An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a new study by The Stress Institute has found that a few minutes of casual gaming per day may actually reduce stress and keep you from "going postal." According to The Stress Institute's Dr. Kathleen Hall, players who take a break from their hectic lives and let the stress of the day melt away by playing casual games lead healthier and more balanced lives. Playing games such as those found on Xbox Live Arcade, the Wii Channel, the PlayStation Store or at Pogo.com provide … [Read more...]
Rev. Al Sharpton (Hearts) Will Smith
Rev. Al Sharpton must have some serious man-love right now for Will Smith. Raise your hand if you remember the Fresh Prince. I'm not talking about the goofy guy from Bel Air, I'm talking about the kid who hung with DJ Jazzy Jeff and gave a generation of rap fans some of the most original and whimsical tracks ever recorded. The Fresh Prince didn't need cussing, womanizing or gang-banging to sell his albums or image, and look what happened: he ended up being one of Hollywood's hottest commodities in the mid to late … [Read more...]
"Going Green" Means "Going Old-School"?
I've got to hand it to the engineers out there looking for ways to make our society more sustainable. The "green movement" has gone from fringe to fashionable, and now there are even varying degrees of green-ness (forest, bright, etc.). But as "new" as the green movement/sustainability seems, I find it ironic that one of the most-publicized instances of a sustainable practice is decidedly old school: using ice blocks to cool a building. Because electricity is needed to make the ice, water is frozen in large silver tanks … [Read more...]
Wii Becomes a Voting Booth
Nintendo's launched a new Wii channel, called "Everyone Votes" (don't we wish everyone really did, but let's not get political right now). By logging in with your Wii and grabbing the latest system update, you'll unlock the new channel - which you then must download from the online shopping section under "Wii Ware". It's a free "game" that lets up to six people in a home cast their votes on a variety of questions provided by Nintendo. Players can also guess at what the results of the polls will be. Not terribly … [Read more...]
Is Next-Gen Gaming Bad for Gamers?
We're just a couple of weeks away from the final two next-gen systems, PlayStation 3 and Wii, making their appearance on store shelves. For many gamers, the wait so far has been nigh unbearable, and these last two weeks will prove even worse. But should we really be all that excited? With all the talk about "next-gen games," what has next-gen gaming gotten us so far? Before the launch of the Xbox 360, and even leading up to the launch of the PS3 and Wii, we were (and have been) promised the world. But a quick review of … [Read more...]
Elitism in Gaming and its Roots in Reviews
Since when did playing videogames become as sophisticated as attending a wine auction? OK, so we're not exactly consuming these products or getting a buzz from them, but the aura of elitism has grown so strong around our beloved hobby that I can't help but wonder whether I've been transported to the rolling hills of Sonoma when I read about videogames. Online videogame forums are an obvious place to start, as rampant fanboyism has made participating in most online discussions an immature and hardly l337 experience. But … [Read more...]
Producer Interview: Play! A Video Game Symphony
With the last of the Play! A Videogame Symphony concerts coming to an end this week, (watch for our review) we got a chance to speak with the producer for the program, Jason Michael Paul, about the process of assembling what many people might consider an unorthodox orchestral performance. How did the different orchestras and choirs take to doing music from videogames? At first they are somewhat reluctant and take some convincing. However, once they see a live and enthusiastic crowd they cannot help but gain utmost … [Read more...]
Bigotry in Videogames is Alive, but for How Long?
Since the day console videogames went online, bigotry has made its way into the multiplayer experience. The first generation of online games relied on typed words, which didn't do much to advance the shadow. But the advent of microphones and voice support for online games has tainted the multiplayer experience for thousands of people. We've all been there before. We've heard the racist slurs from gamers who think it's cool or funny to belittle people based on the color of their skin. We've heard the homosexual jokes … [Read more...]
Far Cry: Instincts QA
Ubisoft sent us a brief Q&A with Creative Director Laurent Mascherpa, in which he talks about the enemies and their intelligence in Far Cry: Instincts for Xbox. Laurent Mascherpa Technical Creative Director Q: What makes Far Cry Instincts’ F.A.R. AI "good?" Far Cry Instinct’s AI is based on the Far Cry PC version, and has been adapted for the console version. Having enemies tracking you is a major point. We kept the wide open environments we had for the PC, allowing the AI to go anywhere the player goes. This is very … [Read more...]
E3 Oddities: An E3 Virgin's Pictorial (Page 2)
Return to Page One of E3 Oddities: An E3 Virgin's Pictorial We saw virtual baseball. And virtual tennis. And virtual golf. And virtual reality. The host's thoughts are obvious. Odd controllers were expected, and here we have a fighting game pad. The mouse gun. The bloody chainsaw controller, great for impressing first dates! Inflatable wave runner controllers. What E3 would be complete without a set of fans dressed as Link and the Princess? Atari, as always, had huge banners plastered all over. But almost no … [Read more...]
