droolicious : family games

Games To Play With During Family Time

Lisa Estall — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:28:00 GMT

I received a sample of the Gather 'Round Restaurant Game recently to review. What you get is not a board game with pieces but cards with questions relating to mealtime. There are almost 100 games to play with while you wait for your meal at a restaurant or at home. There is a push-button light but it doesn't emit any sound. The light stops by itself at a question on each card.

Created by familyfuntime.com, this is recommended for ages 5 and up. I'm not sure how many people would want to bring a game to a restaurant but for home, it would probably be more fun for the older kids.

The price is $24.95 and sold at familyfuntime.com

You're in the Movies Extends 15 Minutes of Fame for the Whole Family

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:30:00 GMT

You're in the Movies is technically a video game -- you slide a disc into your Xbox 360 and do stuff in front of the included Xbox LIVE camera -- but when you break open the box for the family this holiday season, expect to throw traditional notions of scorekeeping and competition out the window. There's no way to lose at this one -- rather, the goal is for you and up to three other players to work your magic in front of a pretend green screen and literally see yourself in the movies.

There's some basic setup involved to make your footage look its best -- for instance, you won't want to be filmed standing in front of a green wall sporting your new green Christmas sweater -- but that's about as technically involved as You're in the Movies gets. Follow the on-screen guidelines, make sure the camera's steady, and act your part in one of a number of cheesy, over-the-top B-movie trailers exclusive to the game.

You're ranked on the performance you give, but the real fun of You're in the Movies comes when you gather everyone together after filming to preview your reels. Once you've gotten comfortable with the gameplay, you may also enjoy the "director" mode, which lets you splice together clips from various films. And, thanks to an easy sharing feature, you can immediately start showcasing your trailers via MySpace, Facebook and (as in the clip below) YouTube:

You're in the Movies is rated "E" for Everyone, and though there's some mild action involving adventure scenarios (including some prehistoric fighting footage that grade-schoolers will love), the game is as clean as Xbox 360 titles come. Kids likely won't much care for the "romance" section, however, and it's your call whether to let them play with the "horror" footage.

$69.99 from Amazon.

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Hits Stores Today for Xbox 360

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:04:00 GMT

You've never needed to be a hardcore gamer to enjoy Microsoft's Viva Piñata video-game series, and with all the fun, easy-to-grasp features packed into the game's latest edition, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, you'll be hardcore about bringing the whole family along for the experience.

Rare Ltd., the development team behind Viva Piñata, has returned for Trouble in Paradise, but this time around, it's expanded the game's features well beyond those of the original piñata garden. Here, we find Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians wiping out all the computer records behind Piñata Central, so when you take the controller, you're tasked with helping to rebuild the piñata database by sending piñatas at "full candiosity" to parties all over the world. In other words, where Viva Piñata made for a fun solo adventure, this one's loaded with all sorts of social, multiplayer-friendly features that let you rope friends, family and friendly strangers into the game.

Using Xbox LIVE, you can invite up to four players into your personal Piñata Island journey, contact other gamers to trade items and piñatas you pick up along the way, and compete in various sporting events. You can also invite friends and family into a game simply by plugging in an extra controller this time. The game also packs a ton of awesome customization features, including "Piñata Vision," which allows you to drop piñata cards -- which you make by taking printable photos of your prized piñatas during gameplay -- into the game by flashing them at your Xbox LIVE Vision Camera, as well as 32 new species of piñatas (some good, some bad) that can make their way into your personal piñata garden.

If you're not familiar with Viva Piñata, or if you're trying to introduce an especially young or green gamer to the series, the learning curve's also been lowered significantly with Trouble in Paradise. In the new "Just for Fun Mode," you can jump right into the action without any of the bad guys or piñata health problems that might befall a more advanced game, and using the new Player Guide System, you can have a veritable hand-holding through the entire game. Not to worry, though: It's such a blast overssing your piñatas that you'll become an expert by way of addiction.

Exclusively for Xbox 360 and rated "E" for everyone, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is available at major offline retailers, as well as online for $39.99 via Amazon.