Archive for July, 2012

Foosball 2012 (PS3, Vita)

Back in the 70’s, before arcades became big, there were many foosball parlors around where you could go play a round or two of tabletop soccer. I was a little too young to experience that, but I did see the remnants of it years later at arcades, where over in the corner you might see a foosball table next to the air hockey games and Shoot Away screens. Now you can enjoy foosball in your own home, without having a big table take up your living room, with Foosball 2012. It’s downloadable for PS3 and Vita, and you can even transfer your saves from one system to another. Foosball 2012 is also PlayStation Move compatible, but we’ll be reviewing it with using just the controller only.

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Character Chowdown (iPad)

Character Chowdown is an educational game downloadable on the app store for iPad and iPhone. It helps teach kids (and the young at heart), the basics of the Japanese written language. There are several different kinds of lettering in Japanese, like Katakana, Kanji, etc. Each pack you download in Character Chowdown represents one of those styles of writing. The initial batch just has Katakana, and you download the others separately.

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Planet Crashers (3DS)

Planet Crashers is an out of this world dungeon crawler that’s downloadable on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Customize your own character’s gender, hair, skin, and clothes, then venture forth to planets that need your help. On the planets’ surface are booths where you can take on missions, and shops to buy items. Once you take on a job, go to the corresponding dungeon on that planet to retrieve items, find lost people, defeat certain monsters, etc.

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Reader Review: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD (360)

We all have special memories of games from our childhood. Mine would be arcade classics from the 80’s like Pac-Man, of course. I also share special memories of more contemporary games with my younger brothers, like playing Yoshi’s Island with them. But some special gaming memories are uniquely theirs. Case in point, one of my brother Jeff’s favorite games he played as a kid was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. I was worried that he was too young for it at the time, but he took to it like a fish to water. So when I learned that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD came out for Xbox LIVE recently, I decided that Jeff was more fitting to write the review of it.

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Wizorb (PS Minis)

Gamers my age may remember the days when we were kids, whiling away the summer hours playing rented NES games when it was too hot to go outside. It was fun to rent and discover unknown NES gems back then, like Kickle Cubicle or Pinball Quest (the latter mixed pinball with RPG elements and yes that game did exist). All those memories came flooding back to me recently when I tried Wizorb, a new PS Minis downloadable title for play on PSP and PS3. It’s a brand new game, but styled to look like a retro 8-bit title. And this one is a cross between an RPG and…BreakOut?!?

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SNK Arcade Classics: Gang Wars & Time Soldiers (PS Minis)

Two more of SNK’s pre-Neo-Geo arcade classics are now available to download as PS Minis for play on the PS3 and PSP. This time we have the side scrolling brawler Gang Wars and the top down shooter Time Soldiers.

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Skylanders and Frito-Lay Team Up Again!

We here at GamingWithChildren.com love Skylanders (well, at least I do).  So whenever a piece of news about it comes along, I like to let you all know about it, too.  Click to read more of the official press release about how you can get a special Skylanders figure when you buy certain kinds of Frito-Lay snacks!

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Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter (PS Minis)

So you’ve hunted virtual ducks and deer. Maybe even a few bigger game like bears and other ferocious beasts. But are you ready for a REAL challenge? How about hunting DINOSAURS? Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunter is a simplistic PS Minis hunting game that you can download and play on your PS3 or PSP.

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Review: Pro Cycling Manager – Season 2012 (PC)

The Tour de France winds up today and I’ve had a great time watching some of the highlights over the past few weeks. While I’d love to watch the whole thing “live” I don’t quite have that kind of time. Even so, while I’m not a cyclist myself, the Tour has once again piqued my interest in the sport. Recently, I was given the chance to take a look at a cycling simulation, Pro Cycling Manager – Season 2012. The program’s strength lies in its depth of play. Playing not as an individual cyclist, but as the manager of an entire team, one can simulate single races all the way up to multiple seasons including recruiting and trading around various cyclists. This depth of play is also the game’s downfall as the game caters primarily to the die-hard cyclist crowd with very few “easy” modes available.

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July 3DS StreetPass Meetup in the North Dallas/Plano, TX Area

If you have a 3DS and live in the North Dallas/Plano, TX area, here is some info on the next 3DS StreetPass meetup.  July 28 at the same GameStop as always.  Click here or here for more info.  Hopefully I’ll get some more Dark Notes in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy!  See you there!  –Cary