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I spent last two days working hard on setting my youngest son up with his own dedicated desktop PC. What is interesting, is that his prime gripe about his earlier system was that it couldn’t run Minecraft properly, especially with some add-ons!

I really like to encourage less violent and more creative games and this one is definitely it.

Game graphics is nothing fancy in this one, and the whole thing is written in Java – not exactly known for it’s lightening speed nor optimized memory management. So, a good XP system with 1 gb memory was really struggling, and after just few minutes of play was grinding to a halt. Interesting, putting Ubuntu on there didn’t help any, and resulted in slowdown seemingly even faster!

So off I went to find a new system for my son with virtually no budget, but with goal to have him run latest games. So I started with refurbished open-box system from local Microcenter. It already had 6 gb DDR3 memory with Intel i3 and 1Tb drive! To this I added nVidia 440 GT graphics and 20” LED backlit display, and still stayed at around $500 mark!!!

The PC is screaming fast with Windows 7 64Bit and has no troubles with Minecraft at all. In fact, it also runs World of Warcraft at max settings with no problems either, especially after we discovered DirectX 11 support hidden in Advanced options in WoW!

So to all those analysts who project every few years that we would never need a more powerful computers, except if Voice Recognition or HD Video Editing takes off. While those scenarios never materialized – good old Gaming is keeping our demand for ever faster computers with prettier graphics Alive And Well!

So be sure your computer is powerful enough and dive in!

First, this is a response to a blog post here (via Techmeme). If you are too lazy to read it, here’s an executive summary: Google is saying they will delete 2 years worth of email and all other Google Account data for 10 years old Alex (Who is naturally crying now). All because he is under 13, which they just now learned about.

This one really hit home for me – as most of you probably know, we are completely Internet family here. Really – my 7 year old has his own laptop on his play table. It’s there for many years now and he feels extremely at home with it. My other kids are not under 13, but definitely were using Google and Microsoft and other services, for many years as well.

I must be missing something – but I definitely know that Yahoo has Family accounts Specifically for children under 13. In fact, that is how our 7 year old Elijah is able to safely enjoy email! Furthermore, there are now myriad of Online Social Games Designed for Children – such as Lego Universe he enjoys immensely this summer.

If other big companies, including Disney, Nickelodeon and many others, figured out how to let Children onto their site – is Google just incompetent or lazy?

And what about Facebook? There are TONS of children on Facebook under 13, we know for sure. They aren’t safe, because Facebook has no good parental controls or mechanisms! Either way – we keep telling our son that he needs to wait until he is 13, as lying is not something we do. There are countless times he gets upset about this, if only to be able to play those fun Facebook games (by Zynga and others) he keeps seeing others enjoy. Ridiculous – even Facebook has no excuse not to have some viable Parental controls and let kids onto their site! Does Facebook and Google think they are still young “dorm” startups, with no time or budget to ‘figure it out’?

Dealing with important Real World issues like parental-controls is what being big business is all about!!! Do they want the next generation to grow up holding a grudge against these companies, for not letting them onto their sites sooner?

I am back from vacation, and it was very rejuvenating. To totally relax this time I spent few free minutes between activities on some casual gaming, mostly on Facebook and Steam. I have been a long fan of Steam, but the improvements in Facebook games were a surprise for me. I love how Steam lets you purchase digitally and then just install and play on your different computers, as much as needed, with no discs to store or find.

My main observation is that Facebook gaming finally starting to realize the social aspect. Some in pure competitive fashion (like highest score in Biggest Brain), while many others are all about socializing (YoVille) and sharing gifts and showing off Farms and Restaurants you built. It is good fun and a new way to “stay in touch” with people you care about.

Onto the main topic – Facebook gained major momentum for our family during this season’s family vacation. We met many family members in-person, and most of their kids already had Facebook (what’s with silly 13 years old limit on Facebook?). So my kids signed up and were able to connect to their relatives and stay in touch, even though they often meet in-person once a year or less!

But, with all the benefits, I got really worried today. Earlier I became a fan of Lily Allen on Facebook. I really love her fun and honest lyrics, combined excellent music style. So what do I see right after? “Love Lily Allen – Check This Out” Ad appearing on Facebook. Clearly targeted, no doubt and once I clicked it, it took me straight into iTunes to some singer’s album, I never heard of!

I haven’t decided if this a benefit or a burden? It is definitely strange how Facebook doesn’t use same common sense to stop pitching me “Dating” sites, since my profile clearly indicates “Married”!!!

If they approach this carefully, it can be real boon for Advertisers. Facebook knows my real location (home address, and sometimes mobile location via Facebook Mobile on iPhone), and my likes/dislikes. I am Papa Johns pizza fan on there also, how long before other pizzerias will start bombarding me with their best offers to win me over? Rather scary… A good short Sci-Fi story comes to mind. You can listen to it for free on the excellent EscapePod.org (warning, rated R). That’s where I heard it, along with Advertising Warfare concept mentioned.

I am thrilled this weekend! Ecstatic! I have been looking for a knockoff or even this original classic game, for at least a year now, hoping to introduce my kids to it and have some fun playing together!

This weekend I happen to visit the excellent Wikipedia page for this game, and noticed a link to a completely payable Flash Version of this game!! Even has the original Music and Sound Effects, amazing!!!

What is this game, you ask? It’s a board-game style Game of Life simulator. You simply play week by week, figuring out how much of the week’s time to allocate for various activities. Choose between eating (dohh), relaxing at home, working, or learning in Hi-Tech U. Of course you need to manage your budget through all of this and decide when to buy shiny new TV, move to better housing or try to find a better job.

This is just high level, the game has great depth, and definitely teaches you some real skills useful in life out there.

Kids and I already played one big game, late into Friday! Silly computer won, but my youngest came in close second, and me 3rd (What!? I forgot how to play, Okay!). And today, I plan to have a big challenge match, at least one. Kids love it also, starting to realize that it isn’t an easy game to master. Really fun for the whole family! There are enough surprises (winning lottery, getting robbed, getting fired, etc) to keep it interesting from match to match.

Of course, lots of credit goes out to Sierra! I really loved them and their games. So sad that they lost their way and disappeared into corporate jungle of America nowadays. Also, Kevin Boye, whoever you are, Thanks a Ton for porting this to flash!!!

Play it now, right here!

Looking at this image from NYTimes this morning, it hit me that I already know and use the secret best-ever diet. This one is a sure-hit for 21 century and beyond.

Here’s how it works – put yourself on scheduled meals, and of course try to keep them balanced. I don’t think you have to go to extremes, like that study, but do add veggies and salad to most of your meals. This is not the secret part, the secret is rather simple:

Every time you want to snack on something (surely unhealthy) or eat outside your schedule, simply go play Computer/Xbox or some other Game instead. I find that most good games are engaging enough, to keep your mind off food! If it doesn’t work for you, keep searching for that personal Favorite game, which is sure to take your mind off that nasty snacking habit.

For our family, World of Warcraft is the best diet! Just make sure the Gaming PC is not in the kitchen, and you will find that you can’t leave 4 real people, who depend on you, getting killed by horrible monsters just because you decided that you Must have a snack Right Now!

Ah, also, for Hours of clean family fun, check out Kingdom of Keflings. It takes the classic formula of building and does it right, albeit it’s a little short for us, but I am sure expansions and ‘Second Edition’ are on the way.

And yes, your Brain burns calories also, so be sure to pick game where you use it, which is most all of them