Twelve Days of Giveaways! Ubisoft Video Games

This post is part of a sponsored series from Ubisoft, celebrating "12 Days of Giveaways." See below for how you can enter up to 12 times to win fun and family-friendly video games.

Plain and simple: my family loves video games. My husband and I bonded over our love of Super Mario and on our first Christmas together we surprised each other with the SAME gaming system. It was probably at that exact moment that we began to think that just maybe we were meant to be together 4ever yo. On a total tangential note I'd like to take a moment to state that sometimes we totally miss the days of completely extravagant and over the top disposable income spending *sigh*. Okay, we miss that all the time.

Anyway, our five year old girl shares our same gaming passion. The first time we let her try a video game, she was hooked. Watching that girl on her Nintendo DSi, our Wii, or on my iTouch is fascinating. Kids these days take to games like ducks to water and personally I think it teaches them very useful skills in this digital world. Mousing 101 is part of my daughter's kindergarten curriculum and while her grandparents might think it's odd, we don't. We live in the computer age. The only caveat we have is: everything is fine in MODERATION (and with supervision.)

Obviously we don't let our daughter play just any old game. She is definitely not ready for World of Warcraft or Call of Duty but if a game involves dancing or puppies or dancing puppies, she's your gal! Now at this point I was going to share a video game review for a new kid-friendly game by UbiSoft that is now available at Toys R' Us but unfortunately the game didn't arrive on time (sad panda). BUT I'm still going to run the contest and then I'll share my review when the game actually arrives.

** updated to add review! **

Our game arrived (*shakes fist at general direction of Canada customs then immediately apologizes*) and my 5yo was rarin' to break out Petz Fantasy Sunshine Magic. That's right, Fantasy AND Magic (with sunshine of course). So we did.

This Nintendo DS game reminds me of a more interactive version of a toy who's name I forget that my sister sent me about 15 years ago. I had to take care of this digital pet and if I forgot to water, feed, and clean up after the little creature, the pixelated thing up and died. This game is the same concept but with cuter  and way more interactive 'babies' plus there is no traumatizing death element. Which now that I think about it, thanks a lot sis. I still can't forget that fatal night at the Pizza Hut when I left it out in the car and it up and died on me while I gorged on a stuffed crust with extra pepperoni. Now I have a pizza complex.

Anyway. Back to the game: Basically my daughter is in charge of a little baby creature (could be a dragon, unicorn, mythical creatures that would appeal to young girls and boys) and she must take of three basic tasks to move forward in the game: hunger, fun, and hygiene. Don'tcha know that all baby unicorns must eat pink swiss cheese, catch bouncy balls, and bathe while being shot by a bubble spray to survive? Those are key elements when you're covered in stars, with super huge eyes, and make completely adorable noises.

The activities a player does with their creature really appeal to my 5yo but in general she needed to repeat games in order to acquire enough points. But that hasn't bothered her (practice makes perfect). The onscreen instructions are short and basic but my girl figured out the rules by trying things out -- intuitive play always gets a thumbs up from me. Older children would probably move through the levels a lot faster but the part that posed the most challenge for my girl is the medal round that comes up when certain goals are achieved. I even find them more challenging and so far I've had to do them for her. When those rounds are won, new creatures are introduced which is a major incentive to learn how to use each creature in these dexterity-dependent challenges.

Overall we are enjoying the game and it wouldn't be a total lie to say that I might have opened a few more creatures for my girl to use in the game AFTER she went to bed tonight. In fact I may be going back to play it right about now ;)

** end up updated section now read about the GIVEAWAY! **

Here's the deal: this giveaway is going to run from today until December 3rd which translates to TWELVE DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS! And I'm not the only one running this contest so you should check out the bloggers below and enter over at their sites to UP YOUR ODDS (that was said in my echo chamber voice just like on the commercials). Now this contest is only open to residents of continental US which I know sucks for Guam and Canada (sorry eh) but I'll make it up to my fellow Canadians by giving away some chocolate. No really, I will. US folks can enter for the game and Canadians can enter to win chocolate (I promise it will be really yummy chocolate that weighs the same as the game.) Guam for the record, still gets the shaft.

So here is the mighty fine dealio print my friends: Please visit these participating bloggers for more chances to win games, including Just Dance 2 (Wii), Battle of Giants: Dinosaur Strike (Wii), Petz Fantasy (DS) and Petz Nursery (DS). Want more ways to win great games for the whole family? Visit each of these blogs during our 12 Days of Giveaways from now through December 3. I'll be drawing a winner on December 3rd, just leave a comment on this post.
 

Rookie Moms

DaDa Rocks

Crash Test Mommy

Scraps of My Geek Life

Mommies With Style

The Fairly Odd Mother

All Things Fadra

The Lemonade Stand

Mom to the Screaming Masses

Beccarama

Romy Raves

I was selected to participate in this sponsored series by Ubisoft and Clever Girls Collective. I received a video game and compensation for my participation in this program. We believe in Blog With Integrity.

COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED. 
WINNER: Lucky #13 selected by Random.org and that means it was the comment from Joyful Noise. CONGRATULATIONS!
Thank you to everyone who entered. More contests coming soon.