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Astro Boy Video Game Review for the Wii

November 2, 2009 By 680 Comments

Astro Boy: The Movie

You know what I like about Astro Boy? He has a shirt on, all of the older versions of Astro Boy he is shirtless and now he is sporting a jacket and shirt. Very funny I know.

D3 Publisher, imagi studios and Bink Video present Astro Boy: The Movie for the Wii.

This was another one of the games that they demoed at the Family Event hosted by D3 Publisher. My husband is interested in trying out the game on the Wii. I think he spent more time watching the demo as it was one of the last things we did that day. I was so tired.

I know that it is side screen scrolling and that you rotate between flying and land levels. You fight bad guys by shooting, out the front and the rear. One of the favorite lines from the movie is “I have guns in my butt?” or something along those lines.

About Astro Boy

When the futuristic Metro City finds itself facing new and unprecedented peril, there’s only one figure to whom it can turn: Astro Boy. The creation of a brilliant scientist, this daring young robot is imbued with a variety of amazing powers, from lasers and arm cannons to super speed and flight. Now he must prepare to face his destiny, summoning all of his powers in defense of everything he holds dear.

You can also look here for my Astro Boy Movie Review.

Product Description:

Astro Boy

Synopsis
Enter the world of the exciting CG-animated film with Astro Boy: The Video Game. Experience the world of this intrepid young hero as you wield amazing powers to battle hordes of enemies and gargantuan bosses. Using your super strength, flight, drill attacks and more, you’ll propel your way through an exhilarating platforming adventure filled with gorgeous graphics and compelling action. Will your efforts be enough to save the denizens of Metro City and help you become the hero you were meant to be?

Key Game Features:

  • Play as blue energy-powered young robot Astro Boy as he attempts to save Metro City
  • Protect the city by wielding your amazing powers, including super strength, flight, arm cannons and drill attacks
  • Pit your abilities against waves of enemies and colossal bosses
  • Embark on an adventure featuring exciting platforming action and air combat
  • Share the superhero fun with a friend in side-by-side two-player co-op mode

(Product Description taken from Amazon.com)

To Enter:

Tell me who your going to give this to, it’s ok if it’s for you.

Extra Entries:

Advertise this giveaway on any giveaway site and tell me where you advertised it. 10 Extra Entries
Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Blog about the giveaway include a link to me and to the sponsor for 10 extra entries
Tweet the giveaway (every time you tweet you get an entry) Link to the giveaway please!!!
Comment on any other non giveaway post and come back and tell me you did
Use any of the Share options at the bottom of this post: Dig, Stumble, or fav me on Technorati (two entries for each one)
Add my button/blog to your blogroll/friend list 3 extra entries
You can vote for me too for five entries:

Parenting

Leave a comment for every entry

The contest will run until November 23rd 11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org

D3 did not pay me for this post but they did provide my family a vacation.

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Nancy Drew Video Game Review

October 19, 2009 By 132 Comments

In Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy, players become Nancy Drew as she heads undercover at an elite all-girls boarding school to discover the culprit behind threatening notes and dangerous accidents that seem to be targeted towards the academy’s valedictorian candidates.  Immersing themselves in the boarding school culture, players will explore the campus, help other girls with projects and navigate the social scene.  To build the case, players will also surreptitiously snoop through dorm rooms and snap cell phone pictures of evidence they come across. While you are on the case  you will find that the culprit is targeting valedictorian candidates and must stop the dangerous accidents before the competition is eliminated.

The game is available now at retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $19.99 and a digital version is available for download at www.HerInteractive.com.

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My Thoughts:

Her Interactive sent me a copy of Nancy Drew Warnings at Waverly Academy to review and I was surprised at the quality. It was better than I thought it would be. I didn’t have to to go into great detail in my playtime. You know, installation was simple as most things are now.

Computer Requirements are:

Operating System:

Windows® XP/Vista

Minimum System Requirements:
  • 1 GHz or greater Pentium or equivalent class CPU,
  • 256 MB of RAM,
  • 1 GB or more of hard drive space,
  • 32 MB DirectX 9.0 compatible video card,
  • 16 bit DirectX compatible sound card,
  • 24X CD-ROM drive, mouse, and speakers

I was reminded by looking into the playtime of this game that I love intrigue and suspense. That’s why I love reading mystery and loved reading Nancy Drew as a child. I always want to find out more. So now I get to play as Nancy Drew and go undercover to discover the solution to the mystery. There are two choices when it comes to difficulty, you can choose between Junior and Senior Detective level.

To Enter:

Follow HerInteractive on Twitter

And Or

Visit HerInteractive on-line and tell me about one of their new games.

And Or

Become a fan of Nancy Drew Warnings at Waverly Academy on Facebook.

Extra Entries:

Advertise this giveaway on any giveaway site and tell me where you advertised it. 10 Extra Entries
Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Blog about the giveaway include a link to me and to the sponsor for 10 extra entries
Tweet the giveaway (every time you tweet you get an entry) Link to the giveaway please!!!
Comment on any other non giveaway post and come back and tell me you did
Use any of the Share options at the bottom of this post: Dig, Stumble, or fav me on Technorati (two entries for each one)
You can vote for me too for five entries:

Parenting

Leave a comment for every entry

The contest will run until November 2nd11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org

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Spore Hero Review

October 17, 2009 By 436 Comments

Spore Hero Coverart.pngSpore Hero was released last week to the public for purchase and I’m finally writing my review of the game.

It is largely based on the Spore Galactic Adventures expansion pack, and it is focused on the Creature stage from the original Spore game. Quoted from Spore Wiki.

The beginning sequence is the explanation of the premise for the game. Meteors crash into an unnamed planet and two eggs pop out of meteors located at Creature Beach and the Mushroom Valley. Each Meteor is a different color. One of them is red and these meteors cause devastation where they land. From the core of the red meteor hatches Zarkhator and he’s kinda the bad guy. Then the other color, blue meteors, then crash with very little damage. Then a creature called Meejee takes and egg from the core and hatches it. Meejee is your friend and helps you learn how to eat, play, fight, grow and become a Spore Hero.

Zarkhator appears and tries to crush you with a red meteor. He misses, but the meteor corrupts the Big Chief of Meejee’s tribe. Your creature destroys the meteor, and is rewarded with an ancient idol piece. You are told to take the ancient idol the Sage in the Ancient Grounds, but Meejee won’t let you. He wants to you to learn more and help another tribe.

This is about as far as I got in the game while I was at the Maxis Studio with my family. Well not even that far really but they told us the premise for the game and we created creatures and started the game.

 

 

 

My whole family liked trying out the game and creating your creature is the most part of the game. As you go around the planet and discovering things and fighting other creatures (most of them just need to have the affects of the red meteor removed) you gain more body parts. As you gain more body parts you gain more powers and abilities. Each body part is capable of doing something else a hero needs the ability to do. My 2 year old’s only compliant was there was not enough purple. It is much more fun that Spore for the PC.

Purchase it:

Spore Hero

 

Win it:

To Enter:

Visit Spore Hero and come back to tell me what your hero would be like?

Extra Entries:

Parenting

Vote for me for 5 extra entries

Comment on any other post and come back here and tell me you did.

Non-bloggers get an extra entry for every e-mail they send out linking to this giveaway cc louise@looksblue.com (be sure to leave a comment for every person you e-mail, for example if you e-mail 10 different people leave 10 different comments)

Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Blog about the giveaway include a link to me and to the sponsor for 10 extra entries
Tweet the giveaway (every time you tweet you get an entry) Link to the giveaway please!!!
Add my button to your blog/blog roll 10 extra points if it is on your homepage
Dig, Stumble, or fav me on Technorati (two entries for each one)

Leave a comment for every entry

The contest will run until November 2nd11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org

Mom Start's Christmas Guide

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Spore Hero Came out let’s celebrate with a Spore #giveaway

October 8, 2009 By 370 Comments

This is the big reason why EA and Maxis studios invited me out to play with them for the weekend. The brought me, my husband, my daughter and my son to San Francisco. My Sister-in-law lives there so it was an amazing opportunity to not only spend time with family that we don’t see very often but to play games before anyone else gets to see them.

I did write about my family vacation once, but I feel that since this is the reason we went there I should mention it again with this giveaway.

Spore Hero: Play Meejee's Target Practice Game!

I don’t have a copy of Spore Hero yet but I played it there and it was so much fun. You get to make all kinds of heroes and my kids got to play. Zoe created the most purple monster/hero she could make. It’s great to see her have fun with her dad. So this vacation was awesome and we’ll have very fond memories of it forever. Now, I’m not going to tell you too much because I’m going to do a giveaway for Spore Hero in a week or two. But one thing I want to mention is that Spore Hero is for the Wii and they also released a game for the Nintendo DS. The Nintendo DS, unlike most games that are released at the same time is a completely different game. Spore Hero Arena.

Create your own Hero with over 150 parts and powers, now for the first time in 3-D on the DS!
Fight dangerous enemies in arenas across the galaxy, from all – out 4 creature "Battle Royales", to capture the crown "King of the Planet" challenges, and much more!
Summon over 15 devastating Bio-Power attacks, from lightning strikes to deadly ground stomps!
Brawl with your friends in 4 player wireless and 2 player Wi-Fi action!

Play an original Spore story, in the same galaxy as Spore Hero for Wii. Travel to a variety of planets, completing missions, and challenging opponents who have been corrupted by an evil power. Fight to become the ultimate Spore Hero and save the galaxy!

 
 
SporeI will write more about both games next week. For now, I’m going to write more about Spore. When we were at EA Studios with EA Play they didn’t have copies of the game we came to see because it wasn’t done yet. I mean we were playing on test machines. It was above AWESOME. So, they gave us a copy of Spore and the expansion pack. My husband wanted to know what we were going to be looking at so right before we went on our trip he purchased Spore.
 
I want to give one lucky reader the copy that EA gave my family.
 
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I haven’t played spore, but I met some of the artists and creators. They were very nice and informative and said that in creating spore knowing your math skills is an understatement. You can create everything in Spore from you creatures to your civilizations. We saw people that made spaceships and themed creations. There is an on-line network where you can share your spore creations and download others for your game. It’s similar to The Sims in my opinion.  
 
This game has really low reviews on Amazon, but it’s more about creating than playing. I mean it’s loads of fun if you are creative. Spore Hero is quite a step up from Spore but Spore is in my opinion from watching my husband play with my daughter a fun creative game.
 
I know that if I devoted more time to game playing I would enjoy it too.

Product Features

Edition: Standard

  • Epic journey from the origin and evolution of life through the development of civilization and technology and outer space exploration
  • Play any way you choose in the five evolutionary phases of Spore: Cell, Creature, Tribe, Civilization, and Space
  • Grow, evolve, interact with and battle other cultures, and conquer the planet
  • Visit literally millions of planets full of other player’s creations
  • Single-player game provides unlimited worlds to explore and play

To Enter:

Tell me what your themed civilization would be? (be creative, Simpsons, Star Wars, go crazy)

Extra Entries:

Parenting

Vote for me for 5 extra entries

Non-bloggers get an extra entry for every e-mail they send out linking to this giveaway cc louise@looksblue.com (be sure to leave a comment for every person you e-mail, for example if you e-mail 10 different people leave 10 different comments)

Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Blog about the giveaway include a link to me for 10 extra entries
Tweet the giveaway (every time you tweet you get an entry) Link to the giveaway please!!!
Add my button to your blog/blog roll 10 extra points if it is on your homepage
Dig, Stumble, or fav me on Technorati (two entries for each one)

Comment on any other post and come back here and tell me you did.

Leave a comment for every entry

The contest will run until October 26th 11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org

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Family Party: 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun on the Wii

October 7, 2009 By 582 Comments

 

Family Party: 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun has something to offer everyone. It is exclusively on the Wii and has a wide variety of engaging and addictive party games featuring team sports, individual athletics, and challenging brain games. You can choose from over a dozen cute characters, participate in up to four player competitive action, and unlock games and challenges to achieve the highest score and win medals. The Publisher D3 sent me this game to try out and sent me one to giveaway.

Family Party 30 Great Games Outdoor Fun for the Wii

The game reminded my husband of Fusion Frenzy that we used to play on the Xbox except it was a little bit harder because the Wii controls are harder to use. I always have a hard time with which button is supposed to be hit when and our Wii bar has never been that great. I honestly haven’t spent that much time trying the game out yet either. This is just my basic overview so that I can host the giveaway.

 

Game Description:

Play 33 Awesome party games featuring outdoor fun!  Fun addictive games for only $20!

Martial Arts Mania! Be a Karate expert! 
Team Sports Minigames! Home run derbies, quarterback skills challenges, and soccer scoring challenges. 
Individual Athletics! New climbing, running, and balance games 
Incredible Variety! Mazes, Martians, and much More!

Play with up to 4 members from friends and family!

  • Medal system and multiple gameplay modes
  • Proven blend of simultaneous and turn-based games
  • Play against human or computer-controlled competition

Play in Wii optimized style!

  •   All-new unlockable levels and characters
  •   Over a dozen colorful and iconic characters from whom to choose
  •   Made exclusively for Wii!

To Enter:

Visit D3 and tell me what other game you would love to try.

Extra Entries:

Parenting

Vote for me for 5 extra entries

Non-bloggers get an extra entry for every e-mail they send out linking to this giveaway cc louise@looksblue.com (be sure to leave a comment for every person you e-mail, for example if you e-mail 10 different people leave 10 different comments)

Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Blog about the giveaway include a link to me for 10 extra entries
Tweet the giveaway (every time you tweet you get an entry) Link to the giveaway please!!!
Add my button to your blog/blog roll 10 extra points if it is on your homepage
Dig, Stumble, or fav me on Technorati (two entries for each one)

Comment on any other post and come back here and tell me you did.

Leave a comment for every entry

The contest will run until October 26th 11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org

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The Sims 3 review

September 17, 2009 By 596 Comments

thesims The Sims 3 Sold 1.4 million PC/Mac versions within the first week of the launch. This was the best-selling launch in the history of EA. My husband purchased it, and EA gave us a copy so my husband decided that the copy EA gave us should go to one of my lucky readers.

HURRAY!

  In The Sims 3, get inspired by the endless creative possibilities and unexpected moments of surprise and mischief! I think they have made it easier to play. I liked simsboxartsetting up my sim or rather watching my husband do it. He created our entire family, and my daughter of course picked out as much purple as she could. You can create lifelike Sims with a unique personality and take them anywhere in the neighborhood. Select from dozens of personality traits such as brave, artistic, kleptomaniac, clumsy, and romantic.

We were able to match the characteristics of our children very well with the choices presented to us.

Based on these personality traits, skills, and career choices, your Sims have wishes that provide constant fun challenges and so many things to do and achieve. You have the ultimate freedom to choose whether to fulfill their wishes and making them happy or making them completely miserable.

I actually like to listen to them talk. Is that weird?

As always you can enjoy the player content and download it and add it to your collection. When my husband had free time (ie before children) he used to create all kinds of characters. He did all of Stargate SG1 and a lot of Star Trek Next Generation. Yes we are nerds at heart. Both my husband and I are geeky/techy.

The Sims3 is rated T for teen and can be found on the PC, Mac, iPhone, iPood Touch, and some other mobile devices.

To Enter:

Tell me your favorite part about playing the Sims.

Extra Entries:

If you liked this post or wish to gain and extra entries please vote for me here.

Parenting

Vote for me for 5 extra entries

Non-bloggers get an extra entry for every e-mail they send out linking to this giveaway cc louise@looksblue.com (be sure to leave a comment for every person you e-mail, for example if you e-mail 10 different people leave 10 different comments)

Subscribe to my blog
Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Blog about the giveaway include a link to me for 10 extra entries
Tweet the giveaway (every time you tweet you get an entry) Link to the giveaway please!!!
Add my button to your blog/blog roll 10 extra points if it is on your homepage
Dig, Stumble, or fav me on Technorati (two entries for each one)
Leave a comment for every entry

The contest will run until October 19th 11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org

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