On Saturday some good friends and I visited Chester Zoo. It was a belated birthday celebration event. It was lovely to see the friends and the Watts family that came along. I was super excited to see the new Islands Exhibit.
The day before I got this email below, telling me about the return of the dinosaurs. Last time I visited Chester Zoo was 4 years ago, when the dinosaurs were last there.
The day before I got this email about the return of the Dinosaurs, on the very day of our visit. I love dinosaurs! Yey!
I love the dinosaurs and had no idea that they were even coming back. That’s lucky I immediately thought and then remembered that I’d recently burned the Hot Damn candle created by Dorothy Morrison (for more info on this see Dorothy Morrison’s Wickedly Wonderful Magical Mystery Packages). This isn’t the only lucky thing that’s happened to me recently, but that as they say: is another story.
Here are some photos from the day trip to Chester Zoo:
Islands Exhibit Sign
Islands Exhibit – Was well designed but lacked good signage to direct visitors.
Islands Exhibit – Mask with smoke.
Me in a makeshift tent on the Islands Exhibit.
Islands Exhibit- Hogs (1).
Islands Exhibit- Hogs (2).
A ginormous exotic plant.
The Elephants.
A Donkey.
The best photo of the day – a butterfly in the Butterfly House.
The Giraffes (1).
The Giraffes (2).
The Chimpanzees (1).
The Chimpanzees (2).
Turtles having a Mother’s Meeting.
The Flamingos.
Dinosaurs have returned! The dinosaurs and display were exactly same as we saw 4 years ago.
Lioness.
Lion.
Penguins.
Fountain.
I finally got a photo of the Speckled Bear (1). I tried last time I visited the zoo (4 years ago), but the bear walked off and went behind a bush before I could get a photo.
I was fortunate to see and watch an Eastern Black Rhino majestically eating. As I watched and videoed I reflected the sad realisation that generations to come might never see Black Rhinos alive. Nor will they see the thousands of animals that are already extinct. I reflected on the cruelty of human poachers. Poachers have hunted Black Rhinos close to extinction, hunting them for their horns and for sport.
Here is an edited video of an Eastern Black Rhino’s eating:
Edited 30/05/16 @ 15:25 – Changed information about Black Rhinos. There are two subspecies of Black Rhino, the Western Black Rhino and the Eastern Black Rhino.
The Western Black Rhino that has been declared extinct in the wild and there are only a few left in captivity, all of which are the same gender, so they will be unable to breed.
Chester Zoo has the Eastern Black Rhinos. There are only 500 Eastern Black Rhinos left in the wild and a good number in Zoos around the world.
The post above has been changed to reflect this fact checked information.
I’m a really casual gamer. I play all my games on my Mac and don’t own a console. At the moment I’m super excited about the games out, in development or coming out soon. So I’m going to write about my top four favourite games which are: Prison Architect, The Universim, Sid Meier’s Starships and Civilisation 6.
1. Prison Architect
Prison Architect has Very Positive ratings on Steam.
In Prison Architect you build, manage and maintain a prison. The player manages every aspect of the prison including: the staff, the prisoners, the routine, the rehabilitation programmes, etc.
It originally started out as an Indie game by Introversion Software. I backed it on Steam as a pre-alpha and later had my brothers name put in the game. The great thing about this was each month, I got/get a free update with new content, bug fixes and improvements.
Since then it has has launched as version 1, being available on both PC and Mac. It has loads of positive reviews on Steam, tens of thousands of players and has just launched or about to launch on consoles. The creators have also recently won BAFTA for the game.
It’s a great game that I played over 128 hours on various prisons. Totally absorbing and addictive. I would highly recommend you go get it and play it. Below are screenshots of a prison that I’ve been building and managing for well over a year:
My Prison (1), I’ve been playing this prison for well over a year and for hundreds of hours.
My Prison (2), I’ve been playing this prison for well over a year and for hundreds of hours.
About: A game where the player builds, manages and maintains a prison.
Platform: PC/Mac, Linux, XBOX & PS4.
UK Price: £19.99
Status: Version 1 released on PC/Mac a few months ago. XBOX version 1 released shortly after. PS4 version 1 release date is 28th June 2016.
The Universim is a god-game and planet management game by indie game developer Crytivo Games. It has previously received Kickstarter backing and is currently in pre-alpha. I backed it on their website, buying the DIMETRODON EDITION, which cost me $60 (US Dollars). The great thing is that they have different packages for all price ranges.
This game is visually beautiful. From the trees to the weather, to the animals, nuggets and buildings. The artwork is stunning. The game has little people, called nuggets, which the player is god over.
is in the pre-alpha stage, meaning that it is still in development. Each month a patch is released (on 15th of each month), as well as patch notes and other updates. Other updates focus on the future game development including ideas, concepts and plans. The developers are currently getting the core game mechanics right, so at the moment there isn’t much to play. If you’re looking for a finished game, as the creator and designers say, wait to purchase until sometime in the future.
If you love backing games and giving feedback on bugs and ideas to shape the game, pre-order it today. Providing that you choose a package that has pre-alpha access, you’ll be able to download the current version and play it straight away. The game has a really cool launcher built in that checks the server for updates every time the program is opened. Giving feedback and reading the feedback of others is easy on their forums.
Here are some screenshots from The Universim and a trailer video:
About: A god-game and planet management game with little people (nuggets). Features to come include: god powers, research, more buildings, nuggets moving through the ages from Stone Age to Modern Age, etc.
Platform: PC/Mac/Linux
Price: From $25-$250 (US Dollars)
Status: In the early stages of development. Pre-alpha.
Okay, so this game has been out for a while, but I love it. It’s a sci-fi game where you build a fleet of ships, undertake missions and conquer the galaxy. It received mixed reviews. I like this game and keep hoping that they’ll go back an release an expansion pack with more features. It’s a good game, that could be made brilliant by adding some of these features from my Wish List:
Bigger maps and bigger fleet (or more than one fleet of space ships).
More customisation of fleet.
Meaningful diplomacy.
More missions.
Longer game play.
Here’s some game play screenshots and a trailer video:
About: A sci-fi game where you build a fleet of ships, undertake missions and conquer the galaxy.
Platform: PC/Mac/iOS.
Price: About £10.
Status: Has been released for sometime.
4. Civilization 6
Civilization 6 Screenshot (1)
I have played the Civilization series since I was a teenager. I own every release of Civilization from Civilzation 2 all the way up to Civilization V with the Gods & Kings expansion pack. One of my favourite releases was Civilization: Call to Power because it had a future technologies meaning that you could have sea and space cities. I pre-ordered Civilization: Beyond Earth and it could have been so good, but it just wasn’t. It was completely disappointing.
has been long awaited by fans. But other than these three game play screenshots, the trailer video and the game description all below, there isn’t loads of information Civilization 6 which releases on Friday 21st October 2016.
Civilization 6 Screenshot (2)
Civilization 6 Screenshot (3)
GAME DESCRIPTION
PLATFORM: PC
RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 21, 2016
FEATURES
EXPANSIVE EMPIRES: See the marvels of your empire spread across the map like never before. Each city spans multiple tiles so you can custom build your cities to take full advantage of the local terrain.
ACTIVE RESEARCH: Unlock boosts that speed your civilization’s progress through history. To advance more quickly, use your units to actively explore, develop your environment, and discover new cultures.
DYNAMIC DIPLOMACY: Interactions with other civilizations change over the course of the game, from primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life, to late game alliances and negotiations.
COMBINED ARMS: Expanding on the “one unit per tile” design, support units can now be embedded with other units, like anti-tank support with infantry, or a warrior with settlers. Similar units can also be combined to form powerful “Corps” units.
ENHANCED MULTIPLAYER: In addition to traditional multiplayer modes, cooperate and compete with your friends in a wide variety of situations all designed to be easily completed in a single session.
A CIV FOR ALL PLAYERS: Civilization VI provides veteran players new ways to build and tune their civilization for the greatest chance of success. New tutorial systems introduce new players to the underlying concepts so they can easily get started.
There has already been a huge reaction among fans to the screenshots. Many of them dislike the artwork that they have described as ‘cartoony.’ I doubt at this late stage of the games’ development that the artwork will change. The artwork has grown on me a little. But I’m concerned that it might reflect a dumbing down of the game’s complexity, which is what has made previous versions so addictive to play.
I like the idea of unstacking cities and city districts and think that it will add to game play. I’m not keen on the DLC or the difference in price between the Standard and Deluxe editions of the game. I feel the standard edition is to expensive, never mind the cost of the deluxe edition, so I will most likely wait until a reduction in price and would advise you to do the same.
Essential Info
About: The latest strategy game from the award-winning Civilization series.
Platform: PC (Unsure if it will have Mac compatibility on launch, but no doubt a mac version will follow if not.)
Price: £49.99 standard edition, £69.99 deluxe edition.
Status: Releases on Friday 21st October 2016.
My Musical Comedy Hero is Stephen Lynch. He is back with his latest offering Hello Kalamazoo, which is available to buy on vimeo for just £3.99. Here is the trailer video:
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