YouTuber Review: iBallisticSquid

The second of my YouTuber reviews - Squid!

We started watching Squid years back when he did lots with Stampy (like the excellent Building Time), but I have to admit we don't watch him so much now.  When he stopped making videos with Stampy, his content started being a bit more mature, but thankfully he seems more family friendly again.  I say thankfully because I enjoy watching his videos!  (Take note - the games he plays might not necessarily be ones you'd want your kids to play, even if his presenting style is ok for kids.  As always, even if the YouTuber doesn't swear and is ok for kids to watch, the game may not be 100% appropriate.  Use your common sense!)

Squid is a British YouTuber and he's 28.  (He's a northerner, according to his Twitter account he lives in Huddersfield.)  His real name is David Spencer.  He became famous playing Minecraft (he was pretty much seen as Stampy's sidekick), but he does less Minecraft these days.  As of 14th March 2020 he has 4.15m subscribers on his "iBallisticSquid' channel and 2,755,934,350 views.  He mainly posts Ark (PEGI-16) videos, though he's started doing a few things with Stampy again, like Overwatch (PEGI-12) and Human Fall Flat (PEGI-3).  Plus a bit of other solo stuff like Pokemon: Sword and Shield (PEGI-7) and Rocket League (PEGI-3).  The Human Fall Flat stuff is totally stupid.  Completely ridiculous.  So fun watching two good friends playing something that makes them laugh so much.  :-D

For a while after he stopped doing videos with Stampy, Stampy kept getting comments about when he was going to do things with Squid again.  This amused me greatly.  Here's an example of Stampy's imaginative responses:

Did you not hear about what happened? @iBallisticSquid and I were building a tree house together so we had a place to hang out and eat souffle. When it was finished we went in to eat the souffle but Squid had forgotten to bring any. We blamed each other and have not talked since.

— Stampy Cat (@stampylongnose) April 18, 2018

So, let me think, what do I know about Squiddy from watching his videos?  Hmm.  He likes cars.  He likes DIY/property development.  And he loves his dogs.  I believe this is the enormous Cujo:

Ark video is rendering, time for a cuddle! 🐶💙 pic.twitter.com/2fBg3WG42o

— Squiddy (@iBallisticSquid) March 3, 2020

There is some mild swearing type language in his more recent videos, depending on your thresholds for that sort of thing, but he's generally fine to watch.  (I'm never sure of the best way of demonstrating what I mean by this - maybe I should asterisk things out?  That always seems daft.  I mean, like "cr*p".  And a bit of blasphemy, like "*h my G*d".  And a bit of "b*gg*r*bg *ff".  Okay, now I'm just asterisking out v*w*ls.)

There are tons of old Minecraft videos on his channel though, so plenty of great stuff to watch if you're a new Minecrafter who missed them the first time round.  Check out Island of Eden, Building Time and Squid's Sky Island Challenge. And these are TOTALLY suitable for younger kids.  :-)

I just found a photo from 2014 of Stampy and Squid and they look so young!  Posting it here, just for the lolz.

View this post on Instagram

It's a Stampy and @instasquiddy selfie! They'll be back on the #GMB sofa after 8!

A post shared by Good Morning Britain (@gmb) on May 25, 2014 at 11:01pm PDT

I do enjoy watching Squid - he's someone I can watch even if I'm not that interested in the game he's playing.  He's just pleasant to listen to.  I used to listen to his and Stampy's Magic Animal Club podcasts sometimes to keep me company whilst working (they're about everything and nothing).

I'd say his older videos are fine for young kids, but his newer ones are probably best for slightly older kids.  Definitely someone to try watching though.  He seems like a nice guy.  :-)

YouTuber Review: PrestonPlayz

We watch YouTube together as a family, but sometimes it's hard to know what to watch.  Some YouTubers are too annoying for grown-ups to watch, some drop swearing in just when you thought they were ok.  (I don't really want to watch videos with unnecessary swearing, and I certainly don't want Seb watching them!)  So, I thought I'd look at some of the people we watch (and a few we don't at the moment) and give them a bit of the ol' review treatment...

First YouTuber to receive this treatment?  Preston.

Preston is an American YouTuber and he's 25 years old (though he looks about 16!).  As of 2nd Feb 2020 has 4.08m subscribers on his "PrestonPlayz" channel and 754,220,348 views.  (He has various other channels, such as TBNRFrags, which has 5.26m subscribers and 1,093,825,401 views, and Preston, which has 11.4m subscribers and  3,684,422,514 views.)  Basically, he's a very successful guy.  He was recommended to me as someone who was a Christian and didn't swear.  And he doesn't.  Which is good.

His PrestonPlayz channel is Minecraft, TBNRFrags has videos of various games like Modern Warfare, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Fortnite, PUBG - shooty things basically.  For the purposes of this 'review', if we can call it that, I'm going to concentrate on his PrestonPlayz channel...

There's a lot of 'pranking', which is usually being mean to his wife.  Clearly it's all scripted, but the relentless mean things he does to Brianna do get a little wearing.  Like blowing up her houses.  Or stealing her diamonds.  Also she gets trapped in prison a lot, and he has to rescue her.  He does things with other family members, too, and friends.  Out of all his videos, I like the base build battles the most, but the scripted things are pretty annoying.

Another thing that bothers me, apart from the pranking and stealing, is the way his wife is presented.  He calls her "my wife" a lot, which is a bit weird.  I can't think of many occasions I refer to my husband as "my husband".  Maybe this is a cultural thing..?!  And some of the things she says are just, well, I find them uncomfortable.  For instance, in "7 Ways to Steal My Wife's DIAMONDS in Minecraft", Brianna says, "I love clothing stores!  I love dressing up pretty!  Preston likes when I dress up pretty!"  Plus there's the way he keeps having to rescue her.  I may be reading too much into this, but I don't like the way their marriage is presented.  I don't think I'm a militant feminist.  But I don't like this being presented to kids as the way things should be.

"Preston likes when I dress up pretty"

As more YouTubers get married and have babies, it seems that we should be mindful of the examples they're setting our kids.  Is their marriage something we can look at and say, "I want my kid to have that one day"?  Stampy and Sqaishey were lovely the other day when they were talking about how they discuss SpaceDen while having cups of tea (and joking that they had to start another 'Den' series because they don't have anything else to talk about!).

There are some other things I find annoying, too.  He puts a lot of adverts into his videos, for things like Deluxe Floop, his clothing line Preston's Stylez, his other channels... I don't mind when people drop a thing at the end, or the beginning even, to say they've got something new to sell, but I don't like having videos constantly interrupted with mini adverts.  Obviously YouTubers have to make a living, but kids are suggestible, and if a TV programme was doing that we'd have something to say about it.

Just dropping in another merch push

I have to admit that even if I didn't have all these criticisms of his videos, I would find him annoying anyway.  I don't like his over enthusiastic style - it irritates me.  Seb, however, finds him very funny and gives him 8/10.  I'm guessing that at 8 years old, Seb is pretty much his target audience.

In conclusion, I don't mind Seb watching him without me (I know there's not going to be any really bad content), but this is not a YouTuber I can watch with him.  He would drive me totally insane quite quickly.  I watched a couple of hours of his videos as research for this, and that was enough to last me a lifetime.

Ramble: kids and gaming (new UKIE campaign "Get Smart About Play")

Aargh I haven't posted for ages, how awful!

Anyway, this article by Keith Stuart that popped up in my news feed today: Putting controls on your kid's gaming is a key part of being a parent.  As more and more gaming parents have kids, you'd hope that they'd be able to think sensibly about what restrictions kids should have, and to show interest in their kids' hobby.  Yes, this is something I've rambled about before.

The article is about how UKIE (the association for UK Interactive Entertainment) have just launched a campaign called "Get Smart About Play".

The key points of this campaign are:

P - Play with your kids.  Understand what they play and why.
L - Learn about family controls.  Visit askaboutgames.com for simple step-by-step guides.
A - Ask what your kids think.  Discuss ground rules before setting restrictions.
Y - You're in charge.  Set restrictions that work for your family.

Play with your kids. Understand what they play and why.

The askaboutgames.com website has some helpful guides for games that kids like to play, like Fifa 20, Fortnite, Roblox (and also some games that I can't imagine many kids are playing, but hey!).  Don't just go with the media furore over why a game is bad.  And a brilliant resource for finding out about whether games are appropriate for your kid (or not) is Common Sense Media.  Often, though, the best way to find out whether a game is appropriate for your child is to play it.

As for playing with your kids, if you like games this shouldn't be a hardship.  If you don't like games then it might be a bit harder!  However, there is probably something out there that you can all enjoy, even if you don't like the idea of "traditional" games.  How about Just Dance?  (It'll give you a workout, too!)   Or one of the Lego games like Lego Star Wars?  These games are totally forgiving, so it doesn't matter if your are rubbish and die all the time. :-)  The askaboutgames.com website has a bunch of family games that might be worth a try.  Then there's Minecraft, which is fantastic co-op, and gives you so many play options (kill monsters or build replicas of the Eiffel Tower, it's entirely up to you!).

The Eiffel Tower in Minecraft!

Generally kids want to play what their friends are playing.  This is bound to lead to some disagreements if you don't agree that their friends are playing age appropriate games.  Being able to demonstrate that you know about their games is vital when it comes to making fair decisions.

Learn about family controls.

This is not a simple thing.  I know with the PlayStation 4 I've struggled to find a balance.  Locking down the PS4 on the basis of Seb's age has lead to games being blocked that I'm willing to let him play.  And often locking things down can lead to online restrictions (and I'm happy for him to do some online things).  Have a look at the askaboutgames.com website and at least set some restrictions.  Lock down those horrifying 18 certificate games.  Stop randoms from contacting your child.  Think about things sensibly and consider your options.

You can look at age ratings for games on the PEGI website.

Ask what your children think.  Discuss ground rules before setting restrictions.

Your kids probably know a lot about being safe online.  (They teach this a lot at school - I'm sure lots of them are far more knowledgeable than grown ups are.)  As with any 'parental rules', if you don't discuss them and why you're implementing restrictions, they're likely to cause a lot of anger and your kid might find ways round things.  Rules you don't have any real reason for are just going to come across as unreasonable and cause friction. 

Nightmare Freddy - yikes!

We had a lot of issues with Seb over Five Nights At Freddy's.  On the surface you might think this is just a jumpscare game, but the lore of the thing is horrifying, and the deeper you get into it the more horrible it all is.  Plenty of child murdering, and proper nightmarish characters.  To begin with I thought it was ok, but the more I thought about it the more it unsettled me.  I've watched a lot of FNAF lore videos by MatPat and kept meaning to write something about it, but the research just seemed endless and I haven't managed it!!  In the end we had to implement a blanket ban with Seb (he's not good at half measures and they confuse him).  FNAF is a tough one since a lot of the stuff around it is clearly marketed towards kids, with plushies and toys, but it's certainly at least a 12 certificate game.

You're in charge.  Set restrictions that work for your family.

Sometimes discussing things with your kids is not going to end well.  If you really don't want them playing Resident Evil 2 but all their friends are playing it, you can see they're going to be unhappy about a ban.  Amusingly, Seb tells his friends off for playing games we've told him aren't appropriate.  (He's a stickler for rules.)  I think all we can do as parents is be as informed as possible, as reasonable as possible, and compromise where we can.  But if you're not happy with something, remember that you are in charge.  You can switch off the wi-fi, if it comes to it.  Sometimes parent choices aren't going to be popular; it's the same with gaming as everything else. 

I am so not looking forward to the teenage years...

Well done to UKIE for starting this campaign, and I hope it helps a lot of parents who worry about this sort of thing.  There are some dangers to playing online.  There are some inappropriate/horrible games out there.  But there are a lot of great, fun, games that give kids chances to work together and opportunities to play that we never had when we were growing up. 

Swings and roundabouts, eh?  Swings and roundabouts...

Completionist Challenge, update, RDR2, Uncharted Lost Legacy...

I decided to up the challenge level of my 'Completionist Challenge'!

I started in August with RDR2, but when I started this I had no clear end point for what I wanted to achieve.  I've decided that I will finish 10 games before I'm allowed to buy any new ones (though I am allowed to play things if I get them for Christmas - if I get Ring Fit Adventure I don't want to wait months until I can play it!).  This is my attempt to try and halt the terrible digital store habit that most of us have these days where we buy lots of games and never finish them.  (Seb's Dad is really bad when it comes to this!)

Anyway, I'm never going to totally 100% every bit of the games I play, particularly when they're games I can't play when Seb's around.  But I'm going for the trophy that says the game is completed and as much of the other stuff as I can do...

Onto RDR2, then.  I completed the Epilogue, and had a bit of a go at Online, and did as many of the additional things as I could face doing, and I ended up playing for 100 hours in total (yikes!).  That's 4 days, 4 hours and 6 minutes, according to the Rockstar Social Club app.

Proof that I completed the game!

The rarest trophy I received was this one, with a completion rate of only 4.2%.  I think this was for collecting all the fish.  I'm not sure people would have been happy if they'd known that having received their vital mission I'd wandered off and done some fishing in a remote lake somewhere.  But then there are some weird quests on here.  Posting fish and dead squirrels in the post is, let's face it, pretty weird.  These games make you do some weird stuff.

My rarest trophy

I have to say I couldn't bring myself to do some of the bad stuff in the game; I was (mostly) a good guy, and I couldn't bring myself to do a 180 and start murdering and robbing everyone just to get a better completion rate!

After the epic 100 hours of roaming the (not so) Wild West I thought I'd do a shorter game, so I turned to Uncharted: Lost Legacy.  This is a mini Uncharted featuring Chloe and Nadine - an all girl lineup!  I probably enjoyed it more than Uncharted 3.  (I still haven't played Uncharted 4, I think that'll be part of my challenge...)  Not as much random stuff to do here.  I never get many trophies with these, partly because I'm rubbish at finding those ridiculous treasures.  But hey.  I did it!  And it only took 8 hours and 45 minutes.  Hooray!

I completed it!

My rarest trophy here wasn't particularly rare, but the game didn't have loads of trophies.  Still, I found all the tokens and obtained the Queen's Ruby, with which I could wander around and find more treasures, if I wanted to...

Claudia Black did a great job with the voice acting, and the story was pretty good.  Uncharted games are always formulaic, after all.  I did find it odd that sometimes you can't do jumps that look achievable (if that's not the right way) and sometimes you can manage ridiculous jumps (because that's the right way to go).  It makes sense, from a linear story pathfinding point of view, but it's irksome!

Those are the two games I've completed so far, then, 2/10.  I'm going to have to find some shorter games to play, because stupidly I've started Assassin's Creed Odyssey.  Ho hum.  I'm also doing the third chapter of The Long Dark, though, so I'll count that.  Otherwise it will take me forever to complete 10 whole games. 

Parenting is hard sometimes.  Really cuts down on your gaming time.  ;-)

Ramble: video game music, not just for video games!

I've had a few things buzzing around in my head lately but none of them have actually made it as far as this blog.  Ah well.  The thing I've been enjoying recently, both my myself and with Seb, is video game music.  We've watched a fair bit of YouTube to do with music (more on that later) and I just drove home listening to BBC Sounds, specifically the new Sound of Gaming programme that was on on Saturday on Radio 3. 

Sound of Gaming is a new show hosted by Jessica Curry, and the first episode featured Grant Kirkhope, who has written music for lots of Rare games, and was the first western composer to write music for a Mario game.  I've seen The Completionist raving about Grant's music, so it was interesting to hear how he ended up being a video game composer, and how he feels about the job.

(Basically, he thinks games should get melodies stuck in your head, you should be able to hear the songs a million times without getting tired of them, and it's a hard job because you have to write a LOT of music for a game and sometimes all the direction you get is 'you're in a forest'..!)

If you've played video games then chances are you've had music from them stuck in your head.  Sometimes this may not be a welcome thing, but other times it's a pleasure re-living it.  If game music is good enough, there will be plenty of people out there doing their own versions.  Which brings me to what we've been watching on YouTube lately...

First off is the 8BitDrummer.  This guy made Seb get out the electronic drumpads he has and start playing again.  Seb was drumming along to his renditions of the entire Just Shapes and Beats soundtrack.  He's a good drummer, sure (I mean the 8BitDrummer, not Seb, though perhaps he will be great one day!), but also he's entertaining and chats with people messaging him as he plays.  It's great fun watching him.

Next there's FamilyJules.  This channel has some awesome stuff on it - brilliant guitar, but also some instruments you might not expect!  Or that you might expect, if you're thinking about it a lot, hmm...  I mean, one of the latest videos on the channel is a version of a piece of Zelda music that has a classical guitar section, and also an ocarina section.  Seb said he had never seen an ocarina before, though I know for sure we have at least three upstairs.  (I don't know why.)  If you like a blend of metal guitar, classical and ocarina, then look no further.

Moving onto something more serious, a ramble about music would hardly be complete without mentioning Lindsey Stirling.  She plays the violin, but she's played game themes, such as Assassin's Creed, whilst dressed as an assassin.  Other games include Zelda and Skyrim.  Lots of game soundtracks have strings in them, so plenty of material for violinists. 

Yes, plenty of material for violinists, that handily portable and versatile stringed instrument.  Another proponent of the violin is the highly entertaining Rob Landes, whose cosplay skills are on another level entirely.  I think I may have mentioned him before, but he has done tons and tons of game music videos.  This is his video about the evolution of video game music...

I think that's enough links to videos.  I love how much quality stuff is on YouTube.  I love that video games are inspiring kids to get into music.  Seb wants to be a video game music composer when he grows up, and apparently that's a common thing these days.  And why not?  And I love that the music in these games is being valued enough on its own merits to get its own programme on Radio 3.  That's Radio 3, whose focus is on classical music.  And they were playing a chiptune composition from Shovel Knight! 

What more can I say?  This makes me happy!!

Studio Focus: Frontier

I couldn't think what to blog about (I think playing RDR2 has melted my mind, I just keep getting Bon Jovi's 'Dead or Alive' in my head).  So, I've decided to write about another UK games developer, Frontier.  Frontier has a special place in Dad's heart, even if not so much mine or Seb's - he had the original Elite (released in 1984) on the Spectrum and then the Amiga (it had better graphics).  He says this is because he liked flying space ships and selling things, but I expect that's a simplification.  Elite has certainly influenced a lot of games, and continues to be a big success in its latest incarnation, Elite Dangerous (PEGI-7).

Elite on the Spectrum!

But it's not just about Elite.  Frontier's founder, David Braben, has been hugely influential in the world of computers than just the area of space-trading games, some fruit thing... (now I'm thinking about Forrest Gump).  But more on that later...

Braben released Frontier: Elite 2 in 1993 and in 1994 he founded Frontier Developments.  In 1995 the next Elite game, Frontier: First Encounters was released.  And in 2003 along came a massive new IP - Rollercoaster Tycoon.  Originally published in 1999, Frontier managed the 2003 X-Box port, and created the two expansion packs for Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, "Wacky Worlds" and "Time Twister".  And in 2004 the entirely Frontier-created Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 was released.

In the mid-2000s Frontier struggled, as the The Outsider was abandoned due to removal of publisher support.  (I wrote previously about the struggles Revolution had in the mid-2000s, before they started self-publishing.  And, like Revolution, Frontier also turned to Kickstarter in 2012.)  What was a dark time has, thankfully, turned around, thanks to changes like self-publishing and also opportunities to work with Microsoft on things like Kinectimals.

“What's interesting now, as the dynamic has changed, and we no longer have to persuade a publisher, but we have to understand those risks and take them ourselves,” Braben described. “I think the world has changed. We've seen a lot of new approaches to games, that I think in the older days probably would've been really hard to get through. And there are a lot of perceptions, I think, in how you market a game ... that you need a character and all this sort of thing, and without that it won't sell ... that lead to games going down a different route."

 - David Braben talking to James Brightman (GameDaily.biz) in 2018

The Kickstarter game in 2012 was Elite: Dangerous (PEGI-7), and that has been followed by a whole slew of successful games.  There's 2016's Planet Coaster (PEGI-3), 2018's Jurassic World Evolution (PEGI-16) and the brand new Planet Zoo.  You might have seen some YouTubers starting to play this.  It looks fun!  And educational.  ;-)

So today Frontier is busy creating new space-related content, as well as releasing new games like Planet Zoo.  They have over 400 employees working for them, with their headquarters in Cambridge, UK.

But the fruit, thing, then..?  I'm guessing you know I'm talking about Raspberry Pi.

In 2003 David Braben, Jack Lang, Pete Lomas, Alan Mycroft, Robert Mullins and Eben Upton met at a computer lab at Cambridge University and thought about the problem of getting more kids into coding.  Why wasn't coding being taught at school?  Where were the people they needed in the industry?  Where were the people applying to be students?  The world needed a cheap computer that was easy to program.  And so they created the Raspberry Pi. 

The BBC weren't interested, despite their history with the BBC Micro.  But Rory Cellan-Jones, a BBC journalist, recorded David Braben talking about the Pi and posted it on his blog, and it went viral.  The BBC still weren't interested, but there was so much demand that the foundation could do it all on their own.

There are code clubs, coding is on the national curriculum... things have definitely changed for the better.

(Check out this article in the New Statesman (2017) for lots more Pi facts!)

So, that's Frontier.  Not only have they made space-trading what it is today, they've hugely influenced sim-type games and David Braben and the Raspberry Pi foundation have given kids around the world the chance to have access to a cheap, programmable computer that can be used for all sorts of things. 

Hooray!

Follow them on Twitter @frontierdev.

Just started watching: Kindly Keyin

Actually, we have been watching Kindly Keyin for a while now, but I just hadn't gotten around to mentioning it.  :-)

Seb says he's his joint number one YouTuber along with DanTDM.  It's great to have found him, since Seb loves watching him and he's totally family friendly.  However, he does have less appeal to grown-ups watching than some other YouTubers!

The thing I wonder about the most is how he stays sane.  I've looked through his last 50 videos and a massive 42% of them are Baldi-related.  Playing that much Baldi-related stuff would certainly drive me insane - I never knew there were so many strange Baldi mods out there.  What a terrifying world we live in.

(Because I am a sad, sad person I have made this pie chart showing my analysis of Keyin's videos.)

Kindly Keyin's last 50 videos (as of 7th September 2019)

I think Keyin is about 30 and lives in California.  It's hard to find out much about him.  But that's ok, it's great that he's actually managed to retain some mystery.  One thing we do know is that he had a baby in February.  Little Seth is, I suppose, one of the first kids to grow up with a famous YouTuber for a dad.  Not only does he have that, he's also starring in some pretty cute Father/Son Minecraft videos with his dad.  (He likes to play with the keyboard, understandably.)

I find the whole YouTubers growing up and having kids thing fascinating - I wonder what changes the arrival of DanTDM's kid will bring to his channel!

Anyway, I think Seth's arrival has made Keyin more watchable, if anything, since now there are baby comments dropped in that parents will appreciate (such as about tummy time in today's giant baby one that Seb was watching).  Having a baby is the biggest thing you'll do in your life, so it's great to see a dad looking after his kid on YouTube.  Perhaps this affects me more since Seb's dad gave up work to be a stay at home dad, and I know there's not a lot of positive Father/Son stuff out there.

Anyway, if you like Baldi (if you are a child of a certain age), then Kindly Keyin is ideal for you.  And if you're watching him as a grown-up with your kid, chose a Father/Son Minecraft episode.  They really are cute.  :-)

And I'm just gonna say, I'd never heard of the name Keyin before.  Is that a thing?  I guess it's a thing.  ;-)

Completionist Challenge, starting with RDR2!

For a while now it has bothered me that both Dad and I sit there and browse the PS Store/Steam looking at new games when we have loads sitting there that we've never finished.  (Dad is worse than me - he hardly finishes anything, for various reasons.)  I don't know why I do this - I have plenty of games that I've been meaning to finish, but what with work and Seb it's hard to find the time.  Especially if they're PEGI-18 and I don't want to play them while Seb's around.

I have games sitting there that I know will be fun, like Uncharted 4 and Dishonored 2, and I was given Assassin's Creed Odyssey for my 40th birthday.  My main problem is that I like open world type games where I have loads of thing to distract me, and I find it hard not to try and tick every box.  (I have to accept that I can't complete everything though, I'm not good enough to do the elite combat challenges in Assassin's Creed, like all the Elephants in Origins.)  But hey, I do a lot of the stuff, and I do the main story, so that counts.  I just don't have the time as a parent to be any more completionist.

One day I will get a platinum trophy...  They have eluded me as yet!

Anyway, I challenged Dad to finish some things, and I'm going to try and finish something I had been enjoying but stopped playing for a while - Red Dead Redemption 2 (PEGI-18).  Now, I know I won't get 100% completion on everything, but I'm going to do the main story and as much of the other stuff as possible.  I've already been playing it for (apparently) 2 days, 3 hours and 29 minutes, and I'm a little over halfway complete.

I am Arthur, the likeable murdering gang member...

I'm sure other parents have this problem with playing 18 certificate games - you only have a while each night while your child's in bed to play.  And you can't stay up as late as you used to, because you have to get up for work, and make your kid's lunch and get them up...  You know what it's like, if you have a kid.  Not that I'm complaining..!!

Thanks to the Rockstar Social Club you can get loads of progress stats.  Here is where I am currently:

...not good at being a bandit but great at exploring...

...which goes with the survivalist skills I guess...

...but not a big fan of weapons really...

...met lots of strangers but only halfway through missions...

...doing well apart from those gang hideouts...

...and one type of robbery (but I have had several baths)...

...and I don't know what those shacks are!

I'll keep you updated with my progress!  And we challenge YOU to try this too...

What games have you been meaning to finish for ages?

Game Review: Steamworld Dig 2

So, Steamworld Dig 2 (PEGI-7).  Seb has been playing this and he told me I should play it too - we've both finished it now.  And yet Dad, who bought it in the first place, has not finished it!  (He's not very good at finishing things.)  It was a great game to play on the Nintendo Switch, really suits the small screen pick up/put down format.

I hadn't played Steamworld Dig, Steamworld Heist or Steamworld Quest, so this was my first introduction to the Steamworld series.  There are five games altogether in the series now, you see - the first was a tower defence game, then the 'Dig' games are platformers, 'Heist' is a turn based strategy thing, and 'Quest' is an RPG card game with deck-building.

As you might have guessed, Steamworld Dig 2 follows on from Steamworld Dig. You play as Dorothy, a robot who looks a bit like a frog.  She's trying to find her friend Rusty.  (In the first game you play as Rusty.)  Quite what has happened to Rusty is up in the air until the end of the game.  You have to hope he's not gone over to the dark side, but that's what the game keeps telling you.  A secondary (but not unconnected) objective is to find out what's causing the earthquakes that are affecting the planet...

The game functions a bit like Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight.  You roam around, able to access new areas as you gain new powers.  The game pretends you have freedom about where you're going, though it's actually not giving you much choice.  Although you can dig tunnels, there are some bits you can't dig through - you have to go where the game wants you to.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, when it's telling a story, but it does feel like it's pretending to offer more freedom than it is.  Perhaps I feel this more acutely because the time I've spent with games like Terraria and Minecraft, which let you dig wherever you want to!

Dig, Dig, Dig

As you follow the story there's plenty of exploring, mining and fighting to be done.  You end up in the town of El Machino on a regular basis, purchasing upgrades and talking to the inhabitants.  One of them wants you to collect artefacts for him; in return he'll give you blueprints to upgrade yourself even further.  There are three boss battles, the last of which took both Seb and I numerous attempts (I did give up for a while and make myself more powerful).  And along the way, there are lots of caves with puzzles to solve, which will net you cogs for upgrades or artefacts to swap for blueprints.  Helpfully, when you've completed everything in a cave it ticks it off on the map.

I like the 'steam-powered robot' vibe, and the western theme is fun.  The music is annoyingly catchy.  It's a very well put together game.  Image & Form are to be congratulated for their skill in making different game formats accessible.  This is a great game for both kids and adults.  They've taken the Metroidvania style game and made something that holds you by the hand a little more, and not to its detriment.  They've done the same thing with the X-COM style Steamworld Heist Heist and the RPG card battler Steamworld Quest.  I can't even hazard a guess at what direction they'll travel in next!

Ramble: Fortnite World Cup!

We were talking about something at work today that comes up on a regular basis - kids playing video games at night when they should be sleeping.  I have to admit I can't offer much advice as to how to make this stop, since I was often playing until some unearthly hour on my Amiga.  Now I'm a parent, I understand kids not wanting to stop (because I was like that too), but also part of me is doing the parenty "they're going to turn into a brain dead couch potato!" thing...

The topic came up again because of the Fortnite World Cup.  It says something that people are talking about this at work, even if it is in the context of how terrible it is that kids are doing this instead of studying.  Normally they're just talking about football, or cricket.  E-sports must be hitting the big time!  And indeed, money-wise, it's a very big deal.  The solo winner, a 16 year old from the USA nicknamed "Bugha", won $3 million!  (The final standings are here.)

That Fortnite dance...

"Wolfiez", the 15 year old British teenager who placed second in the Duos, won $2.25 million with his Dutch partner.  His mum was quite entertaining to listen to, though you can hear the despair of mums (and dads) all over the country in her words:

"It's not been a straightforward journey with Jaden, if I'm honest with you I've been quite against him gaming.  I've been more pushing him to his schoolwork.  I've actually thrown an Xbox out, snapped a headset, we've had a nightmare."

So, what do you do?  Do you let them play loads in the hope that they make you millions of dollars?  Let's face it, that's not very likely to happen.  But if they are good, it's best to get them to the top ASAP while they have peak reaction times.  What a conundrum!

Maybe the best thing is to see how good they are at it.  If they're high level at their game of choice whilst still getting decent grades at school, maybe they could get to pro level.  If it does get serious, it's not the end of the world.  They can always go back to school later on.  Perhaps when they're older they'll even be wiser about their subject choices!

Perhaps as Seb gets older I will change my mind about this subject.  But I feel the chances of him being so good at a game that this is even a potential are so tiny that I can rashly say this without fear of it coming back to bite me.  You know in four or so years I'll be shouting at him to "stop playing and do your homework!".  It's impossible not to worry that your kid is wasting their time playing games.  At the moment I fear it's him bugging me to stop when I'm trying to play as often as it is the other way round...

And if your kid is a girl child?  Unfortunately online gaming can be a pretty toxic and unfriendly place for girls.  Often I've found it's better to disguise my gender (not something that's easy to do with voice chat!).  As ever, if your kid's playing online a lot, make sure you take an interest in your child and what they're doing online.  Support them.  What happens online can be as important as what happens "in real life". 

Girls might not like the teenage boy-filled land of Fortnite, but there are plenty of other games girls can excel at.  E-sports is one area where there really should be no barrier to equal competition between the sexes; if there is a barrier, it needs to be removed quickly.  (Keith Stuart's article Not one of the Fortnite World Cup's 100 finalists was a woman.  Why? is worth a look, if you're interested.)

I guess what I'm saying is that if your kid qualifies for the Fortnite World Cup then support them, they're going to need your support.  But if they're just playing all night for no reward and getting bad grades, maybe throw the Xbox out of the window.  ;-)

Ramble: When games make the world better

Usually when games are mentioned in the news it's in a negative way.  Recently a story in the Guardian got me thinking about the positive aspects of gaming.  It can be an escape from your problems - we all know that - but it can be a real leveller for people.  Friendships you make in games can be just as strong as those In Real Life.  (After all, the teamwork required to conquer a dungeon in World of Warcraft can really bond you with your guildmates!)

The story I read recently was about Elite Dangerous: How a video game community filled my nephew's final days with joy.  Michael, aged 15, was autistic and loved Elite Dangerous.  He had terminal cancer. 

"For us, it was a lifeline: I spent time with Michael in the game world as he tried to escape the suffering of the real one."

His uncle tweeted about him playing and Frontier saw the tweet - Frontier visited brought him goodies in the hospital.  Other players sent their best wishes.  Then Frontier's Zac Antonaci offered to put together a script for a short story set in Elite, with Michael as the hero. 

The way everyone got together to give Michael the best days of his life towards the end brought tears to my eyes (and I'm on antidepressants, not much makes me cry these days!).

There's another story that touched me in a similar way, published by the BBC a few months ago: My disabled son's amazing gaming life in the World of Warcraft.  Mats had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.  When he was 11 he started online gaming, and he could interact with everyone else without them knowing his situation.  Online he could run, fight, do whatever everyone else could.  He became Lord Ibelin Redmore, and sometimes Jerome Walker.  He was a member of the Starlight guild.  When he was 24 he wrote a blog where he talked about WoW being his escape.  He shared his blog with the Starlight guild, who had had no idea about his situation.

"There my handicap doesn't matter, my chains are broken and I can be whoever I want to be.  In there I feel normal."

When he died, aged 25, his father wrote about his death on his blog and gave an e-mail address for anyone who wanted to get in touch.  To his surprise, more and more e-mails arrived.  Starlight pooled money so that those who could not afford it could travel to Norway for the funeral.  Though they'd never met In Real Life, guild members travelled hundreds of miles to see him off. 

In a less serious way, another article about gaming in the Guardian rather cheerfully points out the positives of gaming for everyone: It's ironic, but gaming can be an escape from our hyper-connected, screen-filled life.  Games can be a form of mindless mindfulness.  They take your mind off the things for a while (though of course avoidance of big problems in the long run is not helpful...) 

"It seems counterintuitive, but gaming provides for me the kind of peace and relaxation that's becoming harder and harder to find."

Games have structure.  They have rules.  (Unlike Real Life!)  And if you like a game that other people like, you're part of a club.  You have something to talk to other people about.  In the case of those with Autism, this can be a massive thing.  Liking the same game as others your age gives you social openings with your peers.  This little video from BBC's Newsround sums up some of the positives here: How Minecraft is helping kids with autism.

So, then, games aren't all bad.  I know I'm biased.  And we all know it's not good to spend your whole life playing them.  But they can be a great leveller.  They can provide friends.  Spend a few minutes reading the first two articles on here, cry a little, and you'll see what I mean when I say games can be a real force for good.