Jennifer McEntee is a causal gamer and stay-at-home mother of two daughters, ages five and eight. In her blog, Jen writes about playing The Princess Bride Game and gives us her unique perspective on what it means to be a parent in the videogame age.

My first real gaming experience was the PlayStation. My husband and I were still newlyweds and we spent an entire weekend trying to justify buying the new PlayStation. I think by Sunday we agreed we had to have it, so we set off to buy one. The first game we bought was Tomb Raider. It had me at “hello.” I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. navigating Laura Croft through caves and water, shooting bats and anything that jumped out at me. We were able to complete Tomb Raider with a little help from friends and websites that told of hidden mediapacks and secret doorways. We were also really into a game called Silent Hill (this game still scares me) and a simple brainless game called Spider.

Things died down for us with the PlayStation when work and children got in the way of playing as much as we used to. When the children grew old enough to start playing games, however, the good old PlayStation resurfaced. I didn’t realize that the girls would enjoy it as much as I had, even though it was a bit difficult for them. So, we allowed my 7-year-old to get a Game Boy.

She loved the easier games like Lizzie Maguire Homecoming Havoc 3. In this game, you collect rings or CDs to get to the next level. My favorite part was that you couldn’t die, you just restarted the level. She also enjoyed Disney Princess, a game where you moved around villages and got clues from people you talked to try in order to find the missing princess tiaras. The only downside to this game was that once you found all the tiaras, there was nothing left to do. Thank God for Game Stop! We often sell back games to this store and buy new ones.

The Game Boy has got me hooked again on playing games. This last Christmas, I thought that buying a Nintendo Wii for a family gift was a great idea — that was until I actually tried to get one. Stores were selling out in the first five minutes after opening! Ebay was making a killing, but I refused to pay that much for a game system when the retailers were selling it for so much less. Finally, I had heard Costco was getting a few, so I arrived 20 minutes before opening, and to my surprise there were only two other people waiting. However, by the time the doors opened, there were around 20 moms, dads and even grandparents trying to squeeze in first to get their Wii. (I guess this is what it was like for my mother trying to buy that special Cabbage Patch kid.) I got my Wii and counted the days until Christmas when I could start playing — with the kids that is!

We have had the Wii for two months and we play it quite a bit. My favorite game is bowling and anyone who would like to try to beat me, bring in on! The Wii, however, is just the beginning of the gaming itch for me. I had never realized the amount of games that are out there to be downloaded on the computer. With the computer there is no new system to buy or extra remotes to find. It’s all there at your finger tips. I have to admit I’m stuck on the puzzle type games for now; role playing seems a bit intense for me. If anybody knows of any good downloadable games, leave a comment and let me know. I’m ready to play!

Jen

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