Both kids have been asking for a Nintendo Switch for quite some time so I found one on sale on Amazon that had a game, a one year subscription, tv dock, joy controllers, and a grip controller attachment. Then I spent a relatively long time setting up my two kids accounts, plus one for myself, and then three hours to download the game from the estore. It was a tense exchange while my kids waited for it to become available to play on. Then once it was they were too afraid to try it, so I blasted out a grand prize first place finish on a 50cc race as Yoshi, and then they were cool with it. I did tell them that we weren’t going to buy any games for it until AFTER we see what their aunt & uncle had bought for them in relation to the Switch (if anything at all). I know my youngest wants Smash Bros for $80, but I don’t know what game(s) the older one wants to get/play. She finds too much choice hard to parse and freezes up. Does it all the time. Whether it’s in the candy aisle, toy store, movie choices, you name it. More than two or three options and it’s game over. Might as well pack up, head home, and embrace the ensuing tantrum over a failure to choose anything at all. But I digress.
I have been impressed with Mario Kart 8, I really like it. The gravity defying element is pretty awesome. I like that the music, and general feel are still so similar to the N64 version. And very close to the SNES version at that! Very nostalgic. I need to figure out how to skid into corners again as my lap times weren’t as sharp as they should be. No matter. All this means is that we have an entirely new category of games to look at now too. So much for working without distractions! Ha.
I also somehow managed to get Fortnight up and running on the Xbox for my youngest, as she had been asking about that for a really long time now. I blocked a great many options because she is so little. I have to approve things as they come up, and I limited, to the point of choking out, the chat options. No chat, no third party website visits. I can tighten down controls even more if I feel I need to do so later on.
The next thing they’ll be wanting is a VR headset, so we’ll have to brace ourselves for that. Though with the presence of the brand new switch that might be delayed for a while as they game on the newest console in our home. One would hope.
Christmas was otherwise very pleasant. My oldest woke up with a fever, so we stayed home and did our own thing for the entire day. It was really nice. I made a hot breakfast of beans, bacon, toast, while my wife made the pancakes. It was really nice. I finished off the day with a Rye & Coke while watching the new Nate Bargatze special on Netflix. Hell, we even saw two NFL games on tv yesterday, so that was awesome. My wife got dug in on her new 1,000 piece puzzle. So I know she was having fun. I cleaned up wrapping paper, and the recycling so I was pretty happy about that.
The new puppy hot more gifts than my wife & I combined, so he’s a spoiled little brat. Chewed the legs off of his new squeaky chicken almost immediately. He was a little perplexed by the wrapping paper, and cheers of joy from the kids, but he didn’t attack any gifts, or mangle any toys (yet). Still early days.
I hope that you and yours are all well taken care of. Ciao Bella!
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