This is my 82nd try at this column. In dog years that’s 560!
I’m John Hoskin and I am an altaholic.
“I watched the Indy 500, and I was thinking that if they left earlier they wouldn’t have to go so fast." – Steven Wright
Everyone can use a feel good moment to start the day. Let’s go with this…
Thanks for taking some time out of your day to read this column. I truly appreciate it. If you happen to use Twitter, you can follow me @BoomjackTTH. I rarely use Facebook, but I do occasionally post gaming related tidbits on Google+ where you can find me under my real moniker John Hoskin.
For me it’s a Monday, but by the time you read this it could be just about any day of the week, except probably Monday. Thank you time machine.
I spent the weekend at my son’s hockey tournament. Four hours from home, living out of a hotel, airing out wet equipment in the same small room where we have to sleep, eating arena and roadhouse food. You do a lot of things for your kids that you wouldn’t do for yourself.
It was the first time that I had the chance to get to know the parents on the team, each and every one of which made the same trek that I did, some of them with the other spouse in a different city , doing the same thing with another child. We took two cars so that my wife and daughter could drive the four hours home to let my daughter try out for her travel team. She made it. I’ll miss my wife this winter as we become single parents on the weekends, each driving a different direction so that our kids can have some fun.
The question of what I do for a living always comes up and when I answer there are inevitably questions about video games and opinions shared on how they affect kids. The views range from letting kids play pretty much whatever they want to limiting them to short stints in front of the Xbox. For what it’s worth, my kids learned to read playing World of Warcraft and their vocabulary is extensive because of it. My children are better problem solvers, more patient and do better in school because of the games that they have played. We chose the games, or at least, researched the ones that our kids wanted to play to avoid titles that we felt were too mature and we monitored the play until we were sure that it was appropriate. In the end, it has all worked out just fine.
What are your experiences? How did you or would you handle “game time” with children?
That’s it for today. Thanks again for reading and as always, may your dreams be big and your worries be small.
If you've yet to try World of Tanks, the first and only MMOG dedicated to team-based armored warfare, Ten Ton Hammer has a perfect chance for you to command your own authentic tank and immerse yourself in the epic tank battles of World War II.
In the game of EVE Online there are big things and little things. Running missions is a little thing. Refining scrap for a profit is a little thing. But running a starbase reaction? That's a big thing.
The long wait for the Diablo III beta is over. Blizzard today announced the start of beta testing for the game. Beta invitations are in the process of going out, so keep hitting F5 on that inbox to see if you’re one of the selected testers.
CCP has laid out a list of planned weekend activities for the March 22-24 event in Iceland that includes roundtable discussions, EVE video premiers and presentations, Poker tournaments, Pub crawls and much more.
Congratulations to iamhewhoisnot for this week's winning Cheap shot. Check it out!
Our premium members can enter the Cheap Shots screenshot caption competition for a chance at $15 to spend on digital game downloads or subscriptions fees, and they get an entry in our annual drawing for gaming hardware (with 1 in 52 odds). Not premium? Check out the great stuff a premium membership gets you!
