Ben Stirling loves games. He also loves his son Sam. So for Sam’s first birthday, he did what any tech-savvy super dad would do: photoshopped his kid into some of his favourite vidoe gaames .
“My wife or I made a joke about how he was about to "level up" when his birthday came around, and that joke sparked off this whole series,” Stirling told Yahoo Games. “We thought it would be a fun laugh for our friends and family. Plus it was the holidays, and I was determined not to do anything actually productive.”
We’d argue that this is actually pretty productive, as it has produced enormous grins on our faces.
The elder Stirling, who by day works as a developer for Guru Studios in Toronto, certainly knows his way around games and kids. The team just launched their first app, a tot-friendly game named jig jag jog , last year.
That said, dad’s well aware that Sam might be a little young to actually play the games he himself enjoys.
“There was a sweet spot in the first few months where he would sleep in my lap while I played Assassin's Creed 3, but he's become a little too active and aware of what's happening on screen for that to happen anymore,” he said. “Despite our family's love of games, they're something he'll get to experience once he's old enough, and in structured amounts.”
So what’s Sam’s game of choice when he isn’t starring in Mario Kart and Gears of War?
“For now, his favourite game is "knock over the blocks that daddy stacks up," says Stirling.
Stirling joins a growing list of game-savvy super dads. Last March, game designer Mike Mika hacked the nintendo entertainment system version of donkey kong for his daughter, turning damsel-in-distress Pauline into the hero while sticking Mario atop the girders, waiting to be rescued. In June, Travis Schwend rented out an entire theater to let his son and friends play video games on the big screen. You’re making the rest of us look bad, guys.
But Sam looks pretty cool in these games. Can you name ‘em all?
The games (from the top): Mario Kart, Portal, Gears of War, LittleBigPlanet, Mass Effect 2, Left 4 Dead, Skyrim
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