Kid-tested, parent-approved video games

FamilyFun.com gets it. What better way to test video games than in their natural habitat: homes! And who could be a more credible tester than a kid (with Mom or Dad playing fly-on-the-wall)?

It's a formula that Children's Software Revue has used successfully for years, and this year Disney's Family Fun used it to build on its daycare-center-tested toy awards and produce its first-annual, home-tested Video Game of the Year awards. Why? Parents are kind of stuck: "With all this noise about Grand Theft Auto [and Halo 2 last week!], most of us feel somewhat ambivalent about video games," FamilyFun.com VP Emily Smith, herself a mother of two, told me in a phone interview. "But the fact remains that video games are popular, kids play them!" For more on this - as well as other holiday gift resources on the Web - please see the latest issue of my newsletter.