STG's

Fight and Flight, by Scott Meyer, is the fourth book in the Magic 2.0 series, where people discover they are in a computer program and develop software that works as magic. On this one, they decide to practice their skill in defense and attack, and accidentally  make an enormous mess that they need to clean up. As usual, silly but great fun.

I've been a bit annoyed by the transition of the cursor between my new 2560x1440 monitor and my very, very old 1680x1050 monitors. The cursor always seem to snag on the top and bottom. It was easy to solve, though - Displayfusion has a "Prevent mouse cursor from snagging on unaligned monitor edges" option on Setting->Mouse. This solved it.

Everspace is a roguelike space fighter game. I imagine that sound weird, but the roguelike elements came from how the game is structured - you jump into different areas of space, which can have lots of things for you to loot, dangerous enemies, or anything in between. It also has an element that I've seen a few times that I really like - while you WILL die a lot, some stuff passes between game runs. That includes, among others, credits and blueprints. Credits can be used to buy perks between launches (although you MUST use all your credits before start), which add tons of things, including the ability to have more guns, other ship types, engine power, loot, etc. Blueprints can be used to craft stuff such as guns, shields, mods and other items. There is also a lot of looting, both for credits, blueprints (which are kind of rare) and other elements that are used for crafting. Gunfights are fun enough, with some strategy elements - for example, some guns are good against s...

Prey is a very nice sci-fi FPS/RPG that takes place in a space station, against aliens. It has a big System Shock feeling to it, including some cyberpunk aspects such as the ability to install Neuromods - effectively an excuse to unlock abilities - such as extra strength (makes no sense in the Neuromod context, but let's go with it...), hacking, repair, etc. The RPG aspect is pretty well developed, and I really liked how you get little pointless item across the station, but can then recycle them as materials to build stuff, as long as you find their schematics. Another nice thing is how clever the fighting feels, with turrets, environmental dangers, etc. Overall, strongly recommended for fans of the genre/theme.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a pretty though tactical stealth game. You take control of a few different units, each with their abilities in missions for a new Shogun in Japan. Graphics are great, but sometimes it can be hard to find the right thing to do after the start missions. Also, the level load time is so bad they added a warning that the game is not locked up :-). A nice thing is that while there are clear paths that the game prepare for you, you are able to do whatever you like, as long as it works. Overall, pretty good if you like the game genre and have a lot of patient for saving and retrying till you get it right.

Rise of The Tomb Raider is a nice blend of action, puzzles and open world action. I wouldn't have gotten it myself (I've tried a couple in the series and didn't care for them), but it came with the Humble Monthly games. So far I mostly like it (11 hours played), but some of the puzzles, as well as the need to remember spots where you don't yet have a piece of equipment and has to got back later, is quite annoying.

The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin, is the third book in the Broken Earth series, where the Earth was destroyed by a cataclysm tens of thousands of years ago. In this one, mostly everything in the series is "explained" (it is a bit vague, but reasonable). Including what messed up the surface, the Stone Eaters, the Orogenes, and that it was magic based tech that did it. Overall, a very satisfying end.

Got a GearVR (2016, free as a bundle gift, with the S8). It is interesting. The movement tracking is pretty good. Setting up felt harder than necessary. I had to look up a couple of things online as their instructions were very unclear. After the first time, it is pretty easy to use. I'm using the Samsung screen protector. It works fine with the GearVR, but distort the image somewhat, specially in the corners. One thing that I think really hurts the platform is the fact that it comes without a controller, just the little touchpad in the side. This means that this is all most games can count in. Which really seems to limit things a lot, interface-wise (I mean, even my Intellivision console in 83 had a controller with plenty of buttons...). One click and swiping is all you get, in addition to looking around. I tried a couple of the games, and they looked good (Sunken and Rush so far). Not super exciting, though. They do feel much more immersive than they wou...

I recently had a problem where cross-platform templates were missing in Visual Studio 2017. Everything that should have been installed with Xamarin was not. This was solved simply by noticing that Bonjour had trouble installing. From the error log I imagined it was just it, and since I didn't plan to use the iOS part it wouldn't make a difference. This was pretty easy to fix - I just started the Bonjour service, and set it to automatic. Then I un-installed Xamarin in the Visual Studio Installer, and installed it again. This time all templates are in place.

The Obelisk Gate, by N.K. Jemisin, is a fantasy book where the world was messed by a series of catastrophic events - earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. It is the sequel to The Fifth Season  . Events pick up where they stopped. The biggest news here is that Nassun, Essun's daughter, has her own part in this book. And it sure is exciting! Overall, very good and strongly recommended to people who liked the first one (and which probably didn't need my recommendation). Funny enough, the Kindle app pointed me to a version of the third book that wasn't available for purchase. I searched the store and found the version that was.

The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin, is a fantasy book where the world got broken by volcanos, earthquakes and the like (the Fifth Season after of the title). The book is the first in Broken Earth trilogy. What is particularly nice about it is that most elements feel new. There are a number castes, but the most powerful is the Orogene, which are killed on sight, because they can create volcanos, freeze people, and a lot more. The origin of them wasn't explained yet - I'd like an old tech explanation but I don't think I'll get one. The start feels a little slow, but it gets really good afterward. Overall, strongly recommended, and I have already started the second book.

Saints Row 4 is a pretty old game. I bought it in a Steam sale years ago, and just decided to play it last week. I don't usually like 3rd-person view games, but this one works well, specially after the beginning. The game is a cross between the GTA series and the Matrix, with a lot of Prototype and Tron in. You are in a simulation, that soon your people hacks and you get superpowers. This works very well with the upgrades available for everything, including your weapons, stats such as health or ammo, and powers, such as fireballs, freezeballs and telekinetic attacks. There are a ton of activities, including races, killing waves of enemies, destroying stuff, and there are also some platformer style activities, which I find annoying. I really like the really fast start up time, with skippable movies,  which is tiny, but inside there are frequent stops, probably not helped by the game running on an HDD and not a SSD. Graphics are good, but feel a little dated (because they...

I recently got Killing Floor 2 on Humble Bundle Monthly. I wouldn't have bought it otherwise. It is a cooperative/single-player zombie killer, where you fight waves of harder and harder zombies. There are a few slow zombies, but mostly they are nasty and quite fast. They also have a habit of coming from places you wouldn't expect. The last wave is always a boss (which usually have minions). This can be a bit annoying, as bosses are very repetitive (not sure if they vary per character level, but looks like it), and tend to run off to heal. Levels are pretty good and look great. You have a number of "character types" - called perks - such as Commando, SWAT, Sharpshooter, etc where you get bonus with the specific guns. One thing I like which isn't always available in single player is that you still get experience and improved stats (such as more damage, health, etc). You also unlock skills every 5 levels, such as bigger magazines, faster reloading, etc. O...

Mind Over Ship, by David Marusek, is the sequel to Counting Heads  . The story continues from where it stopped. Fred is on trial, Ellen is improving, Eleanor is still dead. What disappeared almost completely is charter Kodiak, which barely appears in the book at all. Plenty of action and corporate intrigue, and some extra tech appears. Also a bit of a stretch concerning fish (I'm avoiding spoilers), but I guess it is ok. My main complaint is that a lot of threads don't really close by the end of the book, and THERE IS NO SEQUEL! Still very, very good.

Counting Heads - by David Marusek is a SF novel. I started reading the sample out of an Amazon suggestion. Immediately I recognized that I already read the novella that was used as the first part of the book - even though I read it over 20 years ago! It just was that poignant. I felt when I read it that it was a fair conclusion, but I'm really glad that the author didn't feel that way. A big part part of what draws me in to SF books is the tech. Usually there are a few new technologies and their consequences forming the basis of the book. Not here. There are tons of new and common ideas, applied in many I didn't enjoy the fact that the searing was effectively left "unsolved", though. I was hoping for a better fate for Samson... Overall, strongly recommended. I already started reading the sequel.

Volantia is a new game in the Humble Bundle Trove - a bunch of original games only available for subscribers to Humble Bundle Monthly. It is an interesting strategy game. The really different point is that the terrain comes to you in pieces, which you must connect to the existing terrain. The idea is interesting, but with the weird shapes it can be very annoying. Later one you can find single tile islands, which helps somewhat. The game is described as greenpunk - a lot of the tech is manifested in the form of trees, which extract various resources. There is also a tech tree, which adds a lot of other units to the game. I'd say a little too much - even after a small game there is a ton of stuff to keep track of. The tutorial and indicators are pretty good, though - there are visual warnings when a building/tree isn't properly connected, needs water, etc. Connecting things is a little hard - roads only connect to themselves, and not through the buildings. That and the ...

Noumenon, by Marina J. Lostetter, is a SF book about a FTL generation ship. Usually people compare it with Seveneven (the scope is a lot, lot smaller, but it does have more than one epoch/narrator for the story) and Wool (much better comparison, as the ship convoy is a similar insular society with programmed "retirement", too). Overall, quite enjoyable. I liked the sense of history from the flow into different times over more than 2000 years, and while the future Earth seemed a little light on the tech side, it still was OK.

The Unnamed Way, by Ian W. Sainsbury, continues the Seb Varden series, where magic is just alien nanotechnology. This volume goes back to Seb Varden, and where he was most of the previous book. The whole thing was interesting enough, including the last battle. Of course, Joni's reset power makes setting up elaborate kills just to take them back almost mandatory. Overall, quite nice, with a fair and pleasant ending for Seb Varden's story, while at the same time not being a end to the series at all.

The Delirium Brief, by Charles Stross, is the latest novel in the Laundry series - a Lovecraftian horror/spy mix. The last book ended after a massive invasion by elfs, and this one deals with the follow up. Suddenly the Laundry is a public matter, and the government is very interested in it. As are other enemies... It was nice that this was a Bob Howard book. Bob is now more powerful, which was entertaining. There was a little scene where someone says he went from tactical to strategic, and I'm kind of sorry this wasn't really necessary in the story. The move in the end was interesting, and I'm very interested in seeing how that follows up in the next books.

The Unmaking Engine is the sequel to The World Walker - a fantasy/SF mix where magic is actually advanced alien tech. There are magicians hidden all over the world. But Seb Varden has a 2000 year newer version of it. His enemies are hunting him down, though... I liked the Mason reveal and background. The very end was a little frustrating, but fair enough, I guess. Overall, I liked it a lot, and plan to continue reading the series.

The World Walker, by Ian W. Sainsbury, is a cute fantasy/SF book about magic as a tech gift from advanced aliens. Seb Varden, the main character, kills himself. But then he meets an alien... Overall, very good, I mostly liked the way the tech was handled.

Infinity Born, by Douglas E. Richards is an SF novel that covers em drive, brain scanning and emulation, and AIs. While the book was overall enjoyable, I felt there were some silly moments, and way too many explanations. What was happening in the opening scene felt a little too obvious to me, but I expected something like DollHouse's brain control - audio/video as a way to get control when you have no other data access felt nicer. The "magic" way actually used in the novel feels a little cheap. Major props for explaining all of the tech used and pointing to research (and even having excerpts). This is all too rare, and I feel it is very interesting to educate readers.

For We Are Many - by Dennis E. Taylor is the sequence for  We Are Legion  . The story of Bob the replicant continues, as he spreads throughout the galaxy, and tries to save mankind. Really liked the action and how things are going with the Others. One thing that really bothered me is that Bob is clearly on a genius level, inventing all kinds of tech, but apparently he still didn't think about hitting their planet with a relativistic speed asteroid. I imagine this will come next novel, given the hints. Overall, awesome and strongly recommended.

We are Legion - by Dennis E. Taylor is a SF novel on brain uploads and interstellar travel. On We are Legion, Bob Johansson gets killed - but awakes a century later after being uploaded to a computer. And now his only option to stay alive is to be the base of Von Neumann probe to another star. I'm not sure why, but I really liked this. It has the regular hand-waving on the tech side (new propulsion tech, 3D printers to manufacture anything, not sure exactly how the materials are getting refined), but the (few) battles are nice and mostly seem to make sense. I also like where the plot is going. Space exploration, VR,  colonizing planets, meeting new intelligent life, and saving the Earth. Overall, strongly recommended. I already started reading the sequel.

The Change Agent, by Daniel Suarez, is a biotech SF novel. In The Change Agent's world, biotech is everywhere, and many things that used to be produced are now grown. You can use CRISPR to edit genes, but any improvement is strictly forbidden - it can only be used to cure some specific diseases. However, there is a big black market where babies can be designed to be smarter, stronger and better looking. The main character (Durand) in the book is a data analyst that finds them, so they can be stopped and arrested. But the big boss in the worst of these companies knows it, and has hunted him down. And changed him into a genetic copy of him. Now everyone thinks he is the criminal mastermind... I really liked the tech intro in the beginning of the book. Then it goes to what is pretty much a big chase for Durand to get back to his old self. The action was nice, although I can't help but think that it was awful convenient that the data analyst was ex-military and super though...

Kil'n People - by David Brin - is a Sci-fi novel that takes place in a future where souls were discovered, and they figured out a way to duplicate them in golems - copies made out of something like clay (plus a lot of other stuff). The book is a little old (2002) but I just happened to hear about it on Reddit. The theme felt very interesting, plus David Brin is very well know as a great SF author. One of the things that really drawn me in SF books is the tech details, and this book have plenty of them. The description of the main tech alone and its consequences to society is huge. Duplicates are pretty good copies, mostly with feelings like people, but are treated pretty much like scum. Any can be shot on the streets, and it is not even a legal matter, just a matter of fees. There are also different colors for different kinds. Some are smarter, some have extra sensors, etc. Copies takes time and money, so people can't It is also interesting to view the ways in which dup...

The Sundering: Dread Empire's Fall, by Walter Jon Williams, is the second book in the Praxis series. The story continues where it stopped. Thanks to the main heroes (Martinez and Sula) things are not so hopeless for the loyalists, and everything changed in the war. One of the things that changed is that now they go to full on guerrilla warfare, which is an interesting change of pace from the ship only battles. Overall, very much fun for military space opera fans.

The Praxis , by Walter Jon Williams, is the start of a SF series about an interstellar empire. I've read Impersonations  earlier this year and I sort of regretted it reading before this one. It gives away a very big plot point which I might have suspected, but would have been much more fun to find out. I ended up reading it on Google Play Books, because the author's newsletter warned about a nice discount. While it isn't bad, it feels markedly inferior to Amazon's Kindle app. I had used it before on some EPub books, but most shorter technical volumes. The plot is interesting. An older race, the Shaa, has forced several races, including humans, into their federation, mostly by bombarding them. Mildly crazy side note: As a Brazilian, I am conceptually offended that aliens keep bombing Buenos Aires. After all, São Paulo is much bigger. It is not the country's capital though. The Shaa forbid a lot of things, including AIs, nanotech, immortality, etc, which is ...

Walkaway is a Cory Doctorow SF novel about a future where automation is rampant, the rich are richer than ever and most people can't make a living. These walk away from default society, and go to make adhoc groups where regular society has given up, such as abandoned areas. I found that the way it was a dystopia and an utopia (the walkaway) at the same time. Some of the tech is really near future (such as most everything being easily printable if you have the templates) and other is made up. What I have some difficulty believing is how, generally, everything goes well with a society with no accountability. I really doubt that would work in practice. It also feels a bit like propaganda against capitalism. I was reminded of the reputation economy by Charles Stross - I can believe more on that working out as there are actual direct incentives from helping, and it feels harder to game the system. Overall, very interesting and recommended if you like the author.

Far Cry 4 is basically Far Cry 3 with some new stuff. I can't say I blame them - Far Cry 3 was pretty good and there was little incentive to mess with the formula. Most differences are small, such as new mission types, and minor things like the main protagonist having his own house where you can buy upgrades. Some new things, like the ability to retake outposts, are quite nice. Overall, I really like it. I'm not sure if it is better or worse than Far Cry 3, but it is still worth playing, specially at a discount.

I just finished the third book in Neal Asher's Transformation series - Infinity Engine. The book takes place in the Polity and mostly concerns the creation, breakdown and ascension of Penny Royal (while showing a whole lot of characters from the other books). I do now wonder if Asher already had some of this in mind as Penny Royal first appeared in his books... The series was simply spectacular, and ended very, very well. It would be very confusing to start from this book, of course, but I strongly recommend it, the Polity series, and the Transformation series.

Dawn of the Singularity, by David Simpson, is a pretty good SF book about humans interfacing with computers, and AIs. I enjoyed the tech descriptions and the story line. Overall, recommended if you like the topics.

The Iron Tactician, by Alastair Reynolds, is another SF novella with Merlin, which I have previously seen in Merlin's Gun. Merlin encounters a frozen swallowship, goes to investigate and finds a lone survivor. From her, he learns that he might get something he needs at another system, and gets in the middle of a war. The supposed big surprise is the Iron Tactician and its nature. Of course, if I had not seen this elsewhere (I particularly remember a few Anne Mccaffrey novels, but I won't specify which to avoid spoilers), it might be surprising. As it was, I saw the twist coming a lot early. Still worth checking out.

I just finished The Stars are Legion, by Kameron Hurley. It is a very good, unconventional SF novel. The action takes place on a series of worlds/organic ships where the Legion lives. They have been fighting between families for generations. The main protagonist, Zan, wakes up without her memory and soon has to fight for a family she doesn't know. Obviously, nothing is what it seems. The reveal of who Zan is shouldn't come as a big surprise, but the story still feel nicely wrapped up. There is only women in the book, but that feels very much right in the stories' context. Overall, well worth the time checking out.

Wolfenstein:The New Order is a FPS where you kill nazis. I imagine it would feel more innovative if I didn't just play Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. The game is quite similar, but feels bigger and has some nice guns and upgrades. I also like that there is the same stealth approach as an option, and that there are plenty of perks and unlocks available. One thing I really don't like is how slow restarting from checkpoint is. Literally several times slower than the same in The Old Blood. Annoying when you re-run parts to unlock perks. Overall, strongly recommended. Update: Finished the game with 19 hours, after replaying a part after you choose between two characters to die. The split feels a bit artificial as a way to expand time played - the difference is in some dialogues with the characters, and in some places you can get different power-ups (you mostly can get life upgrades on one timeline, and armor upgrades in another). Nice ending, with appropriate fight and boss...

The Fourth Wall, by Walter Jon Williams, is the third book in the Dagmar series. The book is about Sean - a washed up child actor. But now there is a new, major movie that wants him. But nothing is what it seems, and soon people start getting killed... Overall, very nice. I really liked the flow of the book, and some of the details into show biz.

Burning Midnight is a SF/Fantasy book by Will McIntosh. Sully is a poor 17 year old who sells spheres at a flea market. Spheres - which sound a lot like Pokemons in many ways - just appeared hidden over all Earth, and each color gives the one who burns a pair of them (just place them in your forehead) a power. McIntosh didn't go the easy way and just gave everyone superpowers - you just get enhanced vision, hearing, strength, speed, looks, smarts, even singing ability or whiter teeth. Nothing superhuman. He meets with a homeless sphere Hunter called Hunter (this did seem a little lazy...). Together they start hunting for spheres, but find much more than they expected, which will change the world and somewhat explain the nature of the spheres... Overall, pretty good, specially the beginning. I was a little let down by the ending as there were no real explanations of what happened... Still recommended.

Hardwired is a very old book by Walter Jon Williams - first published in 1986. It is considered one of the books that established the Cyberpunk genre, together with Neuromancer. It is one of my favorite genres, (and I've already read several books by the author), so I immediately got it upon learning this. The book is pretty good, and it only shows its age mildly here and there. I'm not sure how much it is the style of the book, and how much is the author improving with time, but the prose doesn't flow as well as on his other books. The tech is quite entertaining and certainly impressive for 1986. Some bits (such as what happened to Reno) were pretty unsurprising now, but I think they must have been pretty cool at the time. Overall, strongly recommended for fans of Cyberpunk.

Particle Fleet: Emergence is an off-shoot from the Creeper World tower defense series, which I loved. So when I noticed it on Steam I immediately got it. I have now finished the story levels about 12 hours), and I mostly liked it. What bothered the most, and which I read about in reviews before buying, is that there was a lot of stuff about each unit and game mechanic unexplained, and that you had to either guess or read about elsewhere. It could have been much, much clearer. Also, several things were introduced per level at times, which made things more confusing. Gameplay is a mix of tower defense with a ship RTS. So you have energy points you need to acquire to power your ships and towers, so that you can destroy the particulate - much like Creeper World. I felt that it worked well. I really like how ships are partially destroyable, so that elements in their hull, weapons, etc can be destroyed by particulate one by one. Graphics and sounds are OK, and to me they worked w...

Impersonations: A Story of the Praxis is an SF novel by Walter Jon Williams. It covers the story of Captain Caroline Sula - posted to a backward planet - Earth - for daring to win a battle for the empire without permission. From that, she naturally gets into a lot of trouble. The book is kind of short, but I liked the pacing and the action was OK, as was the conclusion. Overall, a pleasant read, just like "This is not a game" and "Deep State", from the same author, which I read before and enjoyed.

Alien Morning, by Rick Wilber, is a SF novel that covers the first contact with an alien race, through the eyes of Peter Holman. Peter Holman is an ex-pro player who now does "sweeping" - recording content to what sounds a lot like a VR platform. He just happens to catch the first footage of the alien ships, and so gets drafted to be their PR guys. But the aliens are not as peaceful as they seem (duh). Overall, pretty good. I was a little disappointed by how little of the alien tech is featured, and how little detail it seems to have.