2015 in Review

  • \o/

2015 in Review

Thu Dec 31 2015
8 minute read

These review posts have proven incredibly useful when looking up stuff this year, so I'll continue this (new-ish) tradition. (2014/2013)

Non-Board Games I've played/bought

  • WildStar - not so much as last year, but I played it
  • WoW - I think I didn't do more than log in to a sub-20 character more than twice this year
  • EVE Online - if I played, it was early in the year, not so sure
  • Marvel Heroes - has completely destroyed Diablo as my go-to ARPG - spent a lot of hours here
  • Guild Wars 2 - my other go-to MMO in 2015
  • Age of Wonders 3 - couldn't resist a good deal, it's quite ok, but HoMM 3 is still better. Maybe HoMM 5 as well
  • Assassin's Creed Brotherhood/Revelations/III/IV - oh the Steam Sales. Started with Brotherhood, not completed. Ongoing procrastination project.
  • Talisman: Digital Edition - just not the same as playing the board game with friends, but it's ok I guess
  • Realm of the Mad God - nice for a quick run from time to time
  • Mass Effect 1+2 - Finally started with #1 after I got told it's really something everyone should've played. It's quite ok so far.
  • Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director's Cut - just as good, if not better, as Shadowrun Returns
  • Shadowrun: Hong Kong - still need to play this, high hopes it's just as good as its predecessors
  • The Witcher 1+2 - too cheap to pass on, same as with ME - but haven't started
  • Borderlands 2 - again on some recommendations - I liked it but haven't made it very far
  • Lost Lands - free to play hidden object game. First time I tried the genre, was quite nice to kill some time

Books I've read

Oh, that's a short one this year I guess. After my kindle was stolen in February and I was commuting by bike all spring/summer/fall and also didn't really go on vacation at the beach... I kinda didn't read a lot.

  • Vier Fäuste für ein blaues Auge: Wie der Wilde Westen nach Deutschland kam (Tommy Krappweis, Heinz J. Bründl) - German book about a western-themed amusement park near Munich. Very funny if you knew it.
  • Burning Chrome (William Gibson) - short stories, including "Johnny Mnemonic" - awesome
  • Larklight (Philip Reeve) - I think it's a childrens' book, but it has steampunk and it was enjoyable enough
  • Seven More Languages in Seven Weeks - just as good as the first one
  • will amend if I stumble over more, but LibraryThing tells me that was everything

The pile of shame - books I wanted to read

Movies I've watched

Movies I didn't manage to watch

  • Jupiter Ascending
  • Chappie
  • Mara und der Feuerbringer
  • Jurassic World
  • Fantastic Four
  • Straight Outta Compton
  • Aeon Flux
  • Plus everything from last year's list, but the Edge of Tomorrow BD is at least sitting on the shelf already :P

TV Series I've (re)watched

  • The Prisoner - still very cool
  • Heroes S1 - made my way through Season 1, and I think I fully enjoyed one episode - the last one. Then S02E01 was horrible and I stopped.

CDs I bought

Other stuff I bought

  • Audio-Technica ATH-M50x - SO GOOD
  • New PSU for a laptop - apparently I'm lucky to only need one every few years per notebook
  • Kingzone N5 mobile phone - extremely happy with this, after my Desire Z just got too slow for daily use
  • Xiami Piston 3 In-Ears - very good for the price
  • Kickstarter/Indiegogo - nothing

Comics I read

For the first time in many years I bought some comics. Usually the bigger books, not the thin magazines.

  • Ms Marvel (Wilson/Alphone) 1-2 - very good, ordered Vol 3 already
  • Punisher (Edmondson/Gerads) 1-2 - very good, Vol 3 is sitting next to me
  • She-Hulk (Soule/Pulido/Wemberly) 1 - very good start, but I didn't like the change of the art style at all, so I stopped
  • Web comics:

Social network usage

  • Twitter - no change - regularly, not overly much, more reading and answering than writing
  • Facebook - no change - maybe a few more posts, regularly messaging with a few people

Messaging

  • IRC - definitely more, although some channels went mostly dead
  • Jabber - very seldom, everyone seems to have moved on and I can't blame them
  • Email - same as usual
  • Slack - using it for work via their IRC bridge, but still have the browser open for the bonus things besides chat

Trips

Online services

  • Literally zero change compared to last year.

Programming languages used, roughly in order of hours spent

  • Java - work, not so bad
  • Python - work and a few private things, deployment and packaging is still hell
  • Clojure - fun projects like multiplex and a recruitment web app prototype I coded on a weekend
  • PHP - work, I'm quite indifferent right now
  • Lua - work, could've been more
  • bash - ugh, one day I'll write a sane-language-to-bash-converter tool ;)
  • Rust - so much to learn. toy project: irc bot
  • OCaml - brief stint with the book at the start of the year, sadly too impractical for me right now - but I enjoyed it, unlike 2004 in university

Podcasts I listen to

So apparently the only tech podcasts I listen to are focused on stuff I have never used, am not using, and don't plan to use. Still I enjoy listening to them talking about things. Whereas when I tried some podcasts for stuff I am using and also interested in - I didn't like the hosts' style. Only exception were most Rust podcasts I sampled, but it's too soon for a real review, I guess.

  • ATP - I'm not using any Apple products and still listen to these guys.
  • Core Intuition - Same thing applies, but at least more developer stuff.
  • Under the Radar - And number three of the odd podcasts.
  • Battle Bards - "A musical journey through MMO soundscapes"
  • some real gaming podcasts, mostly talking about games I don't play