Mario Party 2

       So yesterday Diana, Bianca and I beat "Mario Party 2" on our Wii of course on the virtual console service..  I say beat because we actually got credits and everything.  :)  .  Bianca and I have been playing it for a while, playing boards, collecting coins, buying mini games.  and then last thursday I bought our last mini game, toad disappeared from the hub area to be replaced by a koopa kid.  and there in the middle of our board choices was a new board.  A Bowser board!!! <GASP>.

     So Bianca and I waited to play it.  Partially because Bianca was sort of afraid of the board.  She also hates Bowser.  So on Tuesday we brought Diana in to the mix and we played.  We only chose 20 turns and went to it.  I, as always, chose Mario.  Diana was Yoshi and Bianca was, of course, Peach.  Luigi was controlled by the computer and was a cheating, mean bastard.  If you play a lot of Mario games (ex. Mario Kart) you know how brutal characters like Peach can be.  I feel like Luigi was being helped by the board but we still kicked him in the teeth.  

     So after everything Diana and Yoshi came out victorious.  and so we watched the longest cutscene in the game and sat back to watch the credits roll.  Bianca thought it very cool that she had helped beat her second game.  She said it was her first because she didn't really play Ocarina.  (I still count it but for her I call this her first.)  

     I bring up Mario Party because Bianca has liked it for a while now.  I tell you though as a parent.  BE PATIENT!  more often than not what will happen is that you have to throw a mini game to keep them in it, or you'll have to loss because you have no other choice.  These games aren't ALL about the mini games so much as they are about Bonus stars, and good rolls, and star stealing, and teaching your child how to pay attention to what is going on on the board.  It is tough because she can't read, but she does learn what stores and spots do.  

     Either way I suggest a Mario Party for every family.  It really is 4 player fun for everyone.    

Happy gaming!

Joe

In case you want to snag it, here is the page on Nintendo.com
http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/1wWLs-g1b1KY6RIKDbgHZqGH1BCoxPXn

Catan and a 5 year old girl

Bianca loves "Settlers of Catan".
If you aren't familiar with the game Here is the website.  We like it quite a bit.
http://www.catan.com/

     To play you trade in materials represented by pictures of sheep, rocks,wood bricks, and straw. You earn those materials by betting on a number surrounded by land types.   Land types relate to materials.  The numbers in the middle of each area corresponds to a number on the dice 2-12.  That's why I call it betting.  You place your settlements and roads around an area, betting that the dice will be kind.  The kicker is that  you're sort of locked to an area after you put your initial settlements down.  It is all very easy once you start but I find it hard to explain without rocking some excruciating detail.  So I hope this helped but...

Anyway...

We got my son Joey the travel edition for christmas.  We played it that day and Joey wasn't really a fan.  The betting hurt him.  Bianca loved trading in pictures.  She loved building roads and houses and honestly, she just loved it.  It is hard to overstate this because while she does dig things.  She rarely digs things to this degree.
     So, we had Joey new years weekend and he brought it with him.  Bianca begged to play it.  She is such a sweet little trader. She'll give you whatever you need because you need it.  Too cute really. Joey won but Bianca finished second convincingly.  I do have to say that we took out the robber.  (The robber can steal materials.) So it was a little lopsided but really it makes it possible for Bianca to play.
     Honestly I like the game a lot.  It isn't too complicated for a five year old, provided you take necessary precautions, and the rest of the family seems to like it too.  I have a feeling we'll be purchasing a big one for the house soon.  Know that I will also write about that.

     I wanted to talk about this because I wanted to expound on what I think Im on about.  Gaming is more than video games.  But I think where I'm going to is family entertainment all together.  Hmmmmm... yesssss... :)

Bianca pointing out the hater in the room.  Lol

:)

Because of the day.  I will not post.  Happy new year. 

So last night my wife gave me some questions to answer.  About what a good game is.  There were criteria listed and all was moving along.  Then I realized, I don't know the answer to these questions yet.  I mean I know what I think are good games.  I know what I want my kids to play.  But, it isn't that easy to elaborate upon.  So I'm going to really put some thought into answering the questions and post it when it's done.  Deal?  Wicked.

In the interest of posting everyday I have a rant I would like to go off on explaining the differences between Sonic and Mario.

• Age: Mario is five years older than Sonic.  This of course not entirely true but if birthdays are to be believed... This doesn't really matter much but it's something.  
• Speed:  Well Sonic wins here but it's not really a competition.  What is a competition is Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympics which is fun ,but how is it even possible for mario, or anyone for that matter, to keep up with sonic?  Ridiculous but fun.  :)
• Mario is a stereotype:  For this, I hate Mario.  Every word he utters makes the Italian in me want to protest every game.  I don't of course because the games are always gold, but grrrrrrrrrrrrrr Mario is racist.
• Sonic has too many ancillary characters:  Fact!  It drives me insane.  It's like SEGA got lost in trying to keep with the Mushroom Kingdom that they forgot that they aren't like that.  At the most Sonics' universe can currently only handle The basics.  Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, Amy rarely, and Metal Sonic.  This is IT!  All others are holdouts from failed franchise extensions.  I'm glad SEGA has put the story back in to some sort of order.
• Mario rarely trips up:  You know it's true.  Almost all the characters work in the universe.  Mario can race, play tennis, fight, golf, and party.  What a wonderful cast.  I often refer to The Nintendo as the next Disney because it's true.

Honestly these aren't important considerations but I really needed a frame for pointing out that Mario is racist.  :)

     I said yesterday that Bianca and I had already played "Ocarina of Time" together.  Originally it was just to show her Zelda because she loves princesses.  She is infatuated with Princess Peach.  I personally think Peach is a hoe.  I don't say that to Bianca because I love her.  Seriously though, like WTF!  What, she's at the castle and gets bored so she calls Bowser to come over to hang out.  In that time they create some game for that stupid Italian Mario?  So she sends him a letter saying what?  It's my birthday and I'm making a cake.  Peach.  Then, shock and awe something is wrong!  She's in trouble and now guess what! Somehow Bowser has this crazy new pile of level designs for you to run through.  Complete with stars, extra stars, secret levels and the whole shebang.  There is the rub.  How is it that Peach doesn't have any protection at the castle?  Because she's been having sex Bowser forever!!!  <gasp> (I know right)?  Just saying, but, Koopa kids?  ummm

     So I wanted to introduce Bianca to Zelda.  She liked her just fine, I mean Peach is prettier according to
her, so there is no real competition.  In fact the only princess who has even come close to beating Peach is Luna from the Lunar games.  Though not technically a princess Bianca thinks she's the prettiest.  Zelda though wasn't about the princess very quickly.  She liked that I could carry fairies.  She liked the idea of fighting bad guys.  (My wife has questions about Links goodness, but that's for another day).  From the beginning I had been reading her everything that happened on the screen, she sat on my lap asking questions and commenting on how pretty everything was.  It wasn't until the second day of playing with her that I thought of it as something we could really do together.  So once a week we played.  I read her everything and she would get worried if I was hurt and clap when I got another heart, and loved playing side quests and getting Epona.  When we finished the game it was the best win I had ever had because she was a part of it.  She was happy for the gorons, didn't like princess Ruto at all for the problems she caused.  She did get scared of the screaming zombies, we had to quit and rethink playing it at all because I got one on me and she started crying.  We took about two weeks off then.

     My wife and I talked about it some but really it came down to it being up to Bianca.  If she thought she could handle it we would continue.  In about two weeks she asked if we could play again, so we had a talk about and started it back up.  She isn't afraid anymore but she doesn't like them.  That conversation was what prompted this blog.  Especially now that we play other games together.  Mostly what Ocarina taught me as a gamer dad was a new idea of what really is appropriate. What is good gaming for kids?  Better though I think is finding GREAT gaming for kids.

     There are lots of games out there that, like toys, are crap.  You can't just get a child any game.  This is an art form, like music, and movies, and, like movies before it, it has taken a long time to get to where we are now.You don't have to buy bad movie games anymore.  What "Zelda" offers is a chance to play  with your kids as long as you do it right.  The point of this blog is starting to make itself clear to me, I think I know what I want from it.

Stay with me, this might be fun.  :

       

   

 

Opening remarks

     It's funny.  I grew up gaming.  I played tank and Pole Position.  I played Donkey Kong and Frogger.  I played Exitebike and Enduro Racer.  It wasn't until the Sega Genesis that I really came in to my own as a gamer.  I remember seeing Altered Beast in a Service Merchandise in Kansas City.

     It blew my mind.  Hearing "Rise from your grave" for the first time floored me.  The graphics were insane, I wanted one right then and there.  That Christmas, after driving my parents insane, We got a Sega Genesis.  The first games I played Christmas morning were Afterburner II and Arnold Palmer golf.  My dad hid them in the car, he told me to go outside and get the "Christmas tapes".  Back then our Christmas music was that years Dr. Demento Show. I went outside to the car and found them in the center console.  As I came back in my parents had brought out a last "secret" present.  My memory of the rest of the day is blurry.  Either way that memory changed my life.

     Through Highschool I gamed. Through my first marriage I played.  Playstation, PS2, Dreamcast, Saturn, Nintendo 64.  I loved all that stuff. The first game I played with my son was Soul Caliber, on the DC.  I reamember he was two and was saying"Soul Cowberrrr" every time the game would say it.  He used to love the Cut scenes.  That was a long time ago.  He is 14 now and plays on his own PlayStation 3 He lives with his mother in another city, but I still see him quite often and we talk about games all the time.

     The reason I'm here now is because I find myself, age 34 with two daughters, a wife, and games.  I started thinking to myself, "What is appropriate gaming for the girls?"  My oldest daughter Bianca is five years old, and my youngest Amelia is five months old.  I'm not so much concerned about Amelia... It's Bianca.  We've already played "Ocarina of time" together and some other things.  She likes to play "Toejam and Earl".  Thank goodness for the Wii on this one.

     Soo, in the future, this is what I will talk about.  Games, and, more specifically what's good for the girls and what it means to play games responsibly.  I play what I want after Bianca goes to bed, some of the games she can't play now are on the list for the future.  All in all, I'll see where this goes.  I know what I want from it now, so I've already got that going.  :)