Android Apps for toddlers

With an Android tablet changing hands in our household, it is inevitable that my 2-year old daughter would get curious and have a play with it too!  So naturally I had to install some apps which may be of use to her.  Here are some apps that keep her busy and entertained (the names link directly to Google Play):

Baby Phone - Musical Baby Game
It's colourful, it has boxes with numbers on them that wiggle, and it has a variety of nursery songs too!  The free version is ad-supported, but the ads do not get in the way - so far.  Our daughter is getting familiar with the songs and loves to sing along, although with baby talk of course.

Kids Doodle - Color & Draw
Of course, my daughter's doodles are not as fine-tuned a drawing as in the illustration shown here, but she has lots of fun with it nonetheless, especially with the fluorescent paints!  Also free.

Baby Flashcards
She already knows Apple and Banana, and with the help of this app, she will learn more words!  There are various flashcard groups to choose from: letters, numbers, animals, vehicles, furniture, colours.  The images and words are animated and suited well to touch-screen devices, with accompanying voice-overs and music.  Free!

Kids Paintings Coloring Book
Our daughter doesn't know yet how to change the colours, but she loves to wipe her fingers across the screen, and that is all there is to it when using this app.  She is fascinated with how the page becomes coloured in the areas that she touches.  This needs a bit of supervision though because of the need to touch certain areas to change the colours and pages, or else she gets a bit bored with the same screen.  Free!

There's a couple other apps that we have installed, but they are not seeing as much action as these four.  Hope this selection helps you with getting your wee ones occupied too!

Angry Birds Star Wars II with TelePods

Coming 19 September 2013!

4 Pics 1 Word - fun and engaging

The premise of the game 4 Pics 1 Word is simple: try to guess the word that defines the common ground for 4 different photos.  And I think that's what makes this game so appealing: it's so simple that anyone can pick it up, and it's difficult to put down once you start playing it.  Your friend can hand it over to you at any level, and you can guess from there.  You don't need to start from the very beginning.

The best part is, this game works even without an internet connection!  But of course you need it if you would like to post to Facebook the level that you cannot solve, and have your friends have a stab at it.

You can also request for a correct letter to appear, with a couple of points deducted from you.  We have done this a couple of times, but we only allowed ourselves one letter.  I'm not sure if you can have more than one.

I think I read somewhere that these sort of puzzles can also sharpen the mind, as you try to brainstorm and 'translate' 4 different images into one word.

Get this game, it's a keeper.

Download from Google Play

Bad Piggies - it's their turn!

Bad Piggies comes from Rovio, developer of the wildly popular Angry Birds. This time around, it's pigs who have a go at having an adventure.  And what a fun game this is!

Xbox 360 Kinext Star Wars Limited Edition

My son and I are Star Wars fans, that alone should be enough to make us buy this limited edition XBox 360... but there's the final 'hurdle'... I do not have control over the household budget. Must...use...the...Force...

Game & Watch Galore

If you are from my generation, then you would surely know what a Game & Watch is.  No?  Well, long before the Sony PSP and the Nintendo GameBoy, we had the Game & Watch (also by Nintendo).  The games themselves are quite repetitive and simplistic in nature, but that's the beauty of it.  You do not need to memorize any fancy button combinations and such.  It just repeats it cycle and it gets faster and faster until, well, you drop an egg or get caught by the octopus or drop the person you are rescuing from the fire.  And when you're not playing the game (which is rare!), the console can double as a watch.  Hence, Game & Watch!

Angry Birds at the Chrome web store

I don't think I have to explain what Angry Birds is all about, as this is one of the most popular games there is today.  It is originally an app for mobile phones and tablets so you can have a play anywhere you go.  My son and I got caught up in the frenzy as well when I downloaded the app on my Andoid phone.  But I got stuck on a level and that was the end of that.

Angry Birds Live!

Nintendo DSi

I am a big fan of Nintendo. I saw and experienced Nintendo's gaming evolution, from the simple yet highly engaging Game n' Watch, to the Nintendo Family Computer and the Super Nintendo. I stormed castles and rescued Princess Toadstool from King Koopa (and the Koopalings) with Mario and Luigi, and sometimes with Yoshi. I played many an hour with the Nintendo Gameboy.

Ummm... maybe I'm not such a big fan after all, because I eventually moved to the Sony Playstation and the Sony PSP. I have played with the Nintendo DS, though, and I must agree it is quite a very innovative console, especially with the Mario games.

So when we saw the ad on the Nintendo DSi and how they were...well, not playing games on it, I became intrigued. They were actually playing with its built-in camera and stretching it about (reminded me of the Mac) What is it about, exactly?

Nintendo DSi is being touted as a "lifestyle" device and is being targetted for a more mature audience. In line with the simple yet absorbing Wii games involving fitness and sports, the DSi is churning out cooking and gardening games. More recently, other, more familiar games have been released and of course, what is a Nintendo console without a Mario game in the title selection?

The DSi has two 3.2 megapixel cameras one to take your photo and the other to take your friend's. And then you can jazz up your photo.

One thing that's sorely missing is its backward compatibility to the DS and the Gameboy: the game cartridge slot. It would have still been great to be able to use your existing games (and thereby maximize use of your gaming investment!). But for the DSi, you may download games from the DSware shop through a wireless internet connection.

I am not buying a gaming console anytime soon. I would rather replace the defective charger of my PSP and enjoy playing a lot more games on it, but I will keep an eye on developments on the DSi (and keep an eye on price drops too!). Jo-Lo, who loves taking photos, will surely enjoy this gaming device.

Final Fantasy on the iPhone

I am a big Final Fantasy fan. I bought my Sony Playstation when Final Fantasy VII came out, and my gaming evenings has never been the same again. To learn that it is coming to the iPhone is a marvel!

Titled Crystal Defenders, this latest installment to Final Fantasy will surely make use of the iPhone's touch screen capability. I am also happy to note that it may be Tactics-based; I truly enjoyed Final Fantasy Tactics on the Gameboy and the PSP, and if I get my hands on the iPhone version, it will truly be a delight to play!

The bad news: it has no international release date yet. The Japanese version will be available in the Apps Store by the end of this year.

Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge for the PSP

Sometimes it's the simplicity of the game that makes it popular. Yahoo! Games, for example, has a lot of shoot 'em ups, typing, and matching games that are so easy and yet so addictive. I should know; I have seen some officemates who immediately switch to these games after the office hours are done.

Luxor follows along the lines of simplistic yet addictive gameplay. The rules are really quite simple: shoot colored balls into a moving caravan of these and try to match at least three like-colored balls to eliminate these. Exterminate the line being pushed by a scarab before it can enter the cavern at the end of the path.

The scarabs are a dead giveaway in the game's theme: Egyptian of the ancient kind. If you choose the Adventure mode, the game spins a story about a lady who died and whose soul was about to be weighed against a feather. Actually, I'm not sure how the game correlates with the story at all, so I skipped most of the narration (tee-hee!). The animation is great, the sound effects and music match the game nicely. Along the way, you get blessings that aid you in conquering the levels. However, you can only activate three blessings at a time.

The PC version is a lot cooler graphics-wise but the portability of the PSP version is a winner. Luxor saved me from a lot of boredom during times when I am in a queue in the bank or having my papers processed.

Diner Dash for the PSP

Sometimes gamers want something to while away their time while falling in line for the ATM or at the supermarket, and it just doesn't feel right to be starting out with a campaign that will outlast the queue. Well, here's a game that can fulfill that requirement.

Diner Dash for the PSP involves making customers happy as you, the waiter (well, ok, waitress... wish we can change the character gender), ummm, waits on them. You can finish a segment of your shift in under 5 minutes.

The game is rather simple, actually. Just serve customers and make them happy. But is it that simple when the peak times arrive? It becomes a challenge when you have to seat the power lunch crowd who likes their peace and quiet with the celfone-yapping dudes and families with brawling kids. And then there's the food critic who would love to write about your service, be it a praise or a splash of cold reality.

Gaming is supposed to be a relaxing pasttime, but you will soon find yourself engrossed with Diner Dash, and hoping that the next round will have better tips.

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions

My first foray into Strategy Role Playing Game (SRPG) was Vandal Hearts for the Playstation console. I loved how the characters can move about a 3D terrain, making skill, strategy, and strength work together to win the battle an exciting challenge. After Vandal Hearts, I tried Final Fantasy Tactics. It was one deep and engaging game, one that I truly loved. Why, even my nieces played Tactics. I think they even played it twice! Ummm... I did too, actually.

So why play it again on the PSP? Well, actually I had been delaying playing this game because aside from the gorgeous animation that's new to this remake, what else is there? So I settled for Jean d' Arc. But that was over with too soon, and I was back to Tactics.

Man, this game still has it! And whereas I had relied before on leveling-up Monks, Mages, and Dragoons, I am now going for Samurais, Ninjas, and Bards. I have been playing this game for over 54 hours now and I still see a lot of satisfying gameplay ahead.

A colleague and I had been doing multiplayer melees and rendezvous battles as well and it's sweet! Works well. The cooperative mode is especially challenging with its leveled-up opponents. Final Fantasy Tactics is truly one of the best SRPG games around.

Who you gonna call?

If you know the answer to that question, then chances are you and I have similar taste in movies :-). Come September, Activision will unleash Ghostbusters for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, XBox 360, WII, Nintendo DS, and PC. There will be different game developers, depending on the platform, but the cool thing about this game is that the story was developed by two of the original Ghostbusters: Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Other characters from the original movie will also lend their voices and likenesses to the video game. The sad part, though, is that Rock Moranis did not sign-up. I have read a variety of reasons why he did not want to, so let's just stick to the fact that he did not sign up.

I wonder if Slimer will be making an appearance?

Related link: Ghostbusters: the Video Game website

WipeOut Pulse

I have been a fan of WipeOut ever since it came out on the PlayStation console. The game is simple enough: ride in one of these hovercrafts and race against time over futuristic tracks. But there's more to it than racing; on the tracks are symbols which you can use to speed up, or arm your vehicle for defense or attack. The addition of this "battle" element and randomly getting these adds to the strategy of the game. And then you have to win the races in order to unlock additional tracks.

It has a nice line of background Techno music as well. I played the PlayStation version plugged into my 5-channel surround sound system and it was a thrill ride! I played by my lonesome, as it was essentially a single-player game.

The inclusion of the WipeOut series to the PSP games arsenal is a welcome addition. Indeed, the animation is fluid, the music is cool, and the weapons are just as deadly. And, it's multiplayer! I have been coaxing my friends to install WipeOut so we can try the multiplayer mode but we have yet to test it out.

If you are a fan of racing games, WipeOut will surely be a nice title to add to your list. Heck, I am not a racing game fan at all but I enjoy playing WipeOut. It's like Podracing in Tatooine!

related link and photo credit: WipeOut Pulse official website

Jeanne d'Arc (PSP)

I have always loved playing RPG games ever since Final Fantasy VII dominated the market in the 90s during the PS1 era. I fancied these turn-based games because it has an element of strategy to it. Shortly afterwards, I was able to play Final Fantasy Tactics. It was an even more engaging game as players are able to explore a 3-dimensional world through a checkered terrain similar to chess. Worth mentioning is Vandal Hearts as well, with its beautiful animation, engaging storyline, and character development.

I thought demand for these types of games have died down. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover the game Jeanne d'Arc (that's in French), also known as Joan of Arc or Maid of Orleans to most of us. Yes, the game is based on the national heroine of France, a simple, countryside lady who, by divine intervention, led the French to many successful battles against the English. To many who are familiar with the story of Joan, she was captured by the English and burned to the stake with heresy as the crime when she was just 19.

If this were so and the game was an adaptation of her life, then the ending would have been quite predictable, right? Well... the game "borrows" the real-life Jeanne's character but the story is loosely based on historical facts. It has some twists and turns that takes a jab at history while at the same time adding elements of fantasy (such as demons and armlets with mystical powers) and magic that are intrinsic elements of the gameplay.

The best part of this strategy RPG is that it is played out on battlefields reminiscent of Vandal Hearts. You control as many as 7 characters with various jobs, depending on the weapons they are able to muster. However, unlike other RPGs where only Mages and Wizards can work magic, in this game anyone can cast spells aside from their special abilities.

I have been playing the game for quite some time now and found it truly engaging. While the level of customization is limited to equipping weapons and skills, you can mix elements together with the help of the frog character Cuisse) which results in a new, more powerful element. And I am quite sure there are hidden items throughout the game but I am doing the no-cheats and no-walkthroughs strategy with this one.

If you are a fan of strategy RPGs, Jeanne d'Arc will not disappoint. Developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable [PSP].