STG's

I've recently started playing Shadow Warrior 2. It is a nice FPS with shooting and melee elements, as well as many ways to customize your skills and weapons. On some points, it feels like they tried too hard and some UI elements are not explained at all. It also gets repetitive quite fast (which was a problem with Shadow Warrior (2013) too). I just took two of the first side missions, and they take place in almost the same location. Some things I love: The next objective has a nice dot trail on the map. No more walking around trying to find a key! Most useful things, such as loot boxes are marked on the map, too. Overall, it is nice, specially considering I got it at a nice discount. But just like the first one, I am not too sure I will bother to finish it. Update: currently 20 hours in and did most of the side missions on the free DLC. They are not great, but they are fun enough and worth it for the extra action points and occasional skills. Update 2: finished th...

I usually don't bother to review series here, but Cobra Kai deserves it. It is a sequel of Karate Kid, with the same two "main" characters - Daniel and Johnny Lawrence, the bully that Daniel fights in the first movie. That would already be notable to me, as I really liked the movies as a kid, but the new characters and how they evolve through the 10 episodes was pretty much great. Given the use of 80s rock, I loved the song choices, too. In Brazil you have to buy the episodes individually, which was kind of annoying the Youtube android app. It was not that cheap but well worth it. It ends in a big tournament fight, just like the movie, and the ending is very satisfying, even though a bit expected. It also sets up the next season nicely, which I hear is definitely coming. I think this is the first major YouTube production, and it bodes very well for its future if they continue in this quality level. It would be nice if it was included with Google Play Music ...

Quantum Magician, by Derek Künsken, was not a book per se, but serialized in Analog. I understand it will be released later in the year as a book, though. It is an SF novel which features a number of human races created by genetic engineering. The main character has enhanced smarts, a savant mode and a quantum fugue that blocks his personality so that he becomes a quantum computer (no observer) - pretty clever. He also has other features such as a magnetic sense. There are a few others - such as the puppets, which were biologically engineered to think the numen (other engineered people) were gods. That went, of course poorly. These and some more will be required for a huge scam to move a group of ships. Overall, I really loved it.  I really recommend getting it when the book is available.

Got a new Kindle Paperwhite to replace my older 3rd generation one (still had a keyboard, battery failed after 8 years - can't complain!). I like the touch screen. It was weird not having the buttons to switch pages, but just for the first hour or so. After that, if you like highlighting passages (I really do - and I'm even worse in technical books), it is WAY better than the old way with the cursor. Page changes are much faster, although pretty slow compared to the Kindle on an iPad or Android phone. The 4-led screen is a bit irregular around the bottom, but I didn't want to spend more because there is nowhere to repair these here - AFAIK after the warranty you are on your own. As in the old Kindle, reading it is much easier in the eyes than devices with normal screens. It is also nicer to hold, I even like the texture. Pretty good so far. Battery duration still remains to be seen... I'll update the review then. Update 21/May/2018 - Two weeks with minimum light, still ...