Oh noes!

Here's how pathetic we are: We bought a second Xbox. It came with Lego Indiana Jones, which is a lot more fun than Lego Star Wars, but harder. Also came with Kung Fu Panda, which is cute.

And, we get another toaster from Harmonix (and Microsoft I guess), as the family visitors arrived home and promptly bought an Xbox and Rock Band. These are the people who were too lazy to activate the Netflix subscription we got them, but they are willing to get up off the couch for Rock Band.

We also played Wings of War (WWI and WWII versions), Kingdoms, and Carcassone.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine who plays miniature games (like Warhammer but usually more fluid) ran Mal and his kids through a miniatures game. This was the first time Mal has actually abided by the rules of engagement (like turns, and moving as far as the dice let you), so I'm hopeful he can be taught to play games.

Marxist critique of GTA IV: [link]

Yay! The Xbox is back! And it's back to Fable 2 for us, a game neatly summed up in this comic: [link]

In boardgames, we finally played Princes of Florence after letting it sit on the shelf for years. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. The wrapper is lovely, everything done in Leonardo da Vinci's handwriting (but not mirrored, alas), and the gameplay is really easy once you've been thru it once. The rule writing sucks, and needs either a tech editor or a better translation, or both.

It reminded me a lot of Agricola, as it has multiple routes to victory and nested phases of gameplay (bidding, building on a map board, completing tasks). There seems to be a trend in euro-games to mash up Tetris and shopping, and this definitely has both.

"we finally played"

is to

"Yay! The Xbox is back!"

as

x

is to

y

please solve for x & y.

I've been having waaaay too much fun with a little game at mybrute.com.

Come! Face my wrath! [link]

Pete, I joined. Strange game. As you really don't do much but choose an opponent. BTW, you kicked my ass. Alas, you were level 4, I was level 1. Now I am level two, and must wait for tomorrow to fight 6 more rounds.

That's odd, it says only 3 matches for me tomorrow.

I acquired an axe and puppy. I guess that's good.

IOGameN, I think I am addicted to Flight Control on the iPod Touch.

Come! Face my wrath!

I did. You killed Lagaaaaaaaaaa but good.

Well, yes, I crushed you all, but it is only right for the Master to show the way to his pupils.

Yup, you are all classified as MY pupils.

As it is, I created two others, Laughing Snake and Death Spigot. Now, Death Spigot is INSANE. He started with a throwing star and most people barely got more than three punches in. Then he got some kind of crazy rabid wolf and no one has knocked him below half health. He is a monster!

Strange game.

Yeah, but it gets more entertaining the higher you go as all kinds of crazy powers kick in.

That's odd, it says only 3 matches for me tomorrow.

Yeah, I think 3 is the default after the 6 game start. I guess Tournaments are where it's at.