Ninety per cent of the young people who seek treatment for compulsive computer gaming are not addicted.
So says Keith Bakker the founder and head of Europe's first and only clinic to treat gaming addicts.
The Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam, has treated hundreds of young gamers since the clinic opened in 2006. But the clinic is changing its treatment as it realises that compulsive gaming is a social rather than a psychological problem.
Using traditional abstinence-based treatment models the clinic has had very high success rate treating people who also show other addictive behaviours such as drug taking and excessive drinking.
But Mr Bakker believes that this kind of cross-addiction affects only 10% of gamers. For the other 90% who may spend four hours a day or more playing games such as World of Warcraft, he no longer thinks addiction counselling is the way to treat these people.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today announced a new initiative called Shoot!.
Shoot! will deliver series of short films that will be free to download from 13th November via PlayStation®Network for PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) or PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable), allowing owners to watch cutting-edge film from up-and-coming directors and experience this unique content.
The films will also be screened across Europe on ShortsTV from January 2009.
Press Release: Six of Hollywood’s award winning filmmakers Armendariz, Bruckheimer, Kounen, Rothermund, Vinterberg, Winterbottom have chosen an emerging film director from their own country to mentor for the project. The emerging directors then created a short film, shot in High Definition, based on an open brief, shaped only by one of a number of words that capture the essence of PlayStation: Play, Create, Share, Connect, Discover and Challenge.
The emerging directors will showcase their mo... More »
Cyberport and Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited (SCEH) are jointly organizing the first PS3 game production program in Hong Kong, the "Digital Content Creation Camp" (DCCC).
The program provides training opportunities for young people and professionals in Hong Kong, especially targeting at game programmers, designers and producers. DCCC level 3 courses will start on November 1, 2008.
Press Release: The Asia's First PLAYSTATION(R)3 Game Training Program Out of Japan To Develop Hong Kong Young Game Masters
'Tokyo Game Show Delegation' Opens up Students' Minds & Visions
HONG KONG, Oct. 13 Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (Cyberport) and Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited (SCEH) are jointly organizing the first PS3 game production program in Hong Kong, the "Digital Content Creation Camp" (DCCC). The program provides training opportunities for young people and professionals in Hong Kong, especially tar... More »
SCEA has announced that they are expanding the availability of the PlayStation Network cards. As of October, the cards will be available from popular retailers such as Walmart, Best Buy, and select Sam's Club outlets.
To quote: Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America has announced they're "expanding the availability of the popular PlayStation Network Cards to additional major retailers nationwide this holiday season."
The cards allow you to bypass the Need for a credit card; you simply purchase the Network Card at the retailer (sure, use cash), bring it home, then dump the money into your virtual wallet for the Store.
And starting in October, these Cards will be available at Walmart, Best Buy, and select Sam's Club outlets. Sony will add Barnes & Noble College Bookstores in November, which should come as good news to all you university students out there.
Burning the midnight oil with pizza and caffeinated drinks is common for college students, but doing so to create a functional playground for a walking happy-go-lucky ball of yarn is definitely new.
Developer Media Molecule's charming creation Little Big Planet was the focus of last weekend's 24-hour Game Jam at Parsons the New School for Design.
The reputed design school in the heart of New York City teamed up with Little Big Planet publisher Sony to host a competition with more than 150 students from different disciplines divided into 19 teams. The students had a single day with Little Big Planet to build the most creative level possible using Little Big Planet's in-game tools.
"The results of students in teams working for 24 hours straight were absolutely amazing," said Sven Travis, chair of the communication, design and technology department, at the awards ceremony on Monday afternoon. "I don't think there was anyone who wasn't astoni... More »
Per Grant Chang (Animator, 2K Boston) via PS Blog today:
My name’s Grant and I’m an animator for the BioShock Add-On Content Challenge Rooms. I was asked to spearhead any animation tasks that was needed for this project.
The development team has been working hard here at 2K Boston on these new rooms and we are closing in on the finish line. But, it has been a great experience because it got me the chance to do things I haven’t done before for Bioshock.
One of our first goals was to get the Ferris Wheel in the game. The finished asset was actually physically in the original release of the game, but never used. It was a shame, because it’s a really well crafted piece. So I went through the steps of breaking it apart, rigging it and getting it to move convincingly.
Then I had to learn some things about collision and getting the Little Sister to stay in the carriage without misbehaving. After a bit of elbow grease and sw... More »
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) and the prestigious Parsons The New School For Design today announced its partnership in hosting a 24-hour LittleBigPlanet(TM) Game Jam.
The event will take place September 21-22 in New York City at Parsons and will consist of a 24-hour video game design competition featuring more than 120 students from disciplines such as technology, music, fashion design, illustration and photography.
Participants in the Game Jam will be tasked with creating the most inventive and challenging game levels within a 24-hour period for the highly anticipated PLAYSTATION(R)3 title, LittleBigPlanet.
Press Release: PLAYSTATION(R) Teams Up With Parsons The New School For Design for a LittleBigEvent in NYC
"We are thrilled to be partnering with some of the most imaginative talents in the world at Parsons The New School For Design," said Scott Rohde, vice president of Product Development, Worldwide Studios Ame... More »
A funny thing happened a couple of months ago. After completing the PSP version of God of War, developer Ready At Dawn Studios posted a matter-of-fact news story on their site about how they were packing up their dev kits and sending them back to Sony.
The company behind one of the must-play games on the PSP was giving up on the system completely. Around the same time, Sony itself announced a new partnership program where universities could buy up PSP and PS2 development kits on the cheap. It would seem that Ready At Dawn isn’t the only studio giving up on the system.
Presumably, there is an assembly line at Sony headquarters where the old dev kits are repackaged for uni students. Maybe they throw in some typical student freebie favourites in the box, like free condoms, and booklets about doing drugs responsibly.
At any rate, this phase-out is already being felt at retail. There are fewer and fewe... More »
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