Book clubs are popular all over the world, you know the drill, people read a book for a month then gather to discuss it’s merits over coffee. Have you ever wondered why people never do they same with video games? No? Well some people in London did and Sprite Club was born. So, people play a video game for a month then gather (over Skype, this is the 21st century after all) to discuss it’s merits over a pint or two.

As part of that here is my first video game review for the club:

Braid

The first thing you notice when you play Braid is the the way it looks. The backdrops and design are stunning, the backgrounds look like some beautiful watercolour painting from the 17th century. Then you notice the character design, it’s dull and uninspired the main character is a man in a suit. You would have thought they could have thought of something better. The main enemies you encounter are balls of hay with eyes and legs, they actually cross the border to being downright ugly.

None of this matters though, the important thing with 2d platformers is how it plays. The game play in this is truly interesting: You can rewind and fast forward time whenever you want. With this time manipulation function you soon realise that it is not a platformer at all but a puzzle game. Some of the puzzles are mind bending brilliant. Often a puzzle can have you flummoxed for ages but when the penny drops it makes a very loud noise on the floor. The combination of relief and achievement is wonderful.

Saying this though my X Box died and the quickly procured replacement couldn’t load the save files from my hard disk. I couldn’t really feel any compulsion to start again. Which is a damning indictment of any game.

6/10 – Wonderful in flashes but ultimately lacking replay value for me.

I once read somewhere that most New Year Resolutions are broken by mid February. Lucky for me I haven’t bothered to make any this year. So while gym goers up and down Britain are hanging up their trainers, I’m sitting on my sofa in Japan feeling all superior because I’ve not given up anything.

I did think that there is no New Year tradition of making self improvements in Japan. However last year I was given one of these:

This rotund red fellow is apparently modelled after a very important man in Buddhism and is given to people without the pupils coloured in. It is called a Daruma doll and it is hollow and made of papier-mâché. I was told by my student that I was to make a wish, colour one pupil in and then, once the wish came true, I could colour in the other. So I dutifully made my wish, coloured in a pupil and waited.

My wish did not come true all year.

So now it sits on my desk taunting me with it’s never ending wink. The past week I have been wondering quite what to do with it. Do I just throw the useless thing in the bin? Maybe I could drop it from a great hight. Perhaps I give it a ritualistic burning. Or does it roll over to the new year, much like the Lotto?

Asking people does not seem to have gotten me any closer to the answer so I decided to look at Wikipedia, the bastion of all knowledge, in an attempt to solve my problem. I discovered that I had done the whole thing wrong. You are not supposed to make a wish at all, but you should make a resolution, a goal or a big task. Leaving one eye blank is supposed to motivate you to work to finish the task because every time you look at it you are reminded of it. Which I guess makes sense.

So, I’ve done it all wrong then, no wonder my wish did not come true. I did find out what is done with them upon the year end though. Apparently they are brought back to the shrine they came from and a mass burning it is!

As I don’t know where mine originated, I guess I should give him a private send off. Or is that a little sacrilegious?

Tea is very important to British people. Incredibly important, any nation that can rename the final, main, meal of the day to “tea” has to be a bit obsessed.  So it doesn’t take long for your average Brit to realise that normal (read: tea from tea bags) tea is just not as good here.

This is easily remedied however, due it’s long staying power it is easy to ask family and friends for supplies. The huge box of PG Tips in my kitchen which has lasted about 6 months is testament to that. I soon discovered there are no good dunking biscuits though.

DISASTER!

In Japan there are none of the brands that a British guy trusts. No HobNobs, no Rich Teas, nothing. The Japanese equivalents just aren’t as good. Perhaps because there is no culture of dunking here, Japanese biscuits just don’t seem to be up to the task.

Japanese tea drinking culture seems to be a bit odd in general. Ice teas are popular enough here, especially Oolong, Jasmin and Lemon. In fact, ice tea plus shochu is very widely drunk. These are all actually quite nice though, unlike the cold milk “afternoon” tea that is sold here. After tasting it I can’t think of any time in the day, afternoon, morning or evening, I would want to drink it again. It’s still strange that I have to specify that I want my tea hot when I go to cafés.

As I wanted to find some sort of biscuits to enjoy with my tea I decided to set up Pepsi challenge style blind independent taste tests. (Hey! Nights are long and I get bored easily).

So 3 brave candidates took the challenge.

Candidate 1, RS, enjoys his tea with milk and 1 sugar. He is Scottish.

Candidate 2, YK, also prefers hers with milk and 1 sugar. She is Japanese.

Candidate 3, MH, likes his tea simply with milk and no sugar. He is an Englishman.

6 biscuits were tested and feedback was as follows,

Biscuit 1: Coconut Sable

Reactions to this one were largely positive, RS commented that it was sweet and sugary while MH added that it was tasty and soft. However it was perhaps too soft for YK who commented that it melted immediately, it should be mentioned though that she instantly went for a second bite. Overall it seems that this biscuit has a good taste but is perhaps too soft for effective dunking.

Biscuit 2: Salt and Chocolate Digestive

Things started badly for this biscuit, with MH wondering if it was orange flavoured and stated that the chocolate and the tea did not react well. YK disagreed and simply exclaimed that the chocolate was delicious. RS gave a more balanced view and said that this biscuit was preferable to the Coconut Sable but really hard to chew. So a mixed reception greeted this one.

Biscuit 3: Homepie Premium.

The runt of the litter, MH said that it had no taste, RS elaborated by saying that it does not add anything to the tea, while YK said it was disgusting. A no go then.

Biscuit 4: Midnight Cookie

The uniquely named Midnight Cookie was also not a hit. YK again said it was disgusting,  RS complemented on the texture but lamented on the fact it turned to mush as soon as it was put into the tea. MH added that it tasted like sand. Overall then not a good dipping experience, it’s just too soft.

Biscuit 5: Oreo

A big hit with the testers. RS waxed lyrical that as soon as he put it in his mouth there was “sweetie goodness”. YK loved it, taking four bites of this one. MH simply added “NOM! NOM! NOM!”. Here I feel the reactions speak for themselves.

Biscuit 6: Pocky

Pocky was a left-field choice, not a biscuit per se but a long pretzel stick covered in chocolate. As MH noted this made it excellent for stirring the tea but he found the taste disappointing. YK felt that the Pocky needed two dips to get the tea to absorb and as a result the chocolate melted. RS felt it was good but would not have it in tea all the time. So the Pocky turned out to be a disappointment, the advantage of the shape was far outweighed by the mess created by the chocolate dripping on the floor.

Biscuit 7: Regular Digestive

This was considered to be a control of sorts, a biscuit readily available in both the UK and Japan would be expected to earn positive but not stellar results. However reactions were surprising, RS wondered if it was a dog biscuit, MH said it was dull and plain and YK was so disgusted that she took her blindfold off and walked away.

I think that the results are clear, Oreos are great in tea.

I may have taken this whole thing a bit too far.