Just a quick post to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc. etc. I hope you all had a good time. GC has found a new way of re-gifting. I'll post later this week to comment on some new games I found. In the meantime, feel free to discuss among yourselves.

Labels: Christmas, games, New Year

I have to admit, there's a bit of me in both characters in this week's cartoon. While I hate having to shovel the snow and drive through it, I still get excited with each new snowfall. Must be because I grew up in Texas where heavy snowfalls are unheard of and they certainly don't stick around for weeks afterwards. The dog likes it too, but she's built for it, with two coats of fur.

Not much game talk this week. I'm trying to finish up my Christmas shopping and nothing screams "fun" at me these days. It would be easier if I had a larger budget or the best items weren't so expensive. That's life, isn't it?

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I'm experimenting with adding a forum to this website. So I'm doing a "soft opening" of it this week. Go check it out. Now I know most successful forums have something to offer to keep people coming back for more and I want you folks to let me know what it will take to keep you coming back to the Gamecreature forum. Don't be shy. I'm counting on you to help make this a success.

Labels: Christmas, forum, snow

Hey gang, just had to share with you that the Family Guy game won in the Best Cast category for the 2006 Video Game Awards. So now it's the award winning Family Guy game! Thanks for all of your support. In related news, folks that were waiting to play this game on the XBox 360, now's your chance. Just download the latest drivers and you're good to go. List of games and instructions on how to get them to run can be found at the Xbox website.

Finally, are you looking for a game to while away the hours during your vacation? Check out Winterbells at Orisinal.com. It's a delightfully simple game with beautiful music and animation. Oh, and see if you can beat my top score:

This week's cartoon covers the intricacies in the Monopoly rules system. The local paper had this big story about games families play when they get together, with a clever picture of a Scrabble board and promise of reader input and everything. Turns out that the article was about things like white elephant gift exchanges and silly things like that. The reader input was a poll asking folks to pick which among four games was their favorite (most of which were even hinted at in the article). Not that there's anything wrong with the free-form parlor games mentioned in the article. They are heavy on social interaction, which is a key ingredient in a successful game in these situations. If you have a lot of people with some vocabulary skills, Balderdash is a good game to try. Apples to Apples is another game that gets people laughing and having a good time.

I just realized that Christmas is only two weeks away and I need to get my shopping done. I may or may not be back next week!

The first day of December brought a great deal of snow to our neighborhood. I think we got nearly a foot in 12 hours. The schools were closed and the roads were so bad that I had to turn around and head back home before I had gotten more than a few miles out. And when I got back, the snow had filled in the stuff we cleared from the driveway to the point that I almost couldn't get back in. At least now I know why all of my neighbors were in such a hurry to get their Christmas decorations up. Not that I had any plans to get up on the roof, but now that it's covered with ice and snow (and likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future) it's clearly impossible now. Or at least foolhardy. Just as well, my back is still aching from shoveling all of that snow off of the driveway and the walks. But on to this week's game find.

When I first heard about this, I thought it was a joke. Certainly it is not unprecedented to make a video game based on a TV commercial (witness Kool Aid Man and The 7-up Spot) but even after watching gameplay footage of Sneak King, I still couldn't believe my eyes. The concept behind the game is that you fill the royal shoes of the Burger King (yes, that guy in the mascot costume with the perpetually grinning visage and slightly creepy gaze) as he delivers assorted Burger King products to people about to pass out from starvation. But you don't just walk up to them and hand them their value meal. Nope, you've got to take them by surprise (hence the title, Sneak King). In fact, the better you are at catching people unawares and fulfilling their gastronomical needs without them catching you ahead of time, the better your score. Imagine you're a ninja, trying to move through the shadows unseen, until at last you creep up behind your prey and... deliver a tasty croissandwich. Which, I've got to admit, is probably the way I'd prefer to be treated (if even I can't eat those products, it's the thought that counts). Sneak King is one of 3 video games being sold at Burger King Restaurants between now and December 25 for a reasonable price of $3.99 (with food purchase). Both XBox and XBox 360 versions on the game are on the same disk.

As the holidays come closer, do you have any questions about what games you're about to buy for yourself or a loved one? I'm thinking of setting up a special forum just for that topic. Let me know what's on your mind.