Check Out Technology Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Gaming With The Moms on BlogTalkRadio

Welcome to episode #2 of the Gaming With the Moms podcast, where we goof around and talk about family-gaming news and issues. Nicole Tanner, our host and Pixelkin’s managing editor, leads the conversation. This week Curtis Vredenburg, a dad of avid gamers,  joins us as our guest and asks for advice on a bunch of gaming-with-kids topics.

Please subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our RSS feed! Download the episode directly here if you like.

In this episode:

  • Nicole talks about Superhero Girls, a new product line of comics, books, and toys that will put characters that look like Disney princesses in superhero costumes. Their waists may be wasp-like and their eyes may be too big, but at least they’re wearing pants!
    Source: DC Comics

    Source: DC Comics

  • Curtis, who doesn’t game much himself but has two boys who do, asks the Pixelkin staff for advice. We cover games to help kids learn foreign languages and games to learn typing. We also cover games for keeping gamer kids active with summer coming, like Kinect games, Geocaching, game-themed parties and scavenger hunts, live-action reenactments of video games, and games and apps that encourage running (like Zombies Run). Also—games that encourage kids to learn about different cultures, like Never Alone. Curtis wants a list of games to play over the summer, and we promise a post on that will be on Pixelkin soon.
    Geocaching logo

    Geocaching: the video game of the outdoors.

  • We explore the whole issue of free-to-play games that aren’t necessarily free, microtransactions, and how parents can help their kids stay out of trouble when it comes to paying too much for in-game merchandise. If it’s hard for adults to resist the allure of free-to-play and microtransactions, think about how hard it is for kids.
    Panda Pandamonium, free-to-play

    Free-to-play games aren’t free if you buy stuff in them.

  • We argue about the hard-core vs. casual gamer controversy. Is it over, and if not, should it be?

This podcast was recorded in the studios of the Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle. Music by Pat Goodwin at Novelty Shop Creative. Nicole Tanner, Linda Breneman, Simone de Rochefort, and Curtis Vredenburg participated in this podcast. Thanks for listening!

Remember, you can subscribe on iTunes or subscribe to our RSS feed. Click the links, or the buttons below!

 
iTunes 
RSS 
 


This article was written by

Linda learned to play video games as a way to connect with her teenaged kids, and then she learned to love video games for their own sake. At Pixelkin she wrangles the business & management side of things, writes posts as often as she can, reaches out on the social media, and does the occasional panel or talk. She lives in Seattle, where she writes, studies, plays video games, spends time with her family, consumes vast quantities of science fiction, and looks after her small cockapoo. She loves to hear from people out there. You can read more about her at her website, Linda Breneman.com or her family foundation's website, ludusproject.org.