Activision Games for Girls Summit and Giveaway!

Nov 11, 2011 By Sharon Feliciano in geek girls, video games

Today I attended that Activision Games for Girls Summit. It was a great chance to talk about games for families in a positive way. The event was geared for the typical Mommy Blogger’s audience, and so I seemed to be one of the few in the audience who was not surprised by findings that girls (and kids in general) who game with their parents experience a bevy of psychological and physical benefits. People are finally getting what we geeks have known all along, video games aren’t going to screw your kid up and not even the movies that show people playing videos games or casino games, that have been something very common in the last years you check more info about at filmdaily.co.

While geek culture has gone “mainstream” it seems that a lot of parents haven’t followed suit. The moms in attendance talked a lot about restricting screen time, about not letting their kids play any non-kid games, and some seemed generally concerned about letting their kids play any video games at all. At one point I asked Nicole Armstrong, the Director of Marketing at Activison to speak to current attitudes on advertisitng to women. I brought up Battlefield 3’s horribly allienting “99 Problems” ad campaign, and praised her for Activision’s inclusive Call of Duty “Gimme Shelter” ad. I had to stop to explain the games, the ads, and even the songs. This was definitely not a room of gamer moms.

Jenny from Jenny on the Spot, Nicole Armstong – Director of Marketing for Activision and Suzanne Kantra – Editor in Chief of Techlicious.com

I was really excited to see industry juggernaut Activision identifying young female gamers as a priority demographic. During the Summit we were able to try out six of the most recently released games that were developed with young girls in mind.

They were:
Lalaloopsy
Zoobles
Wappy Dog
ZhuZhu Babies
Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo
Squinkies 2: Adventure Mall Surprize!

The most impressive of the games was Wappy Dog. It comes with a robotic dog that responds to commands through the DS. It’s freakin’ adorable, I want one for myself! It was definitely the biggest hit with all ages in the group.

To help celebrate the launch of these games, Activision sent each attendee home with a bag full ‘o awesome. Over the next few weeks I will be giving away several gift packs, which are just in time for the gift-giving holidays! Stay tuned!

Burning down the house

Nov 9, 2011 By Sharon Feliciano in video games

My phone rang tonight while I was making dinner. I didn’t recognize the number, so I let it go to voicemail, but minutes later I heard Super Dad’s phone ring. Here’s what I heard:
“Hello? Yes, this is Nate’s dad.” And then a looooooong silence.
“Okay, I’ll talk to him about that, I know he’s been on the receiving end of that and he didn’t like it.”
More silence.
“We’ll talk about it with him. Have a nice night.”
Uh oh.

So I’m thinking that my kid has called a kid a name or excluded them from something. Super Dad explained that it was much more dire: Nate has burned down someone’s house. In Minecraft.

We had a talk with Nathan and he confessed to the virtual arson, telling us he did it in retaliation when the kids (brothers) blew up a chest containing his valuables. We discussed the golden rule, how revenge is never a good answer (c’mon kid, we *just* finished watching Moby Dick didn’t you learn anything?) and how I never wanted to hear from another (overbearing) mother about how he destroyed something in Minecraft…on a private server run by a family friend, which Nate invited them to play on.

All was said and done until SD told me that the mom had told him that she planned on contacting the school about “this behavior”. WHAT?

I called the lady back and she told me “oh, I just spoke with your husband”.
“Oh, I’m aware” I said “I just want to follow up.”

I explained to her that he had done it retaliation. She insisted that her kids would never do that (for the record I hate when parents say ‘My kid would never…”). Clearly my kid was Minecraft Satan running around and burning down the creations children had toiled over. She told me that her precious snowflakes had been working on this particular creation for months (funny, since they’ve only had access to the server for a few weeks) and they were devastated.

I assured her that we had spoken with Nate about not retaliating. That if someone were to destroy his things in the future that he would ignore it. I also explained that they were playing on a PvP server, and sometimes people – often not Nate – would break things.

I then delicately asked “So…my husband mentioned that you were going to speak to the school about this. I was wondering what you were hoping that would accomplish?” She said that she wanted the school to talk to the “kids who were doing this” (my kid) about being kind and not destroying things the other kids (her kids) had worked so hard to make. I told her that I really didn’t think that the school could do anything about what happens in a video game. She explained that before they came to this school they never had a problem with people destroying the kids’ Minecraft stuff, and that because “some kids” at this school thought that kind of behavior was funny the teacher should talk to “those kids” who were doing the damage. I offered that I thought the way that we were handling it – parent to parent – was the appropriate way to handle an issue, and that ideally the kids would work it out themselves. I assured her that if there were to be another issue like this that she could call me at any time and I would speak to Nate and give him appropriate consequences if required. I don’t think she’s going to call the school.

The last time I had to call a parent was when his kid inappropriately touched my kid. A slight that happened in videogame – as long as it didn’t involve bullying – falls firmly into my “work it out yourself” policy. What do you think?

Funny Book Friday: A Parent’s Guide to Cura Te Ipsum Volume 1

Oct 22, 2011 By Sharon Feliciano in comics, reviews

Disclaimer: I’ve been sick with the flu for almost two weeks. Just keep in mind that I’m kinda high on cold medicine while I write this….

Cura Te Ipsum
Written by: Neal Bailey
Illustrated by: Dexter Wee
To Buy: www.CharlieEverett.com

Cura Te Ipsum was my favorite find of Geek Girl Con. The con was winding down and we were finally taking a few moments to check out the expo hall in detail. Author Neal Bailey was sitting at his table and a mock prop from the book caught Nate’s eye. Since I was standing there awkwardly, I asked him what the book was all about. He summarized the plot and when he was done Nate politely asked “What age do you recommend this for?” and I knew that his interest had been piqued.

Cura Te Ipsum is the story of Charlie Everett. From The Cura Te Ipsum website:

Charlie Everett is much like any other Charlie, the everyman. In most universes, Charlie Everett gets sick of his life (where he’s most often a guidance counselor who tells other people how to live their lives, while not knowing how to live his own). After a certain point, he’s fired, and he goes home and sticks a pistol in his mouth and blows his brains out. Charlie Prime, our hero, is stopped by another character, Leo, who introduces him to the concept of the multiverse, and tells him that there’s a whole team of Charlies, Cura Te Ipsum, fighting to stop him from committing suicide across time and space.

Charlie is our hero. He is brave, sad, and after he meets the Dark Everett, steadfastly committed to keeping himself and other versions of himself alive, to end the threat.

Nate is in his angsty tween phase, and I think the idea of sad, suicidal Charlie being saved by confident, alterna-Charlie (Leo) was appealing to him. He’s also really into alternate universe stories at the moment (he loves Marvel’s Noir series, for example). Neal’s answer to the age appropriateness question was “It’s dark and has swearing and violence; but all in context. You know your kid and what they can handle”.

The book is indeed dark and violent. Nate handled it just fine for the most part, but one of the more violent scenes in the book did seem to stick with him. If your kid is emotionally mature enough to handle a dark storyline about suicide, the book is worthwhile read.

I think this is a fantastic book, and Nate agrees. He cannot wait to get his hands on Volume 2, and neither can I. The writing is snappy without being trite and the art, even without the aid of a colorist, is beautiful. (The lack of color in the book actually has the benefit of taming some of the violence; blown off heads just aren’t quite as gross without color). The story gets off to a nice quick start, pulling the reader into the story right off the bat. The main antagonist is introduced with enough exposition to intrigue the reader, while leaving enough unanswered questions to keep you wanting more.

The idea of alterna-yous searching you out to tell you it’s going to be okay and invite you to be part of a inter-universe super squad is fresh and unique and is sure to appeal to many. Cura Te Ipsum explores the human will to survive, the struggle to pull yourself up from darkness and find a purpose. So many of us have felt as bad as Charlie at one time or another, this book will resonate with that part of you.

Parent’s Guide:
Age Appropriateness: It’s a pretty dark subject matter, and there’s a good amount of swearing and violence, though it’s all in context. This one is definitely one to read with and/or before readers younger than 16. Nate really enjoyed it, but it was a bit disturbing to him. I don’t think it’s anything worse than what’s sometimes on TV.

Things to look out for: Suicide, swearing, violent images including a background image of someone eating a corpse.

Talking Points:Why does Charlie want to commit suicide. Why do you think the other Charlies want to save him? Why do you think that Dark Everett wants to stop them? Why does the group use the phrase “Cura Te Ipsum” and how does Dark Everett use the same phrase, even though he has an opposite objective? What would you say to Charlie? What do you think alternate versions of you would be like?