He Blogs/She Blogs: Stolen Cars, Alien Hordes & Quality Time

Chad a.k.a Captain Dumbass, the male

Achoo! Whew, gettin' a little dusty in here, sorry about that. What? Yes, rumours about my death have been greatly exaggerated. Give me an iPod, free wi-fi and a roll of duct tape and I'll kick Richard Dean Anderson's ASS! No, I still don't have a computer, but I didn't want to be accused of copping out again, so here I am. Besides, this weeks topic is close to my heart. Or carpal tunnel enlarged wrists and thumbs. Video games! Time well wasted.

The brilliance of Japanese video game marketing is, in my opinion, only slightly behind early Christian's decision to promote their new religion to woman and slaves first in the Roman Empire and George Lucas producing the last three episodes of Star Wars before the first three. I was 11 years old in 1981 when Nintendo first hit North America and 13 when an Atari console made its way into my home. Hooked. From begging my parents for new games to trying to convince my new bride that an Xbox would help us save money by keeping me at home and finally, to giving in to my own childrens demands for the latest Lego game for the Wii, it's been a long ride. The first hit wasn't free, but I took it anyway, and I'm still using. Brilliance.

Now, not only can I play video games whenever I want and afford to buy them myself, but I can use the kids as an excuse. "But it will make them happy." "It will help with their motor skills." And they beg me to play with them! Sure it's not all fun and games, I learned the hard way that Grand Theft Auto is not the best game to play with your sponge-like young children. Or that no matter how many times you tell them that when Daddy plays Halo it's our little secret they'll still rat you out. Then there's the down times when controllers are taken away for bad behavior (kids) and everyone suffers. You learn your lessons and move on.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go give my youngest some lessons in problem solving, religious studies and early 20th century history. Or Lego Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Heh heh heh.

Petra aka The Wise Young Mommy: The Female

Yes, I know, I am late.

I was up really late last night trying to defeat flood on Halo 3...

Just kidding. I don't even know what that means. I just had another rough night last night with my 3-year-old who has decided to boycott sleeping, so I totally forgot to hunker down and write this post. So yes, again, I suck. Sorry. So video games, yeah...

I had an Atari and I loved Pong. I also got hooked on Mario Bros on the original Nintendo. And now we have a Wii and I use it for the Wii Fit games. But that is about as far as my love for video games goes. I think it's pretty much a big waste of time if it's done in excess, especially for those grown men who spend all their free time in front of the computer screen or XBox, whilst ignoring their families. A hobby is a hobby, and to each their own, but when your fellow players in World of Warcraft see you more than your wife and kids, I think there is a problem.

Unfortunately, my 9-year-old would surgically attach his Nintendo DS to his right hand and the controller for his Playstation to his left hand if it was allowed, and I have to admit that I let him play them too much, but it's just too hard to fight his nature. He is not a sports kind of kid, he is not an outdoorsy type of kid. He loves video games. And although I try my damndest to keep him from doing it all day every day, I am also not going to make him miserable by taking them away and making him do things he doesn't like to do. No, I will not allow him to hole himself up in his room with his video games, but if he disappears for a couple hours, that's OK. And then I will urge him to go outside or we will go find something fun to do for the rest of the day. I think that's a fair compromise, don't you think?

I am lucky because my husband has never been a big gamer, so it has not been an issue between us. He will play the Wii or Playstation with my son here and there and I love that, because they are doing something fun together. I'm not unreasonable.

But, I swear, if my husband ever turns down sex because he is close to levelling up in World of Warcraft, all bets are off.