Gamer Mommy & Geek Boy

Addictively sweet holiday fun with We Cheer

Don't know what to get your inner cheerleader for the holidays?

Try We Cheer from Namco Bandai for the Wii.  It's the perfect game for girly-girl tweens (or for yourself if you were more the pen pocket protector sort than the sporty type back in the day). 

Customize your pep squad girl with the perfect competition outfit and then get ready for some pom-pom play. Dance and cheer to 70s disco kings, KC and the Sunshine Band,  or contemporary rock bands like Paramore or Boys Like Girls.  Hilary Duff fans, relax.  She's got a track too.

With several modes to choose from -- exercise, competition or party -- there's an opportunity for everyone to play and compete as well as burn off some of the holiday goodies.

Wii remotes function as pom-poms, although we got a nifty red & blue set to show off our rah-rah-sis-boom-bah.

Cheer, dance and unlock new teammates, outfits, songs and more.We Cheer with it's doe-eyed anime cheerleaders is addictively sweet fun.

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."

Afro-Samurai: January 2009

Warning.  This is not a video game that most Mommies will love.  But it isn't intended for an audience of  kiddies. 

A recent preview of the Afro Samurai demo for PS3 and Xbox 360, slated for a January 2009 release, reveals a bloodbath.  We're talking buckets of blood in some serious hack and slash action.  My 10-year-old kid will not being playing this game.

What Mommy does is another story, however. As a fan of Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a sword, I already enjoy a little stylized comic and anime action. Afro Samurai can be my other dirty little secret.

I can't say enough about the visceral beauty of this game. The art work is powerful, animated with cel shaded graphics that make the game look much like the actual  Japanese manga created by Takashi Okazaki and spun off into the Spike TV mini series that debuted in 2007. 

The Namco Bandai developed game features voice talent by actor Samuel L. Jackson as Afro. Jackson is no stranger to the video game scene with the role of Officer Tenpenny in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as well as bits for Star Wars and Incredibles games.  He is co-producer of the Gonzo-animated TV series.

Other voice talent includes Ron Perlman of Hellboy fame as Justice as well as television and film star Kelly Hu.

The RZA of Wu-Tang Clan delivers a driving original hip hop soundtrack, with different beats for each major battle.

An epic tale of revenge, the game is set in futuristic but still feudal Japan.  Afro, who styles an amazing natural, seeks to kill, Justice, a three-armed gunman and the No. 1 swordsman.  When Afro was a small boy, Justice killed the boy's father while he looked helplessly on.   Now the No. 2 swordsman, Afro travels the dark path seeking to take the No. 1 head band and avenge his father's death.

Afro Samurai is a third person action game, unrated, but according to Namco Bandai sources most likely to have an ESRB content rating of M.