Strollerderby : videogames

Bad Parent: The Littlest Gamer

editors — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Today on Babble.com.

Bad Parent:The Littlest Gamer

by Annie Bacon.

I turned my toddler into a videogame addict.

Read it here.

Guitar Hero Camp

Brett Singer — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Ah, summer camp. Log cabins. Bug juice. Video games.

Exsqueeze me?

Power Chord Academy, a company that runs mini-music camps for aspiring rockers, has added summer sessions featuring the popular game where kids pretend to play instruments. Why anyone thinks this is a good thing to have their kids do during the summer is beyond me. To be fair, the sessions are short, as in two or three days. That only adds to the head-scratcher quality of the enterprise for me, however.

Many have hailed Guitar Hero and Rock Band as fantastic gateways for kids to start learning how to play a musical instrument. I am not one of those people. I play guitar, and I've played Guitar Hero. It's different. I actually had some difficulty at first learning to "play" my "guitar" the way the game wanted me to rather than the way I would play an actual guitar. Why? Because it's different.

I do think that the game exposes kids to music that they would otherwise probably dismiss as "lame" or "for old people." Guitar Hero 3 includes music by Mountain, Social Distortion, Heart -- guitar rock. Even a song like "Sabotage" by The Beastie Boys, which shows up in Rock Band, is retro to these kids today. (These kids today. With their hippity-hop music, and that Justin Timberwolf...)

There's nothing wrong with the game. I've played it, it's kind of fun, and I'm sure if I was 10 I would enjoy it more than I do at...the age that I am. But sending kids to camp to play a video game? No way.

Image: Amazon

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Is Barack Obama Anti-Video Games?

Brett Singer — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Not everyone is overjoyed that Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States last week. (Was it only last week?)

Of course there are people who voted for John McCain. They're not too thrilled. But some hardcore video game players are concerned that our new President-elect may not be so friendly to their favorite pastime.

From the New York Times:

"Blog posts scoring Mr. Obama’s positions on video games have received hundreds of comments, with some readers worrying that his admonitions during the campaign to 'put the video games away' signaled new regulations or restrictions on the industry."

Here's what our new prez said:

"We’re going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children."

Whoa. If that isn't a call to arms, I don't know what is.

In reality, I would imagine that Barack Obama is more likely than any other President to be friendly to the gaming industry as a whole. First of all, his campaign made extensive use of the Internet and other technological tools, including advertising in video games. Plus there is ample evidence that he is at least a little bit geeky. For example, he collects comic books, and made a pretty nerdy Superman reference at the Alfred E. Smith charity dinner (video is below):

In reality, I don't think any politician really wants to "ban" video games. Titles like Grand Theft Auto and other violent or sexually explicit games make "a convenient scapegoat", as the Times quotes a commenter from 1up.com. Just because a guy doesn't spend 12 hours blasting zombies every day doesn't mean he wants to stop other people from doing it. Besides, I think he might have one or two (or a hundred) more important things to worry about come January. Somewhat like the earlier concern that he had stopped telling supporters that he loved them, I think we might be expecting a little bit too much from the guy.

Source: New York Times, Image: Newser

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5 reasons it's a good thing I had boys

Brett Singer — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:05:00 GMT

I was going to say, "I'm glad I have boys" but that didn't sound quite right. That is, I would love girl-children just as much as I love my guys. But there are a few ways that having boys has made my life – mine, specifically – a little bit easier.

1. No pink ponies: It doesn't seem like having a Y chromosome should automatically mean that one is interested in superheroes, videogames, and action figures inspired by superheroes and videogames. But experience says otherwise. While there are definitely girls who love trucks and boys who follow the Frasier and Niles Crane path – a love of opera, Broadway and snappy clothing – my guys are way into Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Pokémon, Wii, Playstation 2, and so on. If I had to learn whatever there is to know about My Little Pony, I think my brain would crawl out of my ear.

2. Miley-free zone: Thus far Things 1 and 2 have shown zero interest in Billy Ray Cyrus' little ~~meal ticket~~ girl, which means I can continue to go through life knowing almost nothing about her. Maybe this will change when they get older, but hopefully by then Miley Ray Hannah Montana Stewart Cyrus will have either pulled a Britney Spears and had a meltdown, grown up and started singing jazz standards, or retired to spend her days sitting on a giant pile of cash gazing longingly at Nick Jonas. OK, I guess I sort of know something about her, but that's just from trying to keep up with pop culture. I have nothing against Miley or the Jonases, but not having to listen to their music or attend their concerts is something I will never, ever complain about.

3. No batting of eyelashes: My wife has pointed out many times that if we had had girls, odds are I would be putty in their hands. I wish I could say I disagree but I think she's probably right. Little girls are so cute, and seeing them cry is much more painful than seeing boys cry. I know that's stupid, sexist, and stupid (did I say that one already?). But I've seen, more than once, little girls who lead their dads around by the nose. It's probably best if we never find out whether or not I would join their ranks.

4. Less irrational over-protectiveness: Again, I am fully aware that this is unfair, stupid and sexist. But if I had girl-children, I would be very tempted not to let them leave the house until they were 30. I guess going to school would be OK, as long as they dressed like those Mormon sect people.

5. No High School Musical: When this monstrosity first started airing on the Disney Channel and the CD went to number one, I tried to watch it out of curiosity. I made it through about 15 minutes before I realized that it would probably be more fun to chew glass. The songs are lame, the characters are dull, the story is… Feh. Anyway, the boys seem immune to whatever charms that thing has, and for that, I am grateful.

image: Amazon.com

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RetroFitted: Another Outbreak of Pac-Man Fever?

Jen Chaney — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:58:00 GMT

In the early '80s, an epidemic swept through this nation, infecting millions. They called this affliction Pac-Man Fever. And it drove unsuspecting Americans out of their minds.

The wildly popular video game was inescapable shortly after it was released in 1980. It dominated arcades, then spawned various handheld, tabletop and cartridge versions. And there was all the other Pac-Man merchandise: T-shirts, a Saturday morning cartoon show, Buckner and Garcia's aforementioned hit song, "Pac-Man Fever," and even the breakfast cereal advertised in this stellar commercial:

While the mania subsisded, Pac-Man never went away. The game continues to get re-released and that little yellow chomper remains a recognizable icon. Which is why one movie studio probably thinks it's very smart to turn Pac-Man into a major motion picture.

And that might be the dumbest idea since that time when I briefly contemplated writing a novel based on the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Seriously, even if today's kids and hardcore gamers remain intrigued by Pac-Man and his old lady, Ms. Pac-Man, it's hard to imagine that they'd pay to see a movie about them. Even harder to imagine: What that movie would be about.

I mean, I saw the holiday special "Christmas Comes to Pac-Land." Trust me, there isn't much material to mine there.

As a game, Pac-Man remains a classic because of its simplicity: Everyone intuitively understands the concept of munching on dots and avoiding Inky, Blinky and Clyde. But trying to elevate the video game into something more than it is? That's a bad RetroFit.

RetroFitted appears every Thursday morning on Strollerderby.