I’m sitting here in the Phoenix Airport waiting for a flight to Minneapolis. This is my weekend to speak to the Indie Devs at the IMGDC about Community Management. Boy, are they in for it. I’m not going to be doing the usual “be polite, be respectful”; I plan to tell them to build tools from the beginning because “it’s a damn service, not just a game!” *sigh*

What I should be doing is catching up on some reviews. I have 3 kid’s DS games I need to review. Some are going on four weeks old.

We work really hard to cover children’s titles on this site. We work even harder to make sure there are children (of the appropriate ages) in the homes where the games are being covered. And you’d think the games would be a slam-dunk to cover. It’s just not the case. With the possible exception of MMOs, they’re the hardest titles to cover.

Leaving aside the fact that they’re some of the most poorly made product in the industry, how do you justify forcing your child to play a game a warp speed and get any meaningful information as to what the game play is actually like?

Should you have the misfortune of getting a “game for girls” it becomes a nightmare. “Game for girls” somehow equates to pink, princess, horses, terrible dialogue and shallow storyline.

I once realized I was bribing my child to play a game he simply did not like. And you know what? Neither did I.

Then there are the games that you like, but are completely inappropriate for the development state of the child they’re targeted at. Sure, they say they’re for a 7 or 8 or 10 year old. But what exactly does that mean? Is it a kid that reads? Reads well? Understands complex story arcs? Just wants to collect stuff? Can grasp strategy?

Children are gauged by their development not their age.

Many’s the time I loathe a game only to have my younger (less emotionally advanced child) latch onto it like a leech. I think it’s just horrible! He thinks it’s fantastic! I could write 2 pages about its flaws; he comes home from school and races through his homework to play.

It’s all really frustrating.

I know we have games from the holidays not yet reviewed throughout the site. Viva Piñata came out during that period. So did the Wii. My children have not let go of VP or Wii Sports. They have phases where they’ll play other games for 30 minutes a day (all they’re allowed on a school day) but they only do that for 2-3 days. Then, it’s back to VP or Wii Sports.

Explaining this to a publisher or developer that depends upon you as “advertising” for their game is hard.

But I believe in what we do. Kid’s play the way they play. We should review based upon that. Considering my house is still a Viva Piñata house, we should probably do another review about the elder play. I know that other members of our site are still playing Strawberry Shortcake with their kids 7 months later.

Those are important points that we couldn’t put in an initial review.

But will you, the reader, care?