My family has been counting the days til’ Christmas, especially my daughter. She has been so excited about it and thinks she is getting baby dolls and such. She has no idea she is getting a Wii for Christmas - boy will she be surprised!

Bought a Wii

I love to give gifts that surprise someone, especially my children. So, I bought a bundle pack for the Nintendo Wii that comes with various accessories. It comes with a couple of games, tennis rackets, a blaster, racing wheel and more. Plus, she is getting the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii - that will be her favorite of all, at least for now.

Mario and Yoshi Here We Come!

My children grew up with Mario, so my daughter loves Mario and Yoshi. Since we traded in our Gamecube and the Xbox 360 croaked, neither one of us have been able to play very many games, except for her Nintendo DS or on the PC. Still, it’s just not the same as playing on a video game system.

Oh, how sweet it is …. finally, we have a gaming system to play - the Nintendo Wii. Counting the days has been fun but very suspenseful. Tomorrow is the final hour, then we get to play video games on a gaming console again! Wooo hooo!

Don’t Forget 

I would like to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Remember the reason for this season, His name is Jesus, Yeshua - the Great I am. Won’t you take some time and thank Him for ALL He has done for you and your family .. after all, He died for you, so you could live forever with Him, be healed, restored and made whole.

Happy gaming to all the gamers out there. Perhaps you are getting new gaming systems as well one way or the other. If so, enjoy! I know we sure will!

Photo by www.pcworld.com

With Christmas only nine days away, I am looking forward to playing the Nintendo Wii. Counting down the days for the opportunity to play it is like watching time. Because my family is used to playing the Xbox 360, buying another gaming system made perfect sense for me when my daughter asked for a Wii as her “most favored” Christmas gift.

Saying Bye to the 360 - Well, for Now

My family is an Xbox 360 family, but our 360 is fried. After careful consideration, I decided instead of buying a new 360, I thought it is a good time to venture out and try something new - time to buy a Wii. I will buy another 360, but for now, it will be fun to have some new gaming adventures, that’s for sure! However, being a newbie with the Wii, I am going to have to learn the many things I already know is different than the Xbox 360 - can’t wait, though!!! Plus, I have to shop for games and find out which ones are good and fun. 

The True Meaning

Now, the true meaning of Christmas is not about the gifts we receive or the time we spend with one another. But rather, it is about the Lord Jesus Christ and the celebrating of His birth, death and resurrection for each one of us on that special day. Christmas is the time for celebrating Jesus’ very special birthday. It is also a time when we should reflect on our lives and look deep within ourselves to see how we are living, what we need to change then changing it. I celebrate Jesus every day of the year, because He is so wonderful, and He alone is worthy!

Yep, it’s almost time for Christmas.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. It is a time to reflect on the needs of others and come together in unity to bring hope, love and peace with joy to all our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Christmas time is a time when we should give of ourselves to love and help those around us. It is also a time for sharing and giving gifts to our family and friends. Well, this year I am giving my seven-yr-old daughter a Wii -  I cannot wait!!!

When I asked my daughter what she wants for Christmas, she did not hesitate to say, “I want a Wii.” Now, that surprised me. I did not expect that from her, but I am happy she said it. I was planning on buying a PS 3 with Ratchet and Clank and the Indy racing game, but she wants a Wii. So, for now, a Wii it is. It will be hers. I am excited about getting it, because we will have something new and different to play. Time to have some Wii exercise and become Wii fit!

Look out Wii .. here we come!

Wii photo credit by powerofthought.wordpress.com
Mario Kart photo credit by www.ign.com

My sister is turning into a real gamer these days. She loves her Nintendo DS, but she gives equal time to her laptop. She likes the idea of playing games on her laptop, because she knows she can buy any game she wants and download straight to her laptop to start playing. Now that she’s mastered that, it’s game time!

One of the latest games she bought and downloaded to her laptop is Chuzzle. She said she can’t stop playing it, because it’s so cute and adorable and fun to play. I haven’t played it before, so I decided to try it for myself.

The game Chuzzle seems to be be receiving a lot of attention. I have to admit, it is cute and seems to be somewhat irresistible with the cute little fluff balls that make different sounds and expressions, as you are trying to match them. I found myself not wanting to quit, either. 

Chuzzle is a furry little game that’s like Bejeweled, only you have a little more flexibility with the way you match the colors. When you see a giant Chuzzle, this is your chance to clear more than what you are matching, and when you see the lock, you’ll have to maneuver the other rows to match the Chuzzle.

This is a cute game, and the more I play it, the more I understand why my sister loves it so much. She’s placed the other games on the back-burner for now - Chuzzle is her favorite for now.

Photo credit by www.popcap.com

The last time I tried to play, my game loaded but froze. So, I turned it off to try again, only to have the red lights - darn! So, I went into my closet to retrieve the other Xbox 360 that was put aside because of the problem it had loading. I thought .. surely, one of them had to work - not! The second 360 froze quicker than I could blink an eye. 

You know, they say your home isn’t a home without pets, and this is very true. But .. my home isn’t the same without the sound from the Xbox 360! Looks like I get a new and early Christmas gift for myself.

Tonight, I was going to take the night off to do something I haven’t done in a long time - spend some good quality time with the Xbox 360.

I turned it on … just listen to that sound - love it! It loaded, then I signed into my profile.Since I haven’t played the 360 in a long time, I thought about the game I wanted to play. Finally, I made my choice - Burnout Paradise. I opened the tray and put the game in.

Now, the game was loading, and I was on my way to a night of relaxation and VIDEO GAMES!!! I was ready to start racing and smashing things, then all of a sudden the 360 froze. So, I restarted it, then the worst thing for a gamer happened - three red rings. I said, “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!” I wouldn’t accept it, so I carefully checked all the plugs to make sure they were properly connected to the ports - they were. I tried it again and again. I turned it off and one several times, but the same thing - three red rings.

Well, looks like there is no 360 for me tonight, or any other night, until I get it repaired or buy a new one. It’s times like this, I’m so thankful for my daughter’s pink DS. Hhhhhhhhhhh!

Photo by www.flickr.com/photos/gongus/2499977147/

Playing as Eve is fun, but you have to learn to control her. As my daughter was moving along with Wall-e, she jumped with him and Eve caught him to lift him up for a brief amount of time to take him to the designated area. Sometimes, this was a bit more trying for her, but she finally mastered it. Playing with Eve is fun, because you can use her arm to shoot your enemies, while Wall-e is moseying along his way - what teamwork!

Ratchet and Clank is a fun game that is full of colorful adventure, mayhem and all those intriguing and unique weapons. There was never a dull moment in the Ratchet and Clank games, that’s for sure!

Ratchet’s Weapons - So Cool!

One of the weapons allowed you to turn your enemy into a chicken - funny. Talk about taming the wild beast! Ratchet knew how to do that with the Morph-o-Ray. You could give the enemy a nice punch with the Walloper, which was a big punching glove. The Suck Cannon would allow you to suck up some of your enemies, depending on the size and shoot them back out. The Lava Gun was very effective and worked great, especially when battling the enemies in the fighting ring (quick way to earn bolts). Push the button on your controller and a rope of fire comes out for you to whip your enemies and mow them down. 

Collecting Bolts

Collecting the bolts to earn enough for upgrades to Ratchet’s weapons for an even more powerful impact on his enemies was time-consuming, but still so much fun. You couldn’t just go through the game in an hour and complete every thing there was to complete. The adventure story takes a while to go through, so make sure you have a memory card for your PS 2 or 3, the saves to the hard drive.

Nothing Like the R.Y.N.O.

The final weapon, which was my favorite was the R.Y.N.O. It would destroy the enemies much
quicker .. some with one blow. When you had to fight some of those nasty enemies, this is an important weapon to have.

Now, Xbox is bringing Ratchet and Clank to the Xbox 360 - and I cannot wait! That will help to ease my plans for getting a PS 3, for now. I can only imagine the achievements for that baby on the Xbox 360!

Oh … the memories of the confident Ratchet and his rhetorical sidekick, Clank. 

Photos by www.ign.com

As I dig up the ground to sow my seeds for harvesting, I’m increasing in points, which is a good thing for me. When I gain a certain amount of points, I automatically level up. Leveling up allows me to unlock new items, such as animals, trees, buildings and equipment.

One of the most recent animals I unlocked was the duck. I’ve been waiting to unlock this little guy. What is funny, is that you can pet your animals, and they will make their animal noise - funny. Next is the horse … I want to unlock the horse, because a farm isn’t a farm without a horse.

When I signed up for Facebook, I thought it was just the plain boring scenario day after day-after-day, and I caught myself wondering why I bothered signing up for it. That is … til’ I found the many games that seemed to be hidden from my view when I accidentally came across something that caught my eye, Tic Tac Toe.

I knew about FarmVille, which is fun. However, I didn’t know Tic Tac Toe was there, until I bumped into it. Now, playing Tic Tac Toe with my little girl on her magnetic doodle pad is always

fun for us - she is pretty good at it, too. Playing Tic Tac Toe on Facebook gives you the chance to play with someone on your friends list. I thought this was cool, so I tried it.

Playing Tic Tac Toe isn’t that thrilling to play, but it is interesting that it’s there to play. It is a short game that can go quickly, if you use the correct strategy. Even though Tic Tac Toe may be a bit on the boring side, it is still a nice change to see.

Hmmm … I need to browse some more to see what kind of games are available on Facebook.