Video Game Music for the Holidays - Volume VII

Good tidings to all ye good folks and fellow gaming enthusiasts!  The holiday hustle and bustle is once again amongst us, and with it comes the slew of jolly jingles.  If you come searching for a brief reprieve from these time-old tunes, I offer a unique compilation of video game music that still fit the vibes and mood of the holidays.  As is yearly tradition among my friends and family 7 years now, I hope these musical collections provide some welcome variety while also elevating an awareness and appreciation for the medium of games.

Happy Thanksgiving - Top 5 Thankless Mechanics in Games

It's that time of year again - A time for gratuitous amounts of consumption and deep sleep inducing food comas.  But in this time of excessive compulsions, let's not forget to give thanks for the many gifts and joys found in our lives.  This Thanksgiving, I want to particularly highlight useless mechanics found in games that deserve more thanks and acknowledgement.  To better define this, I am referring to actions players can perform in a game, but serve no effect or direct purpose on the gameplay.  So why have them in the game at all then?  Their value is measured instead in how they can help amuse and immerse players into the experience, and quite often makes the games all the more better for it.  These are my Top 5 Thankless Mechanics in Games:

-1- Character Chat (Luigi's Mansion series)

Whether its exchanging quips between heroes in Hearthstone or demanding extra resources in Age of Empires, character chats in games have provided a wealth of amusement and memorable lines to be enjoyed.  And the fact that the players can prompt this banter at their whim makes for all the more chaotic merriment to be had.  Of these player-driven character calls, one of the most perhaps iconic in my books is none other than the endearing, stuttering cry for "M-M-M-Mario" found in the Luigi's Mansion series.  At any given moment during your ghost-filled expedition, players can press a designated button solely for the purpose of calling out for your beloved brother.  And depending on the mood of the room and if ghosts are still lurking about or not, this bit of dialogue varies in degrees of confidence and fear.  It's the perfect marriage of comedy and thematic aid to storytelling that makes this one of my most cherished useless game mechanics.

Tabletop Tuesday - Betrayal Legacy Impressions

After a bit of a hiatus, Hughes3D returns!  And with it, a new tabletop game to discuss for a Tabletop Tuesday - Your exploration into games of dice, cards, luck and more of the Tabletop world.

This week's game...the game of haunted incantations that looms across generations that is Betrayal Legacy.

Players: 3-5

Time: 90-120 minutes

Genre: Asymmetric Cooperative / Legacy Role-Playing Game