If you have gamers at your house, you probably have heard of Twitch – especially if they like to either play, or watch other gamers play, while the play's being streamed live on the Web and everybody tuned in is chatting about it. Some people call it YouTube for gamers. In fact, Google, YouTube's owner, was rumored to be acquiring it last spring. But it has just been confirmed that Amazon is – to … [Read more...] about Heard of Twitch? Amazon has!
videogames
A bit of videogaming is good for kids: Study
What?! A little videogame play a day is actually good for children? That's what an Oxford University researcher found in a study of 5,000 UK 10-to-15-year-olds that looked into both the positive and negative impacts of videogaming. "Young people who spent less than an hour a day engaged in video games were better adjusted than those who did not play at all," the BBC reports, citing the study … [Read more...] about A bit of videogaming is good for kids: Study
Breadth of videogames’ benefits to kids may surprise
It being summertime here in the global North, there may be a little extra videogame play going on in households with kids. So it may be helpful for parents to know about a mother lode of the latest wisdom on videogames' effects on kids' learning, social development and futures. It's MindShift's "Guide to Games & Learning," and here are a few nuggets: Gaming fuels motivation "We want our … [Read more...] about Breadth of videogames’ benefits to kids may surprise
The videogame discourse: Default to open-mindedness!
My heart sinks when I see uncritical thinking in commentaries from Internet safety advocates about the media young people love – thinking that defaults (and contributes to a society-level default) to fear that new media's harmful and young users are either potential victims or up to no good. Take videogames, for example. We know that… "Videogame play is pervasive throughout our society," as … [Read more...] about The videogame discourse: Default to open-mindedness!
‘No negative impact’ from videogame play: Study
Contrary to what parents have heard about videogames, a UK study that followed the videogame play and TV viewing of more than 11,000 children for three years found that "exposure to videogames had no effect on [their] behavior, attention or emotional issues," reports New York-based GamesandLearning.org. The story was a little different with TV viewing, though. The University of Glasgow researchers … [Read more...] about ‘No negative impact’ from videogame play: Study