Going home for Xmas

As promised, I went home yesterday.

Ok, so my town was full of weeds and the shore was littered with uncollected shells, but it was a special kind of joy to crunch through the snow, make a perfect snow man and shoot the breeze with my old pals Goldie and Savannah who were wondering where I had been. Animal Crossing is a uniquely wonderful game, no doubt about it.

In other gaming news, I finished the main quest in Fable II with a jaw dropping finale and a heck of a choice to make. I'll not say any more, but suffice it to say that I now own Castle Fairfax but I have red eyes and everybody runs away screaming in fear when they see me. I've still got plenty left to do, and there is the Knothole Island DLC to look forward to next week.

Also on the games front, The Lost and the Damned DLC for GTA looks rather special, with a biker gang fighting for survival on the streets of Liberty City. Talking of the damned, here's a game from the WTF files - Dante's Inferno - The Game. Abandon every hope, ye that click here ...

Saturday at the SSS xmas party was damnably good fun too, although I had far too much nommy food to eat and was flagging somewhat by four o'clock. I especially enjoyed learning Angelo's formal grand salute with smallsword which involves much foot stomping, hat doffing and looking down your nose at your opponent as you pay them respect before running them through. I also found that my new favourite weapons combo is cane and dagger, particularly when you can hook your opponent with the curved handle and them stab them mercilessly. Wot larks!

In audio news, I finally managed to track down a copy of the BBC radio drama version of Iain Bank's novel Espedair Street, that I first heard ten years ago and have wanted to listen to again ever since. It's produced in the style of a rockumentary look back at the story of Frozen Gold - the biggest rock group of the 70s - narrated by Paul Gambaccini. Very evocative.

Also, I don't think I've mentioned it, but I've been following the podcast version of Scott Sigler's horror novel 'Infected' with a parasitic alien infection turning people into paranoid psychopaths in a gruesome body horror stylee, and now the sequel 'Contagious' is available on iTunes as well. The free podcasts are available in numerous formats here.