So now that I've decided on downloadable games, where do I go to buy them? Stephanie wanted games for kids ages 2~12, so I made up a list for her of games, prices, and recommendations.
Giggles Baby: Nursery Rhymes 6-24 months $19.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2009)
Bob the Builder Can-Do Zoo Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2009)
Dora’s Carnival Adventure Rated E $6.99
World of Goo Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2009)
Nancy Drew and the Phantom of Venice Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Fall 2008)
I Spy Funhouse Rated E $6.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2008)
JumpStart Advanced Preschool, JumpStart Advanced Kindergarten, JumpStart Advanced 1st grade, JumpStart Advanced 2nd grade, JumpStart Advanced 3rd grade
$14.99
(ALASC Great Interactive Software for Kids Spring 2008)
Thomas and Friends: Special Delivery Rated E $19.99
So I had Giggles for the babies, JumpStart for Edutainment Pre-K through 3rd grade, Dora and Bob the Builder for younger girls and boys, Thomas the Tank Engine because he is a local favorite, World of Goo (one of my personal favorites!) and Nancy Drew for the older boys and girls, And I Spy because it was a favorite from the older computers. I couldn't bring back Barney or Magic School Bus, but I Spy was still around.
I purchased 5 licenses for the Giggles game, and the JumpStart Games, though neither one of them required a license key or any sort of activation. I would rather cover my bases though. The Thomas Game specifically allows for you to install the game on five different computers with one license, so only one license was needed there. (It does require activation, so they are going to hold you to that five computer limit. No cheating!) The Big Fish Games site is awesome. Not only are their games only $6.99 a piece, but when I emailed them to inquire about multiple licensing, their tech support cheerfully replied that I only needed to buy one copy and I would be able to reinstall on all five of my children's computers. Hooray! Big Fish Games does have a client window that pops up underneath their games, but with SteadyState I was able to block the client from popping up, and the games still run just fine. (You wouldn't necessarily need to block the client from running, I just preferred they access the games from the desktop icon, and not through the client.)
(Just a note: Since you are downloading the entire game, many of these files are ridiculously big. Even if you have a fast internet connection, these downloads are going to take some time, so just be patient. The lack of disk-switching will be well worth it in the end!)
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Children's Computing, the easy way
So we've recently had a dilemma that caused me a ton of headache and stress. The Library's Children's computers were terribly, horribly out of date (like original Gates computers, Windows NT out of date) but we had no idea how to recreate the setup. We liked the idea of a locked down computer, without internet access, and with pre-installed computer games the kids would recognize. But we ran into all sorts of problems! The major one being that most games produced now run off a disk, and require the disk to run as a copy-protection/space issue. But for our children's section, changing game CDs every time someone wants to play a different game is just impossible. Besides, then those CDs can be damaged through use, or even stolen. Not an ideal situation. So I thought. And thought some more.
First I tried Qimo, an open source linux desktop designed for children. Unfortunately, I'm not all that familiar with linux (I have some knowledge, but I'm by no means a linux expert. I'm a Mac girl.) and Qimo hasn't quite been perfected to lock down the system yet. Kids went to smash buttons, and the entire desktop would disappear. Poof.
So back to Windows we went. I tried a Windows XP install with TuxPaint, GCompris, Childsplay, and other open source games installed. It went okay, but a regular Windows install still allows for way too much fooling around on the desktop, adding folders, and moving/deleting/hiding icons, and things that I had to go back and fix when things went horribly wrong. And then I found Kiddix. Kiddix was it's very own operating system (linux based), but it was framed in such a user friendly manner that that didn't matter. Everything was locked down, so no mishaps with the entire taskbar disappearing or the language getting switched to Chinese without any indication as to how to switch back. And if something ever went wrong, they had awesome tech support who worked through it for me. We ran Kiddix for six months before the subject came up again.
Unfortunately, the computers we replaced the original children's computers with were still older computers. I don't know if it was the abuse the computers got from the kids, or the already aging computers limping around on their last legs, but we had issues with the computers freezing up and other various issues. Not major problems, just annoyances for the staff. So when fixing the children's computers came up again, the decision was made to buy brand new computers -and- to find games that the kids would recognize. Children and parents kept asking about games we had on the old Gates computers: Barney, and Magic School Bus, etc., and while they would play the no-brand games on Kiddix, it was decided to look again.
So I started at LibGaming. A search there lead me to GameTap, a game streaming service. I had considered game streaming before, but we always ran into a couple of problems. One, it required access to the internet. Two, most game streaming collections had far more extensive collections than we needed. These computers would only be used for roughly ages 2-12, and primarily for the younger set. (The older kids tend to use the public computers because they want to access the internet.) But looking at the Library Gaming Toolkit, GameTap looked like a pretty viable solution, as long as we could possibly use SteadyState to lock out all internet sites except for the ones GameTap needed to run. Why SteadyState? Well, it's free. Also, the Whitelist function. So I got an older test computer, and I tried it out. I managed to find all the servers to make the GameTap website load (*.metaboli.fr, *.gametap.com), but I never was able to get the plugin to connect. I contacted GameTap technical support, but all they could tell me was that GameTap had not been tested with SteadyState, and could not be guaranteed to work. Gee, thanks guys.
So GameTap was out of the picture. I began to despair, and then I realized I was a moron. No seriously. While searching for Bob the Builder downloadable games, I found....BOB THE BUILDER DOWNLOADABLE GAMES! Not streaming flash games, or anything like that, but games that you bought the license for, downloaded the installer, and put it on your computer, never to have to connect to the internet again. And best yet, since there is no disk, well, there is no disk to deal with! This seemed like such a simple solution, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before! I mean, I don't think I've bought any software in the past two years that came on CD. Everything has been downloaded from the internet. Why didn't I assume that children's games would be the same way? Of course, even the ALA's Great Interactive Software for Kids list, doesn't take this into account. Some of the games they labeled as "needs disk to run" I purchased as downloads, so maybe I shouldn't feel so bad.
(Part 2 coming, with links to where I purchased my downloadable games.)
First I tried Qimo, an open source linux desktop designed for children. Unfortunately, I'm not all that familiar with linux (I have some knowledge, but I'm by no means a linux expert. I'm a Mac girl.) and Qimo hasn't quite been perfected to lock down the system yet. Kids went to smash buttons, and the entire desktop would disappear. Poof.
So back to Windows we went. I tried a Windows XP install with TuxPaint, GCompris, Childsplay, and other open source games installed. It went okay, but a regular Windows install still allows for way too much fooling around on the desktop, adding folders, and moving/deleting/hiding icons, and things that I had to go back and fix when things went horribly wrong. And then I found Kiddix. Kiddix was it's very own operating system (linux based), but it was framed in such a user friendly manner that that didn't matter. Everything was locked down, so no mishaps with the entire taskbar disappearing or the language getting switched to Chinese without any indication as to how to switch back. And if something ever went wrong, they had awesome tech support who worked through it for me. We ran Kiddix for six months before the subject came up again.
Unfortunately, the computers we replaced the original children's computers with were still older computers. I don't know if it was the abuse the computers got from the kids, or the already aging computers limping around on their last legs, but we had issues with the computers freezing up and other various issues. Not major problems, just annoyances for the staff. So when fixing the children's computers came up again, the decision was made to buy brand new computers -and- to find games that the kids would recognize. Children and parents kept asking about games we had on the old Gates computers: Barney, and Magic School Bus, etc., and while they would play the no-brand games on Kiddix, it was decided to look again.
So I started at LibGaming. A search there lead me to GameTap, a game streaming service. I had considered game streaming before, but we always ran into a couple of problems. One, it required access to the internet. Two, most game streaming collections had far more extensive collections than we needed. These computers would only be used for roughly ages 2-12, and primarily for the younger set. (The older kids tend to use the public computers because they want to access the internet.) But looking at the Library Gaming Toolkit, GameTap looked like a pretty viable solution, as long as we could possibly use SteadyState to lock out all internet sites except for the ones GameTap needed to run. Why SteadyState? Well, it's free. Also, the Whitelist function. So I got an older test computer, and I tried it out. I managed to find all the servers to make the GameTap website load (*.metaboli.fr, *.gametap.com), but I never was able to get the plugin to connect. I contacted GameTap technical support, but all they could tell me was that GameTap had not been tested with SteadyState, and could not be guaranteed to work. Gee, thanks guys.
So GameTap was out of the picture. I began to despair, and then I realized I was a moron. No seriously. While searching for Bob the Builder downloadable games, I found....BOB THE BUILDER DOWNLOADABLE GAMES! Not streaming flash games, or anything like that, but games that you bought the license for, downloaded the installer, and put it on your computer, never to have to connect to the internet again. And best yet, since there is no disk, well, there is no disk to deal with! This seemed like such a simple solution, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before! I mean, I don't think I've bought any software in the past two years that came on CD. Everything has been downloaded from the internet. Why didn't I assume that children's games would be the same way? Of course, even the ALA's Great Interactive Software for Kids list, doesn't take this into account. Some of the games they labeled as "needs disk to run" I purchased as downloads, so maybe I shouldn't feel so bad.
(Part 2 coming, with links to where I purchased my downloadable games.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
