Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

Happy 40th birthday, video games!!!!

Definitely want to check out the 'video games as art' exhibit at the Smithsonian...  (Source)

On The Horizon: Uncharted The Board Game....

When I have free time from work and board gaming (very rare), I do enjoy playing video games as well.  And the best video games I think I have ever played are the Uncharted series on the Playstation 3 system. If you've never heard of them, just imagine the pure cinematic joy of the Indiana Jones movies combined with the cocky attitude and humour of some Bruce Campbell films and you'll get the idea.  In addition to that, the main protagonist in the series, Nathan Drake, is the most swoon-worthy pixellation ever to climb his way on to a console (yes, my name is Eric and I have a crush on a video game character).

Seriously, though, the gameplay and puzzle-solving in all the Uncharted series is unparalleled and the writing and stories are top-notch.  The games truly feel like cinematic experiences and are far better than most action flicks coming out nowadays.  So now that I've read that Bandai is releasing a board game version, I can't help but be curious.  I own the Resident Evil Deck-building Game, also from Bandai, and despite its level of chaos, it's very thematic, quite fun, and true to the video game.  I'm excited to see what they do with my favourite series.

(Thanks to BGN for the link...)

On The Horizon: Brains...

My partner was lucky enough to receive an Ipad for Christmas from our dog this past December (I know, nice dog, eh!) and I have played a few games on it recently.  One cute, little obsession-forming game which I particularly enjoy is Plants Vs. Zombies.  Zombies are attacking your neighbourhood and you need to plant crazy plants to help defend your home from attack.  It's all very silly but extremely addictive, much like many of the games from PopCap Games (I'm looking at you, Peggle...)

While, joy of joys, looks like PvZ is gonna be a board game now from the company who makes the SceneIt games.  Whether it'll be fun or not is another question but I, for one, am excited to be able to knock off my opponent's pogo stick zombie with my cactus.

Video party games replacing board games?

So I have to admit that our little group of 4 who usually play board games three times a week have found a temporary substitute. I recently purchased Boom Blox for Wii and I don't even own a Wii... I know. What's wrong with me?

Boom Blox has a game like Jenga (pulling out blocks without knocking over towers) and reverse Jenga (throwing softballs or bowling balls at towers to knock over high scoring blocks.) Fact is, it's a stupidly ridiculous amount of fun and with 4 players it's as interactive as any board game I own. I showed it to a friend on Friday and he purchased it on Saturday.



My question is: will Wii party games replace board games as a social event? Games like Rock Band already dominate at parties now and others like Mario Party and Wii Sports are a load of fun, trust me. I think (and hope) the answer is no. There's just something about rollin' dice and playing cards that can't be replaced by a video game, no matter how good. Thoughts?

Oh, and tonight, the other half wants to play Boom Blox and I wanna play the board game Stone Age. Be interesting to see which one wins out....