Hello hello! TwitchCon, the convention for game streamers, officially has a price tag! Two-day passes to TwitchCon will cost $85, and they go on sale April 10th at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. There are single-day passes available, but it looks like the two-days are the better deal. TwitchCon will be held in San Francisco on September 25th and 26th. Attendees can expect live streaming events, educational panels, meet and greets, and apparently a huge afterparty! It’s the first TwitchCon ever, so we’re excited to see how it turns out.
Brown University did a study that indicates that gamers might retain more accurate! In the study, gamers were able to perform visual activities with both more accuracy and speed than non-gamers. The groups for this study were pretty small, but the results are interesting! Read more at pixelkin.org.
Online games aren’t necessarily the most family-friendly out there, but lots of teens still play them. Socializing in these games can be great! Lots of people play them, and you can make strong friendships. Sometimes though, just as in school, you can fall in with the wrong crowd. In games, this usually means toxic players—people who use slurs and mean humor. And that’s not cool. For younger players who just want to fit in and be included, it can be tempting to join in. That’s where parents need to be present. Check out Jason de Kanter’s advice on how and why parents should be aware of their kids’ online gaming.
Mario Party 10 has arrived and we played it here at Pixelkin! If you’re interested in the quintessential party board game, this is pretty much it. Mario Party 10 doesn’t do a lot to change up the formula, but if you haven’t added it to your game night repertoire yet—well, it’s a classic for a reason. Just don’t expect too much from the Bowser Party mode. Read our full review, linked here.
Visual novels are a great way to tell stories, and TyranoBuilder is a new program that helps you make your own. Available for PC and Mac, TyranoBuilder lets you write stories and set them against your own art to create an interactive novel. We’ve talked before about how making games is a great intellectual exercise, and this is yet another chance to have fun and create something. If you’re looking for projects to do with family or friends, check it out on Steam for $14.99!
That’s it for this week! If you’re in Seattle, make sure you come see us at the EMP! We’ll be there April 13th-15th, holding some workshops on how to get kids started making games. Don’t forget to subscribe to our news channel for more.
