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.
Square Enix gathered Final Fantasy XI fans for a big fan event on the 22nd in Tokyo. The last Japanese FFXI offline event in 2007 saw the announcement of the Wings of the Goddess expansion pack.
This time, while no expansion pack was announced, Square Enix did announce three expansion scenarios.
The three scenarios are titled, in Japanese, Ishi no Miru Yume, Senritsu! Mog Matsuri no Yoru, and Shantotto no Inbou. Each scenario tells a complete story, and all three were headed up by scenario writer Masato Kato. FFXI fans will recognize Kato from his work on the Rise of the Zilart expansion. More recently, he supervised the DS remake of Chrono Trigger.
While not lasting as long as a full expansion pack, Square Enix expects players to clear each scenario in one or two months.
Unlike past expansions, these three scenarios will be offered exclusively through direct download. Square Enix hasn't set pricing, but fans at the event were tol... More »
One day, many years ago, a programmer playing Halo: Combat Evolved became frustrated by his lack of skill.
He died over and over again, so rather than practice until he could hold his own, he - as many programmers do - asked himself how could automate the experience. And thus, the infamous AimBot was born.
AimBots have been a thorn in the sides of many noble gamers for almost a decade. Talentless players have used them to bring misery upon their innocent foes; foes primarily out to have a good time themselves.
Unfortunately for the honest among us, AimBots are the least of our worries now. A plague of modded controllers have now entered circulation among gamers. These controllers are used to center on a target’s head, pull the trigger, and move on.
Others are used to make the buttons easier and faster to push, or are modified with a rapid-fire button (like an old SNES controlle... More »
There's general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3. Months of intense hype were followed by a late launch (fully a year after the Xbox 360) and a staggering $600 price tag for the deluxe model.
Even worse, the PS3 didn't initially have any real must-have exclusive titles, and despite the power of its vaunted Cell processor, multiplatform games from third-party developers didn't look appreciably better than the respective titles on the Xbox 360.
Since then, the company's been modifying the PlayStation product line to better fit the competitive market landscape. As of August 2008, a new "bargain" PS3 is available with a larger, 80GB hard drive, and a "deluxe" model is due in November, doubling the capacity to 160GB.
Both, however, lack backward compatibility with PS2 games and do not come with flash card readers. If those features are a must, it might be best to pick up the 80GB "Metal Gear" bundle version on eBay w... More »
Square Enix is doing the whole "teaser countdown site" thing again. This time, a new teaser site linked to from the Square Enix official page appears to be counting down to a Monday reveal of a game that has something to do with the word "Bahamut."
The last time Square Enix hosted a countdown page, the world was given the gift of Chrono Trigger DS. That teaser page didn't do too much to hide the identity of the game in question, promising a Nintendo DS title with the initials "CT."
This time, the teaser site, bahamut.jp, makes no mention of a system. As for the name Bahamut, Square Enix does have a long lost Japan-only Super NES strategy RPG called Bahamut Lagoon. Perhaps another revival is on the way?
Of course, this is all speculation. Any guesses? Comment below!
Courtesy of Criterion Games, here’s this week’s big announcement! To quote:
We’re talking Burnout Paradise Legendary Cars.
This year, we’ve introduced some of the most incredible vehicles yet seen in a Burnout game. Our FREE Cagney pack brought you the crazy Steel Oval Racer and the Hippie Wagon, and the FREE Bikes Pack brought motorcycles to Paradise City for the first time ever.
In 2009, we’re taking Burnout vehicles to the next level with some truly unbelievable new vehicles. First up – The Jansen 88 Special.
This classic 1980’s styled silver sports car is based on the fan-favourite Jansen P12, but we’ve made a few interesting modifications.
Fill the gauge and hit boost to trigger burning flame trails from your back wheels. The 88 Special’s fast, manoeuvrable and great in the air.
In fact, if you want to take off, this is just the car for you. Hit L3 to switch to hover mode – the w... More »
Per Alan McDermott (Audio Lead, Evolution Studios) via PS Blog today:
Since Day 1, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to put a soundtrack together that would have the right vibe for a festival of racing like MotorStorm. You see, Music is one of those things that no one is ever “wrong” about. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone knows best, but no one is ever wrong!
After countless discussions with various people involved in creating the Festival Infrastructure around the MotorStorm racing events, my challenge was set: I needed to put together a lineup that not only fit with a racing game, but one which could feasibly be the Festival line up to end all Festival line ups.
It had to be Anarchic, Aggressive and Raucous. That was the easy part. The tough part was making sure that the soundtrack became as much a signature of MotorStorm as the racing itself was.
Yes folks, it's October, which means that the crazy end-of-year games rush has begun. A boggling number of games are due out over the next few months, so let us guide you towards the titles we really think you should be keeping an eye on.
Remember though, most of these recommendations are based on previews, so wait until the final review verdict before picking any of them up.
1. Animal Crossing: City Folk - Wii, 16th Nov US, December EU
It might not be the great hardcore hope Reggie claims it to be, but the Wii version of Animal Crossing certainly promises to be the definitive entry in the series. It's got proper online play, mic and keyboard communications, Mii support, a new city area full of customisable gear to pick up and connectivity between Wii and DS. In other words, it's got everything Animal Crossing always needed. AC is one of those games you either love or just don't get at all, but if you're the former, this will be a must.
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