Activision hosted a fun event in New York City today and I watched the live broadcast. Activision game developers and other staff were joined by Korie Robertson of Duck Dynasty to talk about video games and making it a family fun activity to play.
They talked about the latest and greatest games, as well as giving some tips to families on how to safely enjoy video games.
Here are my five favorite tips from the summit:
Tip #1 : keep devices in common space so that gaming becomes a family activity.
Tip #2: two hours of screen time is recommended limit for children.
Tip #3: ESRB is a reliable guide to the content and age-appropriateness of video games. You can go to their website, see the ratings on the covers of games or even load the app on to your mobile device.
Tip #4: you can put limits on the amount of purchases on line with your credit card and never give out your password.
Tip #5: check your child’s friend list periodically and shut it down if inappropriate. #ATVIFamGames
Bill from Activision shared his List of Words Every Parent Should Know:
Hot Games for the Holiday Season
We saw a demonstration of the new Angry Birds Star Wars Edition that has a cooperative play mode. For example, when one player advances to the next level, all players advance together. In the new Wipeout game, you can create your own course! I learned that actor Sean Astin (Rudy) is the voice of one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Warriors. Huh, who knew?! Spongebob has been around for 12 years, wow! The Spongebob video game has a “drop in/drop out” option so if Mom is playing but needs to drop out to make dinner, she can drop back in the game afterwards. I knew Moshi Monsters were popular, but I had no idea how popular – over 80 million kids play it online. Puzzles and problem solving are optimized for co-operative play in the new Skylanders game. Dynamics enhance the family experience. In Skylanders Swap Force swapability lets you switch tops and bottoms of 16 different characters for over 200 possibilities!
But probably the most fun news was to hear that there is a Duck Dynasty video game in development for release in 2014! Fun!!
Kristie N. was the winner of the Activision goody bag. She is a regular reader of Kelly’s Lucky You and I’m excited that there will be Activision games under her Christmas tree this year!
Disclosure: I was a compensated panelist at the event.
Wipeout looks fun.