StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty - you shall be mine

The release of StarCraft 2 has to be one of the greatest gaming events of the year. For me anyway. This is the one game I never tire of waiting for. Ever since I've discovered StarCraft, and later on Brood War, I have waited for a new and hopefully improved version.

There was nothing wrong with the old Starcraft, but you get the urge for something new once in a while. There are what, more that 12 years, since the release of the original StarCraft, and people are still playing it. I doubts any other game in history has had that kind of success.

The very balanced units and abilities of the three races (Terran, Protoss, Zerg), the great resource management, the different technologies available and the ability to play multiplayer games over LAN makes this one of the greatest strategy games of all time. I remember this was the number one game we all wanted to play the moment we installed the local area network in our apartment building. We were hooked.

The rush of killing the Ghost at the very last second before being able to plant the nuke, the frustration of not being able to take down those Siege Tanks while they're clearing your base or the amusement of bringing down a dozen Carriers with a pack of cheap kamikaze Scourge. The long wait against a huge attack or the speed at which a well placed drop can render you useless. I also remember those damn High Templar and their Psionic Storm or the accursed Arbiter with that Stasis Field and Recall, the Battlecruiser's devastating Yamato Gun or the Gurdian's incredibly long atack range. I remember them all. Those were my days of glory in StarCraft.

And now, after so much time waiting and hoping for the release of a new version, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty makes that dream come true. Damn you Blizzard for making me wait that long. All you did was mess around with that blasted WoW and did nothing for the rest of your players. Even more, you created a first person shooter. Who the hell cares about a first person shooter related to a strategy game? But now it's finally our time. Finally I can carry on interstellar battles against my enemies. I will bring them pain and despair and maybe I'll even live long enough to tell the tale.

This has got to be the only thing I have waited for this long. Just a few more days until July 27th and StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty will be in my grasp. We shall meet again dear friends: Terran, Protoss, even you Zerg. Again we shall battle 'til the last man. And glory shall be ours!

Mathletics - the children's mathematical resource

Mathletics - I came across this by accident earlier today, and since I noticed that I haven'tpublished anything else lately, I thought I should give it a go. Oh, and I also found it interesting.

Mathletics, run by 3P Learning Pty Ltd, describes itself as "Australia's most used educational website". I can't argue with that, since I don't live in Australia and I've finished school a few years now. But even if it's dedicated to Australian kids we all know that maths is universally identical no matter the country. It doesn't even matter on what planet you write a formula, according to maths, the result will always be the same. We can't say the same thing about physics for example.

Mathletics is aimed at students aged 5 to 18 and is one of the world's most used mathematics educational website. It is built in such a way that it will help student improve those aspects that they feel uncomfortable with. The website provides children a fun way to learn what most of us consider a torment: mathematics. if something like this would have existed back in the days I went to schol, maybe the stress would have been a lot less present: "Will I pass this year? Will the teacher flunk me?" The horror!

Mathletics UK is the website's version aimed at those students that live in the United Kingdom. There are also versions for some other countries across the globe, like the United States, Canada or South Africa. More details can be found on their official blog, at blog.mathletics.com along with the website addresses.

So,if you have a child that's not doing so great on maths, go to the Matheletics website and give it a try. It's most likely not the means to turning your kid in a maths genius, but at least it might get him to learn a few things. And maybe, just maybe,pass the year.