EMPIRE OF THE ANTS VIDEO GAME

Entomologists, zoologists who study insects, as well as those of us who are fans of Disney's "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" movies are sure to be geeked about an upcoming video game coming to PC, PlayStation and Xbox later this year. Video game publisher Microids is creating a 3D strategy game based upon author Bernard Werber's popular Empire of the Ants novel. In Werber's science fiction fantasy, ants are the heroes of the story while humans are the pesty antagonists. The upcoming video game will allow players to explore a vast photo-realistic world inspired by Bernard Werber's book viewed from an ant's perspective. 

Microids just released a trailer of its work in progress for Empire of the Ants. The video game looks amazing! Check out the Microids Empire of the Ants trailer:

In the Empire of the Ants video game, use every move to your advantage on the path to world domination. Strategy, exploration, conflict, and alliances with local wildlife species will be essential for your colony’s survival. Stand out elements of the game include:

• Take part in an epic adventure - Take the role of a brave ant through a third person view and explore unique abilities that can help you in battle and exploration. 
•  A 3D real-time strategy game with progressive difficulty - The game offers an intuitive experience with tutorials for newcomers to learn RTS fundamentals, while providing scalable difficulty and advanced mechanics for veteran players. 
•  Explore vast environments and meet the local wildlife - Empire of the Ants will invite players to sink their teeth into a photorealistic forest where they will meet and interact with other ants and forest dwellers throughout their journey. 
•  Immersive and photo-realistic - Unreal Engine 5 pushes the boundaries of photorealism - just look at the plants and wildlife! 
•  Narrative based on the seasons - The game features a narrative that follows the rhythm of the seasons and affects wildlife attributes such as speed, resistance, buffs, and more. 
•  Day and night environments - The maps in the game will also change depending on the time of day (day, night, dawn, and twilight).

For more updates on the video games release, visit microids.com

One of my favorite scenes in the Empire of the Ants video game trailer was watching the appearance of the Praying Mantis. They are one of my favorite insects. I'm always geeked when catching a glimpse of them hunting around our backyard landscape and pool.

If you want to get a close up look at insects like praying mantis, ants, butterflies, and lady bugs in real life check out insectlore.com. They have kits where you can order insect eggs or larva and watch them hatch. My kids loved it when we watched caterpillars that arrived in an Insect Lore kit create cocoons them emerge as butterflies. Read our Insect Lore review here. You can find Insect Lore kits on Amazon.com. 

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INSECT LORE LIVE BUTTERFLY KITS

Get an up close look at the metamorphosis of a butterfly with kits from INSECT LORE that let you observe the transformation of crawly caterpillars into flying winged insects.  These live butterfly kits are an educational and entertaining family activity that let you conveniently raise these creatures in your home then set them free in the backyard to help pollinate plants throughout your neighborhood. The Painted Lady butterflies that the caterpillars transform into have a habitat that ranges across North America so they don't become an invasive species problem and in fact setting them free helps keep your local environment healthy.

My kids really enjoyed our INSECT LORE live butterfly kit experience.  Plus have to admit my wife and I were fascinated at watching these amazing creatures too.  It is always a nice sight to see a butterfly fluttering around our yard so the whole family was intrigued about getting a glimpse into the lifecycle of butterflies.  We had a good time with the Butterfly Garden Gift Set that INSECT LORE provided us to try out and as a parent I appreciated that it provided a learning opportunity through an exciting, fun activity that a family can appreciate together.

The INSECT LORE Butterfly Garden Gift Set comes with everything you need to make it simple and convenient to witness this miracle of life.  Place your order and it is delivered in a box straight to your door.  Inside it you'll find 5 LIVE caterpillars secured in a sealed cup that is filled with a gelatin like substance that provides the insects with all the nutrients they need to survive through this stage of their life.  There is also a chrysalis rack for the caterpillars to hang from while they are altering themselves into butterflies as well as a 12 inch tall by 6 inch wide habitat to contain the insects once they have wings.

Accessories to help feed the butterflies once they've emerged from their chrysalis rack are also included in the set. Kids will also appreciate that the INSECT LORE Butterfly Garden Gift Set comes with some seed packets for growing flowers in your yard that attract butterflies, a sheet of glossy 3D butterfly stickers, and a wind-up flying butterfly toy.  Oh yeah .... and there is a direction book as well to help guide your through the transformation process and provide information about caring for your butterflies.

My kids rushed home from school everyday to check out the caterpillars watching them over two weeks as they grew from little hardly moving specks to these big bugs moving all over the place. After 7 to 10 days the caterpillars all move to the lid at the top of the cup, hang down from it, and encase their bodies in a hard shells called chrysalides.

Once all the caterpillars are within chrysalides, gently remove the lid from the cup and place it within an included stand called the Chrysalis Station. Next set up your butterfly habitat and place the Chrysalis Station within it.  Then you need to wait another week or two for your butterflies to arrive.

Within 7 - 10 days, you'll find he caterpillars are gone and Painted Lady Butterflies will begin emerging from the Chrysalis Station.  The butterflies' have gray and blue coloring on their exterior which is visible when the wings are folded up for walking around and their interior colors are orange, black and white which can be seen when the insects are flying. Wow! if you didn't know about the metamorphosis it would be hard to imagine that these caterpillars and butterflies were the same insect.  That makes seeing this process through the INSECT LORE live butterfly kits very special as this is an amazing process to witness.

Once the butterflies are born they involve a bit more care than the caterpillars did.  The caterpillars just ate the gel in their container and were good to go.  With the butterflies you need to sprinkle some sugar water onto either the included sponge feeder or add some fresh flowers at the bottom of the habitat and wet them with the mixture.  It is also recommended to place some sliced fruit like apples and bananas on the floor of the habitat to feed your butterflies as well.

After spending a few days watching your butterflies within the habitat provided by INSECT LORE, it is time to let them go.  Pick a sunny day when the temperature is above 55 degrees within a week of the butterflies emerging from the Chrysalis Station to let them fly away outside.  Once free they'll help pollinate flowers in your neighborhood.

Just unzip the top of the habitat and shake it around a bit.  The butterflies will make their way out on their own.  Some of ours flew away very quickly once they took flight, but a few others lingered about even landing on our hands providing some really intimate moments with the butterflies before they also eventually flew away.

We had a wonderful time observing our butterfly kit from INSECT LORE. It earned A Geek Daddy nod of approval for its ease of use, the insight it provides into educational topics like biology, chemistry and ecology, and because my kids thought it was awesome to get such a close up view into the life of bugs.  I'd encourage you to visit insectlore.com to find out more about their live insect kits because my family was highly satisfied in our experience  with our Butterfly Garden Gift Set.  They have a variety of live butterfly kits to choose from as well as packages that feature other types of insects including Ladybugs and Praying Mantis.