Columnist: Video Games are the Crack Cocaine of the Electronic World

December 13, 2007 Gaming for All 1 Comment

That’s right boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, video games are crack cocaine! It’s true!

“This is an outrage!” you decry shaking your fist in the air. “I refuse to believe it’s true.”

Oh, the truth is out there, you just need to know where to look.

Today’s nugget of wisdom comes thanks to Father Raymond J. de Souza. He is a columnist in Canada’s conservative paper, the National Post. Yup, he’s a Canadian. Yup, he’s a priest. And yup, Read the rest…

Video Game Social Network: PlayerHousing

December 12, 2007 Gaming for All No Comments

Are you looking for ways to connect with fellow gamers? The newest 360 update has helped solve some of these problems by making communication easier, but it’s still a cumbersome solution. And what if you don’t own a 360? What if you’re a PS3 king, or a PC enthusiast? What are you going to do then?

The answer: PlayerHousing.

Four friends, all gamers, all people who made it in the gaming industry (one as a programmer, one as a graphic artist, one as a web developer and one as a game industry visionary), developed this site for all gamers and virtual world enthusiasts. They understood the severe lack of interconnectivity in today’s gaming world and filled the void.

Not only that, but they are currently running a contest to win a Wii, one of the most sought after gaming systems of this current generation. All you need to do is go and sign up, and then refer your friends. The more people who you refer and who sign up, the better your odds are getting a Wii. Go check them out.

Schwarzenegger Not Part of New Conan Game: Because It Sucks

December 11, 2007 Gaming for All 3 Comments

Over at GamePolitics they’re reporting that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is distancing himself from the Conan game put out by THQ.

The new Conan game is, well, let’s just say overly violent. I mean, it’s not that ripping off people’s arms and cutting off their legs isn’t fun and all, but it tends to be a little, uh, over the top (and no, I’m not talkin’ about the Stallone classic, Over the Top, where he must compete in an arm wrestling championship).

It’s so juicily bloody, that State Senator Leland Yee is criticizing it and wanting kids to make sure not to have it on their Christmas lists (’cause telling kids that something is bad for them always works).

To defend his honor, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s spokesman Aaron McLear came out with a statement that the governor has “no association with this game.”

Some people may say that the Gov. Schwarzenegger is cutting a mean swath through the gaming industry, what with his signing of the video game law in 2005. However, I think he just doesn’t want people to think that he’s associated with such an awfully bad game. Seriously, it’s boring. Were I him, I’d make an official decree that all people who bought this game would learn what is best in life: “To crush your enemies (the people who bought this game), see them driven before you (take that, dumb game buyers) and hear the lamentation of the women!”

Green Living Through Gaming

December 6, 2007 Gaming for All, Green Gaming No Comments

I stumbled across coda.coza while wandering the wild reaches of the net and read his post on green living. He is currently collecting 100 tips (he’s at 78 right now) on how to help conserve for the planet. After he collects all 100, then he’s going to distribute them in user-friendly formats for distribution across the web: PDFs, wallpapers, screen savers, etc.

This got me thinking…this whole green thing isn’t a phase that’s gonna disappear like so many other trends. Right now, countries are working to create a new Kyoto Protocol so that they’ll be able to do their part in helping the environment, but what about gamers?

Seriously.

Back in the early ’90s there was Captain Planet and he was trying to teach kids the importance of helping out the world. This isn’t a half-bad idea. Why don’t game designers come up with a creative way to help save the planet? It doesn’t have to be under the guise of educational programming, it can be an honest-to-goodness real, good, quality game.

I mean, if Al Gore can make money off giving a slideshow for a movie (and anyone who’s seen An Incontinent Truth knows exactly what I’m talking about), then clearly there’s a market for this type of genre. All that we need the developers to do is to think about this project in a new and unique way. Think about how to make a game that is engaging, environmental and fun and the buyers will come.

What will the controversy be then? Too many parents want to buy the game for their kids because it’s actually good? Heaven forbid.

This Just In — Most Parents Don’t Like Videogames

November 13, 2007 DS, Gaming for All, Online Games, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360 No Comments

News flash: Most parents don’t like videogames.

I’m just gonna pause here for a sec and let that sink in.

Ok, better now?

According to an AP survey posted over at Yahoo, an average of 43 percent of parents think videogames are a big fatty fat waste of time for their kids (that’s a technical term there, fatty fat).

Granted, these parents are probably speaking about the stereotypically abused, overused and super-saturated view of a rare breed of gamer who gets no sunlight and scorns all who don’t understand his or her mysterious and magnificent WOW clans and ways.

Yeah, we’re all like that. Guilty as charged. We all play with swords and potions in our spare time and have a hard time co-mingling without computers or games to bridge the social divide.

Yup.

However, the underlying issue here is that people (yeah, parents are people too) don’t like what they don’t really understand. So if you have kids and your kids like games…and by some miraculous reason you happened upon this entry, then take some time outta your day to game with them. If nothing else, it’ll be a bonding experience with you and your son/daughter.

Show some interest in what they’re interested in, and they’ll open up to you.

As far as the newsworthiness of this story? It’s kinda like how back in the day TV was going to rot your brain, and before that comics were gonna make you deranged, even before that reading was going to put thoughts in your head and make you a wicked person. Every generation has their scapegoats, ours just gets to be videogames.

View some highlights of the survey after the break. Read the rest…

Increase Your Grandiose Speaking Ability and Battle Hunger

November 7, 2007 Gaming for All No Comments

Tired of the incessant bickering about your slothing about while gaming through videos? Do you hear that tiny voice inside your head asking you to better yourself and your planet?

For not friend of humanity and language, Poverty.com’s Free Rice game is the answer! You can, indeed, work for other people, while gaming — a pretty sweet deal.

The Free Rice game will give you vocabulary identification questions that automatically adjust to your skills, so they’ll push you to the limit, but not over the edge of impossibility. Improving the world comes the free rice they donate through the UN’s World Food Program and the site’s advertisers for each answer you get right. No pressure, but people are depending on you getting it right!

In the past month, they have donated over 856 million grains of rice. Not only that, but the amount is vastly increasing daily.

Do your intrinsic and extrinsic needs a favor…get over to the Free Rice game and help out!