The next generation

I went over to visit Mark's family tonight, and brought along a surprise for Max: I have been reading about and desperately wanted to see a game called "Portal".

This is a completely wild game in which you're presented with simple, non-violent challenges that require that you use portals, which let you enter and exit from places in walls. So you can put an entry portal on the floor, and an exit portal in the wall, jump down, and you'll fall out of the wall. It truly requires some 4-dimensional thinking.

The reviews have all said "it's tough, but it teaches you as you go..." and "seriously mindbending".

Naturally, when we put it in, Max had some innate knowledge of how it all worked. In the short hour I was there, he finished over 3/4 of the game. It was fun, though, as the WHOLE gang of us were transfixed on the game, coaching him for ideas.

Still, it's a remarkable thing for me, a guy whose game experience stops with a mustachioed plumber, to see how even an advanced concept game like that can be totally assimilated by a smart 12-year old. I was, dare I say it, proud?