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.
The Brawl Blog
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Posted on March 25th, 2008 by
Right now I’m playing the heck out of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so I felt compelled to write something about it. This really isn’t a review, per se, just a bunch of random opinions of mine about the game. OK, so maybe it is a review, I don’t know. And I guess I should say there will be spoilers in this blog, too.
GamerParenting: Intro
Posted on March 23rd, 2008 by
“So lemme introduce to you… the act we’ve known for all these years!”
Got kids? Do you miss having free time? Sleep? Do you wish you could spend more of your time playing games? Do you “make time” for games, rather than your spouse, when your kids are asleep? Are you planning ahead to introduce your child to the retro games and other favorites from your youth? Good news folks, Crispy Gamer has the 2nd issue of my GamerParenting column up and ready for reading. It’s the parenting column for hardcore gamers.
more…
Review – Puzzle Quest (PC, Mac, Wii)
Posted on March 23rd, 2008 by
Take a Bejeweled style ‘match 3’ game, come up with a load of variants on that concept, wrap a classic fantasy RPG story around it and what do you have? Possibly the best game of the year! Most genre-melding efforts fail to produce anything that fans of either genre enjoy, but Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is both a great puzzle game and a great RPG. The puzzle aspect is a simple variant on the jewel matching game that millions have enjoyed since Popcap introduced Bejeweled in 2001, while the RPG is an interesting mix of Japanese and Western styles, with a high fantasy setting and characters presented in a distinct anime flavor.
Cary’s Top Five Video Game Villains
Posted on March 22nd, 2008 by
A video game hero always has to have a bad guy or rival to fight. So here’s my top five favorite video game bad guys that I love to hate.
Ask GamerDad 3/21/08
Posted on March 22nd, 2008 by
Another week = more questions! I’m actually getting enough lately to form “theme columns” – this isn’t one of those. It’s sort of a grab bag this week. Questions like “Are there any M-games for a 9-year old to play” and “Is God of War okay for an 11-year old?” and “Is 9 too young for Smash Bros?” All that, and a bit more, at Ask GamerDad!
Review – Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery (DS)
Posted on March 20th, 2008 by
The Anno series of strategy / simulation games is very popular in Europe, and the 2006 North American release of A.D. 1701 (why the name change?) enjoyed some popular success (read my GamerDad review here). However, for all but fans of the series the news released over a year ago that a DS version of the game was planned never registered. The game was released in Europe last August, and has finally arrived in North America with the subtitle “Dawn of Discovery” … but at least it keeps the Anno moniker.
Cary’s Top Five Least Favorite Pac-Man Games
Posted on March 20th, 2008 by
I like Pac-Man a lot, so it would probably be hard for me to list my five favorite Pac games. Though games like Super Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Pac-Man: Championship Edition, Pac-Mania, and Pac-Pix would probably be good contenders. But even though I’m a big Pac-Man fan, I’ll admit that some Pac games are REALLY bad. So for this list, here are my five least favorite Pac-Man games.
Guitar Hero DS Accessory Revealed!
Posted on March 19th, 2008 by
The Guitar Hero franchise has been an enormous success on consoles, but a lot of what makes it such a blast is grabbing the guitar controller and jammin’ away! So when the DS version – Guitar Hero: On Tour – was announced, the big question on everyone’s mind was: how will you control it? Well, today we found out how!
Korg brings a ‘Synth-sim’ to the DS!
Posted on March 18th, 2008 by
I love playing music on my DS. Even more than playing rhythm games I really connect with the opportunity to make up my own stuff. I completely ate up Jam Sessions and Rhythm & Notes, so when Korg announced they were producing a ‘game’ for the Nintendo DS based on one of their classic analog synths, I was thrilled and disappointed at once: thrilled about the prospects, and disappointed because it was only being released in Japan.
Arthur C. Clarke Dead at 90
Posted on March 18th, 2008 by
One of the great technology authors and visionaries, and someone who has had a huge impact on shaping technology fantasy and reality, has died. We mourn the loss at 90 years old of the great Arthur C. Clarke, perhaps best known as the author of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, but also associated with many other developments in science and science fiction.
