Monday, April 15, 2019

Game Log #2 - Lost in Evoland...2!

Last December I obtained a new iPhone.  I said "obtained" because I'm going to be paying for it in installments for 4 years(!).  Similar to when I got my iPhone 6, I went hunting for a few new games to grace my new piece of hardware.

What I stumbled upon was a little gem called Evoland.  It's a short little game in which player works their way through a kind of history lesson of computer games.  The player starts off which graphics and music typical to the 8-bit gaming era and ends up in a 3D style game environment circa mid 2010s.  The game was amusing on account of its self-effacing commentary and variety of game play styles.

"You got a star".  Okay.  What's next? ;-)


As it turns out, that game spawned a successor... creatively named Evoland 2.  Unlike the games which I spent a fair bit of time playing on my previous iPhone, this one has turned out to be somewhat addictive...or perhaps not.  It's the part of me which says "How about trying this?" which has led me to spend a rather large amount of time focused on the game.  Proof of that is nonsense like this...

That 333 equals 333 bouts in a fighting tournament...yes, you can roll your eyeballs.

The purpose of that nonsense?  To get to level 50 of course... >.<

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A while ago I was using a news article related to the topic of Brexit in a lesson.  The focus of the article was an EU statement where Gibraltar was described as a British colony.  The UK government took offense to that and was quick to issue counter statement.  One of my students was a bit puzzled about the word "colony".  I was about to explain its meaning when another student offered up its Japanese equivalent.  The first student still looked a bit confused.  Then he had his "Eureka!" moment.  The problem wasn't with the meaning of the word.  It was the context.  He only knew the word from its context in the Gundam anime universe.  Ah, hah....  No, Gibraltar is not a space colony.

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I have a kids class where three girls have now entered junior high school.  The other member of the class is a boy in 5th grade.  When I asked the class if they had gone anywhere during spring break, one girl quickly replied "Okinawa!".  So my next question was "Where did you go?".  Her reply was "A hotel!".  Ah, yes.  Of course.  So I asked what other places she went to.  "Suizoku-kan" was the reply.  "What's that in English?", I asked.  She was stumped but that was okay since I was sure it hadn't popped up in their textbook yet.  The girl sitting next to me quietly said "Aquarium".  Okay.  Next question.  "What did you see?".  Answer..."Fish!".  Ah, the first year of junior high school.  They're not kids but they sure as heck aren't teenagers.

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Yes, this photo was taken in April.  Not as much snow the previous week, but it's still snow in April....