But if you really want to geek up your Decemberween rituals, you’ll need appropriate background music.

Like a little horror with your turkey?  Well, you should check out the HP Lovecraft Historical Society’s album A Very Scary Solstice (and the followup album An Even Scarier Solstice), which includes such holiday classics as:

• Death to the World
• Freddy the Red-Brained Mi-Go
• Slay Ride
• It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fish-Men
• and the Elvis hit: Blue Solstice

Or do you prefer your Eggnog with a little shot of 1985 brandy, just for that retro feel?

If so, you may want to check out 8-bit Jesus, a new Christmas chiptune album, with each song done in the style of a different 8-bit era game.

Be sure to listen to “The Legend of Noel” and “Carol of the Belmonts”, my personal favourites from the 9 available thus far.

In site news, we still have two new session logs to go up, but we’re taking a seasonal break from gaming until January, as the next couple weeks are busy for everyone.  New posts will hopefully keep coming, though.  And that site redesign is being worked on now that my computer has returned.

But tonight we need to put up our gorram tree and geek wreath.

EDIT: The 8-bit Jesus album has been updated, and it is now completed.  New link above and here.  You can also get a physical copy now, if you feel like dropping $15 (US) his way.

New favourite songs:

• Bubbles we have heard on Bobble
• Have Yourself a Final Little Fantasy

Instead, Ive decided to comment on a couple of video games I got at christmas time, and have been playing since.

Now, first up, we’ve got a game that most of you will have heard of, and will have heard way too much about already. Super Mario Galaxy.

Well, let me first confirm the greatness of the game. I was a huge fan of Mario 64 (it being one of the few games I’ve ever finished completely, and I even did it twice), and this was a spectacular followup.

You can beat the game with 60 stars (though I was already at 80 or so by the time it let me try), and there are 120 stars total. I currently have 121, and the game is still going.

“But Graham,” you say, “how can this be? 121 is more than 120, the maximum amount of stars, by your own admission! You’re a filthy liar and a cheat!”

No! Well, maybe. I am a GM after all.

But in this case, once you beat the game, collect 120 stars, and then beat the game again (the last 20-ish stars aren’t available until you beat it once), you get to play the entire game over, as Luigi this time.

Now, I don’t know if I’ll beat the game with Luigi. He’s annoying to control sometimes, and I just barely got the 120 stars the first time (one of the last stars was being really really annoying), but I find myself intrigued by what might lie behind the second 120 stars. so we’ll see.

In any case, I have a different way to play a very fun game waiting for me at home, if I so choose.

Which brings me to the second game.

While buying Mario, I came across a game that (with no prior knowledge of it) I could not pass up. It was $20, and it had the single greatest name in the world. This game was…

Ninjabread Man!

Yes, that’s right. Ninjabread Man.

I knew that if I saw this game, came home, and told christine about it without buying it, I’d be sent back to the store to get it. So we now own Ninjabread Man.

Seriously.  How could you see that cover, with that title, and pass it up?

I played it that day, beat it in about 2 hours. The controls are a bit annoying at times, and I wish that your sword was actually better than your shurikens, but altogether I actually had fun.

In this case, as well, the shortness is a strong point of the game. It ended just before it got really really annoying.

Is it a good game? Hell no! But was it worth the $20? I’d say so, yeah. Going to a movie would have cost more, for about the same money and time commitment, and I think that I got more enjoyment out of this than a movie would have brought.

Would I recommend it to others? Probably not.

But I’d lend it out to friends who would enjoy the camp value without hesitation.