In three years since I have been earning US dollars - the fracking currency has gone from 0.70 USD for 1.00 AUD to the current price of 0.87 USD to 1.00 AUD. See this chart. For example if I had a 1000 USD three years ago it would be equal to 1428 AUD. Today that 1000 USD is only 1149 AUD. Considering 'real' inflation in both US and Australia is about the same - this means that my 'deal' in the US has got considerably worse.

What frustrates me is that the USD to AUD situation is not unique. It is not the AUD which is super strong it is the USD which is insanely weak. However there is next to no press in the US that their currency has turned to dog sh*t.

This currency weakness certainly places pressure on guest workers like myself. We will start looking for more profitable geographies to live and work. One can only hope that the lack of faith which the world has placed in the USD is related to the currency political crisis in the US. That crisis will naturally resolve itself next year (unless they cancel the election - which would probably cause the USD to completely 'tank').

I have some RPG books for Sale. Cover scans are up on my sharepoint. Make me an offer!

Tags: RPG ForSale Games Books

Just for the record I wasn't co-erced, paid or even 'told' to change my opinion of the Shadowrun game. I'd just call Scoble if anyone did. Now I think I'll run an SR PnP game set in the new alternate SR universe from the game: just to spite the fanboys.

Adam had a great comment on one of our internal RPG threads: I love the accusations that we are corporate shills that got paid for favorable reviews. Jeez, they didn't even pay for lunch.

So much for the 'slashdot effect' I got a grand total of 7 click throughs from being on the Slashdot Games page. My web server just barely survived this meltdown.

Over the weekend I read some of the SR forums. I had some the threads in my referrer log and decided to check them out. Regardless of the use of the SR back story there is no valid reason why SR can't be an FPS. I'm shocked at all this crap about: it's based on a PnP RPG therefore can only be a CPRG. What rubbish! With fans like this - who needs enemies?

Then there is all the typical Microsoft conspiracy theories (MS should run some conspiracy spoof ads - since these 'theories' are reaching a critical mass of incredulousness). I'll let you all in on a secret: there is no marketing conspiracy. It's just a bunch of guys in Redmond trying to make a good game. Albeit I don't 100% agree with them but I never believed that they are malcious. Adam made a good point about the team feeling shocked and hurt about the response on forums (including their own forums on shadowrun.com).

As mentioned earlier I had lunch with the Shadowrun team today. I was invited over to FASA studios (part of the Microsoft Game Studios) because I'd had some passionate things to say about their new game. I also brought along a couple of other gamers: Adam and Tim who are also long term SR fans. Although I should point out that we are NOT rapid fans. I'm actually selling up my Shadowrun books since I'm playing less RPGs nowadays. If anyone is interested please email me. I'll cut you a special deal if you work for FASA (I'll even through in a receipt so you can expense it).

At first I was a little nervous and hoping I wouldn't have to invole the name of Robert Scoble to avoid any blog induced retribution. Fortunately everything was very friendly and light hearted so there was no need for Robert to appear in a super hero costume.

So I played the game and let just say this: it's good. Yes folks: it's share price increasingly good. I can't blog about specific features but I can say I enjoyed it and I have low pain threshold for crappy games. It is an excellent and well thought out squad based shooter. It will appeal to PC and Xbox gamers alike and shared PC/Console gamespace will change the way people think about online gaming.

Now, on to the difficult bit: The Shadowrun universe. I know have a good understanding of how the team arrived at the current storyline (why a squad based shooter actually needs one is a matter of debate). I have to say that the game itself actually works really well in 2050 'classic' Shadowrun. There are couple of tweaks (needed for a squad shooter - but these are entirely neccessary and forgivable). The stuff which was shown at E3 does not do justice to this game. Here is a quick summary of the 'fan offensive' level of the game:

Artwork: Feels like Shadowrun. Good Job! The SR universe has a lot of different types of artwork (as Tim pointed out yesterday). From the gritty stuff in the early source books to the more cartoonish work in the more recent editions.

Gameplay: Feels like Shadowrun. One particulary moment struck me as 'very' Shadowrun: When I saw an Elf meld through a wall carrying a submachingune.

Backstory: Needs some work here. A bit of butchered Shadowrun. My advice to FASA: Cut it out. You don't need much backstory for a squad shooter!