Every so often, me and my mum will be alone as my sister and dad will be out, and we will end up becoming bored out of our minds. Bring out the Wii...

We always end up playing Wii Play, as that is an awesome collection of mini-games that are fun enough for me to enjoy, yet simple enough for my mum to enjoy and understand. Tonight, my Dad was at work and my Sister, who is 16, was baby-sitting some kids, so me and my mum played Wii Play, doing a bit of Shooting, Mii Spotting, Fishing and Billiards (those are my mum's favourites). We also did a bit of Cow Racing, Laser Hockey, Posing and Table Tennis, however my Mum couldn't get to grips with them

When my Sister got home, my Mum went off to bed (as it was approaching midnight). Me and my Sister were thinking of games we could play together (yes, my sister is more of a gamer than my mum) but suddenly I found the copy of Ratatouille on the Wii that my Sister got for her birthday last year, and only ever played once. So I made a user, and got started.

And this is were my topic title comes in. I only got to play it for for around 15 minutes as my sister got bored and decided she wanted to play it aagain. However, those 15 minutes reminded me of how much I love shovelware and movie games. Sure, movie games are more or less 'collect 'em up' games, with hardly any originality and length. And sure, 'party' games are just a way for video game companies to cash in from all the children and families who see the word 'party' and immediately think it's awesome. However, all of these games are family fun. Wii Play gave me and my Mum an hour or so to have a laugh (even if she couldn't hold the Wii Remote properly ), and Ratatouille gave me a fun, 3D Platformer experience with lots of laughs from Emile, the dopy rat. I am definitely going to start playing a few more of these games.

The thing is though, too many people immediately push these games aside. This is as critics and 'hardcore' gamers seem to think that, to be even half decent, video games must include guns, be immensely hard, be extremely long, and have decent graphics. Sure, there are a lot of great FPSs out there, but people should really check these games out every so often. Another thing is that many people automatically think that if a game doesn't have something new and original, or revolutionary to video games, then it must be rubbish. WRONG! They can be simple and predictable, yet still be enjoyable.

Tomorow, I am off to Town, as I need to buy a hoodie and some new headphones. However, I might take a de-tour and see if there are any bargains in the erm...bargain bin

Happy Gaming,

Calum