You may have heard of something called a Let's Play video. These are videos on the Internet (typically YouTube) where someone plays through a game from start to finish, often providing commentary along the way.
I quite enjoy watching these videos. When done well, they can provide some nice added value to the game, and provide an opportunity to catch up on classic games that you never had the chance to play.
For quite some time now, I have harboured the plan to make a Let's Play of my own. Now, I have finally done so. The game I have chosen to play is Riven: The Sequel to Myst. This is my favourite game of the Myst series, and perhaps my favourite game of all time. Its level of depth and immersion is unparalleled by anything else I've seen, and because I know a great deal about the world of the Myst games it presented an ideal target for a Let's Play.
The first video of the series is embedded below:
Today, I have finally uploaded the final video of the 32-part series. The whole thing was recorded in a single weekend, and uploaded one by one over the period of two weeks.
All of the videos are available in this playlist.
Enjoy!
As some of you know, I play Flight Simulator. I tend to go for the serious, realistic simulation.
This video shows you can also have fun with Flight Simulator when you relax realism a bit. :)
Or nearly, anyway.
And it's been quite a year for me. A year in which I found out I would go to Japan, went there, and passed the exams so I could stay. Eight months I spent outside the Netherlands, beating my previous record of six weeks by a large margin.
I left behind friends and family, but made a lot of new friends, visited some great places, and generally had a great time. And I got to see my family again in the past week, and tonight I'm having a new years party with a lot of my old friends which is bound to be lots of fun too.
And there was work, dominated first by the Tokyo University entrance exams, then by lectures and the Rinko, and a lot of reading throughout. Looking forward I hope to get a more solid grasp on my research topic soon, and finish the lectures so I can concentrate on research. Work also meant learning Japanese, which I'm still nowhere near as good at as I would like. I have my moments, in which I construct compex sentences that surprise even me, but most of the time I'm still struggling, mainly lacking the necessary vocabulary to express myself, and the experience in building Japanese sentences on the fly.
What will 2008 bring? I can't say. More good times in Japan, I'm sure. Good progress towards my PhD would be nice too. :)
As I post this, 2008 is only 15 minutes away in Japan. Here I have another eight hours to go. But no matter in which time zone you are: happy new year! あけましておめでとうございます！ (akemashite omedetou gozaimasu)
I'm going back to the Netherlands for two weeks starting today. I must say I'm looking forward to eating decent bread again. :P
The disadvantage: I had to get up really early, it's 6:45 in the morning as I'm writing this. But I'll survive. :)
One of the things I always planned to do in Japan was Aikido. I have done Aikido for several years in the Netherlands, unfortunately a traffic accident almost three years ago permanently injured my foot which means that I've not been able to train properly since then. I'd done several attempts to start again, the latest actually rather successful as long as I didn't overexert my foot. And so I planned to also try to do it here.
But since I had enough new stuff coming at me the first period I was here, I didn't. And the longer you stay away, the harder it is to get started again. Uncertainty about my foot also kept me from actively pursuing it.
But recently I've been thinking about it a lot, and I really do want to try it again, even if I have to take it slow. So, it was time for some decisive action.
As of yesterday, I am a member of the Aikido Aikikai Hombu Dojo, the world headquarters of Aikido, located in Shinjuku. I plan to go training for the first time on Thursday (the earliest I can fit it in my schedule). Naturally, I'm quite nervous; I haven't trained for so long and there's no telling how my foot will hold out. Also it's the first time training in Japan, and at the Hombu Dojo no less. But on the other hand I'm also very much looking forward to standing on the tatami again.
Can't wait till Thursday!
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