Parents
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Gift Guide for the new parent
From baby monitors to daily organizers, finding the right gift for the Mac-wielding new parent isn't as easy as it sounds. They're just so busy with all that "good parenting" nonsense. Here are plenty of ideas at a variety of price points that should make any parent's job a little more pleasant.iPhone/iPod touch appsI mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating. Baby Monitor ($4.99US) by CodeGoo calls you when Jr. starts to fuss. Simply launch Baby Monitor and put it in his bedroom. When he starts to cry, Baby Monitor will call a pre-determined phone number, like your home's land line. It's not a substitute for a genuine baby monitor, but certainly useful for when you forget to bring the real deal to Grandma's house.When my son was new, we purchased a white noise machine for his bedroom. It produces five sounds, including stream, car, heartbeat, music and white noise, and cost thirty dollars.For $0.99US, Ambiance [iTunes link] plays more than fifty sounds. You can combine sounds to create new ones and adjust settings like duration, fade out and a lot more. Updates of the app always include new sounds, and you've got the option to delete sounds you dislike to save room. Grocery IQ ($0.99US) [iTunes link] is an application I didn't anticipate using. I'm a pen-and-paper guy (read: old geezer), and dislike typing on the phone for extended periods. It's not the iPhone's fault, the keyboard is great. I'm just quicker with a pen.Despite this, Grocery IQ has earned a spot on my home screen. Not only is creating a list as easy as a click, you can save frequently-purchased items and even a standard list. Plus, it's a lot easier to de-select an item you've tossed into the cart than cross it off of your paper list after Jr. has tossed your pen.I've mentioned iChalky ($0.99) [iTunes link] before, too, but both my 3-year-old and my 5-year-old love it. Poor Chalky is a physicis-aware stick figure who is subject to your kid's whims. Shake him, flip him, hang him from a push pin. It's just the ticket for avoiding a full meltdown in the middle of the post office.Read on for hardware, software and accessory recommendations!
A parental guide to Warhammer Online
John Davison is a veteran of writing about 'the games'. He's a much-respected games journalist, and until a time not too long in the past he was a fixture at Ziff Davis/1up. Now he's putting his efforts in a somehow more noble direction: informing parents about videogame content by heading up the site What They Play. What They Play is a site where gamers talk to gamers and non-gamers alike about the actual content in videogames. Touching on everything from Carnival Games to Grand Theft Auto IV, it allows folks playing the ultimate mini-game (child-rearing) to make informed gameplay decisions.It should come as no surprise that this year's MMO darling Warhammer Online got a bit of attention from the site's writers. Indeed, they have up a lengthy guide on the title, walking parents through the game. Starting with the basics like 'what is it?', the guide walks interested parties through account registration, character creation, and deals with the realities of online realtime MMO communication. It's a great resource from a generally great site, and well worth passing on to anyone that might be considering letting their kid pick up the game. Check it out.
10 things parents should know about The Force Unleashed
Recently Star Wars fans were treated to The Force Unleashed and while the game has faced mudslinging for certain technical issues, fans of the franchise have been touting it as a better story experience than the prequel films. In a nutshell, The Force Unleashed puts players in control of a "bad guy," at least in the beginning, and because of this distinction the line it straddles as a T-rated title can become blurry. The team at What They Play have compiled a list of 10 points gamer parents - which some of you are - should know about the title before allowing your children to play or at least be in the same room as it is played. Not surprisingly most of the list is compiled of points that reference the story specifically. For instance, players take on the role of a Sith and are often tasked with killing innocent characters. A point that is now widely known is that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has two endings: one for those who end the game as a good guy and one for those who continue through the path of the Dark Side. However, another point in the list is that players are unable to make their allegiance selection from the beginning of the game and must progress through the story as a villain before the choice is presented. Looking for a helpful guide to aide in your Force related parenting? Check out What They Play today.
UC Irvine to compare WoW players from America, China
The University of California at Irvine has been granted $100,000 to study the differences between Chinese and American World of Warcraft players, according to the Orange County Register. The study will mostly focus on explaining why American players are much more likely to employ modifications such as Cosmos than Chinese players are, but project lead Bonnie Nardi made some interesting observations outside the scope of this particular endeavor.For example, she noted that Chinese players are for some reason more likely to talk about the aesthetic appearance of the game than are Americans. Whereas American players often play with their children, parents, or siblings, Chinese players are unlikely to do that. "The older generation dislikes video games," she said, and playing with siblings is obviously rare since most Chinese of the gaming generation have none."The vast majority of Chinese players are not gold farmers," she said. "They're ordinary players like anyone. The media has blown that story out of all proportion. Many people think Chinese play for a job. They play for fun." Enlightening stuff. We're looking forward to seeing what else comes out of her research.[Via Ten Ton Hammer] One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
UC Irvine studies differences between Chinese and US players
Our good friends at the OC (don't call it that) Register have an article up about how the University of California at Irvine has received a grant to study the differences between US and Chinese players of World of Warcraft. And the differences are fairly interesting: apparently US players use many more UI mods and addons than Chinese players do. Additionally, more Chinese players play the "more challenging version of the game" (seems like they mean PvP servers to us, though that may change with yesterday's big news), and Chinese players, say the researcher, tend to talk more about color schemes and architecture than American players. Finally, the demographics are fairly different -- here in the states, women make up 20 percent of the playing audience, and in China that number is almost halved. And while people here may play with parents or even grandparents, in China, the older generation isn't interested in the game at all.These observations seem more to be based on anecdotal evidence of Chinese players in cafes more than anything else, but the study is just getting started, so maybe with some more research they can come up with some more solid numbers (or even more reasons) showing why this is the case. But it's interesting that inspecting how people play this game in two different countries can reveal something about the cultural differences between each.
Forum post of the day: Where's my big brother
At one point in time Chuck Norris jokes dominated trade chat. Then it was the Murloc game. I'm sure we've all noticed that now it's the anal <insert spell> gibberish that now floods the channel. Dolce of Blackrock believes that it's time the Blizzard begin moderating trade channels during prime time. The chat channel can be turned off, but then it loses utility for valid messages such as selling enchants, transmutes, and well, general trade. As a parent, Dolce continued his argument: Wow has a very broad appeal and the average parent would look at the packaging of the World of Warcraft and assume that it is nothing more than a fantasy game where their son or daughter can play with their friends and have "adventures". The average parent I imagine (and this is merely a broadstroke comment based on the huge playerbase), may not have any sort of familiairity with online games, and even to a certain degree, computers as a whole. Asking parents (although I am extremely attentive to what my childrens activities are) to have an intimate knowledge of joining and exiting out of city channels is a bit extreme. Perhaps if there were parental controls that you could set ot make this easier...... /wink In any event I would not be suprised to see some news anchor with some over the top expository on the lewd and profane content that is seen in WoW spun out of context in the near future. I would say they would be killing a variety of birds with one stone if they simply moderated these popular channels.
What They Play: Parents more worried about games than alcohol, porn
Well, this is disheartening. According to a survey recently release by parental advisory site What They Play, parents would rather their kids drink alcohol and watch pornography than have them play certain types of games. Yes, you read that right. Parents would rather come home to their kids drunk and aroused by porno than seeing them off somebody in Grand Theft Auto.*Also, big changes in attitudes since April: Parents are slightly less concerned about their kids seeing a severed head and slightly more concerned about use of the F-bomb. Both are still less concerning than two men kissing. Hooray, America!(*Side note: If parents come home to find their kids drunk and aroused by offing someone in Grand Theft Auto, we think they have every right to be concerned.)
Breakfast Topic: Father's Day for gamers
Happy Father's Day, to all of you fathers out there!* If you and yours aren't the type to go out and about on a day like this, never fear. For the family that games together, I Heart Chaos has 8 great ideas for an Azerothian Father's Day. A few other things that come to mind for Dad's special day: Roll a new alt with your pops, maybe crossing your primary faction lines. Sometimes leveling together is more meaningful than twinking an alt. Talk your guild into having a Father's Day raid night! Take your dad to Karazhan or Zul'Aman, assuming he isn't further progressed than you are. Hey, don't give me that look. My raid has Dads in some pretty phat purps. Yes, I did just say 'phat'. And 'purps'. Don't judge me! Fill his mailbox with delicious cake. Do any of you have Father's Day plans in Azeroth, or any Father's Day plans at all?*Sorry if I missed any of you!
How parents really feel about online gaming and their children
For literally generations now, we've had to endure those ongoing discussions regarding the harm of video games on children. Now with almost the entire industry being online, children are able to interact with other people across the world. This, of course brings up a whole new array of problems when it comes to protecting our children from harm.In a recent article at Yahoo's Shine, this subject is approached in a way that keeps its distance from the usual mainstream doom and gloom we read regarding online games and parenting. Instead, readers are invited to share their own experiences with their kids and video games or online games. The comments are (mostly) interesting, and give a glimpse into how some parents are conquering this battle. Also, there's a link to a survey conducted by SOE regarding what parents think of their kids playing video games, and how it affects the children's school work and social lives.
Anti-Aliased: Age of Con-troversy-an
I'm going to hijack my own column this week to cover a topic that I believe is worth spending some space on - Age of Conan and the buzz of negative media attention it has been getting. Age of Conan's controversy spans almost all aspects of the game, from fatalities, to nudity, to even such odd things like race selection.Now, I've written a few of these articles. I enjoy controversy as the next person and I'm always interested in seeing the opposite viewpoint. It wasn't until I started getting some very, very nice hate mail in my inbox that I began to wonder if anyone understood my own viewpoint on the matter. So, this column is dedicated to other people's opinions, my opinions, controversies and, of course, Age of Conan.
Dizzywood mapped by Worlds in Motion Atlas
Dizzywood is a Flash-based virtual world for kids, with a wide variety of environments to explore, ranging from Mayan-themed jungles to skateparks. Worlds in Motion took at in-depth look at Dizzywood and weighed in on how Dizzywood innovates, and how it flounders. The game is developed by Rocket Paper Scissors, who have been getting some love by the media in recent weeks. It's clear to see why; the relatively new company has a simple, compelling vision:Our aim is to create a website for kids that inspires a sense of imagination, discovery, exploration, and most of all, fun. Frankly, when we took a good look at what was already out there, we felt that kids deserved a lot better. Our hope is that through a commitment to quality storytelling, creative vision, and technological innovation, Dizzywood will deliver an outstanding entertainment experience for young people that inspires the imagination in a safe environment. Our goal is to be the most popular web destination for kids in the 8-12 age range. It's a lofty goal, to be sure, but we're all about dreaming big.Dizzywood runs in a web browser, with no additional install beyond Flash required. Rocket Paper Scissors has billed the title as free-to-play, but there are pay options to unlock new clothing, items, emotes and powers, as well as avatar customization. The games in Dizzywood are solo-friendly, but encourage cooperative play and socializing in order to solve mysteries. The excellent Online World Atlas over at Worlds in Motion put Dizzywood through its paces, ultimately finding some flaws in the virtual world, yet praising it as one of the 'tween worlds to watch. Via Gamasutra
Miyamoto thinks Wii Fit could change family life
At first, we weren't going to post about Shigeru Miyamoto's Wii Fit interview with The Times, as it seemed fairly unremarkable. There are the usual platitudes from Shiggy about reaching out to all ages, and some tiresome examples of how mainstream press outlets still expertly patronize gamers (according to the article, the games industry "has long been the preserve of obsessive, nerdy teenagers, mostly called Alan"), but there's actually some interesting parts there also, tucked away amongst the fluff.For starters, it appears that Miyamoto is an absolute hard ass when it comes to parenting. Well, not really, but the Nintendo legend does reveal that he's always nagging his kids to get off of their backsides and go outside when the weather is good. And this guy is trying to sell videogames?More intriguingly still, the Nintendo legend speaks about how he hopes Wii Fit will have an impact on family life. As Miyamoto puts it: "In Japanese households, suddenly new conversations are springing up between fathers and mothers, fathers and daughters, talking about Wii Fit. We would love that to happen in Britain."Can you folks envisage a day when your family time is dominated by talk of your BMI and hula hoop personal bests?%Gallery-4745%[Via videogaming247]
WoW blamed for bad parenting
Here's a recent news item from the Contra Costa Times, about a kid who played way too much World of Warcraft: "[World of Warcraft had become] the one place he was joining the world. Bringing him back to the real world took months of therapy, a wilderness camp and boarding school." Months of therapy, a wilderness camp and boarding school -- could the cure be worse than the disease? The article describes him as a "tween" -- between the ages of ten and twelve. So let's break it down. A middle schooler was allowed by his parents to spend as much unsupervised time playing World of Warcraft as he liked, such that it was the only thing he did. A game the parents would have had to pay with their credit card each month, along with the initial cost of the game. The parents didn't notice their son had become withdrawn for such a long time that months of therapy, a wilderness camp and boarding school became the only options. Who was really to blame?Blizzard knows that their game is addictive; they've even gone so far as to create parental controls for the game. Parenting support groups urge children to be restricted to just a couple of hours a week on the game. Given there is so much concern about children playing computer games of any sort to excess... how is it Blizzard takes the blame? Before World of Warcraft, it was EverQuest. Before EverQuest, it was Dungeons & Dragons. It can be hard for parents to keep tabs on their children; their natural desire is to give their children space to mature and learn how to take care of things on their own. But any sort of parents should be able to tell when a game, or depression, a fight with a friend or any of the thousand things that get too serious has gone beyond what a child can handle. Waiting until a problem has become so severe that boarding school and months of therapy are the only solutions are not Blizzard's fault. It's the parent's.
Four reasons to get your parents to use Leopard
I held the phone tightly in my right hand. With my left, I rubbed my dry, tired eyes. I looked at the clock in my Mac's menu bar. I had been on the phone for forty-five minutes, with no indication that I'd be hanging it up any time soon."OK," I said in a slow, deliberate tone. "Let's start from the beginning. Click on the Mail menu. A list should appear. Do you see it?"A pause. "Yes," my mother said."What do you see in that list?" I said."File ... About Mail ... Preferences ....""Good. Do you see 'Quit'?""Yes." "Excellent. Click on 'Quit' and we'll start again."Welcome to my personal hell, circa 2006. Pull up a chair. Get comfortable. We're going to be here for quite a while.
Won't somebody please think of the children?
Last year, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown commissioned the Department of Children, Schools, and Families to write a report on, among other things, the potentially harmful effects of the internet and video games on children and young people. Many harbored fears, based on past precedent, that this report wouldn't cast the game industry in a particularly flattering light. Despite these fears, the study, called the Byron Report, is not quite as damning as we might have thought.In particular, the chapter on online games identifies the fact that the discussion about online games and children should be moving away from seeking to find causal links between games and harm in favor of finding ways to empower children to make smart choices when it comes to games. At the same time, they recognize that its in their nature for children to push boundaries, and parents have to be willing to overcome their lack of awareness (with the help of retailers and the game industry in general) in order to police their children's online behavior.While we don't agree with all the recommendations of the report, which include some more Big Brother aspects like regulating content on the internet, we think that online games at least got a pass.[Via Terra Nova]
What's your guild's age spread?
One of my favorite WoW podcasts(besides our very own, of course) is Casually Hardcore from WoW Radio. They're a very fun bunch and they cover the topic of age fairly often in their fan mail.I realize a lot of young people play WoW, but I haven't had much direct experience with the really young crowd. As far as I know, I've only played with someone under 16 a couple of times since late 2004. I'm 21 now, and I'm actually the third youngest person in my guild, and there's only a few others younger than I am in our entire guild alliance. We probably just fall short of 200 people across all of the guilds, so the idea of people so young playing WoW is actually quite strange to me. I see parents saying "AFK, my daughter needs me" more often than kids or teens saying "sorry guys, I have school in the morning."While there are definitely mature younger people playing WoW(I like to think that I was/am one... maybe) but I haven't honestly had much experience with the younger crowd at all. I'm willing to bet money that my guild's average age is somewhere in the high 20s. What about you guys, willing to take a guess? Is your guild younger? Older? A mix of all sorts?
The family that games together stays together
We've covered the topic of family members gaming together before, but Sonya Smith, Gadgetress of the OCRegister, brings an interesting story about it to light, which she learned about on her tour through Blizzard's new HQ.Like our own Amanda Dean, J. Allen Brack, senior producer over at Blizzard Entertainment, plays World of Warcraft with one of his parents. Unlike Amanda Dean, his relationship is paternal. Brack relocated to California from Texas two and a half years ago to take his position at Blizzard, moving away from his family. Interested in the work his son had taken up, Brack's father began playing the game himself, having never been a gamer prior to that. Now they use the game as a way to spend quality time together, half a country apart.
How to ruin Christmas using only a 360 box and some clothes
We hesitate to post the soul-crushing video you see above -- it may put a damper on your whole day. You see, many of us have fond holiday memories of tearing through sheets of glossy paper and ribbons to reveal the greatest present a kid can receive -- a new gaming console. To see one family pervert those cherished memories by presenting young Jonathan with an Xbox 360 box filled with clothes just brings us irrevocably down, in a manner that only "Beaches" used to be capable of.Those sweethearts at Engadget are attempting to contact Jonathan and his rapscallion parents to hook the kid up with a real 360 -- hopefully, they'll send Jonathan's folks a little something too. Perhaps a wrapped-up, car-shaped pile of parenting books left in their driveway would fit the bill.
Wii almost had parental control timer
Speaking at the recent Game Developers Conference, Nintendo's Takashi Aoyama revealed that the Wii very nearly shipped with a tantrum-inducing, Xbox 360-style parental control timer, designed so that our mums and dads could make sure we weren't getting square eyes.In fact, one of the biggest supporters of this feature was supposedly Satoru Iwata himself, who was keen for Nintendo's console not "to be seen as an enemy in the household." Eventually, however, an alternative way of monitoring use was found: the play history list that we're all now familiar with.Said Aoyama: "Instead of instituting some play limit ... this allowed parents to monitor and discuss how much their children were playing ... this is why you can't erase the play history on the console."Interesting! Any parents/kids out there who care to give their opinion on which they think works best? Also, does this mean that Iwata is something of an authoritarian with his own kids? It's difficult to imagine him being so strict and ruling with an iron fist -- just look at his happy face!
Ten Things parents need to know about Xbox Live
The argument that video games are destroying today's youth reminds us of the movie Footloose. In the Kevin Bacon defining role, a few teenagers are tragically killed when their speeding car crashes. Since the teens were listening to rock 'n' roll music during the accident the town blames the event on rock and bans it. When the gaming industry is blamed for all the tragedy that happens today, someone needed to step up and help educate parents on the content of games. Enter, What They Like Inc. and their first venture, WhatTheyPlay.com. Spearheaded by former 1UP editorial director John Davison, WTP attempts to educate parents on the industry, the ratings system and what games are appropriate for their kids.In a recent feature, WTP lists the ten things parents should know about Xbox Live, the online gaming service for the Xbox 360. Some telling points made include: Restricting voice chat to avoid hearing uncensored language Using the Family Timer feature to restrict play times Using Xbox.com to customize account settings and check what games are being played This is an incredible tool for parents to use and while much of this information is obvious to our well informed readers we'd urge anyone looking for more details on the service to read the feature. The saddest part about this is the voice chat restriction. We constantly fight other industries that degrade our own and while we'll defend gaming till the day we die, we have a hard time arguing that we're all just fun-loving normal people when nonsense is constantly happening. But hey, maybe we're just a a bunch of hippies.
