Welcome to GamerDad: Gaming with Children. My name is Andrew S. Bub - the GamerDad - and I've been writing about videogames, movies, and children for over 15 years now. After working as a magazine journalist, I switched gears to write about how media violence affects children, educating parents about them, and working closely with magazines, newspapers, major retailers and even politicians. GamerDad is an internationally recognized expert in this field. Games, movies and media are fun, kids and families love them, they aren't going away. So join me in cutting through the hype and lets have a real conversation about the things that matter: Video Games, Violent Media, and their supposed effect on children and families.
Welcome to GamerDad: Gaming with Children. My name is Andrew S. Bub - the GamerDad - and I've been writing about videogames, movies, and children for over 15 years now. After working as a magazine journalist, I switched gears to write about how media violence affects children, educating parents about them, and working closely with magazines, newspapers, major retailers and even politicians. GamerDad is an internationally recognized expert in this field. Games, movies and media are fun, kids and families love them, they aren't going away. So join me in cutting through the hype and lets have a real conversation about the things that matter: Video Games, Violent Media, and their supposed effect on children and families.
Paw Patrol: On a Roll (Switch, PS4, Xbox One)
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Posted on October 29th, 2018 by
Kids cable channel Nickelodeon has a block of shows for younger viewers (and a channel now, too) called Nick Jr. Nick Jr. has had many popular shows over the years, like Blues Clues and Dora the Explorer. The most recent hit show from Nick Jr. has got to be Paw Patrol. In this computer animated cartoon, a boy named Ryder has a team of puppies, each one represented by a community-minded job like police officer, firefighter, etc. So with his team of helpful and loveable pups, Ryder helps out the citizens of Adventure Bay with any problems they may have. No job is too big, no pup is too small, as he says. Now your child can help out, too, with a new Paw Patrol game for consoles (reviewed on Switch here).
Crayola Scoot (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on October 26th, 2018 by
Kids love Crayola crayons and coloring books. Who doesn’t remember the smell of a freshly opened box? Kids also love extreme sports and riding on their scooters outside. So what happens when you mix the fun of scooting in a skate park with the colorful magic of Crayola? You get Crayola Scoot, that’s what. It’s basically just Tony Hawk Pro Skater but with scooters, combined with color splatting gameplay from Splatoon. It’s available on nearly all current home consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.
Fishing Sim World (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on October 24th, 2018 by
There’s a new fishing game in town focusing on realism. It’s Fishing Sim World for PS4, Xbox One, and PC (reviewed on PS4 here). Create your angler’s gender, facial features, hair, clothes, and more. Then go out to lakes from all over the world, from the US, France, Germany, and others. Use real life rods, reels, and bait, too. But is the game a keeper or will you want to throw it back? Read on to find out!
Phantomgate: The Last Valkyrie (iOS, Android)
Posted on October 22nd, 2018 by
The mad Norse god Odin thinks he just destroyed the last Valkryie, but he only shattered her into memory fragments. Now it’s up to the Valkyrie’s daughter Astrid to travel all over the land via Phantomgates to collect the scattered memory fragments to save her mother and defeat Odin in this action platformer RPG. It’s based on Norse mythology as you can tell, and would probably make for a great plot for another Thor movie. It’s available free-to-play on mobile devices but reviewed on iPad here.
G.P. the GamerPuppet Unboxes the Mega Man 11 amiibo Edition!
Posted on October 19th, 2018 by
Hey there! G.P. the GamerPuppet here! You know Cary, who writes a lot of reviews here? Well he’s a big Mega Man fan. He even likes the series more than Mario games, and has been playing them ever since the NES days. To celebrate Mega Man’s 30th anniversary (wow, Cary’s old), Capcom released a special version of the newest game in the series, Mega Man 11, on Switch with a special amiibo and other goodies included. Cary was lucky enough to get it, so here are pictures of me unboxing it for him!
Make Friends With the Blade Strangers
Posted on October 17th, 2018 by
There’s a new fighting game starring all sorts of video game characters, and no it’s not Smash Bros. If you were upset that Shovel Knight is just an assist trophy in the new Smash, well this may be the game for you. Blade Strangers is a 2-D one-on-one fighter featuring characters from games like Shovel Knight, Code of Princess, Cave Story, The Binding of Isaac, and Umihara Kawase. Since the characters are interesting enough, here’s a blog about them!
Claws of Furry (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on October 15th, 2018 by
You are a ninja cat training in your dojo, when all of a sudden your sensei (who I think is a chihuahua), gets kidnapped by a bloodhound in a giant mech suit. So now you must use your ninja cat skills to fight and rescue your sensei. Claws of Furry is a 2-D beat-em-up for up to four players, and it’s available to download on nearly all current game consoles (reviewed on PS4 here).
Marble it Up! (Switch)
Posted on October 12th, 2018 by
When I was a kid one of my favorite arcade games was Marble Madness. I even had it on the NES, that’s how much I liked it. So I’m always up for playing and reviewing any kind of marble rolling maze game, whether it be Super Monkey Ball, Marble Blast Ultra, etc. So I definitely snapped up the chance to review Marble it Up, downloadable on Switch. It’s kind of a cross between Super Monkey Ball and Marble Blast Ultra. In fact, many of the team members of Marble Blast Ultra worked on this game, too!
Ultimate Chicken Horse (PS4, Switch, Xbox One, PC)
Posted on October 10th, 2018 by
Ultimate Chicken Horse is a pretty simple concept for a game, but it’s also fairly unique from what I can tell. Choose your favorite barnyard animal, like a horse, chicken, sheep, and more. Then compete in short 2-D platform races where the winner gets points. But before you start, each player can pick an object to put on the level, like platforms or traps to make it easier for them or harder for the other players. Then you must navigate your newly constructed level to the finish. There’s also a new Chimply Amazing Update that adds new characters, outfits, levels, objects, and more! This madcap multiplayer game is available to download on nearly all the current game consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.
Ticket to Ride: New York (Boardgame)
Posted on October 9th, 2018 by
Arguably the best-selling modern boardgame is Ticket to Ride and its sequels. Players collect sets of train cards (like sets in Rummy), and use them to occupy routes on a game board map of the United States. Players earn points for placing large sets of trains as well as bonus points for managing to connect cities shown on their personal “ticket” cards. Many versions have been released which change the map (Europe, Asia, the UK, etc…) and each add in some small twist to make the version unique. Ticket to Ride: New York is the newest release and it takes most of what is best about the game and distills it down to a small box game, playable in less than 20 minutes (closer to 30-45 minutes if playing with new players.) While the “large box” games tend to allow more long-term grand strategy, New York serves as both a great introduction to the game and a fully playable version when you have less than an hour to spare.
