Video Games

julieg@herald-mail.com Dr. Mark Yacyk is probably like many parents of youngsters who like to play video games. He and his son occasionally argue over when Andrew, 10, should take a break from game playing. "I'm yelling at him to put the thing down," Yacyk said. But then Yacyk hears, "'Dad, I've got to capture this one guy. Please just let me finish.'" Sometimes dad wins. Sometimes Andrew wins. The reason Yacyk, a physiatrist - a doctor of physical medicine and rehabilitation - with Physical Medicine Specialists in Hagerstown, wants his son to take a break is to prevent injury such as a muscle strain, tendinitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

The over-hyped console wars are so last year. In 2007, a bounty of actual games finally mattered more than nerdy debates over each system's technological merits. And for the first time since Pong bounced its way into our living rooms, it seems as if video games are again being relished by all sorts of folks. That retired couple next door? They're probably better than you at Wii Sports. Here's our annual look at the best and worst in video games, 2007 edition. · Best game: "BioShock.

All I want for Christmas is to be a 6-foot-9 power forward with three-point range and mad hops. Or a left-hander with a 95-mph heater, a wicked slider and a changeup that could make Manny Ramirez look like Bob Uecker. Or a hybrid of Chad Johnson and Hines Ward - tall and fast enough to be a deep threat, tough enough to catch a 10-yarder over the middle on 3rd-and-8 and hold on while absorbing the middle linebacker's shot. All these things fit under the Christmas tree, right?

About 12 percent of American children between the ages of 2 and 4 use computers every day. Fifty percent of children younger than 8 have access to a mobile device like a smartphone, a video iPod or tablet. And television is still the elephant in the children's media room, accounting for the largest share of screen time. Among all children younger than the age of 2, the average is 53 minutes a day of television or DVDs - more than twice the 23 minutes a day children are read to. Statistics such as these, compiled in a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, have caused the American Academy of Pediatrics to reissue their long-standing recommendation that children should spend less time in front of a screen.

Free pizza. Video games on a 60-inch television. It was a kid's New Year's Eve dream come true. Organizers of the Children's New Year's Eve Party at the former West End School on West Washington Street in Hagerstown said they hoped at least 25 children would show up to enjoy the festivities. "We plan on doing this every year and hope to grow," event organizer Linda McCauley said. "It's just something for the kids. The parents always celebrate - why not the kids?" The event was held in a large room where the XMD Phase II All Stars cheerleading squad holds its practices.

Matt Amalfitano, 15, is a junior at North Hagerstown High School. He likes sports and has to deal with his parents' rules about dating. Robert Keller, 13, is an eighth-grader at Western Heights Middle School. He likes to play video games and owns many game systems.

Brad Smith, 16, is a junior at Boonsboro High School. The best video games, he thinks, can reincarnate and get better, but the updated version of "Grand Theft Auto" will be just OK. Ryan Barry, 13, lives in Boonsboro and is a ninth-grade home-schooler. He enjoys watching movies on the big screen.

Tessa Walls, 15, is a sophomore at Hancock Middle-Senior High School. She loves being active in her community. Adeline Cumpata, 15, is a sophomore at North Hagerstown High School. She likes to stop and smell the roses. Kyle Lefler, 16, is a junior at Boonsboro High School. She enjoys running and playing the trumpet, and she would like to pursue a career in journalism. Fedora Copley, 14, lives in Hagerstown and is a freshman at Saint James School. She is turned off by referring to people by derogatory nicknames.

NOV. 24, 1973-MAY 25, 2011 Jason Ryan Presgraves, 37, of 1124 W. Irvin Ave., Hagerstown, Md., died May 25, 2011, at his home. Born Nov. 24, 1973, in Hagerstown, he was the son of William Presgraves Jr. of Keedysville, Md., and Vicki Horine Petricig of Hagerstown. He graduated from Williamsport High School and Evangel College in Missouri. He was employed by Word Processing Service as a technician for eight years. He loved movies, playing video games, his family and his pets.

Ratings help, but parental intervention is the key to protecting children from the effects of playing violent video games, watching violence in movies and on television and seeing what's widely available on the Internet, according to participants in a round-table discussion on the issue Monday. The panel of 10, including parents, Jefferson High School students, a teacher, pediatrician and representative of the Entertainment Software Rating Board was convened by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center at 2500 Foundation Way. The 25 members in the audience were invited by Rockefeller to ask questions.

Saying that the mass casualties at Sandy Hook Elementary School are “just the beginning,” an authority on violent crimes told police and school officials Monday that they need to act with urgency. “Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country,” said Dave Grossman, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. The Franklin County (Pa.) District Attorney's office hosted Grossman for a seminar about violence in schools. Held in the Waynesboro Area Senior High School auditorium, the event drew a couple hundred police officers, sheriff's deputies, school board members, principals, superintendents and fire officials.

"This was a few years ago at the day-care center at (Hagerstown Community College)," said Amanda Miller, Aidan's mother and a language arts instructor at HCC. "The teacher had asked about poems. I asked (Aidan) some questions and these were his answers. Verbatim. " Aidan, now 7, created his poem about one of the things he loved - and still loves - most in his life: the blanket he's kept near himself since he was a baby. "I was kind of describing Blue Blankie - what he's like, how he feels," said Aidan, now 7. "Normally, that's what poems are - describing something or telling how it feels.

U.S. Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., told state legislators that he favors common-sense limitations when it comes to guns at a meeting of the Western Maryland delegation Thursday. Delaney, the newly elected Democrat who represents the 6th Congressional District, also said at the meeting that he favored restrictions on accessibility to violent video games, better monitoring of those with mental health issues and their access to guns. Delaney also said he supports drilling for natural gas, a process sometimes referred to as fracking.

I'll compromise if entertainment folks do likewise To the editor: One hears a lot recently about gun control. It is natural. No one can be unmoved about the killings in Connecticut. I am not ashamed to say I cried when I saw the pictures of those little kids - just thinking about the violent way they died still brings tears. So it is natural to want to do something to try to prevent such violence. And I suppose it is natural to focus on the instrument of the violence: the guns.

I believe it was Ernest Hemingway who once commented that, “All things truly wicked start from an innocence.” As I watched the events in Aurora, Colo., unfold in the early morning hours following a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” at a local theater, I couldn't help but think about Hemingway's remark.  How can anyone so innocent at birth develop into something so wicked while standing in the fire exit of a movie theater, armed to the teeth,  with his hair painted orange like the Joker villain from Batman?

Their brushes are electronic, not made of wood and hair. Their palettes do not hold small, wet mounds of burnt sienna and other colors but are found by a click of the mouse. And the results are often found on computer screens in homes, not hanging on the walls of the Lourve. But does that make gaming design less of a work of art? Students from Washington County Museum of Fine Arts don't think so and would like others to see that game development and computer animation is art in their show, "Pixels & Games.

Free pizza. Video games on a 60-inch television. It was a kid's New Year's Eve dream come true. Organizers of the Children's New Year's Eve Party at the former West End School on West Washington Street in Hagerstown said they hoped at least 25 children would show up to enjoy the festivities. "We plan on doing this every year and hope to grow," event organizer Linda McCauley said. "It's just something for the kids. The parents always celebrate - why not the kids?" The event was held in a large room where the XMD Phase II All Stars cheerleading squad holds its practices.

One of the technology students of the Boys & Girls Club of Washington County has been selected as a winner in a national technology contest. Cheyenne Fairfax, a member of the Pennsylvania Avenue unit, participated in the "Picture This!" game design contest and has been selected as one of 10 winners nationwide. Myclubmylife.com's The Game Channel, along with the support of the AMD Foundation, challenged teens to think big, make change and have fun through the contest.   For the "Picture This!"

About 12 percent of American children between the ages of 2 and 4 use computers every day. Fifty percent of children younger than 8 have access to a mobile device like a smartphone, a video iPod or tablet. And television is still the elephant in the children's media room, accounting for the largest share of screen time. Among all children younger than the age of 2, the average is 53 minutes a day of television or DVDs - more than twice the 23 minutes a day children are read to. Statistics such as these, compiled in a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, have caused the American Academy of Pediatrics to reissue their long-standing recommendation that children should spend less time in front of a screen.