. There's no doubt that what we consume influences us. But the idea that any form of make believe somehow forces people to commit violent acts is irresponsible scapegoating.
Games
I suspect I'll be without internet while I transition ISPs over the next week (which is why this post is so early). It's always an interesting test of dependency. The fact that I may miss good deals on the Steam Summer Sale is already making me itchy.
I won't be messing the the offline modes of TF2 or Killing Floor, I expect. They're just not as fun that way. I may have to unpack the PS2 and get my Devil May Cry skills back in anticipation of my next video series.
Nothing from GameTap will work, which is a bit of a loss as Divinity II just released on the service. I wasn't very enchanted with the demo, but trying to complete goals as quickly as possible before my internet goes plooie has added a nice sense of urgency.
I wonder if there are any Socially Integrated Goblins you can meet?
Terraria is still serving as digital knitting. What follows will spoil some of the game mechanics, so don't read it if you're sensitive to that sort of thing.
Here is my kill room in The Underworld. It's the deepest layer in the game. There are flying demons, fire bats, lava slimes, and giant bone worms, like you see me fighting here. None of them are pleasant. But the lava slimes are actually the worst. They do very little damage, but they leave lava behind when they die, which you are then standing in, which kills you very quickly.
So, in the deepest depths, in the midst of the lava sea, I built a place of murder. Enemies can be led in through passage on the top left. Of course the worms just burrow their way in. When slimes die, their lava runs down into reservoirs which can be cleansed by filling them with dirt, then digging them out again.
The room is a safe way to kill worms to eventually get the best weapon in the game (by my standards). But I wasn't even thinking of that at the time. I just enjoyed the challenge of taming the game's harshest environment.
