I'm experiencing a lot of the same frustrations with Lost Planet that I suffered with Dead Rising. (Could it have anything to do with them both being made by Capcom on the same engine? :) I'm finding that I die a lot more often than I think I should early in a game and it often isn't clear what my objectives are. I started Mission 3 last night and almost right away I'm confronted by a huge worm Boss Battle. I spent almost 3 hours figuring out how to kill it, which I don't mind, except that after it died...another one just appeared in it's place and I received nothing for it. (not even an achievement unlocked) So, I look up on the FAQ to find that most people just avoid it and run to the next area. That's a bit frustrating.

But, as with Dead Rising I find myself wanting to play despite my frustrations. So, hopefully I'll be able to finish the single player without being brought to tears.

I have not laughed so much while playing a video game in years. The story and art style for Rayman are very "Oddworld" and the game play is really catchy. So far in the story mode, it's a series of mini games that you play to get out of the coliseum. the one that made me laugh the hardest was where I had a cow on the other end of a chain and needed to swing my arm in the air to launch it as far as i can. There's also a great rhythm game that uses both Wii controllers like drum sticks.

At the end of each coliseum segment you do a first person shooter sequence where plungers are your weapon. I literally was laughing almost the entire time I played the game and had an absolute blast.

My wife's parents left a couple of weeks ago and now mine are in town. My mom and step dad have NEVER played a video game before, so i introduced them to the Wii.

They're now huge fans of Wii Sports bowling. My mother, who hurt her knee several years ago, had to give up bowling and had a blast being able to play again(not without frustrations with the game though :P) They enjoyed it so much that they are actually talking about buying a Wii to have at home.

This has completely solidified my belief that the Wii is here to stay. I really had my doubts in the beginning, but those are completely gone now.

So, i finally broke down and bought the Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive. I had a gift card to Best Buy that was burning a hole in my pocket and it's something I've been seriously considering for a long time. If it weren't for Netflix having HD-DVDs I probably wouldn't have done it. I'll report back after we watch King Kong(included) this weekend.

We took Sarah's parents and headed to Sausalito (a little town across the water from San Francisco) so that we could get a Ferry into the Wharf. The Ferry ride was fun, Kian enjoyed it. We got to Pier 39 a little after noon so we headed to the Hardrock Cafe to get some lunch. This was our first trip to Pier 39 so I was surprised at how many shops there were there. After lunch we did some looking in the shops and then decided that we should check the Ferry schedule to get back to Sausalito.

It was about 3:30...and the guy says that they are done going to Sausalito for the day. Um....how are we supposed to get back to our car? Oh! well you'll probably want to take the Trolly down to the Ferry building. Ok, exept we find that the Trollies are JAM packed with people and nowhere to fit a stroller. So, our only shot is to walk to pier 1. About 2-3 miles and 30-40 minutes later we arrive at the Ferry Building. Keep in mind, that we really have no idea if this option is going to work...but it's the only one we have.

We get into the Ferry Building and go to the ticket stand and ask for 4 tickets to Sausalito. The guy responds: "Oh, Tickets to Sausalito are Sold Out-..." This is where Randy and I start to panic. Then I hear him say, go out and turn right and the ticket office will be on your left. Wait...he said the tickets are sold OUT-SIDE.

So, we head outside and are able to get our tickets to get back to the Car. It was a beautiful trip back going across the bay at night. The city is gorgeous when it's all lit up.

My wife's parents were visiting during Christmas so I got out the Wii to play some bowling with them. Everyone had a blast with it! We then proceeded to make their own Mii (little character that looks like you) so they could have a representation on the lanes. That was fun in it's self, especially since we got one to look JUST like her step dad.

Before the Wii was released, I was very skeptical about it's longevity. This kind of thing could easily be a novelty that has it's charm wear off very quickly. But, so far...it's really holding strong.

I started Zelda this weekend and along with it just being a very cool game, my concern about the controls is already gone. It feels great and is a blast to play.

Long live the Wii!