The Sweet Spot: Being a Gamer Parent

As a parent of young children, it is often tough to find time to game. Or energy. Gone are the carefree days of playing game after game after game. There's always something coming up... late bedtimes, going to the store for medicine, washing diapers (for cloth-diapering hippies like us!), cooking, cleaning random messes the kids leave... yeah, free time is at a premium. Every minute counts. So I have to shoot for getting the most out of my time when gaming. So what does that mean? How do I get the most out of my time gaming? Honestly, I'm still working it out. I have 5 years of practice, though, and I'll share what I've figured out. Here are some guidelines I use for finding the "sweet spot" in gaming.

1. Avoid games with complex or fiddly rules.

Some games are just elegant. Play progresses in an orderly fashion, there's an FAQ in the rulebook covering anything you need, and people just "get it" after a quick explanation. Play these games. And avoid games (especially teaching games!) that require a trip to boardgamegeek.com to arbitrate a rules question, use arcane iconography or just make things complex. A game that I really like that fits into this category is Race for the Galaxy. I love the game. I really do. The iconography makes it hard to teach, though, so it's not going to hit the table when new players are around. Especially with expansions. Complexity doesn't need to be there for depth, necessarily. So when a game delivers a comparable experience without the fiddliness, go for that one.

2. If the kids are around, figure in additional time... or get a babysitter.

I don't know how many games I've lost due to having to parent. In the scheme of things, it doesn't really matter. A game is a game. But gaming is a hobby, and meant to be relaxing. Socializing. Interacting with friends, or maybe just unwinding with the wife. And it really gets frustrating when I feel that I can't remember what I'm doing from one minute to the next due to constant interruptions. I'm not the best multitasker (just ask my wife!), and the kids usually get the priority in any situation where they're involved. A good thing to do is to make sure you "load 'em up" with attention beforehand. If they're going to be supervised less during play, set their expectations and try to meet all their needs (immediate and anticipated) before you sit down. Gaming with other parents helps. Often, kids will play together. Another option is a babysitter. Even having a babysitter over at the same time is a great thing, and well worth the investment.

3. Maximize the "Fun vs. Time Spent" ratio.

Some games are just long. I'm not averse to playing a long game; I enjoy the opportunity every now and then. But some games... are just long. As an example, I don't really feel that I get more out of Axis & Allies than I do out of Memoir '44. I'll definitely be playing it for five more hours, but I don't necessarily think that Axis is going to deliver six times the fun just because it takes six times the time to play. That means that it has a poor fun:time spent ratio. Look for games that deliver the essential experience. Some games are going to take longer to do that, so make sure that when you're selecting a game to pull off the shelf, that there isn't a game that delivers the same experience in a shorter time.

4. Read reviews of games before you get them.

This has become so important for my wife and me when buying games. In the past, we would drop loads and loads of money on games we had never heard of. Sometimes this would have positive results. For instance, we purchased Attika after a recommendation from a game store employee. Hadn't heard of it, or looked it up. Just bought it. And loved it. But sometimes... you end up with a game that doesn't fit your style, isn't what you expected or is just plain bad. I'm not going to point fingers at any games in particular, primarily because I try to stay positive. But there are definitely games out there with few redeeming qualities. Which is why game reviews are so important. Just as the reviews themselves are important, so are the reviewers. It's easy to look at a review uncritically and walk away thinking of the reviewer's opinion as the final word. My advice is to find a couple reviewers' blogs or podcasts and get familiar. My wife, for example, loves The Dice Tower, a podcast about games. She doesn't necessarily agree with all of Tom Vasel's opinions on games, but she knows where she stands in relation to him on things and can use that as a yardstick and gauge whether or not she thinks she might like something based on that. We've made some very informed decisions on games based on his reviews, and on the reviews of others. FYI, I know a blog that reviews games (hint, hint!)... ;)

So what is "the sweet spot"? The sweet spot is primarily about being cognizant of factors like time and parenting when purchasing games, choosing which games to play and playing games. How this is defined for each individual is definitely going to vary. Just think of this as a game itself! It's a very complex resource management game, and the resources are time, money and attention. Stay aware of this, and you'll find your sweet spot!

Sniper Elite Nintendo Wii Review

There have been a lot of similar themes of shooters and shooting games available online and the sniper elite is a welcome addition to these World War II games. Similar to the other WWII games, you play an elite American sniper disguised as a soldier, who was sent into the dangerous conflict that mushroomed between the Russians and Germans.

The mission you have to accomplish is to thwart Stalin from gaining into the nuclear research, which will be used by Germany to produce the atom bomb. This game is considered as one of the most realistic shooting games to date, as it takes advantage of the Nintendo Wii's precise control system where each gesture, attack, and movement, are perfectly timed.

The game features training on sniper techniques that is specialized and weapon selections shown in details. It can be played singly or in pairs where challenges vary from third person, binocular or sniper modes. It comprises 28 action-packed missions and you can choose from 4 difficulty settings namely Rookie, Cadet, Marksmen, and Sniper Elite.

Sniper elite Wii takes another method in the struggling scramble of fighting along the beaches and combating the Nazis. Being a sniper who is a professional shooter does not simply mean coming out of the war-torn area wearing the wrong colour of uniform but someone requiring a more skilled stance.

This game necessitates one to have a lot of patience because you are an elite sniper and not just an ordinary warrior. If you are one dedicated marksmen in this game of war, you will gain a lot of satisfaction from this long but challenging campaign.

The WWII game Sniper Elite happened during the close of war in the year 1945, focusing on the conflict between Russia and Germany fighting for power over Berlin. The NKVD, which is the secret service of Russia, is presently in town about to take the atomic-bomb technology away from the hands of the German Army.

Your mission is to put a halt to this, because once the nuclear weapon technology is taken by Stalin's forces, this will mean danger for the whole world. Because you are a trained sniper of the American OSS, you are expected to be the best one to stop the NKVD operations at all costs while masquerading as a German soldier.

The single-player campaign is long as it involves 28 missions in a variety of different though very similar settings of war. The missions include killing high-ranking officials, taking away secret documents, liberating captured allies, and murdering the bad guys.

This will take about 12 hours or more to complete and after finishing all the optional objectives by taking time to set up all your shots instead of shooting recklessly, the game will easily take up as much time.

When it is played carefully, a single level can take more than an hour to complete. Stealth actions are well executed and the game does a great job of building up the sense of tension from the snooping around and picking of at the enemy grounds. The tension will fade into monotony making you wish you could move on as soon as possible.

Will There Ever Be A Fable 2 PC Version?

Since the release of the smash hit sequel, Fable 2, fans have been wondering if there will ever be a Fable 2 PC version. With the release of Fable 3 on consoles in 2010 and the impending release of the third game on PC in 2011, many fans are still left wondering. If the developer hasn't already done it now, is there a hope of ever seeing a PC port of Fable 2?

When the original Fable game was released onto the console platform, it was extremely successful. So successful in fact, that developers decided they need to port the game over to the PC platform to take full advantage of that success. The sequel to the game, Fable 2, was eventually released on the console platform as well. As was the successful Fable 3, which also had a PC version.

To this day, Fable 2 still does not have a PC version of the game. In 2009 developers of the game, Lionhead, stated that they would essentially be forced to do a PC port of the sequel as well due to its massive success. However, a member of the Lionhead development team indicated that the team was not working on a PC port of the game, despite what the company officially stated.

If Fable 2 never has a PC version, it wouldn't be the first time that a successful game series abandoned a platform mid-series. When the original Gears of War game was released it came out on multiple console platforms. It was very successful and the developers decided to make a version of the game for the PC. However, when they began working on Gears of War 2 and eventually released, Epic stated that they had no plans of ever porting the game over from the console platform to the PC.

There have been several attempts by fans to create an emulated or full PC version of the game for the computer. Most of these attempts have met with limited or no success. There are many sites online that claim to have created an emulated version, but they are extremely hard to come by if not non-existent.

This leaves many fans to believe that if the developer hasn't come out with a Fable 2 PC version by now then they probably never will. Since Fable 3 has already been released there is probably little interest for the developer in going back in the series. The money will be moving forward and creating Fable 4. Hopefully, that incarnation of the game will be available on both the console and the PC to keep the remaining PC fans happy.