On a night just like tonight... Happy Birthday Wii & PS3




























Cold. A brisk winter wind. A night filled with anticipation. Excitement both for the new gaming experiences and potential profit. Two years ago this week, the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii were released within days of each other. 


Happy birthday!

On the most recent Gaming in Libraries podcast, I mentioned how I thought believe the Wii has expanded the acceptance of gaming in libraries. Clearly the Wii has expanded the gaming audience. The PS3, while it may struggle in sales, it is still an amazing piece of technology and will continue to help gaming grow and expand. The PS3's folding @home project may have faded from the spotlight, but it still is an important step in broadening commercial video game use.

I was out at both launch nights interviewing those waiting in line.

PS3 launch night discussions

Wii launch night discussion

Both posts are filled with comments from gamers about what they do when they are stuck. The interesting piece is that this same mentality can be seen at the reference desk. Students and gamers see asking for help as a potential weakness. With the Pew Internet study showing that 98% of teens play games, this mentality may not be going away.

So how we change that?

Can librarians can be the "in-game" tutorial during the opening level, more than the "cheat" when frustration sets in? Should we?

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