Social Games and Charitable Causes

Social gaming's demographic is 55% women, averaging 48 years old, PopCap Games says. Because that is the same demographic that controls the family pocketbook, that makes the space more attractive to cause-marketers who are following pioneering games like FarmVille, CityVille and Mafia Wars, Pincus and Hartman with a charity button such as Reebok's "Darfur is Dying" with integrations in games from Zynga on Facebook. The idea is to turn play into real live action. When people play, they’re not only having fun, they’re being creative, experimenting, exploring new ideas and pushing back against established rule sets. Study after study shows that people retain information better when it’s imbedded in a game and that they are engaged with their subject matter on a far deeper level when they’re playing than when they’re simply reading or watching a screen. They also are madly motivated to pursue the goals set forth in the game.

Game of Life Goes Hybrid

Classic board games are going high tech by combining the game board experience with iPad technology. Hasbro's first offering, The Game of Life zAPPed Edition ($24.99), looks like the regular board game at first glance, but there's a spot in the middle to place the iPad, after you've downloaded the free The Game of Life zAPPed app from the App Store.

Now, up to four players can take turns spinning a virtual wheel on the iPad, travel around the game board in their little car and progress through the "game of life," enhanced by cute animated sequences, sound effects, and more than 100 humorous video clips from America's Funniest Videos seen on the tablet screen.

Used Games A No-No on the New PlayStation 4 and Xbox Consoles?

The opinion on used games varies depending on who you talk to. Gamers love to save money and pick up titles for less than full retail. Game developers feel like used game sales are choking the industry. If a report about the upcoming PlayStation 4 holds true, then the new Sony console could be the first to put a block on used games.  According to the rumors, games will be locked to a single PlayStation Network account. Buyers of second-hand games would then have to pay a fee to unlock or register those used games. Sony isn't the first company to contemplate putting an end to used games. A report earlier this year said that Microsoft is considering blocking used games on the next version of the Xbox.

Games No Substitute for Exercise

A study by the journal Pediatrics found that active video games like Wii Sports or Dance Dance Revolution don’t actually get kids exercising. The group of 9 to 12-year-olds handed active games didn’t exercise any more than those playing games with their thumbs. Earlier studies that had children play games in laboratory settings found increased exercise, but this study suggests that that doesn't translate to real life. Other studies of home use found that giving explicit instructions to use the games did increase activity. But these researchers didn't do that. They wanted to mimic the situation when a family brings home a new video game and it turns out that just having the game doesn’t translate into exercise if you don’t try.

PBS Kids Launch Augmented Reality Game

If you are not familiar with the term “augmented reality” you soon will be. It basically means that the computer enhances the perception of reality and PBS Kids is adding it to its games for young children. In the recently launched free app game Fetch! Launch Rush, that helps kids six to eight learn to do addition and subtraction in their heads, augmented reality means that when host Ruff Ruffman is trying to make sure there's enough sushi for his movie crew, bits of raw fish float around screen. Though it's worth noting that this isn't augmented reality in the strictest sense of the term, in that you have to print out game cards to use with your iPhone or iPod touch's camera, it still makes for a way cool game. The free app requires an iPhone or iPod touch (fourth-gen or later) or an iPad / iPad 2 running iOS 4.0. I loved the comment in the reviews made by one Mom “I hope I can get my phone back soon.”

Gaming Goes Up Among the Under 18 Crowd

According to a new survey from NPD, a market research firm, today, 91 percent of kids (approximately 64 million) ages 2-17 are gaming in the U.S., an increase of 9 points when compared to 2009. While the percentage of kids gaming has grown significantly across all age groups, the fastest growth has been among kids ages 2-5, with an increase of 17 points in gaming incidence when compared to 2009. The other segments driving this growth rate are females and teens ages 15-17.

This is probably not a surprise to you if you are a parent of kids in this age group. As mobile devices become more and more prevalent, that last 9% holdout is sure to fall in the near future. Besides indicating to gaming companies where they should be concentrating their efforts, this certainly has implications for education. It is going to be hard to keep them in their seats if they have access to a game that teaches the coursework better than the textbook.

The Gamification of Advertising and Kids

At a recent conference on social media there was discussion about the use of games in advertising and as a way to award status to customers who are loyal to a brand by giving them virtual rewards. There may be something to that, as we reported to you in this blog, that there is some concern about this by parents whose kids spent real dollars playing apps and buying virtual objects in some iPhone apps. (By the way – the FCC has been asked to investigate the issue of kids Apple iPhone/iTouch in-app buying.) At any rate, perhaps this is yet another argument for more media literacy lessons at home and at school.

Video Game Addiction Studied

The debate about video game addiction has been kicked off again in part because of the new motion-sensing technologies like the recently announced Avatar Kinect from Microsoft, which one expert says lets people “'suspend disbelief' and immerse themselves cognitively in the environment.” In other words, if the technology becomes interactive enough it can become compellingly addictive. A recent study, done is Hong Kong and Singapore, also has added fuel to the fire finding that nearly ten percent of young video gamers can suffer pathological addiction to their games, although other experts say the issue – the addiction, compulsion or obsession – is likely to remain limited to a small subset of gamers.

Video Game Addiction Studied

The debate about video game addiction has been kicked off again in part because of the new motion-sensing technologies like the recently announced Avatar Kinect from Microsoft, which one expert says lets people “'suspend disbelief' and immerse themselves cognitively in the environment.” In other words, if the technology becomes interactive enough it can become compellingly addictive. A recent study, done is Hong Kong and Singapore, also has added fuel to the fire finding that nearly ten percent of young video gamers can suffer pathological addiction to their games, although other experts say the issue – the addiction, compulsion or obsession – is likely to remain limited to a small subset of gamers.

Smurf’s Village Adds a Warning Label

We wrote here recently about how easy it was for kids to spend as much as $100 playing the popular "The Smurfs' Village" game for the iPhone and iPad. Now the publisher has added a warning that these virtual items such as “Smurfberries” cost real money, a heads up to parents some of whom have been surprised to find charges on their credit cards. Usually, the purchases require the owner of the device to enter his or her iTunes password. But there is no password challenge if the owner has entered the password in the last 15 minutes, for any reason. That means that if a parent enters the password for a purchase or a free app upgrade, then hands the phone or iPad over to their child, the child will not be stopped by a password prompt.