Love a Happy Ending Lifestyle Magazine August 2013 | Page 35

think this is great. The toys that are pushed are usually the licensed and unimaginative oneswrestling figures in recent years, for example. Taking the power of choice away from loud
adverts and in to the hands of parents (along with a little peer influence) is a nice
progression into the freedom to buy good quality presents, rather than just the things that are
culturally popular.

The current generation of consoles has an interesting split. The Playstation 3 is a traditional
console that offers all sorts of games, but the Xbox is considered to have many more violent
and unsuitable titles. Talking to any group of young children shows that not only are they
aware of these violent games, but of those who own an Xbox 360, a number will have either
played on or actually own these games. The Xbox seems to have higher ownership
numbers among children, perhaps caused by two reasons: it’s cheaper (important for
parents) and peer pressure usually draws children towards it. If ten of their friends play
online, they won’t want to be left out. If Call of Duty is a game they all play, your child will
want it too. For parents it seems to be easy to be drawn in to allowing their child to play on
these games- even when they would never, ever allow them to watch an 18 certificate film.
“It’s only a game, they know it’s not real” is an awful and untrue maxim. I will not allow my
own children to play age inappropriate titles, and I often talk to my pupils in school about the
reasons these games have age certificates, but I do not feel backed by their parents to any
degree. Parents let their children play unsuitable games too readily.

These consoles will be on many Christmas lists, but what the media won’t discuss is the
appropriateness of them. If your child wants one, and you want to buy one, I’d advocate
buying the Playstation 4. Cheaper, fewer violent games as the top sellers, and a good
history, it’s a safe choice.

ABOVE: A selection of the current PS3 games aimed at children

Both consoles offer numerous online facilities, apps such as the iPlayer and Netflix, inbuilt
Blu Ray players, and plenty of hard drive storage for films, tv programmes, games and
photographs. Both represent good value for money as they can replace ???????????????)???????????????????????$?????
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