Yes, the numbers are in, and Phineas and Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension is officially the most-watched (basic) cable animated telecast of all time among kids aged 2 to 11, and the second most-watched among kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14. It’s also the fifth most-watched cable movie of all time and the first most-watched cable entertainment telecast of 2011 so far, with both of those statistics crossing all demographics.

The numbers were reached based on a week’s worth of viewing and taking into account people who recorded it on their DVRs to watch at unscheduled times. The way things work in cable and with modern technology, those factors have to be part of the analysis for it to represent anything like reality, of course.

Congratulations to the whole Phineas and Ferb team at Disney! We at GeekDad love to see a program that treats its viewers like intelligent people and that celebrates creativity, humor, and housepets as secret agents find such a large audience. We can’t wait to see the rest of the new episodes from the show’s third season, and we hope to see more special events in the show’s future (including that feature film they mentioned they were working on!).

And don’t forget: The movie comes out on DVD today. This is one you (and probably your kids) are going to want to watch a lot of times, so order it now!

Let's Catch – Surprisingly Dark

As a parent I’m always interested in any help relating media and family. To this end I’ve been enjoying the debate around my piece on The Escapist that aims to bring a fresh take on how we should respond as parents to dark media experiences – and in particular video games.

Although the darker side of videogames is often seen as a threat, it can actually be quite beneficial. Games provide experiences that let us examine our dark side and bring us face to face with our fears in a healthy way.

The media focuses attention on games that can generate shocking headlines, but ironically they often miss the really disturbing titles. There are many games that have to be played at length before they give up their dark themes, so in talking about dark games that are good for us to play, it’s important to consider both the headline toppers, and other, less controversial, games that are just as dark.

As you can see, the question here is whether – if handled in the wider family – dark games can actually be beneficial experiences. I know in my family we’ve had many interesting conversations over breakfast that have stemmed from various gaming moments.

The debate around the article has been interesting. But so far it’s been driven from the younger audience on The Escapist. I’m keen to hear how parents like you respond to this idea.

Although some come from the typical Modern Warfare 2 and Grand Theft Auto, we’ve also found other games just as challenging. A Wii-ware title call Let’s Catch is an intriguing example where during the course of a game of catch your opposite number shares their life story – and broaches subjects such as abandonment, growing up and loneliness.

Winner – Wii Sports Resort (image: trueslant.com)

The Family Gamer Awards are very different to the ESRB and PEGI ratings. Rather than trying to keep people away from the wrong games, they look to connect people with the games they will enjoy. The awards suggest the best games to suite each of their six age-groups (toddlers, juniors, students, workers, parents and grandparents). This culminates in an end of year chance for readers to vote for the games they think are best suited to each type of gamer. As well as winners in each age group the game with the most events takes home the Family Game of the Year award.

The votes are in and counted now – with slightly more predictable results than last years surprise win by Mirror’s Edge. This year Wii Sports Resort sits at the top of the pile as the most voted for family game, and deservedly so. But as well as this, delve into each age category and you soon find a few unusual popular titles and hidden gems:

Games for Toddlers (2 to 4 yrs)
WINNER: EyePet on PS3

Games for Juniors (5 to 10 yrs)
WINNER: High School Musical 3: Dance! on Wii/PS3/360

Games for Students (11 to 17 yrs)
WINNER: Wii-Sports Resort on Wii

Games for Workers (18 and over)
WINNER: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on PS3

Games for Parents
WINNER: Assassin’s Creed 2 on PS3/360/PC

Games for Grandparents
WINNER: Flower on PS3

Nominations are now open for the first set of 2010 family games, just email Paul Govan with your suggestions.

Screencap of the ESRB's iPhone app

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB)–the people who bring you parental advisory ratings on videogames–have released an iPhone app that lets users search for rating summaries on games.  Here’s their pitch:

The main attraction of the app is that you can access rating summaries, which describe the activities involved in the game, giving some insight into why a game got a particular rating.  The summaries, which aren’t on a game’s packaging, are only available for games released since July 2008.

The app is fairly bare-bones: It’s basically just a wrapper for the mobile version of the ESRB website, without much added functionality (no ability to save searches, or any kind of customization).  Having said that, if you don’t know much about the video games your child is asking for this holiday season–or at any other time–then the ESRB app can provide you with a little more information.  And it’s free.

The app is available now on iTunes.