Games – i am sarah kohl

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. It’s filled with imagination, creativity, and it’s truly as much or as little of a day as you make it out to be.

As a kid I gravitated toward some classic costumes (bats, cats, mermaids, etc) but what made them special was the amount of craftsmanship my mom put into each one. As an adult, I’d like to think I put that same level of love into decorating for Halloween and planning fun activities to do with family. (We’re a little old to be trick-or-treating sadly…)

Jumping topic only slightly now…an article I read recently noted that my generation was less religious than any previous generation and, maybe more interesting is that…60% believe in New Age concepts like tarot, horoscopes, and psychic readings. [More]

Developer Week 2017 in San Francisco

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This was my first time attending the Developer Week Conference and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I attended a handful of talks and walked around the show floor and was overall pleasantly surprised.

I should start off saying that I’ve always found virtual reality (VR) to be a bit too gimmicky. Often applications that are released are focused around video games. While that may be fun I’ve never understood why Silicon Valley has been so in love with the technology until now.

Two specific events at this show helped me to make the jump from VR skeptic to VR advocate. [More]

PSA For Rural Pokémon Go Players

I know the frustration, I talked about it here in great detail, but this post is short. I’ve got some good news for you rural trainers!

You can now request to add a PokéStop near you! Yes, now you and your friends can now bombard the developers with requests! I’ll warn you that I did have my request denied, however, I assume they will keep this information on file somewhere for a possible future expansion. Don’t give up hope! It also might be a good idea to coordinate your friends to request the same location. [More]

Playing Pokémon Go from Rural Area to Big City

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First off, I need to admit something. I don’t have the Pokédex memorized, I failed at nearly every Name-that-Pokémon, and I have never finished a single Pokémon game. You know what though? It doesn’t matter when playing Pokémon Go. The game reminds me a lot of Pokémon Snap. There is no great storyline, gameplay is simple, and there are a limited number of Pokémon you can catch. So why is everyone playing it?

It’s got a great community vibe to it. When I installed it I was in a rural area and there were no landmarks or gyms nearby. [More]

Bug Industries: A Game for Programmers

I’m a sucker for new tabletop, card, dice, pretty much whatever games. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to see this kickstarter. The game is called Bug Industries. Each player is in charge of a project and they need to de-bug their project first to win.

The game is simple, but it looks to be hilarious and enjoyable. It’s also just a great way for non-programers to get a sense of programing culture. I wouldn’t consider myself to be a programer even though I dabble. I simply think this would be great to play with say, a marketing department, so they can understand the frustrations that tech teams experience. [More]

Once Upon A Time The Card Game

This weekend I got together with some friends to celebrate one of them buying a new home. While chatting, we started playing a great card game called Once Upon A Time. As you might have guessed this is a story telling game based around fairy tales. No doubt, right up my alley.

The game itself is easy to explain, each player has 6 cards. One is an ending and the others are either characters, places, events, or something like that. The goal is to complete the group story being told using up all the cards in your hand. If can be interrupted by other players as they try to use up the cards in their hand, which makes for funny stories. [More]

New Cosplay Culture Magazine From Ottawa

One of my northern-neighbors and readers (Nikko) is working on an interesting project that I thought I would highlight in it’s own blog post. Some people might not know this about me, but I used to do cosplay! (For those who don’t know what it is, it’s a great hobby where fans of TV, movies, and video games will create costumes of their favorite characters. It’s like an elaborate halloween, but with wardrobe engineering challenges!) I don’t participate anymore, mostly because of the time it requires, but I am always fascinated by the work others put into their costumes. [More]

The World’s Smallest Drone Quadcopter

Recently I went to an Entrepreneur’s Expo hosted by the Rochester Young Professionals. While there I had to pleasure of meeting a host of interesting business owners in the Rochester area. I loved so many of the businesses, but of course, I think everyone thought Morrison Innovations, LLC brought the coolest toys.

No, literally, they brought the coolest toys that I’m pretty sure any adult or kid would want. The company was started by a local Rochestarian after him and his buddies spotted a drone spying on them drinking outside. [More]

Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds Live in Rochester

Year ago I had gone to see Video Games Live with a few of my friends. It was an enjoyable evening for many reasons, most important of course is that I shared it with friends. Of course, when it was announced that Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds was going to be in the beautiful city of Rochester, NY my friends and I began planning to attend.

The concert itself was fantastic. Guest conductor Arnie Roth made sure to highlight important segments and emphasize the talent of Susan Calloway and the rest of the performers. I was slightly disappointed at a percussionist that was off-beat for a few songs, however the other performers were exceptional. [More]

Rocket League – Two Sports Games Are Better Than One

So I’ve spent some time playing Rocket League now and I have to say, I kind of love this game. The concept is simple. Picture a soccer field, now give it a giant dome all Blitzball style. You and your friends get some tricked out cars, and try to get more goals than your opposition. It’s stupid fun even if it sounds less than that.

You can choose from a number of cars, each one is slightly different. My personal favorites are the heavy trucks and vans. They handle like you would think a F-350 would on a soccer field, but when you smash into people watching them sail halfway across the field is oh so satisfying. [More]

Video Game Addiction

I love video games. Every once in awhile it’s great to sit down and zone out while I try to keep whatever kind of character I’m playing alive. I used to play a lot more, and to be honest, I’m glad I don’t play as much as I used to.

If you asked me 10 years ago about video game addiction I would have told you that it was a largely overblown topic. After all, if you live a distance from people your age interacting with people online is the next best thing. They are just different relationships not worse or better than those in “real life.” [More]