Gameband+Minecraft

Minecraft, it’s taking over the world! My kids barely enter the house from school and they have managed to log on. When we visit family and friends they have they tablets with them, keeping their animals fed and their worlds ‘turning’. My 3 children have this addiction and I am so thankful Minecraft is somewhat educational and not just a ‘game’ like so many others on line.

So, how is it educational?? Well, I will tell you about the emergency we had last Sunday afternoon. It all began when Cait started screaming ‘Mum, mum, my house is on fire HELPPPP!’

As any mother would, I raced down the stairs thinking – I havent the cooker on, did I leave the straighteners on?, did they make toast?, I didn’t smell burning,  etc etc. All this was going through my head so I was delighted to learn it was her ‘Minecraft’ house. However, Cait was not delighted at all.

She then started screaming hysterically at her brother who had thrown logs on the fire to ‘help’ her. She was screaming – ‘No Adam, logs will just make it burn even more’ – and yes, it did!  She really started to wail then. Next my husband came down to see what the hysterical shouting and crying was about and where was the fire?? and why were we all standing in the living room if the house was on fire??

By this stage I couldn’t keep from laughing so I had to vacate to the hall and hide, holding my sides which were now painful from laughing!! It was so funny – not a very good mummy am I? Then Jenny, my 12 year old had a brain wave. She ‘joined worlds’ and tried putting the fire out with water, and she was saying to the others ‘Come on, run quick and get more water!’

After about 15 mins order had resumed and the emergency was over. I was left thinking – my goodness, how real the game is and the lesson they learned is not to try and put out a fire with logs!!

Wouldn’t you agree that Minecraft is educational? I have noticed quite a few other scenarios when they are caring for their animals and their worlds and their knowledge of farming has impressed me. There is really a lot to be learned from this ingenious and addictive game.

So, you can imagine my delight when I was asked to write a review for Gameband+Minecraft – I had 3 very willing testers!

The Gameband+Minecraft  will be invaluable to your kids. Not only does it look very cool and trendy when it is worn on the wrist, its a way of ‘transporting’ their world with them wherever they go.

The Gameband+Minecraft has a USB drive which can be plugged into your home computer and Minecraft can be played as usual. However, the worlds are saved on the Gameband and when you are out and about with the kids they only need the wristband to plug into any other computer or laptop and they have all their worlds with them.

My children were ‘gobsmacked’ when they seen this – I love being the one to introduce them to something new and pride myself on having the reputation for being ‘in the know’! I was the first to spot Taylor Swift had released a further video from her album 1989 and keep giving the kids a ‘dig’ saying I am the coolest mummy ever!

Anyway, back to the  Gameband+Minecraft. When we go out and about now, the tablets can stay at home – in fact, they hardly ever play their tablets now! All the kids need is the Gameband. I love that it actually attaches to their wrist for safe keeping and as I have said – it really is quite the accessory. The handpainted redstone dust pattern really looks the part and they are so proud of this!

The wristband itself is really simply to set up and use. The USB is inserted into the computer and we were asked did we want to back up our existing game, which we did. Thats it – all set to play and go! How cool, and I can imagine this will completely sell out well before Christmas this year.

The Gameband+Minecraft  is available from www.gameband.com and also from Currys for £64.99