Pokemon

Back at the beginning of the summer, I promised my boy that once HE read 10 books, I'd get him some Pokemon cards that he wanted so badly.

Last week, while he and my wife were at Falls Creek, he finally read his 10th book. So today, we picked him up a small Pokemon kit. It basically works on teaching him how the game works.

After getting home from the store, we read the instructions, and played a couple games.

I won the first game, and he won the second.

We had a lot of fun (even if it was Pokemon)

2 geeks in a pod

Friday night, my boy and I spent some good time together. My wife spent the evening hanging out with some of her friends. So, after we left the soccer fields (had a meeting), we stopped at the Jalapeño Grill and had dinner. We then came home and played video games.

When my wife came home she said hi and went upstairs and watched some TV. We went to bed about 1:00 AM!!! I couldn't believe it. He was playing his Nintendo DS and I was playing my new computer game (Vangaurd SoH).

We both had a good time.

He is so my clone!

Chess

I taught my boy how to play Chess tonight.

I beat him, but I got a bit worried a couple of times. I gave him lots of help, and in doing so, didn't pay attention. Oops. But it was a good start. I was very proud of him.

He'll also be able to earn his Cub Scout belt loop once he can tell me the pieces names and how they move.

He really liked it. We'll probably play again soon.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces

While glancing through the News headlines today, I saw this very interesting story from Yahoo News of a popular Christian book spawning a video game.

The only popular Christian book that I could think of was the Left Behind books. And I was right. There is going to be Left Behind Games.

Here is the description from the Left Behind Website:

Wage a war of apocalyptic proportions in LEFT BEHIND: Eternal Forces - a real-time strategy game based upon the best-selling LEFT BEHIND book series created by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Join the ultimate fight of Good against Evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances!

• Lead the Tribulation Force from the book series , including Rayford, Chloe, Buck and Bruce against Nicolae Carpathia – the AntiChrist.
• Conduct physical & spiritual warfare : using the power of prayer to strengthen your troops in combat and wield modern military weaponry throughout the game world.
• Recover ancient scriptures and witness spectacular Angelic and Demonic activity as a direct consequence of your choices.
• Command your forces through intense battles across a breathtaking, authentic depiction of New York City .
• Control more than 30 units types - from Prayer Warrior and Hellraiser to Spies, Special Forces and Battle Tanks!
• Enjoy a robust single player experience across dozens of New York City maps in Story Mode – fighting in China Town , SoHo , Uptown and more!
• Play multiplayer games as Tribulation Force or the AntiChrist's Global Community Peacekeepers with up to eight players via LAN or over the internet!

This could be a very good game. There is a downloadable demo of the game from their web page which I probably will download and give a shot.

The news article talks about how some people are in an uproar because this game is violent.

"It's reprehensible," said Florida attorney Jack Thompson, a critic of video game violence. "They're basically using the phrase — Christian game — to disarm parents into thinking it's going to be OK for our kids."

Well, I have a something I'd like to point out to this guy. No one said the Bible was not full of violence. It is. Lots of it. The Bible is full of lies, murder, deception, adultry, wars, insest, and probably much more stuff that I can't think of as I sit here and type.

Now, the Bible isn't a "How to" book on doing these things, but this stuff is in there.

Also, this is a GAME. Suppose to be fun to play. The developers are also trying to reach people with the gosple of Jesus Christ and at the very lease talking about things that will have eternal importance. A game with a Teen rating is about the same thing as a PG-13 movie. Most parents don't flinch an inch about letting their teen's watch PG-13 movies.

I acutally like how the developers responded when asked if the violence was needed to make the game fun. They replied "Violence is not required to make a fun game. However, it is required to make a game about the end of the world in the Left Behind book series. We have taken great care to make certain that there are real consequences for poor gamer behavior, unlike most games in the market. For instance, unnecessary killing will result in lower Spirit points which are essential to winning."

The game is expected out in October, but as I've said before, a downloadable demo is already available. I think I read they expect this game to cost in the $50 range and be rated Teen.

Halo 3 update

Back in May I talked how it looked like Halo 3 was to be released at the same time as the PS3. Since it has been pushed back, there was some speculation if Halo would be pushed as well. Would it still come out at the same time as the PS3?

Well, it appears we have our answer. Halo 3 (possible called Forerunner) has a March '07 release date now according to this Next Generation article.

Classic '80's Games

While doing some searching on Google for legitimate work reasons, I stumbled upon Classic '80's Games. The Google link caught my eye.

Being the avid game player I am, I bookmarked it and moved along to the legitimate work I was doing.

Though not all the games on this page are from the 80's (Pong), most are, and many will make you smile.

Games like Duck Hunt, Pacman, Frogger, and Space Invaders are just a few.

Take a look!

Playstation Games for Kids

I discussed in a previous post my frustrations with finding suitable games for my young child for the PS2. Not just games rated for his age group, but also games he could play.

Well, I've finally done something about it. I've created Playstation Games for Kids.

I will be updating is with my own personal reviews of Playstation games, and what my son thought.

I hope you'll stop by and take a look.

Humiliation

I almost hate to post this, but my son has consecutively stomped my rear at Ape Escape Pumped and Primed... at least with the sling shot.

It wasn't pretty.

Kid Friendly PS2 Games

I'm a bit frustrated.

My son, who is almost 6, loves to play the PS2 (Playstation 2 for all you that don't know what I'm talking about). It seems that though there are a lot of sites out there, like GameSpot that review games, none really give me a good idea if it is a game that my son could play.

I know the ESRB ratings are there, but just because the game is rated for Everybody, doesn't mean my almost 6 year old is able to play the game. For example, Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius is rated E, and my boy is able to play that without much help from me. However, Heroes of Might and Magic is also rated E, but he could not play this game.

I haven't decided yet, but I'm considering getting a GameFly subscription and renting different games and playing them with my son decide if they are games that are games kids can/should play and then either starting a new blog or making posts here about mine and my boys thoughts of the game.

I know he would like that idea since he would get to play more games.... I'll have to think about this some more.

Halo 3 vs PS3 launch

This is a nice ploy, though I'm not sure how much it will effect the market.

It appears that Halo 3 will be released at the same time the PS3 is to be launched. The Halo games have looked very nice. And the first Halo game was fun for the few hours I got to play it. I'm not sure how much if any if the Halo 3 release will effect the PS3's sales.