Gamertell

In the Los Angeles Times, writer Alex Pham reports that the San Fernando Library encourages youth to play video games and even invites them to be as loud as they like.

“It lets teens be more comfortable with the library and become familiar with librarians,” San Fernando librarian Lydia Harlan told Pham. “And it’s what kids are into these days.”

In the article, Pham reports that more libraries are turning to video games to connect with technologically savvy youth who might be losing interest in books and stories. In New York, the New York Public Library has even added a collection of books, films, music and maps about video games.

Click through for the full article and a list of recommended books…

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Not many attendees were impressed with this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). During an interview held Thursday, (July 17, 2008) Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s senior managing director and general manager of entertainment analysis and the development division, told MSNBC that even though many fans of long running Nintendo franchise games such as Mario, Zelda or even StarFox were upset he felt that E3 was no longer a place for those types of game.

Click through to find out what game companies thought of E3 2008…

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Diligent readers may remember that back in December Gamertell discussed the DSVision, an official slot-1 adapter from Nintendo, Dai Nippon and AM3. The new hardware would allow DS owners to download music, videos and other forms of media through a service set up by Dai Nippon and AM3. It should have been available March 8, 2008, but now multiple sources are reporting the product will be delayed until April. Also new reports confirm that games are not among the planned downloads, squashing hopes of a portable virtual console.

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It has always been challenging for parents to control the outside influences that might be warping the minds of their children. The game industry is no exception as media, parents and even the United States Senate have blacklisted a number of game titles over the years.

None of this has however stopped most children from getting their hands on the latest shooter or GTA style game as there are a number of outside sources for kids to test drive adult oriented games.

To better educate parents, the US non-partisan research and information group, National Institute on Media and the Family, has released its 12th Annual Media Wise Video Game Report Card, focusing on efforts to educate parents and retailers about M rated games, and why kids shouldn’t be playing them.

The top ten games that made their “Naughty” list this year are:

1. Assassin’s Creed
2. Call of Duty 4
3. Conan
4. The Darkness
5. Jericho
6. Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
7. Manhunt 2
8. Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
9. Stranglehold
10. Time Shift

It should be noted, that some of the games on this list haven’t exactly flown off of store shelves nor received strong reviews, save for a few.

What made the group’s “Nice” list though are:

1. FIFA Soccer 08
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
3. Hannah Montana: Spotlight World Tour
4. Madden NFL 08
5. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
6. Need for Speed Pro Street
7. The Sims 2: Castaway
8. Super Mario Bros 3
9. Super Mario Galaxy
10. Viva Piñata

I guess it is a good thing that, apart from a few exceptions, this list doesn’t have much of an impact on the majority of us gamers. Otherwise, the industry might have floundered years ago.

Read [The Blog Guardian] Also Read [Media Wise]

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