Terminal House has been developed by the (Japan-based) GUMP with addtional credits for sound effects etc. and is currently a trilogy, or 3-part game series: Terminal House, Rental House (Terminal House 2) and Guest House.

I actually played the game backwards (by accident) as I found out about the latest release (Guest House) on JayisGames. In a way, I’d almost recommend anyone to play it in the same order (even though this does throw the introductory flash semi-story-line out of sync) because whilst Guest House boasted the best graphics of the 3 games, it was more straight forward to play (as a ‘newbie’ to Gump’s games) than the other two earlier games.

To prevent any spoilers, I won’t go into any detail about the actual (almost non-existant) storyline, but Guest House will definitely require a bit of algebra, involving the rearranging of equations (paper or Notepad?)  Rental House is more of a point-and-click game (probably the least strong game of the 3) that really did confuse me. However, Terminal House really takes the prize for being the most inventive (and fun and frustrating) game I’ve played for a while that took me longer than I thought to complete! The game really tests your reaction-time, dexterity, steadyness-of-hand, patience and almost has an ‘RPG’ element at one brief point (you can highlight the spoiler text at the bottom of this article for more information) The extra fun part is that the difficulty in opening that first door varies depending on how you play it! If possible, try and play this with another friend at the same time, it’s much more fun!

So you have some time, try playing Terminal House, but please do leave yourself enough time, especially to complete the first game Terminal House as it is time consuming, and is best enjoyed at your leisure anyway. If you do run out of time for Guest House, Gump has provided a helpful save function which means you can come back to the game again at a later point. If you do finish the game, the added bonus is that you’ll know how many people have escaped before you (always a plus for those interested in game statistics!)  – if you’re interested, for Guest House, I was #21554!  
p/s: Spoiler text can be found below going briefly into what you can expect from the first Terminal House game: 

Arm-wrestling using DDR, taking photos of Santas and aliens for credit, and using energy drinks to power up for your wrestling match.

If you do get stuck, feel free to browse the comments section of JayisGames for walkthroughs.

The concept is surprisingly simple – you are given a keyword, and then asked to select one from the 4 available word selections that best-matches your keyword. An example is

supplemental means|
1. auxiliary
2. nasty
3. convulsive
4. illegal

For every question you do get right, you donate 10 grains of rice as well as increasing your ‘vocab level’. The higher your level (note that this has to be in one sitting – ie. don’t browse away from the page as the cookie settings do not save your progress) the more complicated the question.

The genius in a sense, is how this website actually funds the donations, and clicking on their FAQ reveals how it is done:

Who pays for the donated rice?
The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen. This is regular advertising for these companies, but it is also something more. Through their advertising at FreeRice, these companies support both learning (free vocabulary for everyone) and reducing hunger (free rice for the hungry). We commend these companies for their participation at FreeRice.

I suppose one shouldn’t be too surprised by this innovative use of online advertising revenue: the BBC article mentions that FreeRice is the brainchild of the US online fundraising pioneer John Breen.

p/s: Since it was picked up by the BBC, many other news agencies have also posted news briefs about this phenomenon, which started out with just 830 rice grains donated on its first day, and has just reached it’s first billionth donation.

Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us

Although the video content is sufficiently thought-provoking, the chilled out music really does add a tonne of weight to the message, and the song (and the album of the same name) is available surprisingly as a free download from Jamendo!

There’s nothing impossible by Deus, the artist that hails from the french-speaking Ivory Coast, has been classed as a multi-genre “Musique de film – Techno – classique“. The words are in French, but it really doesn’t take too much imagination to understand what they mean!

Please do watch the video (if you haven’t already!) whether it’s to simply admire the thinking and ground-breaking method of sending out a message, or to delve deeper into understanding how the web has changed our lives. Either way, hope you enjoy the music as well!

EDIT – February 8th 2008 – Deus has a new website!

http://s225072230.onlinehome.fr/deusking/index.php

Aside from the fact that it is again one of the most fun (and quick) escape games that I’ve played, the ending Afro-Ninja theme really had me hooked, so I immediately clicked on the link to KTRecords.

KTRecords are Kelwynshade (Josh Kemp) and Ncjason77 (Jason Turner) , who have ‘combined their music talents to form KTRecords‘. They have uploaded around 4 releases/draft versions of their work so far, and my favourite is definitely KTR hip hoppin.

The song has a fantastic tune running through it, with a strong rhythm underlying the entire piece, which may seem repetitive for some, but for me there are enough extra effects and variations to like this a lot. The duo are actually looking for lyrics to this short piece, so if you fancy a go, please do get in touch with them!

As with Esnips, you can listen to music without registering at Newgrounds, and so if you have 2:30 minutes spare, I would strongly encourage you to listen to it! If you prefer less hiphop-modern style songs, KTRecords have also written other short pieces, such as Starting Over, Piano Acoustic and Deeper than Deep which are all mellower than KTR hop hippin and are equally chilled out.

Jump on My Humps (5:59)
Jump n Twist by Freestylers vs My Humps by Black Eyed Peas

My personal favourite by Wun Tun, which does have quite a long intro (a style identified by the DJ himself) but it’s not like it’s extremely boring, and the rest of the song makes up for it! I really love it when we actually hear BEP singing over the music – the result is so upbeat I just can’t help but get up and move!

Love Me or Let Me Breathe (7:08)
Let Me Breathe by Rogue Element vs Love Me or Hate Me by Lady Sovereign

The latest from DJ Wun Tun‘s Mashup collection which is really very catchy! The intro is a little shorter than Jump on My Humps (1:00) and it’s just as well, because again, the main lyrics over the tune is fantastic (despite the swearing)! Only part that does disappoint me is the bridge at around 3:30, but the sgng definitely redeems itself after that!

There isn’t much info available online about DJ Wun Tun, who hails from London, aside from his profile on Esnips. I would encourage you to listen to the rest of his repertoire, as you may find other songs that you like although the two recommended above are my top picks. As to where you can hear him live, apparently he occasionally plays at Planet Angel in Vauxhall, London.

Download both songs in one zip file!