Okay I consider myself a gamer, started since I was ~6 years old with the NES and the habbit just stucked, there's no sign of it going away any time soon. Still, I remember I was a normal kid, had toys and played with them, went out and played sports, had a normal school life and even though I was somewhat shy a can't complain about my early social life.

So now at 29 years of age I have a kid of my own, he's two years old almost turning three and now fights with me over dominence of my PS3 or PSP!

I find it amusing and a bit amazing that he plays crash bandicoot, little big planet and such games -  granted he looses a lot and always hands me over the controller so I can bypass a difficult obstacle for him, but he's learning very quickly!

Now for the worrying part.

He just doesn't find mundane toys fun anymore, he prefers to play a videogame than with a new toy (or any) I purchase for him, is that... wrong? should I worry? how much is too much gaming? I remember I played hours on end and can't really say I turned out bad or it affected me in a bad way.

This kid doesn't even speak that well but he plays like a pro :p I don't yet have a problem with gaming 'affecting' another facet of his life, and since I'm a gamer I kind of understand why a dumb teddy isn't more fun than Crash :^^:

Well I was playing my mom's Atari 2600 when I was three. But I still enjoyed my toys and hanging out with friends. I think its a balance your going to have to set. For me my mom let us play video games an hour a day, unless it was a special occasion. When school started we'd get our hour only after homework and going outside.It worked well because me and my sister would play the two hours after dinner 6ish till 8ish when we'd have to go to bed. Good way to wind down.

I think its important to force or allow the child to experiance the outside world and use his or her imagination. I'm not sure how I would have turned out without the limits on how much I played games. Though I have a friend who's dad worked at a Video Game store so he played all the time, today he's a nerd just like me and loves to play games. I can't say he turned out that bad.

But I would be a tad worried if your kid doesn't like any toys you buy him. But he's three he'll probably grow into the toys. Get him off the games every once and a while and I'm sure he'll turn out great.

Just don't be like some dumb ass parents letting their five year olds play Halo on Live or Grand Theft Auto. I met a twelve year old who was obsessed with Left4Dead. He was having night mares and running around pretending we were all zombies. He really scared some of the other kids (At the Camp I work at). He'd talk about cutting zombies heads off and describe all the blood while swearing. The other kids didn't know what to do.

But I'm guessing your not an idiot and probably got parenting down pretty good. In short my answer to your question is your never too young to play games, just play in moderation and your good!

I think you shouldn't let your child play video games untill (s)he's old enough to know how to read and write.

I wouldn't worry too much.

My kid (3 years and 5 months old) is almost the same. Right now he's playing Double Dash although it's time for bed!

Of course playing too long could be bad on the eyes, so I think limiting the time he plays would be good.