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.
Retro-Bit Generations: Part 3
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Posted on July 19th, 2017 by
Today’s look at games on the Retro-Bit Generations console has a lot of favorites from Irem, including Hammerin’ Harry, Kid Niki: Radical Ninja and its sequel, and my personal favorite, and what sold me on this system: Kickle Cubicle!
Carrotia (Boardgame)
Posted on July 18th, 2017 by
Carriotia has players cooperate to quickly build a progressively bigger maze, moving their rabbit to collect carrots when they finish. A timed section has players laying out maze tiles to connect the start and end points of the maze, followed by an untimed phase where players take turns moving about the board trying to pick up the placed carrot tokens. The rabbit must exit the maze in a limited number of moves, and things can get complicated as various birds also move about and can affect the board. Complete three progressively larger mazes and then count your carrots to measure your performance. Thirty carrots is an incredible score, while collecting only ten carrots means there are hard times ahead this winter.
Carrotia
Publisher: Mage Company
Ages: 8+
Players: 1-6
Time: 30 minutes
(Review copy provided by Mage Company)
Retro-Bit Generations: Part 2
Posted on July 18th, 2017 by
Lots of Capcom goodies in this second part of my look at all the games in the Retro-Bit Generations console. Highlights include Captain Commando, NES Commando, Exed Exes, Forgotten Worlds, Ghouls N Ghosts, Super Ghouls N Ghosts, Gun.Smoke, and many more!
Retro-Bit Generations: Part 1
Posted on July 17th, 2017 by
So last year Nintendo released the NES Classic Edition, a console with 30 NES games packed into it. I was pretty bummed when I wasn’t able to get one, but it sounds like a lot of other folks weren’t able to get it either. I really hope I can get the SNES Classic Edition that they announced would be coming out this year, but I’d better not get my hopes up. Personally, I think how Nintendo handled the NES Classic Edition is one of their biggest mistakes they’ve made. Well, maybe not as big as the Virtual Boy or having the N64 be cartridge only. So out of frustration, earlier this year I bought an off brand retro console called Retro-Bit Generations. Why? Because it had a lot of games on it that interested me more than what was on the NES Classic Edition, like Kickle Cubicle, Captain Commando, etc. What can I say? I’ve always liked the weird non-mainstream stuff. So all this week we’re going to take a look at the console and the games on it. This thing has over 100 games on it, so yeah, it’ll take us five days to go through it all. So let’s begin!
Taito Wins This Round at Round 1 Arcade!
Posted on July 14th, 2017 by
At the beginning of the year, my brothers were telling me about a really cool arcade near where they live. And just a couple of months ago, I finally got a chance to go to it and take pictures. And now I finally got a chance to post them here! Anyway, it’s called Round 1, and it has a bowling alley, karaoke, darts, pool tables, and a big kiddie play area. But who cares about any of those things? (joking) It also has a really big arcade with lots of ways to separate itself from other typical arcades.
WizKids RPG Miniatures Update
Posted on July 13th, 2017 by
Another round of nifty little plastic figures have been released by WizKids. A new line of minis complements the recent Pathfinder Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure path. In addition, two special sets of player-character minis have been released under the Dungeons and Dragon label. The pair of releases are interesting because each contains the same six characters, but the first release shows them at a low level while the follow-up release arms the miniatures with much more advanced and/or epic looking weapons, armor, and tools. As usual, these prepainted minis aren’t cheap, but they’re fun to have on hand to help set the tone and sort through the complexities of battle.
Tokyo Xanadu (Vita)
Posted on July 12th, 2017 by
Nihon Falcom is a Japanese video game developer who has been around for decades. Their most well-known series in the US is probably Ys (pronounced ‘ease’) but even then that’s a pretty niche series. Another popular series they made (at least in Japan) was the Xanadu games, which received many sequels and spinoffs. Fans of the NES may have played some of these spinoffs, like Faxanadu or Legacy of the Wizard (yes, really, all those games are related in a way). One thing the Xanadu games have in common is that, well, they don’t have anything in common! None of them are really related in any way (that I’m aware of), and such is the case with the newest in the series: Tokyo Xanadu. In this game you play as a normal Japanese high school boy. You have a part time job and hang out with friends. But one day you discover an alternate dimension filled with dungeons and monsters, and find out that some of your classmates are involved. Now you must juggle school, a part time job, and saving the world with your friends.
Pathfinder 2017 Update (RPG)
Posted on July 11th, 2017 by
The Pathfinder RPG keeps chugging along with recent releases including a remake of the urban-based adventure-path (campaign), the Curse of the Crimson Throne. Other supplements include the Bestiary 6 (with a number of high-level monsters) and the Adventurer’s Guide full of secret and not-so-secret organizations for your world. I’ve also recently found out Paizo has even made the content of well over a dozen of the game’s rules and supplements freely accessible online!
Import Amiibo
Posted on July 10th, 2017 by
As many of you may know, I’m a big fan of collecting Nintendo’s amiibo figures. Most amiibo figures are released in the US and Japan, and some are harder to get than others. I’ve been able to get most of the amiibo figures I own in stores in the US, but I have had to import a few in the past. But did you know that as of this writing, there are some amiibo figures that are only available in Japan? Well I recently imported those so I thought I’d go over them now.
Cary’s Best Games of 2017 SO FAR Awards Show!
Posted on July 7th, 2017 by
Can you believe this year is already half over? What I like to do this time of year is write about the best games of the year so far. Everyone is all excited over recent E3 announcements, and most of the really good titles come out during the Christmas season at the tail end of the year, and the games that come out earlier tend to be forgotten. So this is where those games get their due. Keep in mind that no outside opinions went into the making of this list. It’s just my own picks. And if a game is missing from my list, it either didn’t appeal to me as much, or I just simply haven’t played it yet. Can’t play all the games out there, you know! Luckily I have to say that this year we’ve already gotten way better games than we did at this point last year, so that’s a good thing. Anyway, without further ado, welcome to Cary’s Best Games of 2017 SO FAR Awards Show!
