I have twin nephews who are five years old. All four of us have the xbox live family plan. Its only $99.99 a year for four memberships; thats less then the price of one. With the family plan, the main subscriber has access of the other three accounts. They can give microsoft points as allowances, enable time restrictions, enable parental controls, and much more. So if you have multiple people in your household who play xbox, it may be the way to go. My nephews are pretty good at video games and like my husband they get bored really quickly and so I am the one to go out and find good games for them to play. Let me tell you, there arent many to choose from. Stratch that, there are a lot, but they already have most of them. I have begun to notice different things that determine wether they will play or hate the games I get.
LevelInfinity8's favorite game is Sonic's Ultimate Sega Collection. This one disk has all of the greatest Sega games you can think of. LevelInfinity8 loves old school platformers, he has had this game for over a year and he still plays it occasionally. I think he likes games that are so much older than he is because they are difficult, but most of them have infinite lives. Like he just got the Simpson's Arcade game from the marketplace, he can do a complete run through of the game in less with than an hour. That gives him a great sense of accomplishment. Another reason they like certain games is the colors. Kids love bright colors and bold lines.
Indiana Jones766's favorite game is Ghostbuster's Sanctum of Slime it is really fun. He used to love Lego Indiana Jones, but his brother refuses to play it and he wont play it by himself. I do like the Lego series games for kids but they are kind of hard for them it to play by themselves. It seems like an adult is supposed to play with a kid, but parents can't always play.
My favorite kid's game is Toy Story3. It is perfect. It reads to them, gives hints to what to do next, there are a lot of different things to do besides just the story. There is a part called Woody's Roundup where you are the mayor of a old west mining town. The player places and decorates all the buildings in the town. The story is also great, it is challenging, but is not overly frustrating.
So really when buying games for kids look for multiplayer games, because they like playing with adults or just with each other, bright colors, and platformers or Disney games. The Lego series is good, but they will need help.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
A few games you can learn something from
There are sooo many games that can teach us things. Here are just a few:
A great game from one of my favorite companies, Double Fine, comes Stacking. Double Fine is a small company of under 20 people who make amazing games for everyone, like Costume Quest, Brutal Legend and Once Upon A Monster. Stacking is a game about Russian Dolls set in the Grear Depression. You play as Charlie Blackmore, the smallest child in his family. Charlie's father is a chimney sweep and leaves you, your mother and your brothers and sisters to find work, promsing to return. Months pass by and Charlie's father hasn't returned. His mother has already sold most of the family's belongings for food. Now problems are getting worse, the baron has sent his men to collect the Blackmore's debt. Since they have nothing to give the baron's men, they take all of Charlie's siblings to work off the debt. Now it is up to the smallest Blackmore to save the family.
When you play Stacking, you get the feeling that this world you are playing in is created by a child, with a lot of Russian Dolls. The world is made of odds and ends that anyone could find around the house. It seems the child that created the world is living in the depression and is just trying to make sense of what is going on around him... okay enough psychoanalysis. Charlie is not just any Russian Doll, he is the smallest in the world. That gives him the power to jump into any doll in the world. Stacking is a puzzle game; there is no leveling up, but there are tons of things to collect and numerous ways to beat each puzzle.
After the grainy silent movie intro, you will meet a helpful hobo who becomes your friend. The hobo (I forget his name) will keep all your collections in a secret hideout in the train station. He will also paint pictures of your adventures as you complete them. Its great once you beat the game to see how many special dolls you need to collect to get all the achievements in the game.
Final Word: I love this game, it is fun and cheap and you just may learn something about the great depression or at least get you to find out more about that time in history. Maybe some will realize its not too far from where the economy is now.
Once Upon A Monster is also from Double Fine it is one of the only games I have seen with an Early Childhood rating by the ESRB. It is a Kinect game for preschoolers and their families. Parents can play along with their children and because it is on Kinect you can jump in and out of the game whenever you want. All you have to do is stand in the range of the Kinect to jump in and to jump out, simply walk away or sit down. Preschoolers can do all of the games themselves if they listen to Elmo and Cookie Monster's instructions. Its a great game that teaches listening skills, colors, emotions, literacy, patterns, and generally how things work. Its great.
From Dust.
In the before time, before Minecraft was on Xbox, I thought From Dust was the ultimate game. It teaches all kinds of things. It teaches how the earth was formed; lava flows turning into rivers, tsunamis, errosion, everything. Sixth and eighth grade would have been soo much easier. Geology was the worst, but now I realize how amazing how the earth grows or can just be washed away.
The biggest problem with From Dust is how difficult it is to unlock sandbox mode, I couldnt beat it, but I'm no expert, but Itchy Pants is and he is my love. ;)
Tropico.
This series is amazing. I have played every Tropico game in existance now and I love them all. They all have their pros and cons. Tropico 5 is now available on consoles and PC. The 5th installment of the series is by far the best political simulator you can get. Basically you are the Mayflower that never landed in America. Instead you landed on a Caribbean Island. You are owned by the crown and until you get the approval of your people, you will be a govenor under the crown, but you are El Presidente! You alone will decide the fate of your people.
Will you be a democracy? Dictatorship? Communist? Will you have elections? Will you give free housing to everyone or let your people live in shacks? Its all up to you.
Sherlock Holmes.
This detective series was never supposed to be anything but an arcade game, but it was so good, even with its clunky controls, that they HAVE to make new stories. The first game was about uncovering who committed the crimes of Jack the Ripper and is historically accurate.
A great game from one of my favorite companies, Double Fine, comes Stacking. Double Fine is a small company of under 20 people who make amazing games for everyone, like Costume Quest, Brutal Legend and Once Upon A Monster. Stacking is a game about Russian Dolls set in the Grear Depression. You play as Charlie Blackmore, the smallest child in his family. Charlie's father is a chimney sweep and leaves you, your mother and your brothers and sisters to find work, promsing to return. Months pass by and Charlie's father hasn't returned. His mother has already sold most of the family's belongings for food. Now problems are getting worse, the baron has sent his men to collect the Blackmore's debt. Since they have nothing to give the baron's men, they take all of Charlie's siblings to work off the debt. Now it is up to the smallest Blackmore to save the family.
When you play Stacking, you get the feeling that this world you are playing in is created by a child, with a lot of Russian Dolls. The world is made of odds and ends that anyone could find around the house. It seems the child that created the world is living in the depression and is just trying to make sense of what is going on around him... okay enough psychoanalysis. Charlie is not just any Russian Doll, he is the smallest in the world. That gives him the power to jump into any doll in the world. Stacking is a puzzle game; there is no leveling up, but there are tons of things to collect and numerous ways to beat each puzzle.
After the grainy silent movie intro, you will meet a helpful hobo who becomes your friend. The hobo (I forget his name) will keep all your collections in a secret hideout in the train station. He will also paint pictures of your adventures as you complete them. Its great once you beat the game to see how many special dolls you need to collect to get all the achievements in the game.
Final Word: I love this game, it is fun and cheap and you just may learn something about the great depression or at least get you to find out more about that time in history. Maybe some will realize its not too far from where the economy is now.
Once Upon A Monster is also from Double Fine it is one of the only games I have seen with an Early Childhood rating by the ESRB. It is a Kinect game for preschoolers and their families. Parents can play along with their children and because it is on Kinect you can jump in and out of the game whenever you want. All you have to do is stand in the range of the Kinect to jump in and to jump out, simply walk away or sit down. Preschoolers can do all of the games themselves if they listen to Elmo and Cookie Monster's instructions. Its a great game that teaches listening skills, colors, emotions, literacy, patterns, and generally how things work. Its great.
From Dust.
In the before time, before Minecraft was on Xbox, I thought From Dust was the ultimate game. It teaches all kinds of things. It teaches how the earth was formed; lava flows turning into rivers, tsunamis, errosion, everything. Sixth and eighth grade would have been soo much easier. Geology was the worst, but now I realize how amazing how the earth grows or can just be washed away.
The biggest problem with From Dust is how difficult it is to unlock sandbox mode, I couldnt beat it, but I'm no expert, but Itchy Pants is and he is my love. ;)
Tropico.
This series is amazing. I have played every Tropico game in existance now and I love them all. They all have their pros and cons. Tropico 5 is now available on consoles and PC. The 5th installment of the series is by far the best political simulator you can get. Basically you are the Mayflower that never landed in America. Instead you landed on a Caribbean Island. You are owned by the crown and until you get the approval of your people, you will be a govenor under the crown, but you are El Presidente! You alone will decide the fate of your people.
Will you be a democracy? Dictatorship? Communist? Will you have elections? Will you give free housing to everyone or let your people live in shacks? Its all up to you.
Sherlock Holmes.
This detective series was never supposed to be anything but an arcade game, but it was so good, even with its clunky controls, that they HAVE to make new stories. The first game was about uncovering who committed the crimes of Jack the Ripper and is historically accurate.
A great game for under $20
When the expansion for Tropico 4 didn't come out on March 27th, me, KiddVicious, and Itchy Pants had to Do something with the 1600 microsoft points that wers burning a hole in our proverbial pockets. We looked all over the marketplace for a good game that we could play together and found Fable 3. The game was priced in cash and we already the points so we didn't know if we would be able to buy it, but I guess the smart people at microsoft realized tht flaw and corrected it. So we got Fable 3. We usually would get a game like that straightaway; RPG, online multiplayer, awesome franchise ... but I believe there were a lot of good games that came out at the same time and you just can't get them all, well unless you have a serious gaming addiction, even worse than us.
In our sanctuary, we have a 63" 3D LED HDTV with 7.1 surround, an xbox360 with Kinect, and a ps3, then there is a 50" HDTV with a mac mini, a sony vaio, and another xbox 360. We got seperate xboxes so we didn't have to fight over one anymore. It has made our marriage better :)
Fable 3 is great, we are married and have a son in the game. When you get married to another player you share in the profits of all properties you buy. Unfortunately, we've had a few glitches with being married. The unexplainable glitch happened when we were at a load screen and when the game came back on, we were divorced for neglect and our son was gone. I'm guessing you can only be married while playing together, but that is just an asumption. I'm more than likely wrong. Also, It is really easy to divorce your partner. You just have to be near them and press right bumper.
So instead of being greedy and getting an add on for I play so much I've ruined it for Itchy Pants, we got a game we can play together for five dollars more. They ar selling it at gamestop for $15 used and $35 new. I don't know why the Modern Times DLC didn't come out for Tropico on the 27th, but I am mad. They tease their fans so bad, but at least they deliever. They probably didn't finish it. Oh well, I'll be looking for it.
In our sanctuary, we have a 63" 3D LED HDTV with 7.1 surround, an xbox360 with Kinect, and a ps3, then there is a 50" HDTV with a mac mini, a sony vaio, and another xbox 360. We got seperate xboxes so we didn't have to fight over one anymore. It has made our marriage better :)
Fable 3 is great, we are married and have a son in the game. When you get married to another player you share in the profits of all properties you buy. Unfortunately, we've had a few glitches with being married. The unexplainable glitch happened when we were at a load screen and when the game came back on, we were divorced for neglect and our son was gone. I'm guessing you can only be married while playing together, but that is just an asumption. I'm more than likely wrong. Also, It is really easy to divorce your partner. You just have to be near them and press right bumper.
So instead of being greedy and getting an add on for I play so much I've ruined it for Itchy Pants, we got a game we can play together for five dollars more. They ar selling it at gamestop for $15 used and $35 new. I don't know why the Modern Times DLC didn't come out for Tropico on the 27th, but I am mad. They tease their fans so bad, but at least they deliever. They probably didn't finish it. Oh well, I'll be looking for it.
Monday, March 26, 2012
I hate California!!
Hello again no one. Me and Itchy Pants (xbox live) just got the wifi PSVita so maybe I will be doing some blogging again. :)
Right now I am pretty upset. One, I have almost beat Tropico 4, I am on the last campaign‚ I have 3 achievements left, and I just cannot beat this last level. I have tried, wasting probably 10 hours only to lose. It sucks... I will beat it though. Two, it is now past 1am on March 27th and my Modern Times expansion is still not out!!! I am dying I'm not even going to be able to play before bed now! Of course this is California's fault because new marketplace content doesn't come out until midnight on the west coast.
For those of you crazy people who have never played any of the Tropico games, it is amazing. Think Sim City but better and on a tropical paradise. Tropico 4, by Haemimont Games and Kalypso, was released at the end of 2011, after a few pushbacks and I have been adamently playing it since. I love it. The player chooses to play as any famous dictator, Ché Guevara, Juan Peron, Fidel Castro, or just make up your own. Then you choose 3 traits for your dictator, good or bad. There are a lot of different traits and they all can be leveled up to 5. Once you have your avatar, you are ready to rule. There are 20 campaign missions, a sandbox mode and God mode. Definately worth whatever they are selling it for.
I have 3 of the 4 available downloadable content packs for it from Xbox Live Marketplace. Each of the DLCs comes with a new building, avatar trait, mission and decorations. Up until now, the downloadable content was 400 microsoft points each. The new Modern Times DLC is 1200 points but is going to make Tropico into a whole new game as far as I'm concerned. The trailers promises 30 new buildings, 10 new edicts... I cannot wait any longer! I'm going to go check again. Ttfn, ta ta for now.
ps.. Just joking about the whole California thing, but seriously can't they just have it released at 12am in each time zone?? They are Microsoft for crying out loud.
Right now I am pretty upset. One, I have almost beat Tropico 4, I am on the last campaign‚ I have 3 achievements left, and I just cannot beat this last level. I have tried, wasting probably 10 hours only to lose. It sucks... I will beat it though. Two, it is now past 1am on March 27th and my Modern Times expansion is still not out!!! I am dying I'm not even going to be able to play before bed now! Of course this is California's fault because new marketplace content doesn't come out until midnight on the west coast.
For those of you crazy people who have never played any of the Tropico games, it is amazing. Think Sim City but better and on a tropical paradise. Tropico 4, by Haemimont Games and Kalypso, was released at the end of 2011, after a few pushbacks and I have been adamently playing it since. I love it. The player chooses to play as any famous dictator, Ché Guevara, Juan Peron, Fidel Castro, or just make up your own. Then you choose 3 traits for your dictator, good or bad. There are a lot of different traits and they all can be leveled up to 5. Once you have your avatar, you are ready to rule. There are 20 campaign missions, a sandbox mode and God mode. Definately worth whatever they are selling it for.
I have 3 of the 4 available downloadable content packs for it from Xbox Live Marketplace. Each of the DLCs comes with a new building, avatar trait, mission and decorations. Up until now, the downloadable content was 400 microsoft points each. The new Modern Times DLC is 1200 points but is going to make Tropico into a whole new game as far as I'm concerned. The trailers promises 30 new buildings, 10 new edicts... I cannot wait any longer! I'm going to go check again. Ttfn, ta ta for now.
ps.. Just joking about the whole California thing, but seriously can't they just have it released at 12am in each time zone?? They are Microsoft for crying out loud.
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