Archive for the 'Video Games' Category
Impact of computer games on children’s brains needs research, says Lady Greenfield
April 23rd, 2009Telegraph – “In a speech she will say there is an urgent need to investigate the impact of the computer environment on children's brains. The professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln College, Oxford, has previously warned that children's obsessions with websites such as Facebook or Twitter may leave them with poor attention spans and an [...]
FCC commissioner: Warcraft is a “leading cause” of college dropouts – Boing Boing
December 12th, 2008BoingBoing – “An FCC commissioner has stated that video game “addiction,” especially to World of Warcraft, is a “leading cause” of college dropouts.”
Gaming: Study: Nearly a Quarter of Seniors Are Video Gamers
December 9th, 2008AP – “After a day of dirty diapers and “Dora the Explorer,” of laundry and homework time, when her four kids are finally asleep, Sarah Ninesling begins roaming the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C., fighting mutants to help save the survivors of a nuclear war. The 30-year-old stay-at-home mom from New York’s Long [...]
Playing games at the library
November 23rd, 2008Roanoke Times – “There are mindless games, to be sure, but that is true of any medium. The works of Stephen King and John Grisham remain on library shelves, as they should. Sometimes people just want to relax and enjoy.”
Wii brings new faces to the library
November 22nd, 2008Argus-Press – “For years, video games were seen as a threat to children’s reading. Now more than three decades after the medium’s conception, games are becoming a way to bring children back into libraries.”
Warning: This piece is filled with “video games will make you literate” statements.
Undergrad Library hosts gaming event
November 15th, 2008Daily Illini – “The University’s Undergraduate Library participated, offering both new video game systems such as a Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 and vintage systems such as Sega Genesis and Atari 2600. The event was centered on a nationwide online tournament.”
Utah County library issues partial gaming ban
November 14th, 2008ksl.com – “A Utah County library says it had to put a partial video game ban on its computers to give library patrons a chance to actually look things up.”
Check it out: Libraries now happening places
October 25th, 2008Arizona Republic – “Libraries around the Valley are hipper, fresher and friendlier, sporting looks that threaten to dispel the image of librarians as little more than tightly wound shushing machines.”
Despite this odd sentence, this article is a very good look into what libraries are doing these days. Good piece on gaming because it doesn’t talk [...]
Guitar Hero Contest in Library
October 12th, 2008Guitar Hero Contest in Library – “Children enjoy video games right now,†says Children Services Director Sandra Pierce. “We’re trying to use that as a vehicle to get them into the library, get them interested in what we’re doing. We also carry gaming magazines and that’s a form of reading. We just [...]
Survey: 97 percent of American youth play video games
September 16th, 2008AP – “The survey found that while young Americans don’t necessarily play the same thing, nearly all of them — girls included — play video games of one kind or another. And they don’t just play by themselves. Nearly two-thirds play video games to socialize face-to-face with friends and family, while just over a [...]
Professor Given $100,000 to Study World of Warcraft
September 16th, 2008David DeBolt – “A hundred thousand dollars to study a video game that pits ax-wielding ogres against a cast of other fanciful characters? That would buy about 50,000 cans of Red Bull to support those late-night gaming, er, “research†sessions.”
Heh.
Video games lure teens into the city’s libraries
September 8th, 2008Here’s yet another article that talks about how video games promote literacy by providing a different type of reading. The games mentioned in the article are DDR and Rock Band. Nothing else.
Clearly there is something amiss here. Here’s hoping that there is more to this than the fluff that ALA and [...]
Library sets challenge for overdue books
August 10th, 2008Manawatu Standard – “Calling all young Guitar Heros with overdue library books – outrock overdues librarian Harley Bell and get your Palmerston North City Library fines waived.”
I’ve blogged in the past on why I believe this to a bad idea.
Library’s ‘Guitar Hero’ contests a hot ticket
August 10th, 2008RapidCityJournal.com – "Chloe was one of 24 kids who competed in the first round of the Rapid City Public Library’s “Guitar Hero III” tournament on July 25."
Yup. That will totally increase literacy. Everytime I pick up my bass guitar, I start to remember the words of Shakespeare. C’mon, really?
Kids, don’t forget to pick up your [...]
Can Guitar Hero Make Children Smarter?
August 8th, 2008Kotaku: – “I think overall the answer to the question, at least in regards to the games they are playing, is not really, but I think we should all lie and make it seem like the children are smarter just so we can stop by our local libraries and play Guitar Hero in the future”
Do Videogames Make Kids Smarter?
August 8th, 20081up: – “[W]e bow down to the inevitable future of Halo-savvy librarians”
Video Games
March 23rd, 2008New York Times – “And you thought libraries were supposed to be quiet. Not on Friday.”
Bring Your Video Game Skills…to the NY Public Library!
March 21st, 2008Gothamist – “The NYPL’s Assistant Coordinator of Young Adult Services, Jack Martin, explained, “Gaming at the library can bridge the gaps between children, teens and adults, bringing them together as families and friends under one space, or through dialog created through the users’ individual game playing.†(via)
Open Education Posts on Video Games
March 21st, 2008The other day, I received an e-mail from Tom Hanson, who blogs over at Open Education. He mentioned a few video game posts in his e-mail. Here they are:
1) Shoot-em Up Video Games – The Cause of Greater Anti-social Behaviors in Teens?
2) Author Reveals “The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Gamesâ€
3) Experts State: [...]
State can’t restrict kids’ access to video games, court says
March 17th, 2008Star Trubine – “Minnesota may not enforce a law restricting the sale or rental of “adults only” or “mature” video games to minors, according to an opinion issued Monday by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.” (via)
Blog vs. Peer Review Update: Interactivity Brings Some Surprises
March 15th, 2008Chronicle.com – “For the past several weeks, the scholar has posted a section of his draft each day to a popular blog he contributes to — called Grand Text Auto — and he has invited readers to praise it or tear it to shreds. They’ve done both. And by early next week, Mr. Wardrip-Fruin will [...]
ALA Adds Gaming Pavilion
March 11th, 2008ICv2 News – The American Library Association will launch a gaming pavilion at its 2008 annual conference in Anaheim this June. The pavilion will group both tabletop and electronic game exhibitors, who will show games that can be used for both curriculum-based instruction and recreation.”
(Thanks to John for sending the link)
Lapeer library shakes ho-hum image with “Rock Star” night
March 7th, 2008The Flint Journal – “We’ll either get one of two responses, either ‘this rocks’ or ‘this sucks.”
Opinion : If it takes Guitar Hero to bring kids to the library, let’s jam
February 27th, 2008Opinion – “Teenagers ought to feel welcome in our public libraries, which remain — even in the digital age — among our most hallowed public spaces. And anything that brings them into the fold and into close contact with the wealth of resources at the library is worthwhile and downright important to the democracy.”
Of course, [...]
Is Obama Against Video Games?
February 24th, 2008GamePolitics.com has a semi-round up.
Obama has said stuff like this before. He mentioned something similar in his amazing speech the day before MLK Day.
It doesn’t mean that he is against VGs. One could also assume, based on the words, that he is against TV. I think he was trying to make a [...]
Readers should get game-literate
February 9th, 2008Guardian Unlimited – “Far from spelling the end of proper storytelling, video games point towards its future.”
Adult Gaming @ Public Libraries
February 3rd, 2008The Last Librarian – “I love video games in libraries. But the whole concept of gaming programs in public libraries is often sold as a lure for reluctant patrons, and I think this is misguided.”
If video games are to use useful in libraries, don’t hide behind a lure. Say what they really are for. [...]
What should wii be promoting in libraries?
February 2nd, 2008Adventures in the Wild West Library Frontier – “I’m not trying to be a luddite here, or even really to play devil’s advocate. It’s an honest question. Does gaming fit in to our missions, or is it just something public libraries are flocking to in order to appear hip and relevant (look at us! We’re [...]
More on Video Games
January 22nd, 2008Library Attack (a new to me blog), deconstructs my post and Jenny Levine’s comments. I’m glad Jenny comnmented on the post instead of ignoring it. She’s right. Don’t like gaming? Don’t do gaming. I say stuff like that all of the time.
That said, that doesn’t mean I won’t post what [...]
Our Public Libraries Are Being Turned Into Video Game Arcades
January 22nd, 2008Dave Gibson – “[I]t appears that this country’s librarians have decided to their part in the dumbing-down of America. What has happened to this country?…All of the librarians I have known were in love with the written word and truly enjoyed opening the door to their world to young people. Perhaps, today’s crop of young [...]
