kiwimate writes "A study concludes that people who play car racing games may be more likely to take risks and drive aggressively when driving in real life. According to the article, "The study appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, published by the American Psychological Association"." Just because after I play Grand Theft Auto I want to ram other cars does not mean I'm a worse driver. Honest.

A News.com article highlights a plan that may please word-weary students: more games, fewer books in some educational settings. That's one plan put forth by some educators who feel that current learning plans don't fully engage today's classes. By offering real-world dilemmas in a virtual setting ('discover why fish are dying in a park'), teachers hope that games will turn kids onto the idea of learning, and eventually lead them back to books. The article covers several of the projects geared towards exploring this idea, as well as research on the subject. "A game designer, Salen is working with a group called New Visions for Public Schools to establish a school in New York City for grades 6 through 12 that would integrate video games into the entire curriculum. 'There's a lot of moral panic about addiction to games. There's a negative public perception, and we know we have to deal with that. But teachers have been using games for years and years.'"

Via Game|Life, an article on the Variety site that sees something rather novel: a film writer defending games. Unhappy reviews of the film 300 sometimes cite the film's 'game-like' nature as a measure of it's poor quality, and Variety writer Ben Fritz calls those authors out on their poor grasp of modern media. Ron Gilbert, at the Grumpy Gamer site, has a few words of commentary on this issue. Coincidentally Gamasutra chose today to post a discussion of games as art which begins with the phrase "here we go again".

Via Joystiq , a press release that reveals a new feature for the upcoming Pokemon Diamond/Pearl titles. In addition to new graphics, the title offers a new twist for the gotta-catch-em-all set: voice communication via wireless networking. You'll only be able to talk to people you've exchanged friend codes with, so there's no chance for an anonymous player to traumatize younger players. The PR release they link to mentions that the game will also have a world-wide trader board: "For kids, it's like having a cell phone that can only connect with their friends. The Nintendo DS Headset, sold separately, makes these conversations a breeze ... Players can trade Pokemon or battle with players anywhere in the world, even without voice communication. The Global Trade Station allows players to post Pokemon they want to trade on a board and browse through Pokemon other players have posted."

Bullied writes "Take Two has tired of Jack Thompson's frivolous lawsuits and has filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida to prevent him from filing any more 'nuisance' lawsuits. 'Take Two argues that the lawsuits violate its First Amendment rights to free expression, but it also claims that the suits are so vague as to be unconstitutional. "This unconstitutional vagueness will have a chilling effect on Plaintiff as well as Plaintiff's customers," says the company. "Plaintiff's distributors likely will respond to the uncertainty and fear of penalties by withholding Plaintiff's video games from the public."' Take Two also cites the disruptive effect Thompson's suits have on its retail partners."

Peter Malford writes "Earlier this month Slashdot reported on Commodore's return with new gaming PCs that would be officially announced at CeBIT. Cnet.co.uk has got a first look at the four new models called the XX, GX, GS and G. "The high-end XX packs enough grunt to make an Alienware machine run to its deformed alien mum. It uses an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM and two Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards running in tandem... Commodore uses what it calls a 'revolutionary painting process' to make them look pretty damn gorgeous." Commodore also officially launched the Gravel In Pocket PMP and unveiled some new Gravel devices, one that has a 4" screen and one that features a built-in GPS receiver."

Gamasutra has the NPD numbers for last month, which shows a continuation of Nintendo's sales dominance. Overall the new consoles have again meant that industry sales were up, some 28% over last year's same-month figures. Hardware sales were up some 98%, with much of that performance attributable to the DS and Wii. Here's the breakdown: "Turning to hardware, the DS headed overall hardware sell-through with an impressive 485,000 units, followed by Nintendo's Wii, which sold 335,000 units despite continued issues with shortages. The Xbox 360 sold through a reasonable, if not spectacular 228,000 copies, and the PlayStation 3 slumped to a disappointing 127,000 units, despite no apparent shortages. Elsewhere, the PlayStation 2 moved a still impressive 295,000 at its relatively cheap current price, and the PlayStation Portable sold 176,000, markedly behind the DS. Finally, the various varieties of the Game Boy Advance sold a not unreasonable 136,000 units."

Ars Technica reports on the intention of the Wikia group to create a wiki-based open source gaming magazine. The gaming.wikia site is intended to be a fully editable source of information for game news consumers. From the lips of Dan Lewis, VP of business development at Wikia: "The 'open-source magazines' we're unveiling today are focused largely around topics where passionate people have already started collaborating online. The launch of Tunes, Cars, Gaming and Health is a continuation of our mission to open-source the creation and development of content around every topic imaginable — so we are obviously not stopping here."

TimC writes "1up has up a really fantastic interview with Dylan Jobe, the director of Warhawk for PS3. He addresses why they went multiplayer, and why people shouldn't be worried about it being downloadable. 'We had a few really fun missions. But a few missions don't make a competitive single player game. They don't. The bar is set, and it's set really, really high. And we can hit and exceed that bar in a multiplayer ... Just because iTunes is available now doesn't mean that music producers say oh, now we can do crummy music. Convenience is great, but quality always wins out.'"

anthemaniac writes "Playing video games that involve firing guns (Gears of War, Halo, take your pick) can improve eyesight, according to a new study. From the article: 'People who started out as non-gamers and then received 30 hours of training on first-person action video games showed a substantial increase in their ability to see objects accurately in a cluttered space, compared to non-gamers given the same test.' The games push the brain to the limit, the thinking goes, and it adapts by developing better spatial resolution. The effect was not duplicated in more sedate games like Tetris."

simoniker writes "Game education site Game Career Guide has a new feature talking to recruiters from notable game companies like EA, Insomniac Games, and THQ. They discuss the best university courses and qualifications for getting hired to be a game developer. EA's Colleen McCreary comments on the rise of some TV-advertised mass market game schools: 'Our concern with for-profit institutions is that students may not learn the fundamental tools for understanding and solving complex issues... We are most likely to hire someone who has a BFA or MFA from a traditional art college and a BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science for our entry level artist and software engineer positions.'"

1up has commentary from Funcom, makers of games such as Anarchy Online, Dreamfall, and Longest Journey. The developer has taken the drastic step of deciding to cease creation of games without an online component. The company's CEO pins the blame squarely on game piracy. "Several stats he listed were startling if ... true, including that 200,000 illegal copies of Dreamfall had been downloaded before the game was even released and anywhere from three to ten copies of any PC game are pirated for each one sold. Adventure Gamers suggests that future offline games such as Dreamfall Chapters may require an active internet connection to prove authenticity when you play, similar to how Steam works."

Eurogamer had the chance to speak with well known game designer Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Thief) about current plans for his new studio, Junction Point. In a detailed interview, Spector discusses the studio's current slate of two titles. He also makes some bold proclamations about his future in the industry: "He now wants to shake a bit of life back into the world of games, a market he believes is still too niche and enclosed, by delivering something new and original rather than a rehash of old experiences. He'd rather 'fail spectacularly' than create another sports game or driving simulation. 'I think that most of what passes for a game, even now, just sucks. It's hard for me not to talk, but I've seen the dangers of doing that. I'm hoping that in the next couple of months we'll have something to say.'"

MTV's Stephen Totilo went to GDC last week and came back with a bag full of interesting interviews for faithful gamers. Speaking with Miyamoto early in the week, they had the chance to talk about Miis in the land of Hyrule, and playing Mario one-handed. Totilo also confirmed that the content-less keynote was due to a stock-related ban on future information. Bad timing, all around. At the end of last week, he had a chance to catch up with Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins (Tycho). They chatted about the Rain-Slicked Precipice of Darkness, and the duo's high aspirations for the game: "If you're asking me whether or not I hope we make a good game, then yes, we are trying our best to make a game that is not annoying, that is not a pain in the ass, that can be played through in a reasonable time and is enjoyable from the beginning to the end."

Last week at GDC I had the privilege of sitting down to speak with a representative from CCP, the folks who maintain EVE Online. The week before, we'd asked for questions to pass on. I had the chance to put them directly to Magnus Bergsson, CMO at CCP. He very directly tackles the recent scandal involving a CCP developer, the reason why EVE's hardcore gameplay is so appealing, the balance between casual and hardcore players, and some information on the future of the game. Read on for his answers to your questions in a transcript of the interview, as well as audio live from the GDC Expo floor.

fistfullast33l writes "According to IGN UK, the next version of Playstation firmware will include a joint venture from Stanford University and Sony called Folding@Home. Similar to the infamous SETI@Home project, Folding@Home will be an idle application that participates in a simulation that 'aims to map the way that genes change shape (or fold), so they can be studied by scientists and, potentially, cure illnesses such as Parkinson's or a variety of cancers.' The application will download a 'work unit' that it will unravel to completion, update Stanford's servers, and then download the next unit and continue." We've previously discussed the client; it will be available as an update at the end of the month, and should appear on your cross-media bar once installed.

A Reuters story points out something that's probably not much of a shock to readers here: almost a third of console owners are 'adults'. This, from a study done by Nielsen, indicates that 37% of adults who go online own a videogame console. 16% own a portable game console. These aren't basement-dwelling rejects, either. Most of these individuals are married, and a full 66 percent have a child. The article suggests the increasing sophistication of the systems, as well as their new role as media center components, has added to the cachet of the console. "Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. are positioning their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles as entertainment hubs for gaming, music and photo viewing amid a fierce battle for dominance in the $30 billion global video- game market."

In an interview with Game Informer from last week, representatives from Valve confirmed that they'll be supporting DirectX 10 functionality in the release of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2. This will be the case even for those folks who haven't upgraded to Vista yet. No worries if you don't have a DX10 card, though. They've got functionality nailed all the way back to DirectX 8, and are trying to push it all the way back to 7.

EGM sat down for a long talk with Microsoft's Shane Kim, Corporate Vice President. Among other things they discuss the unbuyability of the Bioware company (they asked and were rebuffed), plans for the next next-gen game console (already in the works, possibly coming in 2012), and the timing for the release of Halo 3. "We returned to discussing Microsoft's first party portfolio for 2007. With Grand Theft Auto IV due in mid-October, Microsoft has to figure out when Halo 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4 fit into the release calendar. Kim confirmed that PGR4 was due this fall, though did not specify a date. Why not? Well, because Microsoft won't ship a game in October to compete with GTA IV, and with Lost Odyssey coming in December, that means Halo 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4 have to fight over September and November. With the success Halo 2 enjoyed at retail, would Microsoft even entertain shipping the game outside of the oft-expected November timeframe?"

Several outlets are carrying the news that Live for Windows is coming in May to a PC near you. The announcement carried confirmation of a similar pricetag for Xbox Live, as well as details on some new titles. Halo 2 will be releasing right around the launch of the service (slated to go up May 8th), and Shadowrun will follow quickly sometime in June. Gamasutra has an interview with Xbox Live general manager JJ Richards on the subject, and 1up offers a bit of commentary with the news. Though when asked about it last week Microsoft reps seemed extremely confident, it still remains to be seen whether PC gamers will pay for what they've always gotten for free.