Sorry to say that i’ve had no time to write – so i’m microblogging over on Twitter. Come join me!

http://www.twitter.com/mommydx

Awww – the TMG Gamerscore challenge over on 360voice.com is over! I stunk big-time and came in 6th, but Raw Sugar laid the smackdown and took first place!! Hooray for GamerchiX!

Internet addiction may be one click away

“Gaming is certainly one of the things that could get people addicted to the Internet because it’s such a compelling content…,” said Robbins. “But I don’t think games are any more susceptible to Internet addiction than any of the other forms of entertainment.”

Anything that brings humans pleasure is addictive. Use a little self-control, and you and your kids will be just fine.

So, have your spawn been keeping cool at Club Penguin this Summer? (If you don’t know what Club Penguin is – think ‘Second Life’ for kids.)

Incidentally, Knucklehead spent some significant time playing there last night, and I happened to notice a couple of things that I thought I should mention here.

Using your musical instrument:

Are you wondering how your penguin can play a musical instrument? If so, try purchasing a backstage pass. (With your arcade winnings, of course). The backstage passes can be found in the lighthouse section of Club Penguin, at the t-shirt booth.  Once you equip the backstage pass, head over to the ice castle section and there will be a rock-n’-roll stage with the backstage door on the right.

Once your backstage, go to the box of instruments on your left and buy your instrument. If you want to play it, you’ll need to remove everything your penguin is wearing and equip only the instrument.

Afterwards, select the option that you would normally use to ‘dance’ and your penguin will start playing the instrument. If you have drum sticks, find a drum set around the various sections of Club Penguin, get behind it, and then select your ‘dance’ option. Your penguin should start banging away in no-time.

(Please, don’t ask how long it took us to figure that out. lol!)

If you’re looking for a free instrument; head over to the sandy beach and you’ll find a box of free maracas. And if you look hard enough near the main Club Penguin strip, you’ll find a booth giving out free rock t-shirts for your penguin as well.

Free Chat Option

Secondly, the super-regulated chat feature of Club Penguin got old really quick with Knucklehead, so with my parental blessing, I unlocked the option that allowed him to chat a little more freely.

That being said, it took all of 5 minutes for me to report someone. This person was basically a penguin terrorist; mouthing off and making the other kids miserable. I watched the shenanigans go on for a while, but finally wrangled the mouse away from my son long enough to report the menace.

Interestingly, within a minute of the complaint being filed, the bully penguin disappeared. I don’t know if he went away, or if he was pulled out of cyberspace by the moderators, but either way – he was, thankfully, nowhere to be found.

Incidentally, I spent the rest of my son’s session moderating the conversations, and I have to say I was very impressed with what I saw. There was only one other penguin that acted a fool, but overall, the rest of the penguin population played and chatted very nicely.

Overall, it was a nice experiment, and I think as long as a parent is lightly moderating the conversations, the open chat is fine. The Club Penguin moderators seem to be doing a very good job of weeding out the bad apples and allowing the rest of the bunch to have a fun time.

Parent Tip: If you want an easy way to moderate the dialogue in Club Penguin, click the blue arrow in the top, middle area of your screen. It will show you exactly who is saying what, and will keep you from having to look at all the speech bubbles in the room.

Until next time, happy gaming!

- Mommy DX

Did anyone else see Gene Simmons play Rock Band on his show, Family Jewels, the other night? One scene showed Gene attempting to play the game with some of Nick Simmons’ college buddies.

A second scene showed other members of Kiss having their turn with the rock-inspired game.

Of course, they failed…miserably. Which proves that players need not have any musical ability, whatsoever, to play this incredibly rocktacular game.

What? No Halo or GTA? He’s not so gamer…

Bungie’s site

E3 08: Bungie confirms that E3 announcement was pulled

No worries Bungie, we’ll wait… <3, Mommy DX