Welcome to all, Gaming is a major thing now adays and many people enjoy videogames as an escape from day to day stress as do I. There are some out there who believe that video games have absolutley no value to anyone who plays them. I disagree with this yet there are times that I do agree but for the most part they do help with reflexes depending on those that get played. They can also be informational, in this blog I will discuss some of them as well as the pros and cons of some games and systems.
For the Systems,
For Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii the main systems, if you were looking for a system with major online play you would most likley choose between the 360 or PS3 but most would go the route of the 360 as there are more online games for this system then for the PS3. The negatives of the 360 though are that the system for the origianl style quite commonly gets the Red Ring of Death also known as the RROD. Also to be able to play online you would have to have an xbox live account, there are two types. You have your silver live account or gold live account. Silver allows you to see what friends are online and to get updates and demos and purchase games online but you would not be able to play with anyone as gold is the only account that would allow you to play with others and use Netflix and so forth for the online content to watch movies or listen to music. For the PS3 the online may be free but it also has its downside even though its free and you may not need to pay for it they do also have may issues with security thus far as we have seen with We are Anonomous having taken over their system for a while and it could result in losing your account or info on the account. They also do not have as many online games as the 360 although the graphics on the PS3 are deffinately much better than those of the 360. They both have come out with tools or cameras that allow you to interact with your games but this is the main aspect of the Wii where you are able to interact with the game more so than the other systems. Even though the Wii is the system for interfacing with the game using yourself it dose not have many games and most are for the younger generation yet are still fun.
The Games and information,
There are war games that can help us understand some of the events in our past along with the Battlfield, Call of Duty and Medal of Honor series but not all of the shooter games are informational as we have seen with Halo and some of the other futuristic games. Those may be fun but they hold no value in history or learning except for improving your reaction time in the online features. There are games out that help those who play to be able to help with math, wrighting and so on but these are not normally on the main consoles I have mentioned but usually on a handheld system and can be fun at times but can also lose the interest quickly if it is not done well enough in the story line of the game.
I myself use my games to escape the day to day pressures but I would not recomend playing as soon as you get home to when you go to bed, this is not a healthy lifestyle and as such could cause issues for you going to sleep or in your day to day social life. If you would like to start gaming enjoy it on your days off for a while but keep some time to go outside and enjoy the day and do not plan to stay infront of it all day. Computers and TV's are known to affect eyesight as well when infront of them for long periods of time. So spend some time here and there like an hour or so then step away for an hour or more to enjoy some of the day.
Game systems are also able to help those who do not enjoy social interactions as if you play online then you could play and use the microphone to help communicate with your team mates to help coordinate an effective plan to the game you are playing to reach the goal, thus allowing you to simply build up to socialization with others. You would be able to limit the communication or how loud you hear others and after some time you could then be able to socialize with others again just remember when using it for these purposes this is not something done by a doctor and never has been approved by any medical standards but it helped me.
When selecting games,
Remember when you are looking for a game to read a bit about it on the back of the game, dont just judge by the pics on the case as they do not always depict the full extent of the game, you may be more interested or less by what you read on it. Also be sure to read the ESRB rating for those who are purchasing for someone else as some games contain mature content or language. Every game is required to have a rating and to display why it was rated for such and will have that on the back of the game as well as most of the time on the front on a bottom corner.
