Gamer Mommy & Geek Boy

Nintendo Pre-Release Party

Nintendo World, 10 Rockefeller Plaza, is having a little pre-release party for Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir, Saturday, September 6, from noon to 2 p.m. at their Rockefeller Center Store.

And, yes, it falls in the category of my favorite word: FREE.

We'll skip the Top of the Rock next weekend and mash buttons instead.

Participants of all ages and gaming skill levels are invited to help crack the mystery of missing millionaire Phil T. Rich during a live interactive performance with characters from the game.

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir turns gamers into "professional sleuths." Using intuitive touch screen controls, players gather clues to crack the case of missing millionaire Phil T. Rich by finding their way through series of seek-and-solve scenes. The game's mix of seek-and-solve challenges. The multiplayer action game with memorable characters and brilliant graphics is rated E everyone.

Nintendo knows how to throw a party so expect food, fun, game kiosks and prizes to be won .

We like prizes, among other things, like fun.

I Don't Wanna Work. I Just Wanna Bang on the Drum All Day

Back in the Suzuki days, I scratched out Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with all the other pushy Moms who wanted their adorable offspring to be Baby Mozarts. 

My boy, who has perfect pitch, refused to play his  violin made of a ruler and a box of macaroni and cheese -- for a year.  He's no fool.  I was.  He knew the darn thing didn't make music and he wasn't about to scratch on it.  Meanwhile, all the tone deaf kids sawed away.

The boy still has perfect pitch, sings in the school chorus and plays keyboards and snare drum.  Mom's student violin is gathering dust, awaiting the day she starts lessons again. 

In the meantime, Wii Music is there for me and my Mii if we ever have the urge to reminisce.  The boy is going to be bored. 

This game is designed for the young 'uns and parents of the pre-school and early elementary set are going to love it for their kids -- unless they happen to be hipsters who load their iPods with music they like instead of music their kids like.  Yeah, all little kids have dreadful taste in music until they don't any more.  That's called exposure.

Wii Music is corny and not for everyone, but it's a cute casual game. Bang a drum, big people.

MillionHeir Mystery

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir is high tech I Spy.  We love it and you will too!

Nintendo reports the seek-and-solve game for NIntendo DS showcases "a multitude of beautiful, intricately detailed painted scenes in which players seek out cleverly hidden items to progress through an interactive detective story. There are 12 potential heirs to examine, 30 detailed scenes to peruse and more than 1,000 hidden objects to find."

It's a great game to pick up and play for a few minutes or a full commute. Get ready to sharpen your skills because this game is intricately detailed, a real scavenger hunt.  Rated E for Everyone!

The Campaign Begins

"Hey, Mom. This is Snudge."

"Hey, Snudge."

It cracks me up that he always identifies himself to me. While the proud parent in me loves his beautiful phone etiquette, I always find it comical.  How could I not know who's ringing me from miles across the globe. 

Snudge is in Tokyo with his Dad and he really, really, really wants a PS3. 

He likes to remind me about it, in case I might have forgotten somehow, so weekly we talk and he updates his wish list, which includes among other things, the PS3.

Ostensibly, he's calling because he misses his ever-loving Mommy.  I know he does!  I have no doubt when he asks me if I've googled information for him about the new Namco Bandai Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm for the PS3. Or if I've found out when the movie Star Wars Clone Wars is being released internationally. 

And, oh by the way, he was starting to play a PC game when he thought it might not be appropriate, so  navigated away from the site: click, click.

My son is either going to be a wildly successful negotiator, maybe a litigator, a lobbyist perhaps, or he's going to be a video game developer.  It's a toss-up.  He's been creatively negotiating (doggedly, I might add) since he could form complete sentences.  And when his nose isn't stuck in a copy of  PC Informer, he's  doodling  fantasy characters to rule the world.

The funniest thing he ever said to me (and quite possibly truest) is that he wants to rule the world when he grows up.  Who am I to stand in his way?

"I love you, Mommy."

"I love you, too, Snudge."

MLB Power Pros 2008: Rated E for Everyone

It's not often you see a high double digits score in a baseball game,  Unless you happen to be a button-mashing, casual gaming Mommy such as myself.

Yeah, I freely admit it. I suck. 

But that didn't stop me from enjoying an hour of MLB Power Pros 2008, the 2K Sports-developed game that is the highest-rated and best- selling baseball title in Japan, available last year in North America.  The little guys, based on the actual major league teams and their big name players, look like bobble heads.  And the way I play, they were pin balling all over the playing field.  I laughed so hard I cried.

With three key game modes, fans can play alone or with another person, choosing from Success Mode, MLB Life or Season Mode.  Success Mode creates the career path of  a rising star in the Double-A minor leagues with players trying to improve their skills and impress scouts while trying to balance their personal lives.  MLB Life simulates the experiences of being a major league player over the course of a  20-year career.   Season Mode recreates the challenges of leading a winning team to the top in the World Series.

MLB Power Pros 2008 is fun, fun, fun.  I love watching the little guys take a big swing, strike out, and spin like the Tasmanian Devil  with their eyes bugging.  Catching a pop fly is a huge skill thrill for an all thumbs master such as myself. 

Kids big and small will love pitting their favorite teams against each other in their favorite stadiums.  I can envision many a Subway Series.  Plus you get to play as your fav players too.

Catch MLB Power Pros Action

I Love Me a Skater Boy!

He was a skater boy

She said, "See you later boy"

And anyone who had to listen endlessly to this puff pop tune from Avril Lavigne knows how this story ends.

Skater Boy rules!  And, well, the geek girl gets the cool guy.

On that happy note, I'd like to introduce Skate It! due out Fall 2008.

The two nine-year-old test geeks I took with me to Everyone Plays sponsored by Electronic Arts in June gave the game enthuiastic High Fives! in both Wii and DS platforms.  Developers Black Box, which is all things skateboard all the time, worked with pro skaters to create the highly intuitive game.  Skate It! features the revolutionary Flickit controls for more ways to shred -- either using the Wii remote or balance board or DS to mimick sick board moves. 

It's not just random riding, however.  The plot goes like this:

A series of freak natural disasters has left the city of San Vanelona deserted and in ruins. Skate It brings gamers back to the former skateboarding mecca where fallen structures, debris and rubble, combined with zero pedestrian traffic becomes the perfect formula for wicked skate lines.

Nintendo players ride with the pros, getting worked in (the) Hall of Meat and raking in sponsorships on their path to becoming Thrasher Magazine’s Skater of the Year. But the story line doesn't end there. Gamers get gnarly in skating hot spots, owning their turf globally.

My skater boys had to be physically dragged from the game to test other Electronic Arts offerings.

I'd say a good time was had by all.

Video Gaming For Good

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a remarkable young man, Ben Underwood.  Ben is your average  teenager in practically every respect. Ben is into sports -- biking, skateboarding, surfing, rollerblading, shooting hoops, and he is a video game fiend.  A huge gamer, he is pretty much undefeated in Wii Boxing, and dreams of being a game developer./p>

He’s a regular kid, except that he can’t see.

Ben has cancer. 

He has no eyes, but wears prosthethics. Diagnosed with Bilateral Retnoblastoma or cancer in both eyes as a toddler, he had surgery to remove both his eyes just before his third birthday.

His life could have been very different but for his mother Aquanetta Gordan. Gordan decided when her baby lost his eyes that she was going to push him to use the gifts he had rather than feel sorry for himself.

They put their faith in God and only recently decided that Ben would no longer undergo chemotherapy, but take Glyconutrients, an alternative medical treatment.

"I never let him feel my fear. I never let him see me cry," she said. "I just loved him like the rest and I didn't treat him any different.

He uses clicking sounds, or echolocation, to locate objects by listening for the echoes in much the same way dolphins or bats use sonar reverberations to navigate. His sensitivity to sound has allowed him to do everything, and perhaps more, than most kids.

Ben doesn't see himself as different or remarkable.  He's just an ordinary kid with big dreams.  "I'm not blind," he says. "I just can't see."

To the rest of us, he is an inspiration.

Because I am so uplifted by his amazing spirit and grace, I am donating 25% of all revenues generated by this website to a Scholarship Fund to help Ben realize his dream of video game development. Please support this effort by donating to the Tip Jar or supporting this site's sponsors.

Pokemon Fever, Gotta Catch 'Em All

Check Out Pokemon Ranger Shadows of Almia

Pokémon® Ranger: Shadows of Almia

Format:	Nintendo DS™
Launch Date:	11/10/08
ESRB:	E (Everyone): Comic Mischief and Mild Cartoon Violence
Game Type:	Action Adventure
Players:	1
Developer:	Creatures

Good news casual gamer Mommy!  If you can scribble in  a circle, then you have the dexterity if not the temerity to snatch your kid's DS and play Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. 

This Gamer Mommy is all about being a do-gooder so the gentle and helpful spirit of the game's story line is all good.  No buckets of blood here, just old-fashioned green do-gooding in the form of nature preservation.

In the Almia region, Rangers meet and capture all kinds of Pokémon. From forests to undersea, your Ranger's mission -- to become Top Ranger -- is accomplished through completing a series of missions that might include fighting wildfires, rescuing people or delivering special packages.

Get ready Student Rangers, there are hundreds of Pokémon to build your dream team and you can choose to play as either a boy or girl Pokémon Ranger.  Captured wild Pokémon follow the player around until their special powers are invoked.

Gotta catch 'em all.

 

A Casual Gaming Mom Is Hatched, Not Born

Who'd a thunk it? If you'd told me I'd be authoring a blog devoted to video games and gaming a year ago, I'd have said in no uncertain Brooklynese terms:  Fuggehdabout it.

Yet, here I am, a casual gamer.  I have gone over to the dark side.  And I love it.  It started innocently enough with Wii Fit, snowballed with BoomBlox, and is fully out of control with Pogo.com. 

In the last couple of weeks I've been checking out new games and games scheduled to launch in time for the holidays.  It's been more fun than a barrel of monkeys. 

Do I have the skills?  Heck, no. That's what I have the 10-year-old PC Informer-reading game maniac for. But just because I'm remote control challenged  doesn't mean I don't know what's hot and what's not.
 
Look for Mom Props on games even a mother could love.  Geek Boy will be putting his seal of approval on the gotta-have-em games too. We'll be playing the games and giving shout outs to the best of the best.