mssv

  • Deconstruction

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    1–2 minutes

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    1 comment on Deconstruction

    (Quick post while I write the huge queue of posts I’ve got backlogged) I recently got hold of a new Intel iMac. I’d been wanting a new computer for a while now, and it seemed like getting a top of the line computer (as opposed to more middle-range ones) which would presumably stay fast for…

  • 360 feedback

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    3–4 minutes

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    4 comments on 360 feedback

    Well, my whole ‘bumper crop of Christmas posts’ thing didn’t work out so well, what with going to a wedding in Cambridge with no internet access. Still, the posts are waiting… As most people know, Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 worldwide in November last year. There was a lot of fanfare, and lots of people…

  • The Case for Contamination

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    1–2 minutes

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    1 comment on The Case for Contamination

    The Case for Contamination – from the New York Times magazine. A well-written and engaging essay on why cosmopolitanism is good, and trying to protect cultural practices is bad (I simplify).

  • LCD boardgame

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    1–2 minutes

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    LCD boardgames that can detect the position of your counters – well, so much for my grand idea. Having said that, I’m pretty sure that a lot of other people have had the idea of LCD boardgames before.

  • Ra!

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    5–7 minutes

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    1 comment on Ra!

    My induction to boardgaming began early in 2004, when I started playing The Settlers of Catan. I’d played plenty of other traditional ‘boardgames’ before that point, such as Monopoly or Risk or the Game of Life, but after Settlers, I quickly realised that these weren’t real boardgames – they were ‘boardgames lite’. They were ‘roll…

  • Barhah!

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    3–4 minutes

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    5 comments on Barhah!

    Like pirates, zombies are reaching the peak of their popularity. They’re cool. They’re in movies, books, videogames, boardgames and MMOGs. I’ve only played two MMOGs seriously; the first was about seven years ago, when I beta-tested Ultima Online (yeah, I’m that cool). The second is Urban Dead, a browser-based text MMOG that sees zombies and…

  • 2 player games

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    1–2 minutes

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    No comments on 2 player games

    Games for couples (other than the obvious) – another Ask Metafilter classic about good, non-confrontational two-player boardgames and card games. Most modern boardgames are for about four players…

  • Train Your Brain DS

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    5–8 minutes

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    1 comment on Train Your Brain DS

    After hearing so much about Train Your Brain, the Nintendo DS game that’s been developed to boost your IQ, I was pretty excited on obtaining a copy. The game has probably sold more than a million copies now, and that’s mostly to non-gamers, so it’s certainly an unusual hit ‘game’. Players are supposed to play…

  • A Christmas Carol

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    3–5 minutes

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    No comments on A Christmas Carol

    The idea of Patrick Stewart doing a one-man production of A Christmas Carol was a surprising one, but also one that I felt knew what was going to happen. I presumed that he’d read the book out on his own, using his unmistakable voice to enliven proceedings; nothing terribly difficult, and not terribly interesting, apart…

  • School of Dreams

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    4–6 minutes

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    No comments on School of Dreams

    School of Dreams by Edward Humes My secondary school (or high school, for you American folks) was a rather pleasant private school in Birkenhead, across the water from Liverpool. You could make a fair argument for saying that it was the best secondary school in the area, although there were a few others that were…