Last week I asked, “What’s the best age for someone to start playing video games?”

Some say seven is the right age, while others don’t think kids should play video games at all. Recently I interviewed two mothers about video games and their children; they each had different opinions. One mom didn’t allow consoles in her house, the other said games had a positive impact on her family.

This week, I spoke with two fathers on the subject. See why a gamer dad is uncomfortable with letting his kids see the pain inflicted in “Pain” and how “World of Warcraft” finally made another father put his foot down…

Carlo, 30 year-old creative director at an ad agency from Edison, NJ
Children: Two sons, ages 3 and 5
Systems Owned: VTech, Leapfrog Leapster, PC, DS, PSP, Wii, Xbox 360, PS3
Age OK for Kids to Play Games: Let kids play VTech at ages 2 and 4
Games Allowed to Play: E-rated games
Time Allowed: Up to 3 hours per weekday; more on weekends
Would Never Let Kids Play: “Shooting games with guns, explosions, limbs, blood;” “cartoony” violence

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Some of you may remember when Multiplayer pondered the question of who should make “Halo 4″. We’re pondering a new hypothetical today.

With the news that EA and Marvel have parted ways after the closing of the EA’s Chicago studio, it means that the license for Marvel inspired fighting games is now up for grabs.

That leaves the question that is near and dear to my heart … who will step up to make the next fighting game worthy of starring Marvel’s super heroes?

Once held by the 2-D fighting kings, Capcom, the license is not only a lucrative, but one that has spawned some of the greatest fighting games of all time. While the perfection that is “Marvel vs. Capcom 2” may never again be achieved, there are a variety of other publishers that could do the license justice.

I consider the top candidates — and some longshots — below.

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This is “Burnout Paradise” Vs. Mode Round Two and we’re about to go off the rails.

In Round One, I admitted to Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal that I was a tad mistaken about “Burnout Paradise,” which I had loved, kind of loved, kind of loathed and then changed my mind about again.

He pointed out he had been on board all along and sang the virtues of a proper sequel-making.

None of that was too crazy. But now comes Round Two, in which I basically say that “Burnout Paradise” is a better “Animal Crossing” than “Animal Crossing.”

And N’Gai backs me up!

Read on to see how we got to that point. And really, can you disagree?

(These exchanges are mirrored on N’Gai’s “Level Up” bog.)

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(Below is the beginning of a report filed at MTVNews.com.)

Nearly a week after slamming the Xbox 360 role-playing game “Mass Effect” on Fox News for its sexual content, author and psychology expert Cooper Lawrence backed down on some of her comments and took gamers to task for their chosen method of revenge.

Lawrence’s response followed several days of Internet frenzy that made her the most disliked person in the video game blogosphere and resulted in several hundred scathing reviews of her newest book on Amazon. While Lawrence hasn’t completely retracted her comments, she has offered some clarification.

“In hindsight, I would have liked to have had the opportunity to play this game before appearing on the program,” Lawrence said in a statement released to MTV News by her publicist. “As a developmental-psychology expert, I was asked to appear on this particular show to discuss the broader issue of video games and their impact on developing adolescents, not as an expert on ‘Mass Effect.’ ”

Read the rest of this story at MTVNews.com

This week, we switch up “What We’re NOT Playing” a bit.

It’s just me and Totilo, and we talk about what we are playing (go figure!) — namely “Endless Ocean” (still) and “Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn” (still). But those games brought up a good question:

StephenTotilo: Thankfully, “Fire Emblem” is turning a corner for the better… on its 14th hour
TraceyJohn: So 14 hours in, you’re finally getting some satisfaction out of it? How long should someone play a game to give it a chance? I think Cip mentioned last week he played “Endless Ocean” for 10 minutes and gave up.
StephenTotilo: Somewhere between 10 minutes and 14 hours is the sweet spot, for sure. 10 minutes isn’t enough time for just about any game

So readers, what do you think? How long should a game be given a chance?

Read on for more of our thoughts on “Endless Ocean” “Fire Emblem, and why we aren’t playing “Advance Wars: Days of Ruin” and “No More Heroes” (yet)…

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Have you ever been playing a game and heard church music? Or any other completely unexpected style of music?

I was doing some deep-sea diving in the Wii’s “Endless Ocean” this past weekend, exploring some ruins. And I heard “Amazing Grace,” as sung by New Zealand classical soprano Hayley Westerna.

Really? “Amazing Grace” in a video game? Check out Hayley’s website, scroll through the media player on the left and listen to the snippet they have of the song. It’s not what you normally hear in a video game, even a deep-sea diving video game.

The thing is, it works. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…. should have nothing to do with my efforts to snap photos of stingrays and swim through a diving flock of penguins. But it somehow comes together. It creates the proper gentle, relaxing mood. Good thing a great white shark didn’t show up.

Unusual song selection also worked in the Atari / Marc Ecko graffiti game “Getting Up.” That game played an old blues song — “I Smell A Rat” by Big Mama Thornton — during a boss battle. If memory serves, I was punching an evil factory boss, while Big Mama belted out the tune. It was different, and it was wonderfully angry and frantic in a way I’d never heard before. When I asked Ecko about it a couple of years ago, he said that it was his idea and that it had been a hard sell to his game’s creative team. (Listen to a sample of that song on this page.)

I’ve been sent reeling by speed metal in “Sonic” games and rap music in “Donkey Kong 64.” I was surprised by the closing song of “Portal,” of course. And there was that “Gears of War” commercial’s unusual choice of the mournful “Mad World.”

But I don’t feel like I’ve been shocked enough by the soundtrack selection in games. Do we need more church music? We need more surprise, at least. I hope to hear more.

(Recent thing I’ve also done: Cancelled My ‘World of Warcraft’ Account (And Had Fun Doing So)

A horse is a horse, of course, of course…

But not these horses.

Two weeks ago, we announced our year-long quest to find the Greatest Animal In Video Game History. First, we proposed a list of the best virtual horses and asked you, the readers, to tell us if we missed any. Then comes phase two today: the official vote.

Now this is serious business, folks. For our Blue Ribbon Panel, we went to straight to the top:

• A pretty good game creator – Ken Levine, President and Creative Director of 2K Boston and chief creative force behind the 2007 GOTGOTY

• A pretty good artist — Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, illustrator of the “Penny Arcade” webcomic

• A pretty good writer — Leigh Alexander, editor of Worlds in Motion, writer at Gamasutra and her blog Sexy Videogameland

• A pretty knowledgeable person about animals –Tofuburger, co-founder of cultural phenomenon/funny animal picture blog I Can Has Cheezburger

After weighting each judge’s top three choices — many of which, were, uh, shocking — the winner turned out to be…

Epona from the “Legend of Zelda” series. Pokemon’s Rapidash came in at a close second. The horses from “World of Warcraft” tied with Hannah the Horse from “Zoo Race” for third place.

And the Readers’ Choice winner: Agro from “Shadow of the Colossus.” (Epona was a distant second.)

Are the judges out of touch? Or do they know something the rest of us don’t? They are pros, after all. You’ve got to see what they picked and their justifications (provided in words and pictures). So read on.

Take it away, Ken Levine… Read more…

I like to collect things. Lots of things. Video games are at the top of that list, and Achievement points are a solid second. However, for the past 21 weeks or so, that list has been a bit flip-flopped - clouded by my anticipation for “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” (which, coincidently, has a ton of things to collect in it).

This past week I collected another 1,415 achievement points, which, put me past my secondary target goal of 20,000 points before February 11 - “Smash Bros.’” second pre-delay release date. I’ve now collected a total of 20,595 points since mid-September, and am well on pace to hit 25,000 points by March 9. I’ve been furiously obsessing over Xbox 360 titles for almost six months now, but, as some of you readers have pointed out, at what cost to my other game systems?

Great games on other systems have come and gone since I started, and I have barely touched them. I’ve been too busy playing games like “Open Season,” “Cars,” and this week’s 1,000 point-getter “NHL 2K6.” I haven’t stopped collecting games, filling in my back catalog of titles that I missed when they were first released. In an attempt to demonstrate just how much I am actually missing out on, I now present a list of games that I have added to my collection since I started this quest back in September.

Atari 2600
“Spider-Man”

Famicom
“Kirby’s Adventure”
“Pac-Man 2″

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Getting your butt handed to you in “Halo 3“?

Take a pill.

About two weeks ago, news of a performance-enhancing pill for gamers made its way around the Internet. Dubbed “FpsBrain” and made by German computer-makers Tomarni, the product promises that a person will have a “remarkable increase in perception and reaction capacities.”

To boot, the website claims that their staff uses FpsBrain four times a week to “enhance their mental performance and their work efficieny [sic].” If it doesn’t work, the company promises “a 110% money-back guarantee.”

Sound like a sketchy, late-night infomercial? I thought so too.

So last week I got in touch with the Berlin-based manufacturer and had an e-mail exchange with CEO Thomas Straßburg. And since I’m no expert on “energy drinks” and performance-enhancing supplements, I also e-mailed a registered dietitian to answer my questions regarding the ingredients of FpsBrain. Here’s what I learned…

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(Below is the beginning of my latest GameFile column. For the full thing, check out MTVNews.com)

The last time I was a video game judge, I carried a gavel, gave it to a chimp to nibble on and wound up on national TV doing the hula atop a special exercise step machine called the Wii Balance Board.

So when I was asked to be a video game judge again, I said, “Sure.” The last time I was judging games, I was doing it as a so-called Game Critic at the big E3 games show. This new opportunity would allow me to help select the best up-and-coming computer games for this year’s Independent Games Festival in March. It was a good offer. The IGF contest is the top American competition for independent computer games and has honored many games I’ve enjoyed, including “Braid,” “Narbacular Drop” and “Everyday Shooter.” Plus, with no hula games apparently on the nomination list, I could play everything I was judging while sitting.

Or so I thought.

It turns out that you can’t play a mash-up of “Super Mario Bros.” and “Guitar Hero” without standing up.

Check out the rest of this column at MTVNews.com