STG's

Dishonored is a stealth FPS, with a steampunk universe and plenty of magic mixed in. In the game, you are a bodyguard to the empress, who is turned into a stealthy assassin when you are framed for her murder. Graphics are pretty good, and overall I really like the stealth system (a little too simple compared to the old light meters, though). Movement is great and there are plenty of roof and pipes if you want to go that way. You have a number of powers available, which can be bought using runes. The first one you get allows you to teleport between short distances, which is great on a stealth game. There are upgrades for health, stealth, etc too. You have quite a few weapon upgrades, too, which you buy with coins and other rare objects you find in the world. There are plenty of ways to kill your enemies or sneak by them, and the game allows to you to go either way. I think the stealth option is usually way more fun, though (although a bit harder). You can also just knock oppon...

Oh Myyy! (There Goes The Internet) ,   by George Takei , is a non-fiction book that mostly covers his Social Media fame. It is a fun read, and really something that you want to read on a tablet or PC - it has plenty of color photos, mostly of random memes relevant to what he is talking about. I started reading on my e-ink Kindle and switched to the iPad after a few pages. While I doubt most of his advice is useful to people who want to succeed in social media such as Facebook or Twitter, there are a few useful insights there. One amusing aspect is hearing about posts (why they were posted or consequences) that I have seen myself, some a few weeks ago. My only complaint is that some links worked, but some wouldn't launch on the iPad, not sure why. Otherwise, worth checking out.

Eufloria is a Galcon clone. That means that basically, you have planets with differing production capabilities, and you move your ships (in this case, seedlings) around to attack and take over enemy planets. Eufloria on the iPad has great graphics, and a mildly annoying soundtrack. I've also played it on the PC and on an Android smartphone (Galaxy SIII). The graphics detail is much better, and I didn't feel the problems I usually had with the Android version (trying to select a planet and getting a laser pod or flower). If that is because of the larger screen on touchscreen sensitivity, I don't know. Eufloria starts slow but gets much better over time. You get to change each planets power (terraforming), auto-moving new units to another planet, creating laser pods and enhanced seedlings using flowers, and more.  I didn't like the game much at first but after playing for a while I ended up really enjoying it. Strongly recommend.

Gianna Sisters - Twisted Dreams is a platformer with a incredibly common twist - the world changes between modes (this time, as invoked by sisters). And naturally, you must keep switching to move along. The game looks good enough, and the music is pretty good (a version of Gianna Sisters from Machinae Supremacy - the original version is better, but it doesn't have to keep playing for such long times). I really don't like the gameplay. It is a platformer, so this is not by itself surprising - I'm not a fan. You go around jumping and avoiding the generic "don't step here" points, and you have a power per sister - one turns into a fireball that can kill monsters and knock down certain walls, and the other spins to glide from point to point. If you like platformers, you might want to try the demo. Otherwise, don't bother.

Planets under Attack is another tactical shooter based on Galcon. On this sub-genre, you basically the flow of ships between planets, with the purpose of keeping your planets defended and producing more ships, while at the same time attacking your enemies' planets. Planets under Attack looks pretty nice, and it has a few deviations from the base model, such as domination (points for holding specific planets), blocked paths, and a simple tech progression (basic bonus for stuff like defense, attack, production, etc). Gameplay is OK, but so far I still prefer Eufloria , which has better gameplay and more interesting tactical options - such as different units, defense emplacements (laser pods), basic defense/production choices, etc. Still, if the game seems interesting to you, you can get a free demo from Steam .

Transcripted is an interesting crossover between shooters and match-3 games. Basically you shoot your enemies (who happen to be weird pathogens - either bio-engineered or natural from outer space, you don't know at the beginning of the game) and they drop power ups or cubes. You shoot the color cubes in a Zuma kind of a way, to destroy enemy DNA. You also get XP to use for upgrades. Overall, it is OK. The extremely slow movement when you have a cube and the constant transition between the two modes makes the game less enjoyable that either of the genres alone, though. You might want to try the demo if it sounds fun.

Blaise Pascal is a magazine that covers Delphi, Free Pascal and related languages. You can get it from their site . They have both downloads and printed versions. Personally I rarely subscribe to anything on paper - there is always a hassle on receiving, storing and searching them. When you buy a subscription you get a USB drive with all the previous edition. At the time this wasn't understandable at their site (they have BAD translation and clarity problems on their site) so I was quite pleasantly surprised to get it in the mail. As content goes, it is OK for the price. One interesting thing about the magazine is that a whole lot of the articles are written by a product author. Let's see the current issue contents: Book Review  By Jim Duff Match5, a self learning board game  By David Dirkse Programming in Smart: Application Design  By Primož Gabrijelčič TMS FlexCel for VCL and FireMonkey  By Adrian Gallero Delphi IDE Tips  By Brian Long Be-Delphi (2012 ...

Robocalypse, by Daniel H Wilson  is a SF novel with a now very classic theme - an AI (Archos) taking over the world. The story is told by Cormac (no relation to the Neal Asher super agent, I presume )  based on a large log cache he finds containing information after the war is won. It is divided in many smaller stories, from the view of the AI creator, prominent resistance fighters, a phone phreak, a little girl, and many more. The story telling system works well enough, but I found the format a bit annoying. Still, the story is very good and the tech feels quite real, including a number of more uncommon ideas for specialized robots. Pretty good, recommended.

Counting from Zero  by Dr. Alan B. Johnston  is a techno-thriller about botnets. Unlike most techno-thrillers, the tech on this one actually makes sense - and the threat is very real. Dr. Johnston is an expert on the related fields and the co-author of ZRTP (secure VOIP protocol), and it really shows on how real most situations on the book are. The story is pretty good - although in a sense it is a little scarier than the average thriller, being so well based on real security and privacy problems. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the Kateryna relationship - it felt poorly resolved in the end. Still, very much recommended.