The Early Learning Centre on Anakin Skywalker

UPDATE: Because of the amount of attention this post is getting, can I first say “Thank you”?  Then I would like to clear a few things up.
1. Yes, this was tongue-in-cheek.  I am not annoyed in any way. (Who would be?)
2. I have contacted the Early Learning Representative and informed him that this is being spread around.  I hope he appreciates it.
3. If you wish to follow me further, my Twitter account is @ozmills (opens in a new tab) – I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts on similar interactions you may have had with Customer Service.

ORIGINAL: A couple of days ago, I was walking past the Early Learning Centre (A shop for very young children in the UK) and it struck me that it was incredibly strange for them to be selling, and advertising, Anakin Skywalker toys.  Now, I didn’t really mind.  I merely thought it amusing that the murderer of “Younglings” would be thought of as a positive character in other section of the franchise, so, on a whim, I sent them an email.

They responded.  In an awesome way.

My Journey Through That Land – Oblivion Playthrough

You know, I have no idea what the land in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is called.  It’s probably mentioned somewhere, heck, it’s probably on the in-game map, but it isn’t coming to mind.  So instead of some dramatic opening title, I instead hope you enjoy this first writeup of what I hope will turn into a great many writeups of my forays into … That Land … in Oblivion.

Western Gameplay – Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

I should come clean.  I had not even heard of Call of Juarez until the day before it appeared on my doorstep.  I didn’t know what it was about, I didn’t know that it was a prequel, I had no intention of playing through the first game, and I was frankly expecting a terrible experience.

After booting it up, however, I found myself having a very exciting time.  …if I ignored certain things.

Army of Two – A lesson in bromosexuality

I went into playing Army of Two expecting a homosexual-innuendo-charged joyride of comedy and gunplay, but not expecting anything special from a gameplay point of view.

Anyone who has played this game can tell where I went wrong with this opinion.

Let me start explaining my opinion by saying that this game is not a bad game by any stretch, I definitely enjoyed it, but I cannot say that it should be held aloft in the sort of way that the original marketing might have had me believe.  It was enjoyable, but there is nothing here that is going to get me coming back to it for any great length of time.

Anything Goes – A Fallout 3 Commentary

Rarely does a game come out that not just interests me, but pushes the envelope of gametypes that I can honestly say that I have enjoyed.  Fallout 3 not only does that, but has done it in such a way that makes me wish for more.

I’m not sure what I thought Fallout 3 was going to be.  Perhaps I thought it was going to be a standard-fare run-and-gun FPS, or perhaps I thought that it was going to be a linear, story-driven shooter, but I could not have been more wrong.

In this post, I want to talk about a few of the aspects of Fallout 3 which have taken me out of my gaming “comfort zone” and affected me in the most overwhelmingly positive way.

Let’s start with an introduction (Warning, this post contains spoilers for early sections of Fallout 3):

Halo Wars – A Biased Perspective

Videogames Journalist Rob Fahey has recently gone on record in a podcast to say that if you are going to review something, you should state your bias first.  Therefore I shall state the following:  As has been said in my previous post, and now in my Bio, I have a certain affinity towards the Halo franchise.  Whether or not the games themselves are any good, it means a great deal to me in terms of the events leading up to now.

Regardless, I feel that I have a certain amount to say about the most recent game release based on this franchise, which I have finally picked up to play.

Touch Sensitive

In seeing a large number of my friends doing what I have wanted to do for months, start a podcast, or blog, or any number of professional outlets, I have decided to follow their example by getting on with what was meant to have started a long time ago:

I intend, hereafter, to write about games.  Video games, Card games, Board games, Roleplaying games.  Whatever games take my fancy.

So, I suppose I should start with an introduction to who I am, followed tomorrow by a lovely post about what I am currently doing.  On that note: