I bought The Orange Box when I purchased AC, and have yet to play it. But I'll keep an eye out for GoW2 in the used bins (it's the only way I buy games lately).

Mal got Lego Star Wars for Christmas...it's way beyond his ability to play, so naturally the DH and I played it for several hours. It's pretty great. You can play co-op on the same Xbox, and both "Lego" and "Star Wars" are crucial aspects of it (you collect Lego bricks and build minikits, and use the Force, for examples). Goofy fun.

I am saddened by the knowledge that my son will want to play it some day, and that means he will be exposed to Star Wars 1-3, but I guess you can't protect your kids from everything bad.

I am saddened by the knowledge that my son will want to play it some day, and that means he will be exposed to Star Wars 1-3, but I guess you can't protect your kids from everything bad.

There's a new hope.

Lego Star Wars II : The Original Trilogy

Leif got PuzzleQuest for Christmas and it as been a smash addictive hit. It may well save a bit of sanity for my wife while the kids are home over Christmas break.

Mal got Lego Star Wars for Christmas

I saw today (while buying a new printer) that there's Lego Batman!

Once revealed, the cylon becomes exceedingly weak, which is my only real problem in what's otherwise a very well-balanced game.

There's debate about this on boardgamegeek, interestingly from the other direction - some people argue that the super crisis card and the revealed cylon options are so powerful that they should reveal at first opportunity. The counterargument is basically that even if a revealed cylon is mechanically more powerful, the mistrust and paranoia you can sow while unrevealed is still the better deal.

I've been playing Left 4 Dead. Thankfully, no eyestrain has occurred.

I've taken it for a spin with just Bot teammates. Their AI is good but they're actually a little too competent and can diffuse certain situations (like being pinned by a zombie) so quickly that you barely take any damage.

Playing with actual people will be much more chaotic - which'll be a plus to the tone of the game - but this game really needs to be played with people who are actually friends rather than the general cattle of Live who often lack social skills. I can imagine griefing of an inexperienced player to be an even more souring game experience than normal.

So, those of you that want to take on the zombie apocalypse, you know where to find me...

Hey Raq, and anyone else who's played Battlestar Galactica, another question: as I understand it, when you have four or six players, you can get a Cylon sympathiser in addition to the actual Cylons. I've heard it suggested that (assuming they're pro-Cylon), they're not that interesting to play, that they don't even have all the options that revealed Cylons have. Is this correct? (If so, it seems to me that it would be a little dull winding up with this card.)

So, who's played Braid ? Because it's pretty awesome.

Yes, with 4 or 6 players you put a Cylon sympathizer card in the loyalty deck at the midpoint. If Baltar or Boomer are in the game, they have a higher chance of being the sympathizer than the other characters.

I think this is more a nod to the source material than any benefit to game play; the player who gets this card has to reveal it immediately and then gets sent to the brig immediately.

I haven't seen anyone use the sympathizer effectively for anything. Basically it's just a turn in the brig and limited actions thereafter. It can't happen until the midpoint of the game, so there's that.

One of the things about the game is that, until/unless you are a revealed cylon, you are always busy. Even if it's not your turn, you have to respond to the crises generated on others' turns, and other players may use their turns to direct your action (think Adama ordering Starbuck to go shoot down raiders). And there's always a lot of analysis and discussion about whether there is a cylon (in the first half; after the midpoint you know there is) and if so, who? The sympathizer can still do all these things, to some extent.

I think the best play is the 6-player game, where you have two cylons, if one reveals and one doesn't. And of course, one of the cylons could be the sympathizer.

I haven't seen anyone use the sympathizer effectively for anything. Basically it's just a turn in the brig and limited actions thereafter. It can't happen until the midpoint of the game, so there's that.

I hear there's an 'official' variant where there's no sympathiser and the humans simply start our with lower resources to balance it out. At the moment I'm inclined to try it out that way - especially for a first play, I don't want anyone to feel stuck with a second-best option.