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Pop-Up Gaming Surgery with Skinner Family

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We visited GameStation to talk to families and offer advice in our Pop-up Family Gaming Surgery. Here is the sixth of the Family Gamer TV conversations we recorded at the pop-up gaming surgery -- catch the other videos here.

Today we talked to the Skinner family who were in store talking about what the appropriate age ratings were for their children. Their main games machined was a Sony PSP rather than a console. Although a less common choice the PSP has the benefit of not tying up the main TV screen in the home and being able to be played on the go -- like the 3DS, Smartphones and the PS Vita.

They played a range of games on the PSP from car racing to LEGO adventures to Sonic platform games. The different types of games available on handheld platforms are just as diverse as those on the more expensive consoles.

They talked about the importance of checking PEGI ratings before you buy games. On one occasion Mrs Skinner needed to return a game that was rated too old for their age of the children in the family. I suggested that the newer PEGI traffic light symbols with Red for 18+ games, Orange for 16+ and 12+ and Green for 7+ and 3+ would be an easier way to identify the appropriate games. This is an important aspect of playing games together as a family so you can ensure the games being played are for the right PEGI ratings age group.

They agreed that the new single PEGI rating system and stricter restrictions on selling games to people of the incorrect age was a good thing and should make it easier for parents purchasing games to make the right choices.

I asked them about playing games with other people online, but this wasn't something they had managed to do because their Wi-Fi connection hadn't co-operated with the PSP. Consoles, handhelds and smartphones use your Wireless internet connection to access the internet and communicate with other players. This can be affected by the speed of your Internet connection, if in doubt consult your Internet Service Provider.

Many thanks to the staff of GameStation who accommodated our FGTV filming session.

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Andrew Robertson
Andy Robertson is the editor of AskAboutGames and has written for national press and broadcast about video games and families for over 15 years. He has just published the Taming Gaming book with its Family Video Game Database.