It's not that there's not a lot happening

It's rather that there is too much going on. And trying to best Bowser in Super Mario Galaxy 2 has taken up a good proportion of my free time. That and the complete box set of the West Wing that I bought with my redundancy gift (and an extra tenner).

But I have bested Bowser and I'm aware I haven't blogged much recently so here's a little thought-form from a Tragically Hip song I listened to while walking to work recently, that has stuck with me.

"We live to survive our paradoxes."

I have a few paradoxes in my life at the moment. Doubt and survivor guilt and subliminal choices and plans and hopes and other abstractions, distractions and cognitive dissonances. We are complicated creatures. But by and large we live to survive our paradoxes.

Book idea - t-shirt theology

Every so often I have ideas that I think would make a great book.

Yesterday I thought about writing a theology book based on various t-shirts I own, starting with my "theologian" t-shirt, then incorporating in no particular order "Got Jesus?", "Love your enemies" (with a pic of the ghosts from Pacman), "Think slowly", "Video games ruined my life - good thing I've got two more lives", "You're worth a lot to me" (pic: Lego Boba Fett), "665 - the neighbour of the beast", "I pulled a princess" (pic: Mario & Princess Peach), "Everyone has the right to be ignorant, but you are abusing the privilege", Darth Vader's anger management, and "It's all fun and games until the flying monkeys attack".

I reckon I could make a theological point on all of those, covering just about all the major doctrines of the faith and a commentary on how they pan out in real life, or not as the case may be. But here's the thing, who would buy the book? More importantly, who would pay me to write it?

Super Mario Smash Football

My brother leant me this and it seems I'm addicted. "Just one more game, and then I have to go to bed/work/the toilet..." I. Just. Can't. Seem. To. Switch. It. Off. Seriously it's ruining my life.

For the record I can kick ass at 'Novice' level, but the step up to 'Professional' is tough and fiendishly frustrating. I want to beat the machine! Curse you, Nintendo, you've gone and done it again!

Playability

Often when you talk to someone frequently the same topics come up again and again. With my little brother it's the subject of "playability" in computer games. As far as we're concerned you can forget your fancy graphics and whatnot, what really matters is whether the game is playable.

My proof, if proof were needed, is Zelda on the Super Nintendo versus Zelda on the N64. I loved Zelda on the SNES - except I can only play it with Oasis' Definitely Maybe on in the background (long story, but for me the two go together). But on the N64 it was a so-so rpg, with huge distances you had to cover to get anywhere. It didn't look as good either. Zelda on the SNES was cute. On the N64, it was humdrum. Basically the "better game" lacked playability and effectively killed off Zelda for me, although the screenshots on the Nintendo DS adverts have almost re-converted me.

Recently I've been playing PacMan on Facebook, which is further proof that graphics only get you so far and it's 'playability' that counts. PacMan has been around for almost three decades and yet it knocks many other games into a cocked hat. When I teamed up for a game of Halo with Irony Boy, I loved it, but Destroy All Humans 2 wasn't my bag. One had "playability", the other didn't. Wii Sports is the defining moment in Nintendo's triumph of "playability". Of course the graphics are something else too, but there's a reason Nintendo keep bagging awards for Wii Sports - it's simply great to play.

My favourite top thirteen most playable games

Arcade/Spectrum/other truly ancient consoles
PacMan
Batty
SNES
Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda - a Link to the Past
Super Star Wars
Game Boy
Tetris
Super Mario World 2 - Six Golden Coins
N64
Mario '64
F-Zero X
X Box
Project Gotham Racing
PlayStation 2
Zoo Puzzle
Gamecube
Super Mario Sunshine
Nintendo Wii
Wii-Sports

So what games do you rates most playable?

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