It’s nice to sit down with the family and watch a movie together once in awhile, especially if there’s a positive message in it.  I recently had the opportunity to preview Game of Your Life which will be airing on Friday, December 2nd on NBC at 8pm EST.  It’s about Zach, a high school gamer, who gets a scholarship to a college video game design program.  The freshman year is intense and only half the class will survive the rigorous project and responsibilities.  Zach finds himself struggling with his loyalty to his project group and to his father who has financial issues back home.  Zach tries to strike a balance but gets caught up into some suspicious activity with Marcus Bentton, a billionaire gaming icon.

I really enjoyed watching a movie that didn’t portray gaming in a negative light.  I think too often people assume bad things about gaming and the people that enjoy them.  We are a gamer family and I know we deal with negative stereotypes often enough.  This movie helped show that there are viable and marketable skills that can be honed and turned into a career for some gamers.  Designing a game isn’t easy and takes a lot of team work to accomplish.

This movie also emphasized the importance of team work, responsibility, and accountability.  Zach was not only jeoporadizing his own spot in the program, but his whole team.  They needed to work together or they would all be eliminated from the program.  Zach demonstrated his strong family tie and concern about finances, despite his father telling him not to worry.  Zach was encouraged to move forward in his own life and follow his dreams and goals rather than worrying about what was going to happen back home.

Overall, I think this movie is a appropriate for family viewing.  There were some areas that my husband and I felt weren’t explained enough.  Sometimes it felt like it moved on without us understanding how they got there.  There were some fun pop cultural gamer references strewn throughout, though a few were overused.  If your children (or you!) enjoy gaming, you’ll appreciate the positive vibe this movie has overall about video games.

P&G and Walmart bring you another Family Movie: Game of Your Life premieres on Friday, December 2 on NBC at 8pm ET/7pm CT.

Check out the trailer here:

Connect with the official Family Movie Night website: www.familymovienight.com

Connect with the Family Movie Night Facebook page: facebook.com/familymovienight

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Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

About Darcy

Darcy Zalewski is a married, stay-at-home mom who is discovering her greener side, starting with advocating for cloth diapering. When she's not changing diapers or singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, she can be found at Tales From the Nursery, where she shares tales of motherhood as well as product reviews, or at ShePromotes, a resource for blogger support.

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