{"id":377,"date":"2010-12-17T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-17T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.playthepast.org\/?p=377"},"modified":"2010-12-17T08:31:52","modified_gmt":"2010-12-17T13:31:52","slug":"holiday-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.playthepast.org\/?p=377","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

The semester is winding down, and the Christmahanukwanzaakah is almost upon us. \u00a0Assignments have been\u00a0submitted (and received), last lectures have been delivered (or attended), and (hopefully) grading is nearing completion. \u00a0Everyone around the Play the Past offices is looking forward to a much deserved break in which (among many other things) we’ll forget the rigors of the semester and spend some time kicking back with a glass (or two…though, probably more) of our favorite adult holiday beverage.<\/p>\n

What a perfect time of year for each of us to share a quick word or two about the game that we’re most looking forward to playing over the break.<\/p>\n

Ethan<\/h2>\n

There are two things that you need to know about my (digital) game playing preferences. \u00a0First, I’m nowhere near as much of a PC gamer as I used to be. \u00a0I far prefer sitting on my couch and playing my 360 (or the Wii if I’m playing with my son) on my large TV than sitting in front of my computer (the same computer that I spend most of the day working on). \u00a0Second, my tastes definitely skew towards games that have a rich fictional story (usually, though not exclusively, of the sci-fi persuasion). \u00a0I’m far happier playing a game whose design or mechanics aren’t particularly revolutionary or groundbreaking if it has a compelling and immersive narrative.<\/p>\n

This is why I’ve been saving\u00a0Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood<\/a>\"\" <\/em>as my “hey, I survived the semester” treat. \u00a0I fell in love with the first\u00a0Assassin’s Creed<\/a>\"\" <\/em>(despite its well documented and discussed shortcomings), and have been a devoted fan of the series ever since (granted, the only other title in the series is Assassin’s Creed II<\/em><\/a>\"\"<\/em>). I’m completley captivated by the game’s rich (and vast) historical urban landscapes. The game’s par cour mechanic (which I find quite exhilerating) and the engaging story seal the deal for me. By all accounts, Assain’s Creed: Brotherhood<\/em> is a great improvement on the previous games in the series – which means I’m going to be a happy camper over the holiday break.<\/p>\n

On another note, I think this holiday break is the one when I’m finally going to teach my son to play Munchkin<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

Roger<\/h2>\n

My family got a Kinect for “me” for my birthday right around Thanksgiving, and other than my Bioware playthroughs<\/a> and my desperate need to get through at least some of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood <\/em>because of its classical associations, it appears that Your Shape: Fitness Evolved <\/em>is going to spend the most time in my XBox 360’s disc tray, with an occasional trade-off for Dance Central <\/em>or Kinect Sports<\/em>.<\/p>\n

What can possibly be antique about the Kinect? Strangely, the enchantment the device brings doesn’t seem to me to have anything\u00a0at all\u00a0to do with the ludics of the games made for it; ludically, Kinect Sports<\/em> is Wii Sports<\/em> is e.g. the sports games included in MonkeyBall DX.<\/em> No, the enchantment and, for me, the ancient connection, comes from the performative aspect of using your whole body to perform practomimetically and, in particular, identifying your player-character with that whole body.<\/p>\n

Your Shape <\/em>is to me the best example, precisely because its ludics, even such as they are, are so jejune. Strictly speaking, it’s not a game–and yet I would call it a practomime<\/a>, because by playing it you perform, with every muscle of your body, the narrative of your achieving those heroic goals so near and dear to our culture today–indeed, to that absolute arbiter of culture, the First Lady. Your Shape <\/em>is the freely recomposed epic story of fitness, and the fact that I’m playing that game instead of the TV tie-in Biggest Loser <\/em>Kinect game is really only a contingent detail. If I had to pick a single detail of the game as an emblem, it would be that the arm workout I’m playing through is called the “Men’s Health <\/em>Sleevebusting Arms Workout.” Yes, that’s right, I’m performing my own recomposition of the epic of busting my sleeves. I can’t wait for the dramatic conclusion, when I have to buy a new wardrobe.<\/p>\n

Trevor<\/h2>\n

Having just started my new job outside the academy I am a bit\u00a0jealous\u00a0of everyone’s time-off-for-gaming. \u00a0I don\u2019t have the vacation time to take a long break and am thus not going to have the kind of time one needs to really get into some of the games I have stacked up, like\u00a0Assassin’s Creed II<\/em><\/a>, and both BioShocks<\/a>. (I know, I am always several years behind in gaming.) While I would love to get into Civ V<\/a><\/em> I think its in my best interest for both job performance and continuing to persevere\u00a0in my doctoral program that I hold off on that\u00a0until\u00a0summer. With any luck, my wife and I will find some time to try and get my Druid and her Mage through up a few more levels in WoW<\/a>.<\/em> I will undoubtedly have time to get into some board games. We just received a copy of Settlers of Catan<\/a><\/em> as a gift, and I ordered a copy of Carcassonne<\/a> <\/em>as something to play when my mom and her fianc\u00e9 visit.<\/p>\n

Kevin<\/h2>\n

Thanks to a great Black Friday sale on Amazon, I ordered Civilization V<\/em><\/a> for myself and when it arrived I immediately handed the box to my wife to wrap up as a x-mas present from her to me. \u00a0I don’t even want to think about the number of hours that I’ve logged playing Sid Meier’s games since the original Civilization game but I’m excited to dive into Civ V over the short break that I get. \u00a0I’ve always been fascinated with the potential that the Civ games could have in the classroom and Shawn’s<\/a> latest post rekindled some of those ideas.<\/p>\n

Other than late nights with Civ, we recently picked up Rock Band 3<\/em><\/a>, so my wife and I will have some fun fighting over whether or not we should play Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” or Pink’s “So What” next; usually I lose those arguments. \u00a0I’ve also found myself completely and utterly addicted to Angry Birds Seasons<\/em><\/a> on my iPad. \u00a0I don’t know if I like the game play or the sounds and animations more. \u00a0And, of course, I’m looking forward to some quality time in Middle-Earth<\/a>, catching up on the latest instances and the Yule Festival.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah<\/h2>\n

Unlike Ethan, I never stopped being a die-hard PC Gamer. I struggle though with whether my favorite genre is strategy or RPGs. I want to say strategy, but that\u2019s clearly not always true. The crisis point occurred when I threw myself professionally into strategy games — it makes it harder for me to use them for escape, which is one of the things I prize so highly in gaming. So RPGs fill that need to be heroic, important, and powerful in a world full of challenges. This season, I’m hoping to jump into Fallout: New Vegas<\/a><\/em>. I really enjoyed Fallout 3<\/em>, though I confess being frustrated when I had reached the end unexpectedly, all the while assuming my avatar could survive any possible situation in the narrative without meeting his demise. I enjoyed the post-apocalyptic setting enough to go back and play the original Fallout<\/em>, and now I’m ready for the newest incarnation. The big question for me is how morality will modeled in the game, because making meaningful choices with consequences is a feature of RPGs I love. Will there be truly meaningful right and wrong choices and will there be more subtlety than the traditional RPG approach:<\/p>\n