Wreck it!!

My mind is basically exploding right now with the new Wreck-it Ralph trailer.  But as much as I want to jump in feet-first with my kids into this movie, I have to wonder whether the obnoxiousness level is just a bit too high for the sub-grade schooler set.  And sure Disney, I love that you are giving us a love-letter to my gaming heritage, but I really miss the charm and sweetness of classically-animated fairy tale stories.  Give us another Beauty & the Beast, please?

Dice Tower Reviews: Disney/Pixar Cars 2 Sorry Sliders

Dice Tower Reviews: Martian Dice

Dice Tower Reviews: Gears of War the Board Game

"Reviews on the Road" - Risk Legacy

Just thinking about the past weekend of this game makes me want to play hooky from work and tear into it again.  Darn you societal commitments!

"Reviews on the Road": The Walking Dead: the Board Game

Trying something new for 2012.  Hopefully, this will refine itself...

12 Games of Christmas: Flipper Felix

12 Days until Christmas means that I have just enough time to knock out 12 games that I've been playing as of late, and 12 gaming recommendations that go far beyond the Candyland, Scrabble, Monopoly fair.

Flipper Felix
Generally, if I see a yellow Haba game box, I try to pick it up.  The German company is synonymous with quality components for their games which are aimed squarely at the younger set.  I managed to find "Flipper Felix" with a $1 price tag on it at a local Goodwill, complete and in unplayed condition.  This could not have been a better deal considering that "Felix" may have single-handedly gotten the Mu into boardgames.  Though "Candyland" and "Go Away Monster" have been played in our house, "Flipper Felix" has had staying power - and more importantly - focusing power, that has taught the Mu basic game mechanics such as rolling dice, counting movement spaces, rule-following, and light strategy.

"Felix" is set up with 20 colored fish hiding in the seaweed in the corners of the board, with the goal of rescuing all of the fish into the middle of the board.  Circling the middle is a great big, purple fish who will gobble up any of the fish already rescued in the middle.   

Players play cooperatively, attempting to rescue all of the fish together.  On a turn, a player will roll the "fishie" die which will result in either a small fish or the large fish.  If a small fish is rolled, the player selects which color fish to rescue from the corners of the board.  Should the large fish get rolled, the player then rolls a purple numbered die to see how many spaces the big fish moves around the board.  If the big fish lands on a space that has him gobbling up a fish, a fish of that color is placed from the middle of the board into the big fish's hollow belly.  Some spaces will have the big fish burping up all of the fish in his belly, where they return to the corners of the board.  The game ends once all of the fish have been rescued into the middle or the big fish eats 4 of the little fish.

The simple rules and action of the game keep my toddler involved in what's going on.  He loves to roll the dice and falls back on the floor in an "oh no!!" fashion each time the purple fish is rolled.  We have fun deciding which colored fish should be rescued, and the game has him counting pips on a die, moving the corresponding spaces, and recognizing which colors need to be placed in the big fish's belly. 

The building blocks of game playing are here, and he loves setting the game up himself and working through the mechanics of it.  Games can drag on a bit with bad rolls, and sometimes he decides he's had enough - but "Flipper Felix" has got him sitting down and learning how to play through a game with the core skills a little gamer needs to learn at 3 years old.  It's establishing the building blocks for more to come, and it makes his nerdy dad very happy.

Santa will be bringing him Orchard this year, followed by Monza for his birthday in the summer, as we start to gradually build his capacity for more rules and more strategy.  But let's hand it to Haba - no one really grows gamers like they do.

The 10 Most Head-Shakingly Inappropriate Sesame Street Parody Sketches

Couldn't agree more with Topless Robot on this one, though he left out "Socks in the City," which I find to be one of the most inappropriate Sesame Street parodies of all time.  This is the reason why the kids don't watch modern Sesame Street and we kick it old-school instead.

 

The 10 Most Head-Shakingly Inappropriate Sesame Street Parody Sketches

I'm a huge fan of Topless Robot for my nerd culture and news, but be forewarned that there's a hefty helping of salty language throughout and occasional NSFW content.  Keep it in mind as you're perusing. 

Father's Office: Griffin Crayola ColorStudio HD app and stylus

Your results will vary, guaranteed

When I heard that tech gadget company Griffin (for who's design and products I have an affinity) was partnering with Crayola to make a coloring app powered by a special Crayola marker-styled stylus, I was over the moon as both a father and a geek.  My hope was that the ColorStudio app would satisfy as a digital coloring book, making it a great substitute for the real thing when the kids and I were out and about and needed to pass the time; because though we do not always travel with crayons and coloring books, I never leave without my iPad.  I additionally hoped that the stylus would do double-duty as a marker replacement for the kids, and as a chunky/quirky stylus for me to use with my note-taking apps like Penultimate.

Sad to say, I couldn't be less impressed with this $30 package that looks great, but performs terribly on all accounts.

First of all, the ColorStudio App (which is free to download and audition sans-stylus, but unlocks the full potential once purchasing the proprietary peripheral) is lackluster in its responsiveness.  Though it has a wealth of cute, animated "pages" to color with digital representations of colored pencils, crayons, markers, and paints, there is a significant delay between placing the stylus (or finger) onto the page and lines being drawn by the app itself.  Color is always playing catch-up with your movements and the lack of smoothness in line drawing/coloring makes the program feel as accurate as if you were painting with a mouse.  I realize that children may not have the greatest accuracy when it comes to coloring, but the ColorStudio App almost accentuates the lack of fine motor control from developing toddler hands.

To compensate, the App defaults (and for the life of me, I can't figure out how to turn it off) to making it impossible to color outside of the lines.  Of course, part of developing fine motor skills, as well as exploring creativity is the ability to learn how to color within the lines, as well as feeling the freedom to do the opposite.  The excessive restrictiveness in this area not only hampers development of important skills, but also further disconnects coloring on the iPad from the real thing.

The stylus, for me, is the biggest disappointment in the whole ColorStudio HD package.  Promotional shots have the stylus looking sleek, metallic, and dare I say, adult.  In hand, however it is black and chrome plastic that feels like a toy requiring sensitive handling.  The plastic cap, in addition to not being able to place it on the back of the marker, ala, a true Crayola marker, is also easily misplaced and a potential choking hazard.  Be certain to know where this piece is at all time when using it with littler children.

In use, the stylus is battery-powered which is so the stylus can work with the ColorStudio App and differentiate between finger movements and stylus movements.  It works fairly well when using the App - kids can rest their hands on the iPad without the App mistaking hand-resting for pen movement.  But the amount of pressure required for the app to recognize the stylus is a little more than should be desired for a product designed for children's use.  Again, that in itself isn't a deal-breaker, but it definitely should cause some hesitation between plunking down $30 for the experience.

The tip of the stylus is rubber, as opposed to capacitive foam.  This is good for protection of the iPad screen from overzealous toddlers stabbing at the screen with their Crayola, but bad in all other aspects.  Pen movement doesn't feel natural across the screen, and the rubber is partially the reason why the stylus has to be pushed down in order to have the signal recognized.

Most disappoint for me, though, is that because of the design, the stylus can only be used with the ColorStudio App and can not double as a stylus for every day navigation or note taking.  The battery powered aspect of the stylus is such that it simulates capacitive touch but in such a way that it is turned on and off rapidly (you can actually hear the humming from this action when the pen is turned on).  So when attempting to navigate or take notes with the Crayloa stylus, the iPad only registers the touch for a moment before it loses it again.  So drawing a line across the screen in Penultimate results in something that looks like Morse Code, and attempting to navigate the iPad with a stylus means constantly losing momentum.  This aspect alone makes the ColorStudio HD app and stylus a deal-breaker for me.

My opinion? Spend $30 on real Crayolas and coloring books.

Game Closet Reviews: Quarriors!

Come out to Pla-ay!

With GenCon rolling around this week, I have to admit that I'm a little bummed to be in Sacramento rather than in Indianapolis (probably the only time in my life), surrounded by geeks of every shape, size, and smell playing every board game that will be released in 2011.

Despite being home-bound, I still feel like I have a leg up on a whole bunch of those nerds because I've been playing a Game-of-the-Year contender that'll just be hitting store shelves in the next week or so.