It’s only been a week (or so) since Thanksgiving? How is it that the holiday seems like a really long time ago AND like it arrived in a blip. Hmmm. We did a lot of gaming over the past 10 days or so and I’m glad to say the kids are progressing nicely. I’ll post an artice soon about their “video game training” later, but for now lets say that Maggie (8) has shown a vague interest in games since she was five, and is only getting into it now. Henry latched on at 4.5 and he’s been playing Leapster, DS, and some Wii, for weeks now. Here’s what the GamerDad Family played last week.

We had my parents over for Thanksgiving, just the six of us and four bottles of wine. GamerMom is a lovely cook and she went very traditional this year – that’s the way I like it! We watched football and then after dinner and some light conversation, the games came out. Now my parents are reading, so I’ll need them to shut their eyes and skip to the next paragraph. 

 Okay, ready? My father is too competitive and my mother has very little interest in games (I suspect this is because he is so competitive and she hates to lose).

Hi mom and dad, welcome back!

Okay, TURKEY DAY GAMING

We opened with a little BOOMBLOX to get the thing going, my mom didn’t play, so it was Maggie, Henry, GamerMom and my dad. I think Henry won that one. Next was WII SPORTS BOWLING where father took everyone out with a score just north of 160. He’s lucky I wasn’t playing. We rounded it out with Henry showing his grandparents a few of his favorite DS games as well as WII FIT and Namco’s very underrated OUTDOOR CHALLENGE. It was a lovely time all round. A nice Thanksgiving for a family fairly bursting with reasons to be thankful.

The Next Day: Crystal and Jake

We had a smart, pretty, sweet, and very responsible 19-year old Nursing student live with us most of the summer. She’d babysit and do chores and she’d get room and board and a small amount of cash. Anyway, we miss her. So we asked her to come over for “Day After Christmas Turkey-Stuffing-Potato-cranberrysauce-gravy Panini. Delicious!

For Crystal I brought up ROCK BAND 2 and the Xbox 360 from my downstairs office. We all then, including the kids, took turns doing songs. Lots of fun and it seemed to really intrigue GamerMom. I’ve been trying to get her into the game for the past four years! I can’t bring the 360 upstairs permanently, and the kids can’t play in my office (too many things to hide), but she, for once, actually seemed to be considering allowing a drum kit to reside in her living room. AHA! I cried. I reminded GamerMom that Activision hadn’t sent me GHWorld Tour for 360, they sent the Wii version. The Wii lives upstairs so, well, so does GHWorld Tour and it’s fabulously hard to ignore drum set.

I prefer ROCK BAND 2 in almost every way but GH has a a few things I love. While less sturdy, their drumset is more fun to play. Ever RB2 with the cool cymbal kit doesn’t quite compare. Also, GH has Hotel California, The Joker, and Do it Again, 3 tunes I’d love for ROCK BAND 2) new feature called Beginner mode. It uses bars. So strum and hit ANY note or strike any pad, or the pedal, with the drums. This is VERY handy when you’re training kids. NO FAIL mode is a decent substitute, but it’s less fun for the other players. With Begginer, I can play Guitar on Hard, GamerMom can do drums on Medium, Maggie can do vocals on Easy, and Henry can do Bass at Beginner.  That way everyone plays from the day you open the game. Great for parties.

We’re getting a band together. How does the band name GAMERHOUND grab you?

Tags: Misc