storyLines

I bought this game from GameTraders at Castle Towers. The Price was excellent, $69.95 when EB Games cost $79.95.

Quite an average game, a nice big place to venture through and explore, but it seriously lacks story content. This Harry Potter game brings back the flying minigame and introduces the first ever potions mini-game.

Potions is probably the most worthwile part of the game, as flying is quite boring, flying continuously in a path through rings, with no variation. The story is terrible, made up of mostly cinematics, with all major plot points being unplayable.

Another big part of the Harry Potter franchise which has returned is duelling. You get to use many of the spells you read about in the books or have seen in the movies…IT IS FUN! You have the opportunity to become champion dueller of Hogwarts, and it truly is the funnest part of the game. Some parts are quite pathetic though, such as killing an opponent with a stunning spell or being continually bombarded by a glitch so that you are killed.

Quite a reasonable game, but with more content, I would feel better about how I spent my Money. Something that I can’t get over is the untapped potential. They made a large area to play in, but an ill-defined storyboard destroyed the game’s greatness. Everything was in a smaller area than it should have been, meaning a player only had to go into the far-off corners of the map to get Xbox 360 Achievements.

The story was short; I finished the game in less than a day, which is quite sad when you have played all it’s predecessors. I would not recommend this game, unless you were borrowing it from a friend.

The 2009 Inky Awards, have created a creative reading competition. You can be any age to enter this competition and there will be prizes for all ages, although only those who are under the age of twenty can win the major prize.

The task is to submit a creative response to a book that you love. This can be in may different formats, including a short story, poem or video. It doesn’t have to be about one of the Inky list books.

The winner of the competition gets to chose between a digital still camera, a digital video camera and an iPod Touch. There are also a number or runner ups prizes, including T-shirts and books. You may enter as many times as you like, although entries close on the 20th of November. For more information and how to enter visit insideadog.

Some 2008 entries in the Inkys Creative Reading Prize

It can be in ANY FORMAT YOU CHOOSE , so surprise the judges, but here are some ideas from the website to get you started:

• write a short story using the characters/setting (feel free to add zombies)
• make a video trailer
• or a machinima trailer
• write a poem
• or a song
• illustrate your favourite scene/character
• make a quilt
• or a cupcake

Posted by Adam

The Inkys are international awards celebrating teenage literature across the world. Staff of the Centre for Youth Literature read hundreds of books submitted from around the world and reduce them into a long list of 20. Then the six judges (composed of authors and teens) read and confer to create a short list of the main contenders – 3 in each category.

The categories include the Golden Inky- an award for an Australian book, and the Silver Inky- an award for an international book. There is also a creative reading prize for submissions from teens themselves (more about that in another post). The whole project is set up by the Centre for Youth Literature and the Victorian State library to promote reading as an active, fun and essential activity for all. The Inkys promote Australian authors and their works as well as the very best works for teenagers from overseas.

Once the short list is decided then teens can vote for the best in each category. You must be aged between 12 and 18 to vote and can only vote twice – once in each category. Voting is by SMS or from the insideadog website.

And just which books made it to the longlist? Below is a quick view of the 10 Australian contenders for the Golden Inky. The full list of 20 is featured on our blog focus page: The 2009 Inkys Longlist

Have you read any of these books? We would love to hear what you think. (Go to comments below to add yours.)

posted by Curtis and Mrs Thomson

Images from the inky website

Recently the teachers have gotten together and recommended their all-time favourite books. Mrs Falconer has gathered these recommendations and created a slick and cool page with tiltviewer with a list of all the books that the staff of The King’s School enjoy. On this page you can have a look at all the books that your teachers find interesting. This page can be found on our intranet at Staff Picks.

Mr. Chadwick recommended one of my favourites, Eragon, and Mrs. Binet recommended Harry Potter (as if you haven’t finished it yet!) And I am sure you would be quite interested in what your teachers read or prefer to read and what teachers have the same taste as you. You can see the complete list on the TKS Teachers’ Reading Picks page.

Highlights from the list: The most recommended book is To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, with five listings. Books with three listings include The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The oldest book recommended is The Aeneid by Virgil (c. 30BC), described by Dr Bril as “..a haunting poem of regret for what might have been and of longing to get to the other side.” Miss Benz introduces us to the intriguing Syrian-born German writer, Rafik Schami. Mr Kitzinger broadens the language pool with a Spanish and a French selection. Mr Rainey gives us a hint of his own ’Renaissance man’ education with a long and eclectic list of literary treats.

Regarding The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, Mr Moulds says:

It is a very popular and very simple tale about a young man following his dream. The only way I can think to recommend it or suggest why I like it so much is by quoting the poet Rumi: ‘Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.’

How to operate Tiltviewer:

After you enter Staff Picks, 12 book covers will pop up. You can browse books by clicking the white arrow in the bottom right hand corner. After you find a book you found interesting and you are willing to learn more about it, just click on the cover (which would enlarge) and then click the flick symbol on the bottom right corner of the cover.

By Johnson S

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