Sudoku:  Many of you by now have either played Sudoku or know of the game.  If you haven’t, Sudoku is a numeric puzzle game traditionally consisting of a 81-block table (9 rows and 9 columns), grouped into 9 sets.  See below for a sample:

As you can see, there are some numbers already placed within the grid.  This is how the puzzle begins.  Using the numbers 1 through 9, you need to fill in each set with the nine numbers, ensuring that each number is used only once in each row and column.  If that is confusing, use the solved puzzle below as a visual guide:

If we take the middle number in the middle set (in this case, number 1), you will see that it is the only occurrance within that set, row, and column.  All other numbers in the puzzle meet the same criteria, therefore the puzzle is solved correctly.  See sample below:

Now if the puzzles are too easy for you in the classic layout, there are numerous variations popping up daily to add additional challenges for you to overcome.  My personal favorite is Samurai Sudoku, which takes 5 classic Sudoku layouts and overlaps them.  Normally, you cannot solve each section of the Samurai without some interaction from one of the overlapping sections, and in some cases, you are working on all five at once.  View the following example:

If Sudoku puzzles sound like fun to you, there are two sites which I recommend:

- Web Sudoku (This site will record your time, so you can compete against yourself.)

- Samurai Sudoku  (This site posts puzzles that increase in difficulty as the week progresses.)

Take the time to try the puzzles out, starting with the easy puzzles and increase the difficulties as your comfort level increases.  It is well worth the time.

Yup, that’s right.  I bought myself a Christmas present.  Ignoring all the hype around the Playstation 3 and the Wii, I bought a Xbox 360.  Since most of my current games will play on the new system, I can continue to enjoy my old games as well as expanding in to the new, better graphic games.  My old Xbox will be regifted and given to my nieces for Christmas, along with my copy of Monkey Ball Deluxe (the girls just love that game).  If anyone can recommend some games for the 360 which they enjoy, please let us know. 

Second Life:  For those who are not aware, there is another world that exists, where over a million people live and thrive, and it is closer than you think.  This world is one which you can see but not touch, since it exists only in cyberspace.  Second Life if the creation of Linden Lab, a San Francisco company which has generated a 3-D virtual world where millions of people and companies interact with each other to live out a life of your own choosing.  Unlike other online games, Second Life offers a unique twist: the money you earn in the virtual world can be cashed out and converted into real US dollars.  That’s right.  Whatever money you make in this online game can make you rich in real life.  Don’t believe me?  Ask Ailin Graef.  She is Second Life’s first real world millionaire (read the news article).

In just over two years, Graef has gone from an initial investment of $10 and a small virtual piece of property to becoming a major real estate tycoon and owner of various businesses, labels, and whatever else you can image a business woman getting involved in.  This is possible since the virtual world within Second Life works the same as our real world.  If you want to buy something, there is most likely someone willing to sell it to you.  This demand has brought not only millions of games, but also some well known companies. Toyota and Pontiac will sell you virtual cars.  Dell advertises their computers and accessories.  Reuters provides real and virtual world news right to your finger tips.  You name it, real world companies are willing to compete on a level playing field with virtual businesses for your money.  This concept of making real world profits off of a virtual world made me curious to download the free software myself and investigate how this place works. 

After a brief tutorial (parts of which I skipped), I placed my character into the virtual world and began to wander around.  It wasn’t long until I found a few houses and a business along side the road.  Many of the houses had closed doors, so I was not able to look inside.  Other houses had open doors, allowing me to walk through and look around.  The houses and items are created using simple 3-D object editors or you can purchase pre-made objects and place them on your land.  In the first store I found, you were able to purchase special post cards of various scenic spots within the virtual world for a few Linden dollars.  Exploring further, I found a travel agency which not only sold “trips” (to where, I don’t know), but also provided news updates, an ATM, and more virtual keepsakes.  With these businesses providing simple products, you can imagine how bulk sales could lead to real world profits after a while.

But I am still stuck on this concept of converting virtual dollars into real cash.  I mean, if you were to generate a personal profit within Second Life, do you have to pay income taxes on your earnings?  What if you created a virtual company?  Do you have to pay business taxes?  What if you/your company had a large quantity of Linden dollars on hand, and the Second Life servers were to crash or the server hosts shut down all together?  Do you have a legal recourse against the company to recoup your losses?  I am still researching various sites to find these answers, but you can imagine some of the complexities created by this games unique concept.  If you know any of these answers, please share them with us (along with a source link which we can reference). Personally, this is not my genre of games; however I could lured into it if I understood the business aspects and game engine a little more.  If this game interests you, or if you have played it before, please share your experiences with us so we can understand it better.

Railroad Tycoon III – As you might be able to tell from one of my prior posts on the blog, I am a big railroad fan.  In my eyes, there is nothing more impressive than the engineering behind your classic steam locomotive nor the tracks laid by hard working men across some of the worst terrains.  So it is only logical that I would be a fan of Railroad Tycoon III.  I also own Railroad Tycoon II (plus expansion pack), and while I played it for years, it pales in comparison to the added abilities in the new version (as well as the fantastic 3-D graphics).

The game places you in control of a large sum of money and the ability to tap investors to start up your own company.  While the goal of most of the scenarios and maps is for you to connect various cities together by rail lines and transport certain quantities of goods by a specific date, you are also capable of running a company that owns the various industries around the cities which provide the railroads with the raw resources and finished goods to be transported and consumed.  Most players will tackle both aspects of the game during play, since building up the local industries increase your rail profits between cities.  Additionally, you normally face competing railroads who are trying to achieve similar goals as yourself.  Depending on the difficulty levels you select, these competing companies can be completely insignificant or devastating.  Due to competition, you also have access to the stock market, where you can buy up controlling stakes in your competition and force take-over’s during the game.  Watch out though, since your competitors can do the same to you.

You have two main ways to play the game, either in the scenario mode which walks you from the very beginning of railroading technology through modern/future technology, or in the single mission/sandbox mode.  In the scenario mode, you progress through the various technological and cultural stages of railroading history, completing series of missions as you go along.  In the single scenario mode, you can choose an individual map and compete with the computer to achieve victory conditions.  In the sandbox mode, there is no competition nor business expenses . . . just lay your track as you see fit.  As with Railroad Tycoon II, you are able to create/import new maps for you to play on.  There are many websites available where RR3 fans have created and uploaded their own maps for you to download if you do not have the time or skill to create your own.

This is a great game for anyone who enjoys SimCity-type games, but provides the personal interaction you might otherwise lack in the other games.  

Counter-strike - When I am not playing Civilization III, I can be found running around the virtual world with knife in hand (after all, you always run faster with a knife) playing Counter-strike with my fellow clan members.  Counter-strike is a first-person based battle game where you assume the role of a terrorist or counter-terrorist and work together with your team to achieve a goal (rescue hostages, bomb a target, kill your enemies).  Counter-strike is built using the Half-Life engine created by Valve Software.  

Counter-strike is a multi-player only game where you need to navigate various maps while completing your assigned goals.  Most maps these days are developed by individual gamers rather than the company, so that allows for a lot of original content to be shared between the online community; always providing a new challenge as time goes on.  And being a multi-player game, the complexity of play each time you log on changes relative to the persons currently sharing the server.  Popular maps draw large crowds, while unpopular/boring maps have smaller crowds.

An off-shoot of Counter-strike was the development of clans; people who play together often who create their own internal community and share a specific server and/or website.  This level of interaction allows for more enjoyable play as well as increased difficulty as the players begin to learn everyone’s patterns and strategies.  Overcoming your enemy is job #1.  So lock and load and join in the battle! 

Civilization III – There are currently four main versions of Sid Meier’s award winning Civilization series, however Civilization III is my favorite. I was first introduced to Civilization back in 1991 and became instantly hooked. Every free moment I found in the day was dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the game in order to dominate my opponents as fast as possible in order to rule the world. In 1997, I picked up Civilization II and fell in love again, though there seemed to be something missing from the game. It played similar to the original version with a few added technological advances and civilization developments, but the desire I had to “waste my life away” as I did with the first version was just not there. Fortunately, I just had to wait four short years to have the desire once again.

Still keeping with the basic game play as the original version, the addition of an advanced diplomacy option between the various nations as well as the concept of culture created a complete game which provides years of constant enjoyment. No single game is the same, meaning you might be short-handed from the start, being constantly picked on by your neighbors, or you might be blessed with abundant resources and have a huge leap ahead over everyone else. To date, I have yet to achieve a domination victory under the “Monarch” difficulty level, and there are still two additional difficulty levels beyond that. This game will keep me going for a very long time.

I have not played Civilization IV yet, but I do have a friend who bought it earlier this year. I am waiting for her report on the game play to see if she enjoyed it as much as she did Civilization III. Once I do, and if she recommends the game, I will break out the credit card and advance to the next level.