Not Enough Silly … !!!

It’s true, though, isn’t it … ?

Sometimes, there is literally not enough outright silly syuff on the planet, is there?

Well … ?

Is there … ?

There isn’t!

I mean, let’s face it, there’s oil leaking all over the Gulf Of Mexico, the UK’s Coalition government is telling us to prepare for the worse, cuts-wise, Iran is — allegedly — lining up the nuclear bombs as I write and frankly, my job situation gets no better … !

So, eeeeevery-so-often, Silly isn’t so much an understandable reaction, as a bloody necessity.

Now some of us might just do all sorts of things.

Hanging upside-down from an oak-tree in Rutland is a possibility.

Possibly morris dancing might appeal.

No, maybe not, no-one’s that desperate.

Although I’m fully expecting, one of these days, that Movie Night Adrian will turn up to Movie Night with a ballon on a stick, a hanky, and a big grin.

Quite.

My point, here is quite simple.

Every so often, you have to take your mind off things, somehow, don’t you … ?

And, of course, all of us do these things differently.

Personally?

Well, for starters, I’m nowhere near Rutland.

And I get vertigo, so tree-hanging isn’t an option, where-ever it is.

Let me give you an example or two of what other people do: bless him, Dr Kevin’s new phone is a fairly inexpensive model, with a camera in it.

Which has given him — as these things have for a lot of us — a taste for amateur photography.

Flowers, mostly.

Like you couldn’t tell!

And Movie Night Adrian does a have a taste for various of the old English martial arts that don’t get seen as much as they did, including quarterstaff fighting: which I’ve got to admit, I was vaguely tempted by, after seeing Star Wars Episode 1:The Phantom Menace.

Let’s face it, who wouldn’t … ?

Well …

Me personally, though … ?

I think I’ve gone through all sorts of hobbies and pastimes. Mostly ones that don’t involve getting hit by a big stick, thankfully … !

But one thing that’s been fairly consistent for me, over the years, has been the simple fact I’ve loved distracting myself with what — back in the day — would’ve been called arcade video game.

But, these days, are known as Casual Games.

You know, relatively simple to play things: various forms of Solitaire, Chess and/or Backgammon, Go-Ban, Tetris, what-have-you.

Stuff that’s relatively simple to play, but can be picked up and put down, fairly easily.

Now I’ve got admit, one of my favourites old Arcade games was Pacman: which, while it doesn’t exactly fit the definition, is relatively easy to play.

You just keep munching, ’til you run out of lives.

And certainly one of the best I’ve played in recent years has been McSebi’s Pac the Man X: which, with its ease of play, spot on sound-effects and music and fine icons, has been getting people hooked: for the past 8 years, to the best of my knowledge!!

Actually, that’s not the only game in McSebi’s arsenal of remade-for-the-Mac retro-games.

They’ve also had versions of Bubble Bobble and Mr Do available for some time, and even added a paid-for version of Bub and Bob for Mac OS X 10•3•9 and above

They’ve added something else, as well …

Sebastian and the boys have recently mentioned on the site that they in the process of testing Connect M, a tile matching game, for both iPhone, iPad, and Intel and PPC versions of Leopard (Mac OS X 10•5•x) and above.

I managed to get hold of a copy of the evaluation version, and I’ve got to admit, I like it.

This type of tile matching game basically involve the player trying to clear the screen by matching pairs of tiles, against the clock, and — when a player finishes a level — moves on to another slightly more difficult level: more tiles, less time, what have you.

A bit like a digital version of Pelmanism, if you will.

The McSebi take on the theme caught my eye, right from the get-go, with its cartoon-like graphics, zippy sound effects, and really rather funky music.

Actually, I like the music: if you can imagine a drum-’n’-bass take on Jean-Michel Jarre, you’ve got it.

I think I’ve gone and filled the High-Score-Board, already …

•••••

Now, I know there’s probably going to be a lot of people out there who are going to find things like Connect M — indeed, the whole casual game genre — either too simplistic for their tastes, or just plain unchallenging.

Maybe even boring.

But for those of us with ten minutes to spare, at work or on the bus, and want something to distract ourselves … ?

Connect M is silly enough to be a good waste of ten minutes.

In a fun way.

Keep your eyes on the McSebi site: according to the email I’ve just had from McSebi Team leader, Sebastian Wegener, it should be released in August.

You heard it here!

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