Christmas musings and Buying gifts with Christmas gift cards

It's been great to have the time to spend with the US clan as well as not having to think about project-specific issues. I've been able to throw out the usual silly ideas and indulge in buying a few game design books. Taking the time out from directly approaching game issues means that new related game ideas can surface at odd times, make links to new experiences and have the space to develop in weird and wonderful ways.

Today with present gift cards from My father and mom-in-law I've ordered:

• David Perry on Game design: A Brainstorming Toolbox
• Challenges For Game Designers (Brenda Braithwaite)
• Super Freakonomics (Steven Levitt)
• The Art of Game Design - A Deck of Lenses (Jesse Schell)
• Wii Fit Plus (for our American Wii - I want to see what the bird flapping mini-game is like after working on a Wii-base eagle game at Dare)
• That's Not What I Meant! (Deborah Tannen)
• You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation (Deborah Tannen)

I'll leave out the silly stupid ideas that I've been having whilst sitting on toilets in Mexican-style restaurants for a future post.

Currently I'm reading 'The Video Game Theory Reader 2' and 'Creating Unforgettable Characters'. Some good parts, some not so good - hope to review the pro's and cons of these two books, the newly ordered books and 'The Predictioneers Game' (using Game theory in trend prediction, etc) over the coming months.