GAMES WEBSITE Teen Advice teenadvice.about.com They are teens, and they have questions: What to do about having a crush, dating, their friends and more, and they just might like to hear it is all OK from someone who is not their parent. This site is created for teens and to be used by teens to seek answers to all those difficult teen questions. Parents should sit down for the first time with their teen to browse this site, and then let their teen know that it is a great place to help them find answers that either the parent isn’t sure of, or they just want to keep to themselves. —DUSTIN JOLIVETTE
“VIRTUA TENNIS 4”
FAMILY APPS
($50, Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) Sega’s long-running tennis sports game gets a bit more active this year with support for PlayStation Move, Kinect and Wii Motion Plus control schemes. Featuring players from the professional tennis league and highlighting some of the most famous courts, “Virtua Tennis 4” ups the home tennis game with a new seamless first-person view built to follow player movement. RATED E FOR EVERYONE.
“ALBERT HD”
Albert HD ($1.99 for iPad and iPhone) features 14 games in one app. Children play to collect 18 different treasures. The basic idea is to spend a day with Albert and help him do such chores as catching raindrops, picking out his favorite toast or sorting his socks into pairs. This app has a unique look generated by the developer handcrafting 1,000 pieces of cardboard that were then converted to animated graphics. The games make full use of the iDevice — everything from tilting and rotating the device to speaking into the microphone.
“CANDY RUSH”
Do you remember comedienne Lucille Ball and the classic TV episode where she works in a candy factory and has to manage a constantly moving conveyor belt of chocolate candies? Welcome to the world of Candy Rush (99-cents for iPad and iPhone). Your child gets to fill orders at Katie’s Candy Shop. Paws, a very friendly cat, will be there to help. The task is to sort candy into gift boxes. The menu includes truffles, chocolate strawberries, candy canes, caramel apples and much more split into 60 game levels. The goal is to fill boxes with four of the same candy, two and two, or a special order. —PHIL PIKELNY
“CARNIVAL GAMES: MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO” ($50, XBOX 360) Carnival Games made a splash on the Wii a few years ago thanks to its fun and simple mini-games but this year the title makes its Xbox 360 Kinect premiere with more than 20 games built specifically to leverage the consoles’ unique motion-control system. RATED E FOR EVERYONE. —SHAWN SINES
columbusparent.com | April 2011 |
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