Hello again, it been a while since I posted something.

The other day, I watched a good program that was about board games and how they developed through history. It was showing all the different versions of modern games such as snakes and ladders, and chess and how they made history.

I learnt in particular that chess is like one big war, trying to trap and kill the other person's king, and that it was one of (if thee) most played board games in the world, and that it has more in depth strategy than any other board game ever created.

It was also quite fascinating to see how snake and ladder is a typical game in one country where you simply get to the finishing line, and somehow in another country, they saw and created snakes and ladder as a journey to heaven, and all of the encounters along the way. It has a very unique take on a modern game and it was very interesting to see the game played out from a different stand point.

The program as a whole was a good watch, however I am kind of hoping that they would talk more about the growth of video games within the part of that program.

Hello there

My name is Oliver Hayler, a new games student beginning university.
I have been a games stduent for 2 years already, studying previously at Cambridge Regional College.
I recently took part in an ice-breaker interview with people on the same course as me. Here are the answers to my interview.

Q1. What is the title of the book (fiction) you are currently reading (or the last fiction book you read)?

The fictional book series that I am currently reading is the Evenagelion series. I really like the story in general as there is a lot of build-up and devolpement for a lot of the characters. I also really like the setting of the story, with humanity desperatly holding on to its last defense in order to defend themselves from the threat of the "Angels". Another good reason for reading the series, is there are many different spin-offs of the series, telling the story with the same character, but with those characters either being different in general characteristics, or they have sided with new forces within those particular books. The series in general is great and it is worth the time to try and get into the deep story within the books.

Q2. What is the title/topic of the book (non-fiction) you are currently reading (or the last non-fiction book you read)?

The last non-fiction book that I read wasn't really much in the ways of a story, but rather an art book. I read the Tomb Raider survival guide (aka the art book). This book was incredibly fascinating to me as it showed all of the many art styles that they tried to work into the game, but pulled them back because of a wide range of reasons such as it didn't fit the style of the game, or it didn't look right to begin with, etc. I particularly liked the parts where they showed the art for each part of the game step by step, (e.g. the ship Lara starts out on in the beginning which becomes shipwrecked by the storm of the island). It was really good to read about all the different challenges that the compnay faced when creating the game, and also how they found their insparation in their designs for their's characters, the island in which you play on, and also most notably, the monsters and creatures that you encountered and their reasoning behind their design choice.

Q3. What is the last live performance (music, drama or dance) you attended?

The last live performance that I attended an extremly long time ago, when their was a show being advertised called The Top Gear live show. This featured the presenters of the show on a live stage, doing the stuff they normally did on the show, plus a bunch of extra stunts and displays.

Q4. What is the title of the last film you saw at the cinema / online or watched on dvd?

The last major film I watched was 5 centremeters per second. This film in my eye is something beautiful and a really powerful and almost painful display of two childhood friends and their increasing distance that is put between them and how it slowly but surely changes their lives.

Q5. How often do you read a newspaper? (which one? online or physical?)

I do sometimes read both online and physical newspapers, but not as often as before.

Q6. Which art gallery / museum / exhibition did you last visit?

The last exhibition that I last visited was a trip with my college to american for Games.con. The massive event displayed all of the newest games and gear for the future and it was a total joy to see what the next stage of advancement was in the gaming world.

Q7. How many hours a week do you spend playing video games.

I spend a minimum of 20 hours per week playing. 16 of those 20 hour are raiding hours within my guild in World of Warcraft.

Q8. How many hours a week do you spend playing games other than video games?

Currently I dont play anything else at this time, however I  would very much like to get back into sport, since I used to play badminton for 6 years but stopped for a number of years after that.