What console war?

I continue to hear people argue to this day which is better. Nintendo WII or Xbox 360 or  PlayStation 3? I have never really cared since I believe in the mantra "to each their own". That being said, I did find it funny when I read the nominee list for the 2011 VGA awards released today and found that the 4 contenders for PS3 game of the year are all exclusives while only half the games on the 360 list are exclusive titles for Microsoft. This leads me to believe that the console war may still be raging but the software war has been won. Well played Sony ... Well played!!!

Best Xbox 360 Game

• Batman: Arkham City (Warner Bros Interactive/Rocksteady Studios)
• Forza Motorsport 4 (Microsoft Studios/Turn 10 Studios)
• Gears of War 3 (Microsoft Studios/Epic Games)
• Portal 2 (Valve)

Best PlayStation 3 Game

• Infamous 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sucker Punch)
• Killzone 3 (Sony Computer Entertainment/Guerrilla Games)
• LittleBigPlanet 2 (Sony Computer Entertainment/Media Molecule)
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog)

Dreams and Fears

Recently, I had the opportunity to cross an item off of my to-do-before-I-die list. This happened when I got to finally see my favorite soccer player take the field in a live match in Toronto against my boys in red. Who is this player you may ask? Well it is none other than French national player, Thierry Henry. This was only the second game I got to this season for the TFC but watching my soccer hero play made it all worthwhile. I can say without doubt that he is pure magic on the ball and as expect arrogant and brash as any Frenchman should be.

This got me to thinking about the dreams and fears I have for the future since I am in school

retraining and currently not working full-time. Ultimately, this proved to be a hard exercise. After much soul searching, I came up with simply this: I want to live a life of purpose that glorifies God, that honors my wife and children and is filled with lots of laughter, Board games, good music and good conversation and intimate relationships that care more about depth and honesty over frivolity and superficiality.

What is my greatest fear .... that I will FAIL at accomplishing my dream.

Labour Weekend Wrap-up

Labour day weekend has come and gone and that means the kids have gone back to school. The Kids are happy for now but I know that the happiness will turn to loathing as the homework begins to pile up. The parents are happy but that will wain to mediocrity as the 100th sandwich of the school year is made. So in celebration of the annual tradition of sending the little ones back to school I played board games.

Friday night saw Andrew and Dave crash my place for some good conversation, food and gaming. We started the evening with a game of Quarriors!! and then wrapped it up with a game of Star Trek: Expeditions. Expeditions is fast becoming a favorite of mine more because Star Trek was my gateway to Sci-Fi than the game being any good (though it is). I got the opportunity to play Bones only because Scotty is not available in the base game. Either way it was fun and we solved the problem on Nimbia so all was good in the End.

I was invited on Sunday to play board games so of course I went. We played a total of 4 games over 12 hours which is so very amazing in my books. We played Cyclades, St Petersburg, Age of Mythology and Incan Gold. All were fun games, but the two holdouts for the best of the day were St. Petersburg and Incan Gold with the latter game being my only win of the day.

On Monday, the family and I sat down to tackle Agricola. This is a hard game to win so my younger kids grew bored quickly much more interested in played house with the farmer pieces than actually playing the game. In the end it was still fun and I will pull it out again to see how much they remember.

Now begins the wait until this weekend to play more games again. At least it is a short work week.