Of Hobbits and Pac-Men

I knew as soon as I bought a kit for the Hobbit that I would change my mind. Only a week after picking up the DR kit from Treats, did the fabled Athena 70cc kit come into stock at 1977. There were a few minutes of debate with myself until the tuner in me won, and I was placing the order for the Athena. A few days later, it showed up.

My first impression was that it had to be one of the lightest cylinder I've ever held. Which makes sense because it's less a cylinder and more a few pieces of aluminum holding a ton of swiss cheese holes together. Which is a good thing. When it comes to transfers and ports, we're really paying for what's not there anyway. Lotta flow.

The quality seems excellent. With any cylinder there's always a little flashing that will be filed off, and some chamfering of ports, but looking at this thing, I can't wait to fire up the Hobbit in 5 or 6 months.

Next step is to make a head fit. I have several options and I haven't decided which way I'm going yet.

I did read that there need to be some case mods done to make this kit work. I've scoured the forums, and mocked it up to the case, but for the life of me can't figure out what needs to be modded. Anyone?

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I love Xbox 360. And with it, I love a whole slew of Xbox games. I could talk about the same games that you're probably playing, but that's not so interesting, so I'm hoping to write about some games you might not be playing.

This time around I want to talk about good old Pac-Man. I've been playing Pac-Man in one form or another since about 1981. Some versions have been good (classic Ms Pac-Man arcade version) and some haven't been so good (Atari Pac-Man).

I'm sure when I say "Pac-Man reboot" most people will scoff, but hear me out. The Championship version from a few years ago was excellent, and gave a different twist on a game that needed a new twist. The game play was fast, and using fruit to introduce a never-ending new set of pellets to munch was much better than clearing screen after similar screen.

The new Pac-Man Championship DX game does it one better. The game play is some of the best I've ever seen. It is, hands down, the fastest Pac-Man ever. The problem with ultra fast Pac-Man play has always been that there comes a point when it becomes unplayable due to the ghosts matching your speed. DX has a solution. Ghost close calls momentarily slow down game play, allowing you to figure a way out. If there's no way out, drop a "ghost bomb" and the ghosts are all sent back to jail. This sort of thing might make the game a little too easy if you weren't in a time trial, and if it is, there's always expert mode.

IGN gave it a perfect score last week, and I'd say it's pretty close to the best/most addictive Pac-Man experience I've ever had.

Speaking of games, the holidays approach, and game deals can be found left and right Here's a great blog that keeps track of the best deals going on. The holidays suck, don't forget to buy yourself something fun along the way.

thriftynerd.com

Lastly, if you've ever wondered what my D&D game looks like, here's a human fighter about to be blasted into oblivion by a Beholder. Spoilers for a future game session.