'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe

Today's the first of November, which means it's time for National Blog Posting Month again. Let's see how well this one goes...

Now, it's really tempting to end the post with that, but a) that's a bit of a cop-out, and b) I think I did that last year. Let me check... okay, so it's not quite a repeat of last year, but it's still a cop-out and I'll get soundly mocked by talismancer if I try that this early in the month.

So. What has the boggyb been up to recently? Well, amongst other things I've been playing Professor Layton and the Lost Future, which is a real gem of a puzzle game. I've always liked puzzle games, and Professor Layton excels at this by being a puzzle game *with* plot. Lost Future begins by you receiving a letter from the future, with instructions on how to get there. Of course, nothing is quite what it seems, and the game is full of plot twists. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I do recommend the series to anyone who likes puzzles.

It's taken me about 12 hours to beat the main plot, and along the way I've solved all the main puzzles (there's one or two I've not found yet), along with a couple of the unlockable puzzles and most of the side quests. Unlike what TV Tropes would have you believe I've also collected enough picarats for most of the unlockables, and should be easily able to get enough to unlock the rest with the bonus and secret puzzles. I've not got as many as I'd like though, as the game delights in trick puzzles. Consider this one as an example:


The following equation is formed of ten matchsticks, and uses Roman numerals:

I + IX = X
What's the fewest number of matches you need to move to make it a valid equation?

I'm mildly disappointed that none of you recognised the puzzle I posted yesterday.

It's a level from Polarium, a puzzle game for the DS. In this game, tiles flip between white and black when selected. The aim is to in a single stroke without passing through the same tile twice, change the white and black tiles such that each row contains tiles of a single colour. The grey border doesn't count for this, and allows you to exit and re-enter the main block of tiles.

For example, solving the puzzle posted yesterday could be done by selecting the tiles in the following order:

	1			12
	2			11
	3			10
	4			9
	5	6	7	8

The levels start off very simple, but get much more complicated as you go on. There's also a time attack mode, where new rows fall from the top of the screen and solved rows disappear (like in Tetris). I'd been meaning to get hold of it for a while since playing glasshalf_empty's copy, and spotted a pre-owned one in Game for £8 the other day. At that price it's excellent value.

A while back I bought some shinyness in the form of a DS. And, like all modern shiny things, it has built-in wireless.

The DS relies on friend codes for adding, well, friends. Here's my codes:
Metroid Prime Hunters: 4382-0448-7571
Phantom Hourglass: 3909-5654-0154
Picross DS: 171913-932582

Comment with your code and I'll add you.


The Wii also has a similar system, although here you use one code across all games: 1528-2710-1226-9571

Again, comment with your code and I'll add you. I've got a bunch of Metroid Prime 3 friend vouchers in want of a good home.