Every year I tell myself that I should start my Christmas shopping earlier… but here I am again. If you are anything like me and are looking for a nearly last minute gift, and you happen to be shopping for a technically savvy 11-13 year old, I may be able to help! A few months ago I reviewed a 6 in 1 Educational Solar Kit (a great gift for younger kids) from OWI that I had a lot of fun building with my kids. OWI sent out their new 535 Robotic Arm Edge Kit ($53.95 retail but on great sale from OWI right now) for me to try. As the recommended age for this kit is 13+ , my 6 and 3 year olds were not going to be helping with the construction.  Read the rest of the story...

This week we had the chance to take a swipe at playing what we thought was going to be a unique and fun adventure game for girls on the Wii, Barbie and the Three Musketeers game by Activision. The game is a tie-in to the direct-to-DVD computer animated adventure movie of the same name. The story line is simple: Barbie (who is called Corinne in both the movie and the game) and her Three Musketeer friends Viveca, Renee, and Aramina, ramble through France in an effort to save a French Prince. The game advances the storyline through cut scenes and a straight up platform side-scroller game play (side-scroller game play is when the action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right). Each of the girls have a specific “power” to help get through the levels of gameplay including Corinne’s gymnastic abilities, Viveca’s use of hair ribbons to swing from things, Renee’s ability to shoot arrows from violin, and Aramina’s ability to dance, twirl, and jump really high. You can play as any of the girls (once you unlock them) by simply pressing one of the controller buttons to switch between characters. You also get to occasionally use another character, Miette the cat, to crawl into tight spaces. The whole goal of the gameplay is to keep advancing through the levels and collecting as many gold coins as possible. You get to use the gold coins to purchase new clothes for Corinne and her friends as well as photographs and other “memory” knick-knacks at a shop in the story. Here is the promo trailer with some of the highlights from the game:  Read the rest of the story...

As the weather gets cooler and the days shorter, I’m starting to think about indoor entertainment for my kids. At a family dinner recently, an uncle pulled out the game Bananagrams. I had never played before, but was very curious about the banana shaped bag with all the little pieces. Turns out the bag is filled with letter tiles (similar to Scrabble, but with no letter values), and each person (or team, in our case- too many people) draws a certain number to start. Then, when everyone is ready, the fun begins! Players rapidly turn over their tiles and try to make a crossword pattern of any words they can come up with. Once all the letters are gone, the player who uses all their letters in real, correctly spelled words is the winner.  Read the rest of the story...

Do you have kids that really like baseball? Then Baseball Blast for the Wii from 2K Sports might be for you. But, before you run out and get it, there are a few things you should know about it. First, Baseball Blast is not a baseball game in the strictest sense. There is no “real” game of baseball anywhere in the game.  You don’t get to pitch, hit and run in nine innings of play. If you’re looking to do that, check out 2K Sports other baseball titles (which are actually very good). You do get the chance to play a short game of baseball in Play Ball mode, but it’s probably not the baseball experience you’d be looking for if you want a true baseball game.  Read the rest of the story...