Video Games in the New Millennium
I must confess it has been years since I have gamed on anything other than a PC (and now iPod Touch). Video games have come a long way since I was a kid some 30 years ago. I was one of the earliest players of GameBoy, well, when it was just GameBoy.
To me, the epitome of true gaming is Wii, which has really taken it to the next level with its incredibly realistic interactivity using its exceptionally creative game controllers. Wii is everything gaming should be in this digital age and more, but for its awful avatars on Wii Sports.
So far I have resisted the temptation to buy a Wii. It promises to be fun, exciting for the whole family, and very very distracting. My brother and sister have each gotten one for their own households already and so we’ve been ho-hum about it. I mean, if we really want to play, we can go there.
I told myself I would raise my kids sans TV and video games and I meant it, but already Jack is playing educational games on our iPod Touch (see, it has become ours now, not mine!) and he watches some telly at Grandma’s.
Still, when we finally do achieve the technology to create video games in the most realistic manner – to actually wield a sword or katana, and walk and jump in an RPG (tiring as it might seem), I will gladly surrender my free time to this inspired existence.
Posted on September 20, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Thankfully Jack stops by himself within 20-40 minutes. I know this because he hassles me to wake up after. LOL!
I think the concern is with the addictiveness of the games. According to a study I read, kids have less self-control to pull themselves away from an addictive activity so we need to enforce limits on this.
Yes, school will indeed offer many bad habits in the guise of classmates. 
Christina Sng worked as a web developer, information architect, account executive, producer, technical writer, and usability consultant in the 10 years (that's 30 years in Internet time!) she brought bread home. She has since retired to raise her children but still spends most of her waking hours on the net, no thanks to Apple. Here are some of her adventures.
Posted on September 20, 2009 at 1:40 am
Sean is starting to play games on the iPhone too. Really bad for the eyes.
I try to limit him but sometimes I need a break too and they do have nice educational games, as you previously pointed out. I guess we start them on good habits now so they’ll carry them with them when the bad habits start hitting them left right and centre when they reach school.