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.
Just Can’t Wait to be King
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Posted on February 29th, 2008 by
For Christmas, my mom got Maggie and herself tickets to the Lion King. A few weeks later she reconsidered and gave me her ticket. Her idea was that since I did a lot of acting as a teen and since Maggie is suddenly showing an interest in theater, the experience might be more rewarding as a father/daughter bonding exercise. The show is magical – and I was prepared for it to be a little corny, far from it! – seeing these professional dancers operating these gorgeous puppets and costumes was a treat. Right in front of us walked 3 people in a Rhino, several people swinging birds around, a cheetah, and more. When Scar tells Simba to “RUN” – the boy playing the lion ran through the audience and right in front of my daughter.
Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles (Movie)
Posted on February 28th, 2008 by
The Spiderwick Chronicles is a series of five books released over the past five years and recently adapted into a film. The making of the film required overcoming the daunting challenge of compressing the events that have kept young readers enthralled from volume to volume into a ninety minute feature with a single story arc.
Review – Endless Ocean
Posted on February 28th, 2008 by
In case you haven’t noticed, I like to spice up my BioShock, Rainbow
Six: Vegas, Rock Band, and other grown-up games with games that can best be described as “cute and quirky.” I admire imaginative gaming – and feel these kinds of casual games are very good for kids. I also believe gaming is all about doing things you can’t normally do (fly a plane, drive a race car, combat terrorism, or save the world from various kinds of aliens – zombies – or alien zombies). (Note to self, try and pitch alien-zombie idea to a game developer.)
The Most Significant Trend of 2007
Posted on February 28th, 2008 by
As someone who watches this industry closely (and is no longer particularly impressed by hype or “flavors du jour” I like to look back at a year and think about what happened in the game industry to change things. Past examples are Xbox Live, the Nintendo DS, Guitar Hero, and last year I picked the Nintendo Wii for it’s potential to bring mainstreamers into the fold and expand the market, and acceptance, of video games. So, what’s the significant happening this year? (Is GamerDad going to talk about Rock Band again?)
Family Game of 2007
Posted on February 26th, 2008 by
Picking the best game of any given year is difficult. That’s why you’ll see that most magazines and websites cheat and cram as many categories as they possibly can – so as many games can win as possible. To me the question is simple. I’m not looking for excellence (Mario Galaxy) so much as I’m looking for impact. I’m looking for the game we’ll remember that year for. And that game, for 2007 inarguably is . . .
txa1265’s “Baker’s Dozen” Best RPG’s of 2007
Posted on February 25th, 2008 by
While I lap up – and subsequently complain about – ‘Top 10’ and ‘Game of the Year’ lists like most everyone, one thing that has always bothered me is the tendency of the necessary genre/platform squishing to force choices on the list-maker that leave you as a reader unsatisfied. So while you have already seen my ‘Best Games of 2007’ list, I felt hamstrung when it came to RPG’s … which is a good thing since it means that I feel there were so many good RPG’s released last year that they deserve more attention.
Think Pink!
Posted on February 25th, 2008 by
In honor of Kirby 64 coming to the Wii Virtual Console this week, I thought I’d repost a tribute blog to the pink puff. Kirby is one of my favorite Nintendo characters, but he and his games are oft ignored, I think.
Kansas Gov. (Do as I say, not as I…)
Posted on February 25th, 2008 by
Gotta hand it to Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. She tried to introduce legislation in 2006 to censor video games and music lyrics in the State of Kansas. With her maternal tone and belief that she was helping the kids, I’m sure some Kansas moms took her words to heart and maybe even banned games from their homes to “protect” their children. Well, turns out Gov. Sebelius should know. Her 24 year-old son had a burst of creativity and created a boardgame based on prison – that according to people who’ve played it, plays a lot like Grand Theft Auto. GamerDad covers board games, we encourage them for the same reason we encourage family gaming, so we feel qualified to say “If you believe video games influence children, then, you must believe board games do too” – especially board games that deal with murder, prison rape, are apparently anti-gay and racist (according to a Republican rival of hers). Oh, the name of the game is “Don’t Drop the Soap.”
Space Invaders – Memory Lane
Posted on February 25th, 2008 by
Welcome to the first edition of Memory Lane. A place here at GamerDad where we take a look at the past and reminisce about the games, the toys, the movies, the books, that transformed us from kids to teens to adults to dads and finally, to GamerDads.
Memory Lane – Space Invaders
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American IDon’tCare.com
Posted on February 24th, 2008 by
In case you haven’t heard, this season’s American Idol is THE BEST EVAR!!! With the MOST TALENTED CONTESTANTS EVAR!!! And the performances are THE GREATEST EVAR!!! Making this season, naturally, THE BEST SEASON OF ANYTHING EVAR!!! DON’T MISS AN EPISODE!!!!!
