[Help] My Teenage Gaming Problem - Force your tastes on Paco's students instead of helping!

So this is a bit off topic here but I'm here asking for suggestions from you game heads. I figured I'd post it in here since not everyone is going to read my journal and this is something I'm gonna need to do.

Ever since I was moved to working at the high school, I've done nothing except push pixels and pull paperwork. It's been OK and all but this week I've been given a new duty. I've been put in charge of creating a "game lounge" for our after-school program here at the school. I already know that I'm going to be purchasing a Cube unit similar to the one we used at my previous school site but with Xbox 360 units instead of Wiis.

Here's where you, the Gamingforce Elite come in:

I need to compile a list of video games that I can present to my site director so that she can approve the purchase order. This will be a mobile gaming cube that will accommodate a total of four XBOX 360 systems each with their own screen and I am looking to buy at least 3 games for each unit. They don't need to have any educational value and the more diverse my list is, the better. However, they DO need to be Rated T or below. Rated M games are out of the question because we don't need to be enabling teenagers' already-rampantly-hormonal-and-chemically-imbalanced bad habits through godless video game propaganda; that's how we end up with situations like Columbine and shit.

Let the suggestions begin. I am already sure I'm buying Rock Band 2, so you guys can skip that one but everything else is open season.

GO!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Bigblah

Best suggestion ever.

Along with this:


How ya doing, buddy?

Seriously. Average game, but the epicness of this game should be known to younger gamers. I'm sure some teenagers would get a kick out of oversized bugs and gigantic robots attacking the city.

It's also rated Teen, so it seems action packed enough. It's also $17.99 at Gamestop. :|

Also, give those lazy kids some exercise.



Do this. I'm sure that a small dose of physical activity wouldn't hurt anyone after school. Better than them being lazy, right?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

They aren't stupid.

Stick to well known stuff on the Platinum release lists for several reasons. They've proven to have wide appeal, they'll be cheaper for your school to obtain, they'll be less of a pain in the ass to replace when they get bunged up by overhandling, and the majority of genres they represent tend to be the things 15 year olds like.

Go with stuff like Burnout, Soul Calibur 4, Tony Hawk, Fight Night. Shit that's pick up and play and doesn't require too much effort to progress.

Chaotic's EDF example would be decent for co-op but the lack of variety and requirements for grinding may hurt long term appeal.

Lost Planet would also satisfy the shootin' that dem kids like, and it's rated T. I guess because you shoot insects.

Also, everyone likes Lego Star Wars.

Buying dance pads that will need constant replacement is a waste of money. Students don't treat school property well at all. You already have a music game in RB2, stick with that. I can promise as long as you have that, DDR would be the definition of useless.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Encephalon

Rated M games are out of the question because we don't need to be enabling teenagers' already-rampantly-hormonal-and-chemically-imbalanced bad habits through godless video game propaganda; that's how we end up with situations like Columbine and shit.

Prototype is nothing but a godless murder simulator to instruct kids on how to kill with tentacles.

Seriously though, I'd suggest picking up some things like Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection. Broad variety of games on the disc, cheap, simple, very easy to pick up and play. Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is pretty good too, though some of those games might be a little too old for high school kids these days. It's also not difficult to find cheap copies of that console pack-in of Sega Superstars Tennis with the XBLA collection disc at used game stores.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You might be able to get away with The Orange Box depending on whether your boss considers TF2 cartoony enough for young kids to play.

About Rock Band: it's a good suggestion, but you might want to consider getting a pedal replacement, cause I think the official warranty on the equipment now only lasts like 60 days from purchase. If it breaks, you're stuck with a game only one or two people can play.

There's quite a few XBL games that you might consider. Schizoid, Castle Crashers, Braid (I guess I don't have to tell you that), Geometry Wars 1 & 2, Trials HD, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Turtles in Time Reshelled (I dunno, this might be too old for current generation of gamers), Portal: Still Alive (if Orange Box doesn't fly)

Just remember not to have the systems on auto-login if you go the live arcade route, cause you don't want kids affecting the master account.

FELIPE NO

If those snot-nosed punks cannot appreciate this, they don't deserve eyesight.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Orange Box is rated T-M, so that throws it out.

Why would you buy those arcade games when the DRM isn't conductive to this set up, nor is the ability to be connected to the internet often enough guaranteed, if it's a mobile cart. (Also Reshelled is kinda crap).

You people aren't thinking very practical. =\

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Originally Posted by Colonel Skills

You people aren't can't thinking very practical. =\

I have fixed this.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Ace Combat 6, son.

How ya doing, buddy?

You definitely fixed on all 360s? A PS3 with LittleBigPlanet in there could be great fun. But enough of that on my part.

As for 360 games, Skills is working along the right lines with his thinking of looking at what's made it to the Platinum games range as a start. I have no idea of the US ratings for any of these games, but a good solid racer is never bad so stuff like DiRT2, GRID or PGR4, all good. The Scene It? movie quiz games are actually pretty good fun, especially Box Office Smash, and can be picked up dirt cheap these days. And there's also stuff like Street Fighter IV too. Just some thoughts.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Skexis

About Rock Band: it's a good suggestion, but you might want to consider getting a pedal replacement, cause I think the official warranty on the equipment now only lasts like 60 days from purchase.

Yeah, the warranties on those things suck right off the bat but the Rock Band 2 pedal is fixed with a thick and sturdy aluminum plate on top of the plastic and rubber contact. It's the one I have and, man, we have put that motherfucker through some SERIOUS drunken trials. If my friend (and former co-worker) Aaron, who is 6'6" and has a foot heavier than Acer, can't break that, these skinny emo teens don't stand a chance against it.

Quote:

There's quite a few XBL games that you might consider. Schizoid, Castle Crashers, Braid (I guess I don't have to tell you that), Geometry Wars 1 & 2, Trials HD, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Turtles in Time Reshelled (I dunno, this might be too old for current generation of gamers), Portal: Still Alive (if Orange Box doesn't fly)

Just remember not to have the systems on auto-login if you go the live arcade route, cause you don't want kids affecting the master account.

Yeah... About that... We checked with the district's IT administrators and it looks like they're not gonna let us clear or forward any ports to use on the XBOX units because "it's a significant security issue". I mean, nevermind that I know what I'm doing and can do it myself but they have already submitted us a written notice forbidding us to attempt this on any port in the room we're going to remodel for our game lounge. So I guess XBOX Live is a no go too.

We do have Clearwire modems we can connect to a wireless router. While it sounds good in theory (like Communism), Clearwire's "broadband" speeds are so slow that it almost feels like it's missing the dial-up modem screech and we'd never get any serious gaming done on any of that.

I was speaking idiomatically.

About the XBL... Even if you can't get online, wouldn't it be possible to load the games on prior to setting up the box? I mean, it might be a bit of a hassle, but if the consoles are always going to be offline, just take them home or something for the 'initial setup', so to speak.

That way you might even get to download the game onto all the consoles with only one purchase, too.

I mean that's bad what

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Plant one game that is well made and enjoyable but will provoke ridicule for having aesthetics or subject matter geared towards a younger audience.

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G-Force.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Sousuke

About the XBL... Even if you can't get online, wouldn't it be possible to load the games on prior to setting up the box? I mean, it might be a bit of a hassle, but if the consoles are always going to be offline, just take them home or something for the 'initial setup', so to speak.

That way you might even get to download the game onto all the consoles with only one purchase, too.

I mean that's bad what

This was along the lines of what I was thinking. I don't believe you can transfer one game across all systems, so I was thinking more of buying one particular game for each system, so that one can be the Castle Crashers system, and another can be the Schizoid system, or whatever. But I'm also not sure how guest permissions works on 360. At any rate, I didn't figure you'd have online access all the time.

Rolling eyes forever, Deni.

How ya doing, buddy?

Just wanted to close this and thank you guys for all your suggestions. After some consideration, playing assorted demos we could get our hands on and one signature from my hungover supervisor after we all went out for drinks, we have chosen a list of games and placed the purchase order yesterday afternoon.

• Burnout Paradise
• Fight Night Round 4
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game
• Madden 2010
• Mirror's Edge
• NBA 2K10
• Prince of Persia
• Project Gotham Racing 4
• PURE
• Rock Band 2
• Rock Band: The Beatles
• Skate 2
• Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
• Soul Calibur 4

We briefly considered simply ordering a single Xbox and set it up with a projector like I do here at my house but, in the end, we decided to purchase the new and updated 360Cube unit. As of this weekend, contractors are carpeting the room where we're going to set up everything in and we should be running "The Cage of Rage" (the boys came up with the name, not me) within a week. Again, thank you guys very much. I probably couldn't have done this by myself. <3

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