Let's Ignore Her Generous Bosom And Lack Of Proper Attire, Shall We?

[kv0925]

Since video games were such a great part of my own childhood, and something I still greatly enjoy (yet feel guilty spending too much time on, but that's another topic), I've been glad to inculcate an interest in them in my girls. We play Wii, they play on their computers, and we even fire up the venerable PS2 and Dreamcast now and then, not to mention the MAMEd arcade cabinet I have hiding upstairs. And they're pretty good, I must say! But mainly they play things like the LEGO games, girly dress-up games on the Internet, point-and-click type adventure games, etc. They see me playing first-person shooter type games now and then, and have seemed interested, but obviously I haven't wanted to just drop them into those since most are pretty tough, not to mention M-rated with murder and mayhem and language and blood and guts everywhere.

So it came to mind that maybe the Tomb Raider games would fit the bill, especially for Hallie with her love of Indiana Jones. I'd mentioned it but then dropped it, until this week when Hallie came to me asking me to put a game on her PC, but she couldn't tell me the name or even anything about it. I was thinking it was something she'd already played, but she said no to everything I named. Finally she said she thought it started with a T and was about a girl adventurer, and finally it clicked. So I took a look at the newest Tomb Raider game, but found that it too is rated M with the ultraviolence and adult language, so it's out. But then I thought, what about the old-school TR games? And I found that there's an updated (Anniversary) version of the first one, which is still rated T. So I installed that for her, and so far she's digging it (er, so to speak?). I was afraid that the controls and gameplay might be too much for her (she's only 7, after all), and indeed she doesn't quite grasp the WASD+mouse control setup yet. But she still does pretty well, and I think we can work up to getting both hands involved properly. The game itself is pretty cool--I'd never actually played any TR myself, but so far it's mostly just navigating the environment, jumping around cliffs and ledges and ropes, with the occasional beastie (bats and wolves so far) popping up. So I think it's a fine introduction to this sort of game. Thus far we've only jokingly mentioned the fact that Lara Croft is running around a snowy mountain cave wearing shorts and a skin-tight tank top, so I hope it's not warping their minds too much, you know? At least it's a strong female character so there's a Girl Power angle in there somewhere, I hope.

The only wrinkle so far is that Hermione wants to play it now too, so I installed it for her as well. But I'm using Steam with their family sharing feature, which means only one of them can play it at a time, which is kind of a bummer since they often like to be playing the same thing. I guess we'll see if that becomes enough of an issue to justify me finding a not-so-legal copy to install instead. :)

Do any of you gamers have suggestions for other games they might like, in this or any other genre? I'd considered the Half-Life games as another FPS they might dig, since the bad guys are monsters and mutants instead of people. Maybe the newer Fallout games for the same reason, though there are some human adversaries as well. I guess I'll just see how well TR holds their interest, and if they might want to explore more in that genre. I should find some things to install for LAN gaming, like Worms. Any other ideas?

While I'm on the subject, Amy's taken nicely to having her own PC as well. Though yesterday evening I had to run to the store to get her a new video card. Night before last she was playing and I started smelling a strange odor, which I finally determined was coming from her PC. So when I got home yesterday I popped the case open and found that it was coming from her video card--the fan on the heatsink had seized up, so it was overheating even at idle. Hopefully that also explains why some games would make her PC shut down after a few minutes. Slapped in a new card and so far so good.

Oh, and the other day there was a really good NewEgg deal on a mini desktop PC that should be great to replace the little nettop I've been using as my home theater PC. I like the old one from a size and power-usage perspective, but it's just clunky and underpowered as a PC, and it only has USB 2.0 ports which means the USB 3.0 external hard drive where my movies live doesn't work as well as it could. The new one was only $140 after rebate, and that's with Windows 8.1 included, so I couldn't pass it up. I was hoping it would arrive by Saturday so I could get it set up this weekend, but I guess that is not to be unless UPS is mistaken. Hopefully this one won't take a wrong turn to Abu Dhabi.

And speaking of games, we haven't played much D&D or other tabletop games lately. We've done Munchkin another time or two, and are getting the hang of it, though the last time we played I resolved to be more evil and never got the cards to do so. Maybe this weekend. I also signed on to the Kickstarter for Exploding Kittens, since that seems right up our admittedly-skewed alley. It won't be shipping for a while, but I am looking forward to it.

And that's the latest geeky news in the cp household!

Comments

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

I want Exploding Kittens so bad! It looks amazing!

[cp.livejournal.com]

I know, right?! I like Matthew Inman/The Oatmeal, especially after his help in funding the purchase of the Tesla Science Center. So I figured what the heck, I'm in for the regular and NSFW decks. :) The stretch goals look good and obtainable too, they already unlocked the sweet storage box!

[re-vised.livejournal.com]

Yes, me too! He's a neat person. I've seen his FB posts about hitting goals! I'm very much anticipating.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link, I also plopped down for the adult deck! Crazy numbers: $10k asked, $6.2MILLION raised!

[cp.livejournal.com]

It's very impressive! I know it's the top-funded game ever on Kickstarter, might be the top-funded ever Kickstarter, full stop. By my count, if one more Achievement gets unlocked they'll add the surprise mentioned in Update #9!

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

I realize that I'm a bad person for even pissing in everyone's cheerios but ok...I just think that there's something very wrong with mankind if we can come up with a million bucks, in...was it 3 days? for a card game but good luck raising a million bucks EVER to cure a disease or go into space.
I know, it's going to be a fun game. But space. Cancer. You know?

[cp.livejournal.com]

No no, you're right, and that absolutely crossed my mind even when I first came across it and it was already over $1M. Matthew Inman, of course, is the same guy who did the Kickstarter for the Tesla Museum, which was nowhere near as successful. Not that funding the purchase of Tesla's lab was on par with funding cancer research and whatnot, but still. A stupid card game can attract this much money, while worthy causes struggle?

On one hand, I suppose it could be argued that our tax money should be going towards those collective-good things like research and space travel--what can a million or even 6 million really accomplish in those fields, you know? And on the other hand, it's cot-damn Murika we're talking about here. We INVENTED the notion of fiddling while Rome burns! Or at least we think we did. :)

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I hate it when my keyboard or trackpad decide that I don't need to keep what I was writing.

I agree with you, it's an interesting sociological observation. I look at it as the difference between mandatory and discretionary funding. We pay our taxes and our elected congresscritters allocate that money to fund various things, our only input (which is ignored) funnels through our respective critters giving us theoretical input in to the system. In this case, I am voting with my entertainment feet. I have no problem throwing 1.5 movie viewings of money (for my wife and I) at this game and not spending a sous on seeing or reading the 50 Shades tripe.

I'm a kid of the '60s/'70s, and I know how much return we got on the dollars spent by NASA (i.e. A LOT). The ability of engineers and scientists to stretch their knowledge and imagination is amazingly beneficial, yet we've had a short-sighted congress for too many years and the program is now a faint shadow of what it was. It would be very interesting to see what the spending priorities would be if we had a direct voice on where our tax dollars are spent. I have an incurable genetic immune disorder and have lost lots of friends to cancer, so I definitely would like to see more spending on medical research.

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

I don't play games on the wi and stuff. I play on the PC because I'm hardcore.

But when idiot son lived here, he spent a lot of time buying and playing the originals of old games. Like the original Zelda. Stuff like that. PS3, I think. We got one or 3 of everything around the house. Sometimes Kirby is just so much damn fun!
What about picking up a used handheld device and some games? Pokemon in all it's forms? Or buy the latest and greatest.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can't play FPS-type games on console, I could never deal with those controllers for that. Give me WASD+mouse or give me death! But for LEGO games and platformers and that sort of thing, sure.

I'd love for the girls to be.. well, not hardcore per se--if they never play GTA or Call of Duty that will be fine, and like me I don't think they're the type to enjoy MMO games--but at least well-versed in all sorts of games. Especially adventure games and RPG stuff, that sort of thing seems most fitting for them. I should definitely get them educated on the old-school 8-bit stuff, not to mention old PC games, a great many of which are now available to play online.

I was never a Pokemon person, so I don't know if they'd like that. Is it still a thing?

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

As far as I know, yeah, it's still a thing. I don't know how big a thing, but I think it's now an age bracket thing.

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

Pokemon is still huge :)

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

I haven't mastered WASD either and I've been playing games so long! I can only play FFS on consoles even though it makes it so much harder to aim ;) I took an 8 year break from video games and that was when FFS games really blew up so I'm still working on getting better at those.

I think they might like Fallout! Though New Vegas is pretty adult as you can use sex to get through missions ;)

BioShock: Infinite might be good for them, but it does have some violent kills (which I think you can turn off?) and some mild language. It's kind of hard though so probably not a good starting game to learn that style.

We recently played Octodad and it was a lot of fun! It's really stupid but hilarious and cute.

What about Portal?

Also Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is really nice and the themes aren't TOO adult, though need a controller to play it. It's one of my favorite games :)

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

New Vegas comment twins! (see below)

I also second your Portal idea.

[cp.livejournal.com]

I'm a big Fallout fan myself, as I think I've mentioned--been playing those since the first one, and really enjoyed the newer ones (3 and New Vegas). They've watched me play those on occasion, and I think they would be good too, for the most part. The mission/quest structure and all would appeal to them, I think, as would the role-playing aspects. But all that adds some complexity, so I still think Tomb Raider was a good place to start since it's all about getting from point A to point B. :)

Ooh, Portal might be good. Never tried those myself, but I believe I have both in my Steam library so I'll give them a try.

Octodad does look funny, I'll see if that goes on sale anytime soon. :)

I have Brothers in my library too, I'll give that a try. I'm pretty terrible about buying things when they're on sale, or as part of Humble Bundles, and then not actually, you know, playing them. ;)

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Humble Bundles, get them Psychonauts! I picked that up in one bundle and it was SO FUNNY. It has a few parts that weren't tested properly and are impossibly hard though, but most parts are fairly easy. It's definitely family friendly.

I also love Limbo. It's a little dark but nothing kids couldn't take.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Those are a couple I've heard of but miraculously don't have in the library! I'll keep an eye out for Psychonauts, and I got the Limbo demo to check out. :)

[cp.livejournal.com]

Oh, and they don't mind dark--they dig things like the Nighmare Before Christmas, Corpse bride, Coraline, Boxtrolls, etc. I'm raising them well! :)

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

Limbo will be right up their alley :)

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

And of course I will always recommend Mass Effect <3

[cp.livejournal.com]

I was intrigued when you wrote about those, definitely a series I'll get around to! :)

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Portal for kids? I dunno if they'd ever figure it out.

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

I would argue that since their brains are still developing, they might learn the physics in it easier than an adult would.

Also this: http://kotaku.com/father-makes-son-play-through-video-game-history-chron-1669616589
:)

[cp.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried Portal myself, though I think I grok the basics. Still, I imagine they could do it. Especially after seeing them rock Tomb Raider--they really get the mechanics a lot better than I figured they would at their ages.

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

The best Fallout I've seen is New Vegas, and it's a little scary monster-wise as well as having the occasional adult theme and language expletive popping up. For example, if you're playing a female character, you can choose to sleep with the guy who tried to kill you before exacting your revenge.

Basically, I can be of no help. A shorter list of appropriate games would be the ones I *don't* play. Suffice it to day that there will most likely never come a day when you send the ladies to Uncle Doug's house to play video games; mine would warp their brains and have them leaking out their ears. I've been playing Saint's Row 3 and 4 a lot lately, and it's best described as GTA on acid. I'm also grooving on Assassin's Creed 4 again, which is, of course, lots of killing plus OMG PIRATES.

I do, however, know of a fun little educational title called Scribblenauts Unlimited (http://store.steampowered.com/app/218680/). You solve problems and help people with the use of a magic pencil or something that causes things to be created just by typing them in. I understand you can solve one nasty dilemma by typing in "Cthulu" and enjoying the result. It's rated ages 10+.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm a big Fallout fan myself, and they've watched me play those a bit. I think they'd enjoy them, but some of the themes and language are a bit beyond them at this point. Maybe in a couple years. :)

I definitely understand, we as adult men like to play games to do stuff we can't do in real life, like run around killing cops in GTA or Mafia 2 (I dig the Mafia games, I just love the period feel). I have a Saints Row (and GTA) game or two in my Steam library, one of those might be on deck when I finish the Mafia 2 DLC. Or maybe a Hitman game. Something bloody and violent, anyway. :)

Scribblenauts does look good, thanks!

[fragbert.livejournal.com]

What's your Steam name? You can find me with either fragbert66 or Socia (I have that up in case my Old Republic friends want to find me).

[girlguitarist.livejournal.com]

That's me who just added you to Steam!

[cp.livejournal.com]

Add me too, kv0925! YAY FRIENDS

[cinnamonbite.livejournal.com]

Don't Starve?

[cp.livejournal.com]

I've only tried that one once or twice myself, and died pretty quickly. Once I figure it out I'll have them try it. :)

[cp.livejournal.com]

I'm kv0925--added you too. I've never much been into the social aspects of gaming, so you can be honored to be my first Steam friend. ;)

[audamy.livejournal.com]

I was always more of a computer game sort of kid (with the exception of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) and I really enjoyed the Quest for Glory games. I honestly can't recall how age appropriate they would be for younger kids (I played them in high school) but I loved them. They're older games so the graphics aren't the best but I recently started playing QFG2 and I'm still enjoying it :P

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Sierra games are good, though so far we do prefer the games where you can't die, or at least respawn where you left off. Sierra games can be brutal in that respect. :) The Lucas Arts games are definitely on the agenda, though--they've played some Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island and liked those.

[audamy.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. I remember sitting in front of the computer and shouting when I first started playing QFG because I kept dying when I hadn't saved recently so I couldn't even restore from a recent point in my game play.

Oh man, I had totally forgotten about Monkey Island. I want to play now :P