So yesterday when the demo version of Madden 11 came out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 we had to download it immediately.

I still think that every August, there should be a holiday dedicated to the release of the newest Madden. But, for some reason the Government hasn’t stepped up and made that a reality yet. *grin*

As I fired up the demo and saw that familiar “EA Sports…It’s in the game” logo and voice come up I couldn’t contain my excitement. It did feel a little weird playing alone since my son is at camp this week and he usually would be right there playing against me, but I couldn’t wait a week.

One warning for the die hard NFL fan though. Depending on who you are a fan of (I’m a life long, die hard, Miami Dolphins fan) this demo may cause you conflict. It only allows you to choose between the Jets or the Colts to play with. This gave me great pause because I’m not a fan of either, but had to go with the Colts since there is no way I could play as the Jets unless I wanted to just let the quarterback get sacked over and over and laugh the whole time. (sorry Gary…)

The look and feel of the game is very similar to last year. I’ve held a belief of buying the game every other year when the big changes get made. Madden 10’s graphics were a huge jump in awesome and this year looks a lot the same. Sure, they’ve added a lot more B-Roll footage for each stadium including tailgaters and angry fans leaving in droves if you start to whip the home team.

Game play has some great new features. My favorite being the double stick control of runners. Now the left stick controls your direction and the right stick controls upper body movement making it a lot more effective to juke and shift directions better than you ever have been able to. There is also a new feature that allows you to see who from your friend list is online and instantly set up multiplayer games. They actually show a screen shot of playing 3-on-3 and while I’m not quite sure how this would work, I am looking forward to trying it out.

While I usually turned off the commentators after the first few games, I did miss hearing John Madden’s voice in the game. Gus Johnson Cris Collinsworth provide a realistic feel, but it still doesn’t feel right not to have him as part of it.

Some other new features that I’m excited to dive more into include:

• Full game playbook design that allows you to fully customize what plays you want to choose from so that you don’t have to scroll endlessly looking for your favorites.
• Game times are cut down to roughly 30 minutes for a full game instead of 60.
• GameFlow, the new play calling system that automatically selects the best play for your team based on situational, authentic NFL game plans.
• Seeing all the customizations (including chants, music, etc) that they’ve put into each stadium.

Overall the demo does just what it should: Make you want to run out and pre order a copy today so that you can play the full thing on August 10th when it comes out.

If you get the game, let us know your gamer tag in the comments below and perhaps we can get some good multiplayer action going between the Digital Dads community.

Related posts:

1. Gaming Kids
2. Two Great Playstation 3 Family Games
3. The Dark Days of Sports

Ok, let me get it right out in the open so there is no confusion. We are BIG Star Wars fans around here. When my son showed an interest in the movies I can’t fully express how psyched I was and how great it was to take him to the movies to watch them.

We’ve since watched all the films and were very surprised how awesome the television show The Clone Wars turned out to be and it is something we always watch together. It makes for something fun to bond over and a passion we both share.

Because of this, I’m psyched to share the news that this fall, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) will release Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, a free-to-play, action packed virtual world. Focused on creating a fun and safe online environment for kids and families, Clone Wars Adventures will offer  minigames, dynamic activities, social events and thousands of customization options.  Players can even battle it out with friends alongside iconic Star Wars characters like Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Ahsoka Tano.

Dylan has been playing Free Realms for a while now which is also from SOE, so we’ve seen the game play on that and for an online game it is top notch. Watching the trailer for this new adventure made us even more psyched about the release.

“Clone Wars Adventures is the ultimate destination for fans of The Clone Wars series and will bring the action and excitement of the show to players online so they can experience The Clone  Wars universe firsthand” said John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment. “We’ve worked with LucasArts and Lucasfilm to create a virtual world that is seamlessly integrated with the TV series and a true extension of the show. It’s also just flat-out fun to play.”

Virtual worlds hold a lot of promise for companies and game players. I’ve watched as Dylan has jumped from one to another figuring out which one he likes the best. One thing that I know will be appealing to players in this game is that they are going to allow you to fly through space in various starfighters, play as a clone trooper in tower defense challenges and even solve challenging puzzles which is something I know my son enjoys. It sounds like there is a lot of variety which is key in keeping a kid’s imagination and to bring them back to play over and over.

Of course, this is a business venture, so there will be plenty of options for kids to upgrade their accounts to buy new outfits, equipment and other virtual goods. The possibilities are really endless and I’m glad to read about the built in parental controls. Of course, I’m probably looking forward to playing as much as Dylan is at this point. I can’t wait to play.

There is no official release date yet except for “this fall” so stay tuned. Until then enjoy some screen shots from the game.

Related posts:

1. Gaming Kids
2. Two Great Playstation 3 Family Games
3. Dew Tour – Boston, MA

“I am not completely sold on gesture gaming like the Wii being the future. It definitely is changing the scope of gaming, but not for me.”

Having recently sold my Wii, I had been reflecting on my motivation for purchasing it in the first place — because I had bought into the idea of interactive games, believing it to be the future of gaming.

I should mention, I am an avid (read: hardcore) video game enthusiast and like a large number of fathers my age (or expectant fathers like myself) — I have been playing for most of my life.

All of which is to say that any technological advance in the video game industry is quite likely going to pull at my game playing heartstrings with some level of success.  But with motion and gesture gaming as part of the mainstream, where children, parents, and grandparents alike are now active gamers, I find myself dissatisfied with the prospect of this new frontier being acknowledged as the future of gaming.

Especially where children are concerned.

Photo by Scott Richard’s Photography

Continuing my rant online, I followed-up by suggesting that,

“Many parents would argue to the contrary — but i’d guess they are allowing video games to replace the power of imagination for their kids.”

While I am just over a month before leveling-up to full-blown status as a father, I feel compelled to highlight the fact that parents would argue that gesture and motion gaming like the Wii or Microsoft’s Project Natal for the XBOX 360 are the future because it raises their activity level by putting them in motion.

Concluding my entitled and unsolicited opinion slinging on Twitter, I declared,

“The argument that gesture/motion gaming gets kids off the sofa (to me) implies that parents weren’t doing it right in the first place.”

I did receive some honest commentary that suggested,

“Here’s what many parents don’t like to confess; you let kids play video games b/c it buys peace and quiet. Uncomfortable to admit.”

I don’t doubt that what was mentioned is true for a large majority of parents whose children actively play video games.  My contention is with the fact that this passive escape could be the reason parents agree that gesture and motion gaming is the future; because it gets them off the sofa (and affords the parents a brief reprieve from, you guessed it — being a parent).

As a professed hardcore gamer, and someone who is likely to allow my own son to play later on in his life, that notion is one I have difficulty understanding and agreeing with 1) because it still somehow implies that playing video games are bad unless 2) they get your kid off the sofa and 3) it removes accountability for the parent, normally charged with encouraging an active lifestyle for their child (out in the world).

I am sure there are many of you who struggle with the same thing.  It is an interesting conversation I hope to see take place here on Digital Dads.  There is nothing wrong with your child being a sofa king.  A little hand/eye coordination never hurt anyone.

There is something wrong with parents, however, who allow their children to forego a little imagination off the sofa, away from the console, and out in the world.  Perhaps you disagree? If so, why?

Related posts:

1. Gaming Kids
2. Two Great Playstation 3 Family Games
3. Father’s Day Gifts, Vol. 1

Buzz! Quiz World

The first game was the Buzz! Quiz World Bundle which in addition to the game comes with 4 wireless controllers. These allowed me and the family to spread out in my office and get comfortable while we played. Definitely a plus when you don’t have to be tethered to the gaming station with wires!

Anyone that is a fan of trivia will love this game and don’t worry about knowing all the answers. With a database of over 5,000 questions you are not going to be hitting repeats anytime soon.

One problem we did run into is that this is geared more towards adults than it is kids. I would love to be able to adjust the settings so that I could make the questions more kid friendly. More often then not, both kids would announce they were just hitting buttons because they had no idea what the answer were.

That being said, we did have an absolute blast playing. The ability to pick unique avatars for your character as well as fun names from a pre-determined list gave us all good laughs. The silliness of some of the game types adds to the fun. Laura and I commented more then once that we hope to get to play this with some other adults.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

Dylan loves adventure games and we had both played previous releases in in this series before so when Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time showed up he instantly popped it in and started playing.

While there is plenty of destruction in this game it is done in a very G rated way. Everything that is destroyed falls apart and gives you nuts and bolts to collect. There is no blood or other things found in many games and because of that I feel it is one of the most family friendly game series out there that is also engaging enough to keep kids into it.

The visuals and story line are something straight off the big screen. During the cut scenes, you might forget that you are actually watching a video game rather then a movie. In fact they should think about making this into a movie. I know I’d go see it.

I liked how instead of playing a single character, the plot actually switches back and forth between the two main characters and the shift in game play between the two of them may be a bit startling at first, but you quickly fall into the groove. I am not much of a puzzle fan, so some of the unique game play was not appealing to me, but Dylan loved it. The ability to customize weapons and the addition of game play in space brought some great new features that fans of the previous games will welcome.

Dylan completed the game and loved how it ended, but I’m still working my way slowly through it and hope to actually finish it because I want to know what happens.

I’m glad that Sony gave me a chance to try out the games and I look forward to reviewing other games in the future. I hope that if you are looking for some last minute gifts for the holidays, you’ll consider either of these as great options.

Disclosure: cmp.ly/1/qzpqrt

Related posts:

1. Gaming Kids
2. Family Vacations: Atlantis
3. Wii Sofa King

What about the Digital Dads?

While they spend plenty of time unplugged, there are plenty of Dads who enjoy their gaming or sports online, whether it be fighting alongside comrades from around the world, picking their fantasy league lineups, or following their favorite sports teams. With that in mind, there’s plenty of options for the Gaming Digital Dad.

• Is Dad relying on ESPN or some other network to broadcast his favorite baseball team? Sign him up for MLB Extra Innings. It’ll get you every non-nationally televised game, many in HD, all the way through October. Also available: MLB.tv. Dad can watch any of those same games right online.
• Does Dad have an iPhone? (No? Get him one! Then…) Steal it and download some great apps for him. Or load it up with some of his favorite tunes. He’ll appreciate that you managed to find all those old songs you don’t like. While you’re at it, get him some nice headphones so Mom doesn’t have to listen to them either.
• Whenever you go to the movies, do you lose Dad in the arcade? The Playstation3 doubles as a Blu-Ray player. Not a bad excuse to upgrade from the old school DVD player and that ancient, dusty PS2. Or, get him a Nintendo Wii and politely mention all the old school games available through the Virtual Console.
• Combine a couple of these music and video game ideas and introduce him to the wonderful world of Guitar Hero. You pick the platform, Dad picks the tunes. Fair trade.

Whatever you end up getting for your Gaming Digital Dad, you know he’ll appreciate it… until you wipe the floor with him on Expert mode. Take it easy on the old man, will ya?

Related posts:

1. Wii Sofa King
2. Gaming Kids
3. Maden 11 Preview

Now, in our house we have several game systems. I certainly fall into the category of a casual gamer. I love to play them, but don’t get into them all that much. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Gears of War 2, Call of Duty World at War, FEAR and Madden 09. But, I’ll play for a little while and move onto something else. The networking and social aspects of gaming that are becoming more common is fascinating to m.

I just took this picture of Dylan for the blog post. Yes, he wears a hoodie almost constantly these days. Watching him play is very interesting. He approaches challenges completely differently then me. He loves to play levels over again just to do better at them. To me I want to succeed and move onto the next challenge.

Both kids were playing Trace today on the iPhone. That was amazing to watch. Emily and Dylan approached the same level completely differently. Causes arguments from time to time, but that also could be due to the sibling factor. *laugh*

I’m not sure where I wanted to go with this post, but it is clear to me that kids today are going to approach the challenges in life in a very different way then we did and the way my parents did. Just watching them play games and use their imagination makes that clear to me.

A little Saturday morning fascination for me over coffee.

Related posts:

1. Two Great Playstation 3 Family Games
2. Wii Sofa King
3. Father’s Day Gifts, Vol. 1