Mom's Minute Podcast

Pixels the movie and other fun video game topics takes center stage during Ms. H's Mom's Minute Video Game Show, 158th edition.  Ms. H reviews the video game she played on her PS4, Styx Master of Shadows, which is rated M for Mature and free to PS Plus members.  She discusses  her rating criteria as well as how one would determine if she thought highly of a video game she played. Lively discussion followed on the Pixels movie including if Ms. H saw the movie in 3D and how much she would pay to see the movie.  Additionally, an energetic discussion followed on the level of violence in video games, versus those of video games in the past.  Ms. H makes a point that even though there were violence in video games in the past, due to modern technology the depiction of this violence is more jarring and realistically displayed. Ms. H uses the example of Grand Theft Auto V as an example of a video game of the violent type. Ms. H mentions one of the first video games Pong as an example of a non-violent video game, even though, of course if one used their imagination, it could be viewed as so.  The video game character of the week is the fictional super hero, Lady Lisa featured in the Pixels movie from the fictional video game Do Jo Quest.  Following along these same lines, Ms. H features the actress Ashley Benson, who played Lady Lisa in the movie as the celebrity gamer of the week. For the video game field trip, Ms. H talks about her visit to the Art Institute which is a subsidiary of the Art Institute of Atlanta, GA.  She described her video game field trip as informative and talked about her interview of a student artist as well as one of the professors at the college. Ms. H focus during the Art Institute open house was to learn more about the video game related topic under the category of Media Arts.  She said other courses discussed included cooking, photography, and fashion management and design.  Regarding the cost of attending the Art Institute, even though Ms. H did not have details, she said she would add this information should she post her interviews to her facebook account.  She also added the college offered financial aid.  There's a possibility that Ms. H may attend another open house at another video game related establishment. Ms. H discusses new video game releases and received an intelligent response regarding why the exact same video game would debut on one day for one system, and on another day for a different system.  The elimination of the ban on console sales in China topped off the news with interesting information shared as to why this many not necessarily be the greatest news for console makers such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.  In other video game news, Ms. H talks about the availability of Apple watches on shelves in about 100 Best Buy stores on August 7, 2015, followed by the watches being available in 200 more Best Buy stores around the holidays.  Of course, the apple watches are available online at Best Buy.  With Best Buy having about 1,400 stores, this availability of Apple watches on shelves represent a small percentage.  Of course purchase of the Apple Watches at the Apple stores could be made since June, 2015. Regarding sales, even though sales have not been high, Apple is saying sales were greater than expected in the third quarter.  Ms. H rounds out the show with her special original saying to be held in high esteem by yourself and others by displaying actions and words filled with dignity and respect.

Adventure abounds both in the video game and real worlds as Ms. H welcomes everyone to her special 157th edition of Mom's Minute Video Game Show. The theme of the show is adventure.  Fresh from the United States winning the World Cup in soccer, Ms. H discusses a video game she played that was similar to soccer, but vehicles are involved instead of soccer players.  The video game is Rocket League, a free, full PS4 game for PS Plus members, that Ms. H played and discussed during the show. In Ms. H's opinion, the game would have been more fun if more trophies were given out during the video game.  A lively discussion followed on the firing of the host of  the show Top Gear with Ms. H emphasizing that even though this person got another job, it would have been better if he had treated people with respect and kept his job at Top Gear instead of being fired and having to  start anew somewhere else.  Ms. H entertains questions from her listeners, including whether or not she saw the new Antman movie that is currently showing in movie theaters.  Ms. H deferred the reasons for her not so stellar impression of Antman until another time, and said everyone should see the movie and come to a conclusion about the movie for themselves.  Ms. H discusses the video game character of the week, Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider video game franchise.  She pointed out that as an archeologist, Lara Croft searched Tombs as well as ruins for valuable artifacts for the purposes of protection, rather than actually raiding the tombs as indicated by the name of the video games as well as movies and other media adaptations of the Tomb Raider.  She referred everyone to http://allgames.com  for additional information on Lara Croft, available via a character study article she wrote that is titled:  Tomb Raider Lara Croft: A Character Study.  Ms. H lets everyone know that instead of featuring one celebrity gamer -- two would be featured.  The first celebrity video gamer Ms. H talked about was the Dutch singer and dancer, Natalie La Rose who currently has a hit song called, "Somebody" which is reminescent of Whitney Houston's hit song, "I Want to Dance With Somebody." Ms. H tied Natalie La Rose to the Mom's Minute Video Game Show's  adventure theme because she said that it was adventurous of Natalie La Rose to leave her native Amsterdam in the Netherlands to start a new life in America.  She added that Natalie La Rose experienced some down-turns; however, she got her break when she met with Flo Rida during an ESPY after-party in 2011, told him she would be working with him and soon after worked on the song Somebody with Flo Rida which topped the charts. Ms. H discussed the second celebrity gamer featured who is actress Jamie Lee Curtis.  Ms. H decided to feature Jamie Lee Curtis when she found out that Jamie Lee Curtis  and her husband Christopher Guest as well as her son attended the EVO tournaments recently that were held in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Ms. H discusses her video game field trip to Adventure Park, which was in keeping with the adventure theme of the show.  She said that even though video games were not involved, by her actually participating in the tree climbing/tight rope adventures, instead of being an observer, she was doing some of the actions that some adventurous video game characters performed, including the video game character of the week, Lara Croft of Tomb Raider.  She said that by a third way through the Adventure Park course, she was more comfortable with traversing along the various type tree tight rope adventures, including zip-lining  between the trees.  Ms. H said she felt safe throughout her adventurous video game field trip to Adventure Park due to the training, safety harnesses used, as well as the fact that children were allowed on some of the courses.  Ms. H enjoyed her video game field trip and may even return to succeed at completing additional adventure tree tight roping type activi...

Ms. H dedicates this, her 156th episoide of Mom's Minute Video Game Show  to the honor and memory of the late Mr. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's President and CEO, born December 6, 1959 in Sappora, Japan who sadly passed away on July 11, 2015 at the age of 55.  Ms. H welcomes all to share their thoughts on Mr. Satoru Iwata, their experiences playing Nintendo video games,  as well as other related Nintendo video game  comments throughout this special show.  Ms. H gives  background information on Mr. Iwata including how early he got started in creating video games, which was in the 1980's when he worked on an electronic game using calculators.  She chronicles Mr. Iwata's impressive career beginning as a part-time programmer at HAL Laboratory after being accepted by the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and later being hired full-time in 1982 where he worked on such video games as EarthBound and the Kirby Series.  Within eleven years, Mr. Iwata was promoted to be the President of HAL Laboratory.  In 2002, Mr. Iwata made history by being the first non-family member to succeed to become the President and CEO of Nintendo, after Hiroshi Yamauchi retired.  He was also the first President and CEO of Nintendo who was a programmer and played video games.  One of his many quotes was one he made in 2006 which is "On my business card, I am  a corporate president.  In my mind I am a programmer.  In my heart, I am a gamer."  Ms. H shares other memorable quotes from Mr. Iwata including him saying in essence that the purpose of video games is to provide fun for everyone.  Ms. H acknowledges comments from her listeners, including the playing of Nintendo video games as a way to honor the memory of  Mr. Iwata. Other comments relative to Mr. Iwata was that even though he was the President and CEO of Nintendo, he identified with the everyday person.  In fact when he was asked what he did when he worked at HAL Laboratory, his answer was that he was a programmer, marketed games, designed games, as well as ordered food and cleaned up.  Through it all, he said that he had great fun.  Additionally, when there was the chance that employees would be laid off, he steadfastly refused to do so stating how is someone expected to develop unique video games when they are worried about their jobs.  Ms. H talked about the view  that Mr. Iwata's passing was a surprise given that even though he had recent surgery and a brief recovery period, he had returned back to work as recent as June 2015.  Ms. H next discussed the accomplishments and successes Mr. Iwata realized as President and CEO of Nintendo, namely facing competitors such as Sony and Microsoft with the Nintendo DS and the Wii. She states Nintendo will have mobile gaming and there is a platform called the NX purported to be available in 2016 with Nintendo working with DeNA Co for mobile games.  Ms. H added Mr. Iwata was instrumental in having Nintendo Amiibos available for play.  Ms. H invited everyone to comment and share their Nintendo memories.  It was noted that playing Nintendo video games is not etched only in one's childhood, but playing these games can continue on many years and beyond those childhood times. Ms. H rounds out Mom's Minute Video Game Show with a quote from Mr. Iwata with the message that there is always room to make improvements in video games.  The Mom's Minute Video Game Show sends condolences to family and friends  of Mr. Satoru Iwata who was a true Nintendo video game visionary.

On this special Tesla 155th episode of Mom's Minute Video Game Show, Ms. H welcomes everyone and wishes all had a Happy 4th of July holiday. Even though the main theme of the show is Tesla, she said other topics will be discussed as well.  Ms. H reviews a video game that has the key word Tesla in its title -- specifically Ms. H reviews the video game, Tesla Effect, A Tex Murphy Adventure which is a Steam video game that she played on her Alienware PC.  Ms. H lets everyone know she had a busy video game playing week, having played not only Tesla Effect, A Tex Murphy Adventure video game, but she played the Steam video game Her Story on her Alienware PC as well as the free PlayStation 4 video game, Drive Club.  Of the video games she played, Tesla Effect, A Tex Murphy game was chosen to be reviewed on Mom's Minute Video Game Show due to her video game field trip to Tesla Motors.  Since this episode of Mom's Minute Video Game Show was airing on the first Monday in  the month of July, Ms. H features the person July was named for -- Julius Caesar -- as the video game character of the week.  Interesting discussion ensued on Julius Caesar with Ms. H stating she was givng a positive spin on him.  Ms. H lists video games Julius Caesar appears in which led to discussion on movies and television shows that feature him as well.   Zoe Saldana is the celebrity gamer of the week, with Ms. H sharing why and how the model, actress, producer and dancer was chosen in this category.  Interesting enough, Zoe Saldana played the Star Trek character Nyota Uhura, who was discussed the previous week on Mom's Minute Video Game Show when Nichelle Nichols was featured as the celebrity video gamer.  Ms. H shares her experiences during her  video game field trip to Tesla Motors located in Washington DC and gave her opinions not only of the Tesla car itself, but also the laid-back type sales pitch she received from the sales person at this location.  She lets everyone know pictures of her video game field trip to Tesla Motors will be posted on http://www.allgames.com as well as on her facebook page under Mom's Minute and encourages all to visit.   Ms. H equates her Tesla Motors trip as video game related not only because she discussed Tesla Effect, A Tex Murphy Adventure video game, but she also mentions the size of the GPS screen in the Tesla that would be suitable for video game playing, of course when the car is not being driven.  Ms. H informs everyone of new video game releases. Video game discounts by Amazon.com for Amazon prime members as well as a new character reveal for the Mortal Kombat video game top the video game news.  Ms. H rounds out Mom's Minute Video Game Show by sharing her special original saying that positive visions become realities when you take action and control.  Take the next steps to make your positive visions realities.

Space, the Final Frontier is the theme for Mom's Minute Video Game Show's special live 154th episode. Towards that end, Ms. H reviews the video game she played which has a space-like name, Planetside 2.  Planetside 2 video game is rated T for Teen and the full game is free to play on the PlayStation 4  for PS Plus members. Ms. H follows her video game review by comparing two space-based comic book characters with each other as the video game characters of the week. The characters are Saturn Girl and Silver Surfer.  Of the two characters, it is Ms. H's opinion that Silver Surfer from the Fantastic Four comic book series and the blockbuster movie The Avengers: Age of Ultron is probably more well known than Saturn Girl.  Additionally Silver Surfer appears in numerous video games, while Saturn Girl has yet to appear in a video game.  However, Ms. H has hopes superhero Saturn Girl will eventually appear in video games. The celebrity gamer of the week is Nichelle Nichols, the actress/singer who played Lt. Nyota Uhura on Star Trek.  Ms. H discusses her video game field trip to a book store called AFK Books, Movies and Music.  She stated this book store also had video games available as well as video game systems, namely the Retron 3, Retron 5 and the PS3 slim design console.  Ms. H shared the conversation she had with the salesperson on the differences between the Retron 3 and Retron 5 video game systems, with the main difference being the Retron 5 can play more games from various video game systems than the Retron 3. Ms. H lists the new video game releases with most of the video games having a generic type release date, such as second quarter 2015, or June 2015  instead of specific release dates.  Topping the video game news is gamers will be able to stream gameplays live on Youtube instead of Twitch or other online streaming sources.  Per Youtube, images will be seen or stream at a faster speed than other comparable sites/venues that host and provide for live video game streaming -- which should reduce lag during gameplay.  Ms. H added to the news the rumor of Breaking Bad, the television show possibly becoming a video game.  Of course this is speculation for now based upon Sony establishing the phrase "Breaking Bad" as a trademark.   This rumor does not specifically state a Breaking Bad video game is in the works; however, the seed has been planted for such a video game to possibly be developed.  Ms. H rounds out the Mom's Minute Video Game Show with her special original saying to brush away/ban negativities and make positivities your new normal always.

Fresh from grading the online E3 2015 video game press conferences, including covering the press conferences during her previous video game show,  Ms. H of Mom's Minute Video Game Show keeps the fun going by talking more about video games during this,  her 153rd video game show. This is an extra special video game show where Ms. H  uses the theme of land and sea, with land represented by race car drivers, and the sea depicted by her  video game characters of the week, Mermaids and her video game field trip to Harborfest.   Ms. H thanked one of her listeners for complimenting her on her allgames.com article where she graded of the E3 2015 video game press conferences.  Her reviews are available at  http://www.allgames.com/data-blog/item/11037-video-games-ms-h-grades-e3-2015-video-game-press-conferences  Check out Ms. H grades for the E3 2015 video game press conferences to find out which one came in first place. Ms. H fulfilled her promise to follow through with a full video game review of a free Xbox 360 video game, Formula 1 2013 that she talked about previously.  Ms. H scored this video game  low relative to how much she would pay for it if the game was not free.  She scored the video game low for several reasons including the game having a glitch, the long race laps and intelligible people's conversations she heard while playing the video game.  Mermaids are the video game characters of the weekk.  She named numerous video games that featured mermaids stating that due to the large number of mermaid video games, these mystical sea creatures will continue to be popular in the years to come.  Ms. H pitted two race drivers against each other -- Simona de Silvestro vs. Danica Patrick. Lively discussion followed on why this was being done with Ms. H stating she could have compared Simona de Silvestro with a male race car driver, but chose another female instead.  This led to an announcement that Simona de Silvestro  will be participating in a Formula E race where race cars are powered by electricity.  Ms. H shared her experiences at Harborfest, an outdoor festival as her video game field trip.  She told everyone her video game play of Pac Man while at the festival can be seen on her Moms Minute facebook page.  She invited everyone to visit her facebook page to take a look at the interesting pictures posted, including a mermaid video which received a like on her facebook page.  Mom's Minute facebook page has links that  point back to the popular video game website -- http://www.allgames.com.  She lists the new video game releases as well as provided summaries of some of the games.  The Ouya being taken over by Razer headlines the video game news.  Ms. H rounds out the show with her special original saying that when you smile, you not only make your day brighter, but others as well. Keep smiling.

E3 2015 press conferences nicely make up the 152nd edition of the Mom's Minute Video Game Show as Ms. H switches gears from the usual format to cover news and announcements from this annual video game event.  Ms. H broadcasts live on her show the latter part of the Ubisoft E3 2015 press conference that was in progress and overlapped the first few minutes of the Mom's Minute Video Game Show.  She lets everyone know the show will consist almost entirely of the  E3 2015 press conferences that aired prior to her live video game show.  Once the Ubisoft E3 press conference ended, Ms. H welcomed everyone to the show.  She discusses the Oculus Rift virtual reality E3 2015 press conference that was held on June 11, 2015.  She recapped some of the highlights of this press conference and provided  details of the Oculus Rift.   In Ms. H's opinion,  the Oculus Rift presentation was repetitive at times rehashing the benefits of virtual reality video games.  When asked if she would purchase an Oculus Rift, her response was not positive.  Even though the presenter stated the headset was lightweight, Ms. H felt wearing a headset would take away from the seamless virtual reality effect of playing these type video games.  She talked about the port accessory for the headset that reminded her of a gavel.  Ms. H was not impressed with the Oculus Rift stating she would pay $29.95 for the device or even $19.95 if she was in the market for it. Games that will be available for the Oculus Rift include Eve Online and Eve Valkyrie. The Oculus Rift will use the Xbox One controller for games.  Ms. H discussed a new elite Xbox controller coming out later designed to work with Windows 10 when this software is launched. Ms. H stated the Microsoft E3 2015 press conference seemed shorter in length than Oculus Rift's probably due to the greater number of video games demonstrated during the Microsoft presentations.  News from Microsoft E3 2015 press conference included yet to be released video games including the video game Rise of the Tomb Raider that is a timed Xbox One exclusive game.   It was announced that Xbox 360 games will be backwards compatible to the Xbox One.  This means that Xbox 360 video games will be playable on the Xbox One, with games to be transferred automatically.   Currently about 100 titles will be transferred with more to be done in the future. The highlight of the EA E3 2015 press conference was the on-stage appearance of Pele from Brazil who is recognized as the greatest football player in the world.  Lively discussion followed on Ms. H's views on having pictures taken and placed in video game play.  Regarding the Ubisoft E3 2015 press conference, Ms. H lets everyone know Angela Bassett has a part in the video game Rainbow Six Siege as well as appeared on stage with the host along with musical guest Jason Derulo.  Ms. H welcomes a caller who shared video game sales from a website. She reminds everyone that http://www.allgames.com is the place to be for E3 news.  Additionally, live broadcasts were at http://www.allgames.com relative to the E3 2015 press conferences.  Ms. H rounds out the video game show with her special original saying to be resilient, bounce back and like the 96 year old dancer alluded to --  do not let anything get the best of you.

On this special 151st all things cars edition of Mom's Minute Video Game Show, Ms. H welcomes everyone to the show.  She lets everyone know the show will be about  cars, cars and more cars.  She discusses the free video game she played, Formula 1 2013 that she played on her Xbox 360.  The video game was free since she is an Xbox live member. Ms. H invited everyone to the next live Mom's Minute Video Game Show at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 4:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time at http://www.allgames.com/lve for the continuation of her video game review.   The video game item featured is Batman's batmobile.   She chronicles the beginning of the batmobile beginning with Detectives Comics in 1939 on up to the present day.  Ms. H talks about the various ways the batmobile has changed and a lively discussion followed on whether Batman should have a dedicated batmobile.  She lists the video games the batmobile has made appearances.   Discussion followed on the celebrity gamer of the week, race car driver Danica Patrick.  She shares how Danica Patrick got started in racing. Ms. H  finds out it takes having an excellent team, a good sponsor as well as a high performance race car to have a chance to be a winner in car racing.  Informative discussion followed on the various kinds and types of race cars, engines as well as other successful race car drivers including women race  car drivers.  Interesting discussion followed on Danica Patrick's  reasons for racing, whether it is to win races or to have a lucrative career as a Nascar race car driver.  Ms. H applauds Danica Patrick for doing what she enjoys by continuing to race cars and lists some of her upcoming races.  She recognizes the recently retired race car driver, Jeff Gordon for leaving the door open for his young daughter to start racing should she decide to become a race car driver.  Ms. H discusses her video game field trip to Springfest 6 Car Show 2015 as well as some of the highlights of the video game show, including Lamborghinis as well as customized cars.  She invites everyone to visit http://www.allgames.com  to see the pictures of the events as well as the cars featured at Springfest 6 2015 Car Show.  She  tells everone  the interview with model Kristina Hong will be posted as well. Ms. H lists the new video games with the video game release dates.  Apple's reveal of new software update available to the public in the fall tops off the video game news as well as other Apple announcements  Ms. H rounds out the video game  show with her special original saying that when you look for solutions, the answer may be right where you are.  Stay positive.

On the special 150th edition of Mom's Minute Video Game Show, Ms. H welcomes everyone to this, the first show on the first day of June.  Ms. H lets everyone know the special guest of the show is Sarah Rodriguez, also known as Sarah the Rebel.  In keeping with discussing the god or goddess that was named for that month on the first Monday of that particular month -- the video game character of the week is Juno, the goddess for the month of June.  Ms. H shares her experiences during her video game field  trip to Awesome Con.  She compares Awesome Con with the convention she attended previously, Tidewater Comic Con. There were variouis differences between these conventions; namely, the size of the events as well as the ease in getting a press badge for Awesome Con. She provided positive reviews of Awesome Con saying she covered Awesome Con for Allgames.com; and anticipated having a photo op with Star Trek's William Shatner.  She had her photo op with George Takai from Star Trek and added that George Takai was  personable.   She shared her own photo op experience with everyone. Awesome Con had a separate large area for console and PC video gaming.  Ms. H encouraged everyone to visit her Mom's Minute facebook page where she posted interviews as well as exciting pictures of cosplays and other interesting sights at Awesome Con. Special guest Sarah Rodriguez is introduced to everyone.  She was formerly at Nerdy but Flirty.  In response to Ms. H's  question about her phrase, "a safe place for women", she stated that even though it was a safe place for women, the website ending up being not all female, but a mix of male and female.  Ms. H adds that she prefers an open video game community that's inclusive of all. Sarah Rodriguez was contacted by Marvel via a phone call to be the author of the book Agent Carter -- Declassified which will be available for purchase soon.  She describes the book as a coffee table type one that provides information about Agent Carter. Sometimes the author is shown as Marvel instead of her byline to let buyers know the book is a genuine Marvel book.  She shares her views on how women are perceived in video games.  She adds that in the Agent Carter book there were some words that were censored such as "feminist."  Regarding the Agent Carter television series. she reveals the story was basically a bait and switch with the audience intentionally misled in the series.  Discussion followed on the addition of a younger female "sidekick" that played on the series alongside Agent Carter with a statement made that this character appeared out of character since she is more of an action actress.  Sarah Rodriguez stated many actresses like acting in different type roles and do not like to be pigeonholed in  specific type roles.  Sarah Rodriguez  shares her views of feminism and reveals she always plays as the female character and imagines herself as a female if the video game character happens to be male.   When asked what she is currently working on, she alluded that it is a video game, from out of the country.  When Angry Birds was suggested as a possible likeness of the unannounced video game, her silence led some to believe the game may in some way be similar to Angry Birds.  Sarah Rodriguez is thanked for being interviewed and for being the special guest on Mom's Minute Video Game Show.  Ms. H rounds out the show with her special original saying that reading the fine print has no place in your happiness.  Know what positivities move you and go for your happiness.

On this special Memorial Day 149th edition of Mom's Minute Video Game Show, Ms. H welcomes everyone and wishes all a Happy Memorial Day.  She begins the show by continuing her previous review of the video game Ether One.  Ms. H enjoyed playing Ether One and recommends trophies be given throughout the game to add positive reinforcements to a video game that seemed to have an innovative gameplay theme.  She also recommended a map be added as well. Ms. H discusses the video game character of the week who shares part of her name with Ms. H -- Ms. Marvel.  Ms. H discusses Ms. Marvel's different names, as well as her powers.  Ms. H mentions the writer for the Ms. Marvel comic book which led to her discussing her interview with the Witchblade comic book writer Ron Marz who she interviewed during the recent Tidewater Comic Con event.  Ms. H is elated that her facebook post of the interview had already reached over 4,000 views after just one night.  She thanked all who viewed her interview and requested they visit her facebook page under Mom's Minute and like the page at https://www.facebook.com/momsminutepodcast .  Ms. H's  Mom's Minute Video Game interview with Ron Marz audio portion was played live during the show, with Ms. H requesting everyone to visit her facebook page to see the visual as well.  She also suggests everyone check out the Hollywood Actresses reading video games review of Street Fighter on youtube at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctLyLMMMjO4.  Ms. H is happy to spend the Memorial Day broadcasting her show on the holiday, just as she has done on previous Memorial Day holidays and will be doing for many more.  In keeping with the Memorial Day holiday honoring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country, Ms. H features as the celebrity/hero of the show, the late Ashley White stating that she set the example not only for women serving our country, but for men as well.  Ms. H discusses her video game field trip to the Strawberry Festival, letting everyone know that even though video games or arcades were  not at the festival, it was a fun place to visit.  Ms. H discusses new video game releases.  She tops off  the show with news that research has revealed that playing video games helps the learning process; however, she stressed to limit video game playing and to not overdo this activity.  Ms. H  rounds out the show with her special original saying that when you think you have done your very best, try to do any better, since there is always room for improvement.