Review: Tony Hawk: Shred

We have been playing Tony Hawk: Shred for a week or so and have had a great time.  We received a bundle with the game and controller for our Wii and I think it has become Nate's favorite Wii game!

The focus of the game is to ride skateboards or snowboards in a variety of settings with a few different characters. The bundle came with a skateboard controller that lies on the floor.  All the controls are handled on the skateboard by leaning your body left or right, or lifting the board up from the front or back.  The kids quickly caught on to the controls, but I confess that my bum ankle means that I have a difficult time balancing on the board. Using the board controller definitely requires good balance!

Nate (8yo) has started figuring out more tricks, and even Lydia (3yo) has gone through the training portion and plays the game (although she cheats a bit on how she uses the controller by standing off the board and using her foot to tip it up or down.)  Colin (10yo) prefers the snowboarding game vs. skateboarding, but I think that's just a personal preference because his brother prefers skateboarding.

I shot this video last week (when I was in the middle of a rotten cold that ruined my voice, so excuse my raspy speech.)





We just started rating video games on a 5 star basis, and the boys both gave this one 5 stars.   It would be a blast to find this game under the Christmas tree this year!  I know we'll have tons of fun with it.

Tony Hawk: Shred is available for Wii, XBox 360, and PlayStation 3. 

*Disclosure: I received the Tony Hawk: Shred bundle for Wii to facilitate this review.  No compensation was provided.  All opinions, thoughts, words and video are my own.*

Review: Tap and Teach: The Story of Noah's Ark for Nintendo DS

Lydia (3yo) had a chance to try out a game for Nintendo DS -- Tap and Teach: The Story of Noah's Ark.  It's a new release from South Peak Interactive for kids ages 3 - 6.  Lydia is my little tech-baby, comfortable using her own iPod, our iPad and a few other video games. Until now, we didn't have any DS games that were appropriate for her, so she was excited when I let her use my pink DS to try this one out.

The game has a narration of the Noah's Ark story, which she enjoyed (all my kids love audiobooks), but her favorite part is the coloring pages.  The game also has a few games included to help with reading and music, but she mostly played with the coloring pages and the narrated story.

The graphics are well-done and the game is easy for a 3yo to navigate (granted she's been navigating video games and apps for over a year, but I still think it's easy to navigate.)  I shot a video of her playing with it recently, and I can tell you that it's a big hit.  I look forward to seeing what other titles they add to this series!

(And, I know that's not a pink DS in this video.  That was on the charger, so she was using her Dad's.)




*Disclosure: I received an advance copy of the Nintendo DS game, Noah's Ark to facilitate this review.  No additional compensation was received.*

Review: How To Train Your Dragon video games (and giveaways!)

My boys were thrilled to watch the movie, How to Train Your Dragon, a couple days before general release.  They thought it was fun, and wonderfully animated. They were excited when I received a package in the mail How To Train Your Dragon video games by Activision!

We have Nintendo DS', Wii and XBox360 systems in our house (no, I'm not quite sure how that happened.  We used to have a PSP, too, but it was stolen a while back.)  The first game the boys tried was the DS version. They had fun, and enjoyed the fact they could play multi-player.

We also played the Wii version, since we wanted to see how it looked on the big screen.  We all had fun fighting dragons and getting used to the different styles.

The premise of the game is that gamers choose to play characters (Hiccup or Astrid).  The game goes beyond the movie with more locations and areas for the dragons to fight.  Colin did mention that it wasn't much like the movie -- but he liked that because it meant there were new things to learn about the dragons.

The game is rated E+ (Everyone 10+) for Fantasy Violence.

It is available at all major retailers, and retails for $49.99 (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) and for $29.99 (NDS).

Follow this link to print out coloring pages from the game!  All 3 of my kids have had fun coloring these.  Just open the "Approved" folder and download the coloring pages you want.

I'm excited that I have multiple games for various platforms to give away!    I have 6 copies of the game to give away.  The games are for Nintendo DS, Wii, XBox 360 and PS3, so it's very important that you tell me what type of system you have!

Name of Giveaway: Dragons!
Mandatory Question: What type of gaming system do you have? 
Extra entries if you share this post on Twitter and/ or Facebook!
Extra entry if you follow my blog blog via RSS, Bloglines, Google Reader, Networked Blogs, etc!

Giveaway ends Sunday, May 1, 2010.  Winners will be notified via email and I'll ask for your address so your video game can be mailed to you directly. 

Click this link to be taken to the Giveaway Form! Good Luck!

 Disclosure: I received a copy of the game from Activision, and games to give away.  No further compensation was provided.

Lower Price on the Wii

Did you hear that Nintendo finally lowered the price on the Wii game system? We have so much fun with our Wii! We've had ours a few years now, and our entire family has had a great time playing a variety of games.

Right now, the boys love playing Mario Super Sluggers. I think it's partly because they've been playing fall baseball, and partly because it's a fun game that has them up, moving and breaking a sweat!

We know I was a EA Sports Active drop out, but I still think it's a good program and will probably get back to it someday. The fact I didn't stick with it has nothing to do with the quality of the game!

Oh! And Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 with Dance Mat is a complete riot -- and I'm so glad that nobody other than my family watches my clumsy moves! That game is so much fun!

If you have been interested in a Wii but held back because of the price, these new savings may be the ticket to an amazingly fun Christmas present!