While I lie in wait for Trebz to appear so I can bend his ear about the guides` site (expect the new one to appear very soon), I`ve decided to have a go at updating my column.

You may of heard Prince Charles comments about children and games:

"One of the great battles we face today is to persuade our children away from the computer games towards what can only be described as worthwhile books,"

Everyone is allowed to say what they think, but what did Prince Charles base this assumption on? Did he spend a day hammering away at Quake3? Did he ask someone to send him a few consoles or maybe a PC and a few games so he can see what it`s all about? Or did he walk past Prince William who was hunched over his console and think, "One is being horribly warped by the bright colours and loud noises. Best get him out watching the trooping of the colour, or reading a good book instead" (thanks Mikeybear ;)). Who knows? A good bet is he read a few stories about computer games (probably from America) and made up his mind that it was all bad, and came to the conclusion that books still rule the world. I doubt his view was based on facts.

What made me laugh is no one seemed to care what he said. Only the media seemed to by blowing it all out of proportion (as they usually do). They tried to look at the reasons for his comments. To top it all a number of games company`s seemed to panic, and sent him a box full of sport and educational games to ... well for what ever reason you can be sure that he did not touch them.

Back to his comments. The greatest battle today is nothing to do with computer games. These have been around for ages. The biggest battle has got to be the way children see society. It seems every kid wants things "NOW" and as cheap as possible... I`ll stop here because this is a column about gaming and I don`t want to go on about my views of the world today :).

Computer games are worthwhile as are books. In fact they are similar in many ways. Both have their strong points and of course negative. Think about it. In the past someone reading a book all day might be seen as intelligent, but they would be stuck glued to the pages of their book. Now if it was a gamer, they will have a game and be glued to their screen. They can take breaks. Talk to others who have played the game, be this on the internet or in the school playground. I guess in the old days people would do the same about books, but do they now? There are clubs who meet to talk about books. Reading classes e.t.c, but for entertainment value books are mostly read alone.

Books teach good english. Aid grammar and spelling, and allow the reader to think while visualising images in their minds while they read. Games teach you so many things it`s impossible to list them all. So I`ll quote from an article in the Sunday Times (You can read the full article here):

The research, funded by the government`s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), challenges the common view of computer gamers as "geeks" who cut themselves off from the world and develop few social or wider academic skills. Instead, it suggests that playing computer games could sharpen young people`s mental agility to a level superior to that of previous generations by exposing them to intense stimuli from a young age.

"People who play games regularly seem to develop a mental state that we have seen before only in serious athletes or professionals such as astronauts, whose life depends on concentration and co-ordination," said Jo Bryce, who led the research. "Their minds and bodies work together much better than those of most other people."

Mark Griffiths, a psychologist at Nottingham Trent University and an expert in computer gaming, found recently in a study of 800 children that those who played games "moderately"- no more than two hours a day-tended to do more sport than those who played no games. They had more friends, were better adjusted and tended to read more.

So games are not all bad. This article sums it up nicely. At the end of the day if a kid is playing games, but is also out socialising i.e. not roaming the streets, but taking part in activities, they will remain healthy and sound. This is a good point. If there were no games there would no doubt be more kids on the streets saying "I`m sooo bored. Lets go smash something".

Games not only help you to relax (students use them to take their mind off the stresses of school work), but they teach as well. I found out more about the rules of sports from playing a few games. American football confused me when I watched it. After a few games of John Madden on the mega drive I knew the rules off by heart and when I saw it on the TV I knew what was happening and enjoyed the sport more (this was back in my teenage years. Nowadays I`m into proper football, or soccer, as the Americans like to call it ;)).

Now can someone be given a game, and within a short space of time improve their knowledge or skill? Time for a test I think....

The Challenge
Right I play pool, well I`ll rephrase that I "try" to play pool. I`m not that good at it. Most shots when they do go in are fluky, and the only thing I seem to be good at is snookering an opponent, which is fun, but prolongs the result which is me losing.

I only play for a few laughs, and I prefer the beer and chatting with mates over being stuck at a pool table, but a friend of mine has gotten the "I 0wn you all" attitude so I think it`s about time someone knocked him off his high horse.

As the saying goes "Practice makes perfect", but I`ve played enough games and my problem seems to be a lack of concentration as well as not knowing the angles to well, so I`ve bought a copy of Virtual Pool 3 which has everything a pool player would need. Including a hot chick called "Jeanette Lee" showing you the ropes in the videos.

I`m not going to sit here and spend hours playing the game, but I`ll pick it up now and then and practice my shots. Then come next week I`ll see how my game has improved.

There are some good and bad points about practicing via a game:

Good: I can keep practicing without looking like a prat when I miss an easy shot. It will teach me well for the real thing (I hope). The videos are good so instead of me forking out money to pay someone to teach me, I get a pro pool player "Jeanette Lee" showing me what I need to know. Last good point is there`s no cheesy bar music :).
Bad: No beer, no socialising.

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