Last year, Disney bought the online virtual polar landscape that is Club Penguin, a virtual world where kids romp and play as penguins do.

This year, they've introduced a plush toy line that extends the virtual polar landscape into the thawed real world with the Club Penguin Series One figures, produced by Jakks Pacific and available at www.ClubPenguin.com/clubpenguinshop.  read more »

Hot Wheels has taken a computer game based on their standard toys
another step farther.  With the Hot Wheels Turbo Driver Controller,
gamers can race in an online "Race the World" event hosted at
HotWheels.com.  And with a Car-tridge loaded onto their controller (see
insert), the link to the Hot Wheels cars I grew up playing with is
complete so that the player is experiencing the race using the care
attached to their controller.  read more »

One of the problems with games like Guitar Hero for families is the "T" rating for lyrics. For Christian families or fans of Christian rock music, Digital Praise's Guitar Praise offers a family-friendly alternative for both Mac OS X and Windows.  read more »

There’s nothing quiet as enjoyable as finally getting to see a much-anticipated movie sequel; like Star Wars Episode I or Indiana Jones IV. Well, okay, so anticipated sequels don’t always work out as their creators hope. Which means that Strong Bad had better be careful because episode four of the popular Telltale Games Strong Bad Adventure series is the much-anticipated sequel Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective.  read more »

For in explicable reasons, the set-up for Pipe Mania sounds like it was cribbed directly from Super Mario Sunshine. The story begins with a spunky Italian-named plumber who faces the unenviable task of cleaning up a tropical island and he needs your help. Any resemblance to the Nintendo classic ends there.

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Sometimes you just have to pity poor Strong Bad. At the opening of the third installment of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Awesome People, his vintage Fun Machine gaming console suffers a meltdown.  read more »

In 1986 Ford Motor Company teamed up with the SoftAd group to produce The Ford Simulator. Rendered in glorious 4-color CGA graphics, this ground-breaking promotional game included a virtual showroom and gave players the opportunity to drive one of sixteen different Ford vehicles on a variety of courses. As I recall, the game could be had for the price of shipping and handling; about six bucks.  read more »

Dale and Teresa are back without pumpkins.  read more »

With Spore, game designer Will Wright promised an epic and (epoch-spanning) experience. During the game’s eight-year development cycle, regular press releases and preview articles painted Spore as the most expansive game in history. (At one point the working title was Sim Everything.)  read more »

It must be tough working as a mad scientist’s assistant. You spend your days running about the lab picking up after the scientist, completing various meaningless tasks and interacting with various strange creatures. In the end, you’re left wondering if all of your work has made any real difference in the world.  read more »