More than 85,000 free games available for NHS Carers

Hands up if you know an NHS Hero ! Send them news of this fab offer, which they might like to take advantage of themselves or to help keep their kids entertained.

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The UK games industry has launched a major initiative, Games for Carers, to thank our frontline NHS heroes for their inspirational work during the crisis.

Over the past three weeks the games industry has united to include the government's ‘Stay Home, Save Lives’ messaging within highly popular video games, as well as speaking directly to players across the country through social media.

Now, Games for Carers has been launched to provide frontline staff with a free game or game subscription to unwind with - either for when they get some well-earned down time, or to provide relief for their families.

"Our amazing NHS staff are working hard on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus, and it is brilliant to see the UK's video games industry uniting to say thank you through this campaign. We have worked closely with games companies to help keep people safe and I am delighted the sector is continuing to support the NHS in such an innovative way," commented Creative Industries Minister Caroline Dinenage.

NHS Staff will be able to claim their free game or subscription quickly and securely by visiting the dedicated Games For Carers site from 9am on Wednesday 29th April at giveaways.keymailer.co/nhs and entering their NHS email address.

More than 85,000 free games across a wide range of genres, age ratings and platforms will be available to download.

Games for Carers is being publicly backed by major games companies such as EA, Codemasters, Konami, Jagex, Sega, Media Molecule, Xbox and Team 17, as well as independent studios such as Studio Zaum, SFB Games, Wired Productions, Bossa Studio and Dovetail Games.

Simply having a wonderful Fortnite time !

Pierre will be having a fabulous Christmas this year as he and his sister (Juliette, as Sophie is away studying) are getting a brand new PS4 as a joint gift. Before then, he only had a PS2, so this will be a much welcomed present, especially as this means that he can FINALLY play on Fortnite ! He's been a fan for a while, as all of his friends at school play, but he could only listen to their stories and watch videos on Youtube. I can tell that I won't be hearing a peep out of him once he's started playing ! You may remember that I shared my review of the Fortnite Battle Royale Toys last month and Pierre got a lovely gift from the reviews team for Christmas.

Along with two exclusive Fortnite themed crackers (which apparently have a secret FBRC skin tucked inside), we received a fabulous present to pop under the tree - a Battle Hound and Flytrap playset, which comes with weapons and back bling that can be swapped around with the other play figures that we received.

Happy Christmas, and if you have a little Fortnite fan in your midst ...

Deck the halls with boogie bombs and gliders!

Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew! Pew-pew pew pew !!

Disclosure : We received the Christmas gift and crackers as a gift.

Fortnite Battle Royale Collection review

Hands up if you have a tween or a teen in your midst ... OK, well, next question. Do they like Fortnite? Yep, thought so ! Pierre, now aged 10, has been obsessed with it for a while, just like his friends, buying Fortnite branded pyjamas and sweatshirts and watching videos on Youtube, even if he doesn't actually have access to the game itself. The pupils where I teach, aged 11-15, are all pretty much obsessed with it too. There was much collective wailing and gnashing of teeth when it went offline for a couple of days last month, before coming back in a brand new sequel, and everyone thought it was all over !

Well, I have some good news for you, especially if you're currently browsing the shops, looking for Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers. There are a whole range of collectible characters and playsets available, with 100 figures to collect, that are perfect for bringing Fortnite to life this Christmas. Pierre was very impressed when the postie dropped them off. Forget #Fortnite, bring on #FortniteIRL ! (That's Fortnite In Real Life, if you're out of date with new jargon and looking for gifts for the grandkids !)

I quickly grabbed some snaps of the figures in the boxes, as Pierre was excitedly unpacking everything. There was one box containing two figures, Sergeant Jonesy and Carbide, along with their various weapons.

Each of the other boxes contained one figure plus accessories. We discovered Cuddle Team Leader (awwww a cute teddy bear) and Rabbit Raider (awwww a cute bunny rabbit ... er no, OK, maybe not then !). Each 2-inch figure has two accessories - one weapon and one other item, such as a backpack, or other tool.

Next were Moisty Merman and Sledgehammer.

 And finally in our selection, Brite Gunner and Wukong. The characters are available in solo packs (1 figure, £4.99), duo packs (2 figures, £7.99) and squad packs (4 figures, £14.99).

As Pierre was excitedly unpacking everything and piling up the weapons, I was getting slightly concerned that we'd never remember which accessories went with which character, but he happily told me that this doesn't matter in the slightest as they all swap them around anyway.

The weapons are highly detailed and all very different - there are huge guns, warhammers, pickaxes, battleaxes ... Each of the characters is intricately designed too, with great attention to detail on their clothing and bodily features. Any fan of Fortnite is sure to recognise them all and pick out their favourites.

They are great to collect and look very cool set out on a shelf, but they can also be played with, swapping over their weapons, accessories and back bling. There are also playsets available, featuring Port-a-Fort (£14.99), Mega Fort (£29.99), Battle Bus (£39.99), X-4 Stormwing (£29.99) and ATK-All Terrain Kart (£14.99).

They are guaranteed to put a smile on any Fortnite fan's face this Christmas and the character solo packs are also a great pocket money buy. If you want to add them to your Christmas shopping list, they are available at Smyths Toys, Very and Amazon.

Disclosure : We received the products in order to share our honest opinion.

Giveaway #714 : Win Ultimate Minecraft Master Builder book - closed - winner Michelle O' Neill

If you are a parent of a tween-aged child, I think it's a pretty safe bet that you'll have heard of the Minecraft game. If your child is a fan, they'll love the Ultimate Minecraft Master Builder book from Carlton Kids, which offers top tips and step-by-step guides to completing 30 awesome builds within the game.

Each project is rated a Quick, Intermediate or Master Build and a list of materials is provided for each construction, along with guidance on how long each build will take.

You can find tutorials on all sorts of builds, including forest camp, palace, underwater base, rollercoaster, castle, treehouse, sky fortress, mountain village, ice hotel, aircraft carrier, diner, mushroom house, igloo, beach hut and more !

The book is also full of fascinating Minecraft facts, figures and trivia, as well as hints and tips on how to master the game, plus inspirational profiles of the game's most amazing construction masterpieces. Get ready to stretch your imagination to the limit !

RRP : £14.99

Paperback

320 pages

229 x 153mm

Published Mar 2019

ISBN 9781783124398

for more information : https://www.carltonbooks.co.uk/ultimate-minecraft-master-builder-pb.html

Fancy getting your hands on a copy? Carlton Kids have kindly offered to send a copy of the book to one lucky Madhouse Family Reviews reader. Fill in your entries in the rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 4/4/19

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after 28 days, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners. Madhouse Family Reviews cannot be held responsible for any prizes that go astray. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. The winners' personal contact information will be passed on to the PR / Brand responsible and used only for delivery of their prize.

You may also like to enter my other giveaways :

Giveaway #713 : Win The Story of the Second World War for Children - closing 21/3

RNLI creates Minecraft beach survival game to teach water safety to children

Calling all parents of Minecraft fans ! If the kids are going to spend at least part of their summer holidays with their heads in their video games, this is a great way of making it educational as well as enjoyable.

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Child playing the RNLI’s Beach Builder Challenge on Minecraft to learn water safety. Credit: RNLI/Nathan Williams

This Summer, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is launching year two of the charity’s Beach Builder Challenge using the interactive video game, Minecraft, which allows children to create and build virtual worlds.

The Beach Builder Challenge, available to play from 1 August, has been created by the RNLI to teach children about beach and water safety at a time when many young people will be visiting the coast during school summer holidays.

New for this year, the RNLI has expanded the virtual world to include a Beach Island Adventure, which means as well as being able to create epic beaches, this year creative youngsters are also tasked with completing four levels in the Beach Island Adventure. The four levels are based on the charity’s Stay SAFE acronym: Spot the dangers, Take Advice, Stay close to a Friend or family member, Learn what to do in an Emergency.

The RNLI’s Community Safety Product Manager, Bridie Appleby-Gunnill says: ‘This is a fun and interactive game for 7–14 year olds to play during the summer holidays. We really hope the challenges will help Minecraft users visiting the beach this summer put their newly acquired beach safety knowledge into reality, and have fun while staying SAFE.'

Last year’s Beach Builder Challenge was a huge success with more than 8,000 children participating from all over the world, including Canada, Australia and the USA. It also proved successful in helping to reach a high number of children living in inland communities across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Feedback from 2015 suggests the game is an excellent education platform particularly as results found that 97% of participants, after playing the game, knew to go to a lifeguarded beach; and there was a 20% increase in the number of children who knew to dial 999 and ask for the coastguard if they saw someone in trouble at the beach.

Bridie adds: ‘We’ve created a fun, educational experience where a young person can engage and learn about water safety in a self-organised way and where academic ability does not limit learning. Research suggests that children learn and retain more when they can organise their own learning. Last year’s feedback has shown Minecraft to be a fantastic enabler in allowing this to happen.

‘I’m really hopeful the results of this year’s challenge will be just as encouraging. We’ll be looking for participants to take part in research, to help us further develop ways to enable water safety learning in this age group.’

This year, children using different platforms will be able to talk to one another while taking part in the challenge, to register your child’s involvement email gaming@rnli.org.uk.

The RNLI (in conjunction with ASA) runs an annual programme of outdoor swimming and water safety sessions for all 7–14 year olds at beaches and lakes across UK locations during the summer holidays. Participants of the RNLI’s Beach Builder Challenge will be able to put their learning into practice by signing up to Swim Safe. To book your free Swim Safe session visit https://swimsafe.rnli.org.

Celebrate Halloween at Club Penguin!

If you're looking for a way to keep the kids entertained during half term, you might like to know that Club Penguin, the free and totally kid-friendly online game, has introduced lots of new content for Halloween. Sophie hasn't played this for a while but I bet this might tempt her back !

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Calling all players to help solve a ghostly mystery! Gary, Club Penguin’s gadget guy, is asking players to investigate strange happenings at the Puffle Hotel where his Great Uncle Gariwald has gone missing…

Between Thursday 23rd October and Wednesday 5th November, players can:

· Join the quest to find Gary’s Great Uncle Gariwald;

· Travel through 13 floors of the Puffle Hotel and solve puzzles along the way;

· Collect special items including a Ghostly Suitcase, Magic Hat, Little Jack (a mini Jack-O-Lantern) and Eye of Newt Gumballs.

Members of Club Penguin can get the Creepy Cavern Igloo and other spooky furniture from the Furniture and Igloo catalogue, and can also accessorize with Halloween costumes from Penguin Style. Popular costumes this Halloween include Frankenpenguin, Unicorn, Werewolf and Vampire. Members can also adopt one of the rare and mischievous ghost puffles!

This video shows all the exciting things that players can do at Club Penguin at any time of year.

About Club Penguin

Club Penguin is one of the most popular virtual worlds for kids, with players logging in to explore the colourful online world in the form of a penguin character. Kids can play games, chat to other penguins, design and decorate an igloo home and adopt small pets called ‘puffles’. iOS users can also play for free on the Club Penguin app, enjoying many of the same gameplay and social features found in the online world.

for more information : http://www.clubpenguin.com/

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

#UnileverHalloween : Cottage Pie with a Pumpkin & Potato Thatch

Giveaway #430 : Win 1 of 2 Daddy I’m a Zombie 2, Dixie Saves The Day ! DVDs - closing date 31/10

Kiddie Kitchen Fun : Cheerios Frankenstein's Monsters

Children's book review : Skylanders Swap Force Master Eon's Official Guide

They're swappable! They're unstoppable! They're the Skylanders SWAP Force!

If you have a little Skylanders fan in your midst, they're bound to be impressed by the latest Skylanders Official Guide, released at the start of the summer by Puffin Books.

Master Eon, the spiritual leader of the Skylanders and the greatest Portal Master of them all, presents his own personal guide to Skylanders SWAP Force, the third installment of the game.

Readers are guided through the heroes, villains, places and power-ups to be found in the magical realm by Master Eon.

 An augmented reality feature has been added so that, by scanning the Zapp code on each page with your smart phone or tablet, you can swipe through all 256 SWAP Force character combinations, adding an extra dimension to the reading experience. You can see how that works in the video above.

It is packed with hints and tips, with a bit of myth and legend thrown in for good measure.

This is the third in the series of Master Eon's Official Guides, following his guides to Skylanders Spyro's Adventure and Skylanders Giants. It includes character profiles, game tips and a level-by-level run-down of this innovative, ground-breaking game world. This is the first of the guides to include the new Augmented Reality feature.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £7.99

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Puffin (5 Jun 2014)
• ISBN-10: 0141351632
• ISBN-13: 978-0141351636
• Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 22.8 cm

Disclosure : We received the guide in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Children's book review : The Story of World War One - Richard Brassey

Children's book review : The Apple Tart of Hope - Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

Children's book review : The School for Good & Evil - Soman Chainani

Disney Infinity Phineas & Ferb Toy Box pack review

Just in time for the Easter holidays, we were over the moon to receive the Disney Infinity Starter Pack for the Wii, along with the brand new Phineas & Ferb Toy Box pack that was launched at the start of the month.

We knew a bit about the game because the Madhouse Mini-testers have wanted one ever since its release. It's a bit like Skylanders in that you use real-world toy figures representing various characters from Disney and Pixar films along with a device called the Infinity Base and transport them into the virtual game worlds of Monsters University, the Incredibles, Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lone Ranger and Toy Story, as well as into a giant Toy Box.

The starter pack comes with the game, the Disney Infinity Base and three figures: Mr. Incredible, Jack Sparrow and Sulley, which open up the play sets for Monsters University, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Incredibles. You also get a Power Disc. The Phineas & Ferb Toy Box pack contains Phineas and Agent P figures, as well as Phineas and Ferb Texture Set and Skydome Power Discs, but they don't open up a new play set in the Story Book mode - they only work in Toy Box mode.

After starting out in the Toy Box area, discovering the different characters and switching over the figures, Juliette decided to start playing the Story Book mode and work her way through the adventure.

She set off as Jack Sparrow and had great fun running around, completing mini missions, climbing up towers, jumping across gaps, sliding down cables, breaking open chests and killing baddies (but there's absolutely no blood and guts or scariness involved).

Her face says it all - she's been having a whale of a time (and if you get totally stuck, you can google "disney infinity walkthrough" and watch other people playing it on youtube to help you out before you pull your hair out !).

The Phineas & Ferb Toy Box Pack allows you to embark on secret spy missions and defeat enemies with Agent P’s flying fedora or Phineas’ baseball blaster and tuck n’ roll moves. Both character figures are accompanied by their own unique adventures so in the Phineas adventure, players are set into a giant pinball machine and challenged to create a play field where they can destroy waves of oncoming robots and in the Agent P adventure, players participate in a top-down adventure with side-scrolling elements that pay homage to old school arcade games.

The Phineas and Ferb Toy Box Pack also includes two new power discs to give players’ Toy Boxes a makeover. The “Tri-State Area Terrain” Texture Set and the “Danville Sky” Sky Theme provides well-known location backgrounds from the show, including the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated building and a small waterslide park invented in one of the cartoon's episodes.

As we're playing on the Wii, two-player mode is only available in Toy Box mode, not Story Book mode, which is a real shame. That's apparently down to the space limitations of the Wii platform though and multiplayer mode IS available on other consoles. Another limitation that is quite disappointing is that each character can only play within its own world, so you can't transport Jack Sparrow to Monsters University for example (which could be quite funny). Other add on characters, including Phineas and Ferb, can only be played with in Toy Box mode. As long as you are aware of these restrictions when you buy it, it's a great game though and one that will be keeping the Madhouse Mini-testers amused for quite some time to come.

star rating : 4.5/5

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Nintendo DS Puzzler World 2013 review

Nintendo DS game review : iCarly Groovy Foodie

Wii game review : Monster High Skultimate Roller Maze

Giveaway #350 : Win 1 of 2 KidzPLAY official PS3 gaming controllers - closed - winners Iain Maciver & Zara

Official PS3 children’s gaming controllers developer KidzPLAY are currently circulating a survey to help get some statistics about family gaming. It's only 14 questions long (and it actually made me laugh getting the kids to fill it in !) and by taking part, you'll have the chance to win a KidzPLAY Adventure Gamepad controllers.

Fill in your entries on the Rafflecopter widget below. Please note, filling in the survey and RTing the tweet are compulsory entries.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 21/1/14

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after a week, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners.

Other giveaways you may be interested in :

Giveaway #349 : Win Drumond Park The Best of TV and Movies game - closing date 14/1

Giveaway #319 : Win Moshi Monsters game Katsuma Unleashed on 3DS - closed - winner Claire Bbdiva Butler

As I told you last week, Moshi Monsters have a brand new game called Katsuma Unleashed coming out on 3DS and DS next month. (I shared the Katsuma Unleashed trailer here.)

Join Katsuma on an exciting adventure to Moshi Picchu, the legendary citadel that is rumoured to exist high above the clouds of the Moshi mountains. A place that has lost its sense of fun because of the infiltration of Dr. Strangeglove, the Glumps, an army of Robot Moshlings and Sweet Tooth!

A brand new Moshi Monsters adventure to appeal to a broader audience of both existing and new Moshi fans.

Jump and dash your way though 6 new worlds jam-packed with multiple levels and hidden secrets!

Rescue your Moshi friends and obtain amazing new abilities that unlock exciting short-cuts and fun new areas for you to explore.

Help Katsuma defeat his arch enemies, including an army of robot Moshlings and an epic showdown with the dastardly Dr. Strangeglove!

Play exclusive mini-games and achieve roarsome high scores that unlock super items and exclusive prizes!

To celebrate the release and the fact that I have been selected as an Official Moshi Monsters Ambassador, I have a copy of the game for 3DS to give away. Fill in your entries on the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 25/9/13

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after a week, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners.

Other giveaways you may be interested in :

Giveaway #318 : Win a megapack of Pampers Baby Dry nappies - closing date 13/9

Giveaway #317 : Win a funky Dribblebuster bib - closing date 12/9

Giveaway #316 : Win a photo book worth £30 - closing date 10/9

Giveaway #303 : Win a revolutionary Magic Mitten Baby-soothing Device - closing date 15/9

We're Moshi Monsters Blogger Ambassadors !

The Madhouse Mini Testers are big fans of Moshi Monsters so we were very pleased to be selected as Official Moshi Monsters Blogger Ambassadors. We've had lots of Moshi fun in the past :

 making chocolate Moshi Monsters with Magic Choc

bringing the Moshi Monsters to life and Moshifying ourselves with the Augmented Reality book !

reviewing the Moshlings app

making Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies

Well, the fun is set to continue. The official trailer for the new Moshi Monsters game called Katsuma Unleashed has just been released and I can share it with you here :

The game, for Nintendo DS and 3DS, will be released at the start of October but I'll be back next week with news of a fab giveaway, just for you !

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Moshi Monsters Clay Buddies review

Moshi Monsters Magic Choc review

Kids' app review : Moshi Monsters Moshlings

DVD review : Ape Escape

When the opportunity came up to review Ape Escape on DVD, I had no idea what to expect but thought it sounded right up the Madhouse Mini-testers' street. The official blurb says : "Based on the best-selling video games, join Specter and his minions for wacky monkey mayhem in a series of colourful Ape Escape animated adventures. What is a super intelligent ape to do in a world dominated by people?"

For anyone (including us) who doesn't know the story of the Ape Escape games, Specter was just a regular monkey until he was given an intelligence-boosting Pipo-helmet. He then equips an army of monkeys with Pipo-helmets and sets out to take over the world and even space.

I thought the animation had a very retro feel - it reminded me of the Hannah Barbera cartoons I used to watch as a kid in the seventies and eighties - but it still really appealed to the Madhouse Mini-testers. The animation company behind the DVD is Frederator who also produce The Fairly Odd Parents, and once you know that, you can't help but notice that the illustrations are very similar.

I really couldn't get into it the first few times it was on, finding it totally disjointed and hard to follow. When I actually sat down and watched it with the kids rather than multitasking with it on in the background, I soon realised why - each episode only lasts 2 about 2 or 3 minutes so every time I walked back into the room, it was a different story !

The madcap humour is a bit juvenile but it did have me giggling from time to time. 3-year-old Pierre absolutely loves it and frequently asks to watch "the funny monkey DVD". I'm not sure why it appeals to him so much - it's very visual and doesn't need much effort to understand and the very short duration of each story seems to suit him. That's not to say that his 8 and 11-year-old big sisters don't love watching it too though. It's a cartoon with universal appeal that kids and big kids of all ages can watch together.

The Madhouse Mini-testers loved the DVD so much that I went off to investigate buying the Playstation game for them, but the game version seems to have a much more Japanese manga-feel to it so I'm not sure they'd enjoy it so much.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £7.99

• Number of discs: 1
• Classification: U
• Studio: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: 18 Feb 2013

Disclosure : We received a preview disc in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Kids' DVD review : Tree Fu Tom: Tree Fu Magic

DVD review : The Sapphires

DVD review : Nurse Jackie Season 4

Nintendo DS Puzzler World 2013 review

You're probably familiar with the Puzzler magazines filling up the bottom shelf of  your local newsagent's but did you know that they also exist in a collection of games for the Nintendo DS? I didn't, until we received the Puzzler World 2013 game to review.

If you've ever bought one of the paper versions, you'll find all the familiar games that you know and love - Crossword, Wordsearch, Fitword, Codewords, Link-a-Pix, Pathfinder, Sudoku ... I won't give you a complete list because there are over 27 puzzle types and over 1200 puzzles to complete, so it will keep you busy for a while !

If you've played the 2012 version, you'll discover a few new games alongside your old favourites, including Loko, Number Jig, Backwords and Maze-a-Pix. I found that there was a lot of variety so you don't get bored and there's something to appeal to everyone.

I like the way they have tried to make this suitable for all ages. You can create multiple profiles, so that each player can play at their own level and track their individual progress. The games start off quite simple and get progressively harder as you work through the levels. For those in difficulty, you can use handy hint tokens along the way when you get stuck, while those who find the games easy will be able to unlock extra Master Mode puzzles, some are which are quite tricky. Challenge Mode puzzles also unlock fun, visual games (which really appeal to younger players) such as Hangman, Missing Piece, Symbols and Chain Letters.

Many of the games only take a few minutes, so it's ideal for picking up when you just need a quick break - or if you know your daughter will be asking for her DS back in a couple of minutes !

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £19.99

Disclosure : We received a copy of the game in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Nintendo DS game review : iCarly Groovy Foodie

Wii game review : Monster High Skultimate Roller Maze

Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam iPieces review