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.
Game Review: Purr Pals (Wii)
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Posted on September 16th, 2008 by
After a release on the Nintendo DS, the Purr Pals kitten simulator is now available for the Wii system. Like the DS version, players adopt a kitten and then must take care of it by feeding, grooming, and playing with it. Money awarded for proper kitten care and several minigames (a round of Cat Hero, anyone?) is used to buy food, kitty litter, toys, and a wide selection of kitty toys. The game is all the fun one would expect of a virtual kitten simulator. more…
Force Unleashed Content Reviews
Posted on September 15th, 2008 by
I promise, this is the last Force Unleashed coverage here at GamerDad. WhatTheyPlay now has my Xbox 360/PS3 and my Nintendo Wii reviews up and running. It’s violent, it’s T-Teen, it’s Star Wars, but it’s the Dark Side. It’s Lord Vader, it’s a dad-thing. Galen is sort of like Luke’s evil yet far less whiny twin. How does it feel being the one raised by Vader, rather than the one drinking blue milk with people who farm water vapor out of a desert. It’s a big galaxy you know, you could just do what civilizations have done since the dawn of everything – live near a river! Seriously though, what is Tatooine’s attraction other than the occasional Sarrlacc sighting, slavery, worm-like crime lords and “a wretched hive of scum and villany”?
Force Unleashed – Which to Buy?
Posted on September 15th, 2008 by
The NDA is lifted, so I can tell you all that Star Wars: Force Unleashed is a mediocre game! Sorry, it’s true, the reviews coming in are from magazines so I haven’t read them but the scores – mid 70’s – are exactly right. There’s an unpolished rushed feeling, cutscenes interupt action and the story is propelled by a lot of button mashing combat. You can fight strategically, but button mashing works good too. When I finished the 360 version I was done with the game and glad to be frankly but then I remembered – I had to check out the Wii version. This leads us to the most important line in this post. IF YOU HAVE A WII – GET THE WII VERSION! The Force is much stronger on Nintendo’s white rectangle of interactivity.
Ask GamerDad 9/12/08
Posted on September 15th, 2008 by
Violence, Drugs, Mercenaries and Ninjas – Oh my! The most recent Ask GamerDad is up and helping parents at WhatTheyPlay. It’s been helping people since last friday. What have you been doing with your time? Sometime worthwhile I can only hope!
Game Review: USA Today Crossword Challenge (DS)
Posted on September 13th, 2008 by
10 Things Parents Need to Know About Force Unleashed
Posted on September 12th, 2008 by
Packed with spoilers – sorry, nature of the article – WhatTheyPlay has my massive 10 Things Parents Should Know About Star Wars: The Force Unleashed from LucasArts. There are spoilers and more spoilers here, but if you’re the parent of a tween or younger and you want to know if you oughta graduate from Lego Star Wars to this let me say … read the article. There are spoilers, but it’s also packed with great info and I worked hard on it. My 7′ tall asthmatic daddy would be proud! How’s the game itself? Can’t say until Monday. I owe my soul to the NDA.
For our kids, 9-11 is part of reality
Posted on September 11th, 2008 by
A couple of days ago I picked up the pottery my kids made during their two-week drama camp at the end of summer. They made several items, which augmented the singing, dancing and acting work they also did in the class. We only heard about a couple of items, so it was great going through the ‘unveiling’ process and seeing how differently the two boys think. But one thing in particular was fitting – and striking – to see this week.
Space Siege (PC) Review at RPGWatch
Posted on September 10th, 2008 by
My latest epic review for RPGWatch is focused on Gas Powered Games not-so-epic Space Siege. The game is an action-RPG in the tradition of the companies previous Dungeon Siege efforts. So how does the team that last checked in with Supreme Commander handle the transition to making an action-RPG in space? more…
Happy Birthday, Dreamcast!
Posted on September 9th, 2008 by
The sixth generation of video game consoles in the US officially began nine years ago today on 9/9/99, with the introduction of the Sega Dreamcast. Join us as we take a look at what made the Dreamcast special, and what made it a miserable failure.
It’s also the PlayStation’s birthday, but for some reason everyone only wants to talk about the troubled system, not the runaway success 😉
Mercenaries 2
Posted on September 9th, 2008 by
I hate this guy. I hate the braided goatee, the feauxhawk, the attitude, the tattoos and the supposedly “extreme” bad-assery he’s clearly meant to represent. I’d go further to say that if this guy – Mattias, I’m told – actually existed, I wouldn’t want to meet him. Since he doesn’t, I’ll go further and say I also wouldn’t want to meet the people who made him up, packaged him, and sold him. I loathe this character . . . so I was pretty glad I could also be a black guy or a sexy girl instead. Not because I wanted to play Mercenaries 2, I did not, I feel like I’m too old for this one. But because it’s a good idea for me to check out anything based on destruction if it’s rated Teen. I’m bound to get questions about it.
