Feb 4 -- Curiouser and curiouser

If you've been playing games for a long time you don't want certain things explained to you anymore--it's just wasting time. There's a guy on the screen? I wonder if "up" on the controller makes him move up the screen. Yep, there he goes. I wonder if pressing one these buttons over here fires the g--yep, there it goes. I don't need an instruction manual anymore for things like this and even more complicated things like moving the camera, double-jumping, wall-jumping, crouching, &c. Hell, I know spikes kill you and mushrooms are awesome.

There's been a recent trend in games to let the players discover how to play. Plants Vs. Zombies "Help" screen is a zombie-scrawled note telling you to give up and yield tasty brains to the nearest zombie. Braid's help screen has three little pictures on it telling you to jump on bad guys. Some games take this thinking so far they don't even tell you what the game is.

Game of the Day: WINDOSILL

This is more like a puzzle than a game, but I'm not complaining. It opens on a little collection of knickknacks that you can click and poke, and they all seem to react as you'd intuit. Eventually you'll have a little a-ha moment and actually figure out what you're supposed to do. Or maybe not. That's the fun. You're not told how to do anything--you just work it out. If you picked up a Rubik's Cube that was scrambled you pretty quickly work out what's supposed to happen. That's what happens here, it's an immersive experience with great graphics and music. The kids love it too. Highly recommended and only $3!

No movie for this one--every single one is a spoiler fest. Just go play the demo.