ALMOST THERE!!!

Day 19 - Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in: Jhoto!
Who doesn't want pokemon to be real?
10 years old setting out on the back of a ponyta, five other awesome critters in tow. Battling and earning independence, it certainly feels like a better rite of passage than high school.

Day 20 - Favourite Genre:
RPG. This is not exactly a narrow genre and really I would categorise this as any game which has strong storytelling elements with emphasis on character. In the past I was well into final fantasy and as I have gotten older I have still retained a fascination for interesting plots and characters. The gameplay has to hold it's own, however. Into this category I would place harvest moon, and pokemon alongside many of the modern action adventure games, red dead and half-life and everything in between.

Day 21 - Game with the best story:
Red dead wins again. Beautifully written plot, well rounded characters. True and believable ending.

Day 22 - A game sequel which disappointed you.

All of the harvest moon games after Back to nature. Dear God who gave marvelous the reins. Incapable of producing anything as nearly addictive or challenging or polished as Back to nature. The loading screens were soo long winded, and the only aspect of the farming experience they managed to create was the sheer unadulterated boredom. Whilst I loved every chicken I bred on my little farm on the PSX the 3D cows of the later games failed to woo me. Yawn yawn yawn. Rune factory could prove to be a mild diversion. But I have the feeling it will still be all the grind with less reward.

Day 23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style:
De Blob:

The wii can get it right! The art style of this and it's sequel are both perfectly in tune with what was required of the game. The depressing grey landscapes are not simply restored they flourish into stunning bright city scapes. Plus you are the one who makes it beautiful. I think the original edges it though, because more emphasis is played on more colour, you can score bigger points by painting with the whole spectrum of colour; a feature which the new game has lost.

Day 24 - Favourite classic game:

I have no idea what 'classic' means. I certainly don't enjoy the nintendo hard games of the past, and even gameboy mario is more than I can stomach. I enjoy pacman, but I'm never gonna really get in a spin about games I never really connected with. I guess my first favourite game was spyro year of the dragon. The best little platformer I've experienced, it comined really great level design with sweet baddies and lots of really fun minigames. But PSX is not exactly old enough.

Day 25 - A game you plan on playing:


LA Noire.

I picked this over Portal 2, because I have little to say. I know it will be a fantastic game and it's already tortured me and consumerism ways by forcing me to join steam and play indie games.

LA Noire intrigues me, I wonder and hope that the game will play like a cross between Phoenix wright and GTA. Crime scene investigation, inerrogations, combined with shoot-outs and car chases, all set in the blisteringly sexy setting of the 40s. Literally can't wait.

Day 18

Day 18 - Favourite protagonist: Travis TouchDown

No More Heroes.

Travis is a stupid cunt. He gets sold down the river just because he wants to fuck a sexy chick. And it is for that reason he's a great protagonist. Driven, he's willing to go through all the manual labour and vicious light saber battles just to get the arbitrary title of no. 1 assassin. It's endearing that he would try so hard. He encapsulates the american otaku, thus the developers use him as a social commentary on the materialism of Japan culture particularly when it is taken up the west.

Plus he has a really cute kitten called Jeane.

30 days of gaming etc.

Day 11 - Gaming system of choice:

This has to go to the xbox 360, it is far and away the best console ever made which pains me greatly because microsoft are so fucking annoying in other areas of their brand. The attitude towards third parties is what makes this console great. Whilst nintendo has this inane obsession with only really pushing the identical dross they excrete every two years or so the xbox encouraged a stronger gaming industry by ensuring that small developers could get onto the international circuit.

Xbox Live Arcade is an example of how inclusive communities lead to more games, better games and cheaper games. The PC was the best equipped to do this first but the xbox is the best console for experiencing games which might not have had international playtime if it weren't for XBLA. Plus my computers all suck too hard for me to a PC gamer.

Day 12 - A game everyone should play.

The Lego movie game franchise.

It really doesn't matter which one you choose because they are all basically the same, but they are the perfect universal game. These are really the only games from a movie I play, (excepting viva pinata.) These are the games my kids will grow up on. These are the games all my siblings could all on some level appreciate. They are simple colourful and the cut-scenes are genius. At their heart they are fantastic action puzzle games which require replays to get the best of the content. They are great value for money and if someone is looking a game for their kids they cannot go wrong with this.

Day 13 - A game you’ve played more than five times:

I play all my games more than five times. Unless you mean to completion. In which case, none of my games. What a stupid question.

Day 14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper;

I have never had a gaming wallpaper, my wallpapers are always cats.

Day 15 - Post a screenshot from the game you’re playing right now.

Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare.

Zombies have invaded the wild west and it's up to John Marston to figure out how to stop the hoard, and save his family. This shot is the first of the four horses of the apocalypse unlockable in the game: WAR. He rocks, and can set fire to zombies with his firey hooves. -.-

Day 16 - Game with the best cut scenes

Final Fantasy IX.

I know these games are not good. But this was the first game I ever asked for for christmas, it was the most sumptuous and beautiful opening sequence and I absolutely adored watching the cut scenes. I was a teenage girl at the time. My favourite was by far the sequence where the ship takes off and the queen fires huge hooks it in the hope of preventing the kidnapping. Action and sexy sexy looking scenery. I don't care that it was a boring grindy game because the sensation of falling in love with those flat 2D characters is still very ingrained.

Day 17 - Favourite antagonist:

I love a good villain. Portal's GlaDos is nicely rounded and a really interesting character. She sent chills down my spine in the trailer for the new game. Most villains are just annoyances with very little development other than wanting to fuck up your life. I think the scariest bad guy; though not necessarily an antagonist, was the spider in Limbo. Jesus christ that thing was fucking awful.

30 days of Gaming Part 2

Day 6 - Most annoying character

Otis, Dead Rising.

In a game so ridiculously hard, to have some fool calling you up all the time just makes it harder. His calls always come when you are backed into a corner or fighting against a boss. Ugh. Stop calling!
Day 7 - Favorite game couple

Harvest Moon Back to Nature, any girl, main boy.

Such a sweet game and sure to appear on my list again. In this small town you have chosen to make your home there are five beautiful women to choose from Ann, tomboy who lives with her dad at the inn; Karen the sexy grown up girl; Mary the librarian, Popuri from the chicken farm bit ditsy, Ellie the nurse. I always used to go for popuri because she was easiest to please. She liked flowers. Emily used to go for Mary, There was a glitch on the pal version of the game which mean't that marriage was impossible, because the game would just crash forever.

Above, Popuri... black heart, I need to give her more flowers.

Day 8 - Best soundtrack

The 8-bit era didn't necessarily do it better, but sometimes the gameplay and the soundtrack come together in such a way as to make it impossible to find a place where the music stops and the game begins. They are one and the same. This is certainly the case with Tetris.

You are already humming it aren't you.

Day 9 - Saddest game scene

Red Dead Redemption: *spoilers*

What? How could you do that! You bastards!!!! And now I have to play as his stupid half-baked, witless and rude son. Fuck. Now I really am depressed.

Day 10 - Best gameplay

Guitar Hero III legends of rock.

This game has the best gameplay because you have to practice to get good enough to continue. It's the most satisfying process. I started barely able to complete a song on easy, and then over time, over the years I managed to get good enough to pass songs first time on expert. I might have gotten as much satisfaction from just learning the instrument, I doubt I would have stuck with it without the constant feedback from the game, telling me I rocked, when all evidence pointed to the opposite.

I finally have a cause.

I HATE PROTESTS. I hate protesting.

They want to close my library. Well, not my library specifically, but possibly yours or the library I might have looked in on in the future. The library I might have sheltered from the rain from. Spent 10 minutes in before catching a train. The library I might have found a gem of local history in. The library I might have stolen a cheeky kiss in. The library I might have owed a fortune in fines. To close libraries is to limit experience, to shut off opportunity and to leave people without books.

The Victorians gave us capitalism, they destroyed village communities they drove dirty railways and chimneys through every town and city. But they democratised learning. I think of Oadby Library. My Haunt. A small but cleverly thought out philantropic gift from the Victorian Ellis family. In the village where they lived they ensured the railway bypassed the village (sneaky) and built parks and gardens, swimming baths and a public library. They exploited, but it was an economy which gave access to individuals in my village to books. A fundamental improvement of Victorianism was this introduction of schooling, free education for all. In my mind, it is this which had more impact on the development of a middle class than any other. People could escape the social boundaries set in place by their class through learning, and this education came for free at libraries.

I was brighter than my classmates because I read. I may have read anyway, but the weekly visit with my parents to the library was vital, when I was young. Being able to walk to the library coloured every one of my teenage summers. Maxing out my library card was a dangerous and continuous trial and delight. Breaking my back carrying books on popular science, fantasy, psychology, history, graphic novels (dear God I remember the first manga) and fiction, is an activity I continue to pursue to this day.

It will not do to say that there is another library a few miles on. It is the poor who cannot afford the bus ticket, who haven't got the cars, who are unwilling to make the effort to go a little bit further just because their kid wants to read the latest charlie and lola. The middle classes will be outraged, of course. They will suffer less, they will miss it more, but they can afford to make the effort.

I will go to the library tomorrow. I will get my book. I'm not sure what it will be. But I'm sure just entering will give me the same feeling of excitement, of prospects. Enormous prospects, not just that I will find something fabulous, but that doing so will make me cleverer. I just hope I'm not too late, jumping on the bandwagon just before it passes.

30 days of gaming part 1 of 6

Day 1 - Very First Video Game.

Pokemon Blue:

I am sure when it comes to gamers and especially girls who were a children of the 90s pokémon stands out as the game which got people playing. I played, I conquered, I caught 'em all.

Day 2 - Your Favourite Character.

John Marston - Red Dead Redemption.

I hated all the most recent grand theft auto games for one principal reason. The protagonists were cunts. The gameplay was fun, I like thesandbox, but the characters were just idiots who let themselves get caught up in awful situations. I admit my main experience is with the ever dependable Nico Bellic. A man who comes to liberty city hoping for a new life, and instead of getting a job, tags along with and gets screwed over by his inane and equally stupid cousin. What is there to connect with. Nico was nothing like me, and I certainly didn't want to have sex with him. (The bits with girlfriends weirded me out.. because WHY? Why would anyone date the silly bastard... he didn't exactly smoulder with bad boy sexy, he was just always getting into situations where killing was the only option.

This brings me onto John Marston. I was nervous when I bought this... I'd paid £35 for it and if it didn't pay dividends it would have all been wasted. I.e. if Marston had not been someone I connected with I would have kicked myself. My fears were quickly allayed. John is surly, quiet and cowboy-like but polite to women, generally kind and always trying to do the right thing. This frustrated James who was trying to play marston as evil... the game rarely gives you that option. Marston is a fully rounded character. He tries to do the right thing, but he is occassionally vengeful. The ambiguities of the west are fed to the player through his character. The landscape is a once lawless, and yet Marston's situation is being controlled by the corrupt government boys whose appearances open and close the story. I was interested in the story in ways which other games usually fail to engage me. Plus he's sexy as!

Day 3 - An Underrated Game

Chocobo Dungeon Wii.

Admit it... you've never heard of this game. And when I bought it, neither had I. My expectations were as low as the price. It is a rogue dungeon quest game where you step onto dungeon maps and have no clue where you are going or how to complete to the next level. The protagonist is an over-friendly and very helpful chocobo. Voice acting/ cut scenes aside this was a really fun game... until I got stuck on a dungeon where I only had one hit point. Ouch.

Day 4 - Guilty Pleasure.

Plants Vs. Zombies.

I think guilty pleasures are the games you play for waaay too long, pointlessly. Games with no story, no beginning, no end. This goes for most addictive games whether they are casual or hardcore. Super Meat Boy certainly falls into this category. As do the katamari games. I'm not going to apologise, my mum certainly doesn't when she plays spider solitaire for four hours at a time.

Day 5 - Game character I think I'm like.

It was going so well. This would be so much easier if I was a man. There would be characters to aspire to, characters who I would love to be, or love to be mates with. But for girls? What games actually cater for them.I can think of one or two examples of "strong female characters" such as Lara Croft, or Bonnie from Red Dead. But the woman in video games has for so long been the princess to be rescued... or the sexy woman. I'm not saying I'm not sexy, I'm just saying that it's not my only character trait. I don't want to pretend I'm like some boring cardboard cut out of femininity. So for that reason I am choosing... Oh wait.. Kirby's male. Did you seriously have to claim that one?

I guess I'll just have to hope that one day I can be half as interesting, exciting and dangerous as:

GLaDOS I think we can put our differences aside.

Don't normally do these... but.

Let's get this straight. I like to write what I want to write about, But for the few weeks I'm gonna try and post and explain my choices for these. I won't do one update a day... this isn't fucking tumblr. But I will go through these a couple at a time and explain what's great about them.

Day 1 - Very first video game
Day 2 - Your favourite character
Day 3 - A game that is underrated
Day 4 - Your guilty pleasure game
Day 5 - Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)
Day 6 - Most annoying character
Day 7 - Favorite game couple
Day 8 - Best soundtrack
Day 9 - Saddest game scene
Day 10 - Best gameplay
Day 11 - Gaming system of choice
Day 12 - A game everyone should play
Day 13 - A game you’ve played more than five times
Day 14 - Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper
Day 15 - Post a screenshot from the game you’re playing right now
Day 16 - Game with the best cut scenes
Day 17 - Favourite antagonist
Day 18 - Favourite protagonist
Day 19 - Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in
Day 20 - Favourite genre
Day 21 - Game with the best story
Day 22 - A game sequel which disappointed you
Day 23 - Game you think had the best graphics or art style
Day 24 - Favourite classic game
Day 25 - A game you plan on playing
Day 26 - Best voice acting
Day 27 - Most epic scene ever
Day 28 - Favourite game developer
Day 29 - A game you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving
Day 30 - Your favourite game of all time