Dora is extremely popular at our house these days. The little one loves Dora. We have Dora DVDs, clothing, and dolls. So, when I came across Dora’s Carnival 2: Boardwalk Adventure, I figure it would also be a hit as well.

I downloaded it to my PC and it runs a little shaky like I need more ram. I have 1 gig of memory, so I’m going to check to see what is all running in the background. But the play may be slowed down a little bit but the fun is all there.

There are several mini-games that feature color recognition and other pre-school skills. You earn tickets and then use those tickets to buy prizes. Some prizes might be printable coloring pages or other games.

Dora’s Carnival 2: Boardwalk Adventure is loads of fun for her. Not so much for me but I enjoy watching and helping her play. Great for young kids but would be terribly dull for those already in school.

The little one has trouble with my trackball mouse, so she points out the right one to click.

We saw Iron Man the movie this week, and I can honestly say that I can’t wait to see it again. It’s seldom I will go to the movies twice to see the same movie. The last one was X-Men. But Iron Man is definitely one I want to see again in the theater.

I might even pick up the video game. Here are a few Iron Man characters I found. I’m sure there are plenty more including Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the video game that made me an Iron Man fan. As I find more, I will add them.

2003 - The Invincible Iron Man GBA

2005 Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects (Character art)

2008 - Iron Man XBox 360

The Sims 3 is due out next year and already I’m so excited about this game. I figure I will need a computer upgrade consisting of a faster CPU and more memory. But I am sure that this game will be worth it.

Won’t it be great to have our Sims freely explore a neighborhood? Sure you can travel somewhere by taxi but it will be so nice to walk to a neighbor’s house. Heck even just to be able to see it instead of a vast nothingness will be a welcomed change.

More customization options when designing your Sims home also sounds intriguing. It will be like giving the player the power to create their own personalized objects. No more trying to work Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop to get what you want. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping.

I’m sure as the release date gets closer, there will be more news as well as screenshots. I’m pretty satisfied with The Sims 2 but the more I read about The Sims 3, the more I can’t wait to play.

Sometimes it pays to click links that you aren’t sure of what exactly it might be. But this link was on Big Fish games, so I trusted it. It’s a link to Atlantis, Big Fish Games online community. You can play games online. It looks interesting and might be a better way to play games against other people than having to run CAT6 cable throughout your house.

I have 500 tokens, so it looks like I will be playing some online games soon. I hope that our satellite Internet connection can handle it. There are some games that I haven’t noticed before on their main website like Unwell Mel, Mush, and Riddle O’day.

You can play ad free for $2.50 a month. You can win prizes like cash or games. The address is atlantis.bigfish.com.

I’ve been thinking lately of selling some product from home, preferably board games. But to do that I would need to host parties to sell items. Here’s one tip I found about hosting home parties that makes a cute way to give away door prizes and get your pens back.

First let me say that I love my pens. Some of my favorite pens are marketing pens, and I never want to part with them. If I bought pens and then passed them out to use at these parties, I would want them back. Buying new pens would be an expense that I just wouldn’t want!

So, what you do is tape a number to each pen. Then pass out the pens at the party. At the end of the party, have the hostess draw a number. The person who has the pen with that number wins a prize. Once all door prizes are given out, this makes for a window to collect the losing pens.

I’m not set on selling products but if I can get in on something for relatively cheap and sell it online, then I might give it a try.

Hidden object games are great but can be tricky to find some items. Some hidden object games are definitely harder than others, and it does seem the some objects are recycled from game to game. Still they are fun, and some times having a familiarity with objects from another game can be a real benefit.

Some words have two meanings and can be tricky when trying to find exactly what they mean. It’s pretty easy to find a pocket watch but a bat could either be a bat, creature of the night, or a baseball bat. If I don’t spot those while searching, I save it for last as I’m sure using a hint will point me in the right direction for that object.

I find that playing hidden object games on my laptop is much harder than playing on the PC. I think it has to do with the screen as if you’re not looking at it at a certain angle, some areas are too dark to spot anything, especially dark games like Ravenhearst.

My favorite is still Big City Adventure San Francisco as it was challenging yet fun. What’s your favorite hidden object game or tip for playing?

Want to play a few hands of poker but don’t want to invite over friends or drag out the poker tables? Well, lucky for you can play the casual game Poker Superstars III.
This latest in the franchise features new stars and new challenges.

Become a superstar in the game by importing your picture into the game. There are interactive opponent pictures that helps to a ‘face’ to your opponents. Play against the superstars, track your winnings, and have a good time. Who knows. Get really good and you might be the next Poker Superstar. It could happen.

So, they’ve gotten married and been on their dream honeymoon. Now Robert and Jenny are moving into their first home in this third installment of the hidden object Dream Day series.

They’ll need help from choosing their first home to choosing their patio furniture. Aside from the hidden object level of this game, there are several mini-games to master.

You will help to solve home owner crisis and find your inner interior decorator. For Dream Day fans, this is a continuation of a very popular hidden object casual game. If you haven’t played any of the Dream Day series yet, now you have three hidden object titles to choose from. It might be best to pick up the story at the beginning with Dream Day Wedding.

Boy am I glad that I don’t dismiss every newsletter that comes to my inbox because I would have missed this news.

The latest version of Peggle, Peggle Nights, is due to be released this summer. This is one of my favorite casual games. Think of Peggle as pinball but with less control because once you shoot the ball, then you have little control over it. You have to clear the board of all orange objects to advance. Clearing the board completely will earn you extra points.

Peggle is from Popcap Games and is a lot of fun. It’s also a fairly long casual game although you may complete the ten levels. There are many other challenges to this fun casual game.

Peggle Nights is set to be released at the end of July.

Now here is a free online game that not only is surprisingly fun but addicting as well. It’s called TypeRacer and you can practice your typing skills while competing with others.

What slows me down is mistakes. You have to fix them before you can go on to the next word. I’m not a fast typist as my fingernails get in the way. You can even put in on your My Space page or other social networking site to challenge your friends. It’s a fun, fast game and a great time waster.