Posted: 14 Sep 2010 01:14 PM PDT

Think cell-phone games are just for kids? Think again. Also: When they're not playing games, frequent app users are firing up the mobile version of Facebook.

A new survey by the Pew Research Center found that a good 60 percent of app-savvy U.S. mobile users have played a game on their phones within the past month — and we're not just talking geeky teenage boys, either.

About 63 percent of women who've downloaded an app to their phones in the past 30 days played a game on their handsets during the same period, according to the study of more than 2,200 U.S. mobile users — compared with just 58 percent for men.

Meanwhile, it's not just youngsters who are getting in on the mobile gaming action, with a solid 58 percent of mobile-app users in the 35-and-up range admitting to firing up games ranging from Sudoku to Solitaire, the survey says. The 35-and-under bracket, meanwhile, managed a stellar 64 percent when it came to mobile game playing among regular app downloaders.

So, what are the most popular mobile games among mobile users hip to apps? Puzzle and strategy titles take the prize, with a hefty 36 percent piece of the pie, according to the Pew survey (here's a PDF of the complete results), with card and casino games accounting for a 25 percent share. Up next are "classic" and arcade games with 22 percent, followed by trivia, word and number games (18 percent) and, finally, board games (13 percent).

Mind you, all the figures I just rattled off are for U.S. mobile users who've downloaded an app in the past month — but it turns out there are a lot of cell users who fall into that category, with 53 percent of those with app-capable handsets telling researchers that they'd downloaded an app in the past 30 days. (In fact, 33 percent of the overall total said they'd downloaded an app within the past week.)

The Pew study of mobile-app use also packs in plenty of nongame statistics, including figures on the most-used apps of all. Facebook, for example, saw monthly (or better) use by a full 42 percent of regular U.S. mobile-app users, with Google Maps coming in next at 35 percent. Among news and weather apps, the Weather Channel app saw at least monthly use by 32 percent of app-centric users, while Pandora was tops (19 percent) among music apps.

And don't think for a minute that most mobile users only fire up an app every month or so. According to the survey, about 42 percent of frequent app downloaders are using their apps "multiple" times a day, with another 15 percent launching an app at least daily.

Frequent app users aren't spending hours on end with their apps, though, with 76 percent of app-savvy users saying that they're using apps for 30 minutes or less on a daily basis.

On the other side of the spectrum, there are still plenty of mobile users who rarely if ever use apps on their smartphones. While 35 percent of U.S. adults have handsets capable of handling apps, just 25 percent actually use them, according to the Pew study — and indeed, 11 percent of mobile users aren't even sure if their phones have apps at all.

So, what about you: How often to you play games on your phone, and what kind of mobile game is your favorite? What's the one app you fire up every day? And, uh ... you do know whether or not your phone can run downloadable apps, right?

Pew Internet & American Life Project: The Rise of Apps Culture

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

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72% of adults would ban sales of violent games to kids

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 01:19 AM PDT

According to a poll by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that deals with matters dealing with family and children in media and technology, 72 percent of US adults would back a law that bans minors from buying "ultraviolent or sexually violent" video games without parental consent. The poll, conducted by Zogby International Media, surveyed 2,100 adults from August 13 to August 16.

Common Sense Media Vice President Alan Simpson confirms that the nonprofit timed the poll to coincide with the upcoming oral arguments on California's ban on the sale of violent games to minors in the US Supreme Court. Simpson says the poll backs his group's concerns about violent media.

"We think they confirm a lot of things we've been worried about. Most adults are concerned about the impact of violent video games on kids," Simpson says in a telephone interview. "They want parents to be in control of this entertainment."

Common Sense Media recently filed an amicus brief in support of the law with the Supreme Court. The Entertainment Software Association filed a brief of its own with the court in Schwarzneggar v. EMA/Entertainment Software Association.

"We think it's important that these decisions are made by parents instead of a vendor or clerk in a game shop," says Simpson, who says he isn't a parent.

Entertainment Consumers Association President Hal Halpin called the poll's results into question.

"Methodology is always key with any research or poll, so it boils down to the intention of the organization that's conducting it," Halpin says. "If their motives are pure and their method, scientific, you may see data that's of interest. Given CSM's history, I would fully expect to see results that skew toward supporting their position. A more interesting question might be: if the research is valid, would CSM reverse their position if the results had come back the other way 'round?"

As Halpin points out, an interesting aspect of this debate is evidence from another recent poll of American adults on video games that counters the Common Sense Media poll. In a KRC Research poll of 1,003 adults between late February and early March, 78 percent of respondents believe video games should be afforded First Amendment protection.

In an e-mail statement, Senior Vice President of Communications and Industry Affairs Rich Taylor of the ESA says the First Amendment is the center of the debate.

"The Federal Trade Commission has lauded the work of the computer and video game industry in restricting sales of M-rated games to minors," Taylor says. "In an independent study conducted by the FTC, in an overwhelming number of instances, minors were prevented from purchasing M-rated games. So the real question here is whether video games can be constitutionally treated differently than other forms of First Amendment protected material, and that answer from every court has been 'No.'"

Simpson notes the KRC poll may not tell the full story.

"Obviously, every poll is different, and every poll is going to get different questions," Simpson says. "That poll probably focuses on all video games, and we're talking about violent video games. When you look at what people realize is a violent video game world -- we're talking about games industry itself rates as adults only or mature. I think a lot of parents are looking at video-game market and aren't interested in kids accessing a game that lets their kid become a Taliban fighter and fight U.S. forces overseas." That game is EA's Medal of Honor, which is drawing fire for allowing players to assume the role of the Taliban in its multiplayer.

Other findings from the Common Sense Media poll include:

* Sixty-five percent of parents say they're concerned about the impact of ultraviolent video games on their kids.

* Seventy-five percent of parents would rate the video game industry negatively when it comes to how they protect kids from violent video games. More than half of both parents and adults in general would go so far as to rate the industry "poorly."

Keeping Kids Safe On Facebook

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 03:50 AM PDT

By Oliver Chiang, Forbes.com

September 15, 2010

Quick: What's the legal age required for someone to create a Facebook account?

It's 13, says Facebook, which followed guidelines set by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) of 2000. Unfortunately, it's not common knowledge, like the legal ages for drinking, driving and voting. But it should be.

In fact, you may know some kids on Facebook who aren't 13 yet. That's no surprise: A study last year, for instance, found that one in four U.K. Internet users aged 8 to 12 had profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace.

In an age when Facebook and other sites are becoming a part of everyday life, it's hard to imagine keeping Web-savvy kids off social networks entirely. But a couple of startups have recently tackled the problem of how to provide a training-wheels version of social networking.

In Pictures: Keeping Kids Safe On Facebook

"Kids model their parents' behavior, and if kids see mom and dad at home on Facebook, smiling when they read their friends' updates, sharing picture albums with their friends and family, and watching funny videos and commenting on them, you'd be hard pressed to get a kid to say they don't want to do that," says Mandeep Dhillon. Dhillon is chief executive of a startup called Togetherville of Menlo Park, Calif.--a Facebook for the under-13 crowd. Just like on other social networks, kids on Togetherville can interact with online friends, write messages, play social games, watch videos and draw pictures, albeit in a much more limited way.

Togetherville is COPPA-compliant because it makes available to parents all the personal data about your child that it stores on the site. A parent's email address is required to open a new account, and activities are moderated by parents, who receive e-mail alerts about their kids' activities, as well as by the site's staff. Parents also select from their own group of Facebook friends the people that their children will be able to connect to in Togetherville, so they know who their children are interacting with.

Kids Games

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

“60 percent of U.S. mobile-app downloaders play games, survey says” plus 2 more

“60 percent of U.S. mobile-app downloaders play games, survey says” plus 2 more

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