Game review: Princess Isabella - A Witch's Curse

It's been awhile since my daughter and I played a video game together. We decided to give Princess Isabella: A Witch's Curse a try. You play Princess Isabella. She has been away and, when she returns, she finds the castle under an evil spell with all of the people locked inside mirrors. The princess needs to find who is behind the evil, while rescuing her family.

Big Fish Games has classified this as a hidden object game. However, it is so much more. Each room has a number of puzzles contained within. Some of them are hidden object but others are jigsaw puzzles or areas where you need to use an object you are holding in order to open the next area of the room or 'trivia' questions. We found this to be a great game because, while there are some areas that my daughter could do by herself, there were also areas that I needed to do by myself or that we needed to work on together. It was a great way to spend a few hours with my kid. I highly recommend it to any parents wanting a little extra time with the little one. (And by 'little one,' I mean in the 6 - 10 age range...)

Music Assignment for YOU!

I am taking a jazz dance class this year, which I absolutely adore. We're currently in the process of looking for our recital song. Here is where I need your help. Since most of my music collection is in Japanese, I am turning to you for suggestions. We are looking for:

* an 80s song (though we will ponder other decades too) * a relatively fast song (so don't be sending me no ballads!) * no Paula Abdul and no Michael Jackson

One of the examples we used in class was Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam.

* Funky is good...think kind of hip pop or something along those lines

Thank you for your help ^_^

JDorama review: Mr. Brain

mrbrain
Title: Mr. Brain Broadcast dates: 5/23/09 - 7/11/09 Number of episodes: 8 Genre: Detective, Comedy Cast: Kimura Takuya, Ayase Haruka, Mizushima Hiro, Kagawa Teruyuki Plot: Tsukumo Ryusuke (Takuya) has recently moved into the Institute of Police Science (IPS) as their resident "brain scientist." Even though his methods of assisting the police are quite unorthodox, he somehow manages to become one of the most beloved scientists in the IPS. What is good: Absolutely every bit of it is good What is bad: It was a little annoying that the last few cases ended up being 2-parters, therefore leaving us with cliffhangers instead of solving the case during the episode...but that can be a good things sometimes. Letter rating: A+ Overall: I originally downloaded this series because Gackt, my very favorite Japanese rock star, guest starred in the second episode. To show how amazingly awesome Mr. Brain is, I watched that second episode before ever watching the first episode AND I watched it raw, despite barely knowing the Japanese language, and I absolutely fell in love with the characters. Despite barely knowing what anyone was saying, the acting and the characters themselves were so likeable and eccentric that I knew I had to watch it subtitled. Adding to that, once I watched the first episode subtitled, I had to get my husband to watch it with me because I knew he would love the show as well. Out of all the series I've watched and loved, this one is now my absolute favorite and new series will have to try really hard to do better.

Game review: Mr Jones' Graveyard Shift

When I saw the title of this game, I knew I had to play it. Something called Mr Jones' Graveyard Shift would either be awesome or awful. It turns out that it is a time management game. You play as Mr. Jones, owner of the local graveyard. Your job is to fill your customers' requests for their loved ones' funerals. Some want specific flowers, some don't want trees...there's a lot that they ask for, but, the gameplay for each is pretty much the same.

I actually had to play the game twice. The first time, I screwed up royally and had to start over. The second time, I figured out where I messed up and made sure to not make the same mistake again. That is when the fun kicked in. I didn't think I would actually enjoy arranging funerals. After all, it's a rather morbid thought. But it was lots of fun. At the very least, it's a good Halloween game!

Club Bing

I had a topic to write about....and then I forgot it. So today I will talk about one of my current obsessions: Club Bing. Club Bing is a website run by the Microsoft search engine, Bing. I haven't spent a whole lot of time using the search engine side of things. Instead I have spent my time playing games and earning "tickets." There is a pretty wide variety of games to play. There's a crossword puzzle, a word search, a couple hidden objects, and some other original games. (One of my favorites is CrossWire, where you have to match items from one column with an item in the second column.) Each time you complete a game, you win a number of tickets. Then you can use your tickets to purchase prizes or you can donate them to a local school. I purchased a Net Ball game, which is kinda like lacrosse, but I haven't had a chance to play it with my daughter since school started recently. I'm currently trying to save up my tickets to buy a new Zune.

There is a daily limit on how many tickets you can earn each day. (1,000) But that doesn't make the games any less fun. Come win stuff with me!

Dungeons & Dragons Online

There has been a Dungeons & Dragons MMO for awhile now. It used to have the 'normal' fee schedule where you'd pay $15 per month to play as much as you want. Recently, the game has decided to change that. Now you can play for free. You can pay for upgrades or extra quests if you want, but a majority of the game is free. I've been playing it on and off for the past week or so. Some of the original quests from the pay version of the game have changed but it's still the same feel. It is a little odd to see the same dungeons with different quests in them though. All in all, if you liked DDO before, you'll like just as much now. Only you won't have to pay for it!