So we were setting up blogs yesterday, and our tutor Ed gave us some basic questions to ask each other to give us something to fill up a desolate and empty blog, here's the questions and my answers;


 what is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the
last fiction book you read)?

Subtitles... just kidding, although I do tend to prefer my stories accompanied by a video. It's been quite a while, the last one I can recall that was an actual fiction book was Charles Dickens 'Christmas Carol', and that must have been about 4 years ago. In retrospect I guess this tells me I should be reading more books as they can help so much when it comes to game content, conversion of ideas, story-lines, lore etc.

 what is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently
reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?

The art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell. I've only read about fifty pages in, it's quite an interesting read I just haven't gotten around to continuing reading through it, it throws a lot of different points of view around and has a great contrast of ideas. Which is a very valuable perspective to possess as in Games Design there's no one way to do it, and as Jesse states; we haven't yet found our periodic table like set of rules for making things in the games industry.

 what is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended?

Probably a Primary School play that I was a part of. I'm not going to lie, I don't tend to have an interest in watching  a bunch of people leap around a stage, or trying to listen to music while being nudged in the back by fifteen people! I prefer the art and experiences the games provide instead, because while they're still limited... they're essentially limitless in possibilities.

 what is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema / online or
watched on dvd?

I honestly can't recall what I last watched, but ConAir seems to be fresh in my mind, I think back a few years Nicholas Cage was a great actor, he looked great, he performed great, every role he took he formed well. This film in my opinion must have been a standout for him' Nicholas tends to fill the role of a witty or charming character, a master of the art of linguistics to get his own way, yet in this film he's simply a touch prison hick who you really don't want to get on the wrong side of!

   how often do you read a newspaper? (which one? online or physical?)

I don't read everything, but I do tend to scroll through newspapers on a regular basis, there are some interesting things that can be found. News around the world can point you towards points of interest that could be good for a game, and also sway you away from sort spots that could have a ripple amongst the community and get your bad publicity, perfect example; now would be a terrible time to make a Jim'll Fix It game.

 which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?  

Has to be EuroGamer, I loved it. It was fun to get to grips with a lot of games not out yet, and allowed me time to rant on my website in small reviews about my experience with them (for once I was nice). Problem I had is a lot of companies really didn't have enough booth space. The three best by far were Relic's Company of Heroes 2 booths, Assassins Creed 3's booths and the PS All-Stars booth, all of them ran quite smoothly, there was minimal wait time and they were all very enjoyable! PS All-Stars didn't even need many booths, the fact it was 4-player meant you could just play with 3 random gamers and no one was really that bothered.

 how many hours a week do you spend playing video games?

...Holy F**king sh*t, you really want to go into this huh? 20-40 hours? I'm being lenient and trying to not look like a waste as much time of my life just bashing buttons and hitting crap. Erm I've always played a lot of games a lot of the time, since the age of about three I think. Problem is still to this day there are games I remember on the MegaDrive that no games currently seem to manage to beat in similar areas on the fun factor.

 how many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video
games?

Well because of my recent obessession with Munchkin, it's at least bumped up to about 7-10 hours, which isn't bad really seeing as I usually prefer digital games; non-digital games tend to press the iffy issue of amassing enough people to play the game you want. I've got to say though Steve Jackson is a genius and I take my hat off to him. The game is brilliant, fun to play and just devious, I keep winning without lieing which is quite funny, because everyone thinks you're lieing.