Hi there and welcome to GAMEparents, the website that helps you make the right decisions about computers and computer games. If this is your first visit, we recommend you read through the "What We're About" section by clicking here.
After that if you want to get a head start on finding out about computer and video games we would suggest the following:
Learning is the Game - an article that exposes the positive aspects of video games and there are more than you might think! Click here
Everything Bad is Good For You - A review of the book by Steven Johnson that reveals how popular culture (including video games) may actually be benefiting our education not demeaning it. Click here
Computer Game Genres - Ever wondered what the different types of video games are? Wonder no longer. Click here
Finally, here are several other sites we highly recommend depending on where you are.
GamerDad is a great resource for American parents who are gamers too. You’ll find GamerDad at www.gamerdad.com.
GameParents.de - this new site was launched recently in Germany. www.gameparents.de has the same mission as us – to educate its visitors and members about video gaming and is well worth the visit for German speakers.
So this week was interesting. We decided to try to keep the podcast much shorter - a couple of minutes per game and only five games, but while that was a great intention, Jacob really started showing confidence in speaking and made some great comments during the podcast. As a result of that and us just being more relaxed, the original take ended up being 45 minutes long. I find it easy to listen to, but after twittering about it, we made the decision to re-record the podcast and try to keep it down.
This is the result of that second attempt - sub-20 minutes. Personally, I feel that we left out a lot of detail and felt a bit cramped, so we're now looking at doing even less games next time - maybe just one or two each episode. It's a toughy because while it's important to listen to your audience, I also don't want to hamper Jacob as he becomes more confident in speaking publicly, and I think his conversation flowed more naturally in the longer episode.
A special guest joined me this week to talk about the New Xbox Experience (NXE) along with some of the games she's been playing. Ashley Jenkins is an ex-Fragdoll and now works at Microsoft Australia, looking after the digital media components and was onhand when NXE went live.
Listen to the episode here and subcribe to the series here so you don't have to keep looking for the next episode. :)
Timecodes and scores (where appropriate below:
01:00 - New Xbox Experience (NXE)
08:00 - Gears of War 2 - SCORE 9.8
17:55 - Fable 2 - SCORE 9
21:05 - Fallout 3 - SCORE 9.3
27:30 - Lips (no score yet as I haven’t played it myself!)
An epic episode this week, but only because we decided to try to cover ten music/rhythm based games. That's right - TEN! And that's not even all of them - Lips for Xbox 360 is headed to stores next week, along with SingStar Volume 3 for PS3. JacobYugi and I work hard to talk about games for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and more.
Take a listen to the episode here and subscribe to the series so you don't miss out on the next one by going here.
Here are the timecodes and scores for the games covered in this episode:
01:50 - Rock Band - SCORE JacobYugi 8, Me 9
11:09 - Guitar Hero: World Tour - SCORE JacobYugi 9, Me 9.2
20:05 - Rock Band 2 - SCORE 10
23:50 - Rock Band AC/DC - SCORE JacobYugi 7.5, Me 8.5
25:45 - Wii Music - SCORE for young kids 5.5, for everyone else 2.5
30:04 - Rock Revolution (DS) - SCORE JacobYugi 8, Me 7.8
JakeYugi returns to the mic this week and is getting heaps better at speaking about the games - one thing I've been enjoying is doing this with my son, and see him have a good time at it all. This episode we're talking about games aimed squarely at the family with the big one for us both being Crash: Mind over Mutant, the latest outing by our favourite bandicoot. This is sure to be the first of a few dedicated casts specifically aimed at more accessible games as we approach Christmas, hoping to give our viewpoint on some of the latest (and possibly greatest games).
Download the episode here and subscribe to the podcast here.
As is NOW normal practice, here are the timecodes and scores for the games we talked about.
00:45 Crash: Mind over Mutant - SCORES - Me 8.5, Jake 9.5
This week I sat down with David Burela, gamertag Xp3ll3d to talk about Dead Space, a crazily good horror shooter that has no place on a kid's shelf. Check out the podcast by clicking here and remember you can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes or directly here.
We also talk about the important issue of the "Clean Feed" that the Australian government is planning on forcing all ISPs to implement - check that out too.
Here are the timecodes and scores for the games we talked about:
01:40 Dead Space - SCORES: Me 9/10, David 8/10
10.35 Fracture - SCORE 8/10
15.00 Team Fortress 2
19:30 Braid - SCORES: Me 7.8/10, David 5.5/10
24:08 Round up 27:30 Samba de Amigo - SCORE 8.5/10
I will be trying to regularly update the podcast with everything technology-focused that interests me. That means it will also include some of my work-related stuff such as the programs I'm responsible for at Microsoft (such as free software for students, technology competitions, etc). But the most common podcasts will be about gaming. :)
Here are the timecodes, and most importantly, scores for the games we talked about:
00:45 Burnout Paradise - SCORE 10/10
09:30 Lego Batman - SCORE 8/10
12:30 Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise - SCORE 9/10
17:28 Roundup
18:05 Sonic Chronicles
19:30 Coming Soon - Fable II, Gears of War 2, GH:WT vs RB2
You may have noticed an extra badge on the website over there --->Sarcastic Gamer have thought up a fantastic way of us gamers getting together to raise money for an important cause; a gaming marathon!
Basically, those participating commit to playing games for 24 hours with the aim of having people sponsor us for a small amount per hour, with all proceeds going to cancer research and support of kids who have paediatric cancer. My son, Jacob, has decided that he would like to be part of this as it is something he can definitely do and feels he would be giving something to other kids less fortunate.
Please consider sponsoring him in this endavour. Please note that for non-US donations, they prefer PayPal and to do this you'll need to use the name "Andrew Parsons (GAMEparents)". Click here to sponsor Jake.
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