This weekend we celebrated my son’s fifth birthday and he and I spent some father-son bonding time with Mario Kart: Double Dash. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, this is a Gamecube title that has been available for a few years. If you have a Wii and you’ve been having trouble tracking down Mario Kart Wii, this could give you a great option for half the price!

Having said that, it plays beautifully on the Wii as well as the original Gamecube and, like many of the Gamecube games, it is capable of displaying at 480p if you have your console connected to an HD television via component cables. Honestly, it looks beautiful and the control is spot on. Yet, what makes this title a real family winner is the two-player options.

My son’s first exposure to this title was at a kiosk while we were at a local GameStop. As with most Mario games, he was drawn to the colorful graphics and humorous sound effects. However, as much as he seemed to enjoy the visuals, he wasn’t quite understanding the racing mechanic itself and when he finally crossed the finish line in eighth place, he seemed discouraged to see that his characters looked sad.

Rather than race head-to-head with him, I chose the 2-player option that allows him to control the second character on my kart. We were able to race as a team against the other characters and while I controlled the vehicle itself, he was in charge of the power-ups. This meant that when we’d pick up a speed boost, he’d ask me when it would help and then press the button. And when we’d pick up a banana peel or other trap/attack device, we’d coordinate on where to use it.

I found this experience far more enjoyable than playing the game against him and I felt that it instilled a sense of cooperation within him while providing a sense of accomplishment when we won the tournament.

Keep in mind that you can play up to four players with this title (4-player split screen or two 2-player teams) on a single machine and it has support for network play using the broadband adapter on the Gamecube. This has some great potential for a family or a small group of kids playing together. I don’t have a problem with competition, but in this case, we enjoyed cooperation and competition together.

I heartily recommend it and as an adult I can say that it’s as much fun for me as it is for my son!

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To all the families, to all the gamers, and to all the families with gamers - Happy Thanksgiving from Game Apparent!

Sony seems to have wished PS3 owners with the PSEye a Happy Thanksgiving as well. Two new titles appeared Tuesday of this week just in time for your holiday gathering. Both are kid-friendly too!

The first is Aquatopia and I would describe it as an electronic fish tank. It’s very pretty and you don’t have to worry about cleaning the water! The Eye makes it look as though you can see your own reflection in the tank. Many of the fish are attracted to movement so when you move your hand, some fish will follow it. Also, moving your fingers at the water’s surface feeds the fish.

 It may be a simple diversion, but at $1.99 USD it’s hard to beat. Also, it might give the kids something interesting to do while you’re dealing with the after effects of the turkey and it’s tryptophan. (Yes, I know that the effects of tryptophan within turkey are exaggerated, but for whatever reason, we’re always exhausted.)

The second download is a little more ($4.99 USD), but it offers a more traditional game experience. It’s called Operation: Creature Featureand it’s a lot like Lemmings with an Eye interface. You basically guide these little creatures with your hands in order to get them out of harms way. Each level poses new challenges. It’s very simple to learn and it poses enough of a challenge that young and old will find some entertainment value.

I know that we have much for which to be thankful and I hope that you all do too. Take care and enjoy your families!

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Halloween is a special holiday for many and ideally it provides an opportunity to be scared without real fear of danger (i.e., those fangs were bought at the local drug store). For those that want to enjoy some halloween game choices, Game Apparent has a few suggestions for you ranging from the kid-friendly options to the more adult oriented fare.

First Up is a PlayStation 2 EyeToy title called Play. For the uninitiated, the EyeToy is a USB camera that hooks up the the PlayStation 2 and enables players to interact with the games without a controller. You can wave your hands or jump up and down and the software recognizes your actions and applies them onscreen. Play was the first release for the EyeToy and it includes a collection of mini-games. One of these is called, Ghost Eliminator. Essentially, this is a scene with a haunted house and ghosts and bats appear and you have to wave your hands over them to dispel them. It’s really simple and fun for young and old. This is a great family choice and these games get people off the couch and laughing. Good stuff!

One franchise that is virtually replete with options is Scooby Doo. You’ll find Scooby games for the GameBoy Color, Super Nintendo, Genesis, and all of the previous generation systems (GameCube, PS2, and Xbox). One that I personally reccommend is Scooby Doo: Night of 100 Frights. (However, don’t introduce it to a child under 6 without reflection. For more information, see this article on our site.) Having said that, Scooby is always fun - especially when you finally reach the end and the villian claims that he/she would have gotten away with it if, “it weren’t for those meddling kids.”

Though this is a fun title, I’d suggest that you consider this for your 6+ kids in spite of the “E” rating on it. There are a number of truly frustrating platforming sequences in this game that challenge veteran gamers and I’d hate for your family to get frustrated unnecessarily. This is also a fairly involved title that easily takes 15+ hours of gameplay to finish. But for the Scooby fans, it has cameos from many of the original monsters. It’s available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a modern classic stop animation marvel. It is a wonderful film for Halloween and for those who want to play within this ficticious world, there are a few options. The PlayStation 2 offers Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2 which include Halloween Town and many of the cast members. There’s also a Kingdom Hearts on the GameBoy Advance entitled, Chain of Memories. The GBA also has a prequel game entitled, The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King.

Many have begged for a sequel for this cult classic over the years. Capcom granted us something close with, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas - Oogie’s Revenge. This is a 3D adventure platformer with some interesting play mechanics. I recommend it highly for fans of the original, but it wasn’t as good as I hoped. However, it was most certainly worth playing. The voice acting is credible, but the camera can be a bit frustrating at times. Of these games, Kingdom Hearts and KH: Chain of Memories are rated “E” and Kingdom Hearts 2, TNBC: The Pumpkin King and TNBC: Oogie’s Revenge are rated “E10+.” As endearing as the characters are, I would consider adhering closely to the 10+ for those titles. There is a bit of violence, but most importantly, Tim Burton has a rather twisted imagination and many of these creatures in this could give a smaller child real nightmares.

For the older teen in the household, or even the parents who are interested in gaming, there are a number of horror-based titles available and many of these (being older) are available used for a fraction of the orignal cost. Please be aware that these are “M” rated titles and, therefore, are not intended for children under 17 years of age.

The Resident Evil series and Silent Hill titles offer some partiuclarly dark imagery that will scare the most jaded horror film buff. There are a couple of Buffy the Vampire Slayer titles (one for the Xbox, and the second for Xbox, PS2, and GameCube). These are interesting 3D adventure platformers that include a number of familiar characters if you were a fan of the series. In addition to these, I’d like to recommend 3 other creepy options.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
This “M” title for the GameCube is a fascinating psychological thriller. It takes place over multiple time periods and in each of these, you control a different member of the Roivas family. As you play through the game you must remain aware of your character’s sanity through an onscreen bar. If you lose all of your sanity, the slightest scare begins to cause your character physical harm. The visuals are exceptional and the control scheme is very fluid. Be aware that in this game your character is expected to cast spells. Though this game mechanic is implimented well, it may not be appropriate entertainment for some families.

Call of the Cthulhu
This “M” title for the Xbox brings H.P. Lovecraft’s horror world to life in a first person adventure that will have you pausing the game and walking away at times. Similar to Eternal Darkness, you have to be concerned with your character’s sanity. If he sees too much that he cannot process properly, the screen will begin to blur and control will fail. It’s quite an impressive effect as well as being quite unnerving. I was a little disappointed with the overall graphics, but it was worthwhile to play a title based in a world envisioned by Lovecraft.

Fatal Frame
Though the first title is rated “T” I consider both titles ”M” rated. The second is more visually disturbing, but the sense of fear accomplished in the first title seems reason enough to save it for your teen. The series utilizes a rather unique play mechanic that has the player using a camera to see the ghosts (otherwise invisible) and trap them. There are plenty of moments in these titles when you suddenly feel all the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Nothing like coming around a corner and seeing something move in the distance. It’s not about the jumping out and scaring you moments as much as the frightening things that you see out of the corner of your eye. And nothing shocks you quite as much as thinking that you’re all alone and then when you look through the camera, you realize you’re not! Both titles are available for the Xbox and PlayStation 2. However, these have a bit of a cult following and might be harder to find.

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Our friends¹ over at Penny Arcade are hosting a Pokemon TCG event² for anyone near Seattle, WA. We’d go, but you know the TSA gives us a funny look when we board the plane with our duffel bag of Pokemon cards.

“If you’ve got kids that play feel free to bring them as well. As I mentioned before one of my favorite things about Pokemon is how great it is for kids. I’d really like for the league to be an all ages group.”

If you’re near Seattle this is a great oppertunity to hang out with like-minded folk and play some friendly Pokemon. (They even suggest to bring your DS and Diamond/Pearl too!)

¹I like to dream. The Penny Arcade guys don’t even know we exist…yet.

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