At the end of every year they start the top of the year, of course we are about to turn over 2010 so it’s also of the decade. One so far caught my attention. Top 10 Games of the decade. I knew just from the name that I’d see a few things I own. For those who don’t know I love games. I blame this on my parents playing everything with us when we grew up from poker to Atari.

So before I opened the list I started mine.

WoW (World of Warcraft) which is one of my addictions

Guitar Hero Yeah I do that one too, music and games right up my alley.

Wii…Pick one I said fitness. I own it, just need to use it.

Halo Very fun after a few drinks, especially if you haven’t had a drink in years.

So I named four…then looked at the list. I own all but Half-Life, hadn’t even heard of it, hubby says he owns some of the old, old ones. Most of them I own more than one version of. Halo we have two or three. Same with the Sims. Have both Wii Sports and Fitness. Like three of the Guitar Heros. And due to having a kid, Mario Galaxy. How many GTA’s are there anyway…don’t answer that I probably have them all. Bejeweled is the only one that I only play the free ones online.

The only thing in my opinion that’s missing is poker, but again that’s online so the list has to do. Anything you see missing?

Peggle and Bejeweled collectively represent the breakthrough of PopCap games. This alone would make them “games of the decade”, given the level of ubiquity that PopCap has managed to achieve in the time since Bejeweled first appeared in 2001, but there’s so much more to them that they may well be the games that most represent the decade that may yet be known as the “aughts”.

Bejeweled long held a revered place in the hearts of browser-gamers as PopCap’s shining star, with gameplay that was almost too simple to be believed and a play style that was as much dumb luck as it was strategy — sure, those who played it more would generally get better scores than those playing it for the first time, but the possibility always exists for one of those nigh-endless combos that just racks up the points in a moment of blind luck.

Pushing Bejeweled into the casual stratosphere is the iteration that currently resides on Facebook, the insidiously addictive Bejeweled Blitz. Chris Donlan at Edge Magazine put it wonderfully in his recent writeup of Bejeweled Blitz:

[Bejeweled Blitz] advertises itself as a high-score rush, each game built to last exactly one minute — plus the Last Hurrah section in which any remaining unmatched special gems explode lavishly — suggesting you can probably get in a round before loading up Excel or checking the cricket scores.

That’s a total lie, of course. Blitz doesn’t take a minute to play — it takes a minute to play once, but that first go is always just theatre.

That’s exactly it — it takes a minute to play, but you could sit there and kill an hour easy trying to surpass the next person on your Facebook leaderboard, or trying to surpass 400,000 points, or trying to score 100,000 points for the 250th time, thus rendering that particular landmark “gold” on your stats page. Facebook is the perfect platform for casual games, and Blitz is the most perfect integration of casual gaming with social media to date. And yes, I’m including Mafia Wars and frigging Farmville in that discussion, if only because their constant updates drove me utterly bonkers until I figured out how to turn them off.

Peggle broke through in a completely different way: by appealing to so-called “hardcore” gamers while never sacrificing its casual appeal. Over the last year or so, you could find Peggle on just about every format imaginable — Xbox 360, PS3, iPhone, DS, and, of course, PC — and ever so slowly, people whose typical gaming diet consisted of things like Dragon Age, or Resident Evil, or even Guitar Hero (hi!) were confessing their addiction to Peggle. Any game that can have you playing against someone who has never played before (during which the newbie wins about half the time) one minute and struggling against some of the most wicked challenges ever put to digital media the next, all the while never allowing for complaints of “random shots” or “dumb luck” is something special indeed.

Only recently, I’ve blown the metaphorical dust off the Xbox Live Arcade version, trying to beat all 75 of the ridiculous challenges for the sake of 25 measly GamerScore points. Clearly, a Peggle addiction is one that may lie dormant for months at a time, but never disappears completely.

Together, Bejeweled and Peggle are proof that the rise of casual gaming does not signal the coming of the gaming apocalypse; or, if they do, we’ll be too busy trying to best our own scores as to not see it coming.

My wife calls it my “girlfriend”. I call it the greatest invention since the Egg McMuffin. It is, quite literally, the best Christmas gift you can possibly give. And here are the 10 reasons why…

10. The Camera
I used to lug my camera everywhere. Yes, the camera took 10 migapixel shots, but how often did I really need a picture that big when shooting my daughter in the backyard? 3 migs is good enough for me and perfect for uploading to Facebook.

9. Facebook & Twitter
Oh the wonders of FB. Through this amazing network, all of my friends (and some I don’t even know) can see my status updates & pictures & stuff. The Facebook app is my favorite networking app, but I also enjoy Le Twitter to chat with friends all over the world!

8. My Calendar
Seriously, if I didn’t have it, I would be lost. I can’t keep track where or what I’m doing today, let alone next week. And you’d be surprised at how often I’m asked, “So…what are ya doing next week?”

7. AOL Radio
When I feel the urge, I fire this little radio app up and TA-DA! Instant radio! And not crappy, FM radio either. It’s really great radio and I can pick whichever format I choose. So a little ambiant to wind me down, a little alternative rock to pick me up, and a little R&B to get me ready for a night out. You name it, AOL Radio has it.

6. Sportacular
Need a score? Got it. Need a player’s stats? Got it. Need a schedule? Got it. Anything you might need for a sports fan, Sportacular has it. I’m sure there are a gazillion apps out there for sports, but it’s my favorite.

5. Tipulator
I am terrible about tipping. Not because I’m cheap (which I am, but it has nothing to do with tipping), but because I’m terrible at figuring out how much someone deserves after serving me food/beer/lapdances (JUST KIDDING HONEY!). It is a valuable commodity also when eating out with friends and trying to tip on a split bill.

4. Movies On The “Big Screen”
The screen size of the IPhone is nice simply because when I watch movies or tv shows on it, I don’t have to squint. It’s large enough that can set it down on the plane and watch it without getting a headache.

3. The IPod
Yes…I own an Ipod. Yes…having my music on my IPhone is no different than the IPod. But its one less thing I have to cart around. And for me, that is important.

2. Bejeweled 2
My favorite game and I have wasted many an hour at the airport, on a plane or in my hotel room playing this simple game. It’s my app to pass the time and I use it probably once every day.

1. The Internet
Where would we be without it? Good question. And with my IPhone I can be on it 24 hours a day. Need to check email? No problem. Need to find a movie theatre? Google Maps. Need to find a movie time? Moviefone. Need to find a place to eat before? Urbanspoon. There are so many applications that run from the internet that without it it’s kind of useless. So having it available whenever I need it is one of the true blessings of technology. And the 3G network thing is not so bad!

There are truly a hundred other things I love about the IPhone. Recently I downloaded a video editing program called “ReelDirector” that is supposed to be cool. And there is also the “Texts From Last Night” app which is hysterical! And the various educational apps I have downloaded so I don’t sound like an idiot when my daughter asks me which planet is the 6th farthest from the sun. I also have 2 fitness apps, Photoshop to tweek my pictures, “Shazam” for when I hear a song in a store and want to know who sings it, my RSS Reader for when my friends update their blogs, “Concerts” to find out where U2 will be playing next, etc, etc….

If you haven’t noticed how Facebook has become the latest gaming platform, then you aren’t really paying attention to anything.  That, or you’ve just been ignoring everything on Facebook other than pokes and which Scooby Doo character you are.  All those Farmville and Mafia Wars invites aren’t super pokes, they’re games, and they are huge.  Just today there were over 28 million people playing Farmville.  There were over 78 million active users in the past month.

afghanistan better replace their fields with software startups soon

Just so you know, the latest big budget hardcore game to come out was Modern Warfare 2, which sold 7 million copies in one day (note: I’ve seen other stats that are less, but whatever, the point is made).  That’s the largest single day sale amount for console games.  A year ago, World of Warcraft hit the 11 million user mark for active users.  World of Warcraft pretty much resembles opium, so what does that say about Farmville?

Facebook is capturing an insane amount of new gamers.  There are people who probably play Farmville, Mafia Wars, and Farkle daily, yet do not consider themselves as gamers.  I don’t know what they see themselves as, but they certainly aren’t non-gamers.  That alone I could blow into a huge topic, but I won’t today.  The point is if a person is using Facebook, they are eventually going to get dragged into gaming, whether they like it or not.  And dammit, that is a gateway drug if I’ve ever seen one.  Oh, and did I mention that Facebook has over 100 million US active users?

This capturing of new gamers will prove interesting to the style of games to come.  One click interfaces that rely on waiting seems to be a very large percentage of these Facebook games.  Mafia Wars basically utilizes this mode of play, through just clicking through an interface and waiting until you can do it again.  Is this style of play a regression of gaming, or just stripping it down close to a game’s core: number crunching.  I mean, Farmville is just time and money management with cute animals.

Then there is the combination of horribly addictive games with social media, such as Bejeweled.  Originally a time wasting single-player game, Bejeweled has become the de-facto competition in my circle of Facebook friends and family.  A major difference here is that time is a pressure cooker and waiting is only for seeing your friend’s new weekly scores.  This is definitely on the immediate gratification side of games, including Farkle (same concept), that Facebook is not really pushing as a form of gaming, but enhancing.

This crosses us over to the games on other platforms that use Facebook as a medium.  Really, Bejeweled can take place anywhere and utilize Facebook in the same way it does while being played on Facebook.  Recently the iPod app of Bejeweled added in Facebook sync for the newly added Blitz mode (for the iPod app).  New games on major consoles utilize this same approach of comparing your gaming ability with your friends as well as sharing the fact that you are playing a game.  The latter part of that statement alone could be a term paper in itself…

Well, I certainly did not intend on writing this much and so broadly.  I would like to revisit this and narrow down the topics within it and present my thoughts better, but I guess that’s what you get when I’ve been tired all week.  So, Facebook is a new gaming platform and if you’re on Facebook, chances are if you’re not already playing one of the games, you’ll eventually become a gamer, whether you realize it or not.

]]> http://uxpsych.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/addictive-games/ Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:08:50 +0000 Alicja http://uxpsych.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/addictive-games/ http://anaphilo.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/bejeweled-blitz/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:00:58 +0000 Crispy http://anaphilo.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/bejeweled-blitz/

This game is great, I’ve got over 200k on it so far. has anyone else played? If so, comment your top score. BTW, cheats don’t exist for this game anymore, so quit looking!

I first got into Bejeweled while browsing applications on Facebook, and found it very entertaining. When I heard it was released on the App Store, I knew I had to have it. For those of you that don’t know what Bejeweled is, it’s a puzzle game which involves you swapping adjacent gems with each other in order to make lines of the same gems. When you get 3 in a row, they ‘blow up’ and are replaced with more gems. You can also link more of these gems together to make chains which give you bonus’s.

The iPhone version of Bejeweled 2 is very similar to other versions. It features 4 game modes, Classic, Action, Endless and Blitz. Classic involves players filling up a bar at the bottom of the screen every time they get a chain. When it is full, the player is moved onto a new level. The game ends when there are no moves possible that a player can do. Action is a timed game in which players must find chains in order to add more time to the bar. There is always an available move, and the game ends when the time runs out. Endless is exactly what it says, an untimed and unscored endless game. It is a great game for beginners. Finally Blitz (which is my favourite) is again a timed game. Players get a 1 minute time limit in which to score as many points as they can. The best part about this mode is that from your iPhone, scores can be uploaded to Facebook and compared with your friends. Your friends do not need to have the iPhone version either, they can play and compare on Facebook. The Touch screen is a nice feature for the game though, it makes it much easier than using a mouse.

If you are a fan of puzzle games, then this is a must for you. Bejeweled really is the king of its genre and well worth the £1.79 they charge for it on the App Store. You can pick it up and play any time even if its just a quick one minute game you want to play, or a half hour session. It is by far the game I have played most on my iPhone.

Final Score – 5/5

Here are five of the most basic do’s and don’t’s to follow while commuting on NJ Transit. It’s hard out there for a commuter, but with a little train etiquette, I think we can all…get on the right track? I’m sorry, that was painful for me, too. Anyway, enjoy! And, after reading through my ideas, tell me: Do you have any wisdom to pass along?

Just your typical jam-packed, peak-hour train (Photo from DustandRust.com)

DO: Read. Duh. Too many books, too little time… but two hours a day on the train helps! I love borrowing books from work that I’ve been working with and reading them on the train. Even though I don’t necessarily have to read the books I help produce, doing so allows me to do my job much better. I’m able to better communicate with designers (who may have read the book) and editors (who have not only read the book, but are intimately involved with it to the extent of being in a relationship). Right now, I skew toward YA books and fun middle-grade series, like Allie Finkle (though I’m definitely partial to Allie because of her name! Well, that, and Allie’s spunky voice, courtesy of YA mastermind Meg Cabot).

DON’T: Comment on your neighbor’s reading choice. Well, sometimes this is OK I suppose. For instance, the occasional “I loved that book” is fine with me, as is that “I heard about that book. Are you enjoying it?” But I’ve had people give away plot twists and endings (really? REALLY?) while I’m only on Chapter One, and that’s just rude. RUDE, I tell ya! And don’t read over people’s shoulders, unless you’re commuting with them and you’ve both agreed to read the book at the same time, like my commuting buddy Andrew and I did with Catching Fire (and will likely do with the third book in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy when it comes out next summer). Oh, and when someone is doing a crossword or Sudoku puzzle, please refrain from giving them the answers or telling them how quickly you were able to finish it that morning (this means you, smug man from Metropark!).

DO: Sleep. This editourist leaves for work at 6:40 AM and doesn’t return home until 7:15 PM, leaving time for dinner, some freelance work, maybe a little TV, and bed. I like to catch up on sleep on my way to work. New York Penn is the final stop, so it’s nearly impossible to sleep through it. Although, I do have fears of one day missing the stop and ending up in the Sunnyside train yard… but I’ll deal with that when it happens.

DON’T: Snore, drool excessively, or sleep on the passenger next to you’s shoulder. Sometimes you can’t help it. I understand. But please, please try.

DO: Play with your new Droid ERIS phone, because you have one! And by you, I mean me, and it’s been a life-changing experience. I don’t think it’s specifically the ERIS that’s changed my life, but having a phone with internet capabilities. Now I can use my train time to catch up on news, personal email, and reading Publishers Weekly (which has a pretty clean Mobile look, mind you!). I’m also loving the text application, because it shows up as an IM and logs my conversations. My days of accidently deleting important messages are gone!

DON’T: Play games or watch YouTube videos on your phone with the sound on. I’m begging you. I’m asking you to mute it partially because it’s just plain annoying and inconsiderate, but mostly because the sounds are totally going to distract me from whatever I’m trying to do. For instance, if I’m reading but I keep hearing “beep” and “chirrrrp” from your phone, I’m going to look over your shoulder to see what’s going on. I want you to clear the screen in Tetris! I want you to find a match in Bejeweled! I’m your biggest fan! But it’s incredibly creepy for me to be watching you play these games, so please, save this easily-distracted girl the trouble and mute it. Or, wear headphones. Preferably big, cool-looking ones. Big, cool-looking, orange ones (birthday present, hint hint!).

DO: Observe the strange breed that is the NJ Transit passenger. Man, what characters. NJ Transit passengers range from the Jewish pants salesman arguing on the phone with his mom about Shabbas dinner, to the most definitely not legal high-school boys coming home from the city drunk, to the 80-something man hitting on the conductor… the list goes on, and yes, these are all true examples. Andrew and I love people-watching on the train. It’s hard to avoid doing anyway, so you might as well enjoy it.

DON’T: Get caught observing the strange breed that is the NJ Transit passenger. You’ll get hit on, threatened, glared at, and made to feel generally uncomfortable. Probably because you’re being a total creeper and you deserve it.

DO: Zone out into space. One of my favorite ways to pass the time. Grab a window seat, make yourself comfortable, and let yourself tune out for a while. Why not?

DON’T: Zone out long enough to miss conductors’ instructions (or your station stop, for that matter). Here’s why not: As I’ve learned the hard way, you often have to walk forward or backward cars in order to make your stop. This is especially true during peak hours, and it changes depending on which train you catch. And here’s another why not: The conductor will often make a speech that sounds like this: “This train will not stop in [your stop]. I repeat, this train will not stop in [your stop]. This train will make all station stops except for [your stop]. That is, all stops except [your stop]. We will not stop in [your stop]. No [your stop].” When you ask the conductor why you’re passing the stop you want to get off at, he’s not going to think it’s funny. Trust me.

BONUS DON’T: Argue with the conductor. She does not have the ability to magically turn the train around. Really. Arguing is going to get you nowhere but further in the wrong direction. Accept your mistake, ask how to fix it, and laugh about it later. I did!

Recently, before boarding a transatlantic flight, I caved to the impulse to buy an iPhone app, and $2.99 later I was the proud owner of Bejeweled 2, the only game in the app store that I’d ever heard of.

By way of background, I should share that two decades ago I was know to wile away many a college campus visit (and, subsequently, a reasonable portion of first semester freshman year), playing Tetris into the wee hours of the morning on Apple LC computers.   I still have a soft spot for the mindless computer puzzler – though with drastically less time on my hands.

Bejeweled works as follows: your job is to make groupings of three or more jewels in a line; you can only move two adjacent jewels at a time; and for a move to be legal it must create a group of three.

It isn’t a great game, but it has one aspect that I find fascinating.  The way the game is programmed, there is always a legal move to be made – which is surprising since they’re often hard to find and the rules governing the game are so simple.  And this is the nut of what fascinates me: even knowing this, and even in the confines of a simple, 8×8 board, it’s easy to convince yourself that there are no moves to play.

The practice of playing, then, is as a chance to remind yourself that, no matter what you see, there’s always a move for you to make.  You get to see yourself talk yourself out of what is possible, time and time again, until you finally learn that you can always make a move.

Feels a lot like life to me: seeing the board, seeing the moves you think you can make, not seeing anything that’s possible, and telling yourself – even though you know the opposite to be true – that there’s nothing that you can do.

There’s always a move to make.  There’s always something you can do to make yourself better, to move forward, to make a change.  Always.  No matter what.

: : : : : : : : : : :

If you have both Facebook and a lot of work to do, avoid Bejeweled Blitz. While having a 1-minute limit on the good-old jewel-switching game might seem like a great way to spend a little time having fun before returning to your task at hand, what really happens is that it makes you want to play more and more and again and again. To make it worse, they have a version of Blitz integrated into the Bejeweled for iPhone application. How addicting is this game? Let me put it this way: I paid $2.99 for Bejeweled for iPhone just to play Blitz, a free online game. I paid $2.99 for a free game.

- Quote from my upcoming guide Procrastination: When It’s Time To Stop And Say “Fuck It!”

(baogame.vn) – Những cái tên như Bejeweled, Big Money, Dynomite gợi cho bạn điều gì? Vâng, đó điều là những sản phẩm trứ danh từ lò đào tạo PopCap Games, nơi chuyên sản xuất các game phổ thông (casual game) được rất nhiều người ưa chuộng. Và cái tên gần nhất xuất xưởng tại đây, Gyromancer, cũng đã chính thức xuất hiện trên hệ thống tải về Steam vào ngày hôm qua. Vậy đâu là sự khác biệt giữa Gyromancer so với các tựa game khác cũng của hãng PopCap, câu hỏi này có lẽ phải dành cho… Square Enix!

Source: Gyromancer – Xếp hình kim cương

You know you are not having a good day, or series of days, when someone tells you they are TRYING not to laugh at you. And the drama you are going through. Actually the entire statement was “I’m trying not to laugh at your misfortune, but seriously.” I agree. Seriously.

Princess Girl spent the night with her grandmother on Saturday night. I woke up on Sunday morning and headed straight for the computer. Hey, a girl’s got to get her Facebook fix in. Cut me some slack. A couple games of Bejeweled later, I decide to get into the shower. I was feeling chilly. I knew a hot shower would warm me right up. On my way to the shower I glanced over at the thermostat.

64* Crap. No wonder I’m feeling chilly.

I take my shower. Once I’m warm and toasty, I grab the flashlight and head to the basement. Ok, the furnace is so far outside my realm of knowledge I can’t even begin to determine what the problem might be. I can tell that the fan is running, but that’s about it. I call my cousin. I ask her and her husband their advice. I can’t even figure out how to remove the access panel over the phone, but they’d be happy to come out and look at it with me. They come out and we do figure out the access panel. Mike determines the igniter on the thermal-coupler isn’t working. It’s Sunday. I call and request service first thing Monday morning. We have a space heater. It’s not 20 below. We’ll be fine. If worst comes to worst, I think, Princess Girl can always sleep with me.

She started off in her own bed, but about 3AM she was crawling into mine.

Monday morning bright and early the guy is there to fix it. He replaces exactly what we thought was the culprit and the heat kicks right on. And the fan keeps running and running. He tells me the processor is bad. They don’t have the part in the shop; they’ll have to get one in town. He’ll be back later. But the good news is I’ll have heat until then.

About an hour later the heat stops working.

I snuggle up with the space heater until he calls back around 2pm. He’s got the part. He’ll be right over. “What?” he’s shocked. “You don’t have heat?” He’ll get me fixed right up. He replaces the second part. The heat kicks on. I can feel it beginning to get toasty warm in my house once again.

About an hour later I leave to pick Princess Girl up from school and run an errand. When I return home… You guessed it – NO HEAT. I cranked the thermostat up to 75* and nothing. No fan, no heat. Of course at this point it is after hours again. I leave a message asking them to please come first thing in the morning as we are without heat yet again.

A very kind friend brings over three additional space heaters. Princess Girl is thrilled. She will get to sleep in her own bed! And still be warm! I thank my friend profusely. Princess Girl takes one of the heaters to her room immediately. I plug one into an outlet on the other side of the living room. I turn it on. I walk away. All the power goes out.

Crap! I’ve blown a fuse. But I can see the lights are still shining upstairs. PG is all good. I unplug the second heater and go down to flip the fuse. I’m smarter than the fuse box (or so I think). I take the heater into the next room. I’ll plug it in there; the heat will still be able to reach the living room.

I plug it in. I turn it on. I walk away. All the power goes out.

Crap, crap and more crap! Apparently, the main floor can only handle one space heater at a time. Oh well, at least Princess Girl will still get to be warm in her room tonight.

I post the latest update on Facebook with the disclaimer that “You just can’t make up this shtuff.” It was at this point when that same very kind friend responded to my comment on with “I’m trying not to laugh at your misfortune, but seriously.” Yeah. Exactly.

The guy shows up first thing Tuesday morning. “What? You don’t have heat again? You are making me feel bad.” Gee, dude, how do you think I am feeling right about now?? He tells me there is yet a third part that is bad. Of course they don’t have it in stock. Of course they will have to go into town to get it.

He returns later that morning with the third new part. And I have heat again! I wonder how long it will last. So does the heating guy. He tells me, “I’ll call you later this afternoon to make sure you still have heat.” Gee, thanks.

At this point, I think I basically have a brand new furnace.

mucho secreto, originally uploaded by CaitlinKrisko.

On our recent tour to the west coast, the guys and I sipped on our childhood nostalgia like it was fancy champagne, and of course, the beautiful, bejeweled “Star Road” from Super Mario World popped up.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan and supporter of the newer game systems like, and I am willing to admit that I cannot rock out to my favorite Beatles tunes on the SNES…

HOWEVER

Rock Band 3 wasn’t there for me when I was under three layers of bedding as a kid with the chicken pox and a fever skyrocketing me to the moon.

But Mario, and Yoshi (all FOUR colors of him) are friends that have been with me since the first birthday I can remember. They’re my “go to” activity when I need some solid team work accomplished!

Forget Wii Music, give me some Mario Paint, and lets call it a day!

… has lost some of it’s charm.

I think it’s the post-exam realisation that we waste too much time on facebook, and the proportionate free time effect. The greater our proportion of free time, the less inclined we are to log on to facebook and waste away the hours. But given exam week, suddenly it’s the most attractive thing ever, easily ranking above all the study we have to do .

My inability to stay entertained by facebook for long periods of time may or may not have anything to do with the fact that Bejeweled Blitz! is now available as part of the iPhone app…

Also, the onslaught of random facebook groups continues, with the latest:

“i love how the word ‘bed’ actually looks like a bed”

Think about it.

Ahhh Thanksgiving. The glorious American holiday where we celebrate our early ancestors hostile oppression and destruction of the early Native Americans; the time of year when we engorge ourselves like ravenous beasts, all the while bitching and moaning about all the irritating idiosyncracies of our beloved relatives  then collapse into a bloated heap in the recliner to watch some good ‘ol American football. Triptophan, I fucking love you.

I can’t stop you from ending the holiday looking like this,

but I can provide you with salvation from the always inevitable moment of, “My fucking relatives are psychotic fucks…when will this fuckin’ holiday ever end so they can go back to fuckin’ crazy town, or wherever the fuck they live!?!?” Enter the iPhone. That’s right, once again the magical powers of this blessed device can help. I recommend these apps to help you make it through the holiday:

Turkey Tumble

The premise of this game is simple. Throw cranberry sauce cans at the deliciously succulent bird and make him land on the platform below without falling off the ledge. It doesn’t get any more holiday spirited than that. The graphics are pretty decent and the free version gives you 18 awesome levels of good ‘ol turkey assault. I personally like to relieve stress just by chucking the can directly at his head. A perfect way to escape having to explain to Aunt Sue why you’re still in community college for the 6th year.

Free Turkey Call

The developers of this app say that this is a must-have for those who are out hunting turkeys or if you want to annoy someone with the sound of turkeys. Bingo! This app features eleven different turkey sounds.  (I had no idea that turkey vocabulary was so richly diverse.) The sounds are well recorded and can either be played once or looped to play over and over again.  Listed above each call is also a little blurb on how the call sounds and what the turkey call is used for.  I propose two incredibly satisfying uses for this app:

 1) The moment your family’s chosen carver slices into the bird have your iPhone set to this app, scroll down to gobbling, and let the good times roll.  Feel free to make the turkey gobble with each slice.  I know I will. 

2) When Uncle Bob wants to discuss in grisly detail his recent colonoscopy, set this bad boy on Kee Kee Run, loop it, and block out all the nauseating details.  (Trust me on choosing Kee Kee Run, it is hands down the most annoying turkey vocalization on the app.  You’ll thank me in the end)

Turkey Trot

You just finished sucking down enough food into your gaping hole to feed a third world country.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always celebrate a Thanksgiving feeding frenzy with a good old-fashioned power dump.  How will I help ease my stool along this holiday season? Playing Turkey Trot.  (I just realized how appropriate this name really is, considering most of us will be playing it while we are experiencing the trots.) This app is Bejeweled meets Thanksgiving, and as we all know Bejeweled kicks ass.  I recommend turning the volume down on this app however, because it does loop the song “Oh, Susannah” over and over again, while it isn’t too terribly annoying I personally wouldn’t want anyone walking by to hear that song playing from the “throne room”.  That could be a wee bit difficult to explain.  

Those are the three apps I will be utilizing the most this holiday.  I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving.  I know I will, because I will have my iPhone with me  making this holiday just a little brighter.

Hi everyone !

I hope you guys did not miss me that much. Yes I know that i havent updated my blog since that video i made, sorry ! >.<

anyway, I’m about to update some stuff in some pages so please check them out !

Yesterday, a friend of mine said to me : ” Rosie, play Cafe World on Facebook so that you can be my neighbor!” and I was just like : “ok…you just want me to be your neighbor” but I said to myself ” But i don’t want to play those games anymore, they are too addictive >.<” But since I promised her I would add her as my neighbor on Cafe World…I actually started to play the game at around 11pm ! I stayed up till 1am because I wanted to level up HAHA

Not only Cafe World is addictive but there are plenty of games and other apps like the “Social Interview” and another one which is similar to that have become very popular for the past weeks…. From my opinions, I just think those stuff are just silly and just want you to waste time as well as you become lazy and very unproductive with your academic works. But yeah..that’s just my opinions.

I admit I used to be addictive to Restaurant City but I never reached that high up, I was never motivated lol I also played the Bejeweled and Pet Society. I just played these games for a short term then I get bored of it. Well there is a good reason why I don’t play 6-12 hours in a row because it’s just bad for my eyes. So try not to be in front of your computer too much ! unless if you’re working

Anyway ! A few days ago, I started a new knitting project This one is very big and long >.< It has to be done by this time next month so I better work hard but I also have final exams coming up too T___T sob sob…

I’m gonna leave with you guys for now. Please check out my new video on my youtube channel @ http://www.youtube.com/kaori314 and subscribe too!

Take care!

Rosie

The failure is weighing heavily on my shoulders now… How many more times will I subject myself to this pain? They say that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, expecting a different result; and yet I go back time and time again. I hope against hope that this time will be different. This time I will succeed and experience that ever fleeting sense of accomplishment. Like a drug addict, I crave it. I need a fix. Sixty seconds… over and over. Failure each time, but I know, just like a seasoned gambler posted at a slot machine, that my time is coming. I must be patient. I must hold out. If I persevere, victory will be mine. One victory will outshine fifty losses. I just need that one. I will conquer Bejeweled Blitz!!