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Gears of War 3 is the latest in an increasingly long list of games that include the ability to filter out adult language and gore through the game's settings. More »
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A recent study conducted by researchers at Michigan State University found that the more time middle school students spent playing games, the more negative an opinion they held about their parents. It seems like a simple matter of cause and effect, but which is which? More »
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About six months ago, Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines figured Feb. 18 was the perfect day to conceive a child, as the baby would be due on Nov. 11, the ship date for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. One couple conceived well early of that, but their baby's birth will still forever be associated with the game. More »
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You may love Bethesda Softworks' Elder Scrolls series, but do you love it enough to conceive a child and name it after the protagonist of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? What if a mystery prize is involved? More »
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Click to viewParenting in the information age is difficult; children today are exposed to things that their parents never saw at such a young age. Such as Jar-Jar Binks (who killed grandma). More »
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A Cincinnati-area father took bad parenting to a new depth this past weekend by swiping his 9-year-old son's console and games and trading them all in for cash. What for exactly wasn't said, but the guy has a drug problem. More »
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Duh, you say. Well, the usefulness of the report suggests that playing video games ain't entirely sedentary, and aren't a threat to actual exercise. Ah, now do you see? Sports games are our friends. More »
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Tea-Bagging! Salty language! Racism! There seems to be plenty of reasons why you shouldn't let your child go online to game until they're ready to drive.. or vote... or drink. But what about the benefits? More »
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An evenhanded study last month about kids and schoolwork found "nothing evil about video games," but not a Kansas educator, who bootstraps those findings to his claim that games are responsible for the widening achievement gap between boys and girls. More »
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So Caressa Cameron, crowned Miss America on Sunday, opened her yearlong reign with some alienating things to say about video games. Chalk that up to extemporaneous speaking. Here she assures Major Nelson she wants to learn how to play them. More »
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"It's clear most of these commenters can't seem to conceive of a world where everyone doesn't play video games all day long," writes Chris O'Brien, whose column about returning a Christmas-gift Wii summoned a tempest of gamer fury . More »
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In Chicago last month, a kid called 911 when the 'rents took away his Xbox 360. Saturday in a Boston suburb a mom dialed the law when her son wouldn't stop playing. Oh yeah, Grand Theft Auto's involved here, too. More »
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As reported earlier, the National Institute on Media and the Family, whose key funding dried up in a terrible economy, is closing. Founder Dave Walsh talked with the Associated Press, and reflected on his organization's influence in the industry. More »
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The National Institute on the Media and the Family - whose annual report cards were more fair and reasonable than such an Orwellian name might imply - will close at the end of 2009 after 14 years of watchdoggery. More »
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In an interview, Neil Thompson, Microsoft's regional Xbox director for the United Kingdom, says console makers have a responsibility to educate the public on the meanings of game ratings and the ability to restrict them. More »
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Once was a day parents had to do their jobs, and manually enforce the amount of time a kid spent playing on a console. Now, all they need is the GameDr. More »
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Video game use among children is, if you happen to be a parent, a worrisome issue. Even I worry about it with my own son. More »
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The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is joining forces with child-rearing journal Parenting to help confused parents get a handle on what games are suitable for their children. More »
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I realize this pours gas on the bad parenting flames of yesterday, but holy crow, I can't not show you this story. Yesterday reader tooji tipped me off to the story of Blake Peebles, a 16-year-old in Raleigh, N.C., whose parents have let him drop out of school so that he can focus on a professional gaming career via Guitar Hero. More »
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Parents! Do you lack all authority to control your child's video game playing? Do you lack opposable thumbs, or an appendage suitable for TURNING OFF THE TELEVISION???? Well, fortunately for you, now there's BOB More »
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Being a kid is hard. Being a parent? Harder. When a 13 year-old Virginia kid intentionally broke the vacuum cleaner so he could skirt his chores and play Xbox 360, his mom took action. Mean mom action. She tells our sister site Gizmodo: More »
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Janice Turner is a hard working mom. She can't constantly be watching everything her children do which includes watching TV, using the computer and listening to the iPod. One thing she can control apparently is how often her kids play video games, which is never since she refuses to buy her kids any gaming consoles. As a parent, this is of course her choice and more power to her for trying to get her kids to spend some quality time playing outside with other kids and the like. My parents did the same to me with cartoons. Saturday at noon the TV went off and my brother and I went outside. Getting your kids to do anything besides intaking copious amounts of media has been a problem for parents since the invention of the radio. But, as "media" grows larger there are more distractions that make it harder for parents to get their kids away from it. More »
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John Davison, the former editor of Electronic Gaming Monthly, has started What They Play, a website that bills itself as "the videogames guide for parents." Reading a few of the reviews already up, it seems that the site focuses on short, fairly traditional reviews with a final "moral warning" for parents. For example, on Guitar Hero III: More »
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In conjunction with Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, the ESRB is launching a new ratings awareness campaign aimed at getting parents to actually read those rating labels that are so painstakingly placed on games. The Rhode Island radio and television PSAs will feature Lynch and his two children in what sounds a lot like a middle America political ad, offering general information about the ESRB's categories. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=287839&view=rss&microfeed=true Street Fighter II sound effects make everything funnier! But this poor, poor child. Hopefully, it came back in the next round and KO'd the dude with a Spinning Bird Kick. Pro tip: don't let your young ones go wandering around break dancers. Hence the term "BREAK DANCERS." Brian Ashcraft More »
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Some of our readers have bred, which might or might not be a good thing. But, it does give them an understanding of what gaming is, that it's not bad or evil. The Guardian points to a gaming parent post written by the mother of a 16 year-old son. It details how Super Mario 64, Halo and PG-13 rated trash talk has brought them closer. There's From the post: More »
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Wired's Clive Thompson called me up a few weeks back to talk to me about how I deal with Tristan playing video games. My 5-year-old son, for those of you who don't know, has written game reviews, play tested hardware and jammed with me on Guitar Hero. More »
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Ass-pinchin', booze-hound Tomonobu Itagaki sits down with 1Up and talks up a good interview. He discusses last year's console launches and is very open about Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, which was met with a frosty reception. Standout Itagaki quote: More »
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Senator Joe Lieberman and NILF founder David Walsh presented the 11th Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card today. The report card grades how well retailers and parents work towards making sure their kids are playing the right games. Retailers and console developers got the big thumbs up this year. Guess who didn't. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=218098&view=rss&microfeed=true In this Apple-thieving Sears commercial, wee Conner tells us how much he digs like, Need for Speed, and also like, Halo and Halo 2. The latter are, of course, M-rated. More »
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Here's a product designed for over-protective, lazy parents of lazy children. Called the Game Guardian, it is a cabinet for the PS2 that is designed for people who are addicted to video games. Set the clock, and when the timer is up, the PlayStation 2 shuts off. The product is made by a British company Argos, whose website at the time of writing is down. Chalk that up to some timer going off. Brian Ashcraft More »
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There's this "new trend afoot" where video games are getting active. Fortunately, cutting-edge tech and gaming mag Parenting is all over it. In their latest issue the glossy for the pregnant set looks at four games that get your kids off their ass on on their feet to (gasp) play games. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=178711&view=rss&microfeed=true Slashdot links to a little feelgood piece>A? in the Philadelphia Inquirer about how adult gaming is still on the rise and adults are spending some time gaming with their kids. I used to just fix stuff and work on merit badges with my father, we never got our Super Mario on. More »
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