The variety of games systems for our youth to choose from is very wide. It is important to understand they there are some titles that are not a good influence for all of our youth. Some are educational, fun and extra entertaining for many kids to enjoy and because of the new motion gaming systems like the Nintendo Wii or the xbox 360 kinect, changes in the way children games have also transformed to a more realistic and virtual game playing with contents unacceptable for many kids to view and parents need to be aware of the potential dangers that their children will be confronted with when playing some of these games.

A long time ago when people just began to have a gaming platform in their home, there was little concern that the games would be too violent or unhealthy for children. There was no fear that the kids would be influenced in unhealthy ways by the games that were being sold. A game does not have to be violent or sexually explicit for a young child to pick it up and like it. Not every child is trying to find a game that their parents will deem as unacceptable. The problem is that the advances in the platforms have created a market for more of the violent images in the games. With high definition graphics and surround sound the ability to make games more lifelike is increasing. The need to control who is able to play these games based on age has become more important in the world today. This increase in available games that are more violent has caused some adults to try to monitor their kids game play even more.

Game platforms first arrived on the scene with a small amount of titles to play. In today's world there are a lot more games to choose from than ever before. The increased number of titles has meant that there is always something new for the adults to look out for.

The titles now come with a rating that lets adults know what type of game it is. Using the ratings will help a parent decide if a game is appropriate for the age and maturity level of their kid. Game systems have improved the way these games are played. It looks like many of the titles are more real life. The line between the real world and the gaming world becomes harder for children to see. While the ratings can help with this they are jut a guideline.

People need to think about how much they will spend on these platforms. While a person might not spend much more on the new xbox 360 kinect price than a person spent on an old PONG platform when it first appeared on the market, the cost of the games has gone way up and can be a significant investment for a child, and this makes the choice of the games even more important. It makes it tough to buy a lot of different games and a person does not want to waste money on the wrong game.

Some of the gaming systems now have parental controls. This helps a parent to limit what types of games a child can play. Different systems accomplish this in different ways. They are not foolproof and a child can disable the controls. The use of controls is not a substitute for the parent's themselves.

There is nothing wrong with a parent learning about the games by enjoying them with their kids. Know what games your kids are playing by playing some of them with them. A parent can show a child how to play games the right way. When mature and violent situations occur it will give the parent the opportunity to talk about them. Open lines of communication will never be replaced by technology.