NEWS! The Pac is BACK! AGAIN!

Whats all the fuss about?

Well, our old friend the arcade favourite from the 80's is back once again in his new game:

PAC-MAN™ AND THE GHOSTLY ADVENTURES 2

It's coming in October this year across all platforms! Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 Wii U™ and the Nintendo 3DS™!

The game will feature Pac and his friends and once again we'll be defending Pac-world from the ghoulishly ghastly ghosties!! 

They'll be new parts of Pac-world to explore including the ocean and space! 

You'll need to feed up on various Power Berries for those all important special abilities! You'll even be able to drive some funky vehicles! 

Sounds fun eh?? For more information about PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Adventures 2, you can go to Bandai's website, or the dedicated 'Pacsite', , and even facebook!

FULL REVIEW TO FOLLOW!! WATCH THIS SPACE!!

I'll leave you for now with this fantastic trailer!! 

Accentuate! The Party Game where your voice is key! Review!

What is it?

Accentuate is the new fun party game for 'baddults' and older kids, whereby you team up and pick an accent card and a quote card.

Your teammates then have to guess which accent you are trying to pull off, WITHOUT wetting themselves at your horrendous rendition of a Scotsman! (please note this is an example and only one of the many accents in the game) There's 30 different accents to "do" from Geordie, to Egyptian! of all accents.. personally I'm not sure I'll be able to pull off Egyptian without doing the "walk like an Egyptian" arms!!

To further the game-play, once the teams have chosen a speaker, they then have to roll a dice which depicts what happens with that round, the round is also timed with a sand timer which is also included;

All - All teams are open to guess right from the bat.

Play - Means the speaker must go ahead and try the accent and quote.

Swap - Allows the speaker to swap for an "easier" accent..possibly..

Pass - Allows the speaker to pass their go to another team member.

What we thought

Unfortunately I couldn't play this with my 5 year old son as he's just too young to do the accents. I also couldn't play with just my wife. It really is a party game where you can get your mates round, get the beers in and then try your best at the accents. I therefore took this to my workplace and invited my team on a lunch. IT WAS HILARIOUS! I didn't know my colleagues could do such BAD accents! They were useless! I wasn't much better but we had a great time playing anyway. 

GAME TIP# I must say it does help to think of an actor/comedian who has the same accent, then just try to mimic them!..  

Having the addition of the dice was a nice touch, it added a different twist on each turn and it was great to rid yourself of the odd tough accent! 

The Verdict

On the whole a very fun game, AS A PARTY.. it's just a shame you can't play with only two players.. maybe some new rules?

A kids version would be brilliant.. I can imagine it now.. Speak like a robot.. speak like a bird, a horse etc. 

Accentuate is available online for £23.50 which includes postage! Go HERE to check out the website, some examples of the cards and other news. 

Blue Nose Friends at Clintons! Review!

What are they?

The cute new line of soft and cuddly teddies from Clinton Cards own "Blue Nose Friends" a spin off of the always popular "Tatty Teddy" range! 

What we thought

The girls and the boys are the demographic of these little cuties, young and old of course. Who doesn't like to give their loved one a soft little bear at celebrations, be it Valentines, Birthdays, Christmas, and my favourite.. to say you're sorry!!? 

Tatty Puppy - Pink and cute, ready to pounce and give you that much needed hug! Extremely soft and cuddly! 

Soprano The Shetland Pony - This little guy is so cute! again, so soft and squidgy.. also a plus with girls who like to comb their soft toys hair! 

Denzil The Komodo Dragon - Being a dragon, I'm sure this little guy will be a hit with the younger boys, and also with the girls, his tongue is all sparkly! 

Pandora The Pearl - Another pink one to be a hit with the ladies, I gave this one to my wife as she also loves the Pandora Charms! The actual pearl bit of this toy is all sparkly and makes a rustling noise which is also a hit with my little girl (she's 1).

With all the different characters on offer, I'm sure you'll find one to suit your partner or reason for gifting. And if you don't find what you're after, how about a Tatty Teddy instead? There's plenty to go around! 

For details on the entire Blue Nose Friends range, visit Clintons Cards Online store! They all RRP at a measly £5.00!!

NEWS! ZOOM 'N' BOOM COMING TO INTU LAKESIDE! 30th July - 3rd August!!

"What's all the fuss about?" I hear you cry! 

Well, Hot Wheels have teamed up with BOOMco to show you the best of what they do! And the best part is it's local! To me anyway.. There are other location too, see below:

30^th July-3^rd August – Lakeside, Essex

6^th-10^th August – Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes

13^th-17^th August – Arndale, Manchester

20^th-24^th August – Castle Court, Belfast

27^th-31^st August – Braehead, Glasgow

Get on down there to see the latest Hot Wheels and BOOMco have in store! 

Hot Wheels currently have a great Track Building System which kids can build tracks and challenge their friends to races! 

Your kids can also try out the new line of blasters (and old) they have out too! Test your aim with their special sticky dart system! 

With all the above going on, why not top it off with a themed green screen photo of your kids and their favourite prop!!! 

Back to school ALREADY!?!? STABILO Review!

So it's nearly the start of the summer holidays for the schools and for a parent who's rarely ready for anything, it's nice to think that at least stationary can be dealt with before my son goes back! I know it's a terrible thought, but the quicker I do the shopping now, the less I will have to think about nearer to school starting.   By then all the shops have sold out of the good stuff and you can never find what you're after!

What is it?

The Stabilo SMARTball

This is an ergonomic black ballpoint pen (0.5), you can see on the pack the image of a hand with the "R", this indeed means right handed, there is ALSO a version for us lefties of course! No handism here! It's really comfy to hold and if you flip it around it's a decent touchscreen stylus too! So the techie kids will love this too! 

My son is writing with this at the moment and he says it's very comfortable and "not heavy" which I guess is also a good point too..I noticed straight away that his writing was more controlled, I think the pens he's written with before just slip around his fingers.. this is pretty good though..

The SMARTball RRP's at £12.00.

The Stabilo EASYoriginal

This is a very funky looking pen indeed, which all adds to the comfort and control when writing with it, again 0.5 ballpoint, blue this time as it can be erased by the usual high street pen erasers. You also get 3 refills, which is great as you don't want to keep spending out on new pens..

My son also uses the right version of this pen and says "I don't really like the blue one, I like black better", I'm sure this only refers to the colour, he can write with this just as good as the one above. Personally I like black too, just looks a little neater. Very comfy though, a little gutted I didn't get a lefty one of these!

The EASYoriginal RRP's at £6.99.

Stabilo - Multi-talented Pencils!

No, I'm afraid these won't get up and do a little dance, OR do the washing up, what they can do is provide kids with the means of doing their pictures in wax crayon OR water colour! It says 3 in 1, I think the third is that it feels like a chunky colouring pencil. 

My son hasn't yet done a master-piece so I can't show you, but I will say I tested these and the colours (whether crayon or watercolour) are pretty bright and thick. Because of the size too you can colour large areas quickly. The colour doesn't disperse as much as you think it would, so you can still get the full colour.

A great set of colouring "pencils" for the budding artist, also saves space with the multi uses, however I am concerned how to sharpen them..I'm thinking penknife? WITHOUT the kids around!

The Multi-talent pencils RRP at £8.45.

Stabilo EASYgraph

This is also an ergonomic pencil, which also comes in Right and Left. Also very comfortable too and perfect for small hands as it's chunkier than the normal sized pencils. As you can see the grooves go all the way up the pencil so you don't need to worry about loosing them as you sharpen it. 

All these Stabilo products have my vote, year one's to year six, they'll be useful and help your little one write and be as artistic as they can be. These come in packs of two for £2.99.

Check out the Stabilo website for more products, information and to buy. 

NEWS! #Boardgameclub!! Mini Reviews! TAKE TWO!

#BOARDGAMECLUB

Another fantastic night of secret boardgaming at a brilliant venue last night (Tuesday)! Check out The Jam Tree, Clapham! It has a secret function room behind a bookcase which was awesome! The front is all open too so on a gorgeous day like it was yesterday you can really relax with your favourite bevvy (Crabbie's was mine!)!

So onto the fab games!

First up!

DODEKKA - Against the Elements!

It's a card game with an elements theme and the aim of the game is to collect the most amount of cards pertaining to one element. 

Throughout the game you place cards from the deck in a line, if the lines value adds to OVER 12 then the person who drew and placed the last card "busts" and has to take the whole line of cards. There's a little strategy that goes into this as you can either take the first card at the front of the queue OR draw a card. For example if there are 3 cards in the line of the element you are collecting you can "bust" yourself and take all the cards including the 3 you want, or you can take the first card of the queue and let the other player(s) take the risk. 

At the end of the game you sort your cards into the elements, the element with the most cards you add the value of the cards and then deduct the amount of your other cards from the VALUE of the element you are collecting. Make sense?? IT WILL! it's actually quite simple. 

Ages 6+. A bit of maths and strategy, it's pretty cool. RRP is £10.00 and available from Amazon. For more info, go here!

Dix It - Words using Images!

This is a very picturesque game, it was created in France and this is evident from the wonderful but strange artwork. 

The game is played by one player saying out loud a word, expression, anything about the picture which to them describes their card. The rest of the players then put their interpretation of a card face down on the table. These are then shuffled and everyone has to guess which card belongs to the first player. 

The aim is to be not too vague, but vague enough that not ALL the players guess which is your card. If everyone guesses right then you get no points for being too obvious. It's really quite clever and because the pictures are quite random it can be quite difficult.

Ages 6+. A gorgeous styled game, and RRP is £29.99, more info and images are here.

Snake Oil - The Hard Sell

One player takes a card and chooses a side to play, they are the customer and the other players using two of the cards in their hand of 6 have to sell their invention to the customer. e.g. magic rain for a Hostage or an animal blanket for a dog.  The customer then chooses the best one and the winner wins that round.

A really fun game, that  can be played with Badults or indeed with kids, they will love making up their own wacky products! Age 10+ Snake Oil RRP's at £19.99.

LINKEE - Four questions, one link!

This game has been around for a while now, it was eyes all on this game after the developers visited those Dragons in their den, they declined the Dragons and have been on the up ever since!

This game is played in teams, the quiz master asked four questions and the team has to figure out the link between them all. A fantastic family game and great at parties too! I'll do a full review once I've been able to have a good play, my son is only 5 so I may also have to print out the "Dinkee Linkee" which is available on Linkee's website (I need a printer though so that may have to wait!).

Linkee RRP's at £19.99.

Accentuate - Where accents are key!

The last very fun game I'd like to tell you about is the new Accentuate!

This game was played on the night and was probably the loudest of the lot! Tons of belting laughter! This is a game of teams who have to pull off and guess accents whilst saying controversial and sometimes rude quotes. 

I unfortunately didn't get the chance to play it, but will endeavour to obtain a copy and post a full review! 

Here's their website though in case you want a little more right now! Accentuate RRP's at £23.50.  

IF YOU WOULD LIKE ANY OF THE ABOVE GAMES, WHY NOT SEARCH FOR THEM USING MY AMAZON SEARCH? IT GOES DIRECTLY TO AMAZON.CO.UK!

Vita Coco Kids!

What is it?

This is a new kids range from the people who brought you the healthy coconut water VITA COCO. As it's a kids range the packaging includes a few cheeky animals, for these first two flavours a cheeky Monkey and Troublesome Toucan have been added to the packaging.

To also appeal to the younger folk, popping flavours such as 'Mango and Pineapple' and 'Apple and Blackcurrant' have been created. These are definitely healthier than the usual kid drinks out there, there's less sugar and masses of Potassium, (helps the heart and nervous system and is found in a lot of green veg!) so they've got to be good.. haven't they??

What the boy thought

Personally I've never really tried 'shop bought' coconut water I've only ever had the water from inside a fresh coconut, freshly smashed off the coconut shy, which is really nice; with the added flavour though, I was unsure what to expect.

I have recently tried the plain version of Vita Coco and must admit it is a little odd tasting and surprisingly not very coconutty.. I did a little homework and it seems Vita Coco get their coconut water from the young green coconuts which are mostly entirely coco water inside, whereas the brown coconuts have alot of "meat" (the white coconut bit) in them and therefore not alot of water. So, (I digress) the plain version was quite bland and obviously an acquired taste. I was therefore a little dubious about these kids versions..

The Verdict

My son has not really had coconut water at all, and if I'm completely honest he wasn't initially that enamored with these drinks, however he did ask the following night if we had anymore so I gave him another, I then asked him again if he liked them and he said "they're OK, I didn't like them earlier, but now they're OK". Just goes to show, these are an acquired taste which could grow on you.

So give them a try, they're available now in all the leading superstores. These are in the stores for approx £2.99 for a pack of four, which is pretty good for healthy drinks. 

Go ahead and visit the Vita Coco website for more information, games and to see the rest of the Vita Coco range! 

NEWS: Divergent comes to VOD and Download from 28th July!!

Based in a Futuristic world, we join a young woman on her journey to find her place in the world. For decades the population have chosen their vocation from a young age and followed through to death. Tris Prior however has other plans which creates conflict among her fellow people!

Based on the best seller written by Veronica Roth.

This film will now be available from 28th July on VOD and Download! 

Don't be divergent! be indulgent! 

Once available, a full review of the film we be available, right here! 

Top Trumps App - Trumpit! Review

What is it?

It's a funky new App which brings Top Trumps to the world of Social Media. This funky app enables you to create your own Top Trump cards by taking pictures, and choosing the criteria and values for the cards.

You can then share your cards via Twitter, Facebook and over e-mail. As well as saving your Top Trumps to your gallery to use later, which really opens you up to all the other social media apps out there..

Here's one I made earlier!!

What the boy thought

My son loved the fact he could make up his own trump cards and was excited to make the ones below! Technology savvy, he instructed me to upload them to Facebook & Twitter...HE'S FIVE!!!!

See below for a few he's made:

The Verdict

A fun app and a great idea for social media. I can imagine kids and teenagers playing this and creating their own fun decks. 

You can download the post from TODAY for FREE on the App Store, see here for a link and take a look at the TopTrump website for more information, fun and to buy physical decks! 

Dreamworks Dragons Riders of Berk / How to Train Your Dragon 2 Toys Review!!

Dragons!! Everywhere!! 

What is it!? 

This is a review of the new range of Dragon toys from the soon to be popular How to Train your Dragon 2 movie and also a few from the Dreamworks Dragons Series "Riders of Berk"! Just in time for the new film which opens in cinema's nationwide TODAY! See the trailer here!!

Fizzing egg:

What we thought

The instructions could have been better. It advises to remove packaging, but doesn't tell you that there are two layers, I was waiting about 30 minutes before I realised the egg wasn't fizzing the outer layer away, there were holes in it so looked like it was doing the job.. in the end I took off the second blue layer pictured and it fizzed away in what seemed like seconds.. and I was elated to find a cute tiny Toothless model (mine and my sons favorite!)..


The Verdict

Very cute and nice detail, but just a little TOO tiny.. There are four of the dragons to collect and these RRP at £4.99.

Toothless - Night Fury (Action Dragon):

What we thought

This Toothless 'Figure' is brilliant, he can fire a blue fire projectile from this mouth by pressing his head and also (my fave bit) at a press of a button, his wings expand! "gasp! How does it do that!?!!" See below:

Toothless also fits the standard 3" figures on his back.


The Verdict

My son loves this smaller version of Toothless, it's not as heavy as the massive one, so he can run around the room ducking and diving and weaving around his copious amount of toys on the floor!

It really is a great representation from the film and the expanding wings is really fun.

There are also other dragons to collect in this range, 4 in fact and the below "Stormfly - Power Dragon" has flapping wings and a light up mouth! Really cool detail and also can sit a figure on his back. 

Both of the above dragons RRP at £12.99 and are great to play with on their own or part of a set. 

Large Flame Breathing Toothless

This is what I opened the box to! AWESOME!

This BIG version of Toothless is just brilliant, the detail is immense and the fire breathing feature is just amazing! I have no idea how it works, but the blue light really shows up the "smoke" (steam really, I know that much), not sure how good you can see it below..

His ears are the buttons, one side makes his mouth open with the blue light on and breathes, and the other ear opens his mouth, with the blue light and shoots a blue projectile!

I haven't let my son play with the projectile bit yet, but it easily flies six feet! 

As per the back of the box below, you can (like the little one) expand the wings (no button though, manual only) to over 22 inches!!  

I may have to invest in a few of the figures as this Toothless hold those on it's back too!

The Verdict

Again, a great toy, personally, my favorite of the range! Probably my sons' too as we haven't stopped filling it up with water for the fire breathing! It only needs a few drops of water and lasts for around 3 minutes of CONTINUAL (i.e. keep the button held down) use. That's quite a long time when you're only using it in short bursts. 

This RRP's at £34.99 and is available at all good toy stores. Check Amazon I would, they always have good discounts! (try my search on the right!)

Cloud Jumper - Mini Dragons Assortment

These cute collectable dragons make good babies for your bigger dragons and are slightly posable (head and legs) 

What we thought

My son liked to play with these and pretend the babies were captured, then Toothless comes along to save them!


The Verdict

Another good addition to the range, these are pretty cute, they RRP at £4.99 which I think may be a tiny bit overpriced, available on Amazon they're actually a pretty good price there.

All of the above are available in the stores right now!! More info available at Spinmaster Toys!

grippy - Get to Grips with all yer Knick knacks! Gadget Review

What is it?

Another great gadget from the boffins of 'thumbsUp!' 

So, have you ever had to use the toll booth and had your cash ready by putting it on the seat and as you slam on the brakes for the crazy idiot of a driver in front, your change goes everywhere and you spend the following 5 minutes struggling to pick up your 4 x 50p's while 5 cars behind you honk as you're taking for than 30 seconds!?! Grrr.. well.. this gadget should help you out.. 

What I thought

So this Grippy gadget eliminates all of the above, at the start of your journey, you can pop yer change on the Grippy and it will (due to amazing stickiness!) stay put!

It's also very good for keeping your mobile phone in one place, instead of it falling on the floor and swimming about among the sea of fast food containers and empty drinks bottles!...No need to worry about taking sharp turns either, the sticky pad clings to pretty much anything you put on it! 

The only thing I have bad to say about this is that because it is quite sticky it does attract the dust, however it IS also waterproof and is wipe clean(able). 

The Verdict

For the busy business 'person' (I'm not sexist!) or the busy family, this gadget will keep your knick-knacks in one place. Very handy indeed! Its just a tad bigger than the iPhone 5 but can easily hold the phone sideways as well as other (aforementioned) knick-knacks.

For more information and pictures, these are available at Red5.co.uk. The "grippy" RRP's at £7.95.