Two thumbs up. Not only is the novel rewinding gameplay mechanic fun, excellently executed and thoroughly explored, but the ambiance and story are serene and literate, a refreshing change from the grunting violence or (sorry Mario) vapid childishness that tends to make up the bulk of our industry’s creative output. I’d be proud to have made this game.

It’s a pleasure to read Hofstadter again, with his wacky dreamt up dialogues and penchant for punnery. However, this book was fairly tightly focused on a single issue — one that I was on board with after the first hundred pages or so. I much preferred the vast sweeping intellectual adventure that was GEB, the more technical exposition of Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies or even the way out in left field (even for Hofstadter) musings on poetry translation in Le Ton Beau De Marot. Still, it’s good to see him back in the saddle.

A Rosencrantz and Guildenstern approach to a selection of episodes from the bible and Western history. Barnes overflows with cheek and audacity right up to the last chapter, when his existential steam seems to runs out. He confines eternity to prayer, sensory pleasures and sport. How such an imaginative author could fail to include imagination in his post-human utopia boggles my mind. Don’t like the Hell theme park? Build a better one!

Aging neo-retro 2D RPG gaming action. One wonders if perhaps we will some day use our futuristic holographic wristwatches to emulate a Wii, emulating a Nintendo 64, playing an RPG that is an homage to an 8-bit platformer. Does nostalgia know no bounds?