Bob does Vigo the Carpathian

I don't know who created this but it is amazing. ~Nate

Casual Gamer Dad, Indeed! The games I have spent the most time with in the last year.

Nate- I play games maybe 10 hours a week if I’m lucky. I have been in love with them since the days of cabinet arcade games and the Atari 2600. I have put more hours into DOOM than humanly possible. Being married to a non-gamer with a full-time job and child does not help my playing time but I wouldn't trade it for the world. So the life of a casual gamer I have. Hey at least I still get to play.

So...I buy a lot of games that I don't play. Most I usually play 5 hours and never pick up again. Don’t get me wrong, I want to play most of them for a longer period of time but the latest and greatest comes out and I move on. I am kind of OCD that way. There are only a few games I have put more than 20 hours into in the last year (2012).


Here is my quick-and-dirty list with rating.


Dragon Age 2 -It is fast paced and you get to use a team. My type of fantasy. 4 Voices


Battlefield 3 - My go to stress relief game and favorite all time FPS. I love vehicles. 5+ Voices.


Gears of War 3 - Dig the graphics and story. 4 Voices.


Halo 4 - Awesome FPS and incredible graphics. 4 Voices.


Minecraft - My son is obsessed so hence I play with him and we bond. 3 Voices.


Soul Calibur 5 - We love to battle as a family. Great graphics. 4 Voices.


Dance Central 3 - Great work-out. Great Kinect game if you like to dance. 5 Voices.


Fruit Ninja Kinect - Need High Scores!! Fun time waster. 4 Voices.


Borderlands 2 - Graphics, Humor, FPS - what more do you need. 5 Voices.
The amount of games I have owned is probably 10 times this. If you want to know why in more detail I liked one of the above games just comment below and I will respond. Most are played on the Xbox 360 a few were on the PS3.

Defending Never Gets Old with the Kingdom Rush iOS Game

Nate -  I'll admit it, I'm an app junkie. I will download all the free weekly iOS apps and usually spend a few dollars a week trying new ones (drives Mistie mad). At most I play these for 5-10 minutes and never touch them again. There has been one game that I have played more than any other (yes, even Angry Birds) and that is Kingdom Rush by Ironhide Games. 

Kingdom Rush is a wonderful tower defense game, fantasy based with great graphics and animation. The object of the game is to build towers and not let the computer controlled baddies get through the different possible paths. There are 4 types of towers; ranged (archers), magic (spell casters), artillery (guns and bombs) and melee (soldiers). You create and level up these towers with gold from killing the enemy army. Each tower has many different upgrades. Not only do you have the towers to protect your kingdom but you can control individual heroes that level up during the battle. I found myself deeply involved the moment I started playing. I have finished it once with all stars and am currently going through it again. I would say you could easily put 10-20 hours into it the first time through. This is a must get game for your iPad/ iPhone. 5 Voices.

Cider is so HOT right now but please drink cold. Angry Orchard Hard Apple Cider Review.

Nate -Let me start with the fact that I am not a beer drinker. I don't know if I drank to much cheap beer when I was younger or my palette just isn't fine enough, but I do not like drinking beer. Wait a minute though, I do love to drink. Wine, hard liquor and now quality cider. I started trying ciders when I would go to bars with friends and those bars didn't sell liquor. While there I thought...I need something that looks manly but isn't beer. So I tried pear ciders, apple ciders and even Framboise Lambic Ale (which is delicious). As I got older I stopped going to all beer bars and kept on drinking mixed drinks. Thankfully during a food tour of Spokane, WA I had the pleasure of sampling Angry Orchard's Crisp Apple. My what a treat. I fell in love. I think the sample we had was on tap and boy was it was delicious. We haven't stopped buying it since. We also had the chance to try the Apple Ginger flavor (store was out of Crisp Apple). Less sweet with a tiny kick. I highly recommend this brand if you want something other than beer and in a bottle.  
5 Voices for the Crisp Apple. 
4 Voices for the Apple Ginger.

Angry Orchard comes in three standard flavors. Traditional Dry, Crisp Apple and Apple Ginger.

Recently Angry Orchard has incorporated two flavors which they call the Cider House Collection; Iceman and Strawman. They have a much stronger taste to them with a higher percentage of alcohol. They weren't may favorite but I would definitely take it over a beer.

Spy Filled Awesomeness - Skyfall "James Bond" Movie Review

Nate - My only complaint about this movie was the patrons seeing it, talk about annoying. We almost gagged when a lady in front of us brought out a sub sandwich that smelled like it contained rotting flesh. The movie itself was incredible though. Fantastic action scenes, witty dialog and a great villain make this movie a must see. My favorite part was the last 20 minutes, let's just say it goes very old school. Also if you are a fan of the older Bond movies there are many references to those you will definitely appreciate. A perfect film to debut in the year of the 50th Anniversary of James Bond. Go see it! 5 Voices


Mistie – Clarification - I don’t think it was a sub sandwich, I’m pretty positive she purchased a hot dog but brought her own sauerkraut to put on it.  NASTY!!!  The movie was indeed fantastic – I really enjoy Daniel Craig as Bond and think he brings realism to the character (not to mention I am a sucker for lots of action).  I enjoyed having some “new” characters introduced – and hopefully this franchise will continue so we can see more of them.  Advice – go read the The Young Bond series after this movie to give yourself an additional Bond fix, and leave your sauerkraut at home!!! 4.5 Voices

 

8-Bitacular - Wreck-it-Ralph Review - 2D Experience

Note: We did not see this in 3D. We prefer good old fashion 2D.

Nate - This movie brought me back to my days of jammed quarters and joystick fever. I enjoyed pretty much everything about this movie, from the main characters down to the retro arcade game cameos. It even made me want to go home and play some MarioKart . The only thing I would of liked is more time in the other arcade worlds and less in the cutsey Sugar Rush world. My favorite part was when they were in the 8-bit Ralph world and everything was blocky, down to the cake splatter on the walls. Kids will love it and geeky parents should get that warm, gooey nostalgic feel like I did. 3.5 Voices

Mistie – First, I’d like to disagree with Nate’s “favorite part” (yes, I realize Nate SHOULD be able to choose his own).  I’m positive he laughed harder than the 5 year old sitting next to me with the word play on “Hero Duty”.  I thought the movie was good, but not quite as great as I was expecting (humor was really geared towards younger kids).  The best part was the gathering of villains for their support group – super fun to see all those bad guys together.  I felt that the Fix-It Felix Jr. character seemed to be a imitation of Jack McBrayer’s character on 30 Rock and I found that a little annoying.  I probably wouldn’t buy it on DVD, but it was a good way to spend an afternoon.  3 Voices

Worms Revolution for the PS3 Review - Wormtastic!

Mistie - *Sigh* I am a little disappointed with Worms Revolution.  Not being the greatest gamer, I tend to enjoy games that are either considered “party games” or games that I can randomly push buttons and make magical things happen.  With that being said, my disappointment isn’t with the graphics (which I think are great) or with the new weapons (I mean – who doesn’t giggle hysterically when Granny weapon is deployed), but I am super bummed that customizing worm teams is such an ORDEAL!!  Petty, I know.  But when you play against two very experienced gamers – you take your triumphs where you can.  3 Voices

Nate -  I love that they went back to 2D side scrolling and love that they updated the graphics! Love the newly added game play elements (new weapons, new environmental hazards, four new worm classes, new obstacles to get in your way), but definitely agree with Mistie on the team customization. If you play same screen deathmatch you can't create multiple teams for each player. It is very silly! I want to create my X-men team and rain destruction down on Mistie's hot celeb guy team. Oh well, I guess for now I will have to be a randomly generated team to destroy all known worms. 3.5 Voices

Mistie – As IF the X-Men could destroy my team of HOTTIES and I can’t believe Nate would give Worms 3.5 Voices.  Oh well – I guess variety makes the world go round…

Avengers Blu-Ray Review - Hulkarrific!

Nate - To begin with I loved the Avengers movie, hence our reason for buying it on Blu-ray. Typically we only buy visually stunning action or computer animated movies on disc so this was a given. The quality is amazing to say the least. The thing I was expecting a little more of was extras. There is a very short gag reel which is always disappointing to me, since I love gag reels. A few deleted scenes are added, two I wish were left in the movie because it delves deeper into the emotional conflicts the Hulk and Captain America are dealing with. A short movie titled Item 47 which is about an alien weapon left behind in the aftermath of the invasion. A commentary by Joss Whedon I have yet to listen to and some short “making of” clips. Overall I give it a 4 out of 5 voices.

On a side note you don’t need to see all the previous Marvel movies to really enjoy this one. It has a wonderful sense of humor with a stand alone story I think anyone can follow, plus the action scenes are amazing.

Mistie - Very rarely do I leave a movie theater and think, “I want to watch this again RIGHT NOW!”, but I am a sucker for a fun action movie!!  The movie itself is fantastic on blu-ray (vivid colors and great special effects), but I agree with Nate that I have high expectations of a “gag reel” and was disappointed.  Also - I REALLY wish there was an extended cut available, I mean what girl wouldn’t want more of that superhero action???  I disagree with Nate on including the deleted scenes of Captain America and the Hulk.  While those clips do provide a glimpse into some deeper character emotions, I think those are better suited for the individual  story lines and not the Avengers movie. 4 out of 5 voices also.

Nate - I see... you want more hot guy action and less character driven scenes? Typical. Not that I couldn’t of use more Black Widow or Agent Maria Hill.

360 Vodka is a taste sensation we both agree on.

So many flavors so little time.

Nate- I can’t say how much I love this vodka. Every flavor I have tried is delicious. My two favorites are Sorrento Lemon and Huckleberry. The fact that it is a sweet vodka and not dry is the selling point for me. Freeze it and it makes a perfect celebratory shot for any occasion. I find that it goes down quite smooth. 5 out of 5 voices!

Mistie - despite the fact that Nate sounds like a girl, I do have to agree with him.  360 Vodka is the BEST!!  Huckleberry mixed with lemonade is a tasty treat.  The bottles are super fun too - sugary booze tends to make the twist off caps almost impossible to open (and now I sound like a girl), but the old-school top on the 360 bottle ensures that no crusty sugar stops me from enjoying.  5 out of 5 voices!

Mistie was right, huckleberry 360 and lemonade is amazing.

360 Vodka is unique in the fact that they tout being very environmentally friendly, not only in the process of making it but in the packaging. They use recycled glass, recycled paper and even give you a credit if you return the metal flip-top lid. You can check out more of the steps 360 Vodka does to reduce their carbon footprint from their site. Now back to the important part, the flavor.

The vodka in every bottle is distilled four times then filtered five times and comes in a plethora of flavors. Glazed Donut, Red Raspberry, Buttered Popcorn, Sorrento Lemon, Bing Cherry, Mandarin Orange, Double Chocolate, Regular Cola, Georgia Peach, Huckleberry, Grape and Madagascar Vanilla. No that is right, I said Glazed Donut and Buttered Popcorn, interesting indeed. Now we have only tried 5 of these flavors but can't wait to try the rest. Give it a shot you won't be disappointed.