The FATE affair

    This month I started working at a wonderful project, which I sincerely hope will be successful. This project concerns the Italian translation of FATE Core. FATE is a very interesting free RPG based on the FUDGE system, which aims to allow a group of players to create their game together, through a narrative collaboration that allows the group to build the setting, the characters, the theme, the mood, the powers and all those aspects of an RPG which are usually preset, the way they like most.

    It is therefore a product different from usual, which encourages players to shape every aspect of the game to their liking, instead of providing tomes of rules, data and statistics about something already settled.


    The collaboration began by chance, after reading an interview with Nicola Urbinati, project manager, on an Italian site dedicated to the world of RPGs. In this interview Nicola raised the possibility to participate in the publishing future of the Italian version of FATE. So I decided to write to him, proposing to help with the translation. It was quickly decided to give me the job of translation revisionist. My work is to smooth the original translation, in an attempt to make it more enjoyable to read. I hope to do a good job!

    This is a stimulating and interesting experience, but unfortunately, having another job, I will be forced to proceed slowly.

    After all, let's face it: who among those who truly love RPGs does not dream of seeing their name printed among those of the staff responsible for the publication of a manual?!? I really hope this will happens to me thanks to this opportunity !

    If you care to delve a little more into FATE, here are some useful links:

    - FATE at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fate_(role-playing_game_system)

    - FATE at Evil Hat Productions: http://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core/

    - FATE dedicated blog: http://www.faterpg.com/

    - Italian FATE site: http://www.fateitalia.it/

Dragon's Crown Artworks

    In the last days, after some weeks on Borderlands 2 (which I founded quite boring, to be honest, and much similar to its predecessor), I'm back to Dragon's Crown on PSVita. The more I play this game, the more I think it's a small masterpiece in the games scene of the last few years. My Fighter finally hit lvl 99, and now I'm climbing the new, almost-infinite, random dungeon added with the last patch. And it's hard!

    I'm thinking about buying this game for PS3, too, in its digital version, in order to have it always installed on the consolle and ready to be played with up to 3 more pals on the same room. This game is somehow similar to Diablo 3 in concept
(action rpg based on farming and gathering equipme
nt). After playing back on both, even if I really enjoy some Diablo 3 run, I ended liking the Dragon's Crown approach more: it's less technical, more simple, each stage take fewer time to be cleared and it's "old school" style really capture me.

    Here follow most of the beautiful artworks you can find in the game. Some of them are secret, and must be unlocked by completing some part of the game, so this is somehow a minor spoiler. Enjoy the beautiful gallery of these 57 arts by clicking on any of the following pictures:

Goodbay 2013, welcome 2014?

    Whoa, the last month has been pretty intense!

    The new year has brought a lot of new features and changes, some good, some bad. My parents are breaking up, unfortunately, after many years of marriage, and the question is not solving easily. Inevitably, I'm also catched into this affair, as a member of the family. This event has blocked my move, as the house where I had to relocate will instead be occupied by my mother, and I'll move in to the one where she lives today (which is much larger and more beautiful, to be honest ...!). She also decided to stop working at our store for some time, which made job more complicated for those who remained.

    I also bought a new car. Oh well, my first car to tell the truth :). Some photos soon in a separate post!

    Moreover, I'm partecipating to a very cool project in the RPGs world, as translation revisionist for the Italian version of FATE Core. Additional info in a future post.

Vegan Salami

    So, even 2013 is gone. This year I spent a rather quiet New Year's Eve, along with my girlfriend and all our beasts. We have finally begun to keep Enny, Kiro, Nobu and Giget
ta in the same rooms, finding that they bear each other better than we expected. Apart from a few sporadic attacks from Gigetta, some typical feline romp here and there and canine mutterings by Enny, cohabitation seems quite possible!

    We had dinner with the simple vegan dishes you can see in the pictures. To drink, sparkling wine Ferrari for her and beer for me!

Kiro + Nobu + Enny

Ferrari + Beer

Pie

My VegeChristmas

Grandmother's Nativity.
She is very religious

    And so the Christmas lunch is over.

    As announced, it was completely based on vegan cooking. To tell you the truth, my kindred used cheese on pasta and eggs and milk for the dessert, but they were very attentive on all the other dishes. Still, between vegan and vegetarian recipes, it was a very cruelty-free oriented event. Even, at some point, one of my aunts, while eating a soy-based dish, exclaimed: "This stew is very tasty! This meat is so tender!". Se was really convinced that it was a real meat stew!

Cousin and aunt
at work in the kitchen

    The menu was quite varied, and included salt pies as appetizers, along with a common millet salad, a very tasty risotto with mushrooms, a special soybean stew with peperoni, some chicory, and fruits in quantity.

    It's been an ejoyable lunch for everyone, even for the ones most skeptical about the absence of meat. My cousin actually has not resisted to taste a meat roulade prepared by my grandmother for tomorrow, but it was a single, isolated, case.

    I am proud of my family. At least for today ;).

Photo of the table

Salt pies

Soyabean stew

Back to Diablo 3!

My baba's equipment

    After few months I'm back to play some Diablo 3 on PC.

    I was tempted to wait for the PS4 version, but my Baba on the PC account is way too equipped to be left aside to start from scratch. The possibility to play locally with up to 4 friends is very alluring, though, so perhaps I'll buy the Ultimate Evil edition anyway. We will see.

    I admit I have spent some € to buy a bounch of millions of gold from the real money Action House, as the costs have dropped quite alot (around 1,5€ for 50 millions gold!). Sure is that the game seems much easier than I remember. Now I can play quite relaxed up to Monster Power 8, while previously my ideal farming (regarding speed and survivability) was around MP6. Epic loot drops alot, even if crap, for the most part. As always :P. I use a classic Whirlwind build, even if I'm stuck on my 2 handed Skorn, while I discovered the optimizied build is now based on dual wielding. I still kick butts hard though ;) .

    The game is still very fun to play. The multiplayer too has been much improved and is now a valuable experience. By the way, Diablo has been one of my very first favorite games: they say first love is never forgotten, and Diablo 3 is a valid heir to D1 and D2, in my opinion.

    Anyway, my battleTag is Zanfire#2225 : I usually like to play solo, but, perhaps, we can eventually have a run or two together, here and there. So, see you on B.Net !

My baba's build and numbers

May the Christmas be with you!

    So, Christmas has arrived. This month has been tough, in my shop. Despite the business does not shine because of the general crisis that harass Italy, keep open every day is stressful and demanding. I 'm looking forward to spending a few days in total relaxation!

    With the start of the new year, my new apartment will be ready, and I will then proceed to move in. I hope such operation will be quick and painless. I will also need a trip to Ikea to buy some furniture to fill the new rooms, as the new house is much bigger than previous one :D!

    The PS4 is proving to be a great console: quick and agile, although you can clearly see that it is still raw in the operating system, and plagued by some major technical problems. For example, I have not received two trophies for what I have met the requirements: I'll be forced to replay a large piece of the related game in order to conquer my 34th Platinum :/ .

    Assassin 's Creed 4 is really an impressive title, both from the technical point of view and for the fun it provides. The pirate's life is a dream, and the game manages to well convey the feeling of piloting a ship and boarding others! Now I really want to see inFamous: Second Son!

    I managed to convince my family to have a vegetarian Christmas (if not vegan), and tomorrow will be a pleasure to eat at a table not laden with pieces of the corpses of creatures born and lived in suffering! Truly a wonderful gift!

    Well , I hope to publish soon something more interesting than this post: I have in mind an article for additional tips on how to defeat the Legendary Ships of AC4 ( the official guide does not help enough, imho) and a new hook story for Star Wars - Edge of the Empire: Star Wars and the Raiders of the Lost Ark!

    Well, May the Christmas Be With You and Han Claus brings you a Millenium Falcon full of beautiful gifts : D!

    Oh, by the way, Chuck wanna wish you the best of things, too ;) (see the video!).

PS4 remote play through PSVita

Assassin's Creed 4 on PSVita through remote play

    I finally tried the PS4 remote play, and I was really impressed.

    Configuring everything is a very simple procedure, and allows the total control of the PS4 through the PSVita. You'll be able to use the dashboard of the last Sony console with ease and efficiency.

    But the real strength of this feature shines on gaming: I have only tried Assassin's Creed 4 and Contrast, for now, but the result was really excellent. The performances are great, although my eyes seems to perceive a slight drop in framerate. Sometimes it can be difficult to follow the game on the small screen of the PSVita, but it is a very little problem compared to the final results. Even the way in which PS4 joypad commands are simulated is extremely functional: the rear touch panel of PSVita, divided into 4 quadrants, is used to allow you operate the keys missing on the portable console. Personally I am not yet very accustomed to this system, but I think it's just a matter of habit (Yeah, I'm a bit refractory to all this late touch-thing :P).

TV above, PSVita below

    The remote control worked perfectly with the PS4 about 2 meters from the router and the PSVita to about 5, without concrete walls but with wooden doors between.

    Overall, it is therefore a very powerful innovation, in my opinion, that allows you to enjoy your PS4 keeping the TV free for others or lying around in another room (in bedroom, out in the balcony, in the bathroom... Uhmmm, the possibilities are endless!).

Vegan Recipe: Penne with Brussels sprouts

    One other simple but delicious recipe, especially if you like pasta and Brussels sprouts!

    It is quite fast to prepare, as it requires almost only the time of a common pasta (so, around 20 minutes).

Penne with Brussels sprouts

Ingredients

    about 1 pound of pasta per person
    3-4 Brussels sprouts per person
    2 tablespoons of olive oil
    2 pieces of garlic
    A cup of tomato sauce
    chilli
    oregano
    salt

Preparation

    1) Fill a pot with plenty of water, in which you will cook the pasta (regulate the amount based on how much pasta you use). Put the brussel sprouts into the water, after cleaning them a bit. Bring the water to a boil, keeping the pot covered.


    2) In the meantime, prepare a smaller pot to cook the Brussel sprouts with tomato sauce. Put a couple of tablespoons of oil in the bottom of this pot, together with the finely chopped garlic.

    3) When the water for the pasta begins to boil, remove sprouts, let them cool a bit and cut or break them in order to get leaves and small pieces. Fry the garlic until it darkens, then add the brussel sprouts, letting them absorb the oil, and add a bit of salt and chilli. When the oil is well dried, add the tomato and let it cook on low heat, keeping the pot covered and stirring occasionally.

    4) Add salt to the boiling water and throw pasta in. Wait until it is ready, constantly checking the brussels sprouts sauce. If it becomes too dry, add a tablespoon of water.

    5) When the pasta is ready, drip it and add the brussel sprouts all together into the pot, along with a bit of fresh oregano.

    6) Serve and eat !

PS4! It's here!

    It's here! Fresh from Amazon, SDA just delivered my new, Day1 PS4! Can't wait to unbox, connect it and see how PSVita works with this new jewel!

    Assassin's Creed 4 is already prepared near the TV, ready to be played.

    I want inFamous: Second Son as soon as possible, too, and I hope they'll make some super-cool RPG/JRPG for this new, powerful consolle!

    The box is marked with a small blotch of blood, silent witness to the hard work that has enabled me to enjoy my new, blazing PlayStation 4: D

Christmas Showcases

Whole showcase

    Like every Christmas, this year too we put alot care in the preparation of the outer showcases of our store.

    We decided to focus on red, white and green colors, pretty typical for this holiday season (and the colors of the Italian flag too: dunnow if this is a good thing, to be honest :P).

    It was a lot of work to prepare them, since, after attending a course of windows dressing, I have become quite a perfectionist in this field (a bit too much for someone).

    Still, I'm really pleased with the final result, even if I'm still forced to work with some animal products (mostly leather straps for watches). Things will changes in the future, anyway.

    Here follows a detailed gallery of watches window: