Originally published at Welcome to the Monkey House. Please leave any comments there.

I use to be one of those guys that didn’t play video games. Oh sure, I’d play a game once in awhile on the PC. I’ve always been a fan of the old Lucas Arts adventure games; the Monkey Island games, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacles, Full Throttle, etc.  Maybe a couple times a year I’d fire up Civilization II.

My level of video game playing began to change a couple of Christmases ago when i got a Nintendo DS. There are a lot of fun games for the DS and I might have found a device for the DS that allowed one to play all the games as ROMS that were loaded on memory card. This device might have allowed one to play any DS game they wanted. That’s what I’ve heard at least.  I mostly played the DS in bed, a lot of Soduko puzzles as I tried to slip off to the land of Nod.

Even with the DS, I’d still say my video game playing was very casual.  At the end of last year we picked up a Nintendo Wii. It was fun, but the novelty of the Wii wore off quickly, within a month. Once again, it was a very casual experience.

Then back in March i picked up an Xbox 360. This is where everything began to change. I initially bought the 360 as a way to stream video and audio to the new HDTV we had recently picked up. I didn’t count on doing much gaming, but I figured the system’s ability to play games was a bonus, even if I didn’t use it much.

Wow, was I wrong this thing is great! I’ve had a lot of fun playing games. I have been surprised by the variety of games and the overall Xbox and Xbox Live experience. In the Xbox 360 there is the ability to download games, professional and amateur, and to watch streaming video, including Netflix, I have to say that Microsoft has really done something right with the Xbox 360

If you are on the Xbox 360, friend me. I’m Jasonwert there, as I am most places.

    I've been playing Brain Age 2 on the DS lately. I'm not too sure what I think of this game yet. So far, I don't think I like it as much as the first Brain Age.
    For those of you who don't know the game, you've probably seen the commecials. They are selling the games as a way for older people to train their tired minds and make them young and spry again. You play little games to help train your brain. Most of them require you to complete a task and then you are judged by the time it took to complete, with the player being penalized for errors. The main goal of the game is to test your Brain Age. They judge your brain and assigning it an age to represent what sort of shape it is in. For some reason the game finds that the optimal age of a brain is 20. I've talked about this in a past entry.
    I don't like as many of the mini games in Brain Age 2. The entire game seems to be made of mini-games that are only just slight tweaks on the themes of the first. One game I like shows the player a pile of American money on a counter and a price on a cash register readout. The play then has to make change as quickly as they can.
    Another aspect of the game I don't like is that there seems to be no improvement over it's voice recognition. One game is based off of rock, paper, scissors. As an example, they show a rock and under it, they will say "You win" or "You lose". The player is suppose to then say "paper" if it's the first or "Scissors" if it's the second. So it's a slight twist on the normal game. Anyway, no matter how fucking hard I try, it can not understand my pronunciation of "Scissors"! It's not like I'm a mush mouth or have a thick accent. It also has no problem with the way I say "rock" or "paper". It drives me nuts, and the first game was plagued by these same problems. You can check the internet to see that I'm not the only one it has trouble understanding. Luckily the game will ask you if you are in an area where you are free to talk. By answering No, you are able to skip any voice recognition games.
    I would say the best part of the game to be, is that it also includes hundreds of Sudoku puzzles. That's where I've spent most of my time. Another cool thing is that it also has a hidden Dr. Mario game clone! you remember Dr. Mario? It was like Tetris but with pills. Both of these games are played separate from the Brain Training and Brain Age score.
    I guess because of the value, being almost three games in one, I would recommend this game to someone, especially if you like the first Brain Age or have a tired ass brain.

Make your own Atari game label @ http://www.labelmaker2600.com/

This weekend I was over at my brothers house and got to try out "Guitar Hero II". That game kicks ass. That evening I heard the Cheap Trick song "Surrender" in my sleep.
I wanted to play more "Guitar Hero II", but I don't have an Xbox 360 or a Playstation 2, nor did I want to pay out all that money for basically one game. Fortunately there was an alternative. It's called "Frets on Fire".
"Frets on Fire" is a open source and free clone of "Guitar Hero". It's playable in Windows, Linux, and Mac. The game comes with a few generic songs, but the real trick is to "find" the songs from Guitar Hero I & II. I've got all of them and now I am rocking hardcore!
Kris loves the game and she put on a rockin' version of Lynard Skynard's "Freebird" last night. She's really good.
Right now we are playing with the keyboard, but apparently you can use the Xbox 360's guitar controller with "Frets on Fire"; the Xbox 360's controllers are USB and work with Windows. Kris is going out today to try and find a guitar controller.

It sure has been a lazy Sunday for me. I have hardly done a thing all day.  I took out the garbage and that's been about it. Other than that, I've had the wood stove going while I've laid around and played " "Animal Crossing: Wild World" on the DS. This game has become my addiction.

In other news, I have to make sure I have all my classes ready to go for the next semester. I know I'm taking Physics and probably Business Law. We'll see if I take anything else. I'm looking forward to classes again, especially because I'm getting so close to my degree. I'm around 20-25 credits to go.

I think I'm going to go make dinner, this way I'll feel like I did SOMETHING today. Also tonight is a new "Simpsons", so I need to be done by then!

"Hey everybody!"  
"Hello, Dr. Nick!"

It's been awhile and it's not as if I have done anything productive with myself these past few weeks. To be honest, I have been obsessed with my brand new, black Nintendo DS Lite! The Nintendo DS Lite is an amazing little game system.
This is the first console game system I've owned since I possessed half of a Sega Genesis back in 1991 or so. As a rule, I'm not a gamer. When I do play games, it is usually PC games, such as Civilization, Caesar III, or classic Lucas Arts games.
This has all changed with the DS. The games seem to be so fun and innovative. I wasn't sure how I would like the touch screen/stylus, but many of the game developers have used the touch screen to create original ways for the player to interact with the game. An example of this is Nintendogs, where the player uses the stylus to scratch and pet their dog to increase happiness.
These are the games I have been playing the most:

1. New Super Mario Brothers
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World
3. Mario Kart DS
4. Brain Age

If anyone else owns a DS and has games they enjoy or would like to play online, I'd love to hear from you.
Anyway, Happy New Years to everyone. I hope you all have a great 2007.

This is the object of my Christmas desires, the Nintendo DS Lite.

http://www.mcvideogame.com/index.html

I found this link to a cool game. The website sums it up like this:

 "Making money in a corporation like McDonald's is not simple at all. Behind every sandwich there is a complex process you must learn to manage: from the creation of pastures to the slaughter, from the restaurant management to the branding. You'll discover all the dirty secrets that made us one of the biggest company of the world."

It is actually a really fun game to play. I realize the point I'm suppose to come away with from this game is that big business, McDonald's in particular, are horrible and evil at all levels of their corporation. I have problems with views like that. I don't think any organization is pure evil or pure good. Everything is shades of gray.
Regardless of the game maker's agenda, this is still a very addictive game. Give it a shot, it's totally free.