LEGO STAR WARS BATTLES

My kids as well as myself have had a lot of fun playing past editions of LEGO video games from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment with Star Wars themes. Up to now these video games have let you play through LEGOized recreations of scenes from the Star Wars movies and tv shows. So I was intrigued by news that a brand new LEGO video game is being released for mobile devices in 2020 that will let players go off script to create their own unique battles.

LEGO Star Wars Battles is a brand-new action strategy game designed specifically for mobile devices that blends iconic Star Wars characters, vehicles, and locations with LEGO toys in real-time, one-versus-one multiplayer battles. This video game will allow players to mix and match characters and vehicles from all eras of the Star Wars galaxy, building a deck of light side or dark side forces to battle in fast-paced, competitive matches. With intuitive touch controls, players will deploy troops and build LEGO towers on the battlefield to defend and capture territory as they attempt to destroy their opponents’ base.

Featuring content from all nine saga films, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, you will be able to collect iconic heroes and villains such as Luke Skywalker, Rey, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba Fett, and Darth Vader, along with characters such as Porgs, Stormtroopers, Battle Droids, and a variety of vehicles from AT-ATs to TIE bombers, and even the Millennium Falcon while building an army to compete against others online. As players progress and level up, different arenas will be unlocked based on familiar Star Wars locales, including Scarif, Naboo, Hoth, Endor, Geonosis, and more. This will be a strategic game involving both deck building and territory conquest as important aspects of winning competitive matches while also incorporating the comedic elements that LEGO video games have become known for.

This dad blogger thinks the game sounds like it will be lots of fun! My son and daughter are drooling at the chance to play this game. Now that my kids have their own iPads it looks like they'll be looking to take down their goof ole dad in some family matches playing LEGO Star Wars Battles.

LEGO Star Wars Battles is coming in 2020 to the App Store and Google Play and will be available to download for FREE with in-app purchases. I'll be downloading LEGO Star Wars Battles to my iPad for sure! The head to head competitive nature of this game should be a blast! If you are as interested as my family is about this upcoming game, tune in to these social media channels for updates leading up to the release of LEGO Star Wars Battles:

Facebook: Facebook.com/LEGOStarWarsGame 

Twitter: Twitter.com/LSWGame (@LSWGAME) 

Instagram: Instagram.com/LEGOStarWarsGame

TRANSFORMERS: EARTH WARS

There is a new game available for iOS and Android devices featuring the TRANSFORMERS and I have to say its imagery takes me back to the 1980 toys and cartoons of my youth featuring these characters that transform between warrior robots and various types of vehicles.  Over the last 30 years there have been various updates and redesigns of the TRANSFORMERS in their Hasbro toy line, comic book series, movies and television shows; so I was wowed how in this app they resemble the original TRANSFORMERS of my childhood giving this real-time combat strategy game for mobile devices a cool retro vibe.  It even features the voices of the original Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and Megatron (Frank Welker) from the 1980s cartoon that first made the Transformers a pop culture hit. While TRANSFORMERS: EARTH WARS may be filled with iconic characters and classic imagery from the Transfomers Universe it also is full of the newest generation of features desired in video games for mobile devices, such as vibrant 3D animations, which makes it great to play for both kids and kids-at-heart.



Published by Backflip Studios (DragonVale, SpellFall, Paper Toss) and developed by Space Ape Games (Rival Kingdoms, Samurai Siege), TRANSFORMERS: EARTH WARS has players must choose to fight with Optimus Prime and the Autobots or Megatron and the Decepticons in a battle to decide the fate of planet Earth. Once allegiance has been sworn, gamers assemble a powerful team of playable characters, raid enemy bases for Energon stockpiles, and construct the Space Bridge to add reinforcements from Cybertron, all while playing in real-time against other players around the globe. The game is available now for FREE download on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and on Google Play for Android devices. There are in-app purchases within the game that allow players to speed up getting through the stages of the game or to enhance the characters to improve the game play experience for people who are into going beyond free-mode in apps like this.

THE ADVENTURES OF PAN

** A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free to review**

This week during bedtime instead of doing the normal story book reading routine with my 7 year old twins, we've been exploring a wonderful app called THE ADVENTURES OF PAN.  This app aimed for young readers between 6 and 8 years old allows children to participate in the telling of a magical tale through reading, engaging with interactive aspects on the screen and playing mini-games which help captivate the attention and imagination of young readers.  It is a whimsical story with wonderful graphics that has been a delight to read and my kids have looked forward to reading a new chapter every night.  Because there can be a dramatic difference in the advancement of literary skills from child-to-child in this age range, parents can choose to have their kids read along with the displayed text as a narrator tells the story or mute the sound to focus specifically on reading.  I really liked how each word of the story's text is highlighted as a narrator pronounces it.

THE ADVENTURES OF PAN follows the adventures of a panda named Pandora, who goes by the nickname Pan.  When Pan discovers she's not the orphan that the grandfather who has been raising her led her to believe, the fearless but reckless purple panda leaves her village to search for the parents she has never known.  As this trek begins, Pan befriends Chase, a warrior bunny, and Locke, an inventive fox who loves to create gadgets, who join the panda on her quest.  The trio of friends learn through a series of misadventures that Pan's parents are just missing but were captured trying to stop an ancient evil.  Now Pan, Chase and Locke must save the day while a band of obsessed ninja cats are constantly on their tails trying to stop them.

Pan's Story Trailer from Hullabalu on Vimeo.


Since its debut on iPad, THE ADVENTURES OF PAN has been releasing a new chapter, referred to as books, on iTunes every few months continuing the adventure.  It has been featured as both Apple's Editors Choice and Best New Kids App providing THE ADVENTURES OF PAN with some nice accolades. On May 26, 2016, app developer Hullabalu released Book 7: Han Awakening which will conclude Pan's saga.  Also beginning on May 26th, the app will also be available to use on iPhone in addition to iPads. So now app users can access Pan's entire adventure from either an iPhone or iPad.  Sorry Android users THE ADVENTURES OF PAN is currently an iTunes exclusive.

A nice way the app enhances the story is by sprinkling games and interactive features throughout each chapter of the saga.  For example in Book 1: The Fearless Beribolt, there is a boomerang training game in which users throw various items to try and dissolve as many clouds as they can before a timer runs down to zero.  My daughter really adored this mini game.  All together there are more than 100 fully-interactive cinematic scenes that children can manipulate to trigger a variety of special effects.

Another nice aspect of the app is how the artwork brilliantly pops off the screen at you.  This is due in part to all of the art being hand-drawn and painted. In fact everything involving the construction of the app including scripting, storyboarding, character design, voiceovers and engineering is done in-house by the Hullabalu crew.

From a parent's perspective, I appreciated that THE ADVENTURES OF PAN is very user-friendly when it comes to children being able to scroll through its story and use its interactive features.  Kids can tilt and touch their way through each of the seven books in the app at their own pace which was the intent of Hullabalu when designing the layout for THE ADVENTURES OF PAN.  Plus as the father of both a son and daughter, I liked how the story features a gender-balanced cast to encourage it being equally of interest to both boys and girls.

THE ADVENTURES OF PAN is a fun, cute, age-appropriate story that is great for enticing children to read but is also nice if you are just looking to entertain your children and want to let them view it as a cartoon.  I always appreciate quality apps that contain a combination of educational and entertaining elements that my kids will both enjoy and learn from so THE ADVENTURES OF PAN gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval.

Video Game Utilizes Football To Teach People On Being Financially Savvy

Reading the Sunday morning newspaper this last weekend I noticed that stories about people being ripped off because they weren't very financial savvy or literate and that analyzed how competitive the Detroit Lions may be in this upcoming football season dominated the headlines.  With the new school year in Michigan officially starting today and the Lions battling the San Diego Chargers in their first game of the season this week, it seemed like a good time to highlight a fun video game that utilizes a football theme to teach people on being financially savvy. Financial Football which was created in partnership between the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, Visa's Practical Money Skill's for Life program, and the NFL  lets children, teens, and adults test their money management skills by answering questions that allow you to move down the field and score touchdowns when you make the correct choices.

Available to play online via your personal computer or laptop for FREE, Financial Football puts players fiscal knowledge to the test in an online simulation game environment by combining the structure and rules of the NFL with financial education questions of varying difficulty. Visa has also released the game as a FREE iPhone app on iTunes, along with an optimized HD iPad version.  The game can be played in single player mode or against a friend in head-to-head action. It really is a fast-paced, fun game that can be challenging for all ages.

To start the game you can pick its length ranging from 5 minutes to 20 minutes plus select which NFL team you want to play as.  Difficulty settings are also available with Rookie (Ages 11 -14), Pro (Ages 14-18) and Hall of Fame (18+) to choose from.  Players are than able to select defensive and offensive plays with difficulty levels of easy, medium and hard which are followed up with questions about financial literacy and money management that correspond to the selected play's difficulty.

If  you get a question right you than your team is successful with their play, but if you get the question wrong than your QB will get sacked, your running back hit for a loss, or a wide receiver drops the ball.  The harder the successfully completed question the better your players do so an easy question might get you one or two yards, a medium question 5 yards and a hard question could get you ten yards or maybe even a break away touchdown.

This game takes a topic that can be boring and mundane for many kids and adults and adds some excitement to it that will help ingrain important tips and information into people's heads as their competitive instincts get them involved with this game.  As a parent, I'm always keeping an eye out for opportunities that combine entertainment and education to assist getting kids to embrace learning.  Financial Football is a great way to catch children and teens' interest and help them become financially savvy.

For more information about the FINANCIAL FOOTBALL video game, CLICK HERE.

Topps promotes digital Star Wars trading cards with new ios app

For those folks who would enjoy the fun of collecting Star Wars themed trading cards without the hassle of having them pile up around the house, Topps recently introduced STAR WARS: CARD TRADER on the Apple App Store for iPhones, iPads, and Ipod touch which it bills as the "official Star Wars trading card app."  Star Wars: Card Trader provides the opportunity to collect digital reproductions of the physical Topps card board collectibles that have been produced for the upcoming The Force Awakens movie as well as those previously distributed from the original and prequel Star Wars films.  There will also be cards featuring characters, scenes and vehicles from the animated television shows Star Wars: Rebels and Clone Wars. This Star Wars effort ties into fan enthusiasm for the December film premiere of Episode VII and follows the company's success with a similar app for baseball cards for iOS devices BUNT: The MLB Digital Baseball Card Trading Game.

Star Wars: Card Trader can be downloaded for free.  One free pack of trading cards can also be opened every day once the app is downloaded.  For those who want to build larger collections credits can be purchased ranging from .99 cents for 3,000 credits to $100 for 900,000 credits.  What you can purchase with credits in the "Cantina" will vary from a basic pack of trading cards to unique exclusives.  Plus collections can be built by trading cards with other app users from across the country and around the world with a feature called "Trading Like a Jawa."

 “In the same way that digital media is transforming reading books, listening to music and watching television, Card Trader is revolutionizing Star Wars collecting,” said Michael Bramlage, VicePresident of Digital at Topps in a press release to A Geek Daddy blog. “Your favorite characters, vehicles and locations from the Star Wars universe can be collected and traded on your iOS device, from anywhere at any time.”

Here are a few of the features of the app #Topps promoted in its press release launching Star Wars: Card Trader:

 The First Cards From Star Wars: The Force Awakens: BB-8, Poe Dameron, Kylo Ren, Rey and other recently announced new characters from Star Wars:The Force Awakens are here! Go to the Cantina and blast open packs to try to find these exciting new cards, all released in vintage-inspired “Star Wars‘ 77” blue and red border designs.

Trading Like A Jawa: The Star Wars: Card Trader app is like a 24/7 Star Wars card convention that you can take with you anywhere you go. Meet real people, make friends, complete trades and build your collection with confidence using features like 9-for-9 trading and Trader Ratings to highlight your trading partner’s trustworthiness.

Classic Re-Releases: Only Topps brings you over 30 years of official-licensed Star Wars trading cards in new, high-definition digital format, from the vintage era to today.Haven’t collected cards in a while? Check out Topps’ state-of-the-art Parallax and Motion cards, innovations that could never have existed in cardboard!

The App Store description notes that there will be more than 1,000 officially-licensed Star Wars digital cards featured with some including futuristic special effects and enhancements.  CLICK HERE to download Star Wars: Card Trader.

This seems like a nice app to have some fun and goof around with, especially for casual collectors. I'd recommend if you are having your kids play with it that you make sure your parental control features are turned on and in-app purchases turned off though.  You'll probably want to stick with physical trading cards though if you are looking to pick up movie mementos, a long term collectible, or want some items you can use as potential financial investments. 

So while this app obviously isn't for the serious collector it does bring back trading cards to the attention of today's kids who are more interested in flipping through their tablets and smart phones than grabbing a piece of gum and some trading cards from a grocery or toy store checkout lane.  From a nostalgic perspective, as a kid myself that had shoe boxes full of Topps' Star Wars and baseball trading cards, it is nice to see the tradition of children and teens collecting trading cards for fun continue into future generations through the products changing with the times.  Most young people aren't collecting these things to try and make a profit off them someday and this digital app caters to those fans.

Make Art with the Pups from PAW Patrol

Coloring and doodling are one of my kids favorite activities so they were thrilled when Nickelodeon rolled out a new creative drawing and artwork app featuring characters from a show they adore called PAW Patrol.  Available for $3.99 on ios devices (iPad, iPhone, iTouch) the PAW Patrol Draw & Play app allows kids to use their imaginations in making some PAWsome creations that can feature their favorite rescue pups - Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Skye, and the newest pup to join the show Everest, plus the boy who serves as their leader, the tech-savvy Ryder.

PAW Patrol Draw & Play lets children select a background with themes from the show and they can place stickers of the characters and their rescue vehicles on the create their own creative scenes.  What is nice about these stickers is that they are animated and include sound effects to enhance your child's play with the app.  Additional special effects that can be used for creating Paw Patrol themed illustrations or just monkeying around creating your own drawings include magic wands where the lines you create have special properties (green turns into blowing leaves/ black transforms into flying bats / grey has sparkling stars / red has leaping hearts / orange has twirling fruit), bouncing balls that rebound around the frame of your picture and can be controlled by tilting your device in the direction you want the objects to fly, and surprise blocks that if you tap on them they show a special animation of one of the pups in action.

This app expands beyond just the PAW Patrol theme too...if your child wants to be creative and design their own unique master piece it provides plenty of tools for them too.  Chalk, crayon, highlighter, charcoal, pencil, spray paint, and paint brush are all options to allow children to express their imagination.  A nice touch is that you can utilize your device's camera to add your own photos into creations for extra personal touches.  Saving artwork is no problem either with the ability to either save to "My Gallery" section within the app or send the image to your device's Camera Roll where it can than be text, messaged, or e-mailed to where ever or who ever you'd like it to go.

PAW Patrol Draw & Play gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval because it allows children to explore their imagination not just through its connection to these popular rescue pups but also via the creative art tool elements of the app which are good enough that they could be a stand alone product. The list of drawing tools that range from charcoal to magic wand to spray can all work really well and are very impressive.  My kids spent a bunch of time both playing out their own PAW Patrol episode scripts with the show themed backgrounds and stickers as well as making artistic creations that had absolutely no connection to the Nickelodeon series.  What is nice about this app is it really isn't a mindless game where kids are running through a course, shooting at things, or gathering objects but rather an opportunity to stretch an important muscle, their brain, as they think out scenes to display featuring the pups (note scenes they create are two dimensional and while they have animated special effects don't contain video or dialogue story telling sequences) or design drawings, paintings and illustrations for grandma and grandpa to display on their fridge.  PAW Patrol Draw & Play is well-suited for preschool through first graders and can occupy hours of a child's time making it perfect for a rain day or a long road trip in the car.

Some of the key features to be aware of:

• Easy to use interface with 8 different brushes for drawing and painting;

• 22 Animated Stickers;

• Splatter Tops, Magic Wands, and Surprise Blocks to create amazing effects in your pictures;

• eCards to customize and send to friends and family;

• Picture ideas to help jump-start your child's imagination;

• Animated Tutorials;

• Airplay;

• Parental Controls.

PAW Patrol stars a pack of heroic rescue pups.  Together they work hard to show the people of Adventure Bay that "no job is too big, no pup is too small!"  In partnership with Spin Master Entertainment, the series features a curriculum that focuses on citizenship, social skills and problem-solving.  PAW Patrol is the number-one preschool series on Nickelodeon and airs weekdays at 12 p.m. (ET/PT).

DISCLAIMER:  I received this app complimentary from the developer to review but did not receive any financial compensation for this post.  The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

This may be the Droid you are looking for

I'd have to describe our family as walking on the Apple side of life as my wife and I both have iPhones and iPads, most of our songs and movies are downloaded off of iTunes, and my kids' favorite games and educational tools are from the App Store.  That being said, I still like to stay up to date on the functions and features provided by competing brands.  So I appreciated that the folks at Verizon loaned me the new Motorola DROID TURBO smart phone and provided access to their 4G LTE wireless network over the holiday week between Christmas and New Years to see how androids compare.  I have to say we had a pretty positive experience and if you are in shopping mode for a new phone this may be the droid you are looking for.

The Motorola Droid Turbo has a great big screen which is especially great if you enjoy watching video, playing games or just appreciate your type and images being bigger and easier to see; yet the phone really isn't that bulky so it doesn't feel like you are carting around a tablet with you.  For an HD display though I wasn't that impressed by its graphic capabilities when it came to the touch screen applications or surfing the net, but the screen images when you turned on the 21-megapixal camera where very impressive and made me go wow! - especially when I held up my iPhone5S and compared the capabilities next to one another.  Just don't try to take quick shots with the Droid Turbo as it has a second or so lag time for the camera to adjust to give a good crisp HD image.

We used the smart phone to call my brother up who lives on the other side of the country from us in Seattle so my kids could say thank you for their Christmas presents he had mailed to them and I could catch up with what he has been up to lately.  The sound quality using the Motorola DROID TURBO and Verizon's 4G LTE wireless network was exceptional...it sounded as if my brother was sitting right next to us when we were talking to him with no static or lag time although he was more than 2,000 miles away from us during our conversation.  You can tell from seeing the phone in my 6 year old daughter's hand that it has a big frame yet it really isn't bulky or heavy to hold and it is impressive how much of the front of the phone is covered by the screen rather than casing.  If you have kids who are rough with your gadgets or if you  may be clumsy like myself, you may also want to take note of the protective elements they have incorporated into this smart phone.  Motorola has added Metallized Glass Fiber to add strength to the phone's body and also reinforced it with DuPont Kevlar fiber for increased durability.  A water-repellent nanocoating has also been added to protect against spills or getting caught out in the rain although that still won't protect the phone if it were to be say dunked in a toilet or dropped in a lake.  Still a little protection from every day mishaps is better than no protection.  Another nice protective touch added to the Droid Turbo is scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 3 which guards the 5.2 inch Quad HD display on this smart phone.  With all these features you may be able to avoid having to add a bulky protective case to safeguard this phone and who doesn't hate adding those on to their phones?!

A few other features I appreciated and wanted to point out.  The Droid Turbo has great battery life and I only had to recharge it twice during a week of use.  It has a nifty feature that is really convenient called turbo charging which will give your phone 8 hours of power within 15 minutes of plugging it into an electrical outlet.  It can be torturing when you are in a hurry and need your phone charged and that bar just doesn't move....with this device bing bam boom you are powered up and ready to get back into the world. Another "turbo" feature of this smart  phone is its 2.7 GHz quad core processor which allows for switching between functions with no lag time as I pleasantly was able to quickly flip between my Google calendar, a phone call, my e-mail and the web during a work conversation without any freezes, hitches or hiccups as I multi-tasked through the applications. Awesome! I often find myself having to search my calendar, look for an email, or research something quickly on the web when I'm on the phone so I need a device that has the processing power to let me run multiple features at once and the Droid Turbo absolutely met that criteria for me.

I don't know if it is from familiarity or convenience, but ios still seems a more comfortable fit for me when it comes to an operating system.  There are little nuances with android that just irk me so for the time being I'm sticking with my iPhone; but if Apple keeps issuing ios updates that tend to throw off my enjoyment and the ease of use of their products than I may one day be looking for a droid myself.  If that time comes, I'd have no qualms about picking myself up a Motorola Droid Turbo after my recent test run with the product. 

Disclaimer:  the opinions and views expressed in the post are my own.  A Geek Daddy Blog did not receive any financial compensation from Motorola or Verizon for this post.  I was provided the use of a Motorola Droid Turbo and access to the Verizon wireless network at no charge for three weeks to test and review the phone and Verizon's service.  I am currently a customer for my own personal wireless service with another provider.

Run to the Rescue with the Dogs of PAW PATROL in new Mobile App

The "hot thing" that has had my 5 year old twins attention the last few weeks has been the dogs of Nickelodeon's animated television show PAW PATROL.  So it was perfect timing for Nickelodeon's recent introduction of a new ios mobile app game based on the characters from the show.  In the RESCUE RUN! app which can be played on ipod touchs, ipads and iphones, kids can team up with the various PAW PATROL puppies for a variety of missions that require each pup to use its skills to overcome obstacles and help save their hometown of Adventure Bay.  This game uses a side-scrolling platform that is easy to play through and its fun is not as much the challenges presented but rather the opportunity for the kids to participate in their own PAW PATROL adventure and interact with their favorite characters.  It is really aimed for preschool/kindergarten aged children and older kids will most likely find the game somewhat basic and boring.  If your child is at an age where they are currently enjoying the PAW PATROL characters though this can be a fun treat for them.  My son and daughter have really enjoyed playing the game the last few days since I've downloaded it.

While some people may criticize the game for its brevity, I've appreciated that is has several short defined missions so that my children can play it for awhile and than they are done...there isn't the tug to be constantly playing on the ipad with this game because they can have some fun with it and than they are done.  I also appreciated, as I have multiple kids who want to play the game, that you can set up individualized player setting for up to four children so they can all have their own accounts on the game...nice!  Another nice feature is that this game aimed for younger children has basic controls that promote hand eye coordination but aren't very difficult to master.  Players ALWAYS complete the rescue run without losing a life, if the pup hits an obstacle the dog backs up and lets the child try to get around it again.  The challenge for the kids is not avoiding dying but rather to get better and better scores each time they play through the rescue run course.  In addition to the rescue run side-scrolling courses to run through there are also first-person view missions where the player works with a pup to solve a sorting task.  For completing missions and tasks the pups and their preschool players are awarded digital Adventure Bay badge awards to provide an acknowledgement of achievement for successfully completing their assignments which is a great way to encourage children to want to complete all of the aspects of the game.

While the game is somewhat limited with only 3 rescue missions to choose from, children can replay levels to earn all the various Adventure Bay badges, it works will with having your children play it for short stints.  My kids play it and than are done and don't argue that they want to keep going and going and going when I tell them it is time to stop.  I don't mind my kids enjoying video games for short stints but I also want them doing other things like playing outside or being creative and imaginative doing activities like coloring or drawing.  PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN is a great game to pull out to amuse your child if you are going on a long drive, it is a rainy blah day, or you are stuck in a waiting room with them for something like a doctor's appointment.

In addition to be entertaining and amusing there are also some educational aspects to it as well:

Classification & Sorting - Some of the tasks involve comparing similar objects and sort them by size and type (for example thick versus thin).

Visual Discrimination & Matching - Find items and match them to a list of missing objects.

Science & Recycling - Categorize items as either recyclable or trash.

Counting/Enumeration - Identify objects according to the number of objects in a set.

As I mentioned before my children have really enjoyed playing this game, primarily for two reasons.  First, they have enjoyed interacting with the characters from the PAW PATROL television show and being able to control the pups through the game's adventures.  Secondly, they have been really competitive to see who can get the highest "dog biscuit" scores in the rescue runs and achieve the most Adventure Bay badges first.  The two things I appreciate the most about the game is that there isn't any risky or questionable content to worry about exposing my children to during the game play and there are no advertisements or efforts to have you buy things through in-app purchases to "enhance the experience".  Of course with no ads in the game or in-app purchase revenue that also creates an upfront cost to the game for parents when it comes to downloading RESCUE RUN.  The app is priced at $6.99 for the High Definition version and $3.99 for Standard Definition on iTunes.

If you have children who are into PAW PATROL right now I'd recommend this app but if your children have moved past that stage you should pass on this app based upon the limited missions, repetitive actions and basic elements of this app.  This is a very nice game for preschoolers and if that is where you and your children are at in life right now than you should absolutely consider downloading PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN. 

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary download of PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN from Nickelodeon for this review.  The Paw Patrol toys pictured above were purchased with my own money way before I ever heard about this app and my children are big fans of the television show.

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New Star Wars Video Game Pinball Tables Launched in Time for May the Fourth

Zen Studios has launched four new Star Wars video game pinball tables just in time for Star Wars Day (May the Fourth).  The four new tables themes are Han Solo, Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars Pinball: Droids, and Masters of the Force.  The tables can be purchased individually or combined as a pack called "Heroes Within" that provides all 4 games bundled together for the price of 3.  Star Wars Pinball can be played on Play Station 4, Play Station 3 and PS Vita, Xbox 360, Steam, IOS, Google Play, Kindle tablets and Fire TV, and the Mac App Store.

The new HAN SOLO table looks to be my favorite of the new pinball tables.  The Star Wars' Cantina  Band sets the stage for this game providing the theme music for what looks to be a fun game with highlights that include a wookiee rage multi-ball sequence and shooting down tie-fighter pinballs.  Zen Studios has done a nice job of incorporating 3D visual effects and video game style action while maintaining a traditional pinball theme to their Star Wars tables.

The Episode IV: A New Hope table does a nice job of bringing the feel of the real life Star Wars pinball table to a video game.  It expands on the original pinball machine with 3D images that provide mini skits of scenes from the movie.  The game also features a fun bonus sequence games where your pinball is trapped in the Death Star garbage disposal and you need to hunt down the monster that lurks within or make the Death Star trench run in an X-wing fighter.  Special effects that include the Death Star laser shooting at you and Ben Kenobi swiping at pinballs with his lightsaber make this game superb!

If you are a fan of R2D2 & C3PO you'll enjoy the new DROIDS table which also has an interesting jawa theme going on:

The final game has more of a Clone Wars/Prequel Movie vibe to it compared to original Star Wars movie feel of the three others, but if you are into those aspects of the franchise and like Yoda & Darth Vader check out MASTERS OF THE FORCE:

I've downloaded Zen Studios Star Wars pinball games to my iPad & iPhone and find them "impressive, most impressive"  (to quote Darth Vader).  The one gripe I have about Zen Studios and their pinball games, ,and you should be aware of it if you juggle apps between an iPad & iPhone like I do, is that the tables aren't compatible between the two apps.  So if you have an iPad you can't use the pinball tables you buy on it for your iPhone, similarly if you download a table onto your iPhone you can't use it on your iPad.  So if you want all your tables playable on both your iPad and iPhone you need to buy them separately for each device.  That is really annoying and I find Zen Studios is being just a little greedy dipping into consumers pockets with that move.

For more information visit:  starwarspinball.com

Disney Movies Float to the Cloud

Along with today's digital release of the movie FROZEN, a month before it is available to purchase for DVD, Walt Disney Studies also debuted a new cloud-based movie viewing service called Disney Movies Anywhere. Disney Movies Anywhere will allow people to watch Disney, Pixar, and Marvel Studios movies on an Internet browser, Apple TV (through iCloud or Airplay) or via a free app for their iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.  Disney's 400-plus active library of digital movies will be available to users who will still need to pay for each movie but won't need to store it on DVDs or on their own hard drives anymore.  Purchased movies will be available for online streaming from the Cloud 24/7.  Cloud storage means that the data files for the movies will be stored on centralized computer services and transmitted to your computer or IOS device through the Internet upon your requesting to view them.

 

Consumers who have previously purchased a Disney movie through iTunes or redeemed a digital copy from the codes that have been included with DVD and Blu-ray products since 2008 will be able to have those transferred to this new service.  Disney Movies Anywhere users can connect their iTunes and Disney Movie Rewards accounts to transfer their past purchases to this new service.  New purchases made via the Disney Movies Anywhere website or app will also automatically be connected to a user's iTunes account for accessibility and will receive Disney Movie Rewards points for their digital purchases.

For a limited time, iTunes users who register their accounts with Disney Movies Anywhere will also get a free digital copy of the Disney-Pixar movie THE INCREDIBLES.  A nice free bonus for synchronizing your accounts.

For more information, visit:  disneymoviesanywhere.com

LEGO and STAR WARS combine for fun starfighter game

A new game app for mobile devices was launched this week titled LEGOS: Star Wars Micro Star Fighters.   It is a vertical scrolling shooter game that lets the player pretend they are flying one of six vehicles from the Star Wars universe.  You blast your way through hostile terrain destroying enemies and collecting LEGO studs.  I bought the game for .99 cents and found it to be a fun distraction but it really isn't a lengthy detailed game with only 18 levels simulating  visits to just four planets from the Star Wars movies:  Geonosis (Episode II), Yavin (Episode IV), Hoth (Episode V) and Endor (Episode VI). I didn't notice any in-app purchase options in the game which I appreciated (HATE THOSE) but you can upgrade your ships or open other bonus features by collecting LEGO blocks and studs through game play.  Once you've collected enough LEGO blocks you can also open DARK SIDE campaigns that provide additional scenarios & game play.

The game play reminds me of the old school shooter 1941 and combining that layout with the Star Wars story makes the game somewhat nostalgic with a cool retro vibe.  The graphics on the game are simplistic yet very well done without the LEGO theme overwhelming or distracting the playing experience.  What really impressed me was the soundtrack...the music sounds great and made me feel like I was sitting in a movie theater listening to the Star Wars score.  The controls are very EASY making it great for kids to be able to play or for adults to pull out on their iphone during a lunch break.  You simply control the ship you are flying with your finger moving it around the screen...simple as that.  If you are looking for an indepth game experience this will probably be too short and dull for you, but if you are looking for a game you can play for just a few minutes at a time on an iphone or ipad I believe you'll really enjoy this.  Hey for .99 cents I felt it was a pretty darn good game....and hopefully they will add some free updates with new levels and vehicles down the road.

Check out this trailer to see the gameplay:

CLICK HERE to buy LEGO STAR WARS MICROFIGHTERS.  Sorry I don't know if it is available for android though you'd think all things Star Wars would be also accessible for Droids.

DC COMICS HAS DOUBLE SUCCESS WITH ITS VIDEO GAME & COMIC BOOK DYNAMIC DUO

My college years were filled with a lot of late evenings tackling my buddies in exhausting bouts of combat as we all strove to be the campus champion in Mortal Kombat.  This game had cutting edge graphics and features for the time and was a great way to release some of our scholarly anxieties and just have some youthful rambunctious fun.  I've wondered over the years why video game publishers have never made an exhilarating combat game that allows players to bash comic book super heroes and villains  against one another.  Well the waiting ended this year when the creators of Mortal Kombat took its game engine updated with today's graphics and processing technology to produce INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US.

INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US pits the DC Comics super heroes of "our universe" against their personalities from an alternate dimension on  Xbox and PlayStation consoles.  The game play is fun and full of special effects and feature moves that keeps the games interesting.  It's a brawling good time for fans of Superman, Batman and the like.  The weakness of the games is an odd ball plot and lacking script for the game's "story" but that is overcome by the sheer fun of the game's one-on-one battle sequences.

Don't fret though because DC has addressed the limitations of the game's script with an incredible new comic
book series with the same name as the video game but with its own stand alone in-depth story.   Often times these type of tie-in comics are just meant for marketing purposes and don't have a lot of effort put into them making them not worth a glance, but I have to say DC has embraced this effort and made this an extraordinary piece of work.  I was riveted to the pages while reading it and enthralled by the storyline of this comic book series.  The comic has decent artwork but it is the story that draws your interest and hooks you.  This was one of the best comic book reads I've had in a few years and highly recommend it whether or not you are interested in the video game.

While of course the story has super hero battles it also has a philosophical undertone exploring the balancing
act of giving up "freedom" to gain "security" that combined with good character plots and scripting makes this title a winner.  The comic book series revolves around how an injustice is done to Superman and how superheroes based upon that act as "gods" among mankind in response.  There really are some hard hitting sequences in this comic that go a lot darker than the "Smallville" type portrayal of the DC universe that many people associate with its super heroes.

The story starts with the Joker tricking Superman into killing his pregnant wife, Lois Lane as well as their unborn child, with his bare hands and in the process also causing a nuclear explosion that decimates his adopted home of Metropolis killings it entire population of 11 million people.  This pushes Superman to his breaking point.  He pledges to stop all violence in the world.  Instead of protecting humanity from threats so they have the freedom of self determination, the Man of Steel determines that he well  decide the rules by which mankind conducts itself and behaves.  This places Superman at odds with Batman who doesn't believe that super heroes should be acting like "gods among us" in determining how much freedom or control the people of Earth should have over their own behavior.

 The plot of INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US really places Superman who has been know for upholding "truth, justice, and the American way" into a grey area between good guy and bad guy which is highlighted in one scene where he tries to put down a citizen protest and is yelled down being told "you think you can come here and hover above us all with a scowl and some special powers and tell us what to do?"  This dynamic really makes the story an entertaining read that I couldn't put down.  So far I haven't figured out if the comic book story is taking place in an "alternate reality" like the video game and is explaining how the Superman Regime from the game began or is supposed to be taking place in the "main stream" DC universe.  While there are similarities between some things in the game script and the comic book story there are also lots of differences too. DC Comics does call the series a prequel to the video game though which has to make you think maybe this is the alternate reality setup.  I guess I'll have to just keep reading to find out.

Missed the monthly serial issues of the comic? Don't worry you can catch up with the first 5 issues all bundled together as a hardcover edition.  INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US - VOLUME 1 went on sale August 13, 2013.  Check it out!

Also if you are interested in the game console video game and/or the comic book there also is a great iPad game that I've downloaded and been playing quite a bit lately...it's become my favorite game beating out Angry Birds: Star Wars for my attention...and its FREE.  I just beat a number of challenges to add General Zod to my online cast of characters.  You can download the game from the iTunes store.

Kudos to DC Comics for making their INJUSTICE video game and comic book a great dynamic duo!

DISCLAIMER:  I was provided a complimentary digital advance readers edition pdf of INJUSTICE GODS AMONG US-VOLUME 1 from the publisher.  I was not compensated for this review and the thoughts and opinions in this post are my own.