It s a slow news day and I ve got the flu, so I d thought I d amuse you with some of my fevered ramblings on gaming. I realize that to reply you have to go through the effort of emailing me, but please do—I m sick, bored and have no voice.

I was just reading a story abuot video games as educational tools for preschoolers. One side argues that video games are an excellent way to introduce young children to learning, while other s call it the learning equivalent of vitamin-fortified Cocoa Puffs.

I fall kind of in the middle. I let my 3-year-old son play some video games and I ve noticed some interesting things. And before you freak-out, I completely limit the type of games he plays and the amount of time he plays them and don t allow him to play them alone.

First off, most pre-schooler console games are completely lacking in any sort of educational value whatsoever. Early on I bought Tristan a copy of Dora the Explorer for the PS2. Besides the fact that this has got to be one of the worst games ever created for a console, it does nothing to try and teach. Heck, at times it even seems avoid teaching. How hard would it have been for them to include counting or the alphabete in the game?

The entertainment games I let him play definetly improve his eye-hand coordination and I think, generally speaking, gaming teaches people problem-solving skills. But Tristan has also picked up some other gaming habits.

He s friggin addicted to Burnout 3 Takedown and has become adept enough at driving the cars that he can complete and sometimes win races, but he s also now totally into crashing his toy cars. I don t think it s a big deal, but I can t help feel there s a direct coorelation and that makes me a bit uneasy.

I occasionally let him play Godzilla Save the Earth, a Teen rated game, with me. It s your basic monster mele, wrestling game. After we play the game for a bit, I ve noticed that he wants to wrestle and play-fight with me.

It kind of makes you wonder. I m not saying games turn kids violent, but they do something. And who knows what happens when you increase the amount of play, amount of violence and subtract the parent from the formula.

OK, bring it on. Send me your angry, biting letters of protest. I need the company.

Are video games really an educational boost for preschoolers? [The Seattle Times]

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