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- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+27XBOX 360. $300
XBOX Solitaire. $60
Your mom playing a 50 cent card game on TV instead of on your computer. PRICELESS. - D4r7h3v1l, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20MILF! Mom I'd Like to Frag.
- Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20Before Halo 2 came out Bungie claimed that "within minutes" a mom who was testing the game was killing guys right and left with dual SMG's. I should have taken that as a sign that the game was going to be really dumbed down.
Comments like these scare me more than impress me. - Str8Dog, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20My mom would kick your mom's ass at Bejewled 2!
- Wingman007, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20Your mom plays XBOX 360.
- eyeats, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I came home that first week with my brand new 360, the only game I had was bejeweled. She saw me playing it and said it looked fun, we turned off the xbox, I went to a movie and when I came back she was playing it, not only that but she had figured out how to turn it on and get to the game... through the XBL arcade menus and everything :P
- phidong, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Pretty cool article. I didn't particularly care for the layout of the site though, especially towards the end of the article where the backgrounds get really bright and distracting, making the text somewhat difficult to read.
I have a Xbox 360 and my parents will not touch games on it but they've figured out how to get to the media center and use it to watch and record their favorite TV shows so I guess that's a start. - dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9I just have a rather amusing image of my mother clutching an xbox controller and yelling, "BOOM...HEADSHOT!"
:) - Falelorn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6if they had 100 moms play the system and games for a month I would think it would be more accurate. But just 1 person doing it is far from being accurate
- Strider817, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Definitely a great article, as I think it brings to lite some of the difficulties newer players have when beginning. I've seen this sort of thing before while trying to show of video games to my parents, and also some of my non-gamer girlfriends.
One thing I think stood out in this article is that often times, experienced gamers don't realize what non-gamers will find difficult in a game. Not only is simply controls an issue, but plot dynamics, menu setup, and puzzle clues are all things that as a gamer we have past experience on where to look and what to do. Perhaps some sort of "standard" control scheme on a system like the Wii, will allow it to be more easily accessed by people who don't have the experience or patience to learn the basic controls. - McGrude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There are many like us quisp. Check out http://www.geezergamers.com/ or http://www.2old2play.com/
- mc7winkie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I have a friend whose mom plays Xbox 360. He always talks about how he is pissed because she will play Oblivion all the time so that he can never play. Very funny.
- mrmidgetman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3i know someone that bought oblivion but their mom hogged it and wouldnt let her play it if she wanted to.
- newbietheatre, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I have a Friend on Xbox 360 whose mother plays Call of Duty while he is at school.
- Ayavaron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've already gotten my mom to agree to trying this experiment when the Wii comes out.
Prepare for the copycat articles! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ive noticed that any adult who doesnt have a gaming history will more than likely not touch a console. Although PC gaming might be diffrent.
- mmad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3My mom loves her DS. She's big on Brain Age and Magnetica, games that you can just pick up and play while you're waiting for other things.
Consoles, on the other hand, confuse her to no end. She has enough trouble remembering how to switch the input on the TV, any barrier between her and the actual game just causes frustration. - samdu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Good points all, but changing the controller only addresses one of those points. There are still paradigms in gameplay, mechanics, story, etc... that are going to be barriers to entry for many uninitiated people. The quandry the game industry finds itself in is that if they make too many changes to these types of things with the intent of getting new players, they risk alienating veteren gamers. Just like dumbing down the plot in a film turns people off, "dumbing down" game mechanics may do the same for gamers. It's a difficult line to toe. But it can also be an opportunity. Gaining input from inexperienced gamers has to be invaluable to game companies with smart designers. Not so they can revert to more simplistic design paradigms, but so that they can work on ways to increase intuitiveness while advancing the medium. Unfortunately, games that manage to pull that off are extremely rare.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My mom is in her mid-40s and whenever I bring my 360 over she usually hogs it. Granted she's playing Hexic, Bejeweled, and other Live! Arcade games, but she's considered buying one soley for the Arcade.
- samdu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My mom and dad played our 2600. In fact, I'm pretty sure my dad was more excited about the thing than my brother and I were. I think he secretly got it for himself. :)
- Urthwhyte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2and my mother is still trying to grasp "Pong"...*sigh*
- jabbertrack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1that was a great article
- Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ sharonoagain
There are, obviously, exceptions to the rule. You are one of them.
But no one can deny that Halo 2 was dumbed down for the masses. - quisp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Being a 44 year old father, with a son of 17 and Daughter of 14 , I was as excited as they were to get the 360 last xmas. We all play it. I enjoy the PGR3 and kick my son's butt most of the time. He kills me at Halo 2 as he knows the maps too well and peeks at where I am all the time.
I guess there is some correlation to my generation and the amount of video game exposure we had. I was one to spend hours at the arcade playing Pacman, Digdug and others. The first on the street to have a pong game for the TV and owned a Tandy 99/4A computer just for the games.
Most nights you'll find me playing Battlefield 1942 (on the PC). If the kids only knew this old guy was out fragging them (some of the time), they'd be pissed.
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A Tandy 99/4A?
Perhaps you meant either the Tandy Color Computer or the Ti/99? - mmad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2BTW - My mom wouldn't be able to navigate that web site.
- Niffer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I doubt you can find much research on that topic, but I can add my own. My parents are each about 50 years old so they were the prime age to start playing video games at bars and arcades in the 70's. Thing is, they didn't go to bars or anything like that, they went to foreign countries (BORING!) for fun. I have a hard time getting my parents to join my siblings and I in a game of Fusion Frenzy or similar when we are all home for the holidays.
As I see it, if they were exposed to videogames in their younger days, they are more likely to play now. Obviously. - fiveprime, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I know a lot of adult males who would love to play video games but won't touch a console because their wife/significant other won't allow them to.
- jcjdoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My wife (Who is a mom) will sit and play Bejeweled and other XBLA games for hours. This is definitely hurting my opinion of the Xbox 360. I'm mean this is seriously putting a cramp in my game play. She gets to play more than I do. I guess Xbox better release some good XBLA two player games..AND FAST!!!
- Niffer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't see Need for Speed Most Wanted being very girl friendly. If you were going for racing, go for a game like Burnout and play a game of Crash mode or Road Rage. I've been able to get my girlfriend to enjoy that game furiously, as well as my young cousins and two sisters. They even beat me most of the time, but that's because the fairer sex is better at crashing. ;-)
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My 55 years old mom plays video games since a long time, but never got anything more recent than a SNES.
She's a fan of puzzle games, starting with Tetris, Dr. Mario, Klax, Yoshi Cookie, Kirby's Avalange and Tetris Attack (Panel de Pon). She'd kick anyone's asses at these games. The levels she reaches are running incredebly fast, I guess I should record her playing and put the videos on YouTube :)
She also plays some Mario All Stars and Donkey Kong Country, but she's definitely more interested in puzzle games.
She doesn't play her NES anymore, but she'd like to play Tetris and Dr. Mario on her SNES. I tried to find and buy that SNES Tetris+Dr Mario cart but it's impossible to find here. The Wii would be a good way for her to get tons of puzzle games from the NES and SNES era on a single machine.
My 64 years old dad also plays some puzzle SNES games and he got interested in getting a DS for the Brain Age games after reading some article about it in a newspaper. He's also really interested in the Wii and the remote thing, and he wasn't interested in a GameCube at all. - Smwbigboss, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Smells like mid-life crisis. Does she also watch MTV and listen to "hippity-hop" music?
- Warptera, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2My mom plays games on the Xbox 360 all the time with me. She especially likes PDZ and DOA4 (but both of us are terrible at DOA4).
- saska, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I'm a not-middle-aged-but-not-young mom. There's nothing appealing to me on the XBox platform that I can't already get on my PS2 or Gamecube. The last time I had an XBox, it ended up just being XBMC, but I've switched to a homegrown media center PC for x264 support.
On the other hand - I will have a Wii, and Twilight Princess, on launch day. - cbiz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Does this count? When xbox launched I was given one for Christmas. My girlfriend claimed exclusive usage rights and procceded to played the entire Halo game in about 72 hours. I'm pretty sure she only left the sofa for sustenance.
- edrift101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Mom friendly...maybe. Girlfriend friendly...not at all.
Tried to sit my girl down and play some Need for Speed: Most Wanted the other day...geez. After changing my 360's theme and mucking with a couple other settings...We try to play a game and it just got worse.
I'll try this again - now that I have Pac-Man. - gamerguy117, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1My mom wont play till jepordy is on the xbox live aecade
My dad just like to play gometry war - pidge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My parents don't play video games at all, but my wife sure does enjoy watching recorded tv programs off of my MCE PC. Easy enough for her to use.
- julienbh, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5I'm a 40 years old mom and I like to headshot.
NOT.
Problem is that videogames are violent, and most adults just don't care about violence.
They want a story, want to have fun and want to know they don't waste their time.
i.e.: 360 is Not non-gamer friendly. - julienbh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2talk about easy and fun gameplay =)
- Flynnz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4heh I love how people think that wii is going to magically make people like video games.
Bottom line is, it comes down to subject matter. There is a reason that the sims sold as well as it did for the pc (most played game by females) There is also a reason why my GF loves playing UNO on 360, and wont touch any other game (and it has nothing to do with the controller)
The Wii controller may get some people into gaming in bursts like at a party. However I am not holding my breath on those same people running out and buying a wii the next day.
I mean ***** when you go to dave and busters you may get some people who normally dont play games to try some action out, but again these same people when they go home have zero interest in playing games (well other than web, games and solitaire)
The Wii controller may be really awesome, and I cant wait to buy the system. But I really think a lot of people are going to be disappointed when they see that the 70 year old man is not running to toys r us to play tennis with the wiimote.
here is how I would gage the importance for getting non-players into games (games that they have to pay for mind you...not free online games)
subject matter and marketing 95%
input device 5%
cause after all...the sims uses a traditional "complex" controller interface, and that didnt even slow down lots of non gamers flocking to that game.
with that said...I DO think the wii will bring us "gamers" back to the fun we used to have playing games. As much as I love a pretty game, I do miss the lighthearted nature of gaming. I would also LOVE for these companies to make more 2D games. I think a lot was lost in the translation to 3D for certain games (metroid etc) - quisp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1McGrude, tnx for the links. I didn't know we had such a presence out there in the gaming world.
- scottauth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I am interested in the contrast in comparison of adults who lived in the arcades as children, but haven given the hobby up vs those who thought it was a silly fad -- how are they w/ today's games?
My parents, albiet very young (mid-40s), never really played video games. My mom had an Atari, but unless it's Spider Solitare or Slingo she's not going near a video game. My father is more of an outdoors type and video games do not hold his interest. However, my dad's best friend loves racing games and can pick up on them very quickly, as he played them as a child.
Is there any research on that topic? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2The Atari 2600 print and TV ads showed old people playing. Yeah, that really happened.
- NinjAlt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Good article. I like the write up of her playing condemned and it being her favorite game.
- Workster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2The 360 might have moms playing it but where are the grandmothers at?
http://oghc.blogspot.com/ - sharonoagain, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Saying the gaming industry is 'dumbing down' its games to attract non-gamers offends me. While it may be so, saying Bungie must have dumbed down Halo 2 if a mother "was killing guys right and left with dual SMG's" is even more offensive. I'm a 42 year old single mom and GAMER and I can headshot with the best of them.
I'm sick and tired of people thinking that all women want are pretty colors and repetitive arcade games. I absolutely LOVE that Mrs. P enjoyed Condemned ... frankly it scared the daylights out of me. o_o - RegisteredUser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0If they offered Sudoku for the Xbox, then I'm pretty sure both moms and dads will play.
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