Venture Arctic: Heads Up Green Gamers

Video Games are awesome; so is harnessing the natural forces of sun, wind, and snow to ensure tundra species like wolves, bears, and oxen survive the harsh terrain. Pocketwatch Games makes hand-crafted video games pertaining to the environment and has created 2007 Sim Game Of the Year Award winning Venture Arctic . Beware, this game is only for players tough enough to handle the task of ensuring species survival. Well, digitally at least.

We had the chance to play Venture Arctic and had mega fun cruising the terrain, doling out sun energy and food, watching animals grow, and restoring habitat to its original pristine condition. Heads up, though: the game is quite realistic and some of the animals do die from man-made factors (climate change) or natural factors (food scarcity.)

Venture Arctic is available online at Pocketwatch Games and at major video game retailers like Circuit City. For less than $20, it is a great way to bring foreign terrain and exotic species into our living rooms, and excite kids (and fun-loving adults) about arctic preservation.

-- Margaret