Review: Disney's Interactive DVD Games

My three year old daughter, who happens to go by the name of Boo, has always been interested in gaming. Usually we hand her a controller without batteries as we play games and she believes that she is playing along as well. Well, no more pretending for little Boo! I ran across these really cool Disney DVDs that come with a special little remote in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head. The first one we tried out was called Mickey's Numbers Round-Up. You can choose to just watch the special episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or you can access the bonus features where you can select to play the interactive version using the Mickey Mote. The Mickey Mote is very simple and easy to set up. Ours was up and running in less than a minute. To my delight Boo was thoroughly entertained and with little direction able to play along on her own without much assistance. Mickey and his pals encouraged Boo to help them solve simple problems by choosing the correct button the Mickey Mote. After an hour and a half of watching Boo completely engrossed in this game I knew we had found a winner. We have since purchased the Minnie's Masquerade DVD, and this one too has proven to be very enjoyable for Boo. This one even came with a little masquerade mask that Boo wore the entire time that she was playing. I am so happy to have found a sort of "video game" that my daughter can easily play and get some educational value out of.

(I was not paid or given a free product for this review, I simply like the product and wanted to let people know!)

First New Console of E3

Well, rumor had it that Nintendo was announcing a new console this year at E3 and that rumor proved to be true. Scheduled to be released sometime next year Wii U looks very promising. I own a Wii, but was never really impressed with it. In fact all my Wii does at this point is collect dust. BUT I find myself pretty excited about the Wii U. Seems like Nintendo is recognizing that they alienated hardcore gamers in the past and is doing something about that. Wii U looks to output 1080p over HDMI, and talk of M-rated third party games is already underway. What seems iffy to me is the controller. They seem to be fusing almost like an iPad type device with a controller. It has a 6.2 inch touch screen that can used in place of a television if needed. It looks clunky to me, but intriguing.  I am eager to see how this all plays out for Nintendo.

Falling in love with television again....oh how I love Verizon Fios!

About a year and a half ago I was faced with the ultimate tease when  a neighbor informed me that Verizon was planning to install Fios in our neighborhood. At that point in time I was trapped into subscribing to cable, phone, and internet through Time Warner. I say trapped because that was literally my only option as satellite dishes are not allowed in my apartment complex. Upon hearing the exciting news I instantly began hounding Verizon's sales line for an ETA as to when I would be able to subscribe to Fios. Unfortunately it wound up taking longer than I expected, but the day that they started tearing up my street to install the fiber optic lines was a very exciting day for me. But...it was not near as exciting as the day that a customer service representive knocked on my door offering me an AMAZING deal on all three services.

The rep was prepared to to work his magic and show me the ways that Fios would change my media habits. My eagerness made his job very easy that day as I quickly signed up...contract free! About a week later the service men came and installed phone, internet, and fiber optic television throughout my apartment. It took a couple hours since the service was brand new in my building, but boy was it worth the wait. As soon as they had cleaned up and given me a little lesson on how to use my remotes I was good to go.

The first thing I noticed was that the picture quality was stunning. I have heard other cable and satellite companies claim they had the best picture, but Verizon had it in the bag! Next I moved on to tinkering with my multi-room DVR. The ability to record programs in the living room and watch them in other rooms is fantastic! As I flipped through my on screen program guide I began to notice a ton of channels that I had never been able to recieve through Time Warner. Much to my delight I now had some of my favorite channels in HD (Vh1, MTV, Bravo, just to name a few).

Later on I really began to explore all the wonderful Fios features and to my surprise I was even able to update my facebook feed right from my television (I used this feature to let all my friends know that I now had the best television service EVER). What really got my attention was the widgets. I had never experienced this function with other cable services. I found the WeatherBug widget to be my favorite from the get go, and I still consult it daily to get a heads up on the weather.

My surprise did not stop there because I soon discovered my favorite feature of Verizon Fios...the media manager! Ahhhhhh! I had been streaming videos in the past through my Xbox 360, and to be honest it was not always so successful. But I quickly downloaded the media manager on my desktop pc and within minutes I was transferring my video files to stream without a hitch straight to my Verizon set top box. I still use the media manager on a daily basis.

So, you see why I would be so excited to finally have the best television service in my home. Pair all these wonderful features with the unarguably lightning fast internet and I am in heaven! Did I mention that I also have an app on my iPhone that allows me to use it as a remote? Because I do! And when one of the kids manages to make the regular remote vanish, I resort to my app instead of tearing the house apart in a desperate rush to lower the volume on Yo Gabba Gabba.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Verizon FiOS blogging program for a gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.