Game Review: Chess Challenge (WiiWare, DSiWare)
Chess Challenge is a downloadable game for WiiWare and DSiWare (WiiWare version reviewed here). As the title suggests, you can challenge computer players in Novice, Intermediate, and Expert skill levels. You can also play against another human player on the same Wii, but the biggest selling point is all the many ways you can play chess online.
Free Game! Photo Dojo (DSiWare)
If you’ve ever wanted to be in a fighting game, now’s your chance! Photo Dojo for DSi lets you take pictures of yourself and friends in various fighting poses for use in a simplistic beat-em-up. Best of all, if you have a DSi and can connect wirelessly to the Internet, you can download Photo Dojo for free up until the beginning of June! After that it’ll go up to 200 points, but that’s still not a bad price to pay for one of the best uses of the DSi camera.
iFrogz EarPollution CS40Headphones
People send me stuff. It happens. I have one simple rule because I don’t take advertising. If I LIKE what you send, I’ll mention it here. If I DON’T Like it, I won’t. That simple. Now, I normally don’t talk much about hardware but I have developed a habit of writing in an easy chair, legs crossed, with the laptop comfortably on my lap. I can do this because the kids are at school, the house is quiet, the dog is laying on top of the couch in a sunbeam – Snoopy style – and, if a nice day, the breeze is nice and breezy. Of course, its a long summer and there are these things called Weekends and during those times the kids are usually in and out, the TV is on, the Wii is on, the computer is on, etc., So what’s a habit formed GamerDad to do? Headphones, duh. iFrogz recently offered to send me a sample pair of their newest model and I figured: “Why not?” Luckily, this past Saturday, I had the perfect opportunity to test them out. Yes, my daughter and my son both had friends over and it was a crappy day. Me in my chair, them screaming, could I get any work done?
Game Review: Sherlock Holmes Vs. Jack the Ripper (360)
Game Reviews: Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley (PSP)
Monster Hunter 3 Tri
I can’t pretend to know anything about the Monster Hunter series except that it’s big in Japan, role-playing game-lite, hard, and filled to the brim with cool giant monsters that don’t look like people in rubber suits. Monster Hunter 3, excuse me, Monster Hunter Tri is all of these things. Filled with giant, and I might add very cool, monsters and is hard. It also gives a nod to role-playing in that you’ve got to upgrade your equipment – not your character – to survive.
The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (Reader Review)
ROFLCopter (age 15) has found an odd little game available on Xbox Live Arcade. It is likely the best game about a Samurai dishwasher (the job, not the appliance) ever made. Ladies and gentlemen, I present The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and thank you ROFLCopter (readers can submit any review of any game they like at the email to your left)
Game Review: Scrabble Slam! (DSiWare)
Game Review: What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord? 2 (PSP)
The sequel to one of the most wacky and creative PSP games is coming out soon in early May. Available on UMD this time, and a little later on PSN, What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord? 2 is the predecessor to an even longer title: Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? The first title was so long that it’s been since shortened to What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord? In these games, you get to be the bad guy. Dig out dungeon mazes and fill them with monsters to kill waves of heroic adventurers. But this time, there’s more of everything. More monsters, more heroes, and more stages.
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom
Available on Xbox Live or in Windows. I can’t believe I missed this game when it came out in early Feb. It just arrived for PC and I caught a commercial for it and – wow. Using German expressionalistic/surrealism to create a loopy platformer is a great idea. It’s a black and white world, with grainy film-stock and the protagonist is the villainous PB Winterbottom. A scourge, a rogue and a stealer of yummy pies. I like yummy pies, I like clever puzzle games, I like 2D platforming games and I like silent movies that make me think of a cross between Metropolis, Buster Keaton and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.




