Tag: Games

Why does a non-football fan like me still watch the World Cup 2018?

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment
Romelu Lukaku

I am not a football fan. I get why a lot of people are and believe me I have tried when I was in college. However, I just am not a football fan.

I am a fan of ordinary humans doing extra-ordinary things, however. This is pretty much why I am watching the World Cup. In case if you haven’t figured this out yet, I am talking about the team that has everyone talking about as the surprise winner – Belgium.

Why do I root for Belgium?

One player. Romelu Lukaku.

Again, let me iterate. I am not a football fan. So I do not know how well does he play. What I am a fan of though, is the resilience and determination that this chap has shown over his life. If you want to read Romelu Lukaku’s story, do it. I can wait, you need to read his story in his own words.

People in football love to talk about mental strength. Well, I’m the strongest dude you’re ever going to meet. Because I remember sitting in the dark with my brother and my mom, saying our prayers, and thinking, believing, knowing … it’s going to happen.

I read this post while Belgium was still playing the first rounds. By the time I decided to follow their every match, we were already in the elimination phase. It meant having to sacrifice some sleep, but then again … I want Belgium to win.

The human story

It’s not a story of excellence and practice. That is there in ample, but which player who is playing at this stage hasn’t done this already?

What you have to admire for this guy is the sheer drive … the deep desire to win, not because its nice, but because you have to. It’s this ability to pour your heart and soul into each and every match no matter what. This is the stuff of what inspiration is made of.

This drive and integrity can be showcased in any field … and not just football. The next time you do anything, ask yourself this … is this the best you can do? If the fate of your family depended on this … or the world … would you do this any different? If yes, what is stopping you from putting your 100%?

You.

Correlation is not causation

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Porn companies know their audience well. So they were braced when, on Friday 3rd March 2017, their traffic began to nosedive. That weekend, Nintendo released its new Switch console, a highly-anticipated event in the gaming world. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide had pre-ordered the Switch to arrive that day, and by the end of…

via A major porn site’s traffic sank the weekend Nintendo released its new console — Quartz

This article, the infographic it talks about and the implied causation is precisely why people need to understand and practice better data interpretation.

I’d assume that such a trend happens when any new retail brand launch happens. It’s not just Nintendo who would cause such ripples, but any other retail brand.

Wights in Diablo III

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So the Cursed Woods bounty had me take a few screenshots. One because of the clear reference to Kashyyk from Star Wars.

The other was this sighting of zombies –

WhiteWalkers.png
Notice their blue eyes?

These are shuffling corpses, or the reanimated dead. Peculiarly, they have blue eyes. The only other zombie reference to have had blue eyes was in Game of Thrones, and those were Wights.

These were the reanimated dead that the Whitewalkers created to raise an army against the living. Presently, we know they are making a march against the wall, and can only be killed with Valyrian steel or those Dragonshard knives. The wights in Diablo III however, can be killed as long as you have enough damage output.

We also have Dragons in Diablo, next time will check the name of those serpents.

(Edit) I came back to this post after a year and the next Season of Game of Thrones was already out. There has been more lore exposed about the whitewalkers and how they were created.

Game of Thrones in Diablo III!

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

With Game of Thrones Season 6 out at pretty much the same time Diablo III Seasion VI is released, I have been following both of them.

That pretty much means that I have been reading up on lore for both the game and the series. So, it came as a pleasant surprise when I saw a reference to Gregory Clegane from Game of Thrones in Diablo.

Continue reading “Game of Thrones in Diablo III!” →

Diablo III pays more homage to Dune

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I have been playing Diablo III on and off for the last four years, and have started taking it up again. This is primarily because of the new concept of Seasons and Adventure Mode.

No more do I have to keep endlessly grinding … uhh… it is a clickfest of a game, but what I love about it is how it pays homage to different pop-cultures.

Like how you can find Shaitan, the worm from Dune in the game.

However, I found some more references to Dune –

  • Stilgar’s corpse
  • A separate Bounty called Wormsign

Wormsign

In Act IV, you are asked to go to a small dungeon and eliminate all Hellbearers. This is pretty easily done and on dispatching all four of them, you see the boss – Fenring.

Fenring2
Meeting Fenring in the Wormsign Bounty

Dune fans will recognize this reference to Count Hasimir Fenring, confidante, advisor and chief assassin for Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. The book series contains a fair number of Fenring’s exploits as an assassin, including one where he kills a victim using neural daggers (pretty cool way).