The Latest Indian Jones Movie and New Xbox 360 Elite
June 2, 2008
This weekend, we manage to get into town and take in the latest Indian Jones Movie. Last week, we had our 15th wedding anniversary and yesterday was Suzanne’s birthday, so ample enough reason to venture into town on the weekend.
The family thoroughly enjoyed the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie. It was certainly a high action movie from the get go. I probably enjoyed the movie the least do a significant number of the stunts being WAY over the top. Yet, I still enjoyed the movie.
Its not like everything in the first three movies was believable either, it just seemed like the stunts and action sequences in these went a step or two further. They didn’t really detract from the movie that much but I found myself thinking during the movie several times, “Come on…”.
I have always been an Indiana Jones movie fan and have enjoyed them all, though the original first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, remains my favorite. They also clearly set the stage for a possible handoff to Indiana’s son in this movie. If you even remotely like the Indiana Jones movies, you would enjoy this one.
Late last week my Xbox 360 also starting exhibiting some problems. Its not the infamous red ring of death you hear about with the Xbox 360 consoles, but instead is an issue where it thinks it is overheating and shuts down. It was pretty random as to when it occurred. Sometimes it would be on for several hours and shut down. Once, it did it after about 5 minutes.
So, while we were in town, I picked up an Xbox 360 elite system. I had been wanting to do that for a while to get the HDMI cable and larger hard disk. I got the system set up last night and got our gamertags moved over to the new machine. The first thing I noticed about the new system is how quiet it is. My original 360, well over two years old, was pretty loud with its internal fan and what not. The new one cannot even be heard when sitting in our theater seats. The new lower die size seems to be quite effective.
The kids finally broke me down too and we picked up Rock Band. They have been fans of guitar hero for a while, but have been wanting to get Rock Band so the “whole family” could play at once. Well, last night Suzanne played lead singer, Sean played drums and Savannah played guitar. Mr Papa sat in his theater seat and watched. It was kind of fun and interesting. They really got into it. Now we need to get some additional songs and maybe another guitar so we can have a lead guitar and base.
Happy Birthday Suzanne and hope you enjoy your gifts! 
New Board Games
December 27, 2007
For Christmas this year, the kids received a whole bunch of new board games. As a family that plays a lot of board games, Christmas is always a chance for us to try out some new games. This year, the kids also got some of the old favorites redone.
Amongst the new games they got this year are:
- Battlelore – This is a two person fantasy strategy war game. It is by the same author, Richard Borg, that did the Battle Cry game about the American Civil War that Sean and I really enjoy playing. This game was done after Battle Cry. The only drawback to it is that it is a two player game, so only Sean and I can play. There is a whole bunch of add-ons for the game series too. Sean and I are excited about this game, but have yet to play it.
- Monkeys on the Moon – A funny card game by the same folks who did the Nacho Incident game that we play quite frequently. Its another fairly quick, light hearted game where you try to advance various tribes of monkeys on the moon and then launch them back to Earth. It is good fun and we have played it several times already.
- Shipwrecked – We gave this game its first spin last night and have just begun to understand the intricacies of this bidding/bluffing strategy game. Games are quick, taking less than a half hour to play which can be nice at times.
- Scotland Yard – This is a detective type game where one player tries to avoid the other players and complete his mission. The other players team up against the spy guy. Games like this that add in the teaming up aspect have been well received by our family. Again, we have yet to play this new game yet, but will most likely today.
- Fact or Crap – Guess who wanted this game? Yup, it was Sean. This is a very simplistic game that you can determine how long you want to take. Clues are read from a card and players say whether the info is factual or made up. Thats all there is to it. Initially, it was fun, but for longer games, it grows repetitive quite quickly. This game will probably be relegated to parties and for times when we have a limited amount of time to play.
- Monopoly Electronic Banking Edition – A new take on an old game. The money is gone and instead players have a credit card and all money aspects are handled electronically. We play Monopoly now and then but the paper money and set up always seemed like a bit of distraction. Though we haven’t played the new game yet, we are hoping to revive and old classic.
- Spongebob Operation – Another remake of the classic Operation game that will likely be for the kids only.
- Battleship Torpedo Attack – Another remake of the classic Battleship game except that some new features, the torpedos, have been added. We have yet to try this game.
- 1 vs 100 – This is a DVD game based on the popular TV show. The kids have enjoyed watching the show and wanted the DVD game. We have a few DVD games and have mostly enjoyed them. We have yet to try this one.
So we have quite a few new board games to play with. They ought to keep us busy for quite a while, or at least until next Christmas when we replenish our stock.
The kids also received a bunch of games for the Xbox 360. These games include: Mass Effect, Crash of the Titans, Viva Pinata Party Animals, Thrillville Off the Rails, Simpsons Movie and Scene It. The family has already had a couple of extended gaming nights playing Scene It. I think we have finally found a game that Suzanne will play on the Xbox 360. And with it being a trivia game, she does quite well. Luckily, I have pulled upsets both nights thus far.
I will make more detailed posts on these games as we play them and can make detailed comments about them. Ah, the life of a board game family…
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