Club Bing

I had a topic to write about....and then I forgot it. So today I will talk about one of my current obsessions: Club Bing. Club Bing is a website run by the Microsoft search engine, Bing. I haven't spent a whole lot of time using the search engine side of things. Instead I have spent my time playing games and earning "tickets." There is a pretty wide variety of games to play. There's a crossword puzzle, a word search, a couple hidden objects, and some other original games. (One of my favorites is CrossWire, where you have to match items from one column with an item in the second column.) Each time you complete a game, you win a number of tickets. Then you can use your tickets to purchase prizes or you can donate them to a local school. I purchased a Net Ball game, which is kinda like lacrosse, but I haven't had a chance to play it with my daughter since school started recently. I'm currently trying to save up my tickets to buy a new Zune.

There is a daily limit on how many tickets you can earn each day. (1,000) But that doesn't make the games any less fun. Come win stuff with me!

Dungeons & Dragons Online

There has been a Dungeons & Dragons MMO for awhile now. It used to have the 'normal' fee schedule where you'd pay $15 per month to play as much as you want. Recently, the game has decided to change that. Now you can play for free. You can pay for upgrades or extra quests if you want, but a majority of the game is free. I've been playing it on and off for the past week or so. Some of the original quests from the pay version of the game have changed but it's still the same feel. It is a little odd to see the same dungeons with different quests in them though. All in all, if you liked DDO before, you'll like just as much now. Only you won't have to pay for it!

Jdorama review: Ping Pong

pingpong Title: Ping Pong Release date: 7/20/02 Genre: Sports comedy Cast: Kubozuka Yosuke, Arata, Sam Lee, Nakamura Shido, Okura Koji, Takenaka Naoto, Natsuki Mari Plot: Peco (Kubozuka), a really good table tennis player, meets his match against a player from China (Lee), but there is another talented player Peco must face. Will he meet the challenge or give up his lifelong dream of being the world's best table tennis player? What is good: Kubozuka Yosuke once again pulls off an amazing character. What is bad: I can't think of anything that really detracts from the movie. Letter rating: A Overall: I really love Kubozuka's acting and his skills shine here. The rest of the cast supports him well, even though I did find myself giggling a little bit about all the drama that takes place around ping pong. This is definitely a movie that every jdorama lover should watch at least once.

Game review: Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light

Over the weekend, I took some time out to play Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light. I figured it would be a typical hidden object game that wouldn't require a lot of thought. Man, was I wrong! Each hidden object in the game comes in pieces. You have to find all of the pieces for each object. Then, where normal games would just mark off that you found that item, you have to use the item to find the rest of the list. For example, you have to find all the pieces of a key to open a chest that will hold a piece of another item. It makes the gameplay a lot more interesting since you have to figure out which is the first object you need to find all the pieces for and where to use it. I had tons of fun playing this game. I think I'll be buying it in the near future.

Music review: Gackt - Koakuma Heaven

In June and July, Gackt released a slew of singles. "Koakuma Heaven" came out on June 10, 2009. It is a fast-paced dive into the seedy world of club hostesses and prostitutes. Yet it is really catchy and difficult to get out of your head once you hear it. It's not my absolute favorite from his recent releases, but it's a close second.

Game review: Wedding Dash: Ready, Aim, Love

Almost exactly one year ago, I talked about Wedding Dash 2: Rings Around The World. Another sequel, Wedding Dash 3: Ready, Aim, Love, has appeared on the scene. This time around, Quinn pairs up with Cupid to plan some weddings in some interesting settings. Unfortunately, this game is exactly like its predecessor. There have only been tiny changes, which barely make a dent in the gameplay. For example, you have the option to hire a few of Cupid's angels to help Flo serve the guests. (Yes, instead of a stand-alone waitress, it's poor Flo doing the hard work for you.) Quinn still has to pay attention to the guests themselves as one will frequently lose her yappy dog and Cupid has a tendency to knock over the presents. So, if you enjoyed the second edition of the Wedding Dash family, you'll definitely enjoy this one.