Loading ...Go on a console?
I figured I’d write a small post about something I encountered while doing some normal reading, I saw a video post with the name Path of Go. Immediately surprised I clicked to see what it was and it turned out to be… a Go game for Xbox Live Arcade. It actually seems quite good as far as a board game can be good on a console of course. But the video shows the first 15 minutes and it seems to explain things well for people unknown to the game (which will be the majority I’m sure).
So I did a quick search and came up with some articles and an interview with information on multiplayer and “Message Play” and the rules used and found out that it’s been out for some weeks at this point and it’s hard to even know of it’s existence. I was curious to see what they’re pricing for it and it’s 400 microsoft points.
All Points Bulletin & Go
So how’s that for completely different subjects eh? 
Since the Non-Disclosure-Agreement on the APB Beta has just been dropped, I may now say that I have previously been playing the beta. At first I wasn’t very enthustiastic as the performance was really terrible, but knowing that performance is the last thing that gets improved upon in software writing, I didn’t write the game off just yet. So what is this game? For those who don’t know: You’ve probably heard of Grand Theft Auto, imagine that with multiplayer on a grand scale. It’s essentially a world of cops and robbers and the game offers some truly out of this world customization options for your character, your clothing, weapons, skills, your cars.. name it and it’s pretty much fully customizable. It’s pretty overwhelming really. You can even make your own songs and themes in the game that others can hear. So recently they updated their client for a new big beta (Key To The City-event, which are at moment of writing available at eurogamer.net), so I figured I should check it out and… what do you know? Settings turned up, 1920×1200 and 30-50fps! This blew my mind and I just finished pre-ordering the game, I’m really stoked for this as I know it’s a ton of fun.
On to the second subject then; Go. I’ve been absolutely fascinated by Go for several years at this point, it all started with the anime series Hikaru No Go(with a really nice opening) and the manga afterwards, and since then it’s always been lingering around in my mind. I’ve read up a bunch on it but never really committed to it, I’ve done the interactive guides found here and here and they’ve given me a very basic understanding of the game. I then bought a book which then just showed me that I hadn’t fully grasped some aspects and proved to be very helpful. So I then recently decided I really want to learn more and actually ordered a series of books and an actual goban(Board) to help with visualizing. The board hasn’t arrived yet but it will in some days. Some very good times ahead, these books should keep me busy for many months.