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Kids And Old Arcade Games

I’ve already espoused on the greatness of GeekDad at Wired.com. This article about an exhibit of older arcade games and why kids should learn about them continues to prove that I am right.

Despite being sometimes graphically challenged, a lot of older video games are better for kids than the new ones. First of all, they’re easier to understand. Pac-Man? You move in four directions. There are also a lot of hidden gems, such as the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2, which has games like Captain Commando, a side-scrolling fighter with great characters, including a baby in a mecha robot suit. When he does his special attack he says “Baby Head.”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uMf6XKEK5w&t=2m8s]

All of the games in the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2 disc were originally arcade games, meaning that you can continue if you keep feeding the machine quarters. But with the PS2 or XBox versions, you don’t need quarters. You can just keep on playing. Kids like that because they can just dive in, shoot, punch, kick, and not worry about the game ending in four seconds.

The exhibit sounds fun. If you can’t make it, and you want to try out some fun older games with your kids, try the Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2 and its other versions. These kids today need to know that things weren’t so bad back in the day.

The Arcade Experience at eGame Revolution | GeekDad | Wired.com.

Is An Adults Only Video Game Rating A Good Thing?

From Gamespot, a story about Australia and a desire to create the R18+ rating, which is kind of an X.

In general, I’m supposed to be up in arms about this. U R CENZZURRIN ME NOLULZ THIS IZ BAAAAD D00DD.

But I think I might just agree with the idea. And not only because it’s in Australia where it will have no effect on my life whatsoever.

This isn’t censorship, though. It’s a rating. Video games have become increasingly violent over the years, something I only recently noticed since I started researching games for the new PS3 I got for Chanukah (because my wife loves me). Infamous, a game where you have electric powers and has a plot that is extremely similar to the comic/cartoon Static Shock, features a sequence where you can drain people of their bio-electricity. And watch the writhe in pain. While they die. Cute, right?

This doesn’t mean I think games with graphic violence should be banned. But maybe an adults only rating is a good thing. Is a depiction of graphic killing the same thing as sex? No, and violence rarely gets movie producers an X or NC-17 rating (although it does happen from time to time). Still, I think I’d rather a little bit of a barrier between games that are uber-violent and my kids.

Tasmania throws its support behind R18+ – News at GameSpot.

Brave and the Bold Wii Game Looks Bat-tastic

The Batman: The Brave and the Bold Wii game looks like it will be, dare we say, bat-tastic. Bat-tacular, even.

Look. It’s a video game for the Wii in which you get to play as various characters from the insanely awesome Cartoon Network series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold.” From the video, the Wii game looks like the cartoon. What could be bad?

The dorky video voice over guy says that the game will arrive in September of 2010, but Amazon says the release date is October 26, 2010. That’s early enough for Chanukah, so I’m good.

via Topless Robot – Batman: The Brave and the Beat-‘Em-Up

Heavy Rain, not Chubby Rain

A new video game, Heavy Rain, is being touted by writers on CNET’s Crave blog as nothing less than the second coming of JesusElvisBunnicula.

Heavy Rain is by far one of the most ambitious video games to hit consoles in quite some time…Regardless of whether the story affects you, we guarantee you’ve never played anything like this before.

When I saw the name, though, I couldn’t help but think of ‘Chubby Rain’, the fake movie from the Steve Martin / Eddie Murphy flick ‘Bowfinger.’

Turns out there is a Chocolate Rain parody called Chubby Rain that makes use of ‘Bowfinger’ footage. There is also a club called the Chubby Rain House of Tunes.

More importantly, however, are these definitions of chubby rain from Urban Dictionary.

Chubby rain: a crime scene investigator term used to describe the phenomenon were in an obese or overly fat person dies in a room and is not found for quite some time. the result being that the large fat deposits and bodily fluids start to evaporate and condense on the ceiling, so when someone finally does find the body the first step into the room results in jaring the dense semi-liquid substance from the ceiling downward onto the unfortunate bystander.

Chubby rain: To urinate with a partial errection.
Chubby = the partial errection
Rain = the urine spraying everywhere

Anyway, the game is called Heavy Rain. Not Chubby Rain. Got it?

Heavy Rain: Playing with your emotions | Crave – CNET

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Winter Olympics Video Games [Wii Curling and More]

Loving the Winter Olympics? Think you can’t participate? For shame! You can be an Olympic athlete in the comfort of your living room.

OK, you can PRETEND to be an Olympic athlete. But it’s the Wii, so you can sort of get up and move around. A little bit. There are non-Wii games as well for those of you who don’t like to move AT ALL.

• Winter Blast: Snow and Ice Games (Wii, $19.99)

• Deca Sports (Wii, $19.99) — this is the game that has Wii Curling. Yes. Wii Curling. Here is video proof. Warning: the first one might not be 100% safe for work, since it features a guy playing Wii Curling, making a frenetic movement with his hands near his crotch area, and shouting “HARD!” Then again, that’s what they shout during real-life Curling. The second video is just game play stuff.

• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii, $39.99; DS, $33.99) — this title has been advertised heavily on NBC during the 2010 Vancouver games, which is smart, because now I suddenly want it. Although even my wife has said that we may need to buy Deca Sports just to try out Wii Curling. How the heck does it even work? So the best marketing is to make a game based on a weird Olympic event.

Shaun White won Gold, but he was already the king of the snowboarding video game. Available for all platforms, and Wii players can get a Snowboard for the Wii Fit Balance Board.

• Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip (Wii, $14.94), Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage (Wii, $36.78), Skateboard / Snowboard for the Wii Fit Balance Board (Wii, $29.99)
• Shaun White Snowboarding (XBox 360, $19.99; also available for PS3, PS2, PSP, and DS)

DaddyTips Show and Tell for July 22, 2009

• The New York Times shows us what was happening in 1969 — Joe Namath, Led Zeppelin I, and other things that are cooler than what happened this year. (NYTimes.com)
• Darth Vader meets Hello Kitty. Hello Vader? (Zombie Panda)
• Kirk Hammett stinks at Guitar Hero. He’s the lead guitarist for Metallica. Funny. (Onion AV Club)

Lego Battles for Nintendo DS

The various Lego video games have a very mixed track record.

Lego Star Wars is excellent, and was a success on multiple platforms. We own it for PS2 and DS, and my son has played it on the Wii as well. (He asked for a Wii copy but I said no. Two versions of the same game is enough. Really.)

Lego Batman is so-so. Not great, not terrible.

Lego Indiana Jones seems to have been a big ol’ flopperoo. Haven’t played it but on my own personal “kids my kid knows meter” it rates a zero. I may be completely wrong about this, because they have announced a Lego Indiana Jones 2. Still, I don’t know of a single person who plays this game. Not that I know everyone. But I know a lot of people. (Aside: the Indiana Jones Wii game where you get to use the Wii Remote as a whip has potential. Although this Gamespot review says otherwise.)

So Lego Battles for Nintendo DS could be a hit. Or it could be a steaming pile of monkey poop. As the great Kent Brockman would say, only time will tell. Well, time, and my son deciding that he must have this game.

Here’s the trailer for Lego Battles: Read more »