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.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
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Posted on October 13th, 2010 by
It’s be over 50 years since Guitar Hero first burst onto… what? Oh. It’s been 5 years?!? Yes. It’s only been five years but Guitar Hero is on it’s 50th editio–what? Oh there’s been how many? Oh… anyway. There’s also Rock Band as well, their 3rd one is coming soon and their Beatles game makes them have …um and… for Guitar Hero this is the… who cares? It’s more great strumming and party fun.
Pac-Man’s 30th Anniversary Celebration: The Ghosts Come Out on Halloween!
Posted on October 12th, 2010 by
Pac-Man is celebrating his 30th Anniversary this year. And he deserves to celebrate, as his arcade game is the most successful coin-operated game out there. But even though Pac-Man is considered the first video game character with personality, there are four other game characters who share the same anniversary! That’s right, the four ghosts who chase after Pac-Man in the maze! So in the ‘spirit’ of Halloween, this blog is in honor of the ghost monsters in the Pac-Games. Read on, and you’ll learn there’s more than just Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.
Sid Meier’s Pirates for Wii
Posted on October 6th, 2010 by
Return with us to those glorious days of yesteryear, when men were men and the seas were plied by only the scurviest of watery knaves. In the service of a great power Pirate Kings and Buccaneers sailed, wooed Governor’s daughters, and played far into the night. I’m talking, of course, about the late 80’s. Back then, anyone who had a PC, Amiga, or Sega Genesis knew the love that was Sid Meier’s Pirates. A game that put you in charge of a 30 gun War Galleon and dared you to follow your own path in a digitally recreated Spanish Main.
Game Review: Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley (Xbox LIVE)
Posted on October 4th, 2010 by
Meet Captain Smiley. He’s a comic book super hero who’s had a bit of bad luck lately. You see, his comic book sucked so hard that it was quickly cancelled. Even worse, Smiley has a living, breathing, talking, mean-spirited star on his chest who complains and insults Smiley every step of the way. And Star has a man-crush on Smiley’s arch-rival, the narcissistic “Brad.” So what’s a super hero to do? Well, for Captain Smiley and Star, they must jump into other comic books to guest star in them to make enough money to re-launch their own series. It’s up to you to help them in this run and gun 2-D action platformer on Xbox LIVE.
Calm Before the Storm
Posted on October 3rd, 2010 by
Sorry folks, this is just a filler blog because I can’t think of anything interesting to write a blog about. So this is the typical “What games am I looking forward to this fall” blog. A massive amount of games gets released this season for the holidays. But aside from Kingdom Hearts on the PSP, there really wasn’t anything else I was looking forward to in September. So I like to call it the ‘Calm Before the Storm’ because now that October is here, all the cool games come out soon! I imagine in September, most people were looking forward to Halo: Reach. But not me! I’m rather sick of that game myself. I couldn’t care less about Halo games, and brother Jeff plays Reach all the time. But anyway, enough of that. Here are some games I’m looking forward to playing in the next couple of months!
Dead Rising 2
Posted on October 2nd, 2010 by
Dead Rising 2 is rated M for … zombies. Parents, if you let your kids watch zombie movies, there’s nothing here that will surprise them. Some parents may not like the focus on gore for gore’s sake and killing for killing’s sake (but these are zombies). The game does have a fascination with zombie brutality and this game will challenge your kid to kill in more and more interesting way by combining items (propane tank + nails = IED). That creativity is a double edged blade if there ever was one.
Scooby Doo and the Spooky Swamp
Posted on September 30th, 2010 by
I’m playing Scooby Doo and the Spooky Swamp in co-op and can safely say the game is good (for 10 and under anyway) and plays an awful lot like Lego Star Wars. Lego Scooby Wars? Meaning, the gameplay for two usually involves special abilities (Scoob can fit inside of small passageways, Fred has super-strong Ascot powers, Velma likes playing that old Simon electronic toy, Daphne is there to look pretty (no, really! She can climb up special glowing purple poles — oh, get your mind out of the gutter!) and Shaggy does his thing. You know, the grappling hook? Shaggy with his trusty grapple? Did you even watch the show like ever man? Zoinks!
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Posted on September 29th, 2010 by
Mysterio is up to no good in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. In fact, according to super-psychic, and nice old lady, Madam Web, only multiple Spider-Men from multiple dimensions can put reality back where it’s supposed to be. It’s a clever concept that allows Activision to showcase even less well known incarnations of the character. Add on some classic web swinging and a gorgeous graphics engine and it’s the perfect action game for teens and maybe even pre-teens.
Civilization V
Posted on September 28th, 2010 by
I’m buried in Civilization V, too buried to list all the changes (Go read their website for all the changes), and hooked in a way I haven’t been since I first met Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri. Not only is it the best Civilization ever (AC above gives it some competition. it’s an almost perfect educational tool (for concepts rather than hard facts) one that smart of the brighter kids out there will love it.
Game Review: Cladun: This is an RPG (PSP)
Posted on September 26th, 2010 by
“Cladun: This is an RPG” is what it says it is…an RPG! More specifically, it’s a real time action dungeon crawling hack and slash RPG with classic styled visuals and sensibilities. You can download it on PSN for your PSP for only 20 bucks.
