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.
E3 Strikes and You’re Out!
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Posted on June 22nd, 2015 by
Well, another E3 has come and gone. Now it’s time for me to complain about not being able to go to E3 AGAIN this year. But the games they showed at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo were pretty neat, and still worth talking about, so here’s a blog all about that. Enjoy!
Adios, Amiibos?
Posted on June 19th, 2015 by
So recently, Nintendo released another wave of their Amiibo figures. In the past, I was able to easily get all the Amiibo figures because I could reserve them at the nearby GameStop. But for this last wave, GameStop decided to change their reservation process and have it be all online. Even if you reserve them at the store. So now I had to compete with the entire country, not just one place. They WOULD have to do this on the wave that had the Amiibo I wanted most: Pac-Man! I thought my Amiibo collecting days were done, but thanks to the graciousness of a good friend of mine, he drove me around to a couple of stores on the morning that the new wave of Amiibo figures would be released. So I managed to get nearly all the ones I wanted! So here’s a blog about them. Will this be my last Amiibo blog? Well, I guess we’ll just have to see what the next wave brings. I would like to get Palutena, Zero Suit Samus, and Dr. Mario, and maybe catch up on exclusives like Meta Knight (not to mention upcoming Chibi Robo and Yarn Yoshi). But we’ll just have to see when that time comes!
Pokémon Rumble World (3DS)
Posted on June 17th, 2015 by
Nintendo is going hog wild lately with the free-to-play games, especially when it involves Pokemon. First we had Pokemon Shuffle, now this. In Pokemon Rumble World, you visit the Kingdom of Toys and meet the King. He’s jealous because an evil magician has more toy Pokemon than he does, so he commissions you to battle and collect toy Pokemon to show the magician who the real toy master is. Pokemon Rumble World is a top-down action game that plays similarly to Gauntlet, and you can download it for free on the 3DS eShop.
Nintendo World Championships 1990
Posted on June 15th, 2015 by
In the last weekend of May, Nintendo held a new Nintendo World Championships at Best Buy stores around the country. Participants played the championship mode on the 3DS NES Remix game, and winners will play in the finals in LA during the week of E3! You may have read about many people on the Internet getting all excited over all this. But why? What’s the big deal? Well, it’s because for people who grew up in the NES generation, the original Nintendo World Championships 1990 was such a monumental event for those who attended it. Including me. So in this blog, I’m going to share with you my experiences with that original event, and how it shaped me as a game reviewer today!
High Strangeness (Wii U)
Posted on June 12th, 2015 by
In the downloadable Wii U game High Strangeness, you play as a young adult man named Boyd. One day he wakes up in the middle of the night to find that his house is overrun with shadowy figures trying to attack him. And even stranger, his cat is talking to him! Boyd learns that only he can save the universe by collecting crystal skulls, so he goes off on an adventure with his talking cat and other friends. High Strangeness is a top down action adventure game similar to Super Nintendo titles like Soul Blazer, Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore. In fact, one of the main gimmicks in this one is that you can switch between 16-bit and 8-bit versions of the world.
Fearless Fantasy (iPad)
Posted on June 10th, 2015 by
Bounty Hunter Leon receives a call to pick up a lady and take her to a specific location. But when they arrive, Leon finds out that the person who summoned him for the job WAS the lady in the first place! Turns out she’s a princess and is forced to marry an evil tyrant who owns a fearsome beast. Now it’s up to Leon, his friend, and the princess to defeat the monster and save the day. Fearless Fantasy is an RPG tailor-made for mobile devices, and is available to download on iOS (reviewed on iPad here).
Armadillo Gold Rush (iPad)
Posted on June 8th, 2015 by
Help a rolling armadillo collect gold coins in this western-themed maze puzzler. Your armadillo will roll in one direction until it hits a wall or other obstacle, so you have to plan your path accordingly. Armadillo Gold Rush is available to download on iOS devices, and reviewed on iPad here.
Fruit Ninja Academy: Math Masters (iPad)
Posted on June 5th, 2015 by
School may be out, but your kids can still practice their math skills with a new downloadable app featuring one of the most popular mobile games ever: Fruit Ninja! Apparently, Fruit Ninja has characters now, which I wasn’t aware of. But at the beginning of the game, ninja kid Katsuro and his pet pig pal Truffles are exploring some ruins looking for treasure. When they stumble on a golden piece of fruit, Truffles accidentally triggers a trap and gets locked in a cage! The only way to free Truffles is to piece together six magical tablets. Now the Fruit Ninja crew needs your help slicing fruit on the touch screen and solving math problems so they can free Truffles! Fruit Ninja: Academy: Math Masters is available for download on iOS, Google Play, and Amazon, but reviewed on iPad here.
Reader Review: GhostControl Inc. (PC)
Posted on June 3rd, 2015 by
When I was a kid, I loved the Ghostbusters movie. It’s still one of my top favorite movies of all time, even today! But have you ever wondered what it would be like to run your own ghost extermination business? Well now you can find out with a new downloadable game on Steam called GhostControl Inc. Check out my friend Robbie Allen’s review to find out if this would be the job for you!
Bears vs. Art (iPad)
Posted on June 1st, 2015 by
Rory the bear lives happily and peacefully in the forest. Until one day, people start building art museums and galleries way out there and disrupting Rory’s habitat. Now Rory must enter these galleries and put a stop to this in Bears vs. Art, a new free-to-play downloadable action puzzler for iOS and Android devices (reviewed on iPad here).
