When the Skylanders game was first released I was kind of hooked. I played that game…a lot. I came to a new area that required a new element and immediately went out and bought new figures. I tried to get as many people hooked as I could so I didn’t […]
Play With Your Kids
69 posts
There was a story recently stating that police and social services would be called on parents who let their children play Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and other Mature rated games. The recommendation also suggested that children should not have Facebook accounts. While I don’t agree with this recommendation […]
Recently there have been a couple of different articles that have addressed the way that girls and women interact with technology and how their experiences are affected by their interactions in games (via voice chat) or the ways that they perceive or are perceived by the community. As the mother […]
Last week, I rushed home to Arkansas because my mother was having surgery to remove tumors that had been discovered on her right ovary. Her tests came back with cancer markers, and the mass was growing so rapidly, nearly doubling in size in a matter of days, so we all […]
People often ask me why I maintain a cache of nigh ancient game consoles when all of the old games are now available on emulators or virtual console. It might be the archivist in me, it might be the hoarder in me, or I very well be a gaming snob, […]
I remember sitting up way past bedtime playing King’s Quest when it originally released. I was just starting high school and it was one of the first actual graphics based computer games that I played. I played the game far into the night (many nights) trying to figure out where […]
I have been anxious to see Splatoon up close and personal since it was first announced in a Nintendo Direct conference. First off the game was going to release with amiibo. Little Inkling amiibo with funky little hairdos and super soaker type paint sprayers. And if the collectible gods smiled down on […]
When I was a kid, I wanted to be Han Solo, or Princess Leia, or some sort of princess hybrid of the two. They were my heroes. Sometimes I wanted to be a female Robin Hood instead, or Laura Ingalls or a character from a fairy tale, but whatever the […]
Recently, this article about Disney’s cartoon, Miles from Tomorrowland popped up on my Facebook feed. The article, titled “Google, NASA work together on Disney show to inspire girls into science,” describes Disney’s efforts to involve professionals from Google and NASA to help create a more representative strong female character in […]
With summer break looming and with my daughter’s (Pea) recent discovery of Stampy Cat’s Terraria Let’s Plays (thanks to the research that I was doing for an earlier NYMG piece) there has been a lot of Terraria going on in my house. Oddly enough very little playing of the game has […]
I’m back! After a semester hiatus, I’m thrilled to be back in the mix. Dr. Craig Anderson, a Professor at Iowa State, has made his career on proving the negative effects of video games on youth. He is the figurehead for this movement, and he is the primary source and […]
I remember when Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventures first launched. Pea was about 3 1/2 and really liked video games (still does for the record), but still spent most of her time demanding that I play the games that she wanted to watch. When she asked for Skylanders I was a little skeptical. […]
As a young child, I played games with both my mother and father in different ways. I remember playing Ms. Pac-Man with my mother; there was a machine in one of the restaurants where she worked, and we huddled over it many an afternoon, taking turns navigating the mazes and […]
This Christmas Pea received a Lego Fusion kit for Christmas. When it was time to choose which kit she should get it was a tough choice. I took the time and looked through the videos of gameplay online and made the decision that despite my hatred of the Lego Friends […]
With Christmas vacation looming just around the corner I look on in envy as friends and family tweet, post, and talk about staying up late and sleeping in till noon. I smile and nod because I know that Christmas break is going to mean getting up and making breakfast for […]
Sometimes you just have to go old school with your gaming and I’m not talking Pac Man, I’m talking analog. Lately as I have been teaching more games courses I find myself drawn to playing more analog games. Not that I didn’t already, but the pull is strong of these […]