Susana Vilaça

I was going through my feeds and on a post from Playfool I saw this new online gaming experience from kijjaa!, where you control your ship using your iPhone and your computer screen as the display device. Tough this concept is very interesting I completely agree with the blog author when he says this type of gaming isn’t going to replace the tradicional console system we have today. I like to play on my DS or iPhone when on my way to work/home. At home or when I invite friends I usually play on my home consoles. It’s a completely different experience. I wouldn’t like to replace that experience with one where I have to spend my iPhone’s battery, and power my laptop just to play some game.

Recently Nintendo as been struggling with some difficulties due to poor sales, and many have claimed that mobile gaming will be the future, especially for the casual player (one of Nintendo’s main targets). I think mobile platforms need to be considered as a new gaming platform, especially when videogames like Angry Birds or Cut the Rope have such a success. But when it comes to true video game lovers nobody likes their consoles and their videogame collection more.

source: The future of gaming – Playfool

Being a huge fan of videogames and having played them since childhood I’m an apologist that video games can really help boosting a child’s learning and educational curve.

At the Summit on Science, Entertainment, and Education Will Wright (game designer of video games like The Sims or Spore) talks about this subject and makes some interesting points:

Basically Will Wright summarizes the main aspects of what is learning and explains how videogames are useful for a good education experience.

Resuming, video games:

• allow identity
• offer a reason to do it (clear objectives)
• allow and mitigate risk (controlled environment)
• encourage failure
• problem solving: allows you to think outside the box´
• empower creativity and imagination

Of course, I think that playing outside with other children is also important but the fact that some healthy video games’ playing can bring many advantages cannot be denied.

So what are your thoughts on this? Would / Do you let your children play video games?

*image by Guild Grinding