Vacation Isle Wii

If the summer has gotten away from you and you never made it to  that island vacation, maybe you can live vicariously through Vacation Isle Beach Party.  We recently got sent this game for the Wii and I would not say that it successfully replaces a vacation, but it definitely got me thinking about one.

Vacation Isle can be played with your standard Wii remote and nunchuk or you can get the Wii balance board and surf the way the pros do it.  Vacation isle comes with 8 different games with adjustable difficulty settings.  So your kids can play as well as teenagers and adults.  Games include:

*  Salom Skiing where you water ski back and forth between pilons, jumps, and other obstacles.

* Wake boarding where you show off you balance.

* Surfing where you try to catch the best waves and don’t get dragged underwater.

* Stand Up Paddling where you try to steer your boat through the obstacles.

* Ski Jump where you take your water ski’s over platforms and jumps for distance.

* Stunt Park where you get to try your freestyle moves.

* Hula and Fire dancing which I never really did try.

My five year old and me spent our time in the slalom racing and ski jumping.  Each time we hit a jump we screamed until we landed to see how far we went.  The slalom really helps you remember how hard water skiing is but at least you don’t have to start from a sitting position in the water.  Vacation Isle is a little monotonous as it doesn’t very that much except for the difficult so it hasn’t hit the major rotation.  However, when it slides into the Wii we do get some solid entertainment out of it.

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Larry

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Do you Rent or Do You Own

We had a crew over for the football playoffs a couple of weeks ago and all the kids were comparing their holiday presents.  It seems all the kids were comparing their new Leapster, Wii, and Nintendo games.  They were discussing which game they liked, which games they were going to trade, and what they wanted to get next.  However, just one week later, my kid was staring at his games.  Mario Kart was still a blast.  And everything else he either mastered, was bored of, and in some cases wasn’t old for. 

We had the same problem with buying DVD movies.  So we solved that problem by letting him take one of every 3 of our NetFlix movies.  They come, he watches them many times, and we send him back, without the expense of buying the DVD.  So I searched for similar services for games.  SmartyRents and Gamefly came to my attention immediately.

SmartyRents has cornered the ”try before you buy” service for educational games.  Started by credentialed teachers, they rent games for Leapster, Didj, Clickstart, Little Leaps, the V suite of game consoles (Smile, Motion, Flash, and Smile Baby).  They have also gone through and documented the exact skill sets that each of the games teach so you know if it is age appropriate.  Interestingly, they also have the back catalog for all of these consoles.  So you can rent games that are actually out of circulation.  Packages start at $9.99 a month for 1 game at a time and up to $24.99 for 4 games at a time. 

Gamefly is concentrating on the exact opposite, more traditional part of the game market.  Focusing on the Wii, PS3, PSP, XBOX, Nintendo Game Cube and Nintendo DS they sell everything from Super Mario Brothers to Grand Theft Auto.  With over 7,000 games, you can rent one game at a time for $15.99 a month and 2 game at a time for $22.99 a month.  The site sorts by popularity or release date and provides information on what type of equipment you need to play. So for Wii, it will let you know if you need the Steering Wheel for the game.

So if your kid seems to go off and on games like mine and you get frustrated at the $30-$50 games that are just sitting there next to your TV unused, SmartyRents and GameFly provide a great alternative using the NetFlix model. 

 Larry

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2009 Toy Review

Good luck shopping for the upcoming holiday season.  One thing that you should see is major discounts from the biggest retailers including Toys ‘R Us, Target, Walmart, Amazon, and of course the Comic Vault on Ashland and Montrose.  I have received several emails this last week from Amazon looking at 25% off all sorts of toys including Mattel, Disney, and Toy Story.  There is no substitute for getting toy recommendations from friends and family or just by watching Saturday morning cartoons and letting your kid point out what they want during commercials.  However, there are a couple of resources you can use if you are looking for what is hot including the Toy Insider and Dr Toy.  Below are the toys we had the most fun with this year in no particular order:

* Seven in One Maximus Draganoid.  We would recommend any of the Bakugan toys and getting involved in this franchise but the Seven in One combines puzzles, action figures, and Bakugan all rolled into one.

*SORRY! Sliders.  What a phenomenal sequal to the always fun classic SORRY!.  This combines the gameboard with some physical skill and the ability to crash into your opponents sending them off the table.

*Nerf or Nothing.  the new Nerf guns are wickedly fun.  If you aren’t into play guns skip this recommendation, but you can get Nerf toys in all shapes and sizes that can shoot across the room without anyone getting hurt.  They even have accessories for you to play capture the flag and Nerf dart tag.

* Battle Strikers.  Battle Strikers is unique, fun, challenging and exciting.  Using battery powered spinners, drop your battle strikers (each looks different, has a name, and certain qualities) on the play table and see which battle striker is left standing as they bang, spin, and crash into each other.  Use the finger magnets to try to keep your battle striker spinning and crash into your opponent.

*RideMakerz.  RideMakerz didn’t make it in Woodfield unfortunately, but their on-line store is still open.  These remote control cars are cool, fast, durable, and fun to race.

*Dive Sticks.  Affordable, simple, and hours of entertainment in the pool.  These simple dive sticks blink, glow, sink, and float in the pool.  They help your kid learn to swim (and sink) while still thinking they are playing.

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Games On the Move

So we wound up at a restaurant after a very long day and we didn’t have our typical bag of cars for our kid to play with.  Of course, we would like nothing more than to hear our 4 year old’s introspective on the economy (how it is getting in the way of his toy collection), pop culture (will the new Iron Man cartoon be as good as its predecessors), and sports (can we go to a baseball games to eat cotton candy), but maybe we would like to have a quiet meal, too.  In an emergency, I broke down and downloaded some games onto my iPhone for him to try.  I don’t think you’ll be getting rid of Gameboys or Leapsters just yet, but these iPhone apps were definitely entertaining enough to fill in some gaps in time while you are out and about.

Many games on the iPhone are free and some charge anywhere from $.99 cents to $1.99 for extra levels, ability to customize the game, or some extra functionality.  They can all be found at the iTunes store or at the App Store on your iPhone.  Many of these games are also available for your computer, Blackberry, Palm, or other smart phone.  The iPhone App Store shows you the top 25, as well as a couple of other sorts to help you try to pick from the massive amount of applications that are out there.  We just tried a couple to see if they are worth it.

Moose Concentration.  This is a simple game of classic concentration.  Your whole screen fills up with moose heads.  Touching  a moose turns over the head and exposes a dressed up moose.  Your goal is to find the pair.  When you find a pair, it pulls the moose off the screen.  When the screen is filled up, its pretty difficult to find a pair as there are 30-some moose on the screen.  However, our kid battled through it and when he finished the whole screen he jumped out of his chair, yelled, and held the phone high to proclaim victory.

Bug Squash.  Like one of our favorite arcade games, Spider Stomp, this game lets you squash different types of insects.  You can pick from The Ants Go Marching (where you destroy ants until 10 of them get passed you) or Fly Boys, or a combination.  You squash the bugs using your finger on the touch screen and the game has great squishing noises and portraits of dead bugs.

Balloonimals.  Balloonimals starts to give you an idea of how game programmers are getting really creative with games specifically for phones.  With Balloonimals, you need to blow into the microphone to blow up a balloon.  Once the balloon gets to  a certain size (and it does shrink if you stop blowing or blow in the wrong place), the game orders you to shake the phone.  The balloon then turns into an animal after you shake the phone aggressively (my kid only dropped the phone once).  The dinosaur comes with the free game, but crabs, dogs, and other animals come if upgraded (yes, we had to upgrade he liked it so much).  You can then touch the animals and they do a little dance or the dog scratches itself.  If you touch the screen, an air pump shows so you can explode the balloon (and hilarious laughter ensues).

Labyrinth 3D.  Labyrinth is another game that really takes advantage of the iPhones unique capabilities.  The Labyrinth is a silver ball in a wooden maze.  You tilt the labyrinth to steer the ball into the end of the maze.  Once you have won a couple of times, it also lets you shake the iPhone to jump the ball over some of the maze walls.  It is kind of cheating but is a fun novelty.

Boostlane.  If you are going to make games for kids, you better have something with cars in it.  This game challenges you to race through the streets, dodge other cars, and run over little gems in the road for points.  It comes with some really cool music, great crash sounds, and like Labrynth, you tilt the iPhone to steer the car.  The game moves fast and so I found it a little hard to control the car (if you tilt forward too much you’ll fly down the screen) and so did my 4 year old.  But that did not stop us from playing.  Getting to the finish usually gets a big high 5 and there are 7 more levels to go.

Air Hockey.  The oldies are always the best goodies.  You can play air hockey with one or two players and you steer the paddles with your finger.  A two player game with your kid and your phone makes things very cozy and you really have to hold on to the phone tightly.  The computer does a nice job of playing against kids on Kiddie mode (it moves away from the goal just like we would).  But even better, you can play the game with two disks.  This is a crazy fast game that makes it even more fun.  The sound effects are absolutely perfect.  The clack on the paddles and the swoosh of the goal is spot on. 

Larry and Donna

Mom Says: Our friends just recently convinced me to spend some time in the Apps Store and I love ‘em. Even I giggle when the Balloonimals do their little moves - super cute.

Dad Says:  I can’t get over how much fun the Air Hockey was - both on one player and two player mode.  I think the kid liked playing the balloon game the best, but the Air Hockey was a close second.

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2008 Toy Review

As we head into Thanksgiving weekend, we thought it would be prudent to fill you in on some of the hottest and most fun toys in case you feel like braving the shopping.  In case your kids, nephews, nieces, or grandkids are not being vocal enough, we have listed what is generally considered the hottest toys of the season.  We have also sprinkled in some of our favorite toys that may not exactly be mainstream, but that we have received hours of entertainment from.  In upcoming weeks, stay tuned to for unique places to look for toys and gifts as well as deals on unique stuff.

First, the mainstream stuff.  From playing at friends’ houses, watching the commercials in between Speed Racer and Spiderman, going to the Toy Fair at Navy Pier, talking to manufacturers and talking to retailers, here is what people are buying and talking about this holiday season:

1. Animal Scramble  combines hide and go seek, knowing your animals, and tag.  Hide the animals around the house or basement and listen to clues from the talking giraffe and what you should look for. (ages 3+)
2. Bakugan.  The Bakugan set of toys and collectibles is one of the hottest things out there for boys right now.  The animated show is on the Cartoon Network and these figures and accessories combine game playing and collecting.  Part card game, part marbles, part Dungeons and Dragons, and part Transformers it is hard to know if just playing with and collecting the action figures is more fun or playing your Bakugan heroes against your friends is better. (ages 5 and up)
3. Crayola Glow Station combines etch-a-sketch, Lite-Brite, and crayons so that you can draw pictures in the dark.  We were just at a birthday party where a kid got this present and the kids brawled over who got to draw next. (ages 6 and up)
4. Disney Fairies Clickables.  Combining on-line and offline toys is going to be a continuing phenomenon.  In this arrangement, you collect Fairy accessories which uses secret codes to unlock new stories, games, and puzzles on-line.  If you like the idea, also take a look at Webkinz. (ages 7 up)
5. Kota the Triceratops.  You could spend a few hundred dollars and go see Walking with Dinasaurs once, or you could buy Kota.  Push and squeeze his horns, tail, eyes, and legs and watch the dinasaur blink, shake, and move.  At the Toy Fair, kids were laughing and playing with Kota like it was a pet.  This thing is actually big enough to ride on. (ages 3-5)
6. Udance.  It is the next generation of dance and physical activity video games.  No mats needed because wireless devices track your kids movement as they try to mirror dance moves on the TV.  See if you have better moves than your kid. (ages 5-12)
7. Elmo Live.  It is hard to believe that Elmo is on many of the top toy lists again this year.  Elmo Live has uncanny mannerisms, facial expressions, and voice pitch.  You’ll think Elmo is actually at your house as he tells you stories, crack jocks, and teaches your kids.  You just have to decide if you want more Elmo. (ages 18 months and up)
8. Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker.  Cupcakes in 30 seconds with four or five different cupcake mixes that just need a microwave with not too much baking involved.  Your girls will feel like a Top Chef. (ages 8+)
9. VTech’s V-Motion.  We’ll never diss anything Leapfrog because the Leapster is one of our favorite teaching games for letters, words, and numbers.  We can play Spiderman or Frogger forever.  However, V-Motion has taken things to a new level by combining more physical activity with motion activation technology but still teaching the same key vocabulary, spelling, science, math, and pre-school lessons.  It plugs into your TV which brings the game live.  Not to be outdone, Leapfrog’s My First Computer is one of the best ways for your kid to learn how to navigate a computer, double click, and drag and drop. (ages 3-7)
10. EyeClops.  My kid loves to turn off the lights and play with flashlights.  Take the game to the next level with actual night vision goggles.  Hide and seek has never been this fun.  They also have something called the Bionic Eye which is like a microscope that shows images on your TV.  You wouldn’t believe what your hair actually looks like under a microscope. (ages 6 and up)

All of these toys are great and if you want to make sure your kid isn’t too jealous of the kid down the block, you’ll want to get one or two of these toys.  Mainstream doesn’t mean normal, it means that a lot of kids really like these toys.  However, a little off the beaten path, we find a quite a bit of enjoyment from these toys:

1. Hullabaloo.  Every morning before school for about 3 weeks, we play a few rounds of Hullabaloo.  This game combines Twister, knowing your shapes, colors and musical instruments, and really helps kids learn how to follow directions.  Listen to the batter powered MC, and run, spin, stomp, and crawl to the different Hullabaloo pods.  Follow the directions or lose the game. (ages 4-10)
2. Air Hogs.  On TV it sounds like they are selling you a Ginsu knife, but these helicopters are really fun, kids learn fine motion skills, and half the fun is getting out of the way of an out of control helicopter.  Mom and Dad will find it a challenge to fly to. (ages 8+)
3. Loop the Loops.  Darda Motors and Hot Wheels have cornered the market on race tracks and race cars.  We have two master looping race tracks:  Hot Wheels Speed Racer Sky Race  (ages 5+)and Darda Nascar Corkscrew Charger (ages 4 and up).  The Speed Racer set is absolutely unbelievable and defies all physics and it is Speed Racer, Racer X, the GRX, Snake Oiler, and the whole gang from the movie.  The Corkscrew Charger adds an element of competition by providing two tracks which people can race with pullback type of cars.
4. ESPN Better Batter Baseball.  Tee ball was never so good with this ESPN branded toy.  The mechanical arm places the ball into the strike zone and the audio cheers on your kid.  Don’t play in enclosed areas as your kid will be hitting homeruns in no time. (ages 3-8)
5. Bounceland Jungle with Slide.  Go Big or Go Home.  We bought this inflatable for our kids birthday.  If you play with it twice, it beats renting from one of the expensive outdoor rental places.  We have had up to 12 kids in this thing at a time with very few injuries or even crying.  Throw nerf balls or any type of ball into the middle and watch the scrum for the balls.  Your kid will think he is at an amusement park in your own back yard. (ages 3 and up)
6. Shake and Go Crash Up Speedway.  Enjoying speed and racecar crashes with minimal moving parts and assembly is a fantastic thing.  We brought this toy with to our Lollapalooza booth this year and kids were lined up to play with the shaking, crashing, racing cars. (ages 3-7)

Dad Says:  Toys are the lifeblood of getting through the day and the week.  Our newest find is Hullabaloo and we can’t stop playing it.  It is pretty fun for adults, but if you get anywhere between two and four kids together, they will be laughing hysterically, and you will be cracking up as well.

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