On Family Gaming Past Present and Future

blacklily8 writes "Armchair Arcade has just released the fifth issue of its retrogaming magazine." It features an involved look at Family Gaming, reaching from the past into the present and out into the future. From the Article: "Videogames haven't always been so exquisitely classifiable into nice, neat marketing niches, nor have so many of them been marketed exclusively at those lucky enough to own a penis. Indeed, as most of us know who grew up in the late 70s and early 80s, when videogames first appeared on the scene, we gamers had to wait our turn--and yes, sometimes grandma stole an extra one."

Comments

Males and video games

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was a kid, my mom was the best in our family by far at games like Galaga, Centipede, PacMan. She later was the best player in the house at Tetris and Dr. Mario.

She can't play Madden 04 to save her life, or Doom, but all the older arcade games (she was 18 or so when they came out) she's still very good at.

I remember going to my friends house, and his mom would play for an hour before she'd lose, and we'd fall asleep waiting for her turn to finish.

Gimmie back!

[spyrochaete]

I hardly saw hide nor hair of my Gameboy (not that it has those things) for 2 years thanks to my parents' infatuation with Tetris. I later bought them Dr Mario for their wedding anniversary and it was the most used gift they'd ever recieved. Now they love Popcap and Yahoo games and the like.

Short of kids games and CDRom versions of board games and gameshows, games are not generally marketed for the whole family. But don't let that stop you parents! If you want to be responsible role models for your children, make EVERY game a family game! If your kid is reluctant or embarassed to have you join in on a gaming session, there's a missing link in your relationship! The family that MUDs together, hugs together!

Broader demographic appeal? Get a Gamecube

[Anonymous Coward]

"The question that I'm trying to answer in this essay is why so many older games appealed to whole families, whereas almost every modern game appeals to a narrow demographic."

I don't agree with this perspective. But, then again, I own a Gamecube. I am in my 30's with two kids and we have never had a problem finding games that appeal to us all. And that is to say that I have not had to resort to buying Disney games or the like. We own roughly 50 games for the GC and there are only 1 or 2 that I wouldn't let my 9 year old play.

The author mentioned a lack of multiplayer games, but seemed to overlook that GC has several games that while they are mostly played as a single player game, they include multi player modes as well. Bomberman Generations and Jetters, Pikmin 2, Billy Hatcher, Rebel Strike and Super Monkey Ball are a few I can think of right off the top of my head. And they are good choices for family playing as the appeal is pretty broad.

Re:Animal Crossing?

[dextr0us]

Animal crossing is one of those unique games that reaches out to everyone, regardless of demographics. I can play it, my friend and his wife play it, my niece plays it. I heard they're releasing Animal Crossing for Nintendo's DS, so that will make house counstruction much easier with a touch screen.

Re:Broader demographic appeal? Get a Gamecube

[urbaer]

I own a Gamecube and a PS2 (as well as a whole heap of older consoles), though I don't have any kids. Agree that the GC is very family friendly, but the PS2 is coming up with a lot of interesting family games (Singstar, Eyetoy for example). Looking at my collection of PS2 games though the only one that my (possible) future kids can play is Space Channel 5. GC I have Pikmin, Monkey Ball, Super Smash Bros, Harvest Moon and on and on.

I assume that you were a gamer when you were in your teens and thus know what's good for your kids (as well as yourself). Sadly if I ever become a parent, my children will have to start on the Atari, Coleceovision and Vecterex and work thier way up to modern systems :).

I get the impression from reading the article that the author was looking for a game for his mum. I remember trying to get my mum to play Super Mario Bros, but she gave up the first time she fell down a hole (while my brother and I were yelling at her to get the mushroom).

While I generally disagree with the article, family party games generally need simple concepts and the ability to jump into the action from the get go (as the article suggests) just like Bomberman and Super Monkey Ball.

There's no crisis here. Retro gaming has it's place, but it isn't the answer to all of gamings questions. Why can't we celebrate gaming more often instead of trying to find potential pitfalls...

My family and video games

[chia_monkey]

For starters, I'm 32 right now. My family seems pretty addicted to games though. I remember our first Atari 2600. My mom, dad, and I would stay up all night playing "Yar's Revenge". Other games we'd play off and on included "Defender" and "Pitfall".

Then came Intellivision. Ohhhh...that was fun. I do remember playing "Burgertime" a lot with my parents, but to be honest I don't recall much else. My grandmother however was a "Burgertime" junkie. Good lord, she'd play that even more than me. I loved going to her house...she had Intellivision in her room, Atari 5200 (with the trackball! Ohhhh, how Ioved "Centipede") in another room, and Colecovision in the family room. My friends and I would play "Smurfs" (I know, it sounds cheesy but it was a fun game) and "Donkey Kong" a lot on that.

Then came Nintendo. Again, my grandmother was on the cutting edge and got it first. I played all sorts of games there with her. My parents didn't seem to get into Nintendo as much. I don't know if it was because they didn't like it or because at the time they had just started a new business.

Now however, my parents beat the absolute crap out of me. I've got the PS2 which unfortunately I don't get to play much (I have two companies I'm trying to run currently) and they've got their XBox. "Halo" junkies I tell ya. Every single night. When I call them and ask "what are you doing?", the reply is generally "blowing shit up". Every time I visit, that's part of our bonding experience.

Yes, video games have actually played quite a role in our family. We were one of the odd families that actually played games TOGETHER as opposed to me shutting myself off from friends, family, society and immersing myself in the games.