It's no secret that I love gaming... I have been a pretty keen gamer since I was young, and even though I'm now technically an "adult", I still enjoy playing computer games as my primary form of entertainment. However, I do really appreciate that there is quite a wide range of quality in games, and I am often horrified by what passes for "games" that some parents allow their kids to be subjected to.

Often, it can be just the equivalent of trash food... the sort of thing that you give to kids if you want them to be addicted to flashing lights and loud noises with the occasional Skinner bait thrown in to activate the pleasure centres.

My older girl is starting to come into proper games these days, with some experience now in Turn Based Strategy games (I was pretty surprised that she took to that already... I was expecting to have it take a couple more years before that took hold!).... and most of the days in December, she has been completely entranced by Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch.

However, I really have been waiting for the moment that we can do some co-op gaming together! Our family does have the Mario Kart and Overcooked nights of family gaming... but the young one is still too young to really pull her weight. That said, she is pretty decent at it for her age!

Recently, I remembered about Dungeon Defenders, a game that I had played a bit of when it first came out almost a decade ago. I was wondering if it would run in splitscreen local co-op mode... and to my surprise, it does! Up to four players... although, for the moment, I have just been playing it with my older daughter in the days after Christmas.

It's a great game for her, introducing her to the FPS/Third Person style... and with a bit of tactics and strategy with a touch of lite RPG mechanics as well. The best part? WE PLAY IT TOGETHER!

It is a something that I've had to pull out the old Steam Controller for. I have the Mouse and Keyboard for the real precision... but my girl is better with the controller.

Unfortunately, the mapping of the buttons is reversed to what she is used to on the Switch... so we will have to fix that up at some point... however, playing the game has been more fun than doing the button setup!

However, there was one button that needed to be immediately remapped from the config.ini file. There was no button to signal "good to go" and to start the level. So, we dumped the "B" button mapping from the "I'm here!" call too the much more useful... "READY", which would allow us to start the waves immediately without waiting for the whole countdown!

Splinterlands (aka the best blockchain game out there!)

Humble Bundle

Have you heard of Humble Bundle? It's a place to get some really great deals on Games, e-books and comic bundles. However, if you sign up for a Humble Bundle Subscription (12 USD per month) you get some really nice bonuses!

1. A 100+ USD bundle of games delivered direct to you each month, redeemable on Steam, Uplay or direct download (depending on the game). This includes recent Triple A games!
2. Access to the Humble Bundle "Trove", a list of 60 games (and growing...) which are free to play as long as you remain a subscriber!
3. Additional Discounts on the Humble Bundle store, with the choice of supporting charities, Humble Bundle or developers in whatever percentage that you wish!

Humble Bundle Subscriptions, it's a no brainer for the dedicated gamer!