The one's I've enjoyed the most... 1.) Castlevania 3 Dracula's Curse 2.) Super Castlevania 3.) Symphony of the Night (Psycho Mantis thought so, too) 4.) Circle of the Moon 5.) Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest (after getting the hang of it, and with the help of gaming magazine guidance) Based on videos I've seen, Lords of Shadow does look ok. I haven't played it myself so I really can't put it in the list.
There's a strong probability that they will grow up to be gamers; they are, after all, my children. I only wonder whether I should cultivate that, or let it occur naturally. And, more specifically, when they do start gaming, how do I facilitate it? Simple games with simple buttons, or toss them in the deep end and coach them?Chronoblivion
Most (not all) kids don't really understand game rules by age two, and each kid has their own temperament (some may throw tantrums, wrecking hardware, others may get bored by it all too quickly). As they repeatedly play their own way, they will definitely figure out what-button-does-what (cause and effect) quite easily, but may take some time to actually understand the objective/rules (depends on the complexity of the game). Coaching them may make them learn faster if achievements get reinforced with praise/attention ("look, you did that!"). And however you decide to handle it, it seems like they'll probably take after you and naturally develop interest in gaming. It'd be pretty strange if they grew up around that stuff and didn't take any interest whatsoever.
Whatever game or system it is, they will pick it up and figure it out what button does what quickly (but they may or may not understand the objective as quickly). The problem really is them getting over-stimulated by it, and maybe hooked. It varies from family to family but here's my experience: When my son was almost 3, we were let him play Luxor on one of the old PCs. He figured out the mouse really quick, and mastered speed color matching. Problem was, we were way too lax/disorganized about it. Unplugging led to tantrums, and the most disturbing for us was when he unlearned potty training when he would get hooked. At the time he knew how to go to the bathroom, but when he was gaming, he would deny having the urge when we would ask him about it, and he'd end up peeing in the computer chair and didn't even pay attention to it aside from shifting in his seat a bit. We stopped it, he eventually went back to normal, and we reintroduced him to gaming a few months later with a Leapfrog gaming system, and on more solid rules/ schedule. He was fine, and i guess it also helped him learn to recognize letters and numbers a bit earlier than his peers. The gaming experiences he will remember as his first significant ones however, are Wii Sports and Angry Birds at 6 years old..
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