Family Gaming

Things have mostly been pretty good and we've been getting in more gaming as a family. The Wii game "Pirates Vs Ninjas Dodgeball" has been a huge hit in my house. Also, the Wii game DDR 2 has added a second dance pad and now dancing has become a huge family activity. Having games that one can enjoy with your children really helps bring the family together. The Wii has seen a surge of activity and my body is feeling better for the extra exercise. My Shoulders have even been quite sore a few nights from boxing. Plus I can feel my heart getting stronger again from all the vigorous dancing as Dance Dance Revolution puts me through the paces. Meanwhile seeing my kids get more into gaming as they get old enough to enjoy it has me very excited for the future.

I look forward to when my kids are old enough to introduce to roleplaying games. It is still years off, but the linked article makes me look forward to playing Shadowrun 3rd edition or Anima: Beyond Fantasy with new generation of gamers. Sooner than that we might get into the minaitures board game "Descent" if my kids are interested in it.

On my birthday I finally got to try out my copy of Runebound: Frozen Wastes expansion. It was a good expansion. I'm not sure if I like it more than the base game, but it was a lot of fun to mix it up and do something different. The Frozen Wastes expansion makes movement much, much more important. The game is also more competitive as you actually feel driven to keep up with others so the weather doesn't kill you and they don't beat you to winning the game or getting the good treasure. If you're a Runebound player it is definitely worth getting to get some more life out of your Runebound game.

For those of you interested in a good debate about gaming you can go have a debate about Violence in Video games. Worth checking out though both sides of the debate are getting very stale to me in my opinion.Honestly, this isn't new territory. Video games just seem to be a new emerging media to target.

Teaching your kids

Are you a parent who wonders if playing games around kids is okay? are you a kid who's parents are worried about you playing games?

Then you might want to read some news. Scientific Research has shown that games can improve Kids' reasoning and and processing abilities. Not only that but the type of game you play will improve different types of skills and learning abilities, duh! Whether you're playing an action game or strategy game for instance makes a difference in developing a Kid's reaction speed and problem solving abilities. I'm not advocating that you should just let your kids playing anything, but you should let them play. Kids who can play video games learn better communication skills and hand eye skills. Myself, as a kid I was inspired to learn to read mostly so I could play Scott Adams' Adventure games. These text adventure games were a lot of fun as a kid and inspired my imagination and storytelling. Fond memories those are, the kids these days just don't have any appreciation for the classics right? (For that matter neither do the adults, we enjoy our fancy graphics!)

For parents stressed out at their kids educational-recreational activities, maybe they need to play some games of their own to de-stress? Then sit down and play some games with your family. My kids and myself have recently been rediscovering the Wii again and they're very enthusiastic about playing with Daddy right now. That family that plays together, stays together I say!

P.S. - This blog entry written while my 9 month old son fell asleep on top of me.

Slothing to 2010

I can't believe another decade is around the corner. Sigh. Where did this last one go? I graduated from college in 2000 and suddenly... zoom it is 2010 almost already. Meanwhile I had a big job interview last week. I'm in the final 3 for a company that is actually determined to hire someone. It sure would be nice to be collecting a paycheck again! I'm trying to ebay stuff I don't use so I can have some sort of Christmas on my own money. Doubly so since we're moving by the end of December with a job or not. So excuse me if my posting is very infrequent until then.

I'm playing a pen and paper game of Elemental that can be viewed over at their website. It is going about as slow as my blog posting these days though. The others are too afraid that I'm going to win that they can't even make their moves is the way I look at it.

If ebay goes well I'll be buying a new Wii Nunchuk for playing games with my daughters and maybe some cheap Wii games as well. Meanwhile if you want some good reviews of Wii games, check out the Wiiviewer channel on youtube!

Godzilla and painting

Who remembers the old day of "Nintendo thumb" when you had blisters on your thumbs from button mashing all night long? Now I've got "Nintendo arm" where my arms are feeling sore from so much vigorous movement on the Wii to play Godzilla Unleashed for two evenings. But unlike the old Nintendo thumb it feels like my arms are sore from growing new muscles rather than blisters. Thanks to Nintendo for changing the unhealthy way that people play video games. My kids and wife are getting more exercise thanks to the Wii Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). Even the neighbor kids have come over during the day for dance sessions already.

The game I'm really obsessing over these days however isn't electronic, it is old fashioned paint and play Miniatures game of Anima: Tactics. Both my wife and I are playing this game and I try to get the occasional game in at the Friendly Local Game store when I can escape for a while. The models are exquisitely beautiful and we are enjoying the Anima inspired setting. The rules are also very simple, yet allow a lot of great tactical variation. The organization I've chosen to play is "Church", the figures are obviously inspired but some of the beautiful medieval imagery of Catholic church. Story wise they're based off of some of the weird medieval groups like the Spanish Inquisition. Pictured you'll see a nun, an Inquisitor, and.... a girl with wings who can fly and fight.


The winged girl and the Inquisitor are my own paint job while the Nun was painted by my wife.
I choose purple and pink and dark colors for them to represent the flamboyant clothes worn by what I consider the corrupt and decadent churches of the medeival era in Europe.

Does my painting suck? got suggestions, praise or something else? Feel free to leave comments.

Gaming update

Well I took a break from Lord of the Rings Online in December when a cousin of mine died. Haven't felt inspired enough to go back currently though I'm sure I will in the future.

I picked up Neverwinter Nights the original, a good game that I never picked up when it was all the rage because I personally don't care for D&D settings. Bioware makes quality games however and I envision spending more time with it when I have a chance.

What I've really been into is miniatures gaming again. Yes, still more VOR but I also found a new miniatures game to play for the first time since VOR - Anima: Tactics. A great small-scale skirmish type miniatures game, the rules are simple but allow for many tactical possibilities. The minis themselves are the best part having a mange/anime theme to the imagery. Both my wife and I have picked this up making it our latest "couples" game.

While we do that, we're looking at getting and setting up a Wii for the little ones. Have to start the kids out right so they can connect on a gamer level with their parents when they're older! That and if they don't get out much in the rainy weather this will allow all of us to get more exercise than sitting and playing computer games. Hopefully more developers get the idea of "active" gaming in the future.