Pokemon Game Guide: Brush up on your Pokemon history in time for the release of Platinum

It may be over a decade since the first game birthed a legion of Pokeholics, but Pokémon fever is still riding high. On March 22 Nintendo will be releasing the latest entry in the series, Pokémon Platinum. To celebrate this occasion, What They Play has put together this handy guide of games in the series so you can hold your own in a conversation with an eight year-old. And boy, there are a lot.

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Parenting in the Games Industry: How the people who make games balance gaming and family

Raising kids today isn’t easy. There are so many different distractions clamoring for their attention that it can often be overwhelming for parents. This is especially true with video games, a form of media that is often misunderstood, and can be difficult to follow. Of course, there are also many tools available to parents – What They Play being one of them – but it can still be tough. In fact, even people who work in the games industry can often have a difficult time with deciding what games are appropriate, and when to get kids started on gaming.
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Little Big Planet: 10 great user-created levels

Picking up and playing Little Big Planet is a fairly easy task (and something that many of you are doing if the feedback to the What They Play podcast is any gauge) as the charming platform game is accessible for virtually all levels of gamers. But there is one aspect of the game the game that can be a little daunting: the user generated content. LBP allows players to create their own levels, and then share them with other users via the PlayStation Network. But sorting through the thousands of player made levels can be a bit intimidating, so we’ve put together this handy guide to get you started. Here are 10 wonderful levels, each of which are very different from one another, demonstrating the sheer range of levels available to play. Simply search the levels name in the game and you’re ready to start playing.

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Linked to on the Official PlayStation Blog.

8 Problem Solving Games

There are many different reasons that people play games, and just as many different kinds of games to accommodate those tastes. However, one of the most popular reasons is challenge. A lot of gamers simply love the satisfaction that comes from beating a particularly tough level. But this doesn’t always have to mean violent gameplay where players are forced to do battle with waves of enemies. In fact, there are plenty of games that challenge players’ ability to solve problems, albeit in a fun and exciting way. Here are a few such games, as well as links to their individual What They Play pages, which will provide further information.

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7 Games You Can Read

The steady decline in literacy among today’s youth has been blamed on many things, from an increasingly busy lifestyle to the growing impact of technology on our lives. Of course, one of the prime targets for the past few decades has been the video game. But while the time a child spends playing a game may take away from time spent with a book, that doesn’t mean that they can’t read as well. Many popular games feature a great deal of text, so players are required to read in order to progress. And while they may not be the pinnacles of literary excellence (every game we tested scored “4th Grade & Below” on the Dale-Chall Readabilty Index), they still provide kids with another outlet in which to read. Here are a few such games, along with links to their individual What They Play pages, which go into more detail about their ESRB rating, content, and gameplay experience.

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What They Play – Staff Picks 2008

Check out my picks, along with the rest of the WTP staff,  for Game of the Year (Persona 4) and Family Game of the Year (Boom Blox).

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Miniclip: Get the Facts

Miniclip touts itself as “the world’s largest online games website,” with a purported 43 million players globally. The site features over 300 different free-to-play games divided into a number of categories, ranging from action and puzzle games to “MMOs” (Massively Multiplayer Online games) including mega-hits like Club Penguin and Runescape. Games are played solely within a web browser, though downloadable versions are also available for several titles. The site works on both Windows-based PCs and Macs.

Read the complete article at What They Play.