The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Hope you have a nice trip Lisa! Happy anniversary!

Happy anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Lisa!

@Stabguy, I would play that game

As you can see, I'm able to make videos once again!

My new workflow is sweet. I play Xbox in Hi-Def and record with the Roxio Game Capture that I won in a contest last year. The raw footage is recorded in standard def (720x480 at 30 frames per second) directly onto my new computer - an Intel Core i7-2600 Desktop. Then I edit with Sony Vegas (which I'm still learning) before uploading to YouTube. There's a 40" LED TV on my desk that I can switch between my computer, Xbox, or live TV if I ever get bored.

Lisa knows I like waterfalls so she took a picture especially for me! It's the largest waterfall she saw on her vacation:

OMG IT'S HYOOOGE!!!

Also:

My new home office is now complete! This weekend I bought the centerpiece: a fine koa desk. It's 6 feet long by 3 feet wide and made of solid wood, so you know it weighs a ton. We hired three Samoan guys to deliver it. stabgal just replaced my Freedom Chair. The last one was about 12 years old when the fabric started getting worn. This one has blue leather upholstery and should last even longer.

The TV/monitor is a 40" Philips LED flat panel. I can do everything from this one screen: play Xbox, edit videos, write software, or even watch live TV. To the left of the monitor you see my new Xbox 360 on top of an old Series 2 TiVo and a DVD/VHS combo player. The computer below the desk is a new Intel Core i7-2600 tower. Mounted on the back of the desk is everything else (Roxio Game Capture, cables, etc.) tucked out of sight and off the floor.

I actually love it, stab!

The desk is beautiful and that monitor is just incredible. I wish I could watch TV, play PS3 and use the computer on the same screen, although having a TV next to the computer means I can (and often do) watch two programmes, particularly sports events, at the same time.

I especially like the fact that you have everything you need set out so neatly and ordered. I'm a stickler for tidiness!

Very nice stab.

Give stabgal the credit on that one. As a guy I usually just go with some laminate computer desk piece of crap. She's the one who wanted solid wood. Koa is a breed of acacia found only in Hawaii and sought for making ukuleles and fine furniture.

This desk came with a matching credenza of the same height and length (but not as wide). They would look excellent together arranged in an L-shape but our short term plans for the office space didn't allow it. For now we put the credenza inside our walk-in closet where we will use it as a dresser. It's a shame to hide koa inside a closet. Someday we will reunite them.

There's another classic "guy" behavior. Since you already have two tuners, can't you hook up a DVR/VCR and record one sports event while you watch the other?

Suh-weet! Good job (stabgal has a fine eye for fine furniture).

I'm going to be traveling a week from today on August 9. Ian and Lisa will be running the site while I'm gone. Actually, Ian has other commitments the weekend of August 11. He may be checking in during that time but won't really be around until Monday, August 13. So go easy on Lisa and understand that there may be a delay in getting videos front-paged that first weekend.

As for me, there's a big caper I'm going to pull off. All I can tell you at this point is there's loot that needs to be heisted and guards who need to be stabbed. If everything goes according to plan, the money will be in my Swiss bank account and I will be back safely by August 24. The last thing I need is a bunch of nosy kids trying to horn in on the action...

Good, good. Of course you might want to eventually give some hints, or we'll cause a ruckus and Abstergo will know what you're up to. And I imagine when someone does find out where you are, you might want to give them a prize bribe to keep them from blabbing.

Safe travels, Mentor.

أرحل بسلام يا معلم =)

The way this works is Ian hosts the game and gives the clues. He will post the rules with the first clue, which may not come until August 13 or 14 depending on his schedule. There will be a prize.

Yes, I intend to start the forum game around Aug 13.

I'm back. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to Europe. stabgal's passport was going to expire in September. I thought she could use it now and renew it after we got back but she found out that Denmark requires at least three months to be remaining on your passport. So stabgal applied to renew her passport and even paid extra for expedited processing. It should have been enough time but the State Department held up her renewal.

So we ended up going to Seattle and driving to Oregon. We visited family and friends, and went to some places that we never had a chance to see back when we lived in Seattle. I didn't tell Ian because he had already designed the game around Amsterdam/Copenhagen and I didn't have firm plans for where we'd be going instead.

Aw, stab. I'm really sad to hear that. Next time, I hope!

ETA: Maybe stabgal should get on the phone to the Secretary of State. Her technique worked on Mitsubishi and Hilary Clinton has far less power than Mitsubishi!

And McStab was so looking forward to getting his piece of touristy crap souvenir.

Hope you get to visit eventually, Stab!

Actually, I'd like to thank congresswoman Mazie Hirono and her staff for their assistance. She has a direct line to the manager of the passport office and was able to get to the bottom of the hold up. Mazie is currently running for U.S. Senate. She has my vote!

There will definitely be a next time. Our airfare was non-refundable but the airline credited it toward another trip anywhere within the next year. We will probably choose a different destination. The way I look at it, we've already paid for next year's vacation.

And set up the next installment of 'Where in the World is Stabguy?'!

More announcements about staff and coverage...

LisaMurphy has been promoted to Web Content Editor. That means she has the ability to front-page or sticky high quality articles. Please keep in mind that it's impolite to campaign for your own posts to be promoted. If you like someone else's forum topic, add a comment of support such as "This should be on the front page."

I'm leaving on vacation next week. Ian said he would keep an eye on the site while I'm gone. He may or may not host a game. This would be a challenging game both for the host and the players as I will be visiting many cities, some of which are lesser known. In any event, I will tell you all about it when I get back. Until then, be nice to Lisa and Ian!

Dang it! Um, I mean, wouldn't dream of it.

I'll be on vacation for a few days. Be nice to Lisa while I'm gone.

Where in the world is Stabguy (going this time)?

Just to a neighbor island, Kauai. It's my favorite Hawaiian island to visit but lacks the conveniences of Oahu.

Stabby doesn't take a vacation...

He merely waits for an opening...

Yup, yup.
We'll hold the fort while the Grandmaster is away.

What is it with Hawaiians and vowels? The consonant/vowel ratio is like 1/4 if you look at names of cities and islands.

Are we ever not nice to Lisa?

Not sure if a Dutch speaker calling out someone else's overuse of vowels is the pot calling the kettle black or a case of someone with loads of relevant experience commenting on a topic...hmm.

Nah, Dutch is more like overusing consonants and clustering them together like a madman. The best example is probably aNGSTSCHReeuw (cry of fear). Even though that's a compound word (angst+schreeuw, fear+cry), you can still see that clusters of four can exist.

But don't you have vowels that are groups of vowels (as we use in English) clustered together? I'm less familiar with the Dutch alphabet, admittedly. But I do remember being in Den Haag and a friend commenting on your street signs, saying, "I hope they don't charge by the letter for those things. It seems like there's lots of unnecessary vowels."

Yeah, you got me there. We do kind of cluster vowels together too. Great example is ooievaar (stork), which happens to be the symbol of Den Haag, actually.

There are a couple of reasons for that. Officially the Hawaiian alphabet has 18 letters, 10 of which are vowels! One of the consonants is the apostrophe ' which is pronounced as a glottal stop.

Not only do all words in Hawaiian end with a vowel, every syllable must end with a vowel. Note that Honolulu is pronounced Hoe-noe-LOO-loo, not HAWN-uh-loo-loo. Consonants only appear alone (at the beginning of syllables). Therefore, every word is at least 50% vowels. For example, Kamehameha is 50/50. Other words are 100% vowels such as Aiea.

+10 for the Kamehameha example.
EDIT: Some people's names are really cool.

Two more staffing updates: LisaMurphy retired as Web Content Editor last year. She had lost interest in the Assassin's Creed series and felt that she could no longer follow discussions about the games. I didn't make an announcement at the time but we've been shorthanded for several months. Which leads me to the other announcement...

Please welcome JoeyFogey as the new forum moderator. He has been a member for six years and still manages to keep up with all of the forum threads. I'm sure Joey will help stop spambots in their tracks and keep our debates civil. There's a new blurb on our About page.

requiescat in pace, mater

time to let the inmates run the asylum, eh stabby?

Has it really been six years? Feels like I've been here all my life. I guess that comes from how welcoming THB has always been.

Now don't worry guys, those spambots will be cut down faster than you can say Requiescat in pace.

BRUHHH JOEY? Epic.

And, regarding Lisa's retirement, that's entirely understandable. The series has lost a bunch of its "Assassin's Creed-ness" for many, many people, so. Makes sense.

I don't know, man, I can say Requiescat in pace pretty quick.

Congrats on the promotion.

New Spambots detected on the outer wall! Joey, show us your new power! Crush these invaders! Drive them from our home!

I'm almost going to miss the days of replying to spambots.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but my first spambot test came late last night. I feel like such a hero.

Whoa, we did not know that. Even though the site isn't as big or active as it used to be, it is hard for one person to keep everything running. Just please don't say Ian officially retired.

I must warn you, Mr. Fogey is ruthless in payment for his services. $15 just for a voiceover in a fanmade horror short of mine.

$15 for Joey's voice? Methinks you overpaid by about $20.

Congrats Joey!