Educational Gaming and Developmental Learning.

Because my mother was a single mom, and worked a very time intensive job to make ends meet, my sister and I were enrolled in an afterschool program called "JEEP". I was enrolled in this program for about two-three years when I was seven or so. I don't remember any of the instructors, or the people, or in what building this program took place; however, I'll never forget what we did there.

Our family wasn't necessarily poor in any sense, but we definitely were struggling. We had never had a computer in the house, and I had to beg for years just to get a Super Nintendo. Usually I would have to play video games at a neighbors or at a relatives house. But at JEEP, they brought us into a room FILLED with computers, and my eyes lit up like it was Christmas.

I spent my days after school enthralled in games like: Prince of Persia, Oregon Trail and The Secret of Monkey Island. However there was one that stuck with me most: Treasure Mountain by the Learning Company. Not only was it extremely fun, but it taught mathematics, analogies, and logic puzzles. The learning was built around fun adventures, collectible treasure, and a joyous soundtrack that immersed the player into the game. It really stuck with me through the years, and I am convinced that Treasure Mountain, and the JEEP program, were the reason for my passion and drive for video games.

8-bit graphics, so what? This game was amazing!

But in today's culture, with all of the ultra-violent and realistic games out there, is there truly any room in the market for a engaging, educational and most importantly FUN game?

The Verdict: Yes, there are a bevy of fun, educational games out there, that are not only appropriate for all ages but fun for children and adults both! The best way to make sure your child is participating in appropriate gaming behaviors is to ENGAGE with them, be INTERESTED in their passions. ASK them what they are doing, and WHY these games are fun for them.
There are plenty popular, fun, age-appropriate and educational games that you can get your child involved in.

Games like the ever-famous Minecraft, which teaches reading, writing, geometry, spatial reasoning, patterns, architecture and social skills. Or Sid Meyer's Civilization series, which teaches geography and non-fictional history.

This magnificent Minecraft castle is completely player created, brick by brick!

I could speak for hours about the good and bad of gaming, and its contributions to education, but I think that it would be more worthwhile for you to form your own opinion, do your own research, and come up with your own decisions! However, WASD is a gaming blog, and we want to make gaming an every-day thing for even kids and parents. We are going to be giving away two items in the next week to further encourage parents to get involved in educational gaming and teaching their children the right way to play!

We are giving away up to  (2) copies of Minecraft (iPhone/iPad editions) and (2) copies of Brainversity Learning on iOS.

The rules for this giveaway are simple:
1. You must comment on  this page (bottom of the page - with your first name and last initial (ie Cathy M) to be entered - This is the only REQUIRED step.

2. You will gain extra entries (up to 4 total entries) if you do any of the following. We have catered it so you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and still get the max entries. (OR BOTH!)

•  Follow me on twitter @wasd_blog (+1)
•  Retweet this post (+1) 
• Favorite this post (+1)
• Join the Facebook Group (+1) 
• Like this post on Facebook (+1) 
• Share this post on Facebook (+1) #WASDgiveaways for tracking

The entries will be valid starting at 11AM PDT on Saturday, May 2nd 2015, and will be tallied on Friday, May 8th. The winners will be announced on May 9th and prizes will be awarded shortly after. If you win a prize you MUST provide an Apple ID upon winning to receive a prize (this can be done by private message). Currently we are only providing prizes for iOS compatible devices, and some restrictions may apply. 

These are the details for the four products I am giving away:

2x Minecraft for iOS 

2x Brainversity for iOS

Thanks for reading and good luck to all of our entries!

Over and Out,
Adam @ WASD Blogs

Educational Gaming (pre-post)

Hello again,

As much as I love my fantasy, action and role playing games, I also have to admit, I have always had a soft spot for educational gaming. I grew up playing Treasure Mountain, and that memory always stuck with me, and was primarily the reason why I developed the love for gaming and technology that I have now. 

In the spirit of this, I will be giving away some educational software this week. I am going to list a post this weekend (Saturday/Sunday Morning) and at the end I will have a quick poll. Just by answering the poll, it will enter you in the drawing. You also can gain extra votes by:

• Following my Twitter account @wasd_blog
• Retweeting or Favoriting any post that has the hashtag #WASDgiveaways
• Leaving a comment on the blog post (bottom of the page!)

So you can have a total of 4 entries per household for the giveaway! 

I am going to be giving away 1-3 copies of Brainversity's software 

the more people we can get to join in on the activity this coming week, the more I will give away, so getting your friends involved will increase your chances of winning. 

But that's not all! I will be holding a recorded seminar on the importance of video games in culture, as well as how to properly instill appropriate gaming tendencies throughout childhood and adolescence. So everyone wins!

Stayed tuned for the post to go live in the next 24-48 hours!

Over and Out,

Adam@WASD_Blogs

WASD Reviews: Crypt of the NecroDancer!

Hello, and welcome to our first installment of WASD Reviews. Today I have a very special game that I would like to share with all of you: Crypt of the NecroDancer by Brace Yourself Games (http://necrodancer.com/). Their studio name is quite appropriate, because this game is UNFORGIVING. There were many times playing it where I would constantly yell obscenities that would shock even the hardiest of men and women. So much so in fact, that I forgo attempting to stream myself alongside playing the game, because I didn't want to offend anyone watching. Especially those damn dragons...

But I get ahead of myself.
Let's take a step back and look at Crypts at a top level.

Crypts is a top-down 2D dungeon crawl...rhythm game. You hear that correct. It shares an odd relative with PaRappa and Theatrhythm. When I heard about this game, my first response was one of perplexity. I had played Rhythm melded games before, but nothing like this. The release trailer for this game looked completely absurd. It was a basic dungeon crawl game that appeared to take place in a 1970s discotheque. Honestly, the only reason I bought this game was because it was on sale for 10$ on Steam, I was bored, and I wanted to tear a hole in this game via review.

Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive.

I am absolutely happy that I decided to hate-buy this game. It's quirky, and a little bit awkward, but the game play is so much fun, that ten minutes in, you don't even know you're playing a rhythm game anymore, and your heading is bopping away to the beat.

Your ultimate goal in this game is to traverse the many ever-changing dungeons as the young adventurer Cadence; chasing after your missing father. After being fatally wounded entering the crypt that your father previously disappeared into, a nefarious NecroDancer steals your heart, and curses you to live (and die) to the rhythm of the music.
Yeah, it sounds like a shoddy remake of Footloose, but honestly, the story is merely a backdrop for the amazing game play and style of Crypts of the NecroDancer.

There are four "Zones" which each contain multiple dynamically created floors (no run is the same as the last). On the fourth floor of each Zone, lays a mini-boss, themed after a type of music (ala Deep Blues, King Conga, Death Metal).

There is a constant music beat along with the action of the game, and moving off beat has a negative effect on score, gold (in game currency used for shops, upgrades) and battle scenarios. Stepping in-beat however, produces positive results - Multipliers for gold, damage, and other positive effects.
Each of the monsters within Crypts move along with the beat as well, and each monster type adheres to a specific AI, allowing you to learn patterns for enemies and how to defeat them. However, as you dig deeper into the crypts the AI becomes more complex, and enemies get significantly stronger. Some enemy AI even adapt to the weaknesses of their previous form. A green dragon has a basic follow and long distance claw attack AI, prompting you to run away and hit from a distance, However a red dragon has a fire breath attack that attacks you from a range, and a blue dragon, well... let's just say it doesn't get any easier.

You see this guy here. SCREW this guy.

The difficulty curve in this game will definitely turn off some players. It is unforgiving and can beat you down just as you think you are starting to understand it. But I think this is why the dynamic game play is so important. You could spend, like I did, hours upon hours in the first zone and still have a different experience every time you drop down into that "Zone 1" entrance. The constant updating and changing weapons, armor and items available also help with the replayability of each attempt. Crypts can be described as 'frustrating', 'hair-pulling' and 'dream-crushing', but it cannot be described as boring. 

I had the opportunity the other day to stream some game play of Crypts, and I recorded it below for you to check out! There are two videos, one a short game play video, and the longer is the twitch.tv Stream that was live yesterday. The longer video has some breaks in it, and is substantially longer, but I implore you, if interested in the game, to check out both. The longer video has lots of me dying, and few mini-boss fights. 

Along with the standard gameplay, Crypts has a handful of other modes, characters, and even the ability to import your own music, and have it reflect gameplay! For the purpose of today's review I'm only going into the basic gameplay and characters, but feel free to check it out yourself later, there is a TON going on with Crypts. 

If you haven't made a judgment call on this game, here's a quick layout of the pros/cons of Crypts of the NecroDancer, and hopefully you can decide whether this game is for you.

PROs:

Diversity of game-play - No two dungeon runs are the same

Tons of custom weapons, items, and spells to wreck enemies with

Classic, but refined graphics - everything looks crisp, clean and organic.

Tons of game play choices - A dozen different characters, handful of game modes, and customization of your own music is pretty cool.

Soundtrack - It grabs you right from the start and never lets go

CONs:

The beat/step game play, while innovative, is a bit clunky and can take quite a bit to familiarize yourself with

The difficult curve is a big one, it starts out hard, and just gets harder and harder.

Would like a bit more diversity of enemies. The latter levels are just powered up and re-colored versions of the previous enemies, save for a few.

The boss battles could be more involved. Some of them were VERY fun, but others could be decimated in seconds if you had the right weapon (blunderbuss). 

I want to thank everyone for tuning in, and reading my review of Crypt of the NecroDancer by Brace Yourself Games, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Stayed tuned for future reviews, discussion and heavily opinionated rabble on WASD blogs! Remember to follow us on Twitter @wasd_blog, as well as our Youtube and Twitch.tv Channel:  http://www.twitch.tv/wasd_blogs

Over and Out,

Adam@ WASD Blogs

Building a Proper Gaming PC: Part 0 - Introduction and Theory

For a long time, like many other hapless gamer souls, I made the all too common choice of buying pre-made computers to enjoy my video games upon, not knowing any better. But with age, comes wisdom, and the last few years I have taken to building my own PCs, piece by piece, and it has truly opened my eyes to the beauty of DIY Computers. The value of pricing and buying components separately can easily allow you to buy an extremely powerful system for much less that you think. All those other gamers, running your favorite games on maxed settings, while you are barely pulling 20 fps (Frames per Second) on medium settings on your computer? More likely than not, they have built their computers themselves. Yes, you can absolutely drop 1000-1500$ on a pre-built computer and run decent settings on any game you are likely to come across, You would probably get a decent frame rate as well. But that same computer (or better) can be built for about 50-75% of the price!

If you're wondering why pre-built computers so expensive, and why people continue to buy computers this way? If DIY computer building is really so amazing and innovative and value-worthy, why isn't this much more common?

What you can't see on-screen is the twenty thousand screws pulled from this rig, 

This is Frankenstein, my first fully DIY built computer from about 3 years back. I took it apart for you to make a point - Computers are intimidating. Components are dense and intricate, with dozens different wires, just as many screws and plugs, and they all look like they would break if you just touched them wrong. This is what tends to lead people astray from custom building. But fear not! In truth, computers are so intuitive nowadays, that the most novice of enthusiasts and hobbyists can easily build a PC without much worry.

That is part of what I am hoping to teach with these sessions: I want to dispel rumors that PC building is only for experts, and that you have to have a PHD to set up a smooth, high-performing, and great value PC without having to resort to buying a fully built one. I want to show you that anyone can be successful in building a PC of their very own, and maybe even have some fun along the way.

I would like to impart some of that knowledge to you all in a multi-part series, that will ride along with my normally scheduled WASD posts about gaming and computers. In this series, not only will I talk about the advantages (and pitfalls) of building your own custom PC, I will be building one myself alongside the posts! In this, you will not only get to here theory, instruction and opinion about building a reasonably priced and powerful PC, you will get to see one built in the process, outlining each step, success and mistake I make along the way! I will include parts, instructions and my commentary on why I have made each decision. I will do top-level summary, as well as get into the nitty gritty, so any skill level; novice, intermediate or expert, will get the same amount of respect in each post! I implore you to ask questions to me, follow me on Twitter, Facebook (Implemented Later) or E-mail. I will try to speak as layman as possible, but feel free to ask any questions about terminology.

A number of components pictured here, in which we will discuss in great detail

But let's take a quick step back from all of this for a second, and think to yourself, what you want to get out of this series:

Do you want to play the best games at the best settings?
Do you want to learn what the components of a PC really are, and what each one actually does?
Do you want step-by-step tutorials on installing and use of computer components?
Do you want discussion and opinion on the best value, performance and preferred technology out in the world today?
Do you want to get over your fear of building a PC of your very own?

Well, this mini-series is for you.

There will be intricate guides, video supplemental and walkthroughs, widely opinionated (but hopefully grounded) discussion on the best way to build a PC, and a retroactively updating project log of me building a brand new custom built PC, so you all can see the finished product, the components I used, the statistics and the pricing!

Our first segment will be starting ASAP, hopefully this week, if time permits, and it will cover all of the prep work we need to complete before we even LOOK at a computer component. There will be quite a lot of prep and  I want to make sure you are prepared for the tasks to come. I will 'assign' out basic tasks at the end of each segment for anyone who truly wants to follow along with me as I build my computer,

Today's Assignment: Budgeting: How much do you want to spend on building a PC. Don't think about the component's cost yet, just come up with a roundabout figure of how much total you are willing to spend - or anticipate to spend on building a PC. Do not research into any prices online, or starting piecing out components yet, we still have a bit of prep work to do, as well as determining what kind of PC we want to build and where to invest our money to make the best value.

Steam, Skyrim, and the Scandal of Modder-Gate

Well, it has been a chaotic four days for anyone staying current with Valve and Steam news.

For anyone who doesn't frequent the internet, on April 23rd, Alden Kroll, a member of the Valve staff team, posted this to the Steam Forums. In short, it was a declaration that content-creators (or modders as the community calls them) would now be able to sell their created content on the Steam Workshop, and that they were starting with the ever popular, mod-happy, Skyrim. Content Designers could now be paid for work they originally did for free, and received little recognition for. In theory, many people, Valve included, thought this would be a fantastic implementation of a free-market into the modder community.

And on April 27th, Alden Kroll, a member of the Valve staff team, posted this to the Steam Forums.

You're reading that right, in merely four days, the community revolted completely against Valve, Steam, and even the ever-loved, god-personified, Gabe Newell. Steam is pulling its Skyrim Workshop for paid mods.

So what happened? Why did the masses who, on every other occasion have defended Steam and Valve to the last, turn on this loved company?

This was a pretty common reaction to the Skyrim Workshop

This is what Valve thinks was the issue:

Alden states in his retraction that "We understand our own game's communities pretty well, but stepping into an established, years old modding community in Skyrim was probably not the right place to start iterating."

I really do understand WHY Valve wanted to start with Skyrim, but their timing was way off. Skyrim was released nearly four years ago, which has given modders years upon years to build mods for the game. Yes, you absolutely picked the wrong game to start monetizing mods, however, that is only a symptom of the larger disease. I think that this would have failed regardless of what game you chose to begin this process with.

This is what I think was the issue:

Take a page from the community's outcries against EA. Everyone hates micro-transactions. And you made this pretty much as micro as it gets.

In the old days, We went out and spent 30-50 bucks on a new game, plopped down on the couch and played it. When we completed that game, that was the end of it. No extra content, maybe a New Game +, but that was it. If you wanted more content you bought the sequel - if they made one. Nowadays, we get 'complete' games, with multiple patch fixes, expansions and DLC (which in essence are just smaller expansions). But with this new system of creation, it never truly feels like we get the truly 'complete' feeling from games anymore. It always feels like a good majority of content is left out, either due to time constraints, budget, or wanting the player to pay for more content on purpose. Take Bungie's "Destiny" for example. As fun and beautiful that that game was, all I heard about after its release, was the feeling of incompleteness upon beating it.

Micro-transactions are the worst of the bunch, take EA's Dungeon Keeper (iOS) for a prime example. This game was so riddle with "pay-walls" and micro transactions that Eurogamer and The Metro gave it a 1/10 and 0/10 rating respectively, just due to the inability to have any fun with these pay-to-win strategies, even going as far as to calling Dungeon Keeper an "anti-game".

Ironically, Skyrim had pretty much been the complete OPPOSITE of these types of games. Skyrim was as fully realized a game that I have seen in quite some time. It had a few small content patches, but you could easily play the game, no mods or additions, and the game was fun, engaging and would leave you with a sense of complete-ness at its end.

Mods were merely added as ways to push the engine. How ridiculous could you make the game be? how GOOD could you make the engine look? How awesome would it be to command and ride a dragon into battle? They were just little knick knacks that the community played with to re-engage themselves with the Skyrim universe, because Skyrim was such a good game, that the replayability with funny little mods made it just as engaging as the regular version of the game.

But now, we are paying for small little pieces of the whole. Quests, items, npcs, even abilities are priced out, separated and demarcated. It has a disingenuous and metallic taste to it all. It took away the organic way a game played, and instead inserted tiny little minutiae that really don't add much to the completeness of the game.

And it's not like we haven't seen this model before. iOS and Android "Free-to-Play" games are ridden with pay walls and microtransactions (like the aforementioned Dungeon Keeper). It was a trend popularized with Clash of Clans, and has plagued "Free to Play" games ever since. But Skryim is a fully realized game, that has been  infected with microtransactions, just to make more money. If it was JUST the developers getting money for the mods, maybe it would have gone better, but developers get a MEASLY 25% of the cost of the mod, comparatively to Apple Apps, in which the developer gets 75%. But again, I think the split of money is just another symptom of the disease.

That's not to say we shouldn't contribute to designers and artists, there are many systems in which we could make this work. Neverwinter has a great tipping system which exchange in-game currency (that can be used in the auction house and the 'real money' store) for creation of content. There are ways around what they are doing, and hopefully they realize this before they cause any more damage to their community.

Hopefully, Valve and Steam will learn from their mistakes, and if they are implement a different version of this in the future, let's hope they truly understand their customer before making such broad strokes.

Over and out,

Adam