GAME WARS.

Byline: PARENTING By Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Not every kid awoke to find a new $600 video game system under the Christmas tree this morning, but this may have been the year that games, consoles and accessories became as much a part of the holiday season as Santa Claus, menorahs and mistletoe.

Sony released the PlayStation 3, Nintendo unveiled the Wii and Microsoft put out some much-hyped games for the XBox 360 - such as the military shoot-'em-up adventure called ``Gears of War.''

Nothing boosts the holiday spirit like ripping apart aliens with chain saws and mowing down enemies with machine guns.

To be fair, that particular game is rated ``M'' for mature audiences and is not intended for children younger than 17. Such ratings - released by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board - can be found on video games.

Game ratings are just one tool parents have in their ongoing battle against their child's video game cravings. Child development experts such as Erik Sorensen, a Eugene child psychologist, say that's not enough.

``There's nothing about these (games) that are good for you,'' Sorensen says. ``The question here is just how much time do you limit someone doing something that is really not so good for them. ...

``If your child is sitting on the couch staring at the wall, eventually you're going to suggest they do something that is productive or useful or healthy to the body."

Liz Perly, editor in chief of the San Francisco nonprofit Common Sense Media, says parents should watch over their children's media habits with the same vigor they use to oversee their diets.

"You know what goes into your child's physical nutrition. Why not pay attention to what goes into their brains," Perly says.

Although Perly's organization doesn't encourage video game use, they say game systems - along with DVDs, cell phones, TV shows and MP3 players - are a part of kids' media diets - and they're here to stay.

Rather than trying to stamp out your child's video game use, they suggest parents educate themselves as much as they can about what their kids are watching, playing and listening to.

A better understanding of the media will then allow parents to take a more informed approach to managing their child's entertainment.

As part of this approach, parents (and kids) can use Common Sense's extensive archive of reviews, which are on the organization's Web site (www .commonsensemedia.org). If you look up the game "Gears of War," for instance, you can read reviews of the game written by both kids and adults, plus view the organization's own synopsis of the game. There are warnings about the game's violence, profanity and adult subject matter, a star rating and an age-appropriateness rating.

Diane Levin, a professor of education at Wheelock College in Boston and member of the group Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment, says the longer you can keep your kids away from video games, the better. She, too, doesn't believe parents can completely stomp out the media fire raging around their kids, but says it can be kept at bay. One of the best ways to do that, she says, is to teach your child something she calls ``self regulating.''

``It's being centered in who you are so that you can see what's happening and make decisions and have some control over (your life) instead of being controlled by the things that are out there,'' Levin says.

She points to her own experiences with her son, years ago. When he became obsessed with buying a Nintendo Game Boy, she chose to involve him in the discussion. She told him about her own concerns, let her son talk about why he wanted the game system and, together, they reached an agreement, which they wrote out on paper.

``My goal was not just to say no, but to also teach him to self regulate, to not have this be this huge thing in his life but to have it be a part of his life,'' she says.

Levin says the high intensity of video games can make real life seem boring to kids, which is one reason games can create an unhealthy cycle of addiction. When children stop playing in ways that allow them to fully explore their surroundings, she says, their development can be stunted. Under the right circumstances, there can actually be some value to boredom. When kids ask themselves, "What can I do now?'' and come up with a productive, healthy activity on their own, that is part of development.

So far, there is little evidence to suggest that video games will turn kids into killers, and some experts say using the word "addiction" is not correct since there is not a physical craving that takes place. Sorensen, the Eugene child psychologist, says some kids are sensitive to the high levels of stimulation in video games, and that video games can promote violent behavior in some ``obsessional'' children but generally, he says, video games are not the cause of bad behavior.

"Kids who are caught in a vortex of video game activity, probably are facing some other difficulties," he says.

Allison Prescott, another Eugene child psychologist, says video games become a problem when they start disrupting a child's regular routines. Parents who set limits early on, will have greater success than those who try to intervene later, when video game use has become a pattern.

"I think it's pretty important to structure a time frame, to say, here's what's reasonable," Prescott says. "If you give up and say, you can use this as much as you want, (kids) are going to become consumed by it, and one hour is going to turn into three hours."

Prescott and other experts say curbing your child's video game habits is not much different than setting limits on TV time or on how many toys they can have. The infamous Red Ryder BB gun that Ralphie Parker wanted in the movie "A Christmas Story" is really no different than a new PlayStation 3 or Nintendo Wii.

"It's just telling your kids there are limits to what you're willing to give," Sorensen says. "Not saying `I can't,' but saying `I won't.' ''

BEST VIDEO GAMES OF 2006 Common Sense Media, a San Francisco nonprofit that serves to educate parents about the media their kids use, released the following list of video games. The organization rated the games on age appropriateness and based its scores on ratings from kids and adults. For more information go to www.commonsensemedia.org Dora the Explorer's World Adventure! (ages 3 and up): Dora takes kids on first-rate global romp. ION Educational Gaming System (ages 4 and up): Eye Toy-type games get preschoolers moving. Miss Spider's Scavenger Hunt (ages 4 and up): Miss Spider hosts one of 2006's best games. Animal Genius (ages 5 and up): Kids will go wild for this educational game. I Spy Mystery (ages 6 and up): Series' visual puzzles wow savvy sleuths. New Super Mario Bros. (ages 7 and up): New Super Mario will woo old and new fans. Fish Tycoon (ages 8 and up): An excellent aquarium simulation game. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (ages 8 and up): An impishly charming version of Star Wars. Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: The March of the Minis (ages 8 and up): Mario comes through with a puzzler for everyone. Nancy Drew: Danger by Design (ages 9 and up): It's no mystery - this Nancy Drew is a winner. Guitar Hero II (ages 10 and up): Rock 'n' roll party returns. Better than ever. Civilization 4 (ages 10 and up): World and history-spanning strategy game, best for tweens and teens. Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA (ages 10 and up): Perfect way to get kids moving. Okami (ages 13 and up): A groundbreakingly stunning adventure for teens. Final Fantasy XII (ages 13 and up): A fantasy RPG masterpiece for PlayStation 2 fans.