I have two boys. My boys love video games. Sometimes I wonder if they love video games a bit too much. Then I remember what I was like as a kid. I grew up with video games; I was the first of my friends to have an Atari, and the first girl in my whole neighborhood to beat Super Mario Brothers (yes, it was a HUGE deal, and I still brag about it). I see the value in video games: they’ve improved my kids’ hand-eye coordination, brought them together in times of need (“I need your help attacking this robot Now”), and have even been a source of accomplishment (“We finally figured it out”). Yes, video games have a special place in my heart, and they always will, but I also recognize the importance of designating a limited space for them in our lives. After all, balance is important – and I have no desire to have zombified kids. Here are five tips for helping your children form healthy gaming habits:

A Time and a Place

The old saying, “there is a time and a place for everything,” applies to video games, too. The instantly gratifying nature of video games makes them the obvious choice – if you give kids a choice. Would you put desert on your child’s dinner place and say, “whichever you want?” I don’t think so. Specify video game time, and enforce it. Read the rest of this entry »

The holiday season is fast approaching and your children will soon be hard at work on their holiday gift wish-lists. If your children have a PlayStation 3 and are anything like mine, they’re already thinking about the new games they want to see in the house this winter. Unfortunately, not all are appropriate for children. Here are 5 you might consider allowing to appear under the tree.

Gran Turismo 5

Who doesn’t love fast cars? Even the girls in your house might get into this fast-paced race car game. As you play you’ll have the opportunity to choose from more than 1,000 of the hottest, fastest, and most exotic cars in the world. Customize them, race them, trade them in, or form a collection. You never know what type of car you’ll want to have on hand for the real road or your favorite kart or NASCAR course. Read the rest of this entry »

Zynga’s notification on the release of Mafia Wars 2 arrived in my inbox yesterday. I right away thought that it meant at least a few hours of my time “productively” spent doing research for this post. Unfortunately, less than an hour into the game and I found myself quitting, even way before I spent all of my allotted energy.

The gameplay is nothing new with nothing to distinguish it from Cityville, Farmville, Sims Social, or any of the other (beginning to be) countless social games you can play on Facebook (and Google+), except that everything looks and is named differently, from items and buildings to tasks. That does not mean though that Mafia Wars 2 is any less engaging than the above mentioned games. On the contrary, I’m sure Mafia Wars fans will end up inviting lots of friends to help them finish tasks and get more energy in the next few weeks as they build up their turfs and engage in fights.

What I did like about Mafia Wars 2 is that the artwork is truly cool; in fact I think I spent more time just looking at the task/tutorial notifications appreciating the coloring and effects than playing the game itself. The boss wars and the multi-player arena also adds another dimension to the game, especially since you can ask your friends during the fight to help you beat up a stronger character.

All in all though, this game will appeal to the same crowd its predecessor drew, and won’t grab the interest of those who’d rather not have the social aspect of gaming. Of course, you can always pay Zynga to get more energy and required items without waiting or adding friends.

Tags: Facebook, Google Plus, Mafia Wars, Mafia Wars 2, social games

Eating out can be fun, but it can also be expensive. That is why a lot more people tend to spend some time in the kitchen creating their own delicious meals. Sure, it takes a little work, but it does help one relax and save money while at it. Of course, there is the anticipation for what comes after cooking – eating!

One trend that seems to be going strong is for people to patronize cooking- or food-related TV shows and web sites. The popularity of celebrity chefs has largely contributed to this, and they have not hesitated to take advantage of this. There are also a considerable number of web sites dedicating themselves to providing recipes to the average person who makes meals in his or her own kitchen.

Speaking of recipe portals, there is a newcomer in the arena: Recipe Finder. This new site is a search engine that has been designed to provide users with the best recipes that can be found online. With more than a million recipes in the collection, Recipe Finder offers users more than other recipe sites.

Recipe Finder is a breeze to use, not requiring technical knowledge from you – the user. All that you need to do is to key in the recipe name or an ingredient. There are also options which allow you to conduct a narrower search, which will give you more relevant results. For example, you can use the feature which allows you to indicate ingredients which you want to be included in or excluded from the recipe. Furthermore, you can indicate parameters such as calorie count, cook time, and the number of servings. With these features, you are assured of the best results.

Recipe Finder offers you more than discovering recipes. It also gives you some help in the organizational front via two features: the menu feature and the calendar feature. The menu feature allows you to create a fully customizable menu which can include the appetizer, main courses, and desserts. The calendar feature gives you the possibility of planning entire meals in advance.

For many people online, sharing is very important. Social networking is the key for them. Recipe Finder addresses this preference by providing sharing options using some of the most popular platforms. And if you are the kind who still prefers the feel of paper in your hands, then simply click on the print icon to create your hard copy!

What’s left for you to do is to cook!

Tags: recipes, search engines

The thing about being too engaged in newly purchased game consoles such as the Playstation and Xbox consoles is that time flies when you are having fun. A game console aimed for all ages, people are too glued to their television playing their favorite games such as NBA Live, Tekken or even Gran Turismo that they end up lacking sleep from playing until the wee hours of the morning.

Such produces a hypnotic type of a trance for gamers that simply want to complete a level or stage in storylines that these games have to offer. The game developers are not to be blamed since it is really their job to make the game as addicting as possible.

Self-discipline among the people who endorse and play this game should be done internally. It is their duty to ensure that they know when to stop even if they don’t want to. Besides, they can pull-it out anytime they wish to, when they have nothing else to do in real life.

[tags]playstation, xbox, games, sleep disorder[/tags]

Tags: games, PlayStation, sleep-disorder, Xbox

If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, Burger Island is one of those casual games that has a lot of replay value. I think Burger Island was released a year or so ago but I still remember playing it nonstop. So why am I writing about it now, a year or so later?

Well, I found myself out of new casual games to play the other day and I was browsing my computer when I saw the icon for Burger Island. I was instantly transported to the past, with the imagined aroma of cooking burgers and French fries and the creamy flavor of milkshakes. I couldn’t help it – I had to play the game again.

Burger Island is one of the more difficult casual games I have ever played. The concept itself is fairly easy. You have to prepare customers’ orders before the time runs out. You have three major products – burgers, fries, and milkshakes. Each of these products have different variations which you can purchase as you go along and amass enough money. At the beginning, the combinations are fairly easy but do not be fooled, they get very complicated soon enough and a single mistake will make your food forfeit. Indeed, the first time I played this game, I found myself getting mad a lot of times because I had problems keeping up with the pace.

The graphics are very cute – the food looks real. Then you have the music, a funky beat that keeps you on your toes. Of course, we cannot forget Pierre, your French boss who has this endearing yet irritating attitude. You’ll see what I mean – play the game!

Tags: Burger Island, Casual Games

We’ve all heard about how violent video games can bring harm to people who play them, especially the young people. More often than not, hardcore gamers get sick of these studies and proclamations of violence making players immune. That is why when I read this blog post on a study looking at the other side of the coin, I was pleasantly surprised. I was even more surprised that I haven’t heard more of this study, conducted by Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, which was actually started in 2004.

So what are the findings of the study? Dr. Olson states in an interview:

Many children in our survey, as well as our focus groups with boys who play violent games, said they played games to manage their feelings. This included playing games to “help get my anger out,” to forget problems, to relax, and to feel less lonely. Children who played at least one M-rated video game “a lot in the past six months” were significantly more likely to agree that getting anger out was one reason they played video games.

The bottom line is that adolescents who play video games are better able to manage their feelings – anger in particular. This is due to the fact that they are able to vent out violent emotions through video games. Another thing that I liked about the study is how they approached the issue – not using the premise that violent games cause aggressive behaviors. Instead, they focused on something more concrete – the reason behind adolescents playing these games.

Tags: Psychology, violence

I have heard many PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 fanboys say this over and over. These relatively new video game consoles just keep getting better and better, and for some, you have not experienced gaming unless you have used these consoles. Indeed, I know some people who would not play on anything than their favorite gaming console.

But what about the good old personal computer? Back in the day, the PC was all I played on. From Minesweeper to Hearts to The Sims to Counterstrike – the PC also has continued to evolve as a mean gaming machine. If we were to believe some people though, it would seem as if the PC as a gaming machine is all but dead. But is it, really?

Apparently NOT. A recent study by Interpret shows that 23% of gamers use their PCs as the main means of gaming. Their reason? The computer provides a far better experience than the PS3, the Xbox 360, or even the Nintendo Wii.

This is because with the PC, you can use the keyboard and the mouse for more complex controls. These peripherals also provide better means of communication, which is quite vital for online MMOs and strategy games.

You may be wondering about the sales of PC games. It is true that PC games are selling less and less – that is why video game stores are devoting less shelf space to them. However, the sales of downloadable games continue to rise.

The bottom line? PC gaming is not dead, and I don’t think it will ever be

Tags: pc gaming

Most hardcore gamers today who are obviously after the best game play methodology would usually be left with either choosing a gun or a sword in his own role playing expedition in the usually created game worlds today. Such has been seen from the games that have been clamored to by millions such as Gunbound and Runescape. Both have their own style of game play, either medieval times or old western style shoot-around.

Depending on the theme of the developed game or the actual purpose of usual storylines that would guide the new player towards his journey, people are sure to be befuddled with what type of character they would want to create and develop. For medieval worlds, warriors and magicians would usually be the primary categories of choice. But if there is one thing that a hardcore gamer should be aware of, he must ultimately decide on one character creation first before moving on to choosing other character types with special skills. Patience in this type of game play is a rarity but can be an asset if used well.

[tags]gunbound, runescape, rpg, online games[/tags]

Tags: gunbound, online-games, RPG, runescape

I am sure that you have heard of some of these urban legends. I don’t know if you believe them (or used to believe them) but I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the biggest myths of video games.

Donkey Kong is a result of a wrong translation – it was really supposed to be Monkey Kong.
Funny isn’t it? Unfortunately, there is no truth to this. Shigeru Miyamoto, the legendary Nintendo designer would be the first one to debunk this myth. He says that the name may sound funky but it was the choice at that time. It turned out to be a good choice – it is one of the most popular video games of all time.

PS2s – thousands of them – were purchased by Saddam Hussein to create a supercomputer for his military.
Not! Why would Saddam make use of PS2s to create a supercomputer? I am sure that a man of his means would have had access to more powerful processors. This hot piece of rumor didn’t stay alive for long – government officials officially debunked the myth soon after it circulated online.

A man has died playing video games.
Alright, this one has truth to it. I remember reading about it several years ago. This Korean man played for 50 hours straight and died of a heart attack. That was in 2005. Another Korean guy died of exhaustion after playing straight for 86 hours. The moral of the story is this – get some rest while playing video games!

Want more of these urban legends? Read Yahoo’s feature on them.

Tags: gaming culture, urban legends