Game review: Christmasville

Christmasville is another hidden object game on Big Fish Games. The game plays a lot like Paparazzi, except you aren't using a camera. Santa Claus is missing so a Yeti (or Abominable Snowman) comes to you, an ace detective, for help. It is your job to find objects and interview suspects in order to track down the missing Santa before Christmas. Not only will you talk to the Yeti, you'll also talk to an elf, a reindeer and a snowman, among others.

This wasn't a bad game. I played it with my five-year old daughter and we had a lot of fun. There were a couple of mini-games that she had trouble with but that was where I could step in. She pretty much handled the rest of the game on her own. I think the Christmas theme really got her into the game too. So while an adult might find this on the boring side since there isn't a whole lot to differentiate it from any other hidden object game, the kids will enjoy trying to find Santa.

Game review: Mystery in London

When I first read about Mystery in London, I thought it was just another hidden object game. However, it is much better than your typical hidden object game. Instead of just having one screen per location to find your list of objects, the location has multiple screens, giving you a 360 degree view of the room. Of course, this makes the game a little more difficult as you have to remember to look up and down in the room as well as all around you. But if all hidden object games were the same, it would be boring, right?

Hotel Reservations

The holidays are always a time for traveling. While it may be cheaper to stay with family members, it's not always the most comfortable situation. Then you have the problem of trying to make Hotel Reservations that aren't going to cost you an arm and a leg. Luckily, you can compare hotel rates at HotelReservations.com. I love being able to check out a bunch of hotels at once. It saves me a ton of time and everyone could use some good time-savers! This post is sponsored

Game review: Fairway Solitaire

With the weather getting colder around here, I've been dreaming of warmer weather as I wrap myself in a blanket to play some games. Fairway Solitaire is a golf-themed card game, which isn't really solitaire. The goal of the game is to empty the spread by choosing cards one higher or lower than the card on top of the discard deck. For example, if a 5 is on the discard deck, you can play either a 4 or a 6 from the spread in front of you. If you don't have either of those, you will need to flip another card from the hidden deck onto the discard pile. When the spread has cleared, you won but you don't necessarily need to clear the spread in order to pass the level. That depends on how many points you rack up clearing cards.

That sounds really difficult, doesn't it? It's not though. It's not a particularly interesting game either. The golf aspect makes it a little different but it's still basically counting. I found myself getting aggravated when I'd get a bunch of cards in the discard pile that I couldn't play on. Then I couldn't clear the spread because the cards I needed wouldn't show up! It's a good game for when you're really bored and you're tired of playing regular solitaire. Otherwise, you're likely to get bored rather quickly.

Game review: Home Sweet Home

Earlier this month, I talked about a fashion designer game. Well, now there is an interior decorating game called Home Sweet Home. As a brand new decorator, it is your job to design the client's room while keeping their tastes in mind. This game is a lot more open-ended than Fashion Fits! was. Here you only get a few hints about your client's tastes and the rest is up to you. You pick out all of the furniture and accessories for the room. There is a happiness meter that you need to fill in order to keep your client happy but otherwise, as long as you stay within your budget, it's all up to you.

I found the game to be very fun. A lot of time management games get boring because they tell you exactly what to do. Exactly what shirt the customer wants, exactly what color, exactly everything. This opens it up to your imagination. You even get your own house to decorate however you want. If you enjoy decorating, this game is definitely for you.

America's Most Smartest Model - THE FINALE!

There were some extremely high winds in my area of the US yesterday. They ended up knocking out the power to the building where the server for The Geek Within lives. I apologize that the site was down and I hope the storm has passed so I don't have to worry about it anymore. Now onto the good stuff! When we last saw our contestants - Andre and VJ - the boys were informed that they would have to make PowerPoint presentations explaining why they should be America's Most Smartest Model. The preview for this week's episode showed Andre with a little something hidden up his sleeve. But first we start off seeing VJ diligently plugging away on his presentation with the expert he was given. Then we switch over to Andre. The idea he had was brilliant. Since Andre doesn't speak English very well and knew that he couldn't beat VJ in a presentation, he called up ex-contestant Pickle to present for him. It definitely was a stroke of genius.

For their presentations, VJ did very well. I now believe that he would make a very good con artist. He looks good and he knows how to spew complete crap without cracking. Pickle did very well speaking for Andre but then Andre made the mistake of opening his big mouth. He said something along the lines of "gay, black, white or fat....those things you can change." I simply shook my head and wondered why he didn't stick with shutting up. He pretty much ruined Pickle's entire speech in one sentence.

Ben Stein and Mary Alice Stephenson each brought in two guest judges to help them choose. The two smart judges liked VJ but preferred Andre. One of the fashion judges preferred Andre and one preferred VJ. So they brought the boys back out to do a sort of debate, where Andre screwed up again. He can't seem to focus on anything beyond VJ cheating. Ironically, VJ thought Andre was a coward for bringing out Pickle to speak for him.

When it came down to it, Ben and Mary Alice chose VJ as America's Most Smartest Model. I disagree with their decision but it wasn't a surprise to me. It was obvious from the beginning that Mary Alice liked VJ the most and that Ben had very little say in many of the decisions. I do believe that VJ cheated every step of the way. It's not "thinking outside the box" to call up your friend to do research for you since you don't have the ability to do the research yourself. It's not "creative" to copy the exact poses that your competition does just because they make it look good. And I really think the judges made a bad choice.

Favorite Friday

Arashi is a Japanese boy band from Johnny's Jimusho, a very large company that churns out extremely popular boy bands. This particular band debuted in 1999. Somewhere around that time, they had a PV (promotional video, otherwise known as a music video) for their self-titled single directed by Takizawa Hideaki, a member of the Johnny's band Tackey & Tsubasa. While the official PV for the song (not directed by Tackey) was clean and bright, the Tackey version was dark and had the boys dancing around in plastic see-through pants. Somehow somebody somewhere thought it would be a good idea for the boys to perform in the plastic see-through pants. I'm not sure that was a good decision.

A third season of Gokusen!

I absolutely loved the first season of Gokusen. The second season wasn't nearly as good. Despite that, it has been announced that there will be a third season premiering in April. I hope that they don't make the same mistake they did with the second. Maybe they will change things up a little instead of making it a direct rehash of the first season. (Though it wouldn't hurt if they brought back MatsuJun!) Luckily, Nakama Yukie will be back in her role as Yankumi.