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.