Look what finally arrived yesterday!
And by finally I mean it was pre-ordered on July 20, 2010 with a late Nov release date.
Which made it perfect for Mayhem’s Xmas present.
Then I was sent notice that the release date would be late Dec.
Ok, could still make it for Xmas and if not, well, it can be a birthday present.
The nice thing about Mayhem’s January birthday is that delayed Xmas presents can easily become birthday presents.
Then I was sent a notice of the release being moved to late Jan.
Fine! So it might be a day or so late as a birthday present, still it’s fine.
Then I was sent notice of a late March release date.
Really LucasArts? Late March? Really? For something expected out 5 months earlier?
How poorly planned was this game release anyway?
But at long last the Big Brown Truck of Joy arrived with the game & within minutes the little gamers we absorbed in it.
They are actually playing together, which is unusual.
Mayhem is the gamer & he’s got a plan when it comes to new games. The plan does not involve getting his brother to go along with him. It involves no brother at all.
Once Mayhem has gone through the game once*, then Havoc is allowed to play & they go after all the goodies, easter eggs & high score things that Mayhem overlooked or ignored in his rapid quest to complete the game the first time through.
But they are playing this together. So far, it’s going well**. They have been playing for 4 hours***, with a small break for a quick meal & homework & there has only been one outright fight about Havoc not cooperating, which mostly involved Mayhem shouting “Over there Havoc, go over there” and Havoc shouting “No we need to go over here” and ended with a “FINE I’M NOT PLAYING”**** from Havoc that lasted until that scene was over, when he rejoined.
Honestly, the Wii games have done more to increase cooperation between the boys than damn near everything else we have done.
We have Wii Lego Pirates of the Caribbean on pre-order now*****. We ordered it in January with a May release date.
I’m dubious.
Let’s see if Disney Interactive has their stuff together any better than Lucas Arts does.
*Mayhem going through a game the first time can be painful to the listening audience as he gets incredibly frustrated and screams, cries and generally pitches a major fit whenever he gets stuck. But he will not give up on it. He plays through the tears & shrieks.
**You might disagree with me if you were in the house right now. But I have the bar set really low for ‘things going well’. How low? So low you would need a shovel to dig up the bar to see how low it is. “Nobody is bleeding, profusely” is the main requirement.
***Yes I just admitted to the whole internets that my kids played a video game for 4 hours. They will probably do so for the next few nights until they have cleared the levels, after which the ‘exploratory phase’ of gaming will begin & game playing will fall back to less than an hour a day. We only get new games 3-4 times a year so I really don’t give a rap how much time they spend on them the first week as long as the homework gets done. No point quoting statistics or authority recommendations to me. I know them. I just don’t care in this instance.
**** “FINE I’M NOT PLAYING” is the second most heard shout from the living room during game time. “IT’S CHEATING!!! STUPID FING IS CHEATING!!!” is the most heard game time shout.
***** Every gamer has their ‘thing’. The games they cannot wait to get their grubby little hands on. The games they buy the instant they hit the shelves. Ours are the Lego ones. Lego Harry Potter being the only exception. They boys were not into it but they haven’t read the books yet. I expect their opinion will change once they are more familiar with Harry
I’m experimenting with footnotes instead of in paragraph parenthesis (my usual method) to see if it helps the flow of the narrative any better. Once again, I am dubious. What do you think?
