Holidazed
Other than Junior getting a double ear infection and rupturing an ear drum, Christmas was a blast. She’s OK and is on antibiotics.
Les got his kids some bean bag chairs and reports the kids like them. We got some for our kids too and they seem to enjoy them.
Our kids had so many presents that they got bored of opening presents before even getting through 1/3rd of the gifts they had. I told The Mrs. that next year we may want to get them fewer gifts.
And, for all you folks looking for Wiis, Target in Maryville has them (or rather had about 20 of them yesterday). Of course, they didn’t get them until the day after Christmas. And the Mrs. picked me one up yesterday. It’s a lot of fun. All I have is the sports game. Any recommendations?
So, Christmas is over and the new holiday season starts, like, next week?
December 27th, 2007 at 10:10 am
I think we overdid a little, too. We wound up taking a few things back before Christmas. Now we’re trickling the last presents out a few at a time every day.
December 27th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Wii is Japanese for video crack.
My wife thought I was an idiot for buying one (“You’re how old and buying a video game?”). Now, she’s just as addicted.
The latest Call of Duty has a rails mode that works with the Zapper. That’s fun.
Guitar Hero is truly addictive.
The Wii Sports that comes with it is pretty cool, too.
Now, I just need to figure out if Cabela’s Big Game hunter can be used with the zapper…..
December 27th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Super Mario Galaxy is fun, if a bit more on the kid-ish side of things. It’s surprisingly enjoyable. More recommended if you played the earlier ones.
Most of the same goes for Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess.
Resident Evil 4 will probably make you cringe from unrealistic gun mechanics, but it’s also a hell of a lot of fun, especially on the Wii. Not for kids, though, unless your kid is old enough to deal with decapitation.
December 27th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
Ray Man Raving Rabbids was fun – lots of weird stuff including cow tossing, and shooting bathroom plungers at hordes of rabid rabbits…
December 27th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Get Rayman: Raving Rabids and the sequel. They’re a hell of a lot of fun and you’ll laugh your ass off too. š
December 27th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Any good games for, say, a three year old?
December 27th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnsfcB1m3lk
You may want to try some of these games…
December 27th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
For a 3 yo? They will have a lot of fun watching, with little requirement for doing.
I recommend Super Mario Galaxy for kids (even though I *hate* the Mario serieses of games) because it has a two player mode that allows the second player to ‘help out’, but doesn’t require them to do much in order for the first player to advance.
In addition to that, there is Lego Star Wars that is pretty straight-forward and has simple movement with co-op two player. You lead, Jr follows.
There is a Carnival game that is a great party mode game. Try throwing rings on bottles, tossing softballs into baskets, etc. Kids won’t do much better than adults, and that is kinda the point.
There is also a Roller Coaster Sim that has 50 mini-games hidden in Party Mode. They are pretty simple to play – like old arcade games – but most require a nunchuck, so there would be extra cost for those.
For the adult, if you like golf, Tiger Woods is a very easy and fantastic golf game. It prevents you from swinging too hard on the back swing on the green, which adds a lot to the ‘enjoyment’ factor.
Resident Evil 4 is definitely an adult game. It rated high, but I’m not a fan of that genre.
Call of Duty 3 has a lot of action, but it has a set ‘event’ that requires a certain ‘tug & pull’ of the controls to fight a guy off with your rifle (instead of just shooting him). You’ll need to bribe the teen-age baby-sitter’s boyfriend to get you through that section. But after that, lot’s of puzzle-solving action.
I enjoyed Marble Madness for about the first 20 levels. Then it got mind-bogglingly hard. Imagine playing one of those marble-platform puzzles that you twist the knobs to avoid the holes in the maze. But use the Wii-mote as the ’tilt’ control. I nearly sprained my wrist one time.
Scarface was not nearly as much fun as Godfather (BHE). Both rated a 71 on MegaCritic (where I get all of my ratings to decide which games to
downloadget). But Scarface requires you to point at the screen to aim, while Godfather uses a nice auto-aim. Godfather is delicious in it’s ‘evilness’. You get to grab a guy by the shirt and smash his head into a cash register. This intimidates the store owner and nets you the cash! š Definitely do not play until the w&k have left. Unless the wife likes to see you smash guy’s heads through windows. You even get to drive old cars across the Brooklyn Bridge with a Tommy Gun being fired out the side window.Guitar Hero _can_ be a lot of fun, but most of your time is spent staring at the screen, watching the upcoming fret buttons. Until you get really good at it and know what you need to play, you can’t really enjoy the music. It has some interesting ideas for multiplayer, but the casual gamer will get frustrated and look for something else after a short while. Considering the cost, if you aren’t already a guitar player, I would wait for a sale.
The crown jewel for me has been Need For Speed; Carbon. Two player is kinda lacking and the entire game is played at night. But the game is a ton of fun in terms of racing – especially avoiding the cops while smashing their cars. Who *doesn’t* love that?? š A great side feature is the ability to paint and redesign the car. It is mostly cosmetic, but the results – statically – are awesome. When my daughter suggest I make the Mustang purple I frowned. The results were pretty damned good! One tip, however, is to set the controller to use the nunchuck and use control setting “5”. This one allows you to use the thumbstick to steer. Turning the remote like a steering wheel gets tiring pretty quickly – imagine holding your arms straight out for an hour, ugh. Avoid the latest Need for Speed; Pro Street, unless you need that arm workout – no control options.
Don’t under-estimate the sports disc. There is a ‘training mode’ that has about 18 games (some of them suck). You can unlock a bowling game that lets you knock down 91 pins in a single throw. Excellent sound effects. I have learned a lot about people’s skills while teaching them these games. I’ve ‘taught’ about 100 people how to play. Some are great at Tennis right away, others kick ass at bowling. Most get the hang of baseball after three swings. (I teach them to ‘flick’ the remote and not swing like a bat. It is much quicker and more accurate – less prone to timing issues.) Watching two adults try boxing is an f-ing riot. No, I don’t demonstrate that one.
— Let your kids create the ‘Mii’ icon to represent you. You’ll learn something about how they perceive you. And your spouse. And their grandparents. š
The other bowling games (AMC and Brunswick) are not worthwhile. I have no idea what they were on when they created them. The backswing and release are not in sync with your actions (like the Sports Bowling is), so it is like watching a video replay of your swing. Blech.
If you like single player adventure games, Zelda is awesome, but lengthy. You’ll need the map to know where to go. And a lot of patience and creativity. The other single player adventure games are similar. If they are your thing, they are great because the interface is great. I don’t have that much time in my day. š
If you have any specific questions, you can e-mail me or goto metaCritic.
I read somewhere this year that there are nearly 800 Wii games in development. I was hoping to have every game, but now I don’t think I’ll accomplish that. š
December 27th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Holy Sh!t! I should get a blog!
heh
Can I get an ‘indeed’? š
December 27th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Wii sports is great… i would highly reccomend zelda and paper mario…. also mario party is a great family game
the problem with the Wii is that it makes us old guys realize just how out of shape we are when we are moving all around playing against the kids… boxing wears me out in about 10 minutes… and of course i get my butt kicked by the 8 year old
December 27th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I’m glad Junior is on the mend.
I tend toward the Zelda series with Nintendo.
December 27th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Aside from the ones already stated, Warioware Smooth Moves is a simple game that can provide hours of entertainment for young and old. The game is a collection of minigames that are very fast paced and silly. Seems like it’d be good for kids.
December 29th, 2007 at 7:14 am
You actually are going to let your kid play š