My seven year old got Cooking Mama for her birthday and we've all been playing that and have been doing cook-offs to see who can make the best dish.  While I have years of cooking experience, it doesn't make any difference in this title.  It was quite humbling to see that they could make better sandwiches than me.  Not to mention my failing at making rice.  I have since mastered sandwich (and rice) making but I have to actively play and practice to keep up with their scores.  Even though this experience has been humbling, it has been a great influence on my kids as they have been taking a greater interest in cooking and have started helping with mundane tasks like peeling and chopping carrots and potatoes (with supervision!).  This is a wonderful way to bond and teach kids how to cook.  Even if it involves getting whooped in Cooking Mama.     

We have owned several Nintendo products going back to the NES.  Our house currently has 3 3DS', a DS Lite, A GBA, GBA SP, Gameboy, SNES, N64 and our latest acquisition, a Wii U deluxe.  While we didn't pre-order it, we did get it within a couple of weeks of its release.  We paid the full $350 price and I'm a little miffed to read they Nintendo is now offering a Zombi U edition of the console that includes the deluxe console with a pro controller, Zombie U, collector's book, and a digital download of Nintendo Land.  The retail price is set at $389.  An additional game and controller for $40? I want in on that deal.  I'm disappointed that  early adopters are getting the shaft here.  The ambassador program for the 3DS was a nice gesture after lowering the price of the unit.  What will Nintendo do to appease their upset fans now?  I think this will be the last time I buy a product of theirs on launch.  

Source

I've been running Linux in one form or another on my systems since 2001 when Red Hat 7.1 came out. Since then, I have leaned towards Debian based distributions like Ubuntu or Mint. Linux is best known for being a free operating system alternative, especially for server environments, and a core component of Android. Now that Windows and Mac operating systems can be had for under $50 for desktop use, what does Linux bring to the table? A few examples are stability, flexibility, and open source alternatives to various office and multimedia suites. Gaming has never been its strong point. Humble Bundles have been great for Linux users since most of the games offered are multiplatform and have Linux installers. Many Linux versions have made their debut on the Humble Bundles. Even bigger news is that a beta version of Steam is now available. CrossOver, and its open source version Wine, has been making significant progress in improving Windows emulation. This allows popular Windows applications and games to run on Linux including Skyrim, Source Engine games (Left for Dead, Team Fortress 2, Portal), and Guild Wars 2. I thought I'd give it a go and see how Linux can play games in my Humble Bundle and Steam library, as well as check out Crossover since it was free for a day around Election Day.  For Christmas I received a 2TB hard drive and that freed up a 500GB drive. I erased and installed a fresh copy of Linux Mint 14 KDE edition onto it. The install was painless and I now dual boot between Linux and Windows 8. Getting my ATI 7870 fully supported took some package manipulation, but it's now fully recognized when running commands like glxinfo and glxgears. Unfortunately, my results vary and I run into bugs regularly. Nvidia based cards have better Linux driver support, so I can only assume I would have had better results with an Nvidia graphics card.  Installing Steam wasn't so bad, though it had quite a few dependencies to download onto my vanilla Linux install. I will say this: Steam is still definitely beta and has some stability issues. It's slow and unresponsive at times. The friends list seems to work, but there is often a delay when chatting, so I often switched to using an IM client like kopete instead. I found that using Steam on CrossOver seemed to be much more reliable. I'm sure Valve will fix it; we just need to be patient. My games list is quite diminished compared to my Windows list. This is to be expected, since currently the number of Linux ported games is at only forty one in all of Steam. I have seven games to work with, and out of those only three worked out of the box. (Serious Sam 3 BFE, Cogs, and Uplink). After installing some of the broken games using my Humble Bundle installers, I was able to get And Yet It Moves and Space Chem working in Steam. For some reason, Steam doesn't seem to be checking or installing all of the necessary dependencies. VVVVV wouldn't run in Steam (missing executable error) but it did run via the Humble Bundle Installer. Bit.trip Runner didn't appear on my Steam list, but I was able to get it to play, though it managed to crash in twenty minutes or less, every time. Looking at the developer's Website, my Creative sound card may be to blame. Your mileage may vary. It's not all bad news though. Serious Sam 3 impressed me the most, given it's system requirements and how smoothly it ran in Linux. The only kink I had to iron out was disabling my video card's HDMI audio as my primary sound device. After that, it worked like a charm. I bought this game knowing it would have Linux support; had I known the objectionable content, I may have passed on the 75% off sale. Every swear word imaginable is used including the F-bomb. There is a lot of gore and violent acts, as well as sexual innuendos and lewd conversations. I was looking forward to playing Team Fortress 2 natively, but it wouldn't work. Fortunately CrossOver allowed me to play it by mimicking Steam in Windows for me. Since I saw Guild Wars 2 as a supported game for the latest version of CrossOver, I thought I'd give it a whirl. I tried installing it using my DVDs but it kept erroring out at 84%. I eventually switched to using the Windows downloadable exe file and I copied over my files from my Windows hard drive to save time. Success! I was able to log in and play my character....at 12 frames per second. While it's progress, it's certainly not playable. Ultimately I'll be sticking with Windows for my gaming needs in the near future. Linux is definitely getting a much needed shot in the arm by having the support of Valve and the Humble Bundles. We've been patient so far, but the wait is not over yet. It will be worth it though. 

While I didn't buy my Vita on launch week, I still paid full price for it a month or so after it's release.  I thoroughly enjoyed titles like Rayman Origins and Lumines: Electronic Symphony but have been disappointed in the lackluster choice of games available for the unit.   As awesome as the hardware is, without good software, the system is doomed.  As an owner of a hacked PSP, I was hoping that the Vita would broken from it's tight leash.  Sony has been persistent in removing every exploited game from their store and releasing system updates to close each loophole.  

Last week was an exciting week since there was a leaked kernel exploit that allows the system to play PSP ISO games.  Shortly after the leak, a major contributor stepped down for good. However, another known hacker has stepped up and made a public release of the custom emulator/firmware for the Vita.  The exploited PSP mini game has been removed from the store, but now is a good time to watch and see what other games are vulnerable to opening up this system against Sony's wishes.  

So with these possibilities comes great responsibility.  I for one own every game that I play. I realize that I am in the minority here.  If people continue to pirate games without giving what's due to the developers, the system is doomed.  If you have a curious mind and want to see what the Vita can really do, now is a good time to pick up a system (and some games and accessories for it!) and join the underground community.  

source: http://wololo.net/

My husband and I traded in our DS Lites and got a black and a blue 3DS on launch week.  For the most part we've been happy with our purchase.  Yeah, I would like to see better titles out but I've enjoyed Ridge Racer and most recently, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.  I'll admit that I've played mostly DS games on it than 3DS titles.  We appreciate the Ambassador games offered to compensate for paying full price. That was a nice selection of games.   I personally love the 3D camera and swap note is great for sharing Bible verses and encouragement among friends.  

So with all of these good features we didn't hesitate on purchasing one for our soon to be 8 year old daughter.  It was on sale for $100 less than what we paid for it and several family members pitched in for it.  No regrets right?  Wrong!

Just this week two videos irk me as a parent.  Even with parental control enabled my kids can watch a video of the song "The Fighter" which contains phrases like "Give them hell", "Imma d**n sure" and "Kiss my a**".  The video muted a** but the rest of the language was left intact.  These are not phrases I want my 8 year old repeating back to me.  

The other video that upsets me is the 3D version of Zamarat.  This video has a hairless green woman wearing a metal bikini with nipple covers and a metal G-string.  

Both of these videos are considered to be suitable for kids under 12.  My kids and I have watched many of the movies together and I find the mini 3D documentaries fascinating. My kids love the video game based movies, especially the Kirby one.  It's a bummer that I'll have to screen the movies from here on out.  Perhaps I'll have to remove the icon from the system altogether.  It's a shame if such drastic measures will have to be taken.  Nintendo, if you're reading this...please look over the videos before stamping them safe for kids of all ages.  Adding a rating summary would be helpful as well.

Sometimes we make things harder on ourselves than they have to be.  This is true in gaming as well.  I buy many of my games used and they often don't include the instruction manuals with them.  (Yes I do read them if provided).  I also tend to avoid reading FAQs unless I'm stuck. I'm more than halfway through Kingdom Hearts and I JUST started to equip the abilities on my party.  One of my blunders that I still beat myself up over is that I beat Super Princess Peach without using the healing ability.  Apparently when I tried to use it I was at full health and never could get it to work so I just never bothered with it.  It made the game a little bit harder but it was still fun.     

So those are a couple of my stupid gaming moments.  Feel free to share yours to help me feel better!  

There have been a lot of Kickstarter funded games getting heaps of publicity lately.  Have you backed any of them?  I like the concept provided that the good are delivered.  My husband and I backed the Shadow Run and Double Fine adventure games.  We passed on the Leisure Suit Larry and Ron Paul projects.  Have you backed a project?  If so, which ones?

Having beaten Skyrim and not thinking too highly of Benny Hin, I found this youtube video absolutely hilarious.  

I thought to myself, that would be an awesome avatar.  So I downloaded the movie using http://keepvid.com/

I then added text to the movie using Windows Movie Maker.  

After the text was in place, I converted it to a gif using this free program: http://evanolds.com/movtogif.html

And now I have this:

Lately I've been playing with SwapNote and it's been fun sending notes back and forth between my husband and members of this site.  As fun as this system is, it can be abused by sending crude drawings or recordings containing profanity.  On the flip side, this can be a great way to share the gospel and uplift believers as well as sharing a verse or two with complete strangers.  I struggle with memorizing scripture but actually taking the time to jot it down helps rather than just reading it alone.   If you'd like to be a member of our 3DS Bible study post your friend code and let us know! 

I recently beat a game that had a questionable but unique love story.  I'm going to try and be vague so I don't give away spoilers in the game I'm talking about here.  The main characters in this title are two teenagers that are adopted siblings.  As the story progresses, they grow closer and are comfortable in each other's presence even in mixed gender bath houses. While they never begin a romantic relationship, they are encouraged to do so by many other characters in the game.  I'm all for a good love story but I found this one a bit awkward.  Perhaps my convictions stem from this verse in the Bible:

Leviticus 18:9 says Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

What do you think?  Do you find this relationship natural or awkward?  Granted genetically there no foreseeable issues here but I still find it going against God's law.  

I have been running ChristCenteredGamer.com/CCGR.org for over ten years.  In that time we have had our fair share of scoffers and trolls who don’t understand the purpose of this site.  It is not our place to tell people what to play or not to play, but rather to inform them of what is in a game so they can make an educated purchasing decision.  Last night I was having a blast playing the casual RTS game Fate of the Pharaoh.  Given the title I was expecting references to the Egyptian culture and gods.  Not surprisingly, I did discover references to Ra the sun god and was able to earn achievements for beating his times in each level.   No big deal, I don’t mind a bit of a challenge.  While I was playing through the levels, I saw some of my villagers worshiping their idols.  I had no control over it and wasn’t asked to participate, so I continued to play on.    When I reached level fourteen, the tables turned.  Instead of gathering materials and gold for my villagers, I had to gather these resources and give them as an offering to the goddess Maat to progress to the next level.  This is where I have stopped playing the game.  Why?  Because I feel it breaks the first and second commandments.

Exd 20:2 I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.   4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:  5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God…

 Will every Christian feel the same way?  Probably not.  However, those that will agree with me will be thankful for saving themselves $7 for this game.  For all of the non-Christians that visit this site, here’s a question for you:  Would you be equally upset playing a game not labeled as a Christian game but require you to acknowledge and worship Jesus to continue?  I bet the developers of that game would get a few complaints.  I understand that it’s not real and it’s just pixels and 1’s and 0’s etc, but so is pornography if you want to use that excuse.  If you get busted by your spouse for looking at indecent pictures I bet the 1’s and 0’s argument won’t work out too well. 

Digital or real, I don’t feel comfortable breaking the commandments of my Lord.  I refuse to play any game that forces me to pay homage to a god other than my own.  I hope you can better understand what we’re about and where I’m coming from.

In Him,

Here's what I'm playing currently:

PC: Almost done checking out all of the classes in Dungeon Defenders.  I have a youtube video if you want to see what the game play looks like.    I'm half way through the adventure game Tales From The Dragon Mountain: The Strix, it's kind of a dud, avoid it.  I have Skyrim on pre-order, can't wait!

Wii: EA Active 2 I picked this up for $20 it's great so far, I feel half robot with the glowing accessories that monitor my heartbeat and movements.  It's giving me a good workout and after I'm done with the 9 week challenge, expect a review!

PSP: Worms Battle Islands

3DS: Currently collecting dust, waiting for Mario 3D to arrive.

I never owned one of these consoles but it was truly ahead of time and died a premature death at only 18 months on the market. It sported many innovations present in modern day consoles including multiplayer gaming, a web browser and portable hand held support.  The 480p resolution was impressive back then too.   Many of the popular Dreamcast game series are still popular today including Unreal Tournament, Phantasy Star Online, Resident Evil, Soul Calibur, Quake and Dead or Alive.  At last many of the games have lived on, I wonder what console will go extinct next?

I have over 35 hours into Dragon Warrior VII and I'm still on the first disc.  I think I will have to sink 100 hours into this game before I finish it.  It's really a shame since this great game is riddled with swearing, quite a difference from the Nintendo versions I have been playing until this point.  I'm not exaggerating that every time I load up this game I encounter a swear of some sort.  da*n, bas*ard, son of a......, and hell is thrown around pretty casually too.  "Get the hell out of here" etc.  The Nintendo versions may have had 1 or 2 da*n in it max.  :\ 

This is not a get rich quick scheme but many people have made good money mining bitcoins.  What is a bitcoin you ask?  Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer currency. Peer-to-peer means that no central authority issues new money or tracks transactions. These tasks are managed collectively by the network.  New coins are generated by a network node each time it finds the solution to a difficult mathematical problem.  There will be a maximum of 21,000,000 generated bitcoins and because of this limit, bitcoins are divisible to 8 decimal places.  In other words you can send fractions of bitcoins to people.  Like many currencies the value fluctuates.  As of this blog entry its between $13 and $14 USD.

As of July 2011, there are just over 6.8 million bitcoins in existence.  New coins are slowly "mined" into existence by running a program that searches tirelessly for a solution to a very difficult math problem. When a solution is found, the user may tell everyone of the existence of this new found solution, along with other information, packaged together in what is called a "block".  Blocks contain 50 bitcoins at present. This amount is an incentive for people to perform the computation work required for block generation. Roughly every 4 years, the number of bitcoins that can be "mined" in a block reduces by 50%.  In other words, while the bounty is still 50 bitcoins, hop on this gravy train!

You have two options when it comes to mining for bitcoins.  If you have a good video card, you can try going solo and crunch numbers for weeks or months for a big payout. Or, if you prefer a steady payout, you can join a mining pool and equally share the bounty for your share of work put into it.  If you have a slower video card, a mining pool will be the only way you can stand a chance at finding the blocks before someone else does.

The better the hardware, the better the hash rates you'll get.  ATI is taking the crown here.  Here's how my systems fare at my house.

I'm a sucker for bargain bin games and try to avoid paying full retail price when possible.  There are many great games to be found in the used game sections of GameStop and the prices of many classics are $20 or less.

For my birthday I got a used PSP 3001 for $50 and the came with Fifa 2009 and a UMD movie Treasure Hunter 2.  I had to buy an AC adapter for it.  So $65 out the door with a game and a movie isn't bad.

Since I don't play sports games I traded in Fifa 2009 and took advantage of GameStop's recent buy 2 get one free sale and picked up.  Jeanne De'arc, Final Fantasy: Crisis Core and Patapon.  All of these out the door was less than $15.  We went back the next day and picked up Parappa the Rapper for $6 and Lumines 2 for $5.  My last purchase was Half Minute Hero for $10 out the door after using a 20% off coupon I got for my birthday.

We also got two free games from the PSN Welcome back pack (Kill Zone and Little Big Planet)

The Nvidia Kal-El quad core powered tablets are looking pretty promising..I wonder how much they will cost! Check out this video where they demonstrate the difference between a dual and a quad core tablet.

It's been ages since I played Lucas Arts' Tie Fighter.  NaCLBox is a DOS box that runs right in your Google Chrome browser and does not require you to install any plugins.  All you have to do is enable the Native Client by typing about:flags in your address bar.  Once you do that you can play demos of The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Sam and Max Hit the Road, Duke Nukem 1 & 2 (I don't remember the content in those!) and more.

Nintendo has threatened to brick 3DS devices that have been modified by hardware or software. To protest, Defective by Design will be sending bricks with a note to the chairman of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aime. What do you think about this?  Does Nintendo have a right to render devices we purchase as useless?  Last time I checked, 3DS's are still selling for $250.   Once we buy the device isn't it ours to do as we please? Is it wrong for me to put a sticker on my DS? Can I change the casing if it cracks or scratches?  We have replaced the scratched screen on our DS Lite, we have cleaned the broken trigger buttons in an attempt to repair them.  If the repairs fail it's our own fault, I don't blame Nintendo.   I can understand this tinkering voids the warranty.  If the system broke while it was under warranty I would have send it back to them to fix. I understand that people modify the hardware beyond standard maintenance. Perhaps for these individuals their system should be blocked from the Nintendo network so they don't interfere with "vanilla" systems.  I think bricking the device by rendering it useless is going too far. Here's an quote from the Terms of service (chapter 3).  I think they mean business:

"You understand that the Nintendo 3DS System specifications and the Nintendo 3DS Service are constantly evolving and that we may update or change the Nintendo 3DS System or the Nintendo 3DS Service in whole or in part, without notice to you. Such updates may be required for you to play new Nintendo 3DS games, enjoy new features, or continue to access the Nintendo 3DS Service. After the Nintendo 3DS menu is updated, any existing or future unauthorized technical modification of the hardware or software of your Nintendo 3DS System, or the use of an unauthorized device in connection with your system, will render the system permanently unplayable."

What about software modifications?   That's awfully vague.  Chances are the DS Cart system I'm using is violating the terms of service.  The kicker is that I am not using it to pirate games.  I use it so I have all my games with me and don't have to worry about losing them.  Have you seen how small these DS cartridges are?  Again I don't agree with hacking the system to ruin the game play for other people.  I think Xbox has taken the proper approach to block non standard systems from the network.

Has Nintendo gone too far?