Archive for Games
Playing games with boys
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I was a teenager, I spent every spare minute when I wasn’t at school or playing sports reading books, by everyone from M.E. Kerr to Jane Austen to Chaim Potok.
Fast-forward 20 years, and my teenage niece spends all her free time playing video games on her Xbox with her four best friends, who are all boys (she likes having guy friends better because “they’re less judgmental”).
She and her guy friends even ditched their high school’s homecoming dance a few weeks ago in favor of a Halo marathon at her house. And when Halo OTSD was released last month, her aunts bought her a copy after a week of her dropping not-so-subtle hints about how all her friends had the game and she didn’t. (We hate to see her suffer.)
But in other ways, she’s a typical young teenage girl: a straight-A student, a fashion maven who gives me make-up tips, and a huge Twilight fan who has the New Moon countdown app on her iTouch and who thinks Robert Pattinson is the ultimate chocolatey goodness.
All of this has me wondering: how will playing video games shape who she becomes as she grows up?
Will the assertiveness she’s learned and rewarded for in the games carry over into her real life, in any kind of permanent way? Will gaming help her relate better to male classmates and coworkers as an adult? Will she turn out any differently than if she’d spent her free time reading, or playing sports?
Apple Tablet mock-up contest
Posted by: | CommentsApple has confirmed their product roll-out schedule for the rest of the year, and it doesn’t include an Apple Tablet (i.e. a huge iTouch). Bummer!
I don’t know if I’d actually buy an Apple Tablet — it depends on what it does, the price, how heavy it is — but I like the idea. And I know by 12 and 14-year-old nieces would love one — they’re addicted to games like Sally’s Spa and Enigmo on their iTouch. (Full disclosure: they learned to play those games on Aunt Sarah’s iPhone).
To pass the time, Wired magazine is doing an Apple Tablet mock-up contest, inviting readers to submit entries in two categories: Most Realistic Mock-Up and Most Creative Mock-Up, for “anyone who can dream up the Apple tablet that we all really want.”
Here are two of the entries so far:
I’m tempted to fire up the Photoshop and see what I can come up with myself, but not being a graphic designer, the results would probably be embarrassing for everyone. But it’s fun to think about.
Check out the rest of the entries or submit your own here.
