The Gaming Family

If you are a fan of Time Management games (as I am) then odds are you’ve played a Playfirst game or two or a dozen.

Playfirst created the Diner Dash series that set the standard for all time management games to come. With Flo as your main character, you are forced to serve lunch, sides, dessert and drinks (depending on which game you are playing) to an increasing rowdy crowd. I personally love the Diner Dash games but was annoyed (although greatly challenged) when they came up with the noise factor in the second and third games. You’d think people could get off their cell phones or stop reading for the 30 seconds they are eating lunch in my diner!

PlayFirst has also created several theme restaurants for Flo. You can play the first level for free and then the whole restaurant is only $4.99.

Playfirst has created great games other than just the Diner Dash series. Plantasia was a lot of fun and took a long time to get boring. I enjoyed Chocolatier and Chocolatier 2 although I’m not a big fan of of the new Great Chocolate Chase which is a time-management spin on the first two. Dress Shop Hop was an interesting and challenging game that I would recommend.

A whole group of other “Dash” games were also created. Some were great like Dairy Dash and Doggie Dash; some were good like Fashion Dash and Spongebob Diner Dash; and some were clear misses like Wedding Dash which just couldn’t hold my interest for a whole hour.

Playfirst has their own website even though they are heavily promoted by just about every PC download site out there. You should have no trouble finding enough Playfirst games to keep you occupied for a good long time.

      Gaming Family Rating: 3/5

Jewellerina is a basic time-management game where you are responsible for running a jewelry shop and satisfy a growing number of customers.

The pros of this game is that it is set up with many upgrades, it becomes more difficult at a reasonable rate and it quite beatable but not easy enough to not require some strategy, and the storyline is interesting.

The cons are that it is like most time-management games and doesn’t really have anything that makes it stand out. The graphics are cute but not outstanding, the upgrades and variety of customers is predictable and the sequence of events is pretty much exactly what you would expect.

In summary, Jewellerina is worth playing the free hour but I’m not sure I’d be willing to dish out money for it. Maybe when it goes on sale for 60% off.

       Gaming Family Rating: 3.5/5

If you were a fan of Build-A-Lot and Build-A-Lot 2, you’re sure to enjoy Build In Time. It’s everything great about the Build-A-Lot games but with some delightful twists.

First, you have people actually ordering houses, colors, and add-ons from you. It adds a time-management feel to the game that other games were lacking. On a “cuteness” note, you are building houses through the decades, starting from the 50s, so you get to relive the old styles and hairdos.

Additionally, you have the ability to earn stars by performing special tasks. These tasks plus the people’s orders plus the ordinary expected goals to complete equal a big challenge for those looking for a game that can be played for hours without boredom.

The only things I didn’t like about the game was the fact that it takes a long time to earn the money for upgrades. Although this adds to the challenge, I found it a bit frustrating.

All in all, I would recommend anyone who like building simulation or time management games to give this one a try.

         Gaming Family Rating: 2/5

Tradewinds Caravans is the third in the series including Tradewinds and Tradewinds Legends. This series is reminiscent of the old Uncharted Waters game from Koei (Now I’m showing my age!). However in Tradewinds Caravans, you travel along the land instead of by sea.

Since I enjoyed the first two Tradewinds games very much, I was looking forward to another great game. I was greatly disappointed.

Although there are some changes that are fun additions, like the hired guards and the greater variety of building that you can visit, I found the storyline gets in the way of the buying and selling of goods. The game pretty much grabs you by the hand and tell you exactly what to do every step of the way.

Also the two female characters I played were completely lacking any type of charisma. This may not be a big deal to anyone else but was just another thing I didn’t care for.

All in all, I would recommend giving it a shot if you liked the first two games but I wouldn’t be willing to dish out money for it.

IWin games is another download site, like BigFish Games but with a few differences. Just to be clear IWin is the last site I visit everyday on my journey through download sites because I know I will find something I want to play there.  IWin never fails to satisfy no matter what type of game I’m looking for. I also love that there setup allows you to view the games and trials you currently have downloaded (as well as how much longer you have on a trial) on the same page with the game selection.

Games are easy to download and IWin doesn’t demand your contact information like most sites. Although their games are priced at $19.99, I have never had to pay more than $11.99 due to nearly constant discounts that they run.

IWin also has a iCoins club. The way the club works is that you get a certain number (around 1,000 I think) of iCoins each month and can buy games with the coins. The price in iCoins is much less than in money. Usually it works out to about two games per month for $9.99 - not a bad deal huh?

One of the best features on Iwin is the free games. Not the old, no-one-wants-to-play games, these are popular and fun games that are still interesting. All you have to do is put up with advertisements every few minutes and you can play the game as long as you want for free!

If you haven’t given Iwin a chance yet, I highly recommend checking it out.

July 8th saw the release of a brand new Chocobo Dungeon for the Nintendo Wii. Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Dungeon has all the delighful gameplay of the previous Chocobo Dungeons with the addition of an intrigueing story line, an addictive card game that you can play online, a few mini-games for stress relief, going fishing and the search for “romantic phrases”.

With all that to do, how could anyone ever get bored with this game? I really don’t know, I’ve played it everyday since I got it on the 8th and haven’t run out of things to do yet even though I’ve beaten the final battle.

My next task is to start over from the beginning, take notes and release a Walkthrough/Strategy Guide here on The Gaming Family in a couple of weeks.

Keep an eye out for that one! Kupo!

BigFish Games is the first game download site I ever came across. I’ve been dealing with them for at least four years now and have very few complaints.

The Summary:

BigFish Games sells PC downloadable games, usually for $19.99 for new releases, and offers free one-hour trials of most games before you have to decide whether or not to buy. They often have coupon codes to reduce the price of their games.

BigFish also has a feature called My Game Space that allows you to promote games to others and earn money for each game you sell this way. As of right now, you can only earn money but in the future BigFish may start to offer games as rewards. In fact, you get two FREE games just for registering for a Game Space!

Pros:

• BigFish Games usually gets games before most other sites. In fact, many other sites are simply linking back to BigFish for their free trials.
• The games are easy to download and are kept organized in a user-friendly “My Games” program
• On the few occasions I have had to deal with customer service, they were always very quick to respond and knowledgable about the problems I was having.
• It is relatively easy to find coupon codes so that you never have to pay full price for a BigFish Game.

Cons

• Sometimes games are released before all the bugs have been worked out. BigFish is usually pretty good at fixing these gliches though.
• While there is a huge variety of games, it seems that BigFish goes through “phases” where they release mostly one kind of game (like time-management or hidden object) so if you aren’t a big fan of that genre of game, it may be a while before you find a game on BigFish that you want to try out.
• The editing capabilities of “My Game Space” page is limited. Alowing you to only pick a couple of games to really promote. Hopefully in the future this will be changed but at the moment it can be frustrating.

All in all, I consider BigFish games my first stop on the PC download trail. Only when I don’t find something there do I move on to another site.

We didn’t get the much-anticipated Wii Fit the first day it came out. We had to wait 3 whole days - Torture! I (GamerMom) had read many reviews and press releases concerning the Wii Fit but nothing prepared me for how great this…well calling it a game doesn’t do it justice…is.

The Balance Board is a hefty piece of equipment that can hold up to 350 pounds. It is recommended that you don’t use the balance board with socks or shoes on for safety sake; too much danger of slipping.

Getting Started

To start off, you select your Mii (or create one if you don’t have one yet) to start a Wii Fit Profile. You enter some basic information such as height and age and then you get weighed. If your BMI is high enough to be considered overweight or obese, your mii gets chunkier too.

Once your Mii is set you take a balance test to help determine your “Fit Age” which can be a bit deceptive since some tests I’m really good at and get a Fit Age of 22 (-12 years) and some are tough for me so I end up with an age of 42 (+8 years). Wii Fit focuses on balance and posture quite a bit which was a big change for me from other things I have tried to lose weight. But really, if you think about it, it makes since that only with good balance can you support yourself well enough to do the exercises correctly without tiring out or straining one side of your body more than another.

I’ll admit, I tend to get hurt exercising. I always end up spraining or pulling something or getting back spasms. The Wii Fit seems well tailored to prevent those types of injuries by teaching about balance, posture and flexibility.

The Best Points

• It really is like having a Personal Trainer. The virtual trainer is motivating and strict, not afraid to chastise you when you’re not doing your best and eager to praise you when you do well.
• There is something for everyone and something for any fitness level. Even my four-year-old can do the running and balance games.
• The ranking system can become a powerful motivator in competitive family like mine. Every time I beat someone’s record they have to jump on and try to beat it which leads me to beat it again and…well you get the picture.

The Bad Parts

• I understand the safety aspect of it but I’m not really crazy with playing in bare feet. For one I have foot problems that cause me to wear supports in my shoes and without them, my feet are killing me after playing for awhile.
• The “ideal weights” seem to be calculated which a specific frame size and age in mind. Ideals are usually a range, not one-number-fits-all.
• It’s too much fun - not really but it is difficult to get a turn to play when anyone else is home. Great for people like me who hate working out since you hardly remember that the fun you’re having is also a fantastic workout.

Soon - posting pics of the Gaming Family on their new Wii Fit!

Hey! Gamermom here to explain why my family and I have decided to start The Gaming Family blog. Like most families we are all very different - different personalities, different styles, different likes and dislikes. One of the only things we have in common is Gaming! But even though we all love gaming and our tastes ovelap at times, we all prefer different game systems and gendres. 
So we thought that since we have many of the different gaming styles covered, we could offer an unique view of gaming. The purpose of this blog is to offer reviews, hints and suggestions of the games we play. Each game will be reviewed by at least one, but maybe more than one, member of the family. Hopefully we will give an insight as to which games are appropriate for which ages, which are fun and which are lame enough to leave alone.
What can you look forward to from The Gaming Family?
Reviews Of:

• PC download games like the ones you find at Bigfishgames.com and Iwin.com  
• PC games from CD copies. i.e. Starcraft, Diablo II, and Zoo Tycoon
• Playstation and Playstation 2 games
• Nintendo DS games
• Wii games
• Game consoles and accessories

Up-to-date information on the latest games, systems and accessories both available and coming out soon.
Tips, hints and strategies for games so you’ll never have to be stuck again.
If there is anything you feel our site is lacking that you would like to see, we welcome your comments.
We look forward to being your go-to site for gaming info!