The last few days we’ve showcased the fast food of geek parenting, but the news of today was the equivalent of a healthy snack. So let’s take a bite out of the stories of the day which taste great and are good for us, too!
Think ID4 was science fiction? Think again. Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking warns humans that when it comes to contacting alien life forms, we should all be careful what we wish for:
“He speculates most extraterrestrial life will be similar to microbes, or small animals — but adds advanced lifeforms may be ‘nomads, looking to conquer and colonize.’”
That quote is both scary as heck and super awesome at the same time. Might want to think twice about encouraging your kids to build a spaceship by showing them Explorers – we could think of better ways to die than to be serenaded by an alien with Little Richard right before it sinks its teeth into you.
Showing that we like to pull up a good book as much as the next blog, we wanted to make special mention of Omnivoracious‘ “End-o’-the Week Kid Lit Roundup” – mainly because it mentions Yo Gabba Gabba, comics and Iron Man! Specifically, what does the School Library Journal think are the best Iron Man books for school-aged children? Or how about what are the 2010 Eisner nominees for “Best Publication for Kids”? And we can’t believe we missed this one on the wires – a new comic from Oni Press based on Yo Gabba Gabba?!? Here’s the skinny from Publishers Weekly:
“The Yo Gabba Gabba books will be 128-page color anthologies featuring art by artists associated with the show as well as published children’s artists such as Matt Loux (Salt Water Taffy) and Vinny Navarette (Dear Dracula). Oni Press sales and marketing director Cory Casoni said that the anthologies are just the beginning, and that Oni will be working with Yo Gabba Gabba‘s producer, Wildbrain, to develop more comics for young readers.”
Lastly, Variety reports gamers’ rights could be at risk as the Supreme Court will review California’s violent video game band which prohibits the sale or rental of games not just rated ‘M’ for mature, but many ‘T’ for teen-rated games as well. California bill AB1179 was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in October 2005 and was to come into effect January 2006 but has been held up in the lower courts as unconstitutional. The bill stated retailers would be fined $1,000 if caught selling violent games to minors, and all violent games would have to carry new stickers branding their violent status.
When the Supreme Court reviews the bill in October, it could overrule lower court rulings and enforce the California bill. The risk is this would enable other states to pass and enforce similar bills, and could hurt the video game industry as a whole.
As parents, we believe we bear the responsibility of raising our children in environments conducive to positive emotional and physical development. How many of us had parents who wouldn’t let us spend the night at a friend’s house without first meeting their parents? Or how about not letting us see a movie until they were able to watch it first? Video games should be no different.
The root of this entire problem is that games like Grand Theft Auto were making their way into the hands of minors without parental consent. We’re not saying the parents are completely at fault, and we’re not saying the industry is necessarily at fault either. It’s the retailers, the middlemen peddling the questionable content upon kids who don’t know any better. Now if Little Johnny came home with a copy of Modern Warfare 2, we as responsible parents would explain to him why he shouldn’t be playing it and promptly return it to the store from which he bought it.
Sure, there are bad examples of parents who let their kids watch and play anything. Ultimately those are the ones who should be held accountable. But there are many more responsible parents who do everything they are supposed to do, and yet these things still fall through the cracks.
This bill prevents these situations from happening, and we accept it for what it is trying to accomplish.
The pundits say this is a violation of the First Amendment, effectively restricting free speech. We don’t buy it. This does not mean that the video game industry will stop making Mature or Teen-rated games, it simply means they cannot be sold to a minor. And if this means that video game developers are forced to think creatively about how to make a game which does not focus on killing, in order to continue to allow minors to purchase their games, we think this can only be a good thing for everyone.
We’ll step off of our soapbox to highlight some of the day’s other top stories:
Make Your Own DVR, Movie, and Music Server – HTPC Basics [GeekTonic]
Playing Games on the iPad…With 11 Fingers [Mashable]
VOTD: Vintage 1983 Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear Commercial… Toy Story 3 Viral? [/Film]
Hasbro Studios Developing 25 Productions for ‘The Hub’ [Toonzone]
The Clone Wars HD Comes To PlayStation [TheForce.Net]