Just under a week ago we featured a Compulsive Gamers Not Addicts article, and today a related topic of dicussion is Video Games Versus Real Life.
Since the dawn of time, there have been conflicts. Men Vs Women, Right Vs Wrong, the list goes on. But have we really gotten to the bottom of any of these? Well now, it’s time to solve a conflict so steeped in history that some of you just might not be old enough to remember when it began.
We all know the stereotypes that come into play here. There’s the typical ‘nerd’, complete with sweaty palms and dorky glasses. The other being the ‘jock’. The sports loving, woman seducing bully. Obviously, recent times have changed this situation.
More and more ‘regular’ people are playing games, and the nerd stereotype is becoming less of a crux of gaming. But whenever you picture the Real L... More »
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.
Today, 7-Eleven announced that they will start carrying certain video game titles for sale, including Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
Additionally, they will make several prepaid game cards available for companies (and games) like Nexon, Habbo, Gaia, Guild Wars, Runescape, Aeria, City of Heroes, ijji and Neopets.
Press Release: Gamers never die; they just grow up … and continue to play ... and play ... and play. Today, the average gamer is not in his teens, but in his early 30s and, not surprisingly, most likely male. They play at home, at social gatherings, at work (shhhh) and online.
That’s good news for 7-Eleven, Inc. whose customer base skews heavily male between the ages of 18 and 34. The world’s leading convenience retailer is ready to take the proverbial plunge into video game sales after dabbling in it over the past years with successful Slurpee® beverage promotio... 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 »
The New Xbox Experience, a.k.a. the new Xbox 360 Dashboard, hits today. If you've got an Xbox 360 that's connected to the Internet, you're going to be prompted to update your console as soon as you turn it on.
No exceptions; this is what your machine will look like until either it dies, you die, or Microsoft decides to make ANOTHER Xbox Experience.
Unfortunately, unlike Batman, you didn't have time to prepare. Here are the ten things you should know about the new Xbox experience so you can be set for today.
1) Installation is quick. Owners with hard drives that aren't 100% full will be able to update with no problem, but Xbox 360 Arcade fans that rely on memory cards can get in on the free 512MB card deal from Microsoft. We'd recommend you go for the 20GB hard drive for $20 if anything.
The update won't be as fast as the 10-second patches you're used to for standard Xbox Dashboard upgrades, but clocking in at somewhere between five... More »
PCWorld reports today that security researchers have developed a way to partially crack the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption standard used to protect data on many wireless networks.
However, the attack does not however work with the WPA2 standard states Dragos Ruiu, the PacSec conference's organizer who will be discussing it next week in Tokyo.
To quote: "Everybody has been saying, 'Go to WPA because WEP is broken,'" Ruiu said. "This is a break in WPA."
If WPA is significantly compromised, it would be a big blow for enterprise customers who have been increasingly adopting it, said Sri Sundaralingam, vice president of product management with wireless network security vendor AirTight Networks.
Although customers can adopt Wi-Fi technology such as WPA2 or virtual private network software that will protect them from this attack, there are still may devices that connect to the network using WPA,... More »
Per Grace Chen (Senior Manager, PlayStation Store) today:
Hey, everyone. It’s time again for the PlayStation Store weekly update.
Qore
Qore Episode 06: November, 2008 ($2.99 for episode / $24.99 for Annual Subscription)
Episode 06 of Qore: Presented by the PlayStation Network travels to Tokyo to take an up-close look at the gaming culture, but still keeps things close to “Home” with an exclusive peek at the new virtual community.
File size: 1.63 GB
Add-on Game Content
LittleBigPlanet Halloween Mask Costume (free) - Limited time offer
A seasonal exclusive costume for SackBoy!
File size: 1.04 MB
LittleBigPlanet Spaceman Costume (free) - Limited time offer
A new costume for Sackboy!
File size: 1.04 MB
Tom Clancy’s EndWar FirstWar Enlistment Pack (free)
Enlist for the FirstWar on PLAYSTATION Network! This FREE download unlocks thr... More »
Sony has already picked "loyal" European community members to join the PlayStation Home BETA, and will send them invites when version 1.0 of the virtual world goes live.
"Your next question is, 'How do you decide who gets picked?' and we had a couple of plans on how that was going to be done and my boss is away so I cant ask him which one he chose (yes, we've picked the names already and no, I'm not going to reveal the list)," said TedTheDog, Home community manager, on the European PlayStation forum.
"I'll let you know what I can, once I find out, but both were broadly based on the concept of loyalty. That's very vague I know, I'll firm up what I can, but don't expect too much detail, it was really complicated last time."
When Home version 1.0 will launch nobody knows, unfortunately, but with American PlayStation 3 owners ... More »
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