Wii Mend Bones

My dad broke his left arm last week at work on a ladder. He only fell four feet, but it was enough to break a bone. Luckily it wasn't horribly disfigured and the local doctor had him patched up in no time. He did have to drive over an hour with it first though.

So I decided to let my parents keep the Wii for the next 6-8 weeks. Dad is right handed so he can still bowl sitting in his chair like he usually does. He's a wrist flinger. Hopefully this will help him keep his sanity since he can't be out working and trying to pay the man.

The Wii is a gamer's joke, but honestly this couldn't have worked with an Xbox and a lot of people's parents. God bless you Nintendo. My parents thank you as well.

Gamer Gone Missing

So while I'm in the hospital, I just learned about this missing gamer.

The story is that the father of Ontario teenager Brandon Crisp's Xbox and game Call of Duty 4 because he was too involved in it and in return, Brandon fled his home. Among the suspected reasons were that he ran away with someone he met or possibly even a sexual predator and even the father's parenting has become suspect, the last two theories his mom sticks to.

Yesterday Microsoft donated $25,000 to the reward fund, bringing the total to $50,000. Microsoft is now even loosening privacy details of Brandon's XBLA account and Xbox 360 harddrive to help with the search, hoping to uncover messages or logs about who he had contact with before he disappeared.

Today, Canadian "reality" tv show star Terry Grant of Manhunter has also joined the search. Manhunt is a race-based chase show airing on an outdoor canadian channel where Terry gives the contestants a headstart with their map and compass and releases them out to the  and Terry hunts them down on horseback.

Currently, that is where the search stands.

With such little information, it's hard to place blame or pose a solution for this kind of awful ordeal. I never would have thought of running away, at least past our 14 acre property, when I was a kid. It's easy to place the blame on an outside source, knowing how people can easily band together online with no possible reprocussion from their advice, not even knowing the person on the other end.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out, what happens to him when he's found (and sadly, if he's found) and what kind of effects this will have on gamers, local media, and more importantly, politics. Having such a rough time now being blamed for every youth incident you see on the news, video games aren't getting a better rep because of this, no matter how it turns out.

Full Time Daddy

When we started Part Time Gamer, I had basically three things to work gaming around: my wife, my job, and my household (including cars and a motorcycle). These things were my trifecta in life. Then, about 4 weeks ago, a couple of months after we got back from Cairo, we found out that Nicole is pregnant, due at the end of the year.

Now every time that I play games, or mow grass, or go on a bike ride, or go out to eat with my wife, I imagine what all that will be like when I have a little baby girl or boy in tow.

I'm going to try to record these kinds of interactions and how they relate to my "part time gaming" in the years to come. I'm not going to make this a baby-gaming blog, but just as interesting things pop up. It should be a lot of fun.

For instance, lately, when I play Grand Theft Auto IV, and all the characters cuss like construction workers who are in the navy, it pulls me out of the game with a fatherly reaction, looking for the child's ears those words fell on. But there are none. Yet.

A Sign of the Times (Parents Gaming)

I know my parent's have had my Wii for a couple of months now and that's pretty impressive. I think the Wii hearkens back to days of the Atari 2600, when gaming was one-button simple.

But Brian's mom (not the Brian on here) told him that she has played through two Splinter Cell games and has just bought Metal Gear Solid.

Whether she likes it or not, she's a gamer.