A busy couple of weeks

Sorry to have been gone the past few days, but it's been a hectic time lately. May is like the perfect storm for Kentucky newspapers, with graduations and a primary election to contend with, so work has kept me from blogging lately. But even my free time has been consumed with activities lately, such as Paul's little league games, Mother's Day and a dreaded birthday for yours truly approaching this week.

But a couple of weeks ago, we had some serious gaming developments in my household. May 5 was Free Comic Book Day, and also the first weekend of the Spider-Man 3 movie. We planned to make a day of it, driving to the closest comic book shop, which was almost an hour away, and then going to the movies. To our surprise, the comic book shop was jam-packed when we arrived, and I knew it couldn't just be because of the free comics. Turns out the store was having their biggest sale of the year to coincide with Free Comic Book Day, and that included 20 percent off of all new videogames and 50 percent off all used games. Jackpot! About an hour later, I walked out with a fistful of comics as well as one new Wii game, two used Wii games and a handful of other items.

Our three Wii games included Super Paper Mario (new), Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Excite Truck. By far the best of the bunch is Super Paper Mario.

Now, I've never been a fan of the Paper Mario series. In fact, I had never even played the game before, but just judging from the box, it looked an awful lot like one of the classic Mario games and I figured the gameplay would be similar. I'm pleased to say my instinct turned out to be correct, and the game plays like a far superior version of Super Mario World. Once I get a little further in the game, I will post a review, but I can safely say it will be overwhelmingly positive. For now, let's just say that if you are a fan of the Mario series, Super Paper Mario is a must-own title. In fact, I would go as far as to say it's probably the overall best Wii game currently on shelves.

Of the other two games, I've only played Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and it's a pretty fun game. I've probably devoted only a half-hour total to the game, but I liked having the ability to choose different characters and using their different abilities. My only experience with Excite Truck has been to watch my sons play, and Paul seems to have the most fun with it.

All in all, it was a good day, and it ended with watching Spider-Man 3, which I thought was good, but not great. In fact, the movie seemed to drag in parts, and the comic book geek inside me wasn't entirely satisfied with changes they made from the original comics. Still, it's definitely worth seeing in theaters.

Well, my busy, busy world is calling me back to it, but things should settle down soon and allow me to post more regularly. I'll also encourage the boys to write some soon.