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Microsoft's "Get Game Smart" Program
Microsoft has taken the initiative to help parents learn more about their kids' gaming hobby.
The Xbox maker announced Wednesday the launching of the family-centric "Get Game Smart Campaign," whose online hub is located at www.getgamesmart.com.
The website offers tips from experts such as Entertainment Software Rating Board head Pat Vance and Andrew Bub of GamerDad.com.
The site offers other tools and hints to help create a dialogue between parents and kids regarding "smart" videogame playing.
Partners include Best Buy, the Entertainment Software Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Natoinal Urban League and StaySafeOnline.org, among others.
Currently, GetGameSmart is holding a video submission contest for kids and parents to explain how they manage a "responsible digital lifestyle." Winners will receive prizes such as a Zune media player , an Xbox 360, games and cash. The "Family Challenge Sweepstakes" can also be found at the official website.
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England and Wales company registration number 2008885
"Microsoft has taken the initiative to help parents learn more about their kids' gaming hobby."
The concept is very American.
Indeed, it's known as the stupid country to a lot of folk. Although i don't agree personally.
"GetGameSmart is holding a video submission contest for kids and parents to explain how they manage a "responsible digital lifestyle.""
I see what they're trying to do with this, I guess this help parents monitor what their kids are playing, stopping the looking and videogame nasty's like Manhunt or GTA.
It's a good idea if you're a paranoid parent wanting to take more of a controlling role in you're child's entertainment, but outside that, what use will it be. Wouldn't it be better if this was to replace, rather that complement existing rating systems like ESRB and PEGI. not to mention the BBFC here in the uk.
And remember !! "DO spend more time with real-life friends than virtual friends."
I'm assuming most of you guys live in the U.K. and not the U.S.? This is PR - pure and simple. A few years ago MS had busses driving around the country promoting the ESRB rating standards to "educate" parents on the system. There is still a climate in the US of trying to ban or heavily penalize retailers/publishers/developers for "adult" content in games. This is simply a smart move on MS' part so they can go to politicians and say "we're a responsible corporate citizen (so don't sue or legislate us further)". It's a cover your butt tactic that is absolutely necessary and wise in the US.
"Game Smart", try telling that to the kid who killed his mother and injured his father over Halo 3 or to the guy who bashed his kid to death because the baby knocked over his Xbox 360.
No wonder XBL is a haven for dickheads if this is the sort of clientele the system attracts.
Top, Top, Top. I'm dissapointed. I know you are one of the people on here that gets a bit heated and maybe a little ridiculous from time to time, but this comment is pretty bad, even for you (especially considering the political BS nature of the aforementioned stories. I would think as a gamer you'd see past that crap and realize that those people are fucked up in the head already and blaming video games makes you sound like an everyday soccer mom in true form).
Top_Dollar attacks anyone saying anything even remotely critical of PS3 but doesn't hesitate to blame MS and 360 owners over something they had absolutely no control over and a situation that has no bearing on the article in question. You've shown your true colors repeatedly, Top_Dollar, and exposed yourself as an immature, namecalling child. Go back to NeoGaf. Edge is one of the few safe havens for gamers prefer rationale, civil discourse - it doesn't need to be diminished by comments such as this.
grognard66 said:
Top_Dollar attacks anyone saying anything even remotely critical of PS3 but doesn't hesitate to blame MS and 360 owners over something they had absolutely no control over and a situation that has no bearing on the article in question. You've shown your true colors repeatedly, Top_Dollar, and exposed yourself as an immature, namecalling child. Go back to NeoGaf. Edge is one of the few safe havens for gamers prefer rationale, civil discourse - it doesn't need to be diminished by comments such as this.
Think i hit a nerve here! If you don't like free speech and opinions, then go back to the nanny state you came from. It's not Walt Disney here.
At least i've got an opinion on the subject (even if it's the wrong one). You clearly haven't, judging by your bickering comments above.
Yep, the nerve you struck is my intolerance for stupidity. I love free speech, but understand that the only reason we still have it in the U.S. is because enough people understand the responsibility that comes along with it. You're just another immature teenage kid who feels empowered by anonymity and spouts nonsense on message boards you would never dare say if you're actually in front of people.
Top is right grognard, it's yourself who is acting like a little brat by trying to insult the guy. He made an opinion, you clearly didn't like it, get over it.
grognard66 said:
Yep, the nerve you struck is my intolerance for stupidity. I love free speech, but understand that the only reason we still have it in the U.S. is because enough people understand the responsibility that comes along with it. You're just another immature teenage kid who feels empowered by anonymity and spouts nonsense on message boards you would never dare say if you're actually in front of people.
Wow, who rang your bell? Listen buddy, i'm not the one on here bitching and calling people names. YOU ARE.
Calling 360 Live members "dickheads" wasn't calling names?
Personally speaking you'd think most of them were judging from my own experience when playing on a friends system.
In my opinion, MS aren't doing enough to cut the morons out. On PSN you seem to get the more maturer gamer.
Top has a point though about the service, although a weak one, there is no avoiding the fact that the XBL service hosts a lot of idiots out there.
It's not hard to mute and avoid them though. I only play PGR online at the moment and it's not too bad, you get the occasional kid squeaking away constantly, and the Aussies... jesus christ they can talk when there's a few of them on the same race, but even then they're mildly amusing.
Not too sure about the more mature gamer being on PSN, older yes, more mature no.
Jerks on live come in all shapes and sizes (ages, races, different countries). No offense meant to anyone but my own personal experience shows that people from Europe tended to be bigger jerks than anyone usually calling the US out in all kinds of unnecessary ways (weather they were right or not). I even had some English dude send me a pic in Halo 3 of a forge modified map that looked like the twin towers with a plane crashing into one of them. Talk about jerks. Little kids may be annoying, but they have an excuse (they're kids). As for adults who call people names like dickhead, I don't know what their excuse is.
My friend once greeted fellow WOW gamers with "hey, what's up niggaz", he got banned for 24 hrs. hehe.
Lol, I can list about a million things I've hard on live (Halo players are a bit competitive if you all didn't know that). The nice thing about the 360 is XBL has universal features that work across all games, and mute just happens to be one of those features. ;)
Hardly. It could've happened just as easily over a PS3, a PS2, a PC or even a Wii. Its pretty clear, to me at least, that there were problems already and there just happened to be a game system involved when the person snapped. When I was in high school one student deliberately ran over another - nobody stopped to blame the car and for good reason. Same here.
Yes, because those two instances are a representative sample of the whole XBL community.
his mom would so get it. good old microsoft always looking out for the families, i say it wont mean shit though!
parents learning more about their kids' gaming hobby? nonsense.
that would mean one less excuse for parents to fall back on when looking for someone else to blame when their child does something wrong. yea, that's...that's just not gonna happen, lol.