Your child's first video games?

[hudson]

Although my partner wants to heavily moderate my son's video gaming (after seeing how how can put video games before everything else), I wonder at what age and what games your nipper genuinely engaged with a video game?

At the moment, my 16 month old knows that a controller will do stuff to on-screen stuff, but will press all buttons and be happy going from game to XMB as long as he made it happen.

Scary thing is, is that I never play games in front of him and he knew to look at the screen, albeit a blank screen, when holding my Wavebird. Must be bred into him.

[stevie vip 99]

Mines only 6 months old so no games yet. Hoping she'll be good at rock band as i can't do the expert achievements ha ha.

[k0pp0]

My 4 year old can make his way around Toy Story 3 relatively well, however he has very restricted play sessions on it - same for any kinect games. Mainly because he goes from really loveable child to emo teen b'stard when you decide to turn it off.

I had him picking up controllers and the like from about 1 year old, however that was more for photo ops

I think that you have to remember that once your kid recognises the relationship between the controller and the character they also get upset when 'whatever' on the screen doesn't do what they want - and doesn't understand why. And also doesn't understand that when daddy or mummy shows them what to do, why they can't do the same thing. Makes for big tantrums.

Stick with a kinect and fruit ninja - easy fun and get's them moving..

*edit* Just a quick addition. In hindsight I wouldn't get them involved in video games for as long as possible. Much more to be gained by sitting down and painting/drawing/jigsaw puzzles/sandpits etc etc etc.. Much much much less stress

[MarioMark]

My lad's 2 and half and he tells me what to play! He also tells me to see the owl whenever I find a fossil on Animal Crossing. Is that bad?

[Wil]

I think the fact that I had every system under the sun lying around all the time made games not so special for my son. He's now 9 and although he's got the 360, Gamecube and PS2 in his room he's still not that bothered. He'll play every now and again (he just got Skylanders) but is just as happy with Lego, drawing and generally just normal kids' stuff. I don't know what we did right but I don't think he's ever thrown a strop.

[QualityChimp]

This was recently discussed in this thread, but I made some suggestions you might find useful:

What's that hide 'n' seek game called again?

Oh yeah, Manhunt!

In all seriousness, I'd avoid getting them into videogames for as long as possible, especially at a young age when overstimulation is bad for their development.

If you're dead-set on it, how about trying some games aimed specifically for children? Even the Lego games seem to involve shooting and fighting, but they are co-op.
You could have a look at some of the suggestions on www.commonsensemedia.org

You could look for some games on the Indie section on the Live Marketplace. There are some simplistic, but fun games that are either cheap or free.

How about one of the Pixar Cars games?

Beautiful Katamari is great fun and is rated 3+

Just released on Kinect is Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, and it looks great fun!

[k0pp0]

There's definate scope for looking into the effects of childhood exposure to video games - put together by gamers. If you could restrict any bias then it could be quite interesting to see the outcome.

[hudson]

Wise words k0pp0. Thanks for your info from your experiences regarding controlling a character and frustrations from being shown by a parent.

And I agree on the less gaming and more painting, music, playing out etc. However, in this day and age I reckon it will be hard to have a complete gaming blackout. I don't want to do that, but I can imagine moderating game time may be challenging at times.

When I was a kid, I would happily sit in my room for a whole day on a game. Maybe if tell my mum to tell my friend who just knocked for me to say "I'm not in". I did play out lots, but these days are different... or maybe I'm being too protective and silly for thinking outside is now like Robocop's Detroit

[k0pp0]

It's all about moderation. I try and keep it to a bare minimum, and always make sure that the games are played in turn with either me or the missus so there's continous 'human' interaction and not just zoning out.

Saying that though, i nearly picked up 'udraw' for the 360 as I liked the idea of drawing on the screen with the kids. Looked like fun. Then I thought, 'My lads going to school soon, I should be teaching him to use a fecking pen and pencil'

[Skull Commander]

My 2 and a half year old daughter does show an interest in my games, but she just picks up a non functioning pad or arcade stick and whacks the buttons a bit till she is bored. When she is old enough and IF she still shows interest in games, then I will let her have a shot.

[nakamura]

My daughter is coming up four and she loves watching me game. Zelda Skyward Sword is her favourite with other Nintendo games generally following. Katamari also goes down well.

She is rubbish at them though but that will come. I want her to be a gamer, I don't see why that is a problem in moderation. She is already not allowed to watch tv before lunch time as the morning is for her to play with toys. Also we never stick her in front of the tv to keep her quiet, just not our style.

[J0e Musashi]

I'd come home and find my boy at two hugging the "big box", which was actually my Xbox. He had an affinty with Rallisport Challenge 2, but the first game that he actually understood was Metal Slug 3. We've completed it together many times. I remember having to go to his junior school to collect him following a playground scrap as the other kids refused to believe that there was such a thing as a Neo-Geo. He can finish it by himself nowadays at 12, although he is a true PS3 devotee. I'd say his favourite game ever is MGS4. He's beaten it on Big Boss difficulty many times now. He's a mean COD player, FPS in general really.

Much to my dismay, I've never been able to teach him how to dragon punch however.

Fortunately I have steared him clear of the eliteness of import gaming, but it's good to have a co-op partner who is as good as I am. His online handle also ends in _Musashi, so that's cool in my book Owning your own VSHG at 12 is quite the achievment IMO.

Gaming in general has brought us closer together, so it cannot be a bad thing plus he runs all potential purchases by me, meaning he doesn't waste his hard-earned pocket money on duds.

[Brad]

My kids have had access to loads of games on all sorts of systems fro
A very young age. Now, at ages 16 and 11 they aren't remotely interested in them really. The girl will play moshi monsters and the lad will play gta, cod and the occasional FIFA.

First game the boy played was metal gear solid 2, which he completed. My daughter's was wind waker but she preferred metroid prime.

[Fader209]

FSW - Did you actually name your kids or are they just "girl" and "boy"?

[Super Grover]

I've recently bought my 5 y/o daughter a DS along with the games U Draw and Jigapix.

I imagined she would play it quite often, but it appears she's not too bothered about playing on it.

I think depending on the child's disposition, determines what level of interest they have in gaming.