Parenting Gamers

Video Game Fall Preview

Fall

Fall is almost here. Man, I’m excited! This is my favorite time of the year. Football is back. The leaves will start changing colors. The weather will get cooler. Halloween decorations are starting to come out, followed by Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. I am so ready!

It is also a good time to be a gamer. The summer months are extremely slow. There were a few big games that came out but not many.

September marks the beginning of the Christmas push for the video game industry. A lot of big games are scheduled to come out in the next few months as publishers try to take advantage of the Christmas shopping season.

Here is a list of the big games your gamer might be watching for the fall.

Preparing for the Christmas Video Game Season

Yesterday, I was in Target looking at Halloween decorations. I looked at the back wall and saw them. Christmas decorations.

It is that time of year again.

The next 3 months are big for the video game industry. A lot of games will be released as companies try to take advantage of the Christmas buying season. Your gamer probably has a few he is anticipating.

Not only that but Sony and Microsoft will be looking for ways to push hardware sales. The PS4 and Xbox One have both already seen deals. I would expect to see more.

It can be a daunting task to keep up with it all. I am going help you do just that. I will include information about important releases you need to know about. I will also keep an eye towards any sales, with special attention paid on Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

With that in mind, here are some of the big releases to watch.

  1. Alien: Isolation – Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PC – Oct. 7th
  2. Driveclub – PS4 – Oct. 7th
  3. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel – PS3, Xbox 360, PC – Oct. 14th
  4. Civilization: Beyond Earth – Oct. 24th
  5. Sunset Overdrive – Xbox One – Oct. 28th
  6. WWE 2K15 – Xbox 360, PS3 – Oct 28th
  7. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PC – Nov. 4th
  8. Assassin’s Creed Unity – Xbox One, PS4, PC – Nov. 11th
  9. World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor – PC – Nov. 13th
  10. Dragon Age: Inquisition – Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PC – Nov. 18th
  11. Far Cry 4 – Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PC – Nov. 18th

More information is coming soon. Be sure and sign-up for email updates to stay on top of things.

List of Board Games Your Gamer Might Enjoy

I wrote a post a while back about how to encourage your gamer to socialize. I talked about hosting a board game party. Board games provide a great opportunity to get together with friends and have some fun. The question is, what are some board games that would appeal to gamers?

In that post, I specifically mention Munchkin and Wits & Wagers. I have played both of those games and really enjoy them. However, that is about where my personal experience with board games ends.

Luckily the PC gamer site Rock, Paper, Shotgun recently created a list of the Top 50 Board Games. This is a list from someone who has extensive experience playing different board games. It is a great place to start when trying to think of a game for your gamer.

There are a few games I am intrigued by on this list.

  1. Risk Legacy (#38) – This is an interesting twist on the popular game Risk. In this game, decisions you make affect future games. You tear up cards, rename places, and open new card packs. All these decisions affect every future game you play with that specific board. This is a great way for your gamer to have something that is specific to his set of friends.
  2. Formula D (#40) – This is a racing game. Yes, a racing board game. You roll dice to determine what gear your car is in. The gear affects the speed, which will effect your ability to do things like turn a corner. It definitely sounds interesting to me.
  3. Cosmic Encounter (#0) – Rab (the guy in the videos) loves this one so much he put it outside the actual list. He said the list could change but nothing would change the fact that it is his all-time favorite. That is a huge endorsement from someone who obviously plays a ton of board games.

Why Steam Sales Are Awesome For Parents

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There are a lot of differing opinions about video games out there. However, I feel there is one thing on which we parents can all agree.

Video games are expensive.

A new game with set you back $60. And your gamer is probably not going to only want one game a year. The cost can really begin to pile up.

That is why I love Steam.

Disclaimer: If your gamer does not play games on the computer, you can probably skip this post. While Steam sales are awesome, they only apply to PC games.

What is a Steam Sale?

Every summer, PC gamers around the world wait in anticipation for the Steam Summer Sale. It is a time when they can get a ton of great games at ridiculously reduced prices, sometimes as much at 90% off!

For example, until 10 AM PST tomorrow, you can get Call of Duty: Ghosts for $30, 50% off the regular price. And you can get Metro: Last Light for $6.79!

When the sale starts, just about every game has a discount of some sort. It might be as little at 10% or as much as 90%. Every day at 10am PST, a daily sale will start. This will include a selection of 8-10 games that receive an even steeper discount for 48 hours. In addition, there is a flash sale and community choice sale that will rotate discounts on 8 games every 8 hours.

If you read through that and thought, “Man, that would be exhausting to keep up with!”, you are correct. It is exhausting. I am normally worn out by the end.

One way to help mitigate this is to wait until the last day. They normally rerun their most popular sales on that day. You might miss some good deals but you also won’t have to check the site every 8 hours.

The other encouragement I would give you is that it is worth it. Steam sales, as exhausting as they can be, are awesome.

Why is a Steam Sale Awesome for Parents?

As you can probably probably guess, Steam sales are awesome for the money they save. They can help you stretch your budget much farther would otherwise be possible.

Let’s say you have $200 a year you are willing to spend on video games for your gamer. That is enough to get 3 new games at regular price. Or, as of June 25th at 11:00AM, you could get:

  • Call of Duty: Ghosts
  • Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons
  • Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist
  • Torchlight 2
  • Arma 3
  • Fallout 3
  • Borderlands 2
  • Civilization 5
  • Bioshock Triple Pack (Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Bioshock Infinite)
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  • Skyrim
  • Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag
  • Batman: Arkham Origins

Right there your $200 went from buying 3 games to buying 15! And these are not low quality, budget games. These are some of the stand out games of the last couple years. Your gamer would be busy for a long time playing through those. You were earn some major brownies points with that list.

How Do You Take Advantage of a Steam Sale?

The easiest way to take advantage of the sale is through Steam gift cards. These are available at stores like Best Buy, GameStop, and Walmart.

(Disclaimer, if you buy a gift card from GameStop keep the receipt. The code for the card is printed on the receipt, not on the card. If you lose it, you will have to go back to the store and get them to reprint it.)

Giving your gamer a gift card will allow them to buy the games they want themselves. They can do all the work of keeping up with the sale.

The disadvantage to this is that you will need to keep tabs on what they are buying to make sure they are following your house rules on content. This might be reason enough for you to forgo gifts cards and buy the games yourself.

There is another reason you might want to put the effort into the sale yourself. Steam allows you to purchase games to be given at a later date. This would allow you to stock up on games when they are cheap and then wait to give them until a special occasion, like a birthday or Christmas.

To take advantage of the sale, you will need a Steam account. You can create one here. You have 3 options when you buy a game as a gift.

  1. Send it to your gamer’s email – You have the option to gift a game to someone using their email address. This allows you to send games to someone who is not yet on your friends list.
  2. Send it to a friend – You can send a gift directly to your gamer through Steam if they are on your friend list. This also allows you to see their wishlist so you will know what games they want. You will also see “[Your gamer] wants this” on the store page for any game they have on their wishlist.
  3. Keep it to give at a later date – This option allows you to build a gift bag of games for your gamer. You get them cheap and can give them whenever.

Then it is just a matter of paying attention to the sale and buying the games your gamer wants.

4 Questions To Start A Conversation With Your Gamer

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Having a real conversation with your gamer

As a parent, it can sometimes feel like your kids are speaking a completely different language. This is especially true when they are talking about a hobby or interest you do not know much about. I have a whole series of posts designed to address this very issue.

However, knowing the vocabulary does not necessarily make it easy to start a conversation with your gamer. How do you get the ball rolling? Here are 4 questions to help you get started.

  1. What are you playing? – This is an easy one. They are playing something. This question can get the ball rolling.

    Follow-up questions – What do you like/not like about it? Does it have a story? If so, what is it about? Are you playing with your friends?

  2. What games are you excited about? – This question will help you know what’s on your gamer’s radar. Most gamers are looking forward to at least one, if not multiple, games. Finding out about those games accomplishes a few things for you.

    1. It helps you connect with something close to your gamer’s heart. Anticipation is a powerful thing. It is also something that wants to be shared.
    2. It gives you an idea for a gift for your gamer. You could score some big time brownies points by getting them that must have game.
    3. It gives you an opportunity to scope out the game beforehand. This can help you preempt their disappointment if the game they are excited about falls outside your boundaries.

    Follow-up questions – Why are you excited about it? When does it come out?

  3. Have you heard of/what do you think about [XYZ Game]? – You have probably heard about certain video games from your circle of influence. Maybe a friend is talking about their kid playing Minecraft or the news is talking about Grand Theft Auto. Asking this question can start the conversation with your gamer about that particular game.

    Be careful with this question, though. Gamers are a defensive bunch, especially when they feel video games are under attack. You do not want to say something like, “I heard about this game called Grand Theft Auto and how terrible it is. Don’t you think it’s terrible?” You have just started an argument, not a conversation.

    Instead, ask them what they think about the game and really listen to their answer. Let them know that you value their opinion and are genuinely interested in what they think.

    Follow-up questions – Have you played it? Do your friends play it? What do you think about the uproar over it (if there is one)?

  4. What is the best/worst game you have ever played? – One thing about gamers, we are an opinionate bunch. If we love a game, we will tell you. If we do not, we’ll tell you that too. This question will allow your gamer to express some of those opinions.

    Follow-up questions – What made it great/terrible? Were you surprised it was so good/bad? What makes it better/worse than other similar games?

These questions can help you get to the heart of your gamer. It may take some time to get them to open up, especially if you have had fights over video games in the past, but it will be well worth it.

Parents Complete Guide To Minecraft Coming Soon

I want to take a minute to let you know about something I am working on.

Over the past few months I have been slowly releasing articles in my Games You Should Know About series. Well, I have decided it is time to take those to the next level, starting with Minecraft.

So I am going to take the Minecraft post and expand it into a full e-book. The sections it will contain include:

  • What Is Minecraft?
  • Minecraft On Different Platforms
  • History Of Minecraft
  • Why Is Your Gamer Playing It?
  • Cool Creations You Have To See To Believe
  • The Creeps Come Out At Night (Info about the monsters in Minecraft)
  • Should You Be Concerned?
  • How Can You Connect Through Minecraft?
  • Setting Up A Private Server
  • Minecraft Alternatives

I will be looking to release this e-book on Amazon in the next month or so. You can sign-up for our newsletter to make sure you are one of the first to know when it is released.

What is Steam?

Today I want to take some time to look at a service that has revolutionized the way PC gamers purchase video games. Steam.

Steam is an online video game store created by Valve, the developers of the Half-Life and Portal series. Valve released Steam in 2003 as a way to sell PC games directly to consumers. It allows the user to purchase a game and then download it on any computers they own.

Initially PC gamers approached Steam with a huge dose of skepticism. They saw it as a form of DRM that provided very little benefit. The only reason a lot of them signed up for it was that it was required to play Half-Life 2, one of the most anticipated games ever.

So how was Valve able to revolutionize PC gaming? Two words: Steam Sale.

Valve is a privately owned company. Because of that, they are able to experiment without having to appease shareholders. One of the things they started experimenting with is pricing. This led to an important discovery.

We do a 75 percent price reduction, our Counter-Strike experience tells us that our gross revenue would remain constant. Instead what we saw was our gross revenue increased by a factor of 40. Not 40 percent, but a factor of 40.

Gabe Newell interview on GeekWire

Basically, he’s say that reducing the price 75% did not result in a sales increase of 4x normal but 40x. That is a huge difference!

So Valve started doing big time sales. They have at least 2 (Summer and Christmas) and sometimes as many as 4 (Spring and Fall as well) every year. These sales run for a week and a half to 2 weeks. Almost all the games on the service have some kind of deductions (10%-33% at least with some being reduced as much as 90%) throughout the whole sale. Then there is a slate of games each day that receive bigger discounts for a short period.

These sales led to 2 major changes in the way I purchase video games.

  1. If it is a game I am only mildly interested in or that did not score real high, I will wait for it to go on sale. Chances are extremely high that I will be able to get it at a much reduced price if I am willing to wait. I still pay full price if I am really excited for a game. However, it takes a special game to overcome my desire for a deal. Of course, that leads to the second thing…
  2. I own a lot more games that I found mildly interesting than I would otherwise. PC gamers call this the Steam backlog. Right now, mine is sitting at 342 games, less than half of which I have actually installed and played. It is hard to resist a game I heard good thing about when it is on sale for $2.50.

When Do You Draw The Line? A Quick Look At Grand Theft Auto 5

I believe video games are great. They offer an opportunity to connect like no other form of media. My goal is to help you as a parent connect with your gamer through video games.

However, like all forms of media, it is not all rainbows and lollipops in the video game industry. There will come a point when your gamer wants to play something that crosses the line. And as the parent, you will have to take a stand.

One of the biggest games last year was Grand Theft Auto 5. Its sales broke 6 world records, including the fastest entertainment product to gross $1 billion.

So what is GTA 5 all about?

GTA is an open-world, action-adventure game. The player controls 3 different characters throughout the game. They are given missions to complete, many of which are optional to the story. The player has control over which missions they do in which order. Or they can ignore the missions and run around interacting with the world.

The free roam nature of GTA allows the player to cause mayhem that draws police attention. The player has a wanted level which indicates how wanted they are by the police. The higher the level, the more aggressively the police will chase them. The player can increase their wanted level by committing crimes.

From that description, you might wonder what the big deal is. This is why it is important to understand the rating system and pay attention to the games your gamer is playing.

GTA 5 is rated M. Here are the descriptors that are added to it.

  • Blood and Gore
  • Intense Violence
  • Mature Humor
  • Nudity
  • Strong Language
  • Strong Sexual Content
  • Use of Drugs and Alcohol

There are 2 specifics you will find when you dig deeper into GTA’s content.

  1. The Strip Club - GTA 5 contains a strip club featuring topless women.
  2. The Torture Scene - There is a sequence in the game where the player participates in an interactive torture sequence to extract information from another character.

This is where I personally draw the line. I am not interested in either of these things being in a game I am playing. And I definitely would not want my kids playing it.

The key is to know what your gamer is playing. Delve into the rating to know what they will be seeing and doing. And then be strong. Remember you are the parent. It is your responsibility to protect your kids even if they do not like it. Sometimes that means standing firm. It will not be fun but it will be worth it.

Should You Pre-Order A Game?

As the release schedule begins to heat up, there is a question you may be asking yourself. Should you pre-order the game your gamer is excited about?

Pre-orders are interesting creatures. In the past, they were all about supply and demand. The only way to get a copy of a game was to physically go to the store and pick one off the shelf. If they were out, you were out of luck. Pre-ordering guaranteed you were able to play the hottest game when it was released.

However, that is not really the case any more. For one thing, publishers do a much better job of making sure there are enough copies in stores. I have not seen a major launch where you could not walk into a store like Best Buy or Wal-Mart and pick the game up on release day in a long time. Plus, with sites like Amazon and the ability to buy games digitally you do not have to worry about getting a copy of a game.

So why would anyone pre-order a game? There are a couple reasons.

  1. Pre-Order Bonuses - Most pre-orders come with some kind of bonus content. This can range from extra weapons and armor to early access to multiplayer content to free copies of other games. For example, Bioshock Infinite’s pre-order bonuses included in-game content and a copy of XCOM.
  2. Being part of the conversation- The other big benefit that may be important to your gamer is being part of the conversation about a big game when it is the hottest. The video game industry is fast paced. There are hundreds of game released every year. It can feel like you are falling behind if you are not playing the latest and greatest. You are assured you can be part of the current conversation when you pre-order.

That being said, there are a couple reasons why you want to be wary of pre-orders..

  1. The game could be broken - There have been several examples of this over the last year. SimCity was one of the biggest culprits. If you look at the review from Polygon, you will see they initially gave it a score of 9.5 out of 10. That is a great score! But then it had some major issues where a lot of player could not even play the game. Polygon revised the score down to 8 and the again down to 4. That is a broken game. People who were excited to play the game they pre-ordered could not. It was extremely frustrating.
  2. The game might not live up to the hype - Remember Me was an anticipated game last year. It had quite a bit of buzz. But then it did not live up to the hype. The PS3 version is sitting at a 72 on Metacritic right now. Not the worst but not great. It might be something your gamer will still enjoy but probably not something worth the full $60 price. Waiting allows you to get this game much cheaper.

So, should you pre-order that game your gamer wants? As a general rule, I would say no. There are exceptions but for the most part the risk is not worth the reward. Waiting a few days to read reviews and make sure the game is good is definitely worth it. If it is good, you can get it and your gamer will not have lost much time. If it is not, you will have saved yourself some money and possibly some frustration.

Connecting with Your Gamer Through Conferences/Conventions

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Game Developers Conference (GDC) – Image by Official GDC, Creative Commons

Our main goal here at Parenting Gamers is to help you as a parent connect with your gamer through video games. One of the ways you can connect is by talking to them about the games that interest them.

The struggle is keeping up with everything that is going on in the gaming industry. The ESRB rated over 1,200 games in 2012 alone. And that does not even count all the hardware announcements over the last couple years.

So how can you keep up enough to have an intelligent conversation with your gamer without having to dedicate hours to research?

Pay attention to the conferences/conventions

Different players in the gaming industry put on conferences and conventions throughout the year. These will consist of game announcements, trailers, and gameplay footage as well as talks about how to break into the industry, postmortems on big games, tournament matches, and opportunities to play unreleased games, among other things.

These events give you a perfect opportunity to engage your gamer. You can ask them if there were any announcements they are excited about or any talks they found interesting. You could watch a panel or two online with them. Or, if you are feeling really adventurous, you could even attend one with them.

What are the conferences/conventions?

There are several major conferences and conventions you will want to pay attention to. Here are 3 big ones.

  • Game Developers Conference (GDC) – San Francisco – March 17-21, 2014 - As the name suggests, GDC is a conference for game developers. It includes talks ranging from low level programming to design to marketing to how to deal with negativity on the internet.

    Every gamer at some point in their lives has had the thought, “Hey, I could make this.”¯ Most never follow through. Some, however, dream of becoming a game developer or designer or artist.

    GDC has a lot of great content for someone interested in game development. If that is your gamer, they will probably be paying attention.

    There is one other reason your gamer might be interested in GDC. The Independent Games Festival. The IGF was established in 1998, “to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers.”¯ It is an opportunity for independent developers to get their game out there. It is also an opportunity for gamers to learn about the big independent games that are coming out.

  • Pax (Pax East - Boston, April 11-13, 2014, Pax Prime - Seattle) - Pax was created in Seattle by the folks at Penny Arcade. It was designed to be a convention about gaming for gamers. In 2010, it expanded to include Pax East in Boston, with the original in Seattle being called Pax Prime.

    Pax is one of the conventions you can attend with your gamer. It would probably make their year if you were able to get tickets. They are pretty difficult to get, however. You have to be paying attention and get them as soon as they go on sale.

    There are several things to do when you get to the show. There is a section setup for console games, one for PC games, another for mobile games, and yet another for board games. There is an exhibit hall where you can play games that have not been released yet as well as panels covering all kinds of gaming related topics. It is definitely an adventure your gamer would love.

  • Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) – Los Angeles – June 10-12, 2014 - E3 is the industry convention for the gaming industry. It is only open to those in the industry, including those in the media. So you will not be able to go to E3. However, your gamer is definitely going to be paying attention to it.

    E3 is the place where a lot of big announcements are made. These include new games and new hardware. It is also a place where new information about currently known games is released. This gives you a great opportunity to find out what your gamer is looking forward to.

While these are the big 3 conferences/conventions, there are a few others you may want to pay attention to.

  • Comic-Con - While not specifically a gaming convention, your gamer may be interested in this. There are normally a little gaming related news to come out of it but not a lot.
  • Blizzcon - Blizzcon is a convention put on by Blizzard, the makers of World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. It is another convention you can attend with your gamers. It is also one you can stream online. It is something to look into if your gamer is interested in those games.
  • MineCon - MineCon is a convention dedicated to Minecraft.