games

To absent friends

Earlier today, brought the sad news that the excellent Playin’ Games opposite the British Museum has closed down. I was passing that way a few weeks ago, and had planned to drop in, but I was too early for them (they opened at 1100). This got me to thinking about the number of games shops that I’ve known (and loved) that have closed. Off the top of my head: Barad-Dur, Coptfold Road, Brentwood Virgin Games Centre, Oxford Street Gamers in Exile, Pentonville Road Gaggle of Games, Basildon Alternate Earths, Eastgate Centre, Basildon Phoenix Games, Eastgate Centre, Basildon Games and Puzzles,… Read More »To absent friends

Interests Meme

questioned these seven interests, if you want me to ask about yours, comment below. 4ad A rather good independent record label. The people who brought the world The Pixies, Dead Can Dance, The Cocteau Twins, M/A/R/R/S, and so on. ansible Dave Langford’s multi-Hugo-winning fanzine/semi-prozine. Also an anagram of ‘lesbian’. looney labs A small games company with a reputation for quirky games: Fluxx, Chrononauts, Icehouse. magic realism I’m rather fond of the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges. plokta Another Hugo-winning fanzine. salt and sauce The only thing worth putting on chips. I sneer at your gravy. xanadu… Read More »Interests Meme

Shall we play a game?

How about Global Thermonuclear War? About eighteen months ago, I mentioned a game called Darwinia from a small UK software company called Introversion Software. Not content with their success (Darwinia won some awards), they’ve now released their latest offering, a Wargames-esque game of nuclear armageddon called Defcon. Rather good, and very, very pretty, though with less humour than the Nuclear War card game from Flying Buffalo.

Buy this game: Darwinia

Off to Bristol before nine this morning, to go to IKEA and thence to John Lewis at Cribbs Causeway. Nowt much to speak of in general (looking at kitchens), but I did pop into Virgin and pick up a copy of Darwinia, which is easily the most innovative and nifty game that I’ve played in a while. In fact, since I played the last game by these guys, the rather good Uplink. If Uplink was a novel hacking simulation games, then Darwinia is an artificial life real-time strategy game with a gestural interface. Both of these games are from Introversion… Read More »Buy this game: Darwinia