#oneaday, Day 22: Make Love, Not Hate

On the Internet, opinions exist in a binary state for many people. There is your opinion (1), and there is everyone else's opinion (0). Sometimes other people's opinions coincide with your own, meaning they can join you in the happy 1 gang, while the 0-toting losers get to stand over there being Wrong.

It's strange, though, really, isn't it? People develop such strong feelings about particular issues, and these opinions spread virally very quickly via all forms of the media. I remember reading about this in A-level Sociology and forget all the names and dates of studies concerned, but since this isn't an essay I'm not going to go and look them up. What I do know is that nowadays, such opinions spread far quicker than they have ever done before thanks to the immediacy of online social interactions, meaning that in some cases people may end up feeling that they should change their opinions on things in order to remain somehow "credible".

'Twas ever thus, of course, with the school bullies always listening to the most badass music out there whilst the flute-playing pansies amongst us voluntarily listened to—or even played—classical music. (Guess which of the two categories I was in, though I didn't play the flute. Flutes are for girls.) One group tended to kick the shit out of the other on a fairly regular basis, and it was usually a pretty one-sided battle.

You shouldn't start actively hating something just because other people say so, though. You should take pride in your tastes, however idiosyncratic or separate from the supposed "norm" they are.

Let's take a few examples of Things I Like That Should Be Embarrassing To Admit But Really Aren't, Honestly, No, Stop Looking At Me Like That And Please Don't Unsubscribe, Think Any Less Of Me Or Be Any Less Likely To Do Nice Things For Me (Like Buy Me Cake, Give Me A Big Wet Snog Or Make Me A Delicious Roast Dinner) Should The Opportunity Come Up.

Okay. I can do this.

(takes deep breath)

I like Robbie Williams. I also enjoy the comedy of Michael McIntyre, the radio show of Chris Moyles, the bubblegum pop music of MIKA and think Ke$ha's album is a work of quirky genius that I believe I have described as "sounding like Kelly Clarkson being forcibly inserted into a NES" on several occasions. I voluntarily bought both Dead or Alive Xtreme games and played them a lot, and not just for the bazongas involved, I enjoyed the dumbass illogical "dating sim" mechanics that were in there too. I follow Katy Perry on Twitter and find her music cheerfully uplifting. And I own two Spice Girls CDs.

Tastes change over time, of course, but who's to say that I'm "wrong" for liking any of those things just because the popular opinion is to hate them and deride those who enjoy them? I'm just as guilty as anyone else, of course; I find myself hating shows such as The X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and the like irrationally and automatically. I loathe Call of Duty. I would rather gouge my own eyes out than watch anything involving Piers Morgan (I think we can all agree on that one, surely).

The world would undoubtedly be a nicer place where everyone could feel more confident in themselves if our personal preferences stopped being scrutinised so much, and assumptions made based on those preferences. Take the recent announcement of Final Fantasy XIII-2, for example, a sequel to one of the most controversial Final Fantasy games there has ever been. Not because of the content, but because of the gameplay, which wasn't to everyone's liking. There are people out there who assume that because Final Fantasy XIII wasn't to their taste, XIII-2 is going to be shit as well. Justifications range from "Square have lost their way" (well, perhaps, but can't they pick it up again?) to "it's the same team, of course it's going to be rubbish" (because everyone is always universally good or universally bad?) and it's nonsense. Nonsense I tell you!

Basically, do your blood pressure a bit of good and start concentrating on the things you like a bit more. Tell people how much you like them, by all means. But let's all make a pact to stop making people feel bad about things that you, personally, "hate".

Unless it's terrorism, AIDS or Piers Morgan. You can hate those as much as you like.

#oneaday, Day 21: Fun Games to Play With a Microwave

It's important to have some basic survival strategies in mind for every situation you may potentially find yourself in as part of daily life. And I'm not talking about those "just in case there's a nuclear war and/or zombies" survival situations; I'm talking about those everyday situations which are statistically rather more likely to happen in your own lifetime, however stupid they might be.

For example, plausibly at some point in your life you may find yourself locked in a kitchen. Most people typically don't have locks on their kitchen doors, but you never know; you might find yourself in the one house that does lock their kitchen doors (perhaps they're trying to give up the midnight snacking or something) or indeed the kitchen of a fancy restaurant or hotel.

So picture the scene: disaster has struck. You, and possibly a few companions, have found yourself stuck in a kitchen. You can't get the door open, and everyone outside who could have plausibly let you out of said kitchen has now left the immediate area/building to go and have sex and/or watch television.

You're not left wanting for food—bitch, you be in a kitchen, yo—but you are somewhat starved of entertainment. It's at this point that you—yes, you—can be the resourceful member of the group who teaches your companions how to have fun using only a microwave and some other utensils which are readily available in your average kitchen. Imagine what fun you'll have while you wait to be rescued!

Bomb Disposal

Oh no! There's a bomb in the kitchen! And it looks suspiciously like a microwave! What are you going to do? Defuse it, that's what, and you're going to do it in a cool way like in the movies.

You will need:
A microwave
Something to microwave that won't explode or catch fire (frozen chips are ideal)
Something to keep score with (frozen chips are ideal)

Players: 3-the number of people you can physically fit in the kitchen.

Objective: To be the coolest bomb disposal technician on the Force.

Danger rating: Minimal

How to play:

One player is the Terrorist. They set the microwave to whatever time they like while one player, who is the Bomb Disposal Expert, faces in the other direction.

The Terrorist shouts "You have [amount of time microwave was set to] to save the world, asshole!" and then starts microwaving something. The Bomb Disposal Expert must remain facing in the other direction, and turn round in order to bash the "Stop" button on the microwave before the timer reaches zero. If the timer reaches zero, the current player is eliminated and must eat something raw that is usually cooked (frozen chips are ideal).

Once all non-Terrorist players have had a go, the person who stopped the timer closest to 0:01 wins a point. Give them something to celebrate their victory with (frozen chips are ideal). Repeat until bored, or you run out of microwaveable foodstuffs.

In case of a tie, resort to a frying-pan fight.

The Great Exploding Fruit Race!

It's Race Day in the kitchen, but you're not watching cockroaches scurry along crudely-designed courses marked out by baked beans! No! You're going to make fruit explode!

You will need:
A microwave
Several different types of fruit
Something to write on and with (if no pens or paper are available, use a bottle of tomato ketchup or seafood sauce to write on walls/floor)
Something to keep score with (frozen chips are ideal)

Players: 1-a bajillion

Objective: To correctly bet how long it will take before the fruit you place in the microwave explodes.

Danger Rating: Moderate

How to play:

One player chooses a piece of fruit. Everyone writes down how long they think it will be before the fruit explodes. The fruit is microwaved until it explodes. The person nearest the correct answer wins a point. Repeat until you run out of fruit, you get bored, or your microwave explodes.

The Great Supper-Time Race!

It's another Race Day in the kitchen, but this time it's all about using your mad chef skills to beat the microwave at its own game! Except microwaves aren't very good at making sandwiches, making you inherently better, so they have something more up their alley (Making Things Unevenly Hot) to do!

You will need:
A microwave
Sandwich ingredients (bread, butter and mutually-agreed fillings)
Some milk
A microwaveable cup

Players: 1-as many as you bloody well want

Objective: To successfully make a delicious sandwich before the microwave finishes warming a cup of milk.

Danger rating: Minimal

How to play:

Fill the cup with milk. Set the microwave for however long it normally takes to warm the milk without exploding—we're not playing the bomb game any more. Two minutes is a good bet for average home microwaves. If you're using a high-power industrial microwave from a restaurant, this game is much more difficult. Then put the cup of milk in the microwave and start it.

Now you must make a complete and structurally-sound sandwich before the milk is finished warming. If you fail to achieve this, all the other players are allowed to call you a "bell-end" six times a day until the end of the week, even if you're in front of your parents.

In case of ties, all participants must then eat their milk and drink their sandwich as quickly as possible. Wait, what?

You Got Balls, Kid, I Like That

This is the most extreme game you can play with a microwave that doesn't involve putting yourself inside it, and since most microwaves are not big enough to fit average-sized drunk humans (because let's face it, if you're locked in a kitchen, you're probably drunk) that isn't an option right now. This game may still result in your death and/or arson charges.

You will need:
A microwave
A selection of metal objects
Something to keep score with (frozen chips are ideal)
Balls of steel/equivalent ladyparts

Players: 1 (if suicidal)-many (mass suicide pact)

Objective: To be the bravest person in the group without killing everyone and/or burning down the kitchen you are locked in.

Danger Rating: If You Play This One For Real, You're An Idiot And Deserve Everything You Get

How to play:

One player chooses a metal object and places it in the microwave. They then turn on the microwave and watch the pretty blue lightning. They must then stop the microwave as soon as they get scared something might be about to catch fire, explode and/or kill them.

The next player then steps up and does the same, until all players have had a go. The player who held on the longest without killing anyone is the winner of that round and gets a point. Repeat until you realise what a stupid idea this game is, and resort to chef's knife swordfighting instead.

If anyone dies during this game, everyone loses.

I hope you enjoy these games. I am not responsible for any deaths that occur as a result of playing You Got Balls, Kid, I Like That.

#oneaday, Day 16: I Need A (Non-Copyright-Infringing) Hero

Bloody MMOs. They seem to be something of a weakness of mine, despite the fact that I've never been what I'd call a "hardcore player" of them. To whit, the character I started on the launch day of World of Warcraft only hit level 80 towards the end of last year, and I haven't gone back to it since Cataclysm hit store shelves. Over the years, I've tried Everquest (crashy), Dark Age of Camelot (bewildering and intimidating), Ultima Online (slooooow), Everquest 2 (pretty), City of Heroes (super-fun), Final Fantasy XI (<Incredibly tough><Galka><rod>+<Mithra>=<Help me out!>), Star Trek Online (space combat! Yay!), EVE Online (WTF am I supposed to be doing?) and probably a few others besides.

The thing I love about them is creating a character that is your representation in the world. In single-player games with character creators, you tend to either play the game from a first-person perspective or spend the majority of the game staring at your character's arse. But in an MMO, your carefully-crafted character can be appreciated by other people, and earn you compliments and friends, especially if you play as a woman with boobies.

I enjoyed City of Heroes from the above list particularly; there's something very satisfying and fun about the superhero genre, and the MMO format seemed to fit surprisingly well with it. So I'd been keeping a cautious eye on DC Universe Online, but hadn't thought that much about it. Until it came out, several of my friends started playing and had many positive things to say about it. Friends that didn't particularly play MMOs, in some cases. Even Jessica Chobot's playing.

Now I'll preface the following with the confession that while I like comics and graphic novels, I'm not by any means a comic nerd. I don't know the backstories and histories of the DC Universe characters, and I couldn't name that many if prompted to. But from what I can gather, this is arguably a benefit in DC Universe Online's case, as a few people are getting a bit snobby about some of the power sets and weapons on offer for players. Fair play to them. I don't care.

You know why I don't care? Because DC Universe Online is super-fun. One important thing sets it apart from the vast majority of "me too" RPGs out there, and that's the console-friendly action-game combat system. Instead of hitting the "auto-attack" button once and waiting for either your enemy or your character to fall over first, occasionally triggering skills on cooldown timers that are slightly too long to be comfortable, you feel like you're part of the action, setting off a variety of ridiculous combos with what you've chosen to be your character's signature weapons. So far I've tried a character with a sword and one with twin pistols and they play significantly differently from one another, which is nice. The primary weapon can then be combined with a "power set", which determined what your more spectacular powers involve and your role in the group, and a "movement power"—flight, super-speed or acrobatics.

Now, the key difference that sets DC Universe Online apart from, say, City of Heroes is the fact that the things you're doing from the very beginning seem to actually matter. There are plenty of "go here and kill [x] things" quests, but they make up part of an overarching storyline that culminates in a proper boss fight between hero and villain, usually with the support of some other characters from the DC universe. Contrast this with World of Warcraft, which, pre-Cataclysm (I haven't tried it since, remember) didn't let you into the interesting dungeons prior to gaining a significant number of levels. In DCUO, you're straight into the action. And it's great fun.

The fun factor is helped along by some decent presentation—there's some great-sounding music and plenty of voice acting, too, which is unusual for an MMO. Although the game was supposedly rushed out of the door to meet a deadline (and has a few rough edges here and there as a result—nothing which can't be fixed with a patch, though) it looks good, sounds good and feels like a "proper" game—something which many MMOs forget to do, making the experience feel more like work.

It's also great to see an MMO working well on a console. The control scheme for the PS3 pad keeps everything within easy reach and makes it feel like an action game. It's worth having a keyboard on hand for easy chatting, but there's plenty of predefined chat macros and emotes you can use, so it's not essential. There's also a voice chat facility built in, too, so those of you who want to broadcast the fact that your hot lady hero is actually being played by a 29-year old man (*whistles innocently*) can do so.

I haven't played enough to comment at any great depth on whether or not it gets old or boring later. But there certainly seems to be plenty of content—besides the main missions, there's lots of "collections" and "investigations" to complete, encouraging exploration of the world. There are also races, PVP arenas, "Legends" battles (where you can play as iconic DC heroes and villains) and all manner of other goodies too. So, hopefully, there'll be 1) plenty of things to do for some time yet and 2) a long period of support for the game.

The fact that the PS3 version has sold out in many places is encouraging—even though it's probably simply due to short stock. What it does mean, though, is that people are open to the idea of an MMO on PS3 and are enthusiastic about giving it a chance. This is a good thing, and hopefully the game will enjoy the success it deserves.

Further reports will doubtless follow in the coming weeks as I explore the game further. For now, let it be known that if you're looking for a decent superhero game, DC Universe Online might just fit the bill for you.

(But if you do play it, for heaven's sake come up with a name more imaginative than"Súperman", "Róbin" or "Warcraft", all of whom I've seen today. Seriously. Imagination is free. Use it.)

#oneaday, Day 13: My Name Is Wicka Wicka Slim Shady

Anyone who's had any kind of interaction with any kind of online community and wanted to take your relationship with the people you know to the "next level" will have dealt with the situation above at some point or another in their life. You're sure you recognise someone from their avatar, but you're not quite sure if you should go over and say hello to them or not, even though you might have been exchanging filthy penis anecdotes online for the last two years. (Filthy anecdotes about penises. Not anecdotes about filthy—oh, you know.)

Then, once you finally do summon up the courage to walk over and say hello to this person that you might have thought you were quite close to until you were faced with the terror of spending time in physical proximity to them, you are faced with a very difficult question, and one which has baffled philosophers throughout the years.

"Who am I?"

There's a moment of silence when time seems to freeze. It occurs right after you say the words "Hello, I'm" and is a moment that seems to last forever. You have an important decision to make at this point—a decision which will determine your conversational partner's immediate reaction to you.

That decision is whether to introduce yourself as your username or your actual name. For people whose usernames are their real names, this isn't an issue (though it does often prompt the overly-formal seeming "introduction using both first and last names, occasionally including middle initials" situation rather than the more casual "Hey. I'm Pete.") but for those of us who picked ridiculous usernames and are now stuck with them, known better as our self-appointed, perfectly-justifiable-to-ourselves-but-harder-to-explain-to-others monikers than our actual names? It's a difficult decision to make.

"Hello, I'm Pete," assumes that your conversational partner has paid attention to your profile (assuming you put your real name on it, which some people don't) and carries the risk of them looking at you blankly and going "Who?" while walking up to someone and cheerfully announcing that "I'm angryjedi!" could simply prompt a look of bewilderment, a cry of "No, I'm angryjedi!" to start echoing around the room or someone laughing in your face.

In my experience, it's often best to do both. "Hello, I'm Pete—@angryjedi from Twitter." This is usually followed by a "Well, you don't look very angry to me!" (obviously they haven't read this blog enough) which we all have a good titter about and then move on to actual proper grown-up conversation. Or possibly shouting "COCK!" at each other, depending on the appropriateness of doing so in the context.

Last night, I attended an event at which a number of people I knew from Twitter, including several other One A Day Project bloggers, were in attendance. It was probably the smoothest this particular exchange has ever gone, with the possible exception of PAX East last year, an environment that positively embraces nerdism and encourages you to cry "I am xXSanguine-Warrior69Xx!" from the rooftops.

I was actually surprised at myself. Confronted with a room full of those that I see as SUPA IMPOARTANNT PEEPLE FOR MUCH RESTECP (including Ian Livingstone, Jon Hare, Richard Wilson of TIGA, Andy Payne of UKIE, a whole mess of MPs and a variety of journo types) I was expecting to freeze up and/or drink myself into oblivion with the graciously-provided free refreshments. It was not to be, though. I schmoozed with the best of them, got some great interviews (the iPhone is fantastic as a portable recorder, if you've never tried it, incidentally) and had a brilliant time.

I came out of the whole thing thinking "Yeah. This is something I want to do." Which is nice.

Now to get on that.

#oneaday, Day 7: Video Games: A Primer

A lot of my fellow One A Day bloggers are avid video gamers. Many of them even write words about them on a professional basis. But there are others, like Pete Fraser, who are understandably bewildered by the whole thing. Sure enough, it's a fast-moving, exciting medium which many believe is difficult to penetrate if you haven't been along for the whole ride.

To that I say: pish, pfaugh and nonsense. There's never been an easier time to get into video games and find out more about them. Let me explain why.

It's unfortunate that the early days of gaming were plagued with stereotypes (which some people, see the delightful Jeff Minter, pictured to the right, are still more than happy to live up to) and this put a lot of people off getting into the hobby. It wasn't a "cool" thing to do. It was the thing that "nerds" did, and the sort of thing that could potentially get you beaten up at school if you were in a particularly rough and less-enlightened place.

The thing is, though, at least some of the stereotypes had partial basis in fact. Early gaming demanded many things. Patience. An understanding that you were dealing with a brand new technology that wasn't particularly refined yet. In many cases, a mathematical mind. A willingness to practice things until you got better. Early games were frequently simple affairs that artificially inflated their playtime by being ludicrously difficult. This made the hardcore gamers very happy when they were able to finally beat a particularly difficult level, but for people who might be interested in passing? They didn't want to spend that much time in front of a TV listening to the whining and squeaking of a cassette deck loading games.

Over time, though, games have become more and more sophisticated, family-friendly and accessible. A big part of this movement has come via games consoles, which have actually been around almost as long as home computers. Games consoles are made to be hooked up to "the big television" of the house and, in the early days at least, were often filled with experiences made to be shared—indeed, the very first gaming machines were primitive multiplayer "tennis" affairs. Later, we got many arcade conversions, and TV advertising, particularly the cringeworthy efforts from Atari, encouraged family participation and friendly competition.

As consoles became more and more sophisticated, developers started experimenting with a greater focus on developing narratives throughout their games. We saw titles such as the ambitious Final Fantasy series telling surprisingly mature, sophisticated (if now clichéd) stories through the SNES and PlayStation 1 periods having graduated from their primitive roots on the original NES. Graphics improved at a rapidly-increasing rate, giving us games that wanted more and more to be like the movies. But still they were tied to arbitrary control schemes that required practice; there was still a barrier of entry: "you must be this skilful to enjoy this medium".

Until we get to this generation. This generation of gaming has exploded. We're at a stage now where gaming is accessible to pretty much anyone. We're at a stage where gaming is no longer confined to one specific demographic. We're at a stage where you don't even need a controller to work your Xbox if that's the route you want to take.

Love them or hate them, several things have done a huge amount to make gaming more accessible to the masses. The Wii and the variety of plastic-instrument music games such as Rock Band brought family-friendly, "lifestyle" and party gaming back, reminding people how much fun it was to get together with friends and play in the same room. Kinect for the Xbox provides entertaining, active games that kids and adults alike can enjoy without having to remember which button does what. Facebook games like Farmville, while shallow to people who have been playing games for years, provide bored office drones and soccer moms with fun things to do on the Internet. Call of Duty lets the frat boys (and girl-equivalents) of the world blow seven shades of shit out of each other whilst shouting racial epithets at one another. And the blossoming independent development scene sees digital artists and creative minds pushing the boundaries of what "interactive entertainment" really means.

Games may or may not be art—that's an interminable question that may never be answered conclusively. But one thing games aren't? Just for teenage boys. Give 'em a shot. You might surprise yourself.

#oneaday, Day 5: The FF Gambit

In an attempt to batter the shit out of my Pile of Shame, I'm playing Final Fantasy XII, a game which I bought upon its initial release—just like every Final Fantasy—and have spectacularly failed to finish—just like every post-IX Final Fantasy. (I have since finished X and X-2 and maintain that X-2 is an excellent game despite being almost—but not quite—as gay as Space Channel 5)

The thing is, FFXII is good. Really good. Like, "it's a Final Fantasy for people who hate JRPGs" good, in that it dispenses with all the usual bullshit (rigid linearity until the last hour, when saving the world can be inexplicably put on hold to go and raise some chickens, endless random battles) and provides an experience that is altogether more "Western" in its feel. We have a much more open world. We have enemies wandering around in the field. We have immensely satisfying combat which takes place in the field. We have sidequests with a bloody quest log and we have an interesting, if unconventional, character development system.

And we have Gambits. I was all set to dismiss Gambits as a means of getting the game to play itself. But having played it for about twelve hours now (coming up on the point that I originally got distracted by something else on my initial partial-playthrough, so we're nearly into new territory) I've discovered something: Gambits are awesome.

If you passed on FFXII, let me enlighten you. A Gambit is a means of "programming" your party members to act in particular ways. You give them a particular condition, such as "Ally has less than 50% HP", and then give them an action, like "Cure". You can prioritise the actions, too, so certain things will take precedence when more than one of the conditions are true. And as such, you can plan out the way you'd like a battle to unfold before it starts.

In many senses, it's like that "group huddle" you have in something like World of Warcraft before you take on a dungeon's boss. Everyone has a role to play, and it's important that people stick to that plan where possible, but be able to adapt to the situation if necessary. That's why FFXII gives you the opportunity to immediately issue direct commands, too, which override any and all Gambits in play. In fact, it's technically possible to play the entire game by micromanaging every action all your characters do, but it would probably take you approximately ten times longer to play the game if you chose to do that. Gambits aren't letting you leave the game on autopilot—they're letting you plan out a battle before it happens and then just focus on responding to situations as they arise. You'll frequently have to switch them out to take advantage of particular enemies' weaknesses, and I've noticed myself spending a lot more time in the menu in FFXII than I would do in earlier, more traditional entries in the series. Planning out the way the characters will respond is interesting and addictive, and immensely satisfying when it goes right.

In fact, the only thing which may be a bit off-putting to some people about FFXII these days is the graphics. In this HD age, FFXII looks pretty ugly, and ironically this is because it was a pretty good-looking PS2 game. There is a lot of detail in both the textures and the characters, but the low resolution which the game runs at gives the whole thing a very "muddy" and flickery look which some people may find a bit difficult to deal with. It's certainly not unplayable, though, and spending a bit of time in the company of the PS2 serves as a reminder that games didn't always need HD graphics and Achievements to be good.

(Interestingly, FFXII does actually feature a proto-Achievement system in the form of the Sky Pirate's Den, which fills with trophies as you fulfil certain accomplishments in the game.)

So, if you're hungering for a great almost-Western-style RPG with a JRPG aesthetic? Give ol' FFXII a chance. If FFXIII didn't push your buttons with its "here's a straight line to the finish, apart from this bit" mentality, FFXII is what you need. Join me in my quest through my Pile of Shame!

#oneaday, Day 343: Boxing Day

Christmas is over for another year, and so here we are on Boxing Day (or actually the day after if you're operating on UK time)—a day which apparently isn't particularly well-known in the US. In all honesty, it's not particularly well-known in the UK, either, aside from the name. It's just "the day after Christmas".

There's plenty of things that can be done on Boxing Day, and they tend to vary according to your age.

If you're a young kid, Boxing Day is a day to spend playing with all the presents you got and suffering from some pretty severe analysis paralysis while you work out what to do next. When you have the amount of choice most kids get these days after receiving a veritable truckload of presents, it's easy to see how they might get overwhelmed with things to choose from.

If you're a bit older, Boxing Day is probably a day for a hangover, whether it be caused by excess of alcohol, excess of food or, more likely, both. It also marks the beginning of The Great Leftovers Season, by the end of which you will never, ever want to see turkey ever again, whether it's on a plate with potatoes and gravy, stuffed into a sandwich, made into a curry or whatever vaguely inventive ways you've come up with to use turkey. Turkey is, of course, a meat which barely gets eaten throughout the rest of the year. Is this because it's just like an enormous dry chicken? Or is it because we eat so much of it throughout the holiday season that no-one can bear the thought of eating it again at any point in the rest of the year?

It's a pretty universal constant whatever your age, though, that the day after Christmas is for resting, sleeping, lolling on the couch (the original meaning of lolling, not the Internet meaning) and watching the DVDs that were inevitably in your Christmas stockings.

There's an exception, though: households which got a Wii or Kinect for Christmas. The Wii and Kinect get people up and about a little bit more than they would otherwise be, since they're popular gifts with kids and adults alike, and they require that you get off your turkey-filled ass and jump around. Quite literally in the case of Kinect.

Incidentally, if you are still a Kinect doubter, I defy you not to at least find the damn thing clever as hell. Yesterday we were trying it out and didn't have enough space to play with two people on Kinect Adventures, so we moved the couch back a bit. By the time we'd turned back to the screen, the game was asking if we'd like to play two-player mode. Without us telling it. Witchcraft and sorcery!

Hope you've all had a suitably festive festive season and have some appropriately awesome plans for the new year. 2011 better not suck as much as 2010, though I recall saying something very similar at the end of 2009 so I'm not going to hold my breath until something actually awesome happens!

#oneaday, Day 342: Family Games: The Addendum

Merry Christmas from California, everyone. Having spent the day playing a selection of games that various members of my family purchased for various other members of my family, I feel I should add a few picks to yesterday's post.

First up is Apples to Apples, which is an entertaining, silly game that could easily descend into drunken arguments between consenting adults. For the unfamiliar, the game tasks players with picking a card from their hand which is "most like" a card with an adjective on it that is placed in the middle of the table. Players take it in turns to be the "judge" of what is the best fit—and can be persuaded by other players—and the first person to "win" four hands wins.

It's very simple, not very strategic and silly enough for kids to join in with. Good stuff.

Next up is Fluxx, which is a card game that people who haven't really got into the board game hobby probably won't have heard of. But the beauty of Fluxx is that it is simple to understand and full of random stupidity.

The reason it's simple to understand is the fact that there are only two rules to remember—draw a card, then play a card. Everything else comes out of the cards played. New rules, victory conditions, limitations on how many cards players can have in their hand, how many cards can be laid in front of them, the works.

It may appear to be light on strategy, but once a few rule cards have been played allowing people to draw and play more cards at once, picking the right order to use the cards becomes increasingly important. It's also very easy (and satisfying) to screw over your opponents throughout the course of the game.

Most importantly for family games suitable for holiday consumption, though, games never last longer than half an hour and more typically last around the 10-minute mark. Because it's so heavily (though not completely) based on chance, everyone has a shot at winning, and it's difficult to figure out exactly how to be "good" at it. This certainly keeps things interesting, and prevents my Agricola situation, where I like the game but get tired of playing it because I can pretty much guarantee I will never win. I know, boohoo, right?

Anyway. Today has been a pretty nice day all told. I got a nice watch, a nice shirt and some nice chocolates. Niceness. As I said a few days back, I kind of miss the days when Christmas was exciting rather than exhausting, but at least I'm old enough to drink myself into a stupor in the corner if it all gets a bit too much now. And there's always iPhone and PC games to jump into and hide if necessary.

Later tonight, I will finally be seeing Inception, which I have somehow managed to avoid all spoilers about, even though the statute of limitations appears to be up. Looking forward to it, as it's a movie I've been meaning to see for ages and never got around to. I also saw Tron: Subtitle I've Forgotten the other night, too, which is worthy of an entry all of its own, I feel.

For now, merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Enjoy your hangovers.

#oneaday, Day 341: The Five Best and Worst Holiday Board Games to Teach Your Family

As the Coca-Cola advert says, holidays are comin'. (To go off on the earliest tangent I've ever gone off on, the word "Coca-Cola" is seemingly indecipherable to Americans when pronounced with a British accent, as I discovered at the cinema the other night.) In fact, holidays are pretty much here, what with it being Christmas Eve and all. Actually, by the time you UK types read this, it is Christmas Day. Happy holidayweenukkahmas. Fuck it. Happy Christmas.

Anyway. You may be currently locked in a house with the rest of your family, in which case it will at some point become necessary to devise some form of entertainment in order to prevent you all from killing each other. It is probably a little late to recommend things to go out and buy right now, but you'll know for next time. In the spirit of List Season, which always seems to coincide with holiday season, here are the five best and worst board games to break out during a lull in the conversation and/or turkey consumption. Well, maybe not the "best" and "worst". But five good ones and five less appropriate (though still good) ones, in the order that I thought of them.

The Best

Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is a relatively simple game. The basic goal is to collect sets of coloured cards in order to claim train routes on a board representing America, Europe, Scandinavia or one of the many other variants out there. Bonus points can be attained for claiming the longest continuous unbroken route as well as completing specific "point-to-point" routes between two cities across the board via any line. It all seems very simple until near the end of the game, when a lot of blocking each other's routes comes into play. It's simple enough for kids as young as 7 to understand and enjoy, yet there's enough strategic play in there for the adults to appreciate, too.

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is a game about laying tiles on the table to build up a map of a geographical region featuring cities, roads and fields. Points are scored by claiming these regions with little wooden people commonly referred to as "meeples". It's another simple game that is expandable with about a bajillion optional expansion packs. There's only one rule—the "farmers" rule—that is a little difficult to explain to everyone. The rest is very simple. There's also a great iPhone and iPad version for those lucky enough to have Apple products under their tree, and there's a similarly great version on Xbox LIVE Arcade, too.

Settlers of Catan

Catan is a game about building and trading. There is lots of interaction between players as you attempt to collect combinations of resources for building roads, settlements and cities. There's also an element of luck thanks to a roll of two dice determining which resources are "produced" each turn, though the luck factor never overwhelms the strategy element. Catan is perhaps a bit complex for young kids, but is a lot of fun for older kids and adults. It's also expandable with several additional packs, though not quite as many as Carcassonne.

Robo Rally

Robo Rally tasks players with racing through a series of checkpoints using their robots. Robots can be programmed using "instruction cards", which allow the 'bot to do things like turn 90 degrees left or right, move forward a certain number of spaces and a few other things. Each turn, players can give 5 instructions to their 'bots from a pool of cards in their hand. It becomes a game about planning where you'll end up and making the best of the options available to you. It's simple to play, with lots of different variations and tracks included in the box.

Space Alert

Space Alert is a thoroughly silly game where you start by listening to a CD filled with sci-fi alerts telling you where threats are appearing around your spacecraft. Using hands of "order cards" (a bit like Robo Rally's instruction cards) players plan in advance how they're going to take care of all the threats and keep the ship running smoothly. The twist is the amount of time they have to plan all this is determined by the length of the track on the CD. If they dawdle too much, jobs won't get done, normally with disastrous consequences. Said potentially disastrous consequences are revealed after the CD has finished, when the orders laid down are revealed and resolved on a turn-by-turn basis. It's genuinely horrifying to see a well-laid plan screwed up and resolve itself in turn-by-turn slow motion, but it's hilarious.

The Worst

Arkham Horror

Arkham Horror is a brilliant co-operative game set slap bang in the middle of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. However, its shortest variant takes three hours to play, with more difficult opponents taking four or five hours to take down and usually ending with the players' defeat. It also has a bajillion rules to learn, which are easy enough to remember once you've played a game or two, but nightmarish to explain to newbies. Save this one for gaming nights with plenty of time to spare.

Power Grid

Power Grid is an in-depth simulation of competing electric corporations attempting to supply power to cities in either Germany or America. It has a few elements in common with Ticket to Ride but also has an in-depth simulation of supply and demand in its resource market, as well as a requirement to be good at both maths and forward planning. It's quite heavy going for newbies and is rather depressing for people who don't do well with numbers.

Monopoly

When was the last time you finished a game of Monopoly? Exactly. The simple reason for this is that people always forget two things: firstly, that the "you can take all the tax money if you land on Free Parking" rule is complete bollocks and was never in the game in the first place, and secondly, if you don't buy a property when you land on it, it's supposed to be auctioned off. Following these rules (which no-one ever remembers to) makes games a lot quicker. Alternatively, you could download the Board Game Remix Kit and make Monopoly worth playing again.

Warhammer Quest

Warhammer Quest is awesome, but has a big-ass rulebook, hundreds of bits of cardboard, cards, counters, miniatures and all manner of other things to deal with. While it makes an awesome Christmas present, it's best saved for a night you can devote to it with a group interested in taking part in a full campaign.

Agricola

Agricola is a great game (that is a lot more interesting than its concept—"a game about 13th century German agriculture"—sounds) but takes approximately a thousand years to set up thanks to its hundreds of little wooden bits, thousands of cards and board that comes in far too many pieces for its own good. I also hate it because I never win and that means it's bullshit.

So there you go. All of the above are worth spending some Christmas money on. Not all are worth trying to explain to your grandma, unless she has a particular interest in trying to take down Cthulhu.

#oneaday, Day 340: Blogrollin', Like They Do In Canada

I was going to write this post yesterday but then I got all wrapped up in the whole next-year thing, which you should read about if you're interested. It's the entry before this one. Which means it's after this one on the page. Which… oh, be quiet.

Anyway. To the point. I reorganised my blogroll yesterday. No, that doesn't mean I hung the toilet paper with the sheets hanging down the other way to normal, it means I sorted out the links in the sidebar. I nuked the lot and started again, because there were a bunch of defunct places that some people hadn't updated for ages and a few sites that just didn't exist any more.

Then I put out the call on Twitter for anyone who wanted to be included. I figured it'd be a good opportunity for me to have a chance to check out some other people's work, too. When you're writing a blog for yourself (particularly if it's a daily one) it's very easy to focus entirely on your own work and never pay any attention to what anyone else is writing. So, let's rectify that right now, shall we? Here's a bunch of the links I added yesterday and what they're all about.

First up, the fellow #oneaday survivors, who are well on their way to finishing their first year on the "job". You should check out all of 'em, since they've all got a veritable plethora of content for you to read and enjoy now. Like this dusty little corner of the Internet, all their blogs have evolved and changed over time, and hopefully they've all got something out of the experience, whether or not they intend on joining us next year.

So, in no particular order, then:

Game Design Scrapbook—Krystian Majewski's account of the trials and tribulations of developing an actual proper game that you'll be able to actually play and everything.
Halycopter—The daily blog of Jen Allen, editor of the slick and awesome Resolution Magazine, featuring candid thoughts on all manner of subjects.
Mat Murray—The man with the fastest Retweet finger in the West. He got married a short while ago and also takes nice photographs.
Mr. Writer—The #oneaday blog of Ian Richardson, veteran of Staffordshire (we salute you), motorsports enthusiast and aspiring journalist.
The Mirrorball—Daily blog of Mike Grant, Bristol-based writer and novelist.
Worthless Prattle Makes the World Go Round—Play Magazine's Ian Dransfield sets the world to rights with a variety of amusing posts and a classic Gran Turismo 5 tutorial video.

Next up, here's some of my friends, many of whom are members of the Squadron of Shame.

4X.Scope—Alex "Unmannedpylondronecommandsomethinglikethat" Connolly's blog, which hasn't been updated for a while but since he and his wife have been busy having a kid, I think we can excuse. Alex writes detailed, in-depth commentary on a variety of interesting games that you probably haven't heard of, and also draws rather well.
Alternate Course—Chris "RocGaude" Whittington's site, which he promises will provide a veritable cornucopia of audio-visual-textual entertainment in the coming year. Oh yes indeedy.
Cerebral Pop—As the name implies, this is a site that covers the more cerebral side of pop culture, run by a wide variety of delicious-smelling gentlemen, many of whom also frequent Bitmob (which I think I've been capitalising incorrectly for time immemorial).
First Time Flowing—Andre Monserrat's blog, deserving special mention for buying me a copy of Baldur's Gate today along with being a formidable opponent at Carcassonne.
Nice Guy Gamer—Cody Winn is the nicest person on the Internet. He likes video games, knit caps and kittens and writes about them here. Pay him a visit.
Press The Buttons—Matt Green is another ex-Kombo refugee and runs this gaming site with podcasting contributions from the sexygorgeous Brad Hilderbrand and Joey Davidson. Check in for some well-written commentary on games and the industry.
Rhymes With Chaos—Jesse Bowline's blog covers all manner of arty, musicy, gamey, geeky thoughts and opinions and is well worth your time. But what rhymes with "Chaos"?
Starfuckers, Inc.—The online home of Ashton Raze, formidable writer-about-games, man-about-town, hat-wearer, champion of DEADLY PREMONITION's cause and starfucker.
We Clock—Ian Scott appeared in my Facebook friend requests one day with a mutual friend, so I added him. His blog covers a variety of topics, from general geekery to eye-opening slice-of-life stuff. He's also an active member of the GOG.com and Reddit communities, so is a fountain of information on old games and Internet memes.

If I missed you, it's 'cause you didn't get back to me on Twitter. I know there's a couple of you out there but you're escaping me right now. Give me a poke in the comments and I will add your links to my sidebar (and this post) post-haste!

For now, enjoy all the hot and spicy content these fine folks have conjured up for you and I'll see you tomorrow.