Busy Mom Reviews

I was the lucky recipient of a Nintendo Wii and I am in love.

I've been a Nintendo fan for a long, long time, but until just a few weeks ago at BlogHer? I had never played Wii, ever, and it had me at the Wii Fit hula hoop.

Now that I have my own Wii (OK, I let the kids play sometimes) I am all about Wii Sports, especially Wii tennis. Strange, since I'm not a tennis player, normally.

I can't tell you how much we've enjoyed this thing.

I know this sounds cheesy, but when we opened it and put it together and started playing, that was the first time in a long time we had done something fun as a family at home. It's hard with kids of different ages and with different schedules.

Even though the graphics aren't as "sophisticated" (a common criticism) as some other game systems, it's just a lot of fun, and you don't really need all that.

It was really easy to set up and get going right out of the box, even with our older TV (that concerned me a bit) and the kids can play by themselves.

The controller is pretty cool and we've managed not to throw it through the TV yet.

It took me a few tries to get it to connect to the Internet, but we've not used it to play online yet and we haven't used the features such as photo channel, but I'm looking forward to checking out some of the features such as this and shopping for some "old skool" NES games when I can wrestle it away from the kids.

I don't mean to "gush", but we are thrilled to have the Wii and we are really enjoying it nearly every day.

I was very sick a few weeks ago, but dragged myself up to play Wii tennis, and while the Wii didn't cure me, it did get me up off my death bed and that was the best I'd felt in a long time. It's a great way to get some exercise and I look forward to getting serious about using it that way.

Aside from the Wii Sports that it comes with, we got Endless Ocean (Rated E) and Mario Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Endless Ocean is a beautiful and relaxing underwater exploration game that places you in the role of a scuba diver exploring the Manoa Lai Sea with a guide named Catherine. You search for marine life and explore old shipwrecks or relax on the diving boat.

Since you can explore at your own pace, it's not really a game with challenges, so it's not for someone looking for high intensity competition, but there's lots of new things to check out at every turn.

Endless Ocean has Nintendo wifi play so you can explore with another diver, and we're looking forward to trying it out soon.

Mario Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a fighting game (Rated T - cartoon violence, nothing terrible), so it's for older kids.

It's a lot of fun and features Nintendo characters from all different games, there's 35 in all and some of them are hidden and must be unlocked. Each character has its own strengths and weaknesses and you learn how to use them as you fight on the different "stages".

It can be played with a single player, but it's much more fun with multiple players. It's easy to learn, the kids picked it up right away and they love it.

Mario Super Smash Bros. Brawl has Nintendo W-Fi so you can play with others who have a connection and the game.

My Nintendo treasures included some DS games: Crosswords DS and Nintendogs - Dalmations and Friends.

Crosswords DS is a great. Not only does it have crossword puzzles for all ages, there's word search and anagrams as well. It's easy to just pick up and play, I keep it in my purse to pass the time and it got a workout when I recently found myself in the emergency room not once, but twice a few weeks ago.

NintendogsDalmatian and Friends for DS (has sound) is a cute little game where you pick your puppy and care for and train him using the touch screen and mic on the DS.

There's lots of fun supplies such as clothes and toys, and, after proper training, your puppy can compete in agility trials and Frisbee competitions.

The graphics are great, it's really a cute game that we've all enjoyed and it may be hanging out in my purse with my DS, I'll never tell.

So, this is really a long, fluffy way to say how much our whole family truly LOVES Nintendo and we big, big fans.

MLB Power Pros 2008 (has sound) for Wii (also available for PS2) is a great baseball game featuring the fun animated, bobble-headed characters you know from MLB Power Pros.

Every MLB team and ballpark is represented in the game with up to date (as possible) rosters for 2008. In addition to those teams, you can even design your own dream roster or import up to 10 Miis (characters you create in Wii games)

It's got something for everyone. Casual gamers enjoy easy to use controls and can play right away, while serious baseball nuts enjoy more serious game play modes and statistics.

Some of the ten different play modes include:

* Success Mode: In Success mode, fans can participate in a story-based career of rising players in the Double-A Minor League system trying to improve their baseball skills and make an impression on baseball scouts while also having to balance various situations in their personal lives. Through a variety of amusing training and game challenges, players who complete Success mode will also be able to take their created player files into MLB Life as well, or also play as either an existing Major League Baseball® player in Dream Mode, or start as a rookie in Major League Career mode.

* MLB Life: MLB Life allows fans the possibility to simulate the exciting life and experience of being a Major League Baseball player over the course of a 20-year career. While continuing to play in games through the regular baseball season, players will also participate in a number of realistic situations such as signing contracts, purchasing houses and cars, making charitable donations, building up relationships with friends and teammates, picking up hobbies and much more.

* Season Mode: Fans can lead their favorite team to the World Series, and control all aspects of the season from signing players to running practices and playing games.

This is really a cool game, I'm amazed at how many different things you can do with it. Anyone can pick it up and start playing, but there's so much more to it if you are looking for something deeper and are really into baseball.

There's even a Nintendo DS version slated for Fall, 2008!

I received a new game, Mystery Case Files:MillionHeir for Nintendo DS.

It's an interactive story game where you seek over 1,000 hidden items, I Spy style, in order to solve the mystery of Phil T. Rich's disappearance.

As you investigate and interview possible suspects and potential heirs to his fortune, you are rewarded with items that make your search easier, and there are mini-games that break up the search story.

It's a challenging game, there are dozens of rooms to investigate and the items are cleverly hidden, it's not always easy to find something. The graphics and sound are great, and it's not hard to get up and running, it's pretty intuitive.

Mystery Case Files:MillionHeir for Nintendo DS is rated E for everyone and my kids from 1st-9th grade could play easily and enjoyed it.

Wii Music is a new game for the Nintendo Wii that lets you create music with more than 60 instruments and select from more than 50 songs to modify to your style.

It's not a competitive game and it's very simple. To play an instrument, you use the Wii remote and nunchuk controllers to mimic the real-life motions of instruments, but it does take some practice. The game begins with a long-ish lesson about how it works.

In the Jam Session mode, you select a song and one person plays the melody and the others select from harmony, bass, chords or percussion.

There's a advanced Drum Mode that uses the Wii Balance Board, but we don't have one, so I haven't tried it out yet.

There are also three mini games, Mii Maestro, Handbell Harmony and Pitch Perfect that can also be played with 1-4 players.

I think Wii Music might be best for younger kids, it can get kind of noisy and there's some flailing around involved. Older kids who've experienced games like Rock Band might not get excited about it, but you never know.

It's cute and would make a good Christmas gift for your young musician.

The suggested retail price of Wii Music is $49.99.

We Cheer is a cheerleading simulation game for the Nintendo Wii.

The idea is to simulate the demonstrated cheerleading moves on the screen with your body movements using two Wii controllers as pom poms. It has multiplayer modes and a lot of great up to date music.

The characters are a little Bratz-y looking, just FYI. You can customize them and you can also recruit new squad members, unlock new teammates, outfits, songs and more.

It's actually a good workout (there's even a workout mode) once you catch on how to do it. There's a lot of talking/instruction before play.

It's a lot of fun, my 14 year old daughter loves it and we haven't talked the boys into trying yet, but I think they'll like it, too.

We had the opportunity to try out the Monopoly Video Game for Wii EA Games and Hasbro this week.

I opened it and asked my 12 year old son to get it up and running and I'd be there in a minute and we could have some mother-son bonding time. He was playing when I got there and I asked if he was having fun and he replied, "What is this?"

Parenting fail: Monopoly not played in childhood (yet).

Anyway, with a quick tutorial on the concept, we were up and going.

Monopoly for Wii is easy to use and has some fun graphics. The little Monopoly guy ("Mr. Monopoly", I think) talks you right through everything and makes for faster game play than the traditional board game.

The traditional board is very familiar and you can even fight over who gets to be the dog, just like you did when you were a kid. This edition has a fantastic collection of Monopoly boards all in one place! There are cool new, never before seen boards that you can unlock after you fill your "passport". They have fun new themes, music, properties, playing pieces and more.

You can play with 1-4 players, and the computer fills in the other players, so you could even play alone if you wanted. However, be warned that the computer players are pretty good!

It took me a little practice to be able to spot what properties I already owned and the auction part when you want to sell something took a little concentration at first, but it is pretty straightforward, overall.

It also has several fun, interactive mini-games you can play and unlock more as you go.

There's also a fast-paced "Richest Edition" way to play in addition to traditional play and up to four players can complete a game of Monopoly in 30 minutes!

This mode includes mini-games to advance play and it makes things go quickly and players can join in the frenzy of buying and trading property. After competing at the Monopoly-themed mini-games, a roll of the dice determines how many properties you're dealt, but you must pay rent on any already owned property you receive, so there's lots of trading going on to avoid going bankrupt. This mode includes some game-leveling events, so a big lead doesn't always make a runaway winner.

It's a lot of fun, and the Monopoly Video Game for Wii would make a fun holiday gift for the game lover in your family or give it to the group for some family fun!.

OK, how fun is this?

The Active Life Outdoor Challenge by Namco will really get you up and moving.

It's a game for the Nintendo Wii with over a dozen games that use the Wii remote and the special Active Life mat. You can play by yourself or with other people and rack up the Active Points playing games such as mine cart, log jumping, river raft, trampoline and more.

The special dance dance revolution- like mat included in the game is the controller. It's designed for two people to play at one time, though it can get a little crowded and it takes a little practice to stay in the right spot, but once you get the hang of it, you're good to go.

You can start with the Free Play mode to get familiar with the games and move on to the Outdoor Adventure mode to get more games. There's also an exercise mode or workout mode where you can really work up a sweat.

The whole family loves it, there's games the 6 year old can play, too since the activities have 3 different difficulty settings.

Get off the couch and get one, you'll like it!

Pop Star Guitar by XS games is an entry into the video game guitar craze.

In this game for the Wii (it comes in a PlayStation 2 version, too), instead of a little plastic guitar, you use a sheath to go over the Wii controller that has the guitar buttons (for your fretting hand) and you attach the nunchuk to the controller for your strumming hand.

The object of the main game (there are some mini-games, too) is to complete a concert at a venue and you have to please the fans. If you do, you get money and unlock new venues. If you don't, then you get booed and the game is over. There are single player and multi-player modes.

This game has a wide variety (over 50 songs) of current music such as from the Jonas Brothers, Fall Out Boy, Miley Cyrus and Rihanna (though I'm not sure all of the songs are by the original artists).

Other fun things are that you can customize your band by changing their looks, instruments, clothing, and even their names.

Check it out!

PopStar Guitar for Wii retails for $59.99.

I have had such fun with the Nintendo DS Personal Trainer: Cooking. I love all my DS games, and the "grown-up" ones are a great addition to my collection.

It's a combination of an interactive cookbook and live cooking demonstration that shows you how to make over 245 recipes from countries all over the world. You can search for recipes by ingredients, calorie count, cooking time, difficulty and more.

Once you choose a recipe, the DS Chef takes you through every step . It'll even help you make a shopping list by tapping the ingredients with your stylus. If you don't know a certain technique, there's video to show you what to do within each recipe.

Nintendo DS Personal Trainer: Cooking can be controlled by the stylus or you can use voice commands to navigate your way through it. Just say "next" or "repeat" and it'll take you right through the recipe.

When you finish a recipe, you can put a stamp on the game calendar, to mark that you've made the dish and when you made it. Later, you can search by whether or not you've made a dish before and you can customize a recipe to your own liking.

I've enjoyed just looking around all the recipes for inspiration. I actually used mine in the grocery store when I was looking for yet something else I could do with ground beef.

Personal Trainer: Cooking retails for around $19.99 and is the first in a planned series of Personal Trainer titles from Nintendo.

Legacy Interactive games has two great games for the Nintendo DS, and they're fun for the animal lover in your family.

Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals is a great interactive game where you get to be the animal doc. We got a copy to try out and I was excited to get it since my middle child is a real animal lover.

The first thing I noticed was the fabulous graphics! The animals are beautiful. The second thing I noticed is that the vet cases are quite realistic, they don't have imaginary illnesses or injuries. My 12 year old son learned things right away when he started playing.

You can do things like stitch up a wound, give medicine or an injection depending on your patient's symptoms and clues. There's always assistance, you have co-workers, and there's some fun, too as there are several smaller games you can play with the vet's equipment.

It took a little practice to learn how to use the tools, where to touch the stylus, etc., but my kids have really enjoyed this game.

We also got to try out Pet Pals: Animal Doctor for Wii. This is another type of veterinarian simulation game. In this one, the Wii controller simulates the vet's equipment and you can treat your patients in surgery, take care of injuries and other conditions and you can even feed and play with your charges in the recovery room to help them get better quickly.

As with Zoo Vet, these cases are true to life and there's lots to be learned and there's help by your side as you play.

This one took a bit of practice with the controller, if your kids are younger (It's meant for ages 10 and above), you might want to try to figure out how to play the game yourself before you let them have a crack at it.

These are both great games for kids who love animals. I really enjoyed the real life scenarios and how my son learned a few things right off the bat. Check them out, they'd make fun Easter basket goodies!

I was so excited to get Backyard Baseball 2010 by Atari to check out because we have LOVED the Backyard Sports games for years. There's a nearly rotted copy of Backyard Soccer 1926 or something like that by our computer right now.

I'm happy to report that we've enjoyed Backyard Baseball '10, too.

The players are Major League Baseball players as children playing with other children on a back yard field. Players can pick a roster of pros including Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees and David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, Backyard Kids characters, or you can make your own characters. There are even announcers who will even announce the name of your character.

The game is easy enough to use for younger players, yet we've all enjoyed it. There are 6 games in all and the players have "moods" (great, just what I need, more moods around here) where they have good days and bad days. There are also new fields and as you progress you can unlock more players.

I think it appeals to younger gamers or those who are already fans of the Backyard series, but I will say that my older kids like it too, the Home Run Derby is a popular part of the game around here.

Get ready for baseball season with Backyard Baseball '10 for Wii ($39.99) and Nintendo DS ($29.99)!

We recently got to try out Activision’s Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits. It was a lot of fun, and the kids got a kick out of it, especially since we don't have one for the Wii.

I wondered how you'd play it on the DS Lite, but it's pretty easy. The fret board just attaches to the DS expansion port (it has an adapter for DS) and you take the pick and go at it! You can take your rock star to fame and play fan requests along the way.

The kids played at the beach and we liked the 28 songs from artists such as Coldplay, Fall Out Boy, Tenacious D, Weezer, The Strokes and more. There's several fun venues and one of the best parts is that it can be streamed for a multi player mode (also shares songs with Guitar Hero: On Tour and Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades). Translated: they could play at the same time and not fight:

I'm still working on my skills, and I may or may not play on my own, I'll never tell. But, we've all enjoyed it!

This post in conjunction with Mom Central

Like countless other people in the world, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to get some more exercise and lose some weight, not just for appearance's sake, but for my overall health. Last year, I had a lot of problems with my knees and I was hardly able to do any real exercise at all.

I'm better now, but I have a lot of catching up to do in the way of getting exercise. I hope to keep my problems from getting worse or returning, so, a few weeks ago when the good folks at Collective Bias asked me if I wanted to participate in the Your Shape Challenge along with 9 other bloggers, I was thrilled.

Your Shape featuring Jenny McCarthy. It is a new fitness game for Wii from Ubisoft. It's different from other fitness games since it uses a camera to monitor your moves and you don't have to hold a controller while you exercise. It also features a virtual Jenny McCarthy who gives you feedback and encouragement as your proceed through the exercises. I'll let her tell you more about it:

My fellow Your Shape Challengers:

• Toni from A Daily Dose of Toni. (@totally_toni)
• Kim from Crafty Mama of 4. (@craftymamaof4)
• Amy From Selfish Mom @SelfishMom)
• Beth from Plus Size Mommy (@plussizemommy)
• Claire from The Mom Claire

• Kelly from The Centsible Life (@CentsibleLife)
• Lori from Operation Fatty (@acowboyswife)
• Stephanie from Mommy Musings (@MommyMusings)
• Jodi from Multitasking Mommy @JodiGrundig

Your Shape was very easy to set up, but I had to play around a little bit to get the camera to pick up my moves properly. I had it on top of the TV at first, and through the suggestions of others, I found that it works better when it's to the side. My den is poorly lit, but once I got some adjustments made there, too, I was ready to go. The game and Virtual Jenny has no problem telling you when you need to correct your form, but it is very encouraging, and the music is great.

When you use Your Shape, you can see yourself alongside the virtual Jenny McCarthy, and not only does it help you with form, I've found it to be a real motivator to see myself right there on TV in all my glory. Yikes.

You can choose what part of your body you want to work on each day, and you can enter your goals and the workout can be tailored to your needs. The workouts are good, and boy have I ended up sore, but it is gradually getting better as I get better at it!

Along with exercise, I've been refocusing on eating right, and have really made some improvements. I've really worked on increasing my water and protein intake as well as just simply eating less. I'm proud to say that even though I've had my ups and downs during the challenge, I am now in the habit of eating much more healthily at lunch at work which was a problem for me! More on that later, though,.

I've lost just over 5 pounds, and that doesn't sound like much, but you gotta remember I'm older than some of my fellow challengers ;) but I still need to work hard. I also feel like I've lost some inches, and I look forward to my next set of measurements!

But, more importantly, Your Shape has inspired me to just do something and get back on the right track for healthful eating, which is something I've lacked for a while, and I'm glad to have fun while I'm doing it.

Stay tuned for more adventures from the Your Shape Challenge!

The challenge is sponsored by Collective Bias, Ubisoft, and Walmart. I received the game and will also receive additional incentives throughout the challenge, but my opinions are my own and will not be influenced.

Last year, when I went to the Netflix Holiday House, I was sort of jealous to find out that you could stream Netflix content through X-Box 360 and PlayStation3, since we didn't have either at the time. We did, however, have a Wii.

Good news, for Wii owners now, though! As of April 12, 2010, you can stream your Netflix content through the Nintendo Wii.

When you have a Netflix unlimited plan starting at $8.99 a month, all you have to do is insert an "instant streaming disc" (available to Netflix members at no extra charge) into a Wii console with a broadband Internet connection, then use the Wii Remote controller to wirelessly navigate and select programming.

Enjoy watching movies without waiting at the mailbox!