5 comments about The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain.

1. Dr. Brain holds a special place in my... well, brain._Castle_, _Island_, and _Lost Mind_ of Dr. Brain present puzzles toyou, Dr. Brain's assistant, under several different bizzare premises - in this one, the great Doctor has accidentally exchanged brains with his lab rat, and you must set things right.

   These games are stocked with the best variety of puzzles ever seen, covering algebra, classical music, art history, scientific measurement, logical sequence, jigsaw puzzles, engineering, language skills, and so much more. What's even better, these games can be played over and over again, at varying levels of difficulty. As usual with Havis Interactive, the actual age level for this game extends above and beyond what's printed on the box. This is a game worth getting, because a young child can keep playing it through many years. If only they sold the whole series! _Castle_, the oldest, is by far the best... END




2. This game is relly fun eny time at sochol and I the best game in it is train of thoght



3. I gave this puzzle to a friend who works with brain injured children. Not only did the kids help Dr. Brain get his mind together again, but the puzzles helped the kids to regain some of the ground lost with their injuries.

   The organization of the puzzles echos much of the theories of the seven intelligences.

   Best of all, it's a lot of fun!




4. This puzzle game truly bends your mind. Each puzzle is challenging, even on the easy level. Three levels of play would even give those at Mensa a difficult time. The three dimensional work has helped me picture things for my geometry homework more easily. Although the game does not actually focus on parts of the brain, it focuses on all aspects of logic and reasoning skills. Definently worth buying for all young puzzl solvers.



5. I had this game when I was younger and I thank my lucky stars that my parents bought it for me! I can name all of the elements on the periodic table by their symbols, and sight-read music a little bit. This game provides children with skills they won't realize the utility of for a few years, but it put me way ahead in my high school chemistry and AP Psychology classes!!

5 comments about Magic School Bus Explores the Human Body.

1. As with most MSB CD's, my 4-yr old found this to be a very exciting adventure. The CD takes you through all parts of the body. He has learned about all the parts of the body and the various functions they perform. In fact, as we eat these days he explains to me the whole digestive process. Only negative I, as the parent, found was you have to change the color format on the CD to 256 color in order for it to work at all (thus the 4 stars). Aside from that, I would highly recommend it!



2. When I was 11-12, my best friend had this game and we played it all the time. I became fascinated with the digestive system because of this game. It actually lets you travel down the large intestines (so cool to a kid). I am now 22 and have thought about that game many time as I study anatomy and work in an Emergency Room. I am so glad that I can have the game for my own nostalgic reasons. I highly recommend this sofware. Kids will be enthralled with this game. I know I was (and still am).



3. Ok, I'm about 11 1/2 years old and I have grown up with the magic school bus. Watching,playing,reading, I'd never let any of these go. I feel that buying the magic school bus human body is a great choice for the msb lover. I was a little dissapointed when my windows xp wouldn't run it in the way I used to enjoy it, but if you run it on a windows 98, traveling sequences will be full screen, the way that I used to view it. The graphics for the game are good quality, and these are a keepsake considering they are so very rare to find now, I'm lucky I still have my old games and are playable. The games are awesome and quite challenging. Sure I'm saying this because the magic school bus is one of the best things that happened in my life, but these games seem incredibly hard to find these days and they will become valuable in the distant future. To keep it short, (which I haven't done this entire paragraph) if you and your children want to be able to learn ahead of the other kids who could care less about what I'm saying and have fun with lovable characters and experiment without the mess, go ahead and buy this unforgetable keepsake.



4. In my day health class was the most boring place to be but with this kind of game, kids will love it so much because this game makes learning all the more fun and is presentable in an age-appropriate manner to them with all their graphics, colours, music, facts and so forth



5. The game is great! You get to explore the mouth,esophagus,stomach,liver,kidneys,brain,skin,heart and lungs. You can even play games,transform the bus and do experiments. You can also pull out the periscope and the "Arnold-Vision" screen to see how he is doing. And if your "Bony," this game is for you,because you can connect bones back to the skeleton. The only drawback is an unexpected ending sequence. If you put the volume too loud the player might get scared!

5 comments about Art Explosion 750,000 For MAC.

1. Sure Art Explosion has nifty stock images that can help in a pinch with small graphic solutions, but what to do with 48 CDs that come shrink-wrapped on a spindle with no lid? In the past the CDs would come supplied with a carrying case. So don't expect one to come with this collection or to get a response from Nova even though they advertise a money back guarantee.



2. My daughter works as a computer graphic's artist as her profession. Because of this I found out she wanted the Art Explosion 750,000 For MAC as an adjunct for her job. So I ordered one as a birthday gift.
   
   Since we don't live near to one another I had it shipped as a birthday gift to her home.
   
   Only weeks later did I find out that part of the delivery came through damaged, and she was then dealing to have the problem rectified!
   
   I asked if she wanted me as purchaser to follow up, but she told me she would deal with it.
   
   I'm sure she will eventually get satisfaction either from Amazon or whomever is eventually responsible.



3. As a graphic designer, I'm always looking for tools like this. When I bought this for our shop, we were planning on using the icons for quick placement in our statement designs. We also looked forward to using the fonts and other clip art eps features for various quicky projects. Unfortunately, the interface is difficult to use, and loading the CDs is tedious.
   
   The stock photos are worthless. I have yet to use one of their 1970s photos for anything other than a good laugh.
   
   The font database has nothing usable.
   
   Overall, this was a waste of $100. Our shop has used it probably half a dozen times, and I don't imagine we'll use it much from here forward.



4. This is horribly misleading. Not only did 3 of the DVDs not load (just spun and spun), but the two that did gave me a glimpse of the "art" they claim to be so great and high quality. The clip art is amateurish, the background images are ... ugh, they're just gross. And the photography is a complete joke. It's all circa 1970s and 80s, the quality is very poor. They appear to be scanned in and have the quality of a shaky grandmother's album. And high quality? Ha! The images not only are lo-res (180 dpi), but they are also small in size (4x5")! This is a complete and utter joke. Don't bother.



5. The bulk of my projects as a freelance graphic designer is designing books for national publication. This collection is a treasure trove of images -- I can always find just the right graphic for my bookblock layouts. All 5 discs operate perfectly and I really love the 1800+ page image library catalog. It's very well indexed so I don't have to spend a lot of time browsing through the discs to find what I'm looking for. It has already paid for itself many times over, both in time and cost.

1 comments about Super Solvers Reading.

1. The games are so much fun.I am making better grades at school on my spelling test.The arcade games are my favorite.I enjoy reading the fun stories.I hope you have your parents go buy it for you.

3 comments about The Complete National Geographic.

1. Just for the sheer history of it. Do you remember those pre-Home Computer, after school hours spent in the library, researching the different sets of encyclopedias and those wonderful National Geographic magazines? When the opportunity to own the complete catalogue from the very first issue arose, my wife and I jumped at the chance. For she also remembers many a day, traveling the world through those magazines, and the countless pages of world class photography. Not the easiest to maneuver the text on CD-Rom, but well worth the time. Have shared the wonderful resource of information with our children also.



2. We need not discuss the greatness of National Geographic Magazine; people already know it's the best source of geographic knowledge these days. This review concerns the product.
   
   As many, many people have pointed out, the JPEG compression for the magazine pages is at times atrocious. The text is barely readable at times, but thankfully, the majority is readable. The pictures look somewhat good, although compression artifacts are visible at times.
   
   For a product produced in the late 1990's, it's pretty good. However, with the advances of modern technology, higher-quality picture compression and DVDs, the Society should consider putting out another Complete National Geographic collection on DVD. If Mad magazine updated its already-good Totally Mad set with the Absolutely Mad DVD-ROM, why can't the Society be bothered to put out another edition of a product with unrivaled potential? Especially seeing as a lawsuit over this product (and its updates) has recently been resolved in the magazine's favor.
   
   The potential for a "National Geographic: Complete 119 (or 120) Years Collection DVD-ROM)" product is enormous. Who knows; they might even be working on another as I type.
   
   Anyway, the final verdict: while this product is by no means reference-quality, it is worth picking up until the Society decides to release another, higher-quality DVD edition.
   
   EDIT: I have recently found that if the program is installed from the disc which contains issues from January-December 1997, a feature to darken the text on the pages is added to the zoom-in mode. There are three settings: low, medium and high. There is also a "Reset" button to restore the text to its original form. Darkening the text improves the quality of illegible text, but causes picture quality to drop if set to maximum. Still, this feature is appreciated.



3. I bought this as a research tool, but it's almost unusable. I had no problem with the 95/98 format, because XP has a tool to overcome that.
   
   The problem is that the searches are clunky, you can't search PHOTOS at all, and the indexed searches are clearly NOT pulling all searches.
   
   If you have one hundred years to browse through this behemoth in search of what you need, then by all means, buy it. If you are planning on quick, efficient searches to pull up images or even articles you need, then you're screwed.
   
   National Geographic has a halfway decent search tool on their own web site, and most large or college libraries also have enhanced Nat Geo search tools that would be more helpful.
   
   This product is just a poorly-indexed waste of time and effort.
   
   Avoid.

No comments about Jug Head Bronze Age Series.

No comments about Wild Photo Effects (Jewel Case).

No comments about Fisher-Price ABC's (Jewel Case).

5 comments about Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover.

1. It's a wonderful CD Rom! I love giving myself new looks without taking the risks. It's so funny to see the creative hairstyles, like Frankenstein or a mohawk. It's perfect for if you want a certain haircut because you can just print out the one you want!



2. My sister and I bought this software, mostly for fun, but also to try out new looks. It was pretty easy to set up and use. As for complaints that it moved slowly, we didn't find that to be the case at all. The hardest part was getting the picture of my face lined up just right. Other than that, the Cosmopolitan Makeover software has been a success. I highly recommend it. Besides trying out hairstyles, it's just fun to mess with pictures of your family.



3. This game is okay if you like to play around with looks. It'd be better if you had more makeup choices, or other brands. The hairstyle choices are wide ranged but some hairstyles are hideous! If you are buying this game to make-over yourself be sure to have a digital camera of some sort or it won't be much fun. The other versions of the game are pretty good to as well because you can do more, but this game sells pretty cheap so if you are looking for a simple makeover then try out this orginal makeover game!



4. Don't believe the claim that this is mac compatible!!!!! WINDOWS ONLY... UGH!!!!!!!!



5. So it wasn't perfect, but it was sooo much fun. We did not use it for makeovers. We used it to give beehives to my husband. And afro's to my toddler (we're white...). It was actually pretty easy to use. Get the hair off of your face and stand against a white background and get your base picture (use plenty of flash).
   
   Using it for makeovers would not have been easy, I suspect. That's why we wound up just goofing off with it. But it was worth it for that!

5 comments about Reader Rabbit PreSchool.

1. A+ rating from my 7 year old boy. He's had other Reader Rabbit software and this one is right up his alley. There are plenty of levels for him to be challenged by and when you initially begin the program it gives the child an "assessment" so they know what level to start him off with. If he gets stuck in one level, he can skip to another part of the game doing something else and come back to what he was doing. It's perfect for a child who is high energy. This program is challenging, not too easy for him, which is good. He sneaks off to his room to play this program, just what he needs as an "educational treat." He loves the music and there's plenty of visual rewards! At any time, I can pull up and see a chart that tells me how far he's completed each task, that's really great. He will play this CD for an hour or more and not because I've asked him to. I've found his confidence level is higher now too, the CD has lots of verbal reinforcement and encouragement. I think the 2nd grade level is very appropriate too, some 2nd grade programs are too easy or hard...this one seems like it has a wide range to accommodate all second graders. I highly recommend this program for all children, especially active boys who love a challenge. BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT!



2. Our son started with this when he was 4, and just played with the mouse. He began reading and following along, and he just loves the program. We have several Reader Rabbit programs, and I HIGHLY recommend them for your little learner. A great buy!



3. I bought this program for my child over 3 years ago, my computer doesn't install it. I use Windows XP profesional with SP1. I have other programs of the Learning Company, the one who makes this one and had no problems with instalation, only with this one.



4. This is an excellent software for children who love to use the computer and learn while they are playing. We own Reader Rabbit from Preschool through Second Grade and my kids love it.



5. Peter Rabbit preschoolhas very playable games that are fun while focusing on word reconition and first letter sounds which later come together with spelling games. My kids love all the reader rabbit games they are fun and educational. The 5th star is reserveddue to the incompatiblity with MacOs. You need to run classics, which you have to download...it's touchy. We need more software for the Mac!