Call of Warhammer Mod

Purchasing a great PC game does not often mean the end of the game. Extra content in the form of mods expand a game beyond its initial remits. Half Life 2 - perhaps the best-paced single player experience still to be had today - flourished with a wonderful modding community (which in fact led to Counter-strike.) The Total War community is particularly rich. Many mods, particularly for Medieval Total War 2(which must be easier to mod), expand the game to the point where it is almost an entirely new game. Two mods which I recommend to my students are the Third Age Mod (Lord of the Rings) and Call of Warhammer (based upon the eponymous fantasy world.) While both are tremendous games in their own right, the lore and background to the worlds are fantastic. Previous attempts to recreate this world...

Read more »

A book of Gaming for Parents

At a(nother) parents(') evening recently I spoke with several families about gaming. It seems that most of my younger students are console gamers, and that they mostly play FPS. Anecdotally, most parents (probably as a result of watching their heirs fritter away their hobby time on FPS games) feel that gaming has little to no educational benefit. That no experience can be garnered from gaming save wasted time and an itchy trigger finger. Saying that, a fair number of parents are open to the idea that there are games that offer either clear educational value, or an enriching experience. In particular, one parent of a child in my room is willing to try out some games having never played a game before in their life. It is for this that I hope to create a list, which would eventually become a...

Read more »