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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!

Be sure to click through to Vimeo to watch in HD (if your connection allows). Also, for the record, I love this music and the whole thing is excellent!

Looks like it takes a good game for people to start talking Tablet PC again. And this game does appear to be good clean geeky fun! The game is called Crayon Physics Deluxe, but it is not ready just yet, apparently.

I’ve also been thinking lately about the convergence of TV and Internet. We all knew for a long time that it’s coming, but beyond the technical "functional" difference in how the video signal reaches you, the viewer, there is a whole Paradigm shift also.

What I am talking about is the same dilemma that you have today with vast ocean of Internet. How to choose what to read? and how much to read? Now you will have the same dilemma with your video content.

I think this is why YouTube is so successful. It actually helps you figure out what to watch "next", after you viewed something of interest, it shows you similar videos and keeps you hooked. And then there’s the whole organizing of favorite videos which we all like to do, to be able to go back and watch them again later, or show your kids, where appropriate . Just food for thought right now, your comments and ideas are welcome!

"We are boring people to death" – I believe is the exact quote from non other than Electronic Arts CEO. He was referring to the endless sequels to established games, which bring little more than shinier graphics and few more features.

He has a point! Gaming companies need to get the ball rolling on more innovate gameplay! Still, as technology matures, there is always time to revisit the tried and true formula of Wolfenstein’s 3D first person shooter genre. Just few recent games come to mind that raise the bar across the board and really take this style to the next level. They bring us amazing improvements in graphic visuals, realistic sound, and most importantly very real physics. Two such games come to mind for this holiday season, and the most technologically advanced one is Crysis.

Just watch this short 30 second trailer. Make sure to watch it full screen to see high quality of real in-game visuals. Of course you will need DirectX 10 Windows Vista PC, with decent nVidia GeForce 8000 series graphics card. But, I hear it should run on lesser PCs also, just not with such shiny graphics.

Another holiday favorite this season is Halo 3 for XBox 360. This game has come of age, and is probably the most feature complete first-person shooter today.

Personally, I mostly avoid first person shooters.

After playing Wolfstein, many years ago, then later some Doom 2 — it’s really becomes more of the same. I am also not a fan of doing first person shooters using joystick. Really, this is exactly what the mouse was created for, to aim with and shoot, while running sideways or jumping, using the keyboard, of course.

Remember, both games are rated M for Mature! And I really think they aren’t kid or even teen material.

For your family, check out Playground, an up and coming fun title from EA. Looks like they are finally trying to avoid boring people to death, though, this one is just a fresh Wii style take on the classic Party games genre

In my opinion Gaming with your Family is the new spending time with kids. This is what they are into today, and joining in their activities, and showing them "how it’s done" is something that Parents must strive for, to maintain that all important link with your kids and have their ongoing trust of being Authority on All things Life.

Changing pace from negative Cyber-terror post, lets recapture our fun. Today’s video is not music video, nor is it anyone playing at the beach.

It is very informative 8 minutes or so video, helping to explain the intricacies of Financial Markets Turmoil that occurred recently, including the infamous Sub-Prime Lending fiasco. British humor at it’s finest! Thanks, Marc, for the tip!

Now, once you watched it and ready for real educational part, and you do have some money you are saving for a rainy day, here are some of my personal investment tips:

• Stay Away from any Fund that is called Enhanced, High or Structured. In other words, stay away from Hedge funds!
• Don’t invest in anything which you can’t explain how it works. So do invest in CDs, and companies that you trust. Like my favorites of late Microsoft, Yahoo! and Kraft Foods. Use a company like ShareBuilder to simplify your investing.
• Want higher returns and willing to take on some risk? Try Prosper loans marketplace. At least here you know exactly who you giving your money to, what is their income and credit score. Plus, they have 100% identity protection guarantee, so if anything fishy is uncovered, you get 100% refund of your funds.
• Of course, good old 5.00% Savings Account is a simple option also