This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on November 6, 2009.

The Game Boy has been a fixture of pants pockets and backpacks for 20 years now, and thanks to its ubiquity, the portable video game system has been recognized by The Strong Museum of Play with induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame. Nintendo’s handheld was inducted alongside “the ball” and the Big Wheel, and it beat out other nominees such as Cabbage Patch Kids, Game of Life, Hot Wheels, the paper airplane, playing cards, Rubik’s Cube, sidewalk chalk, toy tea set, and The Transformers.

Inducted by Associate Curator Eric Wheeler, who is a major supporter of the museum’s National Center for the History of Electronic Games, the unveiling also got a hand from Nintendo’s mascot, Mario. The Hall of Fame cited the Game Boy’s innovative features and blockbuster gaming library as the reasons for its admission this year:

Admitted into the hall because of its role as a major industry innovator, Nintendo Game Boy transformed the electronic-games market by popularizing handheld gaming. No video-game platform did more to put gamers “on the go” than this invention. And go they did—bringing their gaming experience to school, to summer camp, and to the back seat of the family automobile. Over the past two decades, Game Boy has become synonymous with hand-held gaming fun. Its portability and efficient design, ability to allow simultaneous multiplayer gaming, and scores of intriguing games (like Tetris and Super Mario Land, featuring Nintendos’ already-iconic character Mario) make it a true innovator.

The Game Boy is not the first video game system to be enshrined the National Toy Hall of Fame. That honor goes to the Atari 2600, which was inducted two years ago.

This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on August 3, 2009.

The NPD Group has released a new report about the video game community and it shows that more than 50% of the US population can now officially be classified as “Gamers.” The 2009 Gamer Segmentation Report (via GameSpot) is based on a survey of 21,000 respondants that took place in January. Survey takers were asked about their gaming habits (or lack thereof) and through the use of statistical sampling, The NPD Group pegged the current US “Gamer” population at 169.9 million, an increase of over 4.3 million “Gamers” from last year’s survey.

The biggest subgroup in the NPD’s survey was dubbed “Secondary Gamers.” That group is mostly made up of women who play video games less than four hours per week. They are also unlikely to own a game console and do their gaming on a PC (likely through casual game sites like PopCap, Pogo, or Facebook). This is in contrast to the smallest subgroup, the “Extreme Gamers,” who play more than 40 hours per week.

Other classifications from the report include:

• “Console Gamers” (32.9 million) – Mostly male, they play around 12 hours a week and own at least one game console.
• “Online PC Gamers” (25.9 million) – Mostly female, on the average they play for eight hours and do most of it online.
• “Avid PC Gamers” (17.3 million) – They play, on the average, 23 hours of PC games a week.

Those interested in the full report can purchase it from The NPD Group’s official website.

This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on June 25, 2009.

A couple of libraries are in the news with the details on how they plan to integrate video games into their Summer programming.

The Woburn Advocate has posted an article titled “Attention, baby boomers” about the Woburn (Mass.) Public Library’s Wii program for adults:

Woburn Public Library staff and teen volunteers will walk you through the use of the Wii-mote, a light-weight, motion-detecting controller that you throw like a bowling ball.

Meanwhile, The Daily Courier of Prescott, AZ reports that the Prescott Public Library will bring families together with the Wii:

The library also is still offering its two Nintendo Wii video game programs, including “Wii-Read,” from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

In “Wii-Read,” a child reads a book for an hour and fills out a form telling staff what he or she thought of the selection before scheduling an hour of time playing Wii on Thursdays.

On Saturdays, the library provides “Wii-R-Family” from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., a program in which families of at least one parent and a child can play for an hour on the game system.

This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on March 2, 2009.

A group of librarians from the Nebraska Library Commission was audited by state auditor Mike Foley after a video showing the librarians playing Rock Band was discovered on YouTube. The video (which is embedded below) is an instructional video that shows the librarians setting up the system and playing the game. In his report, Foley claimed the librarians misused taxpayer money to basically sit around and play video games. The Library Commission responded with a report of their own in which they detail exactly what they planned to do with the games and how bringing Rock Band into the library is in line with the state’s library goals.

The incident has been picked up by various news organizations, including Library Journal (which provides a good blow-by-blow of what happened) and Omaha’s Action 3 News. This kerfuffle shows that some people just don’t get it, and while it’s no laughing matter, it reinforces the idea that some people need more education on what libraries are doing with games (or anything not book-related) and how video games long ago stopped being “kid’s stuff.”

Here’s the video in case you were interested:

This article is from the first edition of The Video Game Librarian website I published between 2008 and 2010. It was originally written on January 26, 2009.

Here’s a trio of recent news articles that show more libraries hopping on the video game bandwagon:

Library programs offer something for all – How librarians at the Chili Public Library (NY) are using programs to attract patrons, including teens.

“”I’ve been told if you feed them, they will come,” says Catherine Kyle, who is 29 and leads the teen programs at the library, which pulls high school-aged kids from three major high schools, Churchville-Chili, Wheatland-Chili and Gates Chili.

She has equipped the teen meeting space with a sound system and is hoping that video game systems might lure the older boys to come, such as a Nintendo Wii. She’ll do a Rock Band competition in April, a popular interactive Wii game.”

Des Moines libraries find success using video games to draw students – How Des Moines libraries are using Rock Band and the Wii to bring in teenagers.

“They get large turnouts at each library,” said Brenda Finn, teen specialist at the Central Library. “They may have never been in before to play the game, but they meet me … and ask for a book or how to get a card.”

New teen wing of library will have video games – All about Nashville’s new teen area that includes…

“A remodeled area for teens in Nashville’s downtown library will include four plasma TV screens and a Wii video game when it opens next month.”