Thanks to georgehm3 for pointing out a video game available at bio-medical.com called The Journey to Wild Divine. The game uses a series of sensors connected to your pc via USB port to determine your body's state of relaxation. From the informational page: "We take them on a mythological tour and on this tour, we teach them ancient techniques such as breathing exercises, meditation exercises, a number of tools you can use in real life."

Staci writes "KillerBetties.com, a site with a focus on the female gamer, is running a interview with three of the ladies that comprise the UbiSoft sponsored FragDolls FPS Team. Rhoulette, Jinx and Katscratch sat down with Nicole of KillerBetties to talk about the controversy surrounding their existence and connection with UbiSoft, how they feel about representing female gamers and a few other personal tidbits." From the article: "We wouldn't be the Frag Dolls if it weren't for Ubisoft, so promoting games is certainly a distinct part of what we do. However, all of us have our dreams for where we would like to see girl gamers a year from now. And as girl gamers ourselves, we can't really help but represent some of their interests and desires."

J. R. Cook writes "A man by the name of Crazy Joe recently set up a site to start taking donations of virtual gold to convert them to real life gold on ebay. All proceeds made from the auctions are being sent to the Red Cross for help with the Tsumani fund in Asia. Crazy Joe has houses set up on every server in Ultima Online to accept the donations. You can take your character to the houses to donate your gold in-game. He's raised hundreds of millions of gold which in turn can be converted to thousands of dollars."

JavaTHut writes "The Journal Language Learning and Technology has a new article describing how The Sims can be modified to teach a foreign language. With this and other efforts at U.S.C. and M.I.T., could simulated immersion within video games become an effective way of acquiring a foreign language? Also of interest in the article are suggestions for using spatialized translation layers in foreign language songs and a Firefox extension for learning foreign vocabulary words."

JeremyZiff writes "Wi-Fi Toys is a featured article on ExtremeTech that shows you how you and your friends can run around your city and play six nifty games with a Wi-Fi connection. From games like Capture the Flag to Treasure Hunt, you'll never look at Wi-Fi the same again."

KBV writes "It seems that for the first time in history a games developer has been granted an OBE (Order Of the British Empire) by the Queen of England. When Peter Molyneux - the creator of Black & White, Fable, Populous and many other games - was asked by BBC News about the honor he simply said "It's come completely out of the blue, I never would have guessed that I'd have that kind of honour." For the games industry as a whole, this is very much a good thing. It's great that developers are being recognized for their hard work and cultural impact on the world."

Thanks to TopherHov who wrote in to mention a story on the Fox News site regarding gamers in the military, and the role that gaming plays for troops in the field. From the article: Games are as ubiquitous at Camp Fallujah and around it as tattoos, buzz cuts and shouts of "Hoorah" from one Marine to another. When the power goes out, a Humvee battery and a pair of alligator clips are all the resourceful gamer needs to resume the digitized fight.

obchrisj writes "Wondering how Guild Wars came to be? FileFront profiles the conceptualizing, trials, and tribulations of ArenaNet's MMORPG, slated to be released sometime early this year, in an article titled, "F! True Game Story: Guild Wars". In case you're not in the know, Guild Wars was started by well-known ex-Blizzard employees, Jeff Strain and Mike O'Brian."

Academomancer writes "Yahoo reports that Louisiana is trying to lure the game industry with tax incentives and a marketing campaign. From the article: Mark Smith, entertainment director for the state economic development department, said he aims to integrate video gaming into the state's entertainment industry, bringing together music, film and digital production.

obchrisj writes "Harvey Smith, formerly of ION Storm and now Creative Director at Midway Austin, gets his trials and tribulations profiled in FileFront's latest F! True Gamer Story. Here's a clip: "The hours were long, sometimes putting in as many as one hundred hours a week, and he stayed in QA for a year before moving into development. From there he has worked on a variety of games since 1993, including Deus Ex: Invisible War, Deus Ex, CyberMage, and System Shock. Over the years, he has seen a lot, and believes the emphasis in graphics may finally be slowing down. 'We might be moving beyond the graphical arms race soon, focusing more on player-driven experience,' he said.""

Voodoo Extreme is reporting on a piece coming out in PCZone UK about another Star Wars Real Time-Strategy Game, to be called Empire at War. From the article: This new PC game is set two years before ANH with a certain amount of cross over from Episode 3. Screen shots look superb. It appears to include ground battles set in dessert and greenland areas with attacking AT-AT's and a new Imperial ground based vehicle called "TIE Crawlers" which I've not seen before (cross between a tank and a TIE Fighter).

GameCube Europe is carrying a story stating that major United Kingdom retailers are dropping the Gamecube from their stock. From the article: Argos [has] reduced the GameCube from the RRP of £79.99 to only £39.99 and have also reduced the cost of games and accessories by a drastic amount.

kwpulliam writes "Tom's Hardware has an interesting writeup, discussing the difficulties in bringing games to Linux, and the dilemmas faced by the graphics card developers."

Time Doctor writes "John Carmack moved to a blog format, and updates everyone with his thoughts on graphics and why licensing delays the (still) inevitable Quake 3: Arena source, when it was expected before the end of 2004."

An anonymous reader writes "Gamepro has posted a story about the gaming lows in 2004 -- a fair roundup of all the junk that's happened this past year. Those poor smugglers..."

cyrus_zuo writes "For all those who think that the best games that came out this year were all sequels Game Tunnel presents a different angle on things with their 2004 Independent Game of the Year awards. For those who believe that the best game this year was that badly named expansion pack that they have the nerve to call Halo 2, check out the awards for a different side of gaming than you are used to."

JonLatane writes "It seems that nVidia is going to allow Infinium to demonstrate their Phantom "game service" at their CES booth. Since its inception, Infinium has proven to be rather belligerent about its product and will probably stay in court for a long time."

Wired.com is reporting on a Modern remake of classic adventure game Maniac Mansion. From the article: "The new game is almost identical to the original, except for the graphics and sound. Like the original, it has seven characters you can assemble in groups of three to play the game, and the puzzle-filled adventure has eight different solutions, which vary based on which characters you choose."

inKubus writes "Tulip Computers International BV -- which has held the rights to Commodore since 1997 -- said Thursday it will sell the once-mighty Commodore computer brand to U.S.-based Yeahronimo Media Ventures Inc. for 24 million euros, or $33 million. A company spokesman said they would "take actions" against possible copyright infringements of the Commodore name in the United States as well as release a new MP3 player and rerelease classic games."

German site GameZone is running a piece discussing the late, lamented True Fantasy Online. In it they mention that the Xbox MMOG may be released on the Xbox 2, based on commentary from the president of Level-5. From the article: "Now these hopes are affirmed by the level 5-Praesidenten Akihiro Hino, because in the Japanese Dorimaga said it that according to its estimates True Fantasy Live one on-line one could nevertheless still appear."