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• Video game review: 'Mario Party 9'

  Video game review: 'Mario Party 9'

  For a long time after the first “Mario Party” was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998, there was a new one every year or two.

  The eighth game in the series was released in 2007, so it has been an unusually long time between “Mario Party” installments. But that’s probably a good thing — the series was starting to feel a bit worn after so many so quickly.

  “Mario Party 9” freshens the formula, streamlines the action and keeps things moving forward at a good clip. The main mode is set up like a virtual board game, with up to four human (or computer-controlled) characters rolling dice to travel from space to space, with a variety of effects depending on where they land.

• Video game reviews: ‘Family Game Night,’ ‘Fortune Street’

  Video game reviews: ‘Family Game Night,’ ‘Fortune Street’

  Sitting around the kitchen table playing a board game can be a great way to spend an evening, and some video games offer a similar experience, but on the couch instead.

  “Fortune Street” for the Wii is the first in a long-running series of Japanese games to be released in the U.S. It plays like a faster-paced, somewhat more complicated take on the classic “Monopoly” in many respects. Just keep in mind that it’s best played with a group.

  Up to four players select a character and take turns rolling a die to travel around the board, whose spaces represent shops, card suits and other game effects.

• Got story? Hollywood builds tales on famous brands

  Got story? Hollywood builds tales on famous brands

  Hollywood is known for snatching up best-selling books and turning them into big-screen blockbusters: "Twilight," "Harry Potter," "The Hunger Games," "The Help" and countless others.

• Video game review: ‘SoulCalibur’ fighting series back for round 5

  Video game review: ‘SoulCalibur’ fighting series back for round 5

  The “SoulCalibur” series of fighting games has long offered one-on-one combat that is easy to pick up and play but not without a degree of depth.

  That aspect of the series remains intact in “Soul- Calibur V.” But the games have also been notable for their robust single-player modes, and here the latest installment disappoints. But while its solo modes are lacking, “SCV” is a solid fighting game that builds upon and tweaks the formula laid down by its predecessors.

  This being a fighting game, two players can compete using the game’s VS. Battle mode, and those who wish to challenge other players over the Internet can do so as well.

• A Gardener's Notebook: Oh no! Not another gardening book!

  A Gardener's Notebook: Oh no! Not another gardening book!

  Sunset Western Garden Books and I go way back. I remember leafing through my mother’s old “First Edition” 1954 publication. It covered about everything one needed to know about gardening.

  Of the newer Sunset Western Garden Books in my library, the 2001 seventh edition was my bible during Master Gardener training. I didn’t think the 2007 edition had enough new material, so I passed on that one. But what gardener can resist the newly released ninth edition?

  “Not another garden book,” you say. Here’s my rationale for buying it. This edition is the first to feature plant photos exclusively. Not that I didn’t enjoy the illustrations of the older versions, but a color photo, well, they’re in color. The plant encyclopedia of the new 2012 edition has been updated and includes 1,000 more entries. There is a “Gardening, Start to Finish” section for beginning gardeners.