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Mmm... Foosball with Gumballs

I have always loved foosball, so this gaming apparatus which combines a gumball dispenser with a table soccer game would have been a dream come true! The only way to make it better would have been if they were played with malted milk duds. The war against children's teeth just got a whole lot harder for parents and dentists!

iPhone gaming power = Dreamcast gaming power

A major games manufacturer is making a very interesting claim: the iPhone is as powerful as a Sega Dreamcast. Not much talked about today, the Sega Dreamcast was a workhorse of gaming at the time and the games still stack up pretty well against the current generation (I have one in the attic). The idea of having a whole console system in your pocket must be highly compelling for games makers.

How many Simpsons do you know?

This is a fun game to test how many Simpsons characters you can identify. I got them all with 1:39 left to go. I suspect CRChair will do far, far better... if the spelling does not defeat him.

Want to Learn About Redistricting?

I just found a game that allows you to practice redistricting and learn about the process. The goal is to teach about redistricting and specifically its abuses. It's an interesting game and fun to play if you like puzzles.

Test Your Reflexes

In lieu of posting real news, I figured I'd give everyone yet another way to waste time... Test your reflexes with a sheep game.

Treatment for the Mid-Holiday Blahs

I don't know about you, but between lost sleep and the higher-than-normal year-end workload from my employer, I am hitting a pretty hard wall of Mid-Holiday Blahs. I found this game to be a cute and fun way to forget about life's problems for a few minutes. Similar to the old Mario Brothers game, you are Santa Claus, freezing and eliminating thieves before they can spoil Christmas.

Deep Freeze Freeze your enemies with your water gun and stop the bad guys from ruining Christmas.

Play this free game now!!

Wii Fit Coming Soon

One of the great advantages of the Nintendo Wii as a game system over the others is that it forces the gamer to be active. No more passively sitting like a lump and twiddling your fingers. Instead, you must swing your arms, twist your body, etc. to control the action on-screen. I can feel myself becoming more flexible and stronger the more I Wii. Nintendo has noted this demographic and has announced Wii Fit a new set of games that will work with a new step pad to measure fitness and encourage better health via different kinds of exercises. Very cool, and perhaps the biggest step forward for the health of Americans in a long time!

Yes, we have a Wii...

...and if you own a Nintendo Wii, you know what that means. If you don't, you probably think it means hours of lost sleep. Nope. It means I am sleeping like a BABE, because I am so exhausted from playing this console! I read about the recent diagnosis of "Wii Elbow", and laughed at the out-of-shape people exhausted by playing video games. But, I can tell you that playing even NON-sports games, is EXHAUSTING. But I must say it has been GREAT for my health, as I am now exercising regularly and can really feel the difference as I am more flexible, stronger, and my back has not felt this good since I had surgery years ago. A quick review of the games I have played so far:

Wii Sports: This comes free with the console, but is also EASILY the most fun game I own. And this is not a dig on the other games. But Wii sports - which is a fairly simple set of sports-themed games like tennis, boxing, golf, and bowling - IS simple which means you can start playing on day 1, and have some serious fun. And it is also the most aerobic of the games, which means playing it for 1/2 hour each day counts as exercise.

Wii Play: This game comes free with an extra controller (or is available without, by why bother?) and is focussed on showing what kinds of things you can with the Nintendo Wii's innovative control methods. You race cows, play air hockey, ping pong, and play something like Duck Hunt among other games. Quite fun, but not nearly as fun as Wii Sports. It is worth the extra $10 with a controller, but definitely not worth buying on its own.

Red Steel: This is one of the first First-Person-Shooters for the Wii, and takes advantage of the unique controls to not only shoot guns, but also fight with a sword in each hand. It is a blast to play, although exhausting because you turn and aim by pointing your arm at the screen. However, while is rated "teen", parents should be aware that the weapons include not only bullets and swords, but also every curse word in the book. It is recommended if you are in a house with children (or like me, in a 3-family house with children in a different apartment) that you turn the volume WAY down... or get a different game.

Spider-Man 3: Spider-Man has not only been among the most successful of the super hero adaptions on the big screen, but also among the most successful video game adaptions out there. Spider-Man 1 was fun because you actually got to be the Wall-Crawler. Spider-Man 2 was GREAT because you could swing free-style around the city - I spent hours just exploring for the pure zen peace of it. Spider-Man 3 takes it one more step by allowing you to actually spin webs by flicking your wrists, which gets VERY tiring very quickly. It may actually be MORE tiring than Wii Sports, which is really saying something.

Overall, I have no regrets with buying this system, aside from waking up sore almost every day. But it is that good kind of soreness after a mildly strenuous sports (or marching band) activity, which means you will be stronger tomorrow. And if you want to share your Wii friend code with me, let me know.