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I played game cube for the first time

  • Thread starter jimscott
  • Start date
  • #21
Gosh I love reading my typos! Had to correct those first - before my unofficial editors point them out!  
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Hey, I'm glad you wrote what you had. I take no offence.

I was talking to my wife about this and although we are in complete agreement about violent-oriented games or TV or movies, she felt that they will get tired of it soon enough, likenearly every game or toy or pet. We also have installed Civilization, which my middle son (named Jonathan) got really into. He loves social studies, so it had some appeal as well as educational value. A friend has mentioned that SIMS programs are educationally oriented. I'll have to look into it. When they were a few years younger, we got a series of education CD's (math, mainly), but those have long since gathered dust. I am open to suggestions. I've done online chess and that was fun.
 
  • #22
Well, I've been doing a bit of pondering (what else are you to do after a freak boomerang accident leaves you stuck in one place??) and I've come up with a few things:

For the Gamecube:
Monkeyball and Super monkeyball (or was that Super monkeyball and Super monkeyball II??) are fun little games that your kids may enjoy (I know I do!) and while they aren't exactly educational, it's the sort of thing that I could imagine your son would want to play with you.

Another one I think would be a good idea would be Animal Crossing! This one's a fun game where you pretty much build a city. Not like sime city though, you controll a character and you meet new people and go on quests like getting items for them. You can buy items or play games to get them, there are things to decorate your house with, there are trees to plant and fish to catch and so on. I think that this one would be a good one in terms of the social aspect in two ways: 1) much of the game revolves around meeting new people, developing relationships, and helping others and 2) this would be something that I could see you and your son spending a lot of time on! If your son takes an itnerest in this one, then I'm sure he'd love to show you how his village has grown and how his house has changed. Heck, you could even create your own village so he'd still have the satisfaction of kicking your butt, but he might feel sympathetic and try to lend you a hand, too!

I'm not sure if your son would be interested in any of those games, but I think it'd be worth a shot. I'm not saying that it'll lead to miracles, but all of them are tame, and (especially the last one) seem to have some good potential for being games that you can connect with, and heck, if all else fails, he'll probably at least enjoy them! I may have written them out to sound kind of "kiddie" but I know that people of all ages enjoy them (myself included)
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As for the computer, well I haven't thought of many because I didn't think to, but when you said the SIMS, a little lightbulb went *ding!* right over my head. What thought of was:the Creatures games!
I LOVED these games growing up, and when you think about it, there is a LOT of educational value! There are 3 games in the series (well, I think they made a kiddie version, and there is the online bit, but I've fallen a bit behind in that news) and they revolved around AI creatures called Norns that you take care of.
(I remember the 3rd one best, so I'll concentrate on that) There are Norns, Ettins, and Grendels in Creatures 3, all of them having different look, speech, likes, environment, genetics, and so on. The Norns are the species of creature that you start with. They are curious and love to play and learn and interact with other AI creatures as well as the animals and environment around them. You start by hatching a Norn (or however many you want) from a few basic different looks. You teach them to speak, you can either use the help of machinery that teaches words to pictures, or you can teach them yourself, or both! You can continue to teach them however you like. You can teach them your name (you are a hand that helps them out, you can pull them along to places, speak to them, interact with the surrounding environment,) the names of plants and animals around them, and pretty much whatever you want. Here are some of the wonderful aspects of this game:

--There are patches and agents to download GALORE! You can download new Norn looks (there are a LOT!), items for seasonal events, different foods, toys, critters, everything!

--You build relationships with the Norns and help them build relationships amongst one another, they can even have a child together (in a very nongraphic way which consists merely of a big *smooch!* noise [they like giving Norns they like little kisses]) and the rules of genetics apply! So they will have characteristics of their parents, that coupled with the fact that you can download other types of norns, the combination possabilities are limitless!

--The educational value is out the roof! There's this doctor machine where you can choose from a GIANT selection of agents to give to your Norn to feel better (real life things, heck, I don't know what half of them are, and the inquisitive mind could learn a LOT!) The genetics go from simple look inheritance from parents to a genetics kit that you can download (I have yet to look in to this though, but from the looks of it, with it you can go REALLY in depth.) There's also the matter of taking care of the environment that the creatures live in, "bioenergy" is the limiting factor in creating certain objects, more can be obtained by training the Norns to get upgrades scattered throughout the parts of their world and by recycling biomass.

--The upgrades for the world that the creatures live in is a challenge in its own! There are some in the dangerous Grendel world where disease-bearing mosquitos, jumping crabs, piranhas, and other nasties rules, others in the hot Ettin world, hidden amongst all of the various items that the curious (and sometimes thieving!) Ettins live, as well as all around the rest of the world! These upgrades include bioenergy related items, activating functions on the ships (such as the item generator, and gene splicer which allows you to combine two creatures of different species, exponentially increasing the number of possabilities for a creature to turn out!) and giving you control over the other creatures so that you can teach and train them as well.

--This game has a lot of social interaction, the Norns will express themselves, or you can ask them how they are feeling and they will tell you. You can watch relationships develop between different species of creatures and between the same species. Teaching and interacting with the creatures creates a sort of relationship between you and them, and although their lifespan (if I remember correctly, is something around 8 or 9 hours) is short, you still get to feel connected to each one as you learn their quirks. And if you don't want to deal with one dying, you can always export it out of the world so it's safe.

--The environment is constantly changing in this game! There are several fully working ecosystems. The one your Norns start in has different fruit-bearing trees, herbivores, predators of critters, ants, fish, and so on. Should the life cycle ever be thrown out of whack, new critters can be placed back in to the eco system, along with flora, as well.

--The agents: you can connect many different types of agents to build contraptions. For instance, if I don't want a diseased, and potentially dangerous Grendel from entering my Norn habitat (Grendels tend to be agressive,) I can build a contraption to protect my Norns: I can connect a species sensor to a teleporter, when the sensor detects the Grendel, it initiates the teleporter, sending the Grendel back to his own ecosystem (or wherever you want!)

I believe that I have an extra copy of this game around here (I thought I lost the CD so I bought it again for like 5 bucks) and if you think your son(s) would be interested then let me know and I'm sure I'd be able to send one your way! If you have any questions, then feel free to shoot them my way. Sorry for making this post so Über long, but I wanted to give you a good idea of what this (highly fun and education) game is like so you can see if anyone of you or your kids is interested in it. Oh, and by the way, it isn't the newst game out, so it isn't very hardware intensive so you should probably ot have a problem running it. Well, lemme know if you're interested!
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--Jonathan (the younger middle son [#3 of 4])
 
  • #23
Wow! Thanks, J.T.! I like the idea of anything relational for him. With Aspergers Syndrome, he is not naturally strong on social interaction. Lots of good ideas here!
 
  • #24
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]With Aspergers Syndrome, he is not naturally strong on social interaction.

Yeah, I did a little bit of research on the syndrome before thinking of games. Hehe, I'll try to think of some more ( don't worry, they'll be much more compact in description.
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) Since not too many other people are posting, you can feel free to PM me if you're interested in the Creatures game or have any questions or anything. If I come up with more ideas, I'll shoot a PM your way.
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  • #25
Yeah, that would be way cool!
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  • #26
Animal crossing probibly would be a good idea(My sister Aubrie loves the game!). It`s not 2 player though(except when you find NES games on it)

The zelda series is also quite good,it has many challenging puzzles you must figure out,and also you can talk to people around the different islands (On the wind waker) and do favors for them. The violence is also rather "soft" with no blood or dismembered body parts,and the charecters are rather un-scary.

I personally love the Metroid prime games (Especialy Echoes) but they have much violence and echoes has realistic blood and dismemberement of bodies(although not human) so would probably not be suitable. Btw you can play Samus the female bounty hunter of the metroid games on Super Smash Bros. Mellee.


I`m glad you can play games with him:) He`s learning french?! Thats realy cool:)
 
  • #27
good luck getting closer to your kid! As an aspergers syndrome 16 year old, i can relate to some of the feelings he must have. My dad isnt that interested in what i like to do all that much, (plant and animal care) In fact, he'd rather have nothing to do with it in the house!
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Meh, i sneak in critters anyway.
But you you can support your childs intrests, ESPECIALLY an asburgers kids intrests (like french and video games and whatnot) That will be a surefire way to get involed with him.

-tyrel-
 
  • #28
Admitedly, we are on different planets, so to speak, much of the time. He is also naturally gifted in Math, so that is another potential common bond.There is another Asperger teen on our forum, but I'm not sure it is common knowledge. Do you take meds for it? Adderall or Dextrostat or Tenex?
 
  • #29
I take an anti-depressent And somthing to help with Anxiety. Ive never heard of the meds you talk about. Keep in mind that aspergers more gift than curse, for me, I can find somthing that intrests me and learn all i can about it, like art or living things (or in your sons case ...french). people think that ive been studying a subject for years, even though i only started that particular obbsesion a week ago!

What exactly to those medications do?
 
  • #30
A forum friend has a wife who is an aide to a teen with A.S. and his medication is Adderall. Doing a quick Google:

What is Adderall?
• Adderall is a stimulant and appetite suppressant. It stimulates the central nervous system (nerves and brain) by increasing the amount of certain chemicals in the body. This increases heart rate and blood pressure and decreases appetite, among other effects.
• Adderall is used to treat narcolepsy and attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD).
• Adderall may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide.

Dextrostat is a neural stimulant. In effect, it helps unscrambles what is being perceived. It also has a side effect of appetite suppresant and keeps him up way late. Here's a link to it:

dextrostat

tenex

Oddly enough, they are more used for ADD & ADHD. But this is what has been prescribed.

How are you in social situations? Can you sense, for instance, tension in a room?
 
  • #31
im no doctor, but i think aspergers and attention deficit are are completly different things, that may be confused by someone looking at the childs behaviour. (esspecially teachers...)
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. what is narcolepsy?

I feel tension at times, but it really depends on the situation. Im usually fine at home, But at times i find it hard to work my way into a circle of talking people. It also depends how well i know the people. I also might be a little nervous trying to get help at a store from an employee, but not too often.

keep in mind that every case is different.

keep in mind that
 
  • #32
You are right about ADD & A.S. being two different things, with similar symptoms, causing confusion with people who have enough knowledge about these things, but not enough to know what they are talking about. However, there does seem to be some crossover in treatment. I am trusting that the physicians who prescribe meds know what they are doing - I hope.

Narcolepsy: (from a Google search) Narcolepsy is primarily characterized by intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime.

Are you real good in math? Do you have a way of speaking such that you sound like a "little professor"?
 
  • #33
Nope, Math is my greatest weakness...and greatest enemy....:D

But yeah, people can be a bit flabbergasted when i start talking all scientific like. hee.
 
  • #34
I would have bet anything that you were gifted in math. So much for knowing enough about A.S.! Now when you talk, is it it kinda choppy sounding? Have you ever been told that you interupt or sound rude or condescending? Can you perceive of how things feel differently when you are or aren't on meds? Do you have incredible amounts of energy at precisely the wrong time of day and then struggle to get up for school? These are things we experience our son.
 
  • #35
yeah, most aspergers kids are gifted in a few things, but diffrent people have different skills.

Choppy sounding? Im not sure what you mean, but im sure that i talk quite normally. (although i did take speech lessons for a short time when i was very young.) My dad thinks his brother has aspergers, and he tends to repeat things.

About the interupting, Its a known fact that people with aspergurgers have trouble with social skills, But again every case is different. In my case, i try not to interrupt unless its urgent, and ive been told im quite polite, But im a bit shy with new people.
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I dont think the energy thing is a problem for me, But when i was going to school, ( I've since started my education by correspondence, I was having difficulties) I had an extremly hard time getting up for school. I guess it was partly out of tiredness, and partly out of lack of motavation.

-tyrel-
 
  • #36
gifted like savantism?
 
  • #37
[b said:
Quote[/b] (JustLikeAPill @ Aug. 14 2005,3:01)]gifted like savantism?
I'm not sure. I think that the Rainman character was a savant, of some sort of Autsim Spectrum disorder, but not A.S. I just don't know enough about it.
 
  • #38
[b said:
Quote[/b] (tyrel @ Aug. 14 2005,1:54)]yeah, most aspergers kids are gifted in a few things, but diffrent people have different skills.

Choppy sounding? Im not sure what you mean, but im sure that i talk quite normally. (although i did take speech lessons for a short time when i was very young.) My dad thinks his brother has aspergers, and he tends to repeat things.

About the interupting, Its a known fact that people with aspergurgers have  trouble with social skills, But again every case is different. In my case, i try not to interrupt unless its urgent, and ive been told im quite polite, But im a bit shy with new people.
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I dont think the energy thing is a problem for me, But when i was going to school, ( I've since started my education by correspondence, I was having difficulties) I had an extremly hard time getting up for school. I guess it was partly out of tiredness, and partly out of lack of motavation.

-tyrel-
Hard to explain the choppiness. My son did a whole mess of repeating and we had to do a lot of instruction repeating. At first, we were told that he had a "processing problem". Yeah, that's a symptom, but there was more to it than that. were you like the testcase for A.S.? I mean, was the school totally clueless as to what was going on? Did you get any teacher aides to help? Do your folks have websites or discussion forums to talk to other parents and compare notes?
 
  • #39
Well, I wasen't diagnosed untill i was 14 years old. so up untill then everyone was clueless.
 
  • #40
Terrific! That's a lot of struggle and confusion in the meantime. This is all realtively new to school districts. My son was the guinea pig in 4 different schools.
 
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