Is this the most divisive game of our time?

Waterdeeper,

 Don't fuss, I know what's best for you.

 Bullet Purgatory.

Battle Cry was one of my most anticipated games this year, because as much as the big names of Essen are awesome, Battle Cry actually took a full on pre-emptive strike on its own street date down under. The mighty Earth Reborn is delayed as is Survive and Mansions of Madness, but the one game on pre-order all this time that slipped under the radar, and into my hands today is Battle Cry - Richard Borg's boxed light tactical wargame that's bigger than Gone With The Wind and has Mark Twain levels of fire in the belly.

And Richard Borg's design for this behemoth that's not too big for its boots yet it sits wherever it wants to (without squashing anyone) - really makes this game a shelf worthy game, as well as a tabletop worthy game. For a beginner like me who's never played a hex game in his whole life, much less a tactical wargame nor any form of wargame about the American Civil War - this is the best presentation you could get - because mere hours ago I had no idea about the names of the different generals in the war, and now, I'm not a historian but like the game of politics if you at least know the names, you can begin to understand how it's played.

No, I didn't receive a preview copy from Wizards of the Coast. But considering how long it would take to get one to Australia I'm glad I preordered one instead so I could share my perceptions of this neat little epic in a box.

There are dice, but not as we the newbies to wargames know them. In about five minutes of reading up what the dice represent, this no longer becomes a problem. The rules are quite clear but take some getting used to, as it is easy to play the game the wrong way when you first play it.

There are action cards, and you play one each turn which gives orders to your troops you want to move that turn. Any troops who are not affected by the action cards unless specified do not move but can battle against any unit within range given terrain restrictions as well.

The miniatures themselves despite being very Avalon Hill in how the flag stickers sometimes have to be wiggled and pressed back on the sticks of the flags are recognisable from each other, each unit is moulded in a way where you can clearly distinguish your troops from one another, but also the enemies. I like how the flags aren't just for decoration - they represent the Standard Bearer or leader of your squad, and when they are taken out after all their buddies are dead, their flags are collected as grisly trophies in the edges of the board. Collect enough of them, and you win the game as per the scenario.

That said, the effort put into the components make an already good game into a great one. The box that holds the figures has useful slots where each unit can be stored properly, it takes some getting used to but if you do it right your figures won't be crushed by the board. Considering this game relies so heavily on the flag characters in the very premise of the victory condition, the game box being shaped like it is is probably the most humane solution. This storage box does not violate the Geneva Convention in how soldiers are treated in the context of war.

I love how the game can be as simple or as complex as you want, there are given scenarios based on real Civil War battles I know nothing about, but you can just as easily create your own scenarios. Richard Borg's design really shines out that way, since I really like board games that have about the same customisability in level design the Playstation 3 game Little Big Planet has.

I'd recommend this game, especially if you do not already own a hex wargame that has miniatures, like Memoir '44 for example. It works great for when you've got one buddy who's got time to play, and while it's not good for large groups of gamers trying to share the experience it's certainly deep enough that if only one mate is visiting, they'll probably have a good time playing this game. I've still got to learn a lot of it, but the deeper you go in you notice it gets better each try.

Joey Jo Jo, the Man's drummer fled the home and family to hang here and be bad. Being bad when you're married with children means showing up with a 12 pack and ordering pizza, when the wife's got you on a diet. I ordered a salad, just in case the wife called, so I could say we had salad for dinner .

Joey Jo Jo used have the job of hauling a bazooka around across his shoulders. Once he was running through the woods with that bazooka and ran between two trees that were two close together and damn near knocked himself unconscious. So Joey is the only dude I know who has actually fired a bazooka. He's also the only dude I know who has had his ass kicked by a couple of trees while holding a bazooka. 

After dinner, Joey was really keen on playing Last Night on Earth, but he had forgotten his glasses at home. So he played a couple games of Blokus with the Spawn. But this was totally unsatisfying, like eating salad when you are craving a pizza.   

In my quest to continue procrastinating rather than finishing up the writing of my PhD thesis (I have two weeks left!), I write yet another review.

RPGs are hard to review because so much of the experience is contextual to the group. With a single player video game, or a film, at a certain level everyone sees the same thing, though they may reflect upon it differently. Consequently if you read a lot of rpg reviews on somewhere like RPGnet.com a lot are really book reviews. They outline the content of the book and the review the writing style. It’s ok, but is it really better than the list the mechanic type reviews you get for board games?

I am not going to talk at great length about Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) mechanics here, or how the book is structured. What I want to consider is what does DCC set out to do? And how does it achieve it?

I sometimes classify rpgs into two groups. The first group are what I call universe in a book type games. The book describes the Starwars universe and gives the players rules to carry out every kind of interaction imaginable in that universe, whether thats hitting something with a lightsaber, or negotiating a trade tariff. It is then up to the GM to work out what kind of story or game to create around those rules.  The other type is a game focused on delivering a specific experience. A good example of this is Fiasco, an RPG about improvising a script for a Coen Brothers movie. Fiasco tells the players what the game they are going to play is, they cannot choose between an adventure story or a detective story, they are limited to the relationships between characters as defined in the game and the tropes of Coen movies. Dungeon Crawl Classics is closer to the Fiasco type of game than the Starwars type. You cannot choose to play the intrigue of A Game of Thrones, or epic of the Lord of the Rings, the players are going to leap across pits of lava and cut the tongues out of giant rainbow coloured Iguanas and then bludgeon the the witch queen to death with them. This is Wiz-War not Descent.

The game achieves this tone and focus through its art and rules. On the back cover is this dude;

When I introduce people to the game, I generally just show them this image as it tells them most of what they need to know about DCC.

It is in the mechanics too. Starting adventures in DCC are a lot like the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle. You start with a hoard of level 0 characters, four per player, each can die in one hit, you then charge them through a gauntlet style dungeon and see who makes it to level 1 and the choice of a character class at the other side. This is focus, it only works in a dungeon crawl situation. The magic system is another great example. When a wizard casts a spell, if he or she rolls badly they could turn themselves into a newt, if they sacrifice some of their player stats, burning their strength from 10 down 6 and then roll well, the fireball could become a veritable volcanic eruption spewing forth from their hands killing everything in a 5 mile radius. It is a chaotic game, not the stable experience offered by D&D 5e.

DCC is a compromise between Old school and New School flavour Dungeons and Dragons style games. The core rule set is Dungeons and Dragons, you roll a D20 to kill stuff and test your stats. It is old school in the sense that you can die easily from bad luck, the rules are simple (30ish pages of essential rules) and require the players and GM to bring their own interpretation. On top of that the encouraged universe is otherworldly, rather than the neatness of modern fantasy.  It is new in school in some of its numbers, armour class is ascending, skill tests are roll high. It also allows the players to mitigate the chaos. Players are given four starting characters for a reason, it lessens the sense of loss at a character death.

I’m running out of steam on this review, so i’ll bullet point some of the things people usually comment about.

The book is HUGE. Because I bike to games, this a key reason the game gets played less than Astonishing Swords and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. It is big to heft around. The actual core rules are short, but there are many tables, great playing ideas and extra rules. Reading the whole thing will take a few hours.

There’s lots of tables. This is a great way the game injects madness into the experience. Wizards roll on tables to determine the consequences of their fraternizing with unknown forces. There are also several character specific critical hit tables. This can be a downside for the GM, flipping between pages and rolling dice.

There’s custom dice.  When players level up they get to throw bigger dice, a D20 improves to a D24. This is great, but you have to buy these custom dice, or improvise them using regular dice and maths.

Really though, whether you should get into DCC or not depends on whether you want its specific brand of fantasy and its focus on dungeon crawling or something else. Do you want something zany with high character mortality or something that fits modern fantasy tropes where the players have a high degree of control over their fate?

A brief word on the modules

I never run modules, I write my own material, but I do read them. I’ve read three DCC modules, Sailors on the Starless Sea, Jewels of the Carnifex and Emirikol was Framed. A lot of RPG players don’t have the time to write tons of their own material so the quality of the modules matters. Each module delivers a one session linear adventure. The players will move through a wizard tower, or ruined castle containing about a dozen encounters. I say they are linear because a varied experience isn’t on offer here. The party cannot plan a multitude of different routes through the dungeon and exploration is limited. What these adventures do offer is lots of ingenious encounters and a good narrative hook at the start. The players investigate a ruined temple after being given a note, before they know it they are decrypting the ramblings of a mad hermit, or fending off waves of insane mutated warriors. Its imaginative stuff but some of it is pretty tough. I expect if I did run some of the higher level adventures for my group they would all get killed pretty quick, so you might have to temper the challenge depending on your groups play style. Despite their linear nature, they do have some replay as players can react to situations in different ways. All three are of decent quality both in their written content and game design.

Fellow Fattie Bryce Lynch has typed his thoughts on a number of DCC’s moduleshttp://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2326.

If you are still unsure about DCC, here are the beta ruleshttp://www.goodman-games.com/downloads/DCCRPGBeta060811.pdf

The difference between the beta and the actual book is mostly formatting and a few clarifications. There might be some mechanics changes but not enough to skew your judgement.

* I do not claim to have any knowledge of Beat Takeshi's rpg leanings.

Many years ago as I was part of the questioning panel in on a job interview for a computer support position, a candidate was asked a typical question: what are the three most important characteristics for this job and how do you rate in those characteristics?  This first reply was “I’m a good listener”.

And while that’s a vital characteristic for computer support people because they need to listen to the people they’re supporting, it’s also true for game designers.

When a video game is produced by a team rather than by an individual, virtually every member of that team wants to influence how the game works.  A great many of the people who work on video games would really like to make their own game but don’t have the opportunity, so the next best thing is to help shape the game that they’re paid to work on.

The person who most obviously must accommodate the desires of all these team members is the game designer.  They’re going to give their ideas and proposals to the designer.  And it’s the designer’s job to listen, and listen well, and when necessary explain to the team member why their idea may not be practical or simply why it won’t be tried.

Listening well is an art and a science.  Sometimes perceptions are involved, for example whenever there is “multitasking”.  My wife reads a lot these days, and frequently when I say something to her she keeps her eyes on her book or reader.  Is she really listening?  Usually she is up to a point because if I ask her to repeat what I said she can do so.  Though listening well is more than repeating the words, it’s understanding and processing them, and sometimes she doesn’t do that while she’s reading.

Yes, many of us may be able to do something on the computer and listen to someone at the same time, because according to recent research a person can multitask two things without much degradation, whereas more than two causes obvious degradation in the quality with which each task is done.  But if you’re looking at the computer screen (or at a book) and not the person you’re listening to the perception may be that you’re not listening.  The perception depends on the familiarity of the two people with one another and with how they do things.  But if you really want to appear to be a good listener you need to face the person you’re listening to and look at their face, if not directly into their eyes.  (If you’ve ever talked with someone who consistently avoids looking you in the eye then you know the doubts this can engender.)

Good listening is a skill that can be learned.  Search Amazon Books for “listening skills” and you’ll find lots of books about the art of listening.  But it’s not rocket science.  There are probably just two things - well, really three - that are required.  First you need to concentrate.   This is becoming a lost art in the 21st century but it really does make a difference.  “Multitasking” prevents you from concentrating.   Second, you need to care about what the person has to say, which generally means you need to respect them.  (If you’ve talked with people such as nurses and librarians who have to work regularly with physicians, one of their complaints is that the physicians don’t listen to them.  That’s because the physicians don’t sufficiently respect the other people.  Which usually turns out to be a mistake, of course.)  On the other hand, it’s easy to understand why a successful game designer might not listen very well to the typical fanboys or fan girls who come up and try to tell them the five things they needed to do to make their published game much better.
Yes, respect has to be earned, but when you start out on a game development team you have to assume that the other people have earned their places there.  And even if the game designer has learned that particular people have exceptionally useless ideas it is still “politic” to listen to them so that they’ll be happier and presumably do better work as a result.

The third thing is, the listener has to actually process what he’s hearing and take it into account in his behavior.  You can hear the words, and respect the speaker, and still not do anything about it.

Although tabletop game design is typically a solitary activity, in the playtesting stages the designer must listen to the playtesters.  We have all heard stories, both from games and from other endeavors such as software and hardware production, of people who didn’t listen to testers and produced what amounted to defective products.

What about focus groups?  While listening is a very important skill there are times when asking people certain kinds of things is not very useful. Some disciplines use focus groups a lot, but they don’t seem to be very useful in game production.  That’s because in a focus group you’re asking people what they would do rather than observing what they actually do, and in games you can observe what people actually do by having them try the game.  Jakob Nielsen, the guru of web usability, says that people often don’t do what they say they will do, not because they’re lying but because they just don’t know themselves very well or don’t take into account all the possible reactions - it’s like asking somebody which he would save if he could save only one of his wife and his daughter, whatever he *says*, he really doesn’t know what he’d do if the situation arises.  So asking people what they would do in a focus group about games is of very limited utility no matter how well you listen. 
The other thing that’s done in a focus group is to ask people for ideas, for how things should be done, and when you do that with people unless you have very specific questions it’s very difficult for them to come up with something more than “just the same only better”.

First game play with just Arkham + Innsmouth.  Chtuta Fauga (whatever that one's called) is the GOO.  7 players

First mythos card puts a gate on the Esoteric Order of Dagon.

Second mythos card monster surges that gate plus cuts off travel to Innsmouth.  All seven monsters areground-based, three of them Fast.

Over the next four turns, the monsters to the mambo into the Innsmouth vortex without the travel restriction being lifted.  Only gate that gets closed (Dreamlands) doesn't remove any monsters.  The Astronomer (can chage the sign on gate he closes) gets lost in time and space thanks to a bad roll.

Essentially it's a five turn game that the investigators had zero chance of winning.

 Good ol' Innsmouth.  That's the kind of hostile board I was hoping for.

I know a couple guys at work, Belshazar and Bob, who adamantly refuse to watch any good movies.  Both Belshazar and Bob go to the movies often and have large DVD collections. They are both intelligent and Belshazar even claims to enjoy movies that make him think. They’re an interesting case study in the film rennesiance; I have tried repeatedly to get them to like what I like and they always have some excuse as to why they don't.  What’s really confusing to me is that I have had reasonably good success converting people to the movie appreciation hobby back when I was a manager at a male performance enhancer company. People would show up at the club expecting to watch the new "Star Wars" and get on my good side, and they would leave intent on purchasing "Eine stumpfe Geschichte der Platzierung der Fliesen." Belshazar and Bob, on the other hand, have no interest. I find this an interesting subject for discussion because there are many of us in the hobby who hope for the day when actually good movies replace the Holywood crap in every family’s collection.  I truly believe that "Würfel mit Eleganz," "le film avec l'art," and "Role" should replace "Star Wars," "Predator," and "The Godfather" in every home across the world. We can already see the slowly growing widespread popularity of "Resitanz" as a testament to the inevitable superiority of These Movies of Ours TM.  But, maybe we’re deluding ourselves… ‽

The more I talk to Belshazar and Bob about movies, the more I realize that they just like the stuff Hollywood puts out because it is popular, everybody else is watching it, it has showy special effects and higher budgets, and it's easy to find (just look at your local theater). Bob is still resolute about liking those movies, even when I point out all their flaws. "The Dark Knight," for example, is a stereotypical piece of Hollywood-style Ameritrash that focuses on special effects at the expense of elegance, is full of plotholes, and runs way too long. I try to tell him about These Movies of Ours TM, with their shorter run times, lack of plotholes, better scripts, elegance, and new and innovative aspects. Belshazar and Bob deride them, complaining that they look low-to-no-budget, that they are boring or unexciting, and that they don't "get" them. It seems like too much work to understand what's going on, they complain; the English subtitles are too small or too wordy, they complain. I point out that they are hard to understand because they have deeper meanings and are intellectually challenging, something they are not used to. They just don't understand what movies are really for; a movie should stimulate and enlighten, not simply entertain. I was surprised when Bob seemed annoyed at me after this.

They now vehemently turn down invitations to movie night (which usually consists of several different movies, maybe some filler movies between movies, all while enjoying creamed hamburger and Cheetos). Belshazar and Bob both say that 5 to 10 minutes isn't their idea of a movie. They, like so many others, are mostly just surprised that these movies even exist; people usually say things like "where do you get all these?", "I didn't know there were this many movies!", "These all look home made," or "Where do you keep the bodies?" when they see my collection.

I have come to the conclusion that we just want different things. Bob and Belshazar just aren't movie watchers. We’re not talking to each other at this point.  I don’t care if Belshazar or Bob ever watch a decent movie, but what worries me is the implications of their arguments for the rest of the populace.  My dream of everyone eventually owning and loving "Füller in fünf Minuten," "Movie," and "Reine Langwierigkeit" is now somewhat shaken.  Perhaps it really is a niche niche, niche hobby.  I'll keep on being preachy and elitist to people, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s all in vain.

*No, I'm not serious. If you are trying to convert the world to love Alhambra and Puerto Rico by convincing them that the games they actually enjoy are crappy, this is how rediculous you sound to the rest of the world*

Best Movies of 2008

My first article/blog entry for Fortress Ameritrash! Hopefully not my last either. Besides board games and video games (Xbox360, PSP), I also happen to be an avid movie-lover. I love going to see movies in the theatre and make a strong effort to go at least once a week. One of the great joys of seeing a great movie is recommending it after to people you know will love it and having them come back to either thank you profusely or throw hot coffee on your face.

I've written articles on the best movies for each year since 1995. I figure this will be a fun way to start on this site. Overall 2008 was actually a very good year for movies. I saw 30 bad movies and 38 good ones in theatres. Of those 38, 6 or 7 were truly outstanding masterpieces. Before getting to the good stuff, let's give a quick shout out to the worst of the year.

I always like pointing out the movie of the year that I really didn't like but everyone else did. This year it was Hellboy II: The Golden Army. I was a huge fan of the director but this movie really did not speak to me at all. My expectations may have a been a little high and I had not even seen the first one.

Other movies of 2008 that I really did not care for:

• Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - what a massive disappointment
• Synecdoche, New York - I have had it with this guy's movies I think
• The Incredible Hulk - Started off strong and then got pretty awful
• The Forbidden Kingdom - I don't understand how this got good reviews
• Twilight - Even with a crush on Kristen Stewart, I still hated it.
• Death Race - omg
• The Ruins - terrible
• Vantage Point - the audience was audibly groaning after watching the same scenes over and over
• Hancock - awful
• The House Bunny - what was I thinking?

The WORST of 2008 would have to belong to this sorry group:

• The Day the Earth Stood Still - YUCK
• The Happening - I wanted to poke my eyes out
• Mirrors - Even with the stomach-wrenching bathtub scene, it was still stupid
• The Clone Wars - I felt offended watching this movie
• Saw V - Enough is enough
• Deception - Hugh Jackman, how could you?
• Shutter - WORST MOVIE OF 2008, congrats

Whew, glad that is out fo the way. Okay now before getting to the top ten, I just want to hand out a few honourable mentions to some movies that I could not find room for in the top ten but were each outstanding in their own right:

Honourable mentions

• The Counterfeiters - You'd think you'd seen enough concentration camp movies after a while but this was really good
• Iron Man - absolutely amazing. I can't believe this did not make my top ten
• Milk - Really good.
• Happy-Go-Lucky - Fantastic.
• Frost/Nixon - Amazing that a television interview can get your heart pumping as much as an action movie
• The Visitor - FANTASTIC. I was floored by how great this movie was
• Mongol - I can't wait for the next two installments of this.
• Rachel Getting Married - WOW. I did not expect to like this as much as I did
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall - My favourite comedy of the year. And some really nice moments too.
• Ghost Town - Disturbingly touching movie
• Gran Torino - AMAZING. You have to see this.
• In Bruges - What a fantastic surprise. Very VERY dark humour but still hilarious. The girl is smoking hot.
• Definitely, Maybe - I think my crush on Isla Fisher may have influenced my enjoyment of this movie
• Splinter - I love low-budget horror flicks that leave the viewer's imagination to do its worst. Great movie.
• Reader - I was moved emotionally in every which way watching this movie. It was incredible.

Really a great year for movies and we have not even arrived at my favourite ten movies yet! Okay so here are what I consider to be the best ten movies of 2008:

Top Ten Movies of 2008

10. Slumdog Millionaire

The Oscar favourite. Not mine but I did find it to be excellent. My aunt and others I know walked out during the movie (it is hard seeing children abused). The movie itself is visually amazing, emotionally powerful and highly entertaining.

It is very much like a modern-day fairy tale I find. Very unforgettable.

9. The Dark Knight

An amazingly rich thriller that will still be memorable years down the road. I believe this to be the deepest comic-book movie ever made, certainly the darkest.

It is so much more than just a Batman movie. It is so much more than just a comic-book movie. It is so much more than just a summer blockbuster. This movie and Wall-E are going to be the best two mainstream movies of the year. After the awful summer of movies we had last year (2007), it is a welcome relief.

A combination of great, great action sequences with a thoughtful and engaging story that NEVER slows down. Huge accomplishment for both Nolan and Ledger alike. And heck, the rest of cast was pretty picture-perfect as well.

Most definately recommended.

8. Up the Yangtze

With incredible visuals, Up the Yangtze is an amazingly honest documentary about modern China and the changes affecting it.

In what is easily the most honest documentary I have ever seen, this movie simply presents stories and tragedy and never bores you with statistics. The Yangtze river is stuff of legend and is now transformed beyond recognition. The Canadian filmmaker Yung Cheng has made a witty yet profoundingly disturbing documentary about his grandfather's homeland. Another public blow to the image of China in a time when the country is right in the world's spotlight.

I was worried this would be simply a movie on the environmental impact of the construction of the dam, and was amazed that the movie doesn't even touch on that aspect at ALL. It is completely a film covering the CULTURAL impact of this dam's construction. It is simply an erasure of history and is tragic beyond words.

I think one of the film's strongest remarks is one that left most of the other theatre-goers confused: the movie doesn't even pretend to know where China is going with its economic boom and expansion. This is a raw strength of the movie in how it plunges you into the unknown. You may quite possibly leave the theatre wondering what the point of the film was, but there doesn't really have to be one.

Easily one of the best films of the year and I strongly recommend it. I was amazed at the access the filmmaker got and could thus film amazing moments of pure honesty and empathy.

7. Waltz with Bashir

Probably the most effective history lesson I have ever received. An amazingly original way to tell a story with really cool animation so that you are completely mesmerized. I honestly don't think this firm would have worked using any medium other than animation. It is certainly the most unique documentary I have ever seen. I know of many people that have trouble attaching that label to this movie.

It could also be one of the most revealing war movies of all time. Very powerful and emotional. I was speechless after the movie.

6. WALL-E

Probably the most charming movie I've seen since Toy Story. Definately Pixar's best work since that series as well, and that's not just because of the stunning visuals (it definitely far exceeds Finding Nemo on many levels and I LOVED that movie). There are many who feel that if animated movies were not excluded from being nominated for Best Picture, that this firm would not only have been nominated but would have beat Slumdog Millionaire.

What I really love about this movie is that, unlike Pixar movies as of late, this one doesn't pander at all to a younger audience. It's simply a fully-accessible movie that would appeal to ANYONE. I think that only the Wizard of Oz's Tin Man might not enjoy this film.

I'm still in total disbelief that a story told through the eyes of a small, faceless, garbage robot somehow touches both on the full broad range of emotions AND existential subject matter. Remarkable that the best love story of 2008 is not only an animated motion picture but is not about humans either.

I do think that this endlessly entertaining film could be Pixar's masterpiece. It is simply chock full of humour, emotion and smart (oh, so smart) storytelling all compacted into a perfect little (although not so little) motion picture.

MUST be seen.

5. The Class

WOW. Now here is a film that caught me completely by surprise. I am still amazed I rank it higher than WALL-E. I still cannot tell if this is a documentary, docudrama or drama. It, in a nutshell, is looking at the current education system of France through the interactions of a single teacher and his students in a city high school. What it ends being is a highly intelligent, high energy piece of film.

My fiancée recently took some French courses and said that the ethnic and racial resentments that spill over into classroom discussions were perfectly captured in this firm. Now imagine you're dealing with children and the parents decide to get involved as well. This film made me so glad I never became a teacher. I simply don't have the right stuff for that. That first guy that is breaking down in the teacher's lounge at the beginning of the film? Yeah, that's me.

I was amazed at how realistic so much of it was. In staying with that same scene, there was a huge amount of fuss over the coffee machine and the cost of running it. I worked in an elementary school all of 2 weeks and visited one other around that time and I can vouch that the coffee machine discussions take an obscene amount of precedence among the staff. Amazing.

This film is probably the most successful on-screen adaptation of the student/teacher relationship. The actor playing the teacher certainly can't hide the fact that he used to teach. He's entirely too natural. Luckily this gives the film a great deal more authenticity.

What I find most compelling is the film avoids having any clichés at all. I was expecting a small laundry list of events to come up or certain lines to be said out loud but none of these surfaced. Absolutely amazing.

4. The Wrestler

GAH! I still cannot believe I don't have this as my number one movie of the year. I cannot believe I'm putting it as 4^th best. I saw it twice in theatres and would see it again in a second flat (and not just for Marisa Tomei).

I am getting more and more appreciative when I see an artist perform what I believe to be his career-making performance. Not the one that breaks them into this industry necessarily but the one people talk about when speaking of the actor decades from now. This amazing drama is very much that performance for Mickey Rourke. I was glued to my seat and moved every which way by this film.

Ken B really needs to see this movie. As does everyone else. Outstanding.

3. Let the Right One In

There's a discussion thread on this one! I brought my best friend, Scot, to this movie without telling him it is a vampire movie because I knew he wouldn't want to see it. He ended up loving this movie as did I. It's like what Twilight wants to be if it wasn't totally retarded.

Hmmm.. maybe this is an even better love story than WALL-E, now that I think about it. I'll have to mull that over.

I cannot even remember the last time I liked a vampire movie. In fact, I am not sure I ever did like one. But this movie has some of the best storytelling ever. It pulls you along for the ride and it is almost impossible to predict what happens next. I absolutely adored this one from start to finish. An American remake is already in the works and I can safely say there is no way they will be able to recapture the magic of this Swedish movie.

It sickens me to think of how this movie will be labeled a horror and because of that very few people will see this.  The whole notion of being a vampire has to be one of the most tragic things ever unless you simply view the vampires as animals. Humanize one, humanize a young one and you have a deeply tragic situation.

An absolutely amazing piece of filmwork.

2. Man on Wire

Not only the best documentary of 2008, but the best documentary of all time. I also think this could be considered one of the best movies of all time. I do not know how one captures this much suspense in a documentary but there you have it. An absolutely insane story from a must-be insane man.

There is just so much to say about this movie that I feel should not be said. It is a film that you will not just see, but experience.

1. Amal

The best movie of 2008 so far, Amal is an amazingly rich story that makes you question what one would define as ‘success.'

Good luck trying to predict anything that is going to happen in this film. The entire thing is filmed in Delhi and is a great work into how sometimes the poorest of men are the richest.

Most definately recommended. Not to be missed.

And there are my favourite movies of 2008. If you end up renting or seeing any of these based on this article, let me know how you liked them!

I won't comment on the popular or well known games, those that go without saying, e.g. Zelda 3, Super Metroid, F-Zero, etc.

(J) = Game was only released in Japan, but an English translation is available for emulators.

• Aerobiz Supersonic: A game about managing an airline. As usual for games from KOEI it is also a good simulation: Every major aircraft is represented with unique stats and historical events occur, like for example the war in Iraq, which renders flights to Baghdad unprofitable. The goal is to become the dominant international airline, which can be quite difficult if you start out in Cuba for instance. A solid 7.

• Ball Bullet Gun (J): This is one of the first tactical games using the action point system. As the name suggests it recreates skirmishes with airsoft guns, but the many different weapons have very realistic stats and functionality. You're also tasked to build your own squad with various specialists. The game is especially fun in two-player "hot seat" mode, as searching for the opponent is an important aspect of the game. I rate it a strong 7.

• Banka (J): A very profane side-scrolling Beat 'em Up which provides for quick fun, but also allows the player(s) to perform more moves than the usual side scroller such as Final Fight 3 for example. Still, only a weak 7.

• Blackthorne aka. Blackhawk: A Shoot'n'Run from the early Blizzard. The control system is similar to Prince of Persia, only that you can choose for yourself when to switch to your weapon, which is a shotgun here and has to be used often. Another solid 7.

• Cannon Fodder: This was a very innovative game at its time, because it could be played with the SNES mouse. You're moving around a map with one or more squads; left-click means "move here", right click means "shoot here". "Move and shoot" is also possible, as is using grenades or rocket launchers, several vehicles and buildings. The goal is to kill all enemy soldiers, to destroy key buildings or both. You lose if you lose soldiers faster than you receive recruits. Just a 7.

• Clocktower (J): A Japanese horror game and an early point and click adventure. Despite being a two dimensional game, the game can actually be very scary. Trust me, I'm not scared easily. My rating is equal to the number of different endings: 7.

• Cybernator: A very good Shoot'n'Run, where the player controls a mech, which can jump, hover, charge and use a shield, machine gun, fist punch and other weapons/tools. The game requires to constantly switch between weapons, offense or defense and the different movement options. An entertaining 7.

• Der Langrisser (J): A very innovative game, which was one of the first tactical RPGs and introduced different advancement trees and story arcs into the genre. Basically you use several heroes, who can also recruit troops, to battle the enemy. The game provides the player with many different tactical and narrative options. A strong 7.

• Earthbound: The coolest RPG ever created. I bet the designers/programmers were on psychedelic drugs when they made this game. The single most defining piece of media in my youth. This one almost goes up to 8.

• EVO: A game about evolution. You start out as a fish and get "evolution points" for eating other animals, which you may then use to grow strong teeth, tougher skin, spikes etc. or to change your species to amphibian, dinosaur and later even human. An innovative 7.

• Firestriker: This game takes the basic game play from Breakout and adds several cool elements to it: a hero, moving monsters and various items. I rate it a small, fun 7.
  

• Firemen: What appears to be a boring game about firefighters turns out to actually be an action shooter. You enter a chemical laboratory, which is on fire, and have to extinguish ever changing and evolving flames and rescue the employees. A hot 7.

• Front Mission (J): A very cool tactical, turn-based RPG, which puts the heroes in wanzers (walking panzers). Constant modification of the wanzers is very important and every battle is very challenging requiring good planning and tactics. It features one of the best storylines in video gaming and a great ending. A strong 7.

• International Superstar Soccer Deluxe: The best soccer game for the SNES, whose defining game play can still be found in modern soccer games today in only slightly changed form. I once won the world cup with Nigeria on the hardest difficulty level, which was cool. I rate it a sporty 7.

• Ken Griffey, Jr. presents Major League Baseball: People who played it agree, this is the best baseball game of all times. It didn't have the license to the players' names, but this was made up by cool naming (e.g. the San Diego Padres are punk rockers) and stats and appearance of the players are real. Definitely a 7 for baseball fans.

• King of Dragons: This is a great fantasy side-scrolling Beat 'em Up. Character options are: Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, Dwarf and Elf. One or two players battle several fantasy creatures and steadily get better abilities and weapons. A weak, but recommended 7.

• Kirby Super Star: The best Kirby game for the SNES. Next to the classic story, several different game modes are provided, such as a treasure hunt, food race and some mini games. A star-surfing 7.

• Lufia 2: I never finished this RPG, but every time I play it, I'm convinced that it is very special. Just a 7.

• Metal Marines: A simple but addicting real-time strategy game. You're based on one island and try to capture another, by first setting up basic defenses, factories and power plants to generate energy and resources, so to later go over to the attack. The name giving Metal Marines are tall mechs which are required to the destroy the enemy bases. I rate this fun game a 7.
  

• Ogre Battle: An awesome tactical RPG, which is all about organizing an army out of many creatures and maneuvering them around in the different levels. Each squad fights for itself under a given command, e.g. kill the enemy leader. Timing is very important as is creating suitable squads for the different maps. Each creature can also advance to at least one other type, e.g. amazons can become witches, clerics or valkyries, but each requires different manipulation of alignment and other attributes. The game play is very special and I haven't seen it used in another game yet. Almost an 8.

• Pacific Theater of Operations 2: A great game about World War 2 in the Pacific, which gives the player complete control over all forces on strategical and tactical levels. It is epic and time consuming. The controls also take a little to get used to. If you manage to get into it, you'll see that this is definitely a 7.

• Robotrek: This game might have inspired Pokemon. The player controls a young engineer who deploys robots with different abilities in battle. A weak 7.

• Romance of the Three Kingdoms 4 - Wall of Fire: Another great strategic game by KOEI, which has the player trying to become the next emperor of China in the 1st and 2nd century. The heroes and events of the famous historical novel are all represented. This is an advanced version of Gemfire, which is also recommended. A solid 7.
  

• Shadowrun: I disregarded this game after playing it first, but it is really a very good real time RPG set in the role-playing universe of the same name. In the SNES game though, you are a fighter, decker (hacker) and shaman at the same time. It has an interesting story line set in the near future and can get pretty hard at times, too. I rate it a 7.

• Street Fighter Alpha: This is the best Street Fighter game for the SNES, which introduced many elements found in modern Beat 'em Up games. It also has very good graphics for a SNES game. Just a 7.

• Smash TV: A stupid and fun action game. What is not to like about having four different fire buttons? (One for every direction.) You are the participant of a modern game show, firing your way trough masses of mutants, while collecting dollar bills, credit cards and pink slips of sport cars. A brainless 7.
  

• Syndicate: If this was a board game, people would call it a "hidden gem". It was difficult for me to wrap my head around this game at first, since I didn't have a manual. But once I did, I had great fun with this little shooter. You control four agents, each of which can be individually armed and equipped (cyberware, etc.) and try to achieve missions set in the near future. These almost always consist of shooting opposing agents with various weapons in real time. A good 7.

• Tecmo Super Bowl: I was a big fan of Tecmo Super Bowl 3 at first, but this game is actually better. It's simpler to control, but has less bugs to abuse and is a lot more difficult. It's almost impossible to beat the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs, since Emmit Smith is unstoppable. I had great fun playing this game against people who don't even know the rules of American Football. I usually pick a bad team and give them the Cowboys, which would then always make for an exciting and balanced match. Without a doubt a strong 7.

• Tetris Attack: OK, I just had to include a puzzle here and this is an interesting one. It has several play options and while it is simple rule-wise, it's hard to find the really good, high scoring combinations. Absolutely a 7 for puzzle fans.
  

• Top Gear 2: Another game from a different genre, here's a racing game. Top Gear (1) was already a cool game, but the graphics were a little slow, which made the game too hard to savor. Top Gear 2 is a very enjoyable  game, where you are racing long tracks with a very neat graphical representation. This is probably one of the first games where you could upgrade and customize your car with the money you earn from races. A quick 7.

• Uncharted Waters 2: This is yet another very cool game from KOEI. You can choose from six different characters who, after the discovery of America, all sail around the world for different reasons. Available for play are an adventurer, a merchant, a pirate, an admiral, a discoverer and a cartographer. This should give you a general overview of all the different things you can do in this game all around the globe. You start out in a small vessel and after some progress you can buy a big ship fit to cross the Atlantic, or equip cannons and go pirating. I rate this game a very strong 7.

• UN Squadron: This is a fun little "flight sim" (aka. side scrolling shooter) which allows the player to pick one of three different pilots, choose from several contemporary fighters and equip different weapons. The game depicts the war against a "desert dictator", i.e. it was "inspired" by Operation Desert Storm, but actually has cartoon graphics. Rating: 7.

• War 3010: This is an early game from ID Software and while it looks crappy, it is sort of an early version of Advanced Wars, only that it is set in space. You are given an assortment of different specialized spacecraft and battle an evil alien imperium. The missions get very tough over the course of time. A tenuous 7.

• Wonder Project (J): Last but not least, another very innovative game which used the SNES mouse. Arguably a supreme version of Tamagotchi, you are training a robot doll (Pinocchio) to perform various tasks. The robot has several interlocking attributes. For example you can teach him to read books and be nice to animals, but then he will run away scared upon seeing a sword. So to make him aggressive, he first has to read some comic books. This is really more of a kids game, but quite funny. A solid 7.
  

Yep, it's Halloween and there will never be a better time to review the just-released 2nd edition of BETRAYAL AT THE HOUSE ON THE HILL. I'm also looking at QUANTUM THEORY, a PS3/360 game that I doubt any of you will ever play.

      Behold the poster child of my woes:

      This is my player aide for Wings of War: Dawn of World War II where the text size on the cards is so small and the colors so similar that I cannot discern which plane is capable of doing what while playing.  Today I put a second pair of reading glasses on over top of my first to solve the problem.  To rectify the situation a couple of years back I created a chart (where I splurged on 12 point font because I could) that lists all the statistics for each model airplane in the deluxe set. 

      The damage allocations in particular are so incredibly small on the cards and the choice of so similar colors puts the game out of reach even when I over-script my glasses.  I am emotionally pulled out of the game each time I need to figure out damage, and this is a game where you want to keep your head in.

      I rediscovered my cheat sheet this morning when I sat down to play with two of my boys.  Finding the planes on the list was a bit of a hassle since there are multiple models of each, but at least it was doable.  Adding additional planes will assuredly make the cheat sheet worse.

The right-hand site of this card's stat-box is clear and crisp.  The "17" and the "B" are big and clear.  The left-hand side is an utter failure because they made the symbol announcing what is being displayed (the crosshairs) big, but the actual play information (the circles with the letters in them) small, and dark-text-on-dark-background to boot.

      Part of my frustration is that the size could have been increased by changing the art on the cards.  Had the useless "dossier" look with the sheaf of papers been removed or had they taken up the additional empty space on the card between the top of the dossier and the bottom of the plane's tail, all of the materials could have been made markedly bigger.  Given the cost and nature of this particular game the target audience likely is older and more likely to have vision issues.  My vision issues are really quite minor, but this game falls well below my threshold.  Hopefully the fully-revised version will alleviate some of this issue.

                   S.

Yeah, so little Tatiana has slowly but surely started to adopt a schedule resembling something humans would attribute as normal. At night she sleeps from 9 to 1:30/2, she stays up for bit of feeding and being cute in general, and then falls asleep from 3:45/4AM to about 7 AM.

Not too bad-- especially compared to my eldest who didn't sleep normally for the first month-- but it still takes some doing. I mean, I looooovve to sleep. Maybe it's all a part of my slow but sure metamorphosis into a grumpy old fuck, but it's no less true. Seeing as how Helen breastfeeds exclusively, and has some trouble getting into and out of bed due to her c-section, I have taken on diaper duty, burp duty, and getting baby out of/putting baby back into bed duty. Not to mention the occasional hugging and tucking back in of my Sofia who seems to be going through some kind of nightmare phase. This little routine cuts into my beauty rest which, as was proven recently, makes me a fucking idiot. I mean unconsciously, dead brain cells have not yet regenerated stupid.

Case in point: Helen has been pining for a Macbook for quite some time. And rightly so; she works as a production coordinator and everybody in the industry works on Macs. Couple that with the fact that she is going to be stuck in the house fort the next month and a half, and that she hates having to go downstairs to use the computer, well, I basically ran out of excuses not to get one.

But, fuck me, the damn things cost 1300$ CDN new. There's is no fucking way that I'm paying that for a labtop! Enter Craigslist. Two days and a few phone calls and e-mails later I find a 2007 with a battery that still maintains it's full charge, with a good processor, RAM, and hard drive memory set up, and with only some minor superficial wear for 650$.

 I have to drive to Cotes-Des-Neiges, which is a bit ghettoish, to get it-- but it should be cool since the guy owns an electronics store in a mall. Drive there, look over the labtop- everything's cool. Pay for the Macbook cash, pay for a wireless router debit (50$ for a Chinese outfit that works great), and grab a lift with the seller to go pick up the charger since he wants to show of his Beamer with the booming system (it turns out that the seller went to my wife's high school, was in the same graduating class as her, and we happen to share some common aquaintances- needless to say we hit it off pretty good).

 So we're sitting in his car when he turns to me and asks me if I payed or not. I defensively reply, "Dude... I left the money on the counter- didn't you pick it up? " 

 That's the precise moment when everything went sideways. The seller frantically calls the store and asks one of his employees if they picked up the cash. No, they didn't. Seller jumps out of the car, while it's still running (this will prove important later), and runs back to the shop to queue up the security cams- or so he says. At this point I'm sitting in a relatively recent, four door, leather interior, kick ass sound system having BMW wondering if I'm being scammed and what the fuck the scam could possibly be.

 Did he just rip the pin to my checking account, and was buying time to verify it's validity? Was he going to reclaim the Macbook on the grounds of not having received payment? Fucked if I knew because I really had the impression that this guy was on the level and I was completely caught off guard by this surprising turn of events. I checked my wallet, again. No. My pockets only turned up the folded advert printout. The seller shows up again with a youngish, street smart looking kid that he was having an amiable conversation with before I walked up to the counter. 

 They ask me if I want to follow them to shop to watch the security video with them. Sure. The youngish guy keeps looking at me out of the corner of his eye- and insists on being a step or so behind me. Hunh, so this is what having a Spidey Sense that tingles feels like.

 We all walk into the store and start watching the security footage. I see myself put the cash down on the counter, take out my wallet to take out my debit card, swipe my card, punch in my pin, wait for transaction to clear, it's good, take receipt along with wireless router, step to left and PICK THE CASH UP OFF THE COUNTER AND STUFF IT INTO MY RIGHT FRONT POCKET.

 I've always wondered what it would feel like to be a character in a Phillip K. Dick yarn, you know, to have the rug completely pulled out from under what I perceived as reality. As it turns out not so good. I had absolutely zero recollection of ever putting the money in my pocket.

 I reach in to my right front pocket and pull out the folded up advert printout. I stare at it, dumbfounded, until it dawns on me. I unfold the printout and with an embarassed, and far too nervous laugh, I pull out the 650$.

Youngish hoodlum immediately rips  into a rant of: " I fuckin' told you he pocketed that shit!" As it would turn out, I got a crack at being a bit part player in a Tarentino flick  for the next five minutes too!I was on fucking fire! I got to be the laughable schmuck that made an honest mistake in the wrong place and ,as it turns out, was saved by that same said honesty.

 Remember the car I was left in? With the motor running that was worth a sizable sum of money with the equally expensive sound system? Well, they couldn't figure out why a crook wouldn't have fucked off with the cash, the Macbook and the car if presented with the opportunity-- which I was. In spades.

 They believed me when I said I was seriously sleep deprived and squashed it at that.

 I guess I'll have to be careful when driving, operating a power tool, or any sharp object for next while.