Do you remember Pong? If you do then you are probably amazed at the intricate story lines and gameplay on Xbox 360 RPGs ( role playing games for those of you who do remember Pong or who can answer the question where were you when Kennedy was shot ). We were amazed at the power the internet brought into our homes in the early 90′s allowing us to send emails around the world and suddenly communicate with friends everywhere without expensive phone calls or snailmail that may take days to reach them.

So, for those of us who may like the orderly progression of events we may have to be prepared to have our socks knocked off. For our kids though this IS the natural progression. They are in the group that believe video games are cool but they will become cooler.

The answer may not be that far off. In todays Yahoo tech news we got a sneak peak of the latest video game delivery system. READ MORE

This is exciting news for many reasons. If you are a gamer it is exciting because it potentially gives you easier access to a wider variety of games. As a person who doesn’t really like a ton of clutter in the living room this new gaming console is the size of a Nintendo DS ( or the size of a Steven King paperback for the Pong-ers ). That’s it. There are of course the controllers but other than that everything else is streaming and stored online. For parents who have plunked down $600 for a game console only to find that it is already outdated or that the kid still needs another system to play an entirely different set of games – this may be an exciting development because all the updates go on virtually through software updates instead of hardware updates. Kids seem to understand this intuitively but for the rest of us we just need to keep up and try to make sure our kids stay safe and that we don’t totally get ahead of ourselves.

Next: recommended gamer news sites to help the rest of us keep up

Recently there was some hubbaloo that came out of Missouri about gaming systems being the new portal for predators to gain access to our children. The original report was laden with misinformation but it does draw attention to an important discussion. Did you know your kids games have wifi? Whta games do and what games don’t? The gaming industry is working with groups like Wired Safety to make their games safer for kids. At the same time kids want to be able to play with their friends – whether it is local multi-player or online with other gamers around the world.

Parents just need to know what their game system can do and develop a strategy with their kids that not only puts into consideration contact by other gamers but also hours played in a week and living a balanced life. That being said, here is our review of the big 3.

NINTENDO:

Systems:

• ( Old school Nintendo 64 ) Game cubeOnline capability: No
  Parental controls: games are ESRB rated and basically 90% designed for kids
• DSWireless capability: YES – sort of ( did you know that? )Most parents I talk to did not realize that kids could talk to other kids through their DS. That means strangers can talk to them too. The DS does have a cool feature where other players with a DS controller can all play together ( local multi player ) at the same time and they can exchange chat messages too ( Pictochat ) as long as they are in a relatively close proximity. But somehow even though we can’t get cell phone reception in the basement of a cinder block building the DS can pick up a signal from another DS system as long as it is in the 100 feet circumference ( or about that ). This is important to know because there is really no way to turn this feature off. According to the message boards there are only two things a parent can do about this. 1. Set up their kids DS to auto mode ( in the menu ) and this way when the kids load a new game it will go automatically to the game and bypass the menu ( giving them the choice to pictochat ). It doesn’t close down pictochat but it makes it more challenging for the kids to get to. 2. Talk to their kids about pictochat and what to do if they see something on their DS that they don’t know where it came from.Parental controls: YES – fairly easy to follow – found at nintendo.com
• WiiOnline capability: YES – and getting cooler all the time. But still difficult to set up and have address book requirements for messaging.Parental controls: YES – very easy to follow – found at nintendo.com

Xbox:

• Online capability: YES – and getting better all the time.Parental controls: YES – support for parents is awesome.Xbox has evolved for the grown-up gamer and has its own set of challenges. We were a little slower to get into Xbox because at the time Nintendo had the games for kids and Xbox was designing games for teens and adults. We got on board when Xbox went online in 2002 with Xbox live. This required a starter kit and a subscription. My kids played in the family room and they followed basic Internet guidelines of never using their real names or identifying characteristics. It was pretty fun.

  Xbox has now evolved into Xbox 360 and has really kept pace with the online multi player gamers wishes. There are definitely ( Most Definitely ) things that parents should be alerted to – many of these games are quite mature. The great thing about Xbox is that they have not only kept up with gamers concerns but they have also kept up with parents concerns and have developed a site for Families to make sure that their kids stay safe while gaming.GET GAME SMART ( http://www.getgamesmart.com/ ) while this site is designed from the Xbox perspective it is still a great site to visit and work through with your kids no matter what system you have.

PlayStation:

• Online capability: YESParental Controls: YESPlaystation, PS2, PS3 and the Playstation Portable – PSP The Playstation systems have really evolved from their US release in 1995. They stayed competitive by creating games with spectacular 3D features and a system that had as much power as a regular computer. Playstation3 ( PS3) and the Portable Playstation (PSP) both have online and Wifi capabilities. I don’t own a PSP but have heard that it has a great screen and that it can even go online ( not just for gaming ). It can have a camera feature and online radio. So it can be very cool. From the forum sites the parental controls for the PS3 are fairly easy to set. The only thing is that Playstation has its own rating system based on a 1 to 11 scale. According to the forum a 5 is relatively close to a T rating but you should gage these ratings for yourself before counting on the numbers to help you out too much. As a parent though there is some concern with the PSP network because when I went to the Family Features of the website the page said “Help and support documents not found”. It can be a very cool very powerful game system but it must be treated the same as allowing your kid on an unfiltered Internet browser. You are the parental control.

For more information check out Wired Safety and follow us on Twitter at WiredMoms

The headlines read “Shock!” “Alarm!”  We certainly need to read on.  This last week a news report came out of Missouri alarming parents about the dangers of Nintendo Wii. Game systems have become the new portal for pedophiles to gain access to our children.  In my opinion it is always a good thing for parents to be more involved with their kids. But before anyone goes and throws their Wii into the garage sale pile or suspects the neighbors of being pedophiles (because they play Animal Crossing) lets get some more facts.

This report was announced on the Missouri ABC affiliate KMIZ.  In the article the Missouri Internet Task Force says that 3 children were approached by strangers through their Nintendo Wii. And while I am sure the Task Force and the local reporters were very well intentioned there were a few facts that needed checking.  Parents should know that their Wii does have the ability to go online. But this is the point in the article where I become a little skeptical. I am trying to find out how these kids were contacted. In our first hand experience with the Nintendo Wii, setting up the Internet connection takes a team. It is not super easy or intuitive and the help desk is only slightly more helpful. Once you have the Internet set up you have to exchange a 12 digit number with your friends to be able to connect with them. This doesn’t happen by accident and it takes a little effort. Then you have to plan the exact time you are both going to meet online to play a specific game. According to the Nintendo site you must have your friend registered in your friends address book to send or receive messages – although we have never made it that far because our kids only have a handful of friends with the Wii and none of us use it to go online ( or none of us has fully figured it out yet. )

The Nintendo Wii does have some excellent parental controls and easy to follow directions ( with pictures – I love pictures ). It is important for all of us with Video Game systems to know their power and potential.

But the most concerning statement in the article was that the task force unequivocally stated “Any adult who owns Animal Crossing City Folk is a pedophile – there is no reason a grown up should own this game”. This is pretty alarmist to me and pretty extreme. My kids remind me daily that I am a bit of an extremist because every time I see a young man with his pants hanging down below his waist with his boxers showing I say “What is that THUG up to?” They tell me not every kid with low riding pants is a thug. OK but just because every thug I’ve ever known DOES wear low riding pants doesn’t necessarily mean that every low rider is a thug. It is the same with owners of the game Animal Crossing City Folk. Perhaps many pedophiles own a copy but that does not mean that every owner is a pedophile.

Animal Crossing was first released in 2001 for the game cube and was at the time the 4th most popular game. Like many other parents we loved the game cube because Nintendo was designing games for kids that were age appropriate. They were fun, they were cute, and they were essentially harmless. Animal Crossing then moved on to the DS system and has finally graduated to the Wii. 

The only thing is, those teens who were playing Animal Crossing at the turn of the millennium are now in their early 20′s and still playing those games. I grew up watching Scooby Doo and still watch it when I get a chance ( and still love it ) but that doesn’t make me weird. I talked with 20 year olds who still have Animal Crossing on their DS and they may or may not play Animal Crossing City Folk. Many young people – who are now young adults – grew up playing the Sims. It is a strange phenomenon that many of us adults don’t understand but that doesn’t mean that these kids have to stop playing these games just because they have technically become adults. The price of the games has come down and todays kids play games, buy games and switch games the same way kids in my generation used to buy records ( on vinyl ). 

If you watch the cartoon network late at night you will see more and more cartoons that are geared toward grownups. The Simpson’s basically changed the rules that cartoons were just for kids. So, now kids who grew up watching the Simpson’s don’t think anything of watching The Family Guy or other cartoons geared toward grownups. And parents should be aware. Just because it’s animated doesn’t make it OK for kids.

We need to have a balance approach and make sure we stay current with what is going on with the media our kids have access to. But clearly not every grown up watching cartoons or playing Animal Crossing City Folk should be considered pedophiles.  The good news is that at the time of this update on this story the article and video of this report have been removed from the KMIZ website.  There has been a huge outpouring of Internet support for all of the kid friendly features that the Nintendo Wii provides and also in support of the game Animal Crossing City Folk.  The original report from the well intentioned Internet task force was filled with misinformation and the Internet has spoken.  We do not agree.

Thanks to Crispy Gamer News for taking action on this in defense of truth and gaming. 

Follow WiredMoms on twitter and even better get involved!

February 25th, 2009 – Washington D.C.

As you know, if you visit my blog regularly, I had the great opportunity of attending the Wired Kids Summit held in Washington D.C. this last month. It was an amazing event. A social networkers dream actually. Parry Aftab, founder of Wired Safety, organized an amazing event.

The day started out with a short registration / greeting time and the event started promptly at 9am. ( On a side note – I love starting things right on time ). The day moved along quickly. There were five panel discussions throughout the day along with several awards and presentations. Each panel discussion included research that had been conducted by the teen angels followed by an open round table format discussion period that included people from all across the Internet Industry and governmental agencies.

Panel 1: Games, Gaming and More!

Families are getting more involved in gaming as a family activity and it is paying off. Studies show the families that game together have safer, more confident kids ( both online and off ).

This panel discussion included research on Handheld games, privacy and a discussion about what works and what doesn’t. Kids will often tune out “boring grown-ups” who may not even fully understand the technology the kids are working with – so this segment of the discussion included the importance and benefits of peer-education. A peer counseling group from California discussed the “FRIENDS” program (not the tv show but a group of teens helping teens).

Panel 2: Kids Online

Kids are getting online earlier and earlier. This panel discussion included research about what pre-school to 5th graders do online ( that’s right pre-schoolers ) and how we can make their experience safer.

Panel 3: Teens and Social Networking

In this panel discussion the TeenAngels presented their research about what kids were doing on social networks like MySpace, Facebook, MyYearbook and other sites. They showed the difference between how boys and girls use these networks and where things are going.

The new cybersafety initiative for the Girls Scouts – LMK ( “let me know” ) was announced. This program was developed in coordination with the Girl Scouts of America and Wired Safety’s Teenangel program.

Teens presented some amazing research on driving and texting which was a real eye-opener to me and perhaps to the entire audience. The number of teens texting while driving is more prevalent than we thought. Texting while driving has been shown to slow down reaction time even more than drinking and driving.

Panel 4: Stop Cyberbullying Now!

Wired Safety has been working on the problem of cyberbullying for over 14 years. It is now the most frequent problem that kids age 8 to 14 will face online. WiredSafety presented a sneak peak at the new StopCyberbullying Toolkit that will be made available to schools.

Panel 5: Ask the TeenAngels and TweenAngels

One of the great aspects of the day was the open question and answer format that streamed throughout the day. During Panel 5 Parry made sure that everyone on the room was clear on their assignments going forward ( see earlier post Meet Parry ). Kids had a chance to ask questions of any of the Internet Industry representatives and and vice versa everyone in the audience was encouraged to ask the kids any questions they might have about the research presented. It was great hearing the first hand experience of a darling little 8 year old about sharing her password with a friend to maintain a virtual pet on the Webkinz website. It turns out sharing passwords is NEVER a good idea even if you are 8 and it is just between you and your best friend.

This segment of the day was great because for many of the grown-ups working on web development it really helped put a face to the application.

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It was a great event and an honor to be there.

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