GameEffect

Saving English Pub Industry with Consoles

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Amidst economic recession, high alcohol tax, and smoking ban in public places, many English pubs were losing their costumers. The ingenious solution? Put consoles (Nintendo Wii is a particular favorite for social-oriented gaming) with some party games and let your visitors play it for free. A few pubs who have done so were starting to see positive results.

Tracey said the Wii nights have helped put more bums on barstools. “We can get anything from 20 to 40 people depending on the night and when in the month it falls,” he said. “It's another reason for people to come out and have a few drinks.”

[Can Wii save our pubs?]

Super Bowl XLIII champion according to Madden 09

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Outfitting their newest Madden NFL game with latest rosters and statistics, EA Sports published their annual tradition of predicting Super Bowl outcome by pitting the two final teams in AI-versus-AI match. So who's the winner?

According to the award-winning video game, the Pittsburgh Steelers will win an unprecedented sixth Super Bowl title in a tightly contested game against the Arizona Cardinals, by a final score of 28-24. Holding off a fourth quarter comeback by the Cardinals, the Steelers bring the Vince Lombardi trophy back to the Steel City for the second time in the past four years and for a sixth time in franchise history, setting an NFL record.

[EA Sports predicts Super Bowl XLIII champion using Madden 09]

Football Video Games Makes You Smarter in Football Knowledge?

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:32:00 +0000

Commissioned by Electronic Arts (the publisher of Madden NFL games), University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center surveyed 15,000 American football fans about their knowledge on football rules and strategies vis-a-vis their football videogaming behavior. And can you believe it that football fans who play Madden NFL -compared to non-gaming fans- were 54 percent more knowledgeable in assessing game situations and 28 percent better in knowing the rules of the game.

Even though the survey seems to be strictly correlational, EA executives quickly spun it out as the benefits of playing their annual iteration of Madden NFL. Looks like 'correlation is causation' in EALand...

[Playing Video Games Good For You?]

Learn Your Video Game Regulations

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:41:00 +0000

An interesting piece from a video game researcher in Gamasutra: The current issue in internet and video game regulations in USA and around the world (the author specifically mentioned China and Korea). What are some of the (surprisingly) draconian US laws that exist and have been enforced relentlessly? How do other countries' lawmakers and gamers shape their video game legislation, and how can America learn from them? From censorship, piracy, to addiction issues, this article has too much juicy bits to be simply quoted or paraphrased. You definitely want to read this in its entirety.

[Video Game Regulation: Where We Are Now]

Videogame is A Big Business in Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:48:00 +0000

With a stunning 47-percent growth amidst global financial crisis, videogame industry in Australia raked $ 1.96 billion in sales, making it the hottest entertainment industry of the year; in comparison, the movie industry recorded $ 946 million in box office sales and $ 1.4 billion in DVD sales. Who's the hero? According to The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, they should be very thankful to family-friendly games and console like the Nintendo Wii. It's no surpise then that 8 of the 10 top-selling games of 2008 in Australia are Wii games.

"Gaming in general, but in particular family gaming, offers much better re-playability than other forms of entertainment such as DVDs or going to the movies," IEAA chief executive officer Ron Curry said.

[$2bn in sales a high score for games]

Teachers Using Nintendo Wii in Physical Education

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:55:00 +0000

With their stellar success with motion-gaming Wii console, Nintendo slowly chipped the stereotype of gaming as the antithesis of physical fitness. Recently, some elementary schools started to use Wii and Dance Dance Revolution, a popular game when you must move your feet in certain manners on a special mat, as one of their programs in physical education. Surely some of the teachers still feel wary about adding videogames in their gyms, but some others see this new addition as an opportunity to attract kids to a healthier lifestyle.

"They're using it with great success as a motivator during winter months and on a day like today, when you can't go out. There are a lot of ways to burn calories while you're inside," said Ashdown.

[Getting schooled on Wii]

Chinese Online Gamers Must Disclose Their Real Identity

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:09:00 +0000

Renowned for its oppressive stance in internet, Chinese government put a law that mandates every account and nickname used by online gamers to be linked with their real-life identity profile. This move is designed to tackle addiction issues prevalent in many gamers in China, as Chinese internet police can now control how much a gamer can play; It is said that minors or underage gamers were limited to maximum three hours of gameplay per day.

[Chinese Government Forcing Online Gamers to Use Real Names]

Honolulu considers a bill to ban gaming while driving

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:22:00 +0000

In addition to texting, Honolulu local council committees explicitly mentioned videogame-playing to be outlawed while one's driving. While it may seems like stating the obvious danger involved in such 'multitasking', they do have a record of this kind of incident: Last September, a local bus driver was caught playing with his handheld console while driving.

[Phone-driving ban revisited]

Violence is Not What Attracts Gamer

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Violence and gore is often associated as what makes mature video games so attractive to gamers; the kind of 'twisted', macabre attraction that draw condemnation from the opponents of video game violence. But a new research found that most gamers weren't that preoccupied with the level of blood in a game.

The researchers showed that, as long as the gameplay itself is challenging, tuning up the violence factor didn't add much significant enjoyment or motivate gamers to play more. Only a small percentage of gamers, who in the beginning were already more aggressive than other gamers, were more attracted to more violent games regardless of their enjoyment.

The research's abstract: ...As predicted, results from all studies showed that enjoyment, value, and desire for future play were robustly associated with the experience of autonomy and competence in gameplay. Violent content added little unique variance in accounting for these outcomes and was also largely unrelated to need satisfactions.

[Blood and gore don't make video games more enjoyable: study]

The State of Today's Adult Videogamer

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 05:31:00 +0000

Did you know that, among 114 million of adult gamers in the US, 28 million are grandparents? Online games interest older women? Or that gamers use cars to express their personality? Those are just some of the summary of the latest research of adult gamer demographics. Conducted by ReportLinker.com, the $3,850-full-report might be too expensive for even the most hardcore gamer, but thankfully they provided the basic summary (link below) that laid out the general findings.

Other interesting tidbits:

Many Buyers of Video Games Don’t Play Them
Videogamers Keep up with Fashion
Videogamers Good Customers for Insurance Industry
Videogamers More Attuned to Product Placement Efforts in TV Shows
Videogamers Still Read Books

[The Adult Videogamer Market in the U.S.: Tapping into the New Diversity of Video-Game Players (Summary)]

Wii Can Help Seniors, Stroke Rehabilitations

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Gamers can say whatever they want about Nintendo Wii's lack of quality software for their hardcore tastes, but they couldn't deny its usefulness for certain demographics and applications never touched by game before. While it still can't replace real physical workout, Wii's motion-gaming proved to be a light exercise suitable enough for old people and those who just recovered from stroke attack.

Researchers and senior-center operators say waving the Wii’s motion-activated joystick to throw virtual punches or swim laps may improve health.

“If it does show real benefit it could be a huge asset for rehabilitation and increasing physical activity,” said Stacy Fritz, director of the Rehabilitation Laboratory at the University of South Carolina, which is studying whether the Wii can help stroke victims.

[Nintendo’s Punching Seniors Get Workout, Sell Out Wii]

Jim Henson Honors awarded Nintendo and Spore

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:45:00 +0000

Jim Henson Honors are awarded each year to individuals and organizations who commit to creativity, innovation, and inspiration of others; the core values of Jim Henson and the company he founded. This year, the Celebration Honor for making "the world a better place by inspiring people to celebrate life" is given to Nintendo's lead designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. The award specifically lauded two of his creation, the Wii console and Wii Fit, as groundbreaking.

In addition, Spore, a 'life simulator' PC Game by Will Wright, won Technology Honor in demonstrating "ground-breaking technology in a creative way." In Spore, you can create 'virtual species' from cell-based level and guide their evolution until they become galaxy-faring civilization.

[Miyamoto, Spore Win Jim Henson Awards]

A Proposed Law to Protect Your Kids from Racism and Profanity in Games [UPDATE]

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:42:00 +0000

Not content in only trying to 'protect' children from violence and sexual contents in mature video games, a lawmaker in New York proposed a bill that, if passed, will give another limitation in selling videogames to underage kids.

This bill would prohibit the sale to minors of certain rated video games containing a rating that reflects content of various degrees of profanity, racist stereotypes or derogatory language, and/or actions toward a specific group of persons.

Just like the similar bill that the politician proposed last year, I think this will be a dud, too. And, as some other people pointed out, there are two problems that make this would-be law become redundant:

Most (if not all) games that feature notable swearing and racist depictions already have Mature rating stamped on them
Usually, the parents are the one who buy videogames for their children. Now please make survey on how many ignorant and uninformed parents out there about games their kids play...

[NY Bill Would Shield Minors from Racist Stereotypes and Profanity in Games]

UPDATE: Can you believe it that a South Carolina senator also wants to ban profanity from... practically, everything?

Nintendo Spreads Wii Music to Schools

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:51:00 +0000

Nintendo, collaborating with The National Association for Music Education, donates Wii console and Wii Music to some elementary schools across 51 cities to help teachers in music lessons. No, Nintendo didn't intent to substitute proper instrument mastery with Wii-mote waving and waggling; This program is designed to teach children in basic musical concepts, such as rythm and tempo, as well as making children more interested in music in general. From a teacher's response quoted below, Nintendo seems to hit another mark again.

“Wii Music has brought a renewed excitement to music class for students from first grade to fifth, myself and even some of the classroom teachers,” said Helen A. Krofchick, a music teacher at Doby’s Mill Elementary School in Lugoff, S.C. “I love how many music standards can be covered in such a short time. Students also have to use language skills, spatial awareness and hand-eye coordination. We have a school very supportive of the arts and Wii Music has empowered our program even more. Any system that is educational and can add a love of music to children’s lives should be in every classroom.”

[Wii Music Coming to Classrooms]

17-year-old boy convicted of 'video game murder'

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 08:28:00 +0000

Daniel Petric, 17, was convicted of of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges after he shot his mother and wounded his father over a video game dispute. The boy tried to kill them both and faked a murder-suicide after his father confisticated his Halo 3 game.

Petric's lawyer disputed that his video game addiction made him less responsible for the killing, but the judge disagreed and pointed toward the prosecutor's evidence that Petric has planned the crime for weeks.

What's chilling is his father's account:

Mark Petric, who is a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you."
The father, who recovered from the shooting, testified that he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from a gunshot. His wife, Susan, 43, died of gunshot wound to the head.

[Teen convicted of killing mother over video game]

Men attracted to games because of 'territorial and conquest instinct'

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:32:00 +0000

By scanning its subjects' brain with MRI while they're playing games, Prof. Allan Reiss from Stanford University found why 'males are more attracted to, and more likely to become hooked on video games than females'. It's because of parts of their brain called mesocorticolimbic centre, an area often associated with rewards and addiction. In male brain, this area is more active during gaming than female brain. And, according to Prof. Reiss:

"I think it's fair to say that males tend to be more intrinsically territorial. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who historically are the conquerors and tyrants of our species – they're the males. Most of the computer games that are really popular with males are territory and aggression-type games."

Isn't that last bit sounds a little bit stretched and stereotypical...if not sexist?

[Men enjoy computer games 'because of basic urge to conquer']

How Video Games Handled Homosexuality

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:06:00 +0000

Brad Hildebrand's editorial in Kombo.com reminded me again about how homosexuality become the 'forgotten issue' in videogame storytelling. He gave a good example in Fable II (which I haven't play yet) and some other less-than-endearing examples in older videogames. When was the last time a videogame portray an explicit homosexual character in a good light? The most we've got so far are homoerotic undertones, or restricted in female-female relationship (see Mass Effect's infamous 'lesbian' sex scene).

I do think that male gamers (not as dominant as before, but still the majority demographics) play a part in those stereotypical depictions. While they will howl at the faintest innuendo of lesbian tendency, I guess many male gamers still shudder at the thought of an openly gay male as the main character who has a sexual relationship with his sidekick.

[Are Games Gay Enough?]

What is GameEffect? - an Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Catshade) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:44:00 +0000

As videogames become more integral to our regular activities and pastimes, people start to view this new subculture as something more than just a simple amusement. Some were so appalled and horrified by the amount of violence and sexualization that they consider videogames as a 'tool of the devil' and 'corrupting our youth's mind.' Some others, intrigued by the interactivity of this medium, try to find the positive influences it can instill to people of various gender and ages. Regardless of their opposing stances, they'll agree that videogames undeniably has an invisible, overarching power in our modern lives.

That is what we want to blog about in GameEffect: how videogames affect our culture, society, and psyche.