Prepare for War! STEAM WORKS THE VIDEO GAME!

This is a CALL TO ACTION my Friends! Red Gears Studio has teamed up with Lion Wolf Productions to bring you a completely customizable world where the Aliens have attacked Arcadia and most everyone you’ve ever known has vanished! (“The Day of the missing”)

They are tirelessly working day in and day out building THREE main environments (The city of Arcadia, The Vast Desert, and the Sky City)

But that’s not all! They have created SEVEN Classes for you to choose from! The Engineer, Pilot, Scientist, Saboteur, Sky Pirate, Commando, and the specialized class!

Visit the Steam Works official page to read all about what all you can find within each of the three environments and to find out more about each Class!

KICKSTART my Heart Y’all!

Why should I back Steam Works?

Well other than it’s going to be an awesome game…This is your chance to be the one that gets to say “I was there when it all first began!”

They are offering some great incentives like Donate NOW and get the downloadable version of the game for the unbelievable low price of 15$!!! All the way up to Party like a Geek Star and attend San Diego Comic Con, Ride in a limo AND get ALL of the incentives in between! Check it out here!

They have got some fantastic people on board like BILL MOSELEY: Doing the voice of “Edison Sparks”, Dan Sampson: Doing the voice of "Robbie Boom Boom McLoom", and they are working hard to bring even more big names into the game so keep checking back to see who else is to join “Steam Works”!

We hope that as a gamer community we can work together and make this game happen! So Share the links with your friends, talk about it on the gamers forums, donate what you can, ask others to donate what they can! It will be amazing to see a game created BY those who truly love the game and funded BY those who truly love TO GAME!

Gamers UNITE and put those Nostromo keypads to work!

You can find the Steam Works Facebook HERE!

The Steam Works Twitter page HERE!

and once again the Kickstarter page can be found HERE!

Looking back to the future of fun

BBC News article:

"Will the recession and a lack of triple-A titles make 2009 a year the industry will want to forget?"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7804564.stm

Gutiar Rising

This is something we will definitely be getting! With four guitars in the house (two of them Electric) how could we say no? There’s no release date as of yet- Other than Q4 of 2008. My guess is that it's going to be Yule 08 before it's released. I know what will be under our tree!

Check it out~

http://www.guitarrising.com/

Gamer family Articles

I like these articles~

"The idea of parents and kids bonding over video games seems like a no-brainer to us.
MSNBC examines the issue in conversation with parents as well as a Seattle-based pediatrician. Brian Albright, father of 12-year-old Caleb, told MSNBC:
It is a shame that parents don’t see this as an opportunity for bonding, communication and supervision. Clearly, boundaries need to be set, but there are way more positives than negatives… Games where you’re an actual soldier in combat I have trouble with. I find that it’s more like a numbing effect to the harsh realities of war."

Read more at http://gamepolitics.com/2008/01/18/should-parents-game-with-kids/

You can also read more on this subject here- Gaming with kids: Wasted time or worthwhile? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22687545/

Political World

Of Warcraft I mean.Not much to say since I have never voted for president but the idea is cool!

Read more here at Gamepolitics!

If you like to write this may be something you want to read! It looks interesting

Cerise Magazine
Here is A snippet from their site.
"Cerise is a magazine aimed primarily at women gamers. We are interested in work that engages with gender while addressing various facets of gaming, including the following:
Reviews of games, systems and gaming supplements
In-depth critiques, essays and opinion pieces about gaming
Interviews with industry professionals
Gamer Stories: personal narratives about gaming experiences
Modules and mini-adventures for tabletop games "
Interested? Click HERE

Armadillocon 29

Armadillocon 29

Aug 10 - 12, 2007 in Austin, Texas (United States)
Doubletree Hotel Austin, 6505 IH-35 North, Austin, TX 78752-4346, Phone: 512-454-3737
"ArmadilloCon is a literary science fiction convention held annually in Austin, with several hundred attendees. The primary focus of ArmadilloCon is literary science fiction, but that's not all we do -- we also pay attention to art, animation, science, media, and gaming. Every year, dozens of professional writers, artists and editors attend the convention. Sometimes they come to make deals, but more often they come to have fun"
Current 3-day Pass: $30($40 for at the door)
1-day Pass:Friday: $20Saturday: $25Sunday: $20
Kids:6 & Under: Free7 - 12: $2013 & Older: Full Price
Right here in Austin Texas you better believe we will be there!
Nana~

CPL Championships (TX)

"The Summer 2007 CPL® Championships will take place Thursday, August 30th to Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 (Labor Day Weekend) at the Hilton Anatole, in Dallas Texas."
Cplworldtour.com
We may try to attend this event if it works out with my husbands new work schedule and the Kids School schedule. It's on Labor Day weekend so I would think everything would work out fine!
It's in Dallas and we will be there (Pretty sure we will be) that weekend visiting family.
If you live in or near Dallas and want to check it out here is the link for the Dallas event!
CPL Dallas
If your going let me know maybe we can meet up for Coffee!

Animefest 2007 DallasTexas

"AnimeFest is a non-profit organization for fans of Japanese Animation. We unite fans from around the country in our common interest and gather at our annual convention in Dallas, TX for the purpose of meeting fellow fans, viewing new anime, buying & trading merchandise, and just reveling in all that is anime."
Labor Day WeekendFri Aug 31st - Mon Sept 3th, 2007Location: Hyatt Regency at Reunion Tower Dallas Texas
CosPlay will be Saturday night! Oh man I can't wait to see the costumes! In case you have not figured it out yet I am a costume fanatic! I love making them and I will find every reason to get into one.
If you plan on attending this event let me know!
(This is the same weekend as the CPL in Dallas so why not plan on attending both events!)
Full Memberships: Valid from date of purchase through Dec 31st 2007
$15 - Child (8-12) Membership
$30 - If postmarked by July 31st
$35 - If postmarked by Mon Aug 13th or paid online by credit card by Fri Aug 24th
$40 - Purchased at the door
Single Day Memberships: Valid for one day only, only available at the door.
$25 - Friday Only
$25 - Saturday Only
$25 - Sunday Only
$15 - Monday Only

The New Miss Video Game Site!

Hey everyone go check out the New MVG Site!
It's got blogs- Live time chat- and GAMES!
I love the classic Games!
They are working on adding new features everyday so go check it out and sign up to beat the current high score!

GamerParents photo going to be in a book!

Found out last week that our Family Photo will be in somewhere in this book, that is some what exciting. Can't say we have ever been in a book before :)

I hope it's a good book!

Play the Game: A Parents guide to video games
Book Description:
Do you think your kids play too many video games? Can’t understand why your child is so addicted to video games? Or do you actually play the video games with your child? Play the Game: A Parent’s Guide to Video Games will help you understand what your kids play? and why! You’ll discover the latest research on both violent and educational aspects of video games that debunks all the myths sensationalized by the media. This guide provides everything you need to know to truly communicate with your kids about games. Play the Game will take you on a guided tour through this new universe that captivates your kids.

Our trip to the WSVG Dallas 2007

Our Family at WSVG 2007 Dallas TX - Dark photo sorry!

Our Son trying out the Intel Race Car (They took a photo in the car and gave you some really neat racing things!)

Our Son and his friend dancing at the Intel booth ( They got free flashdrives with your commercial one them!)
Our Sons friend won the Drawing for some free loot at the wsvg!(XFX headphones)

We had a lot of fun- Played a lot of games- watched the guitar hero contest and seen some badass 8-10 yr olds tear it up!
We got A LOT of free loot
4- 512 flash drives 4- 512 compact flash
Some Scion glowing necklaces in blue and in red and some Scion dog tags.
Tee shirts from all different vendors
Posters from Nvidia and door tags for the kids that say "Go away I'm gaming".
Some stress squishies from Comp U.S.A
The free photo in the Intel car and some neat racing fact cards.
Some Pens and some Bracelets
WHEW!

Once again we had a blast and people were complaining about the noise..
Last Year Creative had a booth that was set up like Jeopardy and they gave out some really fantastic prizes- They were getting people to scream Xfi- sound blaster- etc and people were cheering in general. People complained about the noise.
This year was the same..
They had a stage set up for a guitar hero contest and some of these people were really shredding it up! I loved it when the kids would jump or slide across the stage it was a lot of fun! Well afterwards I read an article where people were complaining about the noise...
Sigh...Get over it. You are at a Gaming convention not a Library
Sports in all forms = Music, Cheering and noise Bring earplugs if it bugs ya!
We had a GREAT time and the kids are already talking about going next year!

Top 10 Cheesiest Classic Game Commercials

Visit Yahoo Games to see these top ten cheesiest commercials now
Some of them are really silly and bring back the first memories of gaming!

Tek Republik in Austin Texas

Okay this place is cool!
We took our son and one of his friends here for his Birthday and it was a pretty neat set up.
We each made accounts and paid our 2.00 an hour fee then picked a computer out of the 20 they had set up for play.
We each did our own thing Hubby and I played Diablo LOD, Natsu played WOW, and Little D and his friend played War hammer but the list goes on they have many more games available to play! If you are more of a console person they also have big screen set ups for all of the consoles!
I’m telling you this is the place to be if you are a teenager or if you are in a gaming squad. It was a lot of fun!

What’s more is Tek Republik is kid friendly! They have all night Lock in’s for 20.00 or BYOC for 10.00!

You really need to check this place out!

A Free Mother’s Day Gift from popcap.com!

Mother Day is May 13th!
Still don’t have something for your Mother? Shame on you!
Popcap.com is making it easy for the kido’s to give something special this year!
Get your Mom a free copy of Bejeweled!
All you have to do is subscribe to their newsletter and you will receive a registration code for Bejeweled Deluxe and it’s the full game not a demo!
You must use a valid email address and you must hurry the codes must be redeemed before May 30th!

I got this game and I’m hooked!
Nana~

MVG 2007- 1st Game CounterStrike 1.6

Over on the MVG forums last night the administrator announced that the first game we would play is Counter Strike 1.6!
This “Seems” to have a lot of the girls scattering to get a copy so they can get started practicing. I’m sure there are a few girls in the contest that are breathing easy on this one and have full confidence that they will kick our arses!
As for me…Yup I’m one of the Scattering ones. I’m going to head up to TeK Republik and play on their systems to learn more about this game!
Now it’s the end of semester and I "should" be thinking about Math homework and Finals but I really want to go run shower, jump in the truck and get to Tek Rebublik ASAP!
Well I’m off!
Wish me luck~

"My Mom's a Gamer" XBOX Contest

Is your mom a lifelong gamer, or new to gaming? What games does she play? Does she support your gaming habit? Is she a n00b, or can she hold her own?

The people over at XBOX are hosting a “My Mom’s a gamer” contest the object of this Contest is to write an original essay about your mother/female legal guardian and gaming.
The basic rules are...
You must be at least thirteen (13) years old at the time of entry
Your essay must be about your own mother or female legal guardian, but you may not use any personally identifiable information other than a first name or nickname.
Your essay must be submitted in the English language.
Your essay must be at least 250 words, but not exceed 500 words in length.
Your essay must be original, must not have been previously published or submitted as part of any other contest and must have been created and owned exclusively by you.

The contest ENDS at 11:59 PM PT on May 6th 2007 so hurry!

What does Mom get?
A U.S. $100 gift card to a florist of your choice.
One Xbox 360™ Elite video game and entertainment system

Good Luck Mama’s!
Head on over to XBox.com for full contest rules~

Miss Video Game- Platform announced

The Miss Video Game contest announced that the top 50 contestants would be playing on the Skill Gene Platform that will be hosted over at “TitanStrike”.
Here is a snipit about Titan Strike-
“TITAN Gaming is currently developing a next-generation Internet video gaming platform aimed at enhancing every aspect of online game play. The company has spent nearly three years designing the concepts, layouts, and system requirements for the platform and is ready to continue development in time for a beta launch during the summer of 2007. TITAN will launch a licensed version of its Skill Gene™ Platform after its beta test in the summer of 2007.”

Sounds like the MVG contestants just may end up being the beta testers!
I can’t wait to find out what games we’ll be playing!

Nana~ number 30!

Nana~ has made it to round two of the Miss Video Game 2007 competition.
I am now MVG 2007 contestant number 30!
They have not said what games the next round will consist of yet, but I know all of us over on the forums are excited to find out!
Http://www.missvideogame.com
Come check it out!

News- Massively addicting Games WoW

In “Yahoo Games” this week there’s an article about massively addicting games namely “World of Warcraft”

Mike Smith at Yahoo asks “As millions continue to spend large quantities of time in virtual worlds, what effect is this having on the real one?”
“The eight million players of massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft don't really change the game's world. Even if you spend all night slaying an epic dragon, it'll still be alive again in time for the next team of intrepid adventurers. But in some cases, the compelling, addictive gameplay characteristic of many massively multiplayer games can have devastating impacts on the real worlds of their players.”

Read more of this article here.

Personally I think the problem begins with lack of self discipline. It would be easy to let the excitement of the game suck you in for hours and hours a day. Even I have been guilty of all night raids in WoW! You need to have a Game Play plan action plan!
Example? I will Play 1 hour of video games per 1 hour of studying my Schoolwork.