This post should go live on or very near the 1 year anniversary of the start of this series. This gives me a unique opportunity, a year’s worth of old posts that I can read through and reflect on. Read More
After a slightly longer than anticipated hiatus, Raising a Gamer will slowly start to return to it’s normal schedule. I remember how tough it was with one baby and planned for that, I underestimated how exhausting it would be with two! Read More
With a little patience and luck you can come across some pretty fun stuff in the retro-gaming sphere. Recently I was able to scoop up an original Xbox with all the hookups, a controller, and a case of games for $5 not bad right? The console needs some love but it does work. Mae and I fired it up and tried a few of the games that we had at our disposal. The games included were The Sims Bustin’ Out and about 30 Xbox Magazine Demo discs. The Demo Disc is a lost art for sure, these discs were expertly crafted using fun interactive menus and had a large variety of content to explore. It would have been an interesting job to be the person in charge of curating the content to be included in each month’s demo disc. I really enjoyed playing the various demos with Mae because it instantly dropped us into the action. This immediate access let us try a few different games in rapid succession. Read More
While for some of you it seems that winter just won’t quit, Spring is in full bloom in central Florida. I can finally get back outside with the family and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. This time of year is full of sporadic weather and plans for a fun beach day or trip to the park can be easily ruined by a sudden thunderstorm. Just because you are stuck inside doesn’t mean that you need to sit around like a bump on a log. There are many great retro gaming peripherals available that will get you on your feet and help keep you and your family active while waiting for the storm to pass. Read More
If you follow me on Twitter you may know that my wife and I are expecting our second child in a little over a month. We are both extremely excited and utterly terrified at the prospect of two kids. Preparing for a newborn is akin to prepping for an impending natural disaster…just replace batteries with diapers. I remember how crazy those first few months were with our daughter, Mae. We were young parents on our own and had no real experience with kids. Even though it has been nearly 5 years since our first child was born, I hope I can remember the challenges and apply some of those lessons learned with Mae to baby #2. Today I propose something a little different than what normally appears in my series. I wanted to share a few gaming related tips I recall from my first go around at raising a gamer. Read More
Saturday mornings and retro games go together like bacon and, well…everything. We have been preparing for a new addition to our family recently and have had to schedule our gaming time very carefully and Saturdays are perfect for us. There is something about cereal and pajamas that just makes retro games a little more fun. Our past few Saturdays together resulted in some really great Sega moments. The Genesis may not be the best console out there, but it’s ability to bring people together makes it really special. Earlier in this series I had discovered that at one point Sega had a small collection of games branded “Sega Club” that were specifically targeted at 3-5 year olds. My track record for choosing games that fit my daughter’s skill level has been pretty poor lately so I thought I would let the professionals over at Sega Club help point me to age appropriate games. So far we have only had a chance to play one other Sega Club game, Sesame Street Counting Cafe, and thought that it was fun; yet somewhat bland. I finally got my hands on Ecco Jr., another Sega Club exclusive. The game features two adorable dolphins and an orca whale that go on an adventure to meet their hero, Big Blue…why yes you’re right, that does sound delightful. Read More
In this series, I have mentioned the importance of choosing appropriate games for your kids to enjoy. It’s my opinion that the bulk of the anti-video game debacle of the early Nineties could have been avoided if parents just paid a bit more attention to what their kids were doing..but I digress. Every parent should do his or her own due diligence to ensure that their children are playing games that are appropriate for their age. That applies to the game’s content as well as game play mechanics. Read More
The recipe for a successful Pokémon game has typically been pretty simple: 1 cup Capture, 1 cup Battle, mix until fluffy…Don’t get me wrong, I have always enjoyed the tried and true formula, but sometimes you just want to sit back and relax. The world needs more Pokémon games that focus less on the fighting and more on the way Pokémon interact with each other and the interesting world in which they live. There just so happens to be a Pokémon game for the N64 takes such an approach. Who hasn’t wanted to take a selfie with a Snorlax? Or alliterate with a Arcanine? Pokémon Snap offers an alternative Pokémon experience that is refreshing and will be sure to put a smile on your face. This game can be appreciated on a whole new level when you have the opportunity to share it with your little one. Read More
In an attempt to prepare my daughter, Mae, for the inevitable soul-crushing derision that is the American public school system, I thought it prudent to begin teaching her some basic keyboarding skills. I remember one of my go to keyboard practice games as a kid was Typing of the Dead and thought…yea maybe not appropriate for a 4 year old. After some more searching and a few rounds of Typer Shark (look it up, it’s awesome), I had put the keyboarding lessons on hold for a bit. Recently, while listening to the fantastic inaugural episode of The Hall Way I was reminded of the massive library of MS-DOS games that are now available to be streamed in your browser for free (thanks, Tom). Hidden within the library of Sim games, 8 bit Strip Poker variants, and Street Fighter ports was a somewhat obscure Mario title that ended up being pretty fun and felt like a real way to introduce typing concepts like finger placement. Mario doesn’t venture away from Nintendo consoles often, but we should all be excited that he did for Mario Teaches Typing. Read More
Hey parents, get off your duffs! It’s time to go fast with everyone’s favorite mildly annoying hedgehog. If you and your little ones are looking for a fast-paced action game with a variety of game-types, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the Nintendo GameCube might be what the Doctor (Eggman…Sonic jokes..) ordered. The Book of Knowledge tells me that Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is a beefed up version of Sonic Adventure 2 which was originally released for the ill-fated SEGA Dreamcast of yore. The GameCube iteration of the game includes some extra content; like an expanded Chao-raising system, GameBoy Advance integration and some visual upgrades that take advantage of the extra processing power of the ‘Cube. I played the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 2 when I was younger; and that game, along with Shenmue, are why I still hold that console in such high regard today. Now either I stuck at some of the earlier stages, or my memory is just terrible because I barely recognize half of the stuff offered up in the GC port. It actually works out well that I don’t recall much, as it allows both Mae and I to go into this fresh. Read More
Recently, I was bumbling through the myriad of menus on the PlayStation Store and came across the “Classics” section. Some pretty great titles are hidden away in this far away section. Perhaps due to having read the latest piece by everyone’s favorite wooden castle dweller, CTR: Crash Team Racing stuck out like a sore thumb. I promptly snatched CTR for about $5, thinking Mae would enjoy the Adventure mode. One great thing I noticed about CTR on the PlayStation Network is that it also includes a digital copy of the original game manual. More on that later. Read More
Other than my super witty name for the piece, there are no Star Wars references here…*waves hand* move along.
Ten hours of game play and about a thousand smiles after writing about our experiences with the first half of Kingdom Hearts, Mae and I have just about reached the end of our journey with Sora, Goofy, Donald, and some of the best Disney cameos to have ever appeared in a video game. Before I get to the holy grail of video game companions, I wanted to point out a few memorable locales from the second part of our Kingdom Hearts playthrough. Read More
This time my daughter, Mae, and I tackle the largest game we have yet to face together. I want to include all of our reactions from start to finish, so I have decided to break this one into two parts. At the time of writing this piece we are about thirteen hours into Kingdom Hearts and I feel like we have only scratched the surface of all there is to see and collect. As anyone who knows me or who has been following this series may know, I have a short attention span. I love gaming with my daughter, but with our busy schedule, I find it hard to justify playing anything for an extended period unless it truly blows us away. Kingdom Hearts is an unusual game and I think that is part of what makes it so great. The decision to combine characters from the Final Fantasy series with Disney classics sounds like something that was dreamed up over a few too many late night bottles of sake, but was actually was considered by the top brass over at Square. They thought the only way to dethrone Mario as the king of 3D action platformers was with by teaming up with other well known IPs like Disney. After a chance run in with Disney execs in an elevator, Square pitched directly to the Mouse himself and thus Kingdom Hearts was born. Read More
Sesame Street just turned 45 last week and in that time, Elmo, Big Bird, and friends have spawned dozens of video games for about every console you can imagine. I grew up with Sesame Street and it’s important to me that my daughter, Mae, also have a love and appreciation for the show. She is getting a little older now so I thought it was time to introduce her to the franchise in video game form. Read More
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you have probably heard about the LucasArts games that are now available on GOG. While X-Wing and Tie Fighter may have captured the attention of many retro gamers, I was immediately drawn to some of the other LucasArts titles that were re-released. Sam and Max Hit the Road and Monkey Island were two of my earliest gaming experiences. Considering how popular Pajama Sam was with Mae, I thought either of these adventure games would be a hit. Read More
Sundays are lazy days in our house. We typically take care of some overlooked housework and then lounge around for the rest of the day. This past Sunday my daughter, Mae, seemed a bit restless and wanted to get out and go do something. Having just finished vacuuming out the car, I still had a few quarters in my pocket and thought, “Hey, let’s go to the arcade”. Read More
Traveling as a kid I can remember how miserable long family car trips could be. My mom tried to make it as bearable as possible, but there is only so much that you can do when stuck in the car for hours on end. My Game Boy became my best friend on those long car rides. I remember my first play-through of Pokémon (Blue is best) came on a trip down to Florida from Maryland. My Game Boy Pocket and a bag of AAA batteries kept both me and my mom from going insane on those long rides. Read More
Point and click adventures have been a part of my life ever since I first discovered Myst over 20 years ago. I have been playing through Doublefine’s superb Broken Age recently and wanted to revisit some examples of the genre from my childhood. It so happens that my daughter, Mae, has been experiencing some trouble sleeping lately and has been asking to leave the light on longer each night. In order to try to combat this fear of the dark, I thought it might be a good idea to introduce her to a game that helped me fight this common childhood fear. Read More
It’s that time again. The time that we all sit down for another edition of Raising A Gamer. As interesting as it might be to see my 4 year old’s take on a classic beat em up or shooter, we are in for…you guessed it, another Disney related movie game! Hey, I said I would let her pick the games so this should have been expected. Now don’t get discouraged yet because on the surface this game looks reminiscent of another very enjoyable Genesis title.
Prior to writing this, I had never played the Atari 2600, but have always admired the system from afar. My father-in-law, upon learning that I have been contributing to a retro gaming site, let me adopt his 2600 that had been sitting in his garage for at least two decades. I hit the retro gaming jack pot on this one! This unit I inherited came with twenty plus games, extra joysticks and extra paddles. The 2600 fits all that extra hardware in a deliciously 70’s “Tele-Games Center”. The build quality of the 2600 is stellar, the faux wood grain and polished switches still feel great and the click when sliding in a game cart is more satisfying than any other cartridge based system I have ever played. The Atari 2600 has to be one of the most attractive pieces of video game hardware ever mass-produced. But this entry of my Raising a Gamer series isn’t about attractive hardware with the build quality of the Great Wall of China…it’s about introducing my four year old daughter, Mae, to amazing retro games. Read More