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What They Play's John Davison makes leap to GamePro
More and more, we're seeing evidence that the days of favorite faces being permanently associated with certain outlets are a thing of the past. GamePro announced today that John Davison (formerly of What They Play and 1UP) would serve as executive vice president of content at its long-running magazine and website, a week after Garnett Lee left 1UP to head editorial content for GameFly. Davison's most recent project was recently sold to IGN. In an official statement, Davison said he hopes to "reshape GamePro as a thoroughly modern integrated media brand," a strategy that we give five screaming happy faces out of five.
IGN buys WhatTheyPlay.com
IGN took a lap around the acquisition block and decided to show WhatTheyPlay.com the back of its big white van ... which many sites have seen before. WhatTheyPlay.com was started two years ago by former 1UP VPs John Davison and Ira Becker (before the walls fell) to give parents useful insight into what their spawn are doing with those "PlayBoxes" and "X-stations." The site is also a great resource for non-parents, like the time it taught us that parents apparently find gay kissing slightly more offensive than a "graphically severed human head." Now IGN just needs a website for geriatric gamers and it will complete the demographic circle of life. Smart readers will take this as an opportunity to start ReallyTooOldtoPlay.com and CripplingArthritisWontStopMe.com.
Oh no! Megan Fox is totally into the Wii
It seems as though there are dissenting voices coming from the cast of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen regarding Nintendo's Wii console. Why, just the other day, Shia LaBeouf expressed to the world his discontent with the system and those employing it for gaming -- that group of people apparently including his cast mate, Megan Fox. In an interview with WhatTheyPlay.com, Fox said, "I'm totally a fan of the Wii, I'm just not good at it." As LaBeouf (S. Beef to us) noted in his interview with Joystiq sister site Big Download, the two were playing LEGO Star Wars most recently, though Fox has some rather specific complaints about the game, telling the interviewer, "One thing I don't like about that game is that if one person is lagging behind and wants to check something out, and you're running ahead, you drag the screen with you -- you can't stay separate when you're playing on a team together ... that becomes annoying." Point taken! Apparently the lady knows her games, eh? Care for a guest column, Ms. Fox?
Get factual with FusionFall guide for parents and gamers alike
We're definitely fans of FusionFall here at Massively. It's really easy to love an MMO that takes cartoons from your childhood and creates a wonderfully fun free-to-play experience around them. So when we saw this guide over at What They Play, we just had to share it with you, our readers.It's a fairly thorough guide detailing just about every key aspect a concerned parent -- or really anyone in general -- would want to know about what the game is, how you play it, how you sign up for it, how much it costs and much more. They even cover what the community is like and how safe the game is for younger players in general. It's a very impressive look at the title from a parent's perspective. So check it out or send it to any curious parental figures you know who may be scratching their heads about FusionFall.
A little more about Wizard101
There have been quite a few releases for magic-themed game Wizard101 of late as well as the preview of the first expansion. Enough so that WhatTheyPlay has posted an overview aimed at parents to explain the basis of the game and what they can expect if their kids play it. In a nutshell, Wizard101 is a world where players are students of magic. Combat relies on a trading card system and is turn-based. No one ever "dies" in the game. It's free to play in much the same way that Runescape is - meaning that many areas and quests are only available to paid accounts. The options are numerous in terms of membership levels depending upon what the players (or their parents) want to be able to do. For those parents worried about the community, they do discuss the limitations on communication and the average age of players (about 12). Then again, with family plan pricing available, parents could join their kids in the game and find out for themselves what it's all about.
Holiday Game and Rating Guide: Rated M for Mature
Today marks the final day of our four-part Holiday Game and Rating Guide, co-developed by parent-focused site What They Play. In today's list we recommend five must own titles rated "M" for "Mature." Jump in for chainsaws and zombies and find out what you should be asking for this holiday season.Developed by X3F and What They Play president John Davison -- you may also know him from the 1UP Yours Podcast -- the Holiday Game and Rating Guide hopes to showcase the best of each rating while helping to inform your loved ones what kind of content each game includes. It isn't meant to scare them away, in fact think of it as a walk through of what's really found in each game to help everyone make an intelligent decision this holiday season. Click the banner below to check out our picks for titles rated "M" for "Mature."
Holiday Game and Rating Guide: Rated T for Teen
As many of you loosen your belts after a superb Thanksgiving feast we present part three of the X3F and What They Play joint holiday game and rating guide. Today we feature five titles rated "T" for "Teen" with games ranging in genre from trivia to fighting. Jump in and check out what's available and recommended for this holiday season.Developed by X3F and What They Play president John Davison -- you may also know him from the 1UP Yours Podcast -- the Holiday Game and Rating Guide hopes to showcase the best of each rating while helping to inform your loved ones what kind of content each game includes. It isn't meant to scare them away, in fact think of it as a walk through of what's really found in each game to help everyone make an intelligent decision this holiday season. Click the banner below to check out our picks for titles rated "T" for "Teen."
Holiday Game and Rating Guide: Rated E10+
Continuing our Holiday Game and Rating Guide, today we present titles rated E10+. The newest rating from the ESRB, this list features five must own titles for gamers aged 10 and older. Lace on the skates and prepare to get strategic because these recommendations cover a wide range of genres. Developed by X3F and What They Play president John Davison -- you may also know him from the 1UP Yours Podcast -- the Holiday Game and Rating Guide hopes to showcase the best of each rating while helping to inform your loved ones what kind of content each game includes. It isn't meant to scare them away, in fact think of it as a walk through of what's really found in each game to help everyone make an intelligent decision this holiday season. Click the banner below to check out our picks for titles rated "E10+ for Everyone Age 10 and older."
Holiday Game and Rating Guide: E for Everyone
Xbox 360 Fanboy and parental gaming site What They Play have joined forces for a special holiday guide to inform both you and the people who are deciding what to get you for the upcoming holiday season. Today through Friday, the Holiday Game and Rating Guide will showcase five recently released titles -- with some exceptions -- from each of the ESRB rating classifications to add to your collection.Kicking off today with titles E for "Everyone," part one of the holiday game guide varies in recommendations from a sports fan's dream to ATV stunt-racing wannabes.Developed by X3F and What They Play president John Davison -- you may also know him from the 1UP Yours Podcast -- the Holiday Game and Rating Guide hopes to showcase the best of each rating while helping to inform your loved ones what kind of content each game includes. It isn't meant to scare them away, in fact think of it as a walk through of what's really found in each game to help everyone make an intelligent decision this holiday season. Click the banner below to check out our picks for titles rated "E for Everyone."
Industry vets sound off on sex, violence, ratings and design
Peter Molyneux, Greg Zeschuk, Cliff Bleszinski and David Jaffe are four of the industries most respected, creative developers working today and also have the distinction of creating some of the industry's most controversial titles. From the over-the-top violence in Gears of War to the sexual content found in Mass Effect, this quintet of creators know their way around industry hot-buttons.Over the past few months the team at the content knowledge site What They Play have interviewed each of the creators for their distinctive views on the sex, violence, ratings and design in videogames."If the blood is graphic, exploding out and all over the screen, you instantly know you're successful. I'd use flowers and confetti but I don't think it would be nearly as effective," Bleszinski said of the violence level found in the upcoming Gears of War 2. "You know, there's a huge M on the freaking box. If your eight year-old kids can acquire $60 and you're not aware what they're doing with it, you've got bigger problems than your kid playing God of War. You're a sh*tty parent," adds Jaffe.BioWare president Greg Zeschuk, whose 2007 role-playing title Mass Effect was lambasted by the mainstream media for its sexual content, pointed out how our society is dictating content. "It's all obviously a reflection on society," says Zeschuk. "The bottom line is that violence is just more acceptable than sexual content in the U.S., which makes an interesting situation for game developers. You have to really balance these tolerances."Check out the entire feature at What They Play and let us know what you think about sex, violence, ratings and design of videogames in the comments.
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.
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.)
What They Play tours parents through Liberty City
Two weeks later and it seems Grand Theft Auto IV has yet to lose its luster. What They Play has become a well known source of information for parents that strive to involve themselves in their children's favorite hobby. While the site has been an important voice against gaming detractors for some time, its cause has become even more relevant since the release of Rockstar's epic journey and subsequent tar & feathering.In a continuing series of written facts and video examples, What They Play has compiled everything parents will need to examine before they allow their children near GTA IV. Videos outlining the extent of gunplay, language and sexual content found in the game are a handful of examples that can be found on the parent focused website.While the feature and site has proven to be an important source of information, we hope the future of What They Play includes expanding into other languages to keep the parental knowledge base on an even "playing field" across the globe.
What They Play is holding a giveaway
In an effort to bridge the gap between hardcore gamers, casual gamers and the adults who are responsible for said gamers but aren't in touch with the gaming culture, Microsoft partnered with the family gaming program called What They Play. A program that promotes family gaming, safe gaming, care, understanding, love, blah, blah, blah. All you really need to know is that they're giving away Xbox 360 hardware, an HDTV, a couple copies of Scene It? and a few t-shirts. So, make your way over to What They Play, enter the giveaway by June 10th and as an added bonus, they'll even send you a Family Gaming Starter Kit if you wish. We know we'd be more inclined to invite our parents into our GTAIV game session if Microsoft were to give us a new HDTV and 360 Elite. Wouldn't you?
Gay kissing is slightly worse than severed heads, welcome to America
Parent-oriented video game site WhatTheyPlay.com had a poll earlier this week which caused the site's own editor to post W.T.F. on his personal blog. The results of the unscientific poll showed that respondents were almost equally disturbed by the idea of a "graphically severed human head" as they were by "two men kissing" in a video game. Respondents were actually far more offended by a man and a woman having sex, which received 37% of the vote, while dropping the F-bomb only received 10%.As GamePolitics points out, the results are in line with traditional American values and legal precedent, which holds sex to a different First Amendment standard than violence. We're not judging one way or the other, but we know what actions might cause us to pause (possibly take a photo) if we saw them on the street and which would have us calling the cops.[Via GamePolitics]
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.
'What They Play' keeps parents in the loop
When 1UP group mastermind John Davison and executive vice president of the Game Group, Ira Becker, bailed out of Ziff Davis Media in August, it was with the intention of starting up a new family entertainment website geared towards parents. "What They Play" is now accessible via the magnificent power of the internets and, as the succinct name suggests, aims to inform parents what interactive filth their kids are currently rolling their brains in. With an online video game glossary (or "videogame," as they seemingly prefer) and explanation of the ESRB rating system, the site aims to demystify some of the game industry's intricacies and back-of-the-box descriptors to an audience less versed in our M-rated 60fps FPS world.Most helpful is an objective analysis of a given game's activities, violent content and colorful language, presented in a concise and straightforward manner. You won't find reviews here, only a desire to better equip parents for deciding whether their kids should be playing Zack & Wiki or Manhunt 2. (Bad example, nobody in their mind should play Manhunt 2.)[Thanks, Jared]
